Public Service Announcements

I warned you.

This blog is random.

And today is the randomest of them all. Including the use of the word randomest. Feel free to use that.

Today I feel compelled to tell you about things that you might not know you need to know. After all, a great number of them, I learned from other blogs. My blogger duty is to pay that information forward. IF this causes you to spend any money you hadn't planned to spend, please blame the original sources and remember I'm merely a messenger. Merely. (That's a fun word. Merely.)

* Did you know Picnik is going bye-bye? Back up. Do you know what Picnik is? It's a photo editing site that offers (in my opinion) an above average amount of free editing tools. You could also purchase a subscription (or membership or whatever it's called) and get even more fun stuff, but for about the last 2 years I've been an editing fool with just the freebies. And then I received an email that in April, it's going the way of all the earth. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Just the other day, I wondered how in the world I'd find a new site that gave me editing options I could figure out. (That last part is the key.) And as if by magic (or perhaps divine intervention) I stumbled upon this blog post which gives an entire host of options to try. I haven't tried them all yet, but if you're a fellow panicking Picniker, check it out! Maybe your new editing BFF is in there.
* Because walls can never have too much art...I was very excited to see this deal featured on The Mom Creative the other day. (The Mom Creative has saved me a LOT of money in the past couple of years. God bless her.) A free photo canvas. (Well, free if you pay shipping and handling. And face it, that's cheaper than moving into the canvas warehouse so you don't have to pay for shipping.) I have decided I want to do a baptism display - with some of the Jordan River water in the little jar we used to pour some over my head...and one of the rocks I handed out to everyone...maybe a framed copy of some of the song lyrics I used...and I think this canvas will complete the display. * Have you seen J.C. Penney's new philosophy on life and shopping? The other day I received this mini catalog book in the mail, so while I sat in the Fazoli's parking lot last week, waiting for Jenny to arrive for dinner, I read it. (I rarely read catalogs, so good job little Penney's marketers, for capturing my attention on that one!) Anyway, one of the month-long deals they're featuring in Feburary: these scoop neck T-shirts for five bucks each. Five bucks! None of my t-shirts fit anymore, and since these would be something I could even wear to work, guess who visited Penney's with her $25.00 gift card?? And for a mere $1.68 in tax, I came home with a full week's worth of shirts. Thankyouverymuch. And if I knew what the colors of my someday-new-house-bathroom would be, I'd have purchased some $4 towels too.

* And about the yogurt. I have always hated yogurt. Not frozen yogurt. Bring THAT on. But I mean the good-for-you stuff. I mentioned to Lynne at the end of last year that one of my goals was to learn to like yogurt because I know it's good for me and I should. (Ick.) So during one of my stays at her house, she made me a yogurt parfait, and I LOVED it. So guess who eats yogurt every day for breakfast now? When I purchased my last tub of yogurt, the checkout guy (who was about 12) held it up after scanning it and said, "You like this?" Sensing the need to win over a young generation of yogurt lovers, I gave him a full sales pitch on how I used to hate it...and now I love it. So in case you're a skeptic, try it Lynne's way. Here you go:

Greek Yogurt (I use plain Chobani Greek Yogurt)

Honey (Since the yogurt is so tart, she adds 1/2 Tablespoon or so of honey and stirs it up)Granola (I use Back to Nature's Vanilla Almond Agave Granola)

Blackberries (Meijer sells some that are huge - I add some sweet n low on top so they're not so tart)

No specific measurements...as much as you'd like of each thing. YUMMY.

And this completes my randomest public service announcements for today.

Monday Misc.

Got some more randomness for you to start the week. In no particular order:

1. Went to the Glenbrook Mall with Lynnette on Saturday. We walked past an Amish couple carrying an Aeropostale bag. That just seemed odd to me. I wanted to ask what they were allowed to get in there! Then, when we ate at the food court (Chick-fil-A for me, thankyouverymuch!), the guy in front of us dropped BOTH his drinks on the floor. The cashier said "No problem. We'll call security." Uh....shouldn't you call housekeeping? (I always freak out when I hear "security." It's never good for me.)

2. Here's a trend I have yet to fully embrace, but I've decided to try:
Scarves. I don't wear them because I figure those with broken thermostats should not tie more fabric around their necks. Just not smart. But they're so stinkin' cute! So Sunday morning, I wore a scarf to church. That was a big ole gamble because I was teaching Sunday School, which was a given sweat-fest. (Sorry. Unattractive but true.) I didn't overheat - so I think this one's a keeper. Now I just have to learn all the knots.

3. After shopping with Lynnette, I made my way to the Hobby Lobby in Fort Wayne. I think it may be the best Hobby Lobby I've ever been in. I just walked through, inhaling deeply. (I take my HL shopping SERIOUSLY.) I managed to be good, except for one thing...but I needed it. Spriggy things for that pottery Lara gave me for my birthday!

4. Also while shopping with Lynnette, we went to Kirkland's. Love. That. Store. And we found Mary Poppins bags in there...that just happened to have monograms...and we just happened to find an "L" and a "B"...and they just happened to be on sale...so naturally we had to have them. All best friends should have matching Mary Poppins bags...

5. The time has come to get out the flannel sheets. I love flannel sheets. So does Braeya. I envision many more days of coming home to an unmade bed...and a happy little cat.

For Christina...

