Kid contests

Theo and I were at Whole Earth a few days ago, and I let him wander around in the toy section.  He quickly found the kid-sized shopping cart and filled it to overflowing.

When I looked at this picture, I was reminded of the Toys R Us shopping spree contests I used to hear about when I was a kid.  I dreamed of running through the store, filling my cart with My Little Ponies for sixty seconds.  I also thought it would be awesome to run through the Double Dare obstacle course or the Fun House, grabbing flags and tokens for prizes.

I used to think that it was terribly unfair that the rabbit in the commercials never got to eat Trix cereal, so in 1980 when they did a write-in campaign where you could vote on the issue, you better believe I sent in a box top checked 'yes'.

And finally, at the height of my New Kids on the Block mania, I got permission to set up a table in my junior high lunch room in order to get people to sign cards which I had hand written, saying they wanted the New Kids to come to our school.  Whichever school sent in the most cards won a special concert.  Or something like that.  We didn't win.

If you want to waste a few minutes watching 1980s commercials, check this out.  You can see a Toys R Us/Cap'n Crunch toy giveaway around 5:00 and I'm pretty sure my little sister had the popcorn Nosy Bear pictured at 8:25.

Meet my new BFF, Jessica

When Jill and I went to the Goodwill outlet, I was digging through a bin full of books when I came across something amazing:

Somebody's old sticker books from the '80s!
Her name is Jessica, according to the teddy bears on the cover.  Based on the page below, her name might also have been Jennifer, or else they didn't have Jessica in the shiny rectangle ones, and Jennifer was the next closest thing.

I have so many of the exact same stickers; it's crazy.
Jessica displayed her stickers the same way I did, with themed groups on each page.  Here you have food on the left and holidays on the right:

 Chocolate (and, yes, there are a bunch of scratch & sniff stickers here):

 Hearts and bears:

 Cats/braces and birds:

 Adorable animals:

 Angels and butterflies:

Garfield:

Inky, oil slick stickers (including a snork.  A snork!):

Strange stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else, including mimes, currency, and fuzzy pink aliens:

Remember when we talked about Lisa Frank, and how there were some weird stickers marketed to girls in the '80s?  I like "knockoff Wonder Woman teddy bear, wearing a blue bikini and thigh high boots over a full yellow body suit, plus boxing gloves".

Also, "I'm sexy"?  Ok, pink blob thingie with long eyelashes, I guess so...

Jessica and I were both so in love with stickers that we would add things to our collection that didn't really fit with the theme.  As long as it had adhesive on the back, it counted.  See the blue sticker that's kitty corner from "I'm sexy?"  It's for display in a window to show that you are a Police Athletic League booster.  Into the book it goes!

"Beware of owner" sticker, courtesy of Downham & Sons Shooters Supply store?  Into the book it goes, right between the smiling apple and the hippo begging for chocolate!

No sticker book is complete without a unicorn collection, and Jessica's does not disappoint.

 I have SO MANY of these.

The gun sticker says it's from Logansport, Indiana.  We might have grown up a couple hours away from each other.  Jessica, if you are out there, I think we should be friends.  Seriously.

Craft project fails

Back in the spring, we tried to dye some eggs using the cabbage method featured on Design Mom.  Hers turned out great, a stunning array of blue shades.  Mine turned out slightly moldy looking.

 The ones in the middle were dyed with cabbage.  Blech.

Last year we tried Martha Stewart's bubble paint project, and all we ended up with was bubbles on top of colorful water.  I probably didn't use enough paint or detergent or both.

When we replaced our old fence, I took a look at the pile of old wood and started dreaming of all the reclaimed pallet projects I've seen over the years on Pinterest: shelves, coffee tables, benches, play houses.  But then I remembered my dismal track record with hoarding supplies for projects in the "some day" category.  I don't even know how to operate a saw yet, so I sadly allowed the workers to haul away this beautiful pile of potential.

I'll have that colorful bench some day!

Lots of sequins, lots of cards

Edited to add a photo of the playing cards shirt.  You're welcome!

My sister Jill came for a whirlwind visit a week ago.  It was way too short, but we managed to pack in a lot of great stuff.  We made pizza, played with makeup, ate tex-mex and pad thai, and purged my closet (part of it, anyway.  Not the sequin section).  We visited several thrift shops, including the Goodwill outlet, which is an experience unto itself.  We tried on pretty much anything sparkly that caught our eye.  My dress below was covered in beaded fringe and weighed several pounds.

In this shot, I'm trying to show you just how many giant, dangling sequins are packed onto this top, so please excuse the weird arms.  But also, I am terrible at posing.  I look like Liz Lemon when she was shooting the promo to her ill-fated talk show.  "Wave to a friend...Wave like a human being...You remember waving?"

But Jill knows how to pose.  And she's gorgeous, so that helps.

By the way, both the items she's wearing here are things that I already owned.  I wasn't kidding about having a sequin section in my closet.  So you can see that it's really a miracle that I managed to walk away from the black fringe dress and the shiny, sweetly rustling top.

We played Moon every night, which is a version of Euchre in which everyone plays solo, rather than in pairs.  If you don't know what Euchre is, then you probably didn't have a Michigan native as a college roommate (Hi, Kelli!).  For the occasion, Jill brought out her best card-themed mock turtleneck.

We had a Halloween party at church, and Jill did the makeup for my Cleopatra costume.  My eyes looked incredible, and we did take a close-up, but it's just way too much information about my pores and wrinkles.  Another awkwardly posed shot will have to do.

Yep, lookin' regal and powerful there, just like the real Cleopatra.