Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Sweet Felt Board on the Cheap

Alas, my inner thriftquake was left to rumble silently in discontent while I figured out how to finish this insane book review. I did have to trek over to big sister's house this evening to feed her daughter's guinea pigs while they're away. En route, I stopped at Dollarama where I found these awesome felt boards for a twoonie a pop. That's two dollars for the non-Canadians reading this. My thrifty satisfaction is tempered by the fact that someone in China got paid peanuts to make this. That's not right!
Anyway, I had been looking into buying felt boards online and there's some high quality ones out there with big price tags. The irony is that someone in China still probably got paid peanuts to make them.


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Stuck in basement writing book review for my reading course. Feeling a thriftquake coming on. Can I do both? Giggles beginning to subside.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

No Laughing Gas

Thanks Vonlipi and Pompoms for the good wishes for my dental visit. Although I've been flossing like crazy for the past two days, no floss has passed betwixt my teeth the other 118 days or so since my last appointment, giver or take those evenings when I've had lamb chops for dinner. When asked if I floss regularly, I said, "Some nights I forget, but I do my best." I'm sure they know who's fibbing.

Anyway, I've had a case of uncontrollable giggles for the past two days. Can you believe it? I mean, we all laugh at inappropriate things every now and then. It lasts for a few minutes and it then passes. No, not me. Here I am, on the brink of 40 and I almost crashed my bike today when I got the giggles again. I think giggling to yourself is worse than drinking alone. At least if you're drinking, you can use inebriation as an excuse for irrational behaviour. When you're peddling through your neighbourhood laughing, people just think you're a kook.

It all started yesterday in my reading course. We had an equity workshop. The topic was equity to literacy. I'm all about equity and I've been to many equity workshops in my school board before on my own volition. The equity rep seemed like a decent man, but very, very earnest. Towards the end, he began talking about an academic. I thought he said her name was Ginny the Gay. My jaw almost dropped as I scrambled to make sense of how an equity person could use such a monicker to describe someone. As he kept repeating her name, I began wondering if this woman was some sort of radical who gave herself a counter culture nickname. Later, he passed around an article written by this woman. Her name? Geneva Gay. I snorted and bit my lip hoping that somehow the pain would make me stop laughing. It didn't. I spent the rest of the class pinching different body parts to keep from losing it. It wasn't even funny, but my ignorance was. In my defense, I've never heard the name "Geneva" used outside of Switzerland.

From that moment on, the slightest thing would trigger the giggles. We've been watching the Tour de France and every wacky bearded spectator dressed as a nun, or flabby French man in a Speedo who decides to "run with the cyclists" at the summit of the Pyrenees, just made me crack up. Today, the woman who sits beside me in class began crunching on celery shortly after a fellow student read a picture book about elephants dying in a Japanese zoo during WWII. Of course, with each loud crunch, I laughed until tears were running down my cheeks.

Make it stop! Perhaps I'll survive until tomorrow...

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Going to dentist. Been flossin' like madwoman for the last two days.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Bounty Huntress - The Quicker Picker Upper

My new pal Bounty Huntress from Texas (love it) commented on the notorious Herb Alpert album. Yes, it's Whipped Cream and Other Delights. I think everyone's dad or uncle had a copy of this in his stash of LPs back in the sixties. I had no idea that it spawned so many parodies.

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P.S. I just can't get enough of this Old Spice commercial. Hilarious. It almost makes you forget about how horrible Old Spice is.

Pictures A-Rockin'


I finally got my pictures of our weekend getaway to Owen Sound up on my blog Five Ways to Disappear http://landscapeandmemorytoronto.blogspot.com Do check them out if you have time. This part of the province is stunning, plus hardly anyone visits this blog of mine (sniff).

We went out east to Brighton, Codrington, and Campbellford yesterday. I will be sharing some of those pictures soon too. Lot's of ghost barns and even a ghostly former cheese factory.

Bye for now,
Erin

P.S. On our way home yesterday we were listing to Randy Bachman's "Vinyl Tap" on the CBC Radio. The theme was "Ear Worms" - songs that get stuck in your head. My favourite was Herb Alpert's "Spanish Flea." Ahh, memories of the Dating Game. Enjoy.

About Me

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I'm a slightly off-beat Toronto-area teacher who enjoys writing and photography. I come from a family of collectors and now I'm dragging my own family around to yard sales. It's just a bit of fun. Enjoy the scenes.