The Jujyfruit Family Mash! (A Very Belated Treat)

OK, I know Halloween is long past by now, but I didn't stumble across this fun video until this morning and I simply couldn't resist.

I decided that since I'm sitting here picking fun-sized Snickers bar out of my teeth, it's still current enough!

(snicker)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

P.S. That time I meant the other kind of snicker.
P.P.S. Well, fine, you caught me -- BOTH kinds! Bwahahaaa... *sound of wrapper crinkling*

Yearbook Yourself

In case you've been wondering, even though my last post said I was "going back to bed" I haven't actually been sleeping this whole entire time.

I probably could have. (I probably should have.)

But, no, little sleeping has occurred. Instead, I've been working. Working and working and working. I'd post evidence but I'm too tired. (From all that working.)

Instead, let me just sit here and relax while I entertain you with photos of me from yearbooks past.

1952

The love child of Carol Burnett and Lily Tomlin, perhaps? I'm quite liking the dark hair on me. Or perhaps it is the 20-pounds-lighter face shape I am enjoying. I'm not sure.

*****
19601960 was a fine year for me, too. Although, getting my limp hair to do *that* on a daily basis would have been quite a challenge! (Not to mention the whole tiny waist & big pointy bosom thing.) I think my aunt might have this exact same photo in her actual yearbook. Or one that's eerily similar, anyway.

*****
1962That ultra-feminine, be-ribboned updo is fooling no one.

*****
1966Jujyfruit as That Girl.

*****
1968My cousin, Hannah!

*****
1970

And a slightly more distant cousin.

*****
1974

Add braces and pimples and a skinny tie -- it's 8th grade all over again.

*****
1978

I smell Breck shampoo.

*****
1984

I smell prom.

*****
1986

Amy, is that you? Or is it me? I'm confused!
*****

1988

My MOM! (Her sweater was greenish. Remember?)

*****
1990

I had this hair, minus the side wisp. (And my friend had those glasses.)

See?? Actual 1990! (just oddly missing some curl on the side)

*****
1992

The long nails help me remember this is not my real senior picture.

*****
1998

If I could have gotten the left side of my own hair to swoop up as high as this, I probably would have.

*****
2000

This one stumps me. Long, straight hair? Off-the-shoulder top? Totally unfamiliar. (Except for that one Halloween...)

I sorta feel like I should go dig through boxes and scan in some more old photos to document the evidence behind my comments. But that just sounds like more work.

Instead, I'm just going to give you a link so you can go Yearbook Yourself, too. It's fun!

Back to School!!

(my mental image brought to life with magical assistance from cornify & picnik)

I think this one pretty much speaks for itself. (grin)

Star in Your Own Movie Clip: More Internet Fun!

Here's another fun internet find for your viewing pleasure: my husband as Curly in City Slickers.



The customizable clip was offered as one of the choices for Father's Day viral marketing fun from Oddcast. (Office Space, Back to School, The Terminator, Dodgeball, and Robocop are also available if you prefer.)

Go to mymoviemoment.com to try it yourself!

And here's a tip: The face dubbing works better on some clips than others, so if your first effort doesn't work well, try a different clip! For example, Old School is a really funny diving clip...but would work best for someone with blonde or gray hair since the face shots are fleeting and a bit distorted (which rendered my dark-haired husband completely unrecognizable.) Just keep trying.

Face in Hole = An Entire Afternoon Gone! (But Definitely Not Wasted.)

I love finding fun new internet sites -- especially ones that are creative, interactive, and FREE! And, boy, I stumbled across a great one yesterday!

FaceinHole.com is a site that allows you to insert your face into a variety of scenarios to create a hilarious new picture. There's no software to download, it's easy to use, and the results are great. The existing scenarios cover a fairly wide range -- animals, art, sports, pop culture, celebrities -- and the site says you can even create your own, though I haven't tried that feature yet.

I fooled around with this all day, adding my husband's face here and there and just basically cracking myself up.

Look at these!

Admittedly, some scenarios work better than others...

...but faceinhole is definitely going in my bag of tricks!

Now I just have to figure out a way to use all these photos... (cue evil laughter!)

Hey, Look! I'm on Cake Wrecks!

Well, a photo of mine is, anyway. And I've been grinning non-stop about contributing a wreck to the gallery of cakes over there! (Is it weird that I am so amused by this? No? Oh, good!)

