A toilet. This kid in my friend Taylor's neighborhood went as a toilet. He clearly was very proud of his construction. The toilet was 3-D - it had a tank and a bowl and everything - all white cardboard. The best part was that he didn't have a separate trick or treat bag - his goodies went into the toilet bowl!! He simply lifted up the lid, which read "Trick or Treat" on the inside, and you put the candy in the bowl. Hilarious. When he turned and walked away, we saw another clever touch: a toilet paper holder and actual roll of toilet paper on the side of the tank. Brilliant. He even allowed the people handing out candy above Taylor's place to take shots to see if they could "make a basket" with the candy they were distributing. I think they made at least one.
Dishonorable mention: Women over the age of 30 trick-or-treating. You think it's bad when 17-year olds show up at your door? That's nothing compared to what you see in Eastern Market. At first, it was a few moms or grandmothers following their kids around. The kids came up and got their candy and then the parental figure came forward too - with her own separate bag. But the BEST was this woman who came BY HERSELF sans costume (well, none of the adults collecting had costumes) on her CELL PHONE and said to Taylor and me (while still on the cell phone), "I'm a big girl, but I still like my candy." In a way, you had to hand it to her for having the balls to do that. But still - ridiculous!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Maybe There's Still Hope
Happy Belated Halloween!
Last night was the first night in about five years that we have been able to take part in the tradition of passing out candy to trick-or-treaters. It's been so long that I almost forgot how much I missed it - I spent the previous three weeks making sure our outdoor decorations were ready, yet tasteful. I wanted people to know: 'Yes, you're welcome here and we'll give you candy too.'
I was told, by the previous owner, that there tends to be upwards of 80-something kids that come by on Halloween. I think we probably missed a bunch of them because I would think they would try to start when it was still daylight outside and by the time I get home from work, it's dark. I had purchased three, giant Costco bags of candy because it's always better to be safe than sorry. By the time I did reach home, my husband had been home for about 45 minutes and no one came by yet. So while I was cooking dinner and just de-stressing from the day, kids started showing up. Because it was already dark outside, I didn't think we would get many kids afterwards, so each kid that showed up got between 3-4 pieces of candy from the bowl.
My husband answered the door for the most part. I was still preparing and eating dinner but I could still hear the kids yelling 'trick or treat' and all that good stuff. As the night went on, we started getting more kids and not all of them young - there were some pre-teens and a few teenagers and I have to say, that the pre-teens and teenagers that came to our door were probably the most polite kids I have ever heard. From the kitchen, I could hear them say, 'Trick or Treat.' Once candy was deposited into their bags/buckets, I heard, 'Thank you. Have a Happy Halloween.' I thought that was nice. And I also thought, 'Someone's raising those kids right.'
So there's still hope out there that the future of this country may not be going down the tubes with the way today's (early) 20-somethings are behaving....good to know.
Last night was the first night in about five years that we have been able to take part in the tradition of passing out candy to trick-or-treaters. It's been so long that I almost forgot how much I missed it - I spent the previous three weeks making sure our outdoor decorations were ready, yet tasteful. I wanted people to know: 'Yes, you're welcome here and we'll give you candy too.'
I was told, by the previous owner, that there tends to be upwards of 80-something kids that come by on Halloween. I think we probably missed a bunch of them because I would think they would try to start when it was still daylight outside and by the time I get home from work, it's dark. I had purchased three, giant Costco bags of candy because it's always better to be safe than sorry. By the time I did reach home, my husband had been home for about 45 minutes and no one came by yet. So while I was cooking dinner and just de-stressing from the day, kids started showing up. Because it was already dark outside, I didn't think we would get many kids afterwards, so each kid that showed up got between 3-4 pieces of candy from the bowl.