My pink shoes....which suddenly look very small!!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Last Sunday was Easter, and with Easter comes the great ordeal that girls face: shopping for the dress. The Easter dress is a significant purchase each spring…one that brings its share of annoyances and the thrill of success when the right dress is finally located. From the very first Easter, when an eight pound baby wears a dress whose frills weigh ten pounds…clear up into adulthood, the all important find of “the dress” spurs on a shopping extravaganza like no other.

Some people go on Easter egg hunts. I go on Easter dress hunts. My own hunt this year was one filled with frustration. For that reason, I’d like to share with you what I so lovingly call “The Great Easter Dress Hunt of 2007.”

1. Slim Pickins. I try valiantly to watch enough E! fashion shows and What Not to Wear to have a basic grasp on what is in and what is out. But somewhere I missed the memo that the dress is out. With the exception of one store (the store where I at long, long last made my purchase), the sum total of actual dress options at any given store did not exceed four dresses. I love a good set of separates…don’t get me wrong. But the Easter dress should be…a dress. I learned that had I been bigger, shorter, a junior, or a kid, my options of actual dresses would have increased by about 20%. But in the good old department where I shop – very few options.

2. Style. I understand that I’m not any sort of trend setter. And I have come to grips with my taste in clothing being roughly a season behind the going styles. But the styles of the few dresses I did find were borderline heinous. There were several that looked like they had come straight from wardrobe on I Love Lucy. I’m sorry to be a pain, but I do not want to wear to church a collared, belted dress that Lucy would have worn while doing laundry for Ricky and Little Ricky! Nor do I want to sport a dress with no waist (leaving me to look like a giant roll of printed toilet paper) or an empire waist (leaving me to explain that I’m really not pregnant).

3. Material. Again…I don’t mean to be difficult to get along with, but this clingy stuff has got to go. The spandex-esque shirts – and worse, the dresses! – hang to each and every roll and dimple. You know, I’m working on my weight (reducing it, that is) and I’m making significant progress. But never, ever in my life, short of one day having my own personal trainer, will I be in good enough shape to manage a dress that clings. I do not want to be the girl that sits in the second row of an Easter service and has 250 people behind her saying, “Does she know how that sticks to her?” YES, YES SHE KNOWS! BUT SHE COULDN’T FIND ANYTHING ELSE TO BUY!

4. Color. An Easter dress should be…springy. At least I think so. I like for my Easter dress to have lovely shades of pastels…pinks and lavenders and yellows. I like it to be gently subtle and soothing to the eye. Let me just tell you – such a dress does not exist this year. (Unless of course, I wanted to be any size other than the one I am.) This year it was HELLO red. HELLO brown. HELLO navy blue. HELLO black. Hello…can I have pastels? Why can’t they make that adorable 2T dress about 50 times bigger so I can squeeze into it?

5. Print. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about print. It’s spring…have I said that? Where are the flowers and wisps? The soft, soothing petals and posies of the season? This year it was all polka dots and paisleys and wild takes on strange chains. I didn’t particularly want to walk into church looking like I just crawled down from someone’s living room window or I recently departed a 1970’s couch!

6. Price. I am the world’s cheapest clothing shopper. Nothing makes me happier than a dress (still sporting the tags) for 75 cents at a yard sale. As a result, shopping in a normal store sends me into a bit of price shock. And of course, it would be too much to ask for me to gravitate toward the cheapest dress on the rack. No, no. If the prices range from $29.99 to $99.99, you can believe that every tag I turn over is going to be $99.99. One store I entered had a dress cute enough to make me overlook the print (polka dots) and the color (brown) – but once I grabbed the tag and saw $118 printed on it, I just turned on my heel and left the store. If I’m paying $118 for a dress, it had better be white and come with a groom at the other end of a long aisle.

7. Math. Shopping is supposed to be a soothing, relaxing event in my life. I want to walk into a store, find a dress, decide I like it, and look at the price…end of story. But no. Every single dress was a marathon math session in my head! Original price - $70. Take off 10% because it’s Easter. Take off another 8.5% because I’m shopping in this particular 2 hour window. There’s a $10 reduction at the register if I pick up the coupon directly beside the register, and another 15% off if I’ll just answer these five simple questions as part of a store-wide survey. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Just charge me the stupid forty bucks to begin with and forget all the brain strain!

So, after shopping in six stores and two cities over a period of three days, I finally settled on an Easter dress. It was a red and white sundress that met the only requirement I had left by that time: it zipped. I was so fed up with shopping that I would have been tempted to take out a second mortgage to pay for the stupid thing just to be done. It wasn’t my typical Easter dress, but it was…a dress.

Of course then there was a whole new set of problems:

1. Shoes. I didn’t own any red shoes. Time to go shoe shopping. This is hard for a girl like me who hates wedge heels and peek-a-boo toes…are there any other styles out there? I found one strappy red pair of heels at WalMart and bought them – without even trying them on. I willed them to fit.

2. Purse. I didn’t own a red purse. WalMart to the rescue again. Of course the purse isn’t big enough to hold all my junk, but it sure is cute!

3. Sweater. Did I mention it was something in the neighborhood of twenty below zero on Easter? And I was wearing a knee length sundress and strappy heels? (Okay so maybe that was a slight exaggeration on the temp – but not much.) For only five dollars less than I paid for the dress, I could have purchased a lovely white cardigan. Of course 90% of the time, I’m too hot, so when would I ever wear a cardigan again? I called up my friend Lynette. She has lots of clothes. I just knew she’d have something I could borrow. And she did.

So Easter was a success after all…even though I was exhausted by the time I was done shopping. I took an online survey for the store this week – and when they asked why I decided to make my purchase there, I clicked “other” and wrote in desperation.