Friday, July 28, 2006

Uhh?

I think my blog is broken. Has anyone else had troubles with it?

Friday, July 14, 2006

More Babies

I just finished doing a set of baby announcements for a friend. I have to say that I am pretty happy with how they turned out. I hope that she likes them too. Of course she said that she liked them, but you never know really. I mean, its not like she would say, "Nicole I hate these dumb things, why did you even make them?" Oh well, my self-esteem is telling me that I need to trust that she was telling the truth, since believing otherwise really isn't going to do me any good. Anyway here they are.

First I made her a few designs to choose from. This first one looks a lot like the "Madison" design that is already on the website. She told me that was one of her favorite deisgns, so I tried to make her something like it, only not so girly.


The next one is my favorite because it was such a lot of work to make. I know it doesn't really look like it, but it was. I also learned some new tricks on this one, which was really fun.


The last one was the one that she finally chose. It is a nice clean design, I just love the way that one little eye is peeking out to see what's going on.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Litigation takes the fun out of everything

I mean it. What is the deal?

Wait, let me explain. So today I got a lovely email in my inbox it read:

Dear Nicole,

Thank you for responding to the River Ranch website regarding the moth you found in your Popeye Spinach (including the photos) we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. River Ranch does everything we can to try to prevent this type of thing from happening. We would like to send you some free Popeye coupons for any inconvenience this has caused. Would you please email your address and I will send those coupons right away.

Thank you again,

Terry
Customer Service
River Ranch Fresh Foods,LLC

Isn't that nice? and I mean that sincerely, they responded quickly and appropriately to my bug problem, but still I can't help but hear a hint of worry in their admit no wrong doing, and offer coupons to pacify the customer email. I mean wouldn't it have been more truthful if Terry had just said, "We do our best, but hey! moths love spinach. What can ya do?" or even better than truthful it would have been downright funny if she'd said, "Ok you caught us, we're using Popeye to sneak bugs into the diets of all Americans. Can we buy your silence with some coupons." But of course Terry can't say something like that, because I just might be a crazy, mean lady who has her lawyer on speed dial and has been just waiting for the day when I find a bug in my spinach.

Yes I admit, finding the moth in my spinach was very gross, but really I'm going to live. And I do understand, moths probably do really like spinach. Now I know that I complained ALOT in that last post about the bug, but part of that was just showing off for some of my blogger pals. Really I think that the world might be a better place if we all cut each other a little slack now and then. Ya know what I mean? Then Terry could write witty emails to the complaining customers, and make them laugh. I mean really I think I would take a good laugh over a coupon for free spinach any day.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Ewwww!

So the other day I am making a sandwich and reach for the lettuce and realize that I am out of lettuce. Bummer, but wait no problem, I have a bag of spinach. Its not lettuce, but its got a picture of Popeye on the front and says right on it (and I quote) that its "thoroughly washed and ready to eat."


I know the picture is hard to read, but that is what it said. So I put a rather large pile of spinach on my sandwhich. In truth I was sort of hoping that all that spinach would sort of counteract the unhealthy parts in the rest of my sandwhich. Well I don't know if it did, but I do know this...about halfway through my sandwhich (which I was thoroughly enjoying by the way) I look down on the counter where some of the spinach had spilled out of the bag, and what do I see...





Yep! you got it a very large, very dead bug. EEWWWWWWWW! That's pretty gross, but then I realize that the bag is half empty. I have been feeding my family from the bug graveyard all week. I check the back of the bag and there I find it the ingredients.



As you can see it says spinach, it does not say big, fat, harry, bug carcasses, and spinach. No, its just says spinach. I have a feeling that Popeye is trying to trick me, just like years ago he tried to trick little children into believing that eating spinach would make muscles pop out of their shirt whenever they need them to fight off bullies, now he's tricking me into eating bugs, except mere manipulation won't work anymore now he's using downright underhanded trickery. So stop what you are doing right now and go check your spinach, don't believe the ingredients. Its a conspiracy and we don't have to take it.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Carrying the Banner...

Ain't it a fine life
Carrying the banner through it all?
A mighty fine life
Carrying the banner tough and tall
Every morning
We goes where we wishes
We's as free as fishes
Sure beats washing dishes
What a fine life
Carrying the banner home-free all!

Oh come on you all know what I'm talking about. I know me and all of my friends weren't the only ones that watched this movie like it was a religion. What moive say you? Why Newsies of course...



Ok I know you are all trying to be cool and pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about, but I know that in your heart right now your dusting off the place that is saved for Jack Kelly, and his pals (you know its the spot right next Johnny Depp in his 21 Jump Street days). And I know that you have a favorite newsie. Come on tell us was it Spot Conlon, Kid Blink, Mush perhaps? Or was it Jack...(the adoloescent in me sighs)



Why bring this up now well, this weekend I visited my family. It was a fabulous little trip, but at one point my sister and I started to chat. We started to joke about the songs that we like to sing with. She made a little bit of fun of the "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" CD that was in my car and then all of sudden we were talking about the newsies, and how we loved them so when we were younger, and how we used to know the words to every song, and then before I knew it there I was in my mommy car with my mommy clothes on and my mommy haricut, and my twenty-something sister and we were belting out the soundtrack to Newsies. Although I must admit that we didn't know the all words to any one song, we did know some of the words to all of the songs. It was so great, I felt like all of a sudden we had just gone back in time ten years (ok maybe 15).

So this post is dedicated to the Newsies, and all of the joy that they brought droves of thriteen year olds girls, and also to my dear friends, which is I guess what this post is really about, because as I was thinking about the newsies I also thought about one of my dearest friends who watched Newsies with me many a time on many a late night sugar enriched sleep over. It seems that adolesence is steadily becoming a more and more frightening stage of life, but mine was not so bad. I came out the other side of adolesence pretty much unscathed, and without having made any major detrimental decisions. Once Shane asked me why my teenage years were so good, and after thinking about it, I really do believe that it was my friends, I was truly blessed with good people to be friends with, and I still am...I can honestly say that my best friend from adolesence is still my best friend, even though she lives on the other side of the country, and we only talk to each other once in awhile during our babies' naptimes. How wonderful it is to share so much history with someone that you know that even if you didn't talk for ten years; even if you became the most important person on the planet. You would still have someone that wanted to eat doritos, drink soda (I think Mtn Dew was the drug of choice in those days), watch Newsies and sing all of the songs with you, until the wee hours of the morning. Even now I know my friend Sara is reading this and hearing the newsies sing "The King of New York" in the back of her head.

MUSH:
A pair of new shoes with matchin' laces!

RACETRACK:
A permanent box at Sheepshead races!

SPOT CONLON:
A porcelain tub with boilin' water!

KID BLINK:
A Saturday night with the mayor's daughter!

RACETRACK:
Look at me
I'm the king of New York
Suddenly
I'm respectable
Starin' right at 'cha
Lousy with stature

Come on go ahead sing it out loud I know you want to...