My husband answered the door for the most part. I was still preparing and eating dinner but I could still hear the kids yelling 'trick or treat' and all that good stuff. As the night went on, we started getting more kids and not all of them young - there were some pre-teens and a few teenagers and I have to say, that the pre-teens and teenagers that came to our door were probably the most polite kids I have ever heard. From the kitchen, I could hear them say, 'Trick or Treat.' Once candy was deposited into their bags/buckets, I heard, 'Thank you. Have a Happy Halloween.' I thought that was nice. And I also thought, 'Someone's raising those kids right.'
So there's still hope out there that the future of this country may not be going down the tubes with the way today's (early) 20-somethings are behaving....good to know.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
HGTV
HGTV - the Home and Garden TV Network. I love this channel - almost as much as I love VH-1 Classic. I think these two channels are my minimal requirements to be in a cable service before I subscribe. I use to watch HGTV when we were house hunting just for the show 'House Hunters.' I just wanted to get an idea of how other people were approaching home buying and often wonder to myself: why can't our house search be in the $200K range? Now that we're in a house, I think I can fully enjoy all the other programming HGTV has to offer.
I still watch 'House Hunters' but I also find myself looking for 'Carter Can,' 'Design on a Dime,' 'Deserving Design' and just a whole slew of other home-idea shows. 'Carter Can' is hosted by none other than Carter Oosterhouse - known as the second carpenter that was brought onto Trading Spaces. (He blew Ty Pennington out of the water, as far as I was concerned, in looks and hunky-ness.) His show is about recreating a space for a person/family and basically walking you through the step by step process of designing and creating, all the while proving that any average joe can do it themselves. What I love about these shows is that when they get ready to go to commercial break, they always give you a nail biter about what's coming up next...'Will the family love what Carter has done to the place or will they totally hate everything?' Well, that's simple...'Hells yeah - Carter did it...it's Carter...he's in your home and he's doing this whole thing with your space....and did you see him while he was working on this space? He's hot.' So I don't know why they feel like they need to tease me to stay tuned - I will stay tuned - cause it's Carter...and yes, he can!
The other show that I have been meaning to watch comes from another Trading Spaces alum, Vern Yip. He was always my favorite designer on the show. I always thought if we participated in Trading Spaces, I would be bummed if Vern wasn't designing my room. Anyways - I think whatever Vern does is so great - his design really fits well with my taste. I would really love to do some of his projects. Heck, I would really like to get on his show....I may have to look into that. Us Asians need to stick together!
All the other shows are pretty good - we're not at that stage where we can make changes to the house we're in - not that we need to - the place was practically move-in ready. And we do have a blank slate for a basement right now that we're hoping to fill and decorate next spring - so these shows always give me some good ideas.
I'd like to know how the shows pick the people for their episodes....do you need a sob story to get on these shows?
I still watch 'House Hunters' but I also find myself looking for 'Carter Can,' 'Design on a Dime,' 'Deserving Design' and just a whole slew of other home-idea shows. 'Carter Can' is hosted by none other than Carter Oosterhouse - known as the second carpenter that was brought onto Trading Spaces. (He blew Ty Pennington out of the water, as far as I was concerned, in looks and hunky-ness.) His show is about recreating a space for a person/family and basically walking you through the step by step process of designing and creating, all the while proving that any average joe can do it themselves. What I love about these shows is that when they get ready to go to commercial break, they always give you a nail biter about what's coming up next...'Will the family love what Carter has done to the place or will they totally hate everything?' Well, that's simple...'Hells yeah - Carter did it...it's Carter...he's in your home and he's doing this whole thing with your space....and did you see him while he was working on this space? He's hot.' So I don't know why they feel like they need to tease me to stay tuned - I will stay tuned - cause it's Carter...and yes, he can!
The other show that I have been meaning to watch comes from another Trading Spaces alum, Vern Yip. He was always my favorite designer on the show. I always thought if we participated in Trading Spaces, I would be bummed if Vern wasn't designing my room. Anyways - I think whatever Vern does is so great - his design really fits well with my taste. I would really love to do some of his projects. Heck, I would really like to get on his show....I may have to look into that. Us Asians need to stick together!