My Blurry Cell Phone Photo Featured on Cake Wrecks!

I was out shopping a few days before Father's Day and spotted some disturbing cupcakes that made me immediately think of Cake Wrecks.

At first glance, it just looked like an innocent 6-pack of chocolatey Father's Day cupcakes, decorated in festive blues & greens....

Hey, look! Chocolate cupcakes!

...but on second glance, they looked like 6 festive little piles of crap! Literally!

Ewww!

The coiled, glistening freshness of each mound was so disturbing that I half expected to see steam rising from each and flies buzzing around under the plastic dome.

Father's Day Steamers for that very special someone.

I hate to admit it, but these crapcakes were from my beloved Target store. They do so many things right over there that I can overlook this one small misstep. (But Target bakers, if you are listening, you might want to consider applying the chocolate frosting with a slightly different technique next time!)

I suppose these cupcakes could be exactly what some people are looking for on Father's Day. Like if your dad is a dairy farmer. Or... a septic tank cleaner! Or if he sucks.

*****

If you aren't familiar with the Cake Wrecks site, you really need to go check it out; it's a very funny place featuring professionally decorated cakes that are -- you guessed it -- wrecks! They might be funny, misspelled, distorted, ugly, silly, or just plain strange. You'll love it.

The Inner Workings of a Brilliant Mind. (heh)

I was thinking today about how great it would be if there were some kind of futuristic invention that could help get the ideas from inside my head into a concrete form outside of my head. And then I remembered....oh, yeah. That's called "a blog."

But what I really meant is some kind of invention that would help me keep those thoughts organized and sorted and illustrated with images that would help convey my thoughts. And then I remembered....oh, yeah. That's called "Blogger."

But I really meant, more specifically, that I don't always have the right photos or drawing skills to use for those illustrations, and even if I did, the images I have in my head aren't always a REAL item, but rather some concept I picture with things that are smooshed together or altered or exist solely in my imagination! THAT'S what I need -- a futuristic invention that can instantly replicate those mental images! And then I remembered....oh, yeah. Those are called "Google Images" and "PhotoShop."

So I guess what I really meant is that I need something to make using all those nifty inventions just easier or more frequent. And then I remembered....oh, yeah. That's called "Motivation." (Or, actually, now that I think about it again, it is also sometimes called "AdSense"....though that wasn't really the type of motivation I was originally thinking about. Perhaps one day...)

Anyway, this brilliant brainstorming session really helped me see precisely what I need in order to get more posting done: Motivation & PhotoShop! I'm pretty sure I can pick those on ebay. Ebay's got everything!

I felt so much better after working out this solution to my writer's block...

And then I got to thinking, really, it's not so much "writer's block" as it is "writer's detour." I have plenty of material. I have a folder full of drafts that I simply haven't published. Yes, the ideas are plentiful, but the actual typing and explaining and proof-reading and fixing and making sense to other people get me all bogged down. It's like a long, bumpy, unpaved one-lane dirt road that is unpleasant enough to travel that you sometimes choose not to go even though you really like getting to the other side. (simile!) It's road construction that goes on and on and on, and every time you drive past the workers are taking donut breaks or gathering on the shoulder while leaning on their shovels and admiring their past progress and discussing how to proceed. (metaphor!) And then there are all those distractions along the side of the road. It's sitting down at the computer to drive type, but then reading interesting news headlines and then being sidetracked by daily blog reading and interesting links and then getting some more coffee and -- shoot! I'm still thinking about donuts and I need to get groceries anyway and I could pick up donuts while I'm at the store, and then while I'm out and about I go right past Target and I wonder if that mirror I've been looking at is on sale today?, and then its almost time for the kids to get home and woah where did the day go and now it's almost supper time and it feels so good to sit down and put my feet up for a minute and please hand me the the remote because I wonder what's on Bravo tonight and I'll just check real quick and how on earth did those women not know they were pregnant?? and what? -- it's bedtime already?! (literal!!)

And, hey! Speaking of metaphors & similes, I just had another flash of insight: ideas are like meteors! They're sometimes brilliant. and always fleeting and sudden and unexpected and if you blink you might miss them and if you don't get to the computer fast enough to write them down they just vanish into thi

A Google Giggle to Jump-Start Your Day!

