This one was pointed out to me by a co-worker (thanks Robert)…
Here is a website which sells gift certificates that represents micro-credit loans to people in developing countries.
Great way to spend a couple bucks, change a life, and give a thoughtful gift.
THE FLOWBEE!!!
It’s a revolutionary hair cutting system. Complete with various length attachments as well as the special “tapered” attachment.
It’s certain to delight your redneck love ones.
I had a dream last night that some major VIP came to my house and used the bathroom. I can’t even remember who it was, but I know I felt embarrassed because I haven’t cleaned my bathroom in a few weeks. So now I guess I need to put on my to do list “clean bathrooms” before I leave town tomorrow…
One time I had a dream that someone very close to me died. I woke up very sad. It was a scary, freaky, realistic dream.
Usually I have totally forgotten the dreams of the previous night by the time I exit my ‘post-waking haze,’ and definitely by the time I get out of the shower. I think most of the time that is a good thing. Many dreams I have qualify as twisted, freaky night terrors than as anything at all ‘dreamy.’
I think I need my head examined.
Rounding out the list at #10 is one of my perrenial favorites…
A gift basket!
Just remember, when you don’t know what to get someone, nothing says “I love you” quite like a bunch of junk food.
You can easily and cheaply make your own gift baskets. And don’t put in all that expensive stuff that no one knows or likes. Get the yummy cheap candy that’s on sale, and then buy a basket that’s one size smaller than you think you’ll need. Then it will look like it’s overflowing!
Also prerequisite in EVERY gift basket is Easy Cheese.
To go along with this one, I’m lumping in “the Panettone.”
Also known as the ‘holiday fruit cake,’ this is a perennial favorite for some, but hated by most. News flash: they are making less nasty versions of this now. Try the ones with chocolate chips or other things than fruit.
Recently I was called to be the choir director for my local church congregation. (In my church, all such positions are filled by volunteers from the congregation)
This seemed like a nice fit. I have sung in choirs all my life. I have had music lessons since I was eight. I have sung under some pretty awesome conductors in my life, and done it on all levels and gradations of professionalism.
However, none of those experiences quite matched what happened to me today. Today, for the first time in my life, I took the “baton” (there was no baton, i’m speaking figuratively) and conducted my first choir performance.
I have decided conducting is much more scary than performing.
When you conduct, you have to keep yourself from singing, but you have to mouth the words so everyone else can rely on you for them. It’s hard to do, especially on pieces you have sung before. I even caught myself singing once during a women only part, too. That really quite awkward, the one lone male voice…
Then there’s the anxiety… What if no one shows up to sing? What if I miss bringing someone in? What if I’m taking it too fast or too slow? What if the whole thing falls apart? What if the ceiling collapses from the natural vibrations of our double or triple forte!!! (the possibilities are endless)
Well the miracle of Church choir is that it just works out. In some strange way, and for some strange unknown reason, it just works out in the end. You always wonder how it will, when you’re two weeks away and you have 6 people (four altos and 2 guys) show up at your second to last rehearsal, but it just works out.
To illustrate the miracle even more, at one point someone asked me during our warm-up/rehearsal time if I had an extra piece of a music for the song we were singing. I was sure I was out, but I moved my piece to the side, and !voila! behind it was another one. It was almost like a “loaves and fishes” moment. “It’s a Christmas miracle!” I exclaimed.
And it was.
What is the root of all happiness? What is the quickest way to a man’s heart? How do you make the man you love happier than he’s ever been before?
Two words…
‘Nuff said.
We have a problem. A big problem. This problem is bigger than Iraq and iRan put together. It’s bigger than the medicare and social security problems put together.
Recently the original seasons of Sesame Street were released on DVD. However, the package carries a clear warning: “These early Sesame Street episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”
Um… OK. So either 1) today’s preschool child has drastically different needs than I did as a preschool child or 2) we are just too freaking hypersensitive to the creative programming our children watch.
Apparently while no one was looking, cookie monster became “vegetable monster” and Oscar the Grouch was sent to rehab and years of group therapy. The Count had to go for sensitivity training, and Grover had to go get his narcissism evaluated.
Is it just me, or have they taken the “character” out of the characters?
I really don’t think I was adversely affected or scarred by these rogue sesame street episodes. If you want to talk about shows I am scarred by, let’s talk about the guy with the affro who wore the skin tight unitard with a representation of his internal organs on it.
Sesame street is innocuous. In fact, I feel so strongly about it, I think I’ll buy these DVDs, and purposefully show them to my children, just to make sure they end up as awesome as me!
I am now focused on finding a gift that Lindsie can give to Josh for Christmas. After thinking long and hard over this one, I have come to the conclusion:
Josh needs a funny hat! It would serve two purposes:
I would suggest that you could get each other silly hats, and then the rule is, if you are going to get into an argument, you have to wear the silly hats, so as to not be taken too seriously.
This idea brought to you in part by the letter “L”