All the other shows are pretty good - we're not at that stage where we can make changes to the house we're in - not that we need to - the place was practically move-in ready. And we do have a blank slate for a basement right now that we're hoping to fill and decorate next spring - so these shows always give me some good ideas.
I'd like to know how the shows pick the people for their episodes....do you need a sob story to get on these shows?
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Hand-Me-Downs: Unexpected Treat or Unintended Insult?
Okay, Jen's "Another Man's Treasure" got me thinking. How do people really feel about hand-me-downs? When I clean out my closet (which is pretty frequent, actually - I acquire a lot of stuff), I always make a nice big charity pile. Sometimes it goes to Goodwill, sometimes Salvation Army, and sometimes the Lupus Foundation (they have a very handy way of attracting donors through sending a special bag, which you can use to leave stuff on your stoop). I spread it around.
But one time I was talking to Shawn about my routine, and he suggested that if there was something I didn't want, I should offer it to a friend or a relative first. This begs the question: do my friends and family really want my rejects? If I'm giving away an article of clothing, for example, it is usually for one of three reasons: (1) it's out of style; (2) it's "tired;" or (3) it doesn't fit. So of the three categories, I would say only (3) is really an acceptable reason to give hand-me-down clothing to a friend. You could have something totally fabulous - but it is only truly totally fabulous when it fits. The problem with this option, however, is that the only real way to do this without insulting the intended recipient is if she is smaller than me. I have no qualms about offering something up with the claim, "It's too small for me - I thought it might look good on you." But when the something is too big? That's where I run into problems. Even though what I might be retiring is in perfect condition, I can't bear to suggest, "This is too big for me. Perhaps it will fit you."
See the dilemma? Very tricky. I guess here is where guys usually have it made. I can just hear them now - "This is too big. Why don't you try it? Hey, that works." No problem. But women, in general, seem to be much more sensitive about their size. And I confess - I'm not sure I'd be too thrilled if a friend decided something was too big for her - and immediately thought of me.
But one time I was talking to Shawn about my routine, and he suggested that if there was something I didn't want, I should offer it to a friend or a relative first. This begs the question: do my friends and family really want my rejects? If I'm giving away an article of clothing, for example, it is usually for one of three reasons: (1) it's out of style; (2) it's "tired;" or (3) it doesn't fit. So of the three categories, I would say only (3) is really an acceptable reason to give hand-me-down clothing to a friend. You could have something totally fabulous - but it is only truly totally fabulous when it fits. The problem with this option, however, is that the only real way to do this without insulting the intended recipient is if she is smaller than me. I have no qualms about offering something up with the claim, "It's too small for me - I thought it might look good on you." But when the something is too big? That's where I run into problems. Even though what I might be retiring is in perfect condition, I can't bear to suggest, "This is too big for me. Perhaps it will fit you."
See the dilemma? Very tricky. I guess here is where guys usually have it made. I can just hear them now - "This is too big. Why don't you try it? Hey, that works." No problem. But women, in general, seem to be much more sensitive about their size. And I confess - I'm not sure I'd be too thrilled if a friend decided something was too big for her - and immediately thought of me.
Another Man's Treasure
You know how the saying goes...'One man's trash is another man's treasure.' Well, it's treasure hunting season in my neighborhood as there are a lot of houses up for sale and a lot of families packing up and moving out. One such house falls on a main road that I am on daily. They had moved this past weekend and I saw they set out 10 plastic, white patio chairs on the curb. I thought about going back at night and picking those up since we don't have much patio furniture. They weren't broken - just a little dirty - nothing a good hosing couldn't take care of. But the thought was only that - a thought...because someone had beaten me to it. I just didn't think it would be right to drive up to the house, with the movers and family right there, and load up my SUV with their discarded lawn chairs - I would feel like giving them money for it or something.
Flash forward to Monday - on my way home from work, I passed the house and saw that they had an SUV in the garage loading up miscellaneous items that didn't make it onto the moving truck. On my way home from dance class, later that evening, I saw that by the curbside, not only was there a lot of trash, but a lot of cleaning supplies like dusters, brooms, mops, etc. I guess if you're starting out in a new place, you want to start out with new supplies. My only thought, while looking at their trash was whether I could dump one of my cardboard boxes with their trash since they probably called the trash collectors to let them know they had some big trash items. (It never happened.)
During my morning commute, when I was about to approach the house on my drive, I saw a man, on the opposite side of the road, walking, and holding a broom, a mop and a duster. I had to smile and chuckle...wow! I know their trash seemed pretty paltry, in terms of reusable items but cleaning supplies? Is this man too poor to go out and buy new mops and dusters for his own home and has to resort to using another family's used ones? I mean, you don't know where it's been. Those items could've been used to clean up poop or puke...you don't know.
But I guess this was of no consequence to this morning walker - he saw a treasure and he took it back home to his treasure chest!
Flash forward to Monday - on my way home from work, I passed the house and saw that they had an SUV in the garage loading up miscellaneous items that didn't make it onto the moving truck. On my way home from dance class, later that evening, I saw that by the curbside, not only was there a lot of trash, but a lot of cleaning supplies like dusters, brooms, mops, etc. I guess if you're starting out in a new place, you want to start out with new supplies. My only thought, while looking at their trash was whether I could dump one of my cardboard boxes with their trash since they probably called the trash collectors to let them know they had some big trash items. (It never happened.)
During my morning commute, when I was about to approach the house on my drive, I saw a man, on the opposite side of the road, walking, and holding a broom, a mop and a duster. I had to smile and chuckle...wow! I know their trash seemed pretty paltry, in terms of reusable items but cleaning supplies? Is this man too poor to go out and buy new mops and dusters for his own home and has to resort to using another family's used ones? I mean, you don't know where it's been. Those items could've been used to clean up poop or puke...you don't know.
But I guess this was of no consequence to this morning walker - he saw a treasure and he took it back home to his treasure chest!
Forget Choice - Surprise Me!
Sometimes, I wonder why I bother buying DVDs. Sure, they give me the option to watch what I want, when I want it. But you know what? I'm still going to gamble and see what's on t.v. Case in point: I own every single episode of Sex & the City. I bought each season when it came out because I simply had to have it. And yet, each beautiful DVD set just sits on my shelf while I cuddle up on my couch each night and watch the sanitized TBS version of the show that airs at 11 p.m. It's all about the element of surprise. Which watered down episode will TBS spoon feed me this time?
I've kind of known this to be the case for a long time. It's happened many times before with movies - even the VHS days. Did I ever pull out that copy of The Shawshank Redemption hanging out in my coffee table drawer? Nope. But you can bet your a$$ I got sucked into that movie every single time I came across it while surfing.
Perhaps there was a part of me a long time ago who yearned for the age where an entire television series would be available for purchase. You should ask my mom what she did with all of those VHS tapes filled from beginning to end with episodes of Family Ties. Then again, if I only watched what I had deliberately sought out, I wonder how I would be introduced to anything new.
Is there a point to this? Yes. And it is as wishy washy as they come. My point is that, yes, choice is good. But there is something about being in the moment - the feeling of not knowing what's coming next, that keeps things interesting. Even if what's coming next is familiar and comforting.
I've kind of known this to be the case for a long time. It's happened many times before with movies - even the VHS days. Did I ever pull out that copy of The Shawshank Redemption hanging out in my coffee table drawer? Nope. But you can bet your a$$ I got sucked into that movie every single time I came across it while surfing.
Perhaps there was a part of me a long time ago who yearned for the age where an entire television series would be available for purchase. You should ask my mom what she did with all of those VHS tapes filled from beginning to end with episodes of Family Ties. Then again, if I only watched what I had deliberately sought out, I wonder how I would be introduced to anything new.
Is there a point to this? Yes. And it is as wishy washy as they come. My point is that, yes, choice is good. But there is something about being in the moment - the feeling of not knowing what's coming next, that keeps things interesting. Even if what's coming next is familiar and comforting.
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