I knew today was April Fool's Day. I mean, yesterday I looked up Family Fun's fake food of the year (fish sticks & peas) and rounded up the ingredients; I printed out some unsolvable puzzles for the kids to work on; I made a bag of CreativiTea (the Earl Gray Matter)...

...but I still had a moment of utter disgust when I read the announcement on my gmail sign-in page this morning. For just a moment, I believed. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

(click to enlarge)

Then I remembered what day it was.

I clicked to read more about CADIE, and the prank got even funnier:


Really, you must go check out her website. And for further giggles, read some of the comments; they are funny in both directions -- from those who obviously caught on to the joke and responded in kind, and from those who...well, didn't. (Artificial intelligence, indeed!)

What a fun way to start the day -- thanks, gmail! You've inspired me to go do a few pranks of my own.

Happy Foolin', everyone!

It's My Birthday!

I'm 39 years old today.

I think the years are beginning to show.

Grow old along with me at Age-O-Matic...

...and send your results to jujyfruitmcgee@gmail.com.

I think that might make me feel better.

Top Chef Season 5: Our Quickfire Family Challenge

As you might recall, we are big fans of Top Chef. BIG fans! We taped the new one (Season 5, Episode 8: Down on the Farm) this week and watched it together last night. You can read a full episode recap over there, but the part that really caught our interest was the QuickFire Challenge at the very beginning of the episode.

In that challenge, the chefs had 15 minutes to make a dish from an assortment of canned and processed ingredients. While the chefs were slightly dumbfounded and made many comments about how hard it was to cook with that type of food (instead of the hand-delivered, fresh whole ingredients to which they are accustomed), I found myself thinking that it just sounded like a typical midweek mealtime dilemma to me!

Sure, there was stuff in there that even I, an ordinary canned food user, have never even purchased and would find extremely challenging to use -- like SPAM, for example. I admit to thinking it a bit beneath me...so it's only natural that these up-and-coming gourmet chefs would too, right? But, listen to this -- the winning QuickFire dish was one that used the Spam!

(And as a total aside here, if you read the episode recap I linked to above, past winner Stephanie Izard sings Spam's praises in her blog....which makes me wonder if I am actually missing something! Do I need to try some Spam??)

After watching the episode, my son and I decided we were going to try the canned & packaged pantry challenge for ourselves. We started the timer and rushed off to investigate our available ingredients.

There was a lot of stuff in the pantry cupboard, but it was a challenge to find things that seemed likely to pair well together in an inventive combo...or that would be done quickly enough.

...So we decided anything in the fridge should be fair game, too. We pulled out a variety of options, and then quickly made our game plan for THREE separate dishes.

Depressing or inspiring? Depends how you look at it...

The first dish was inspired by Ramen Noodles, a pack of Teriyaki Salmon, and a head of lettuce.

Eww! (It's been in the cupboard for months, just waiting for someone to give it a try...)

We threw the salmon in a skillet to heat...but it looked pretty unappetizing and definitely needed to be doctored up a bit. We added soy sauce and rice wine vinegar...and ginger! (I realize this isn't a typical pantry item, but we decided it was the perfect addition.)

Fresh ginger -- lucky us!

After sauteing together, the ginger mellowed and the sauce reduced to a delicious caramelized coating.

It's a miracle that Junior has never actually burned his NOSE while watching me cook.

We used lettuce leaves as a base, then layered in the Ramen noodles and salmon. We sprinkled crushed peanuts over each filled lettuce cup, but it was way too salty.

I bet the Top Chef kitchen doesn't have one of these ever-useful, old-fashioned potato mashers...

Checking the pantry and fridge once more, we mixed up a sweet sauce to drizzle over the cups and garnished each with fresh lime.

With a little cilantro & mint, it would have been the perfect Thai dipping sauce.

Here's the finished dish: Asian Lettuce Wraps with Teriyaki Salmon.

Despite taking so many pictures, it seems I neglected to take pictures of the next dish's humble beginnings. So instead, I will simply take a picture of its humble ending and label the layers.

Meet dish number 2: Inner Beauty Briskettes, the appetizer with a great personality. (Bubbs summed it up well when he urged, "Try them! They taste a lot better than they look!")

Good thing the plate was colorful...

Surprisingly tasty, but definitely missing something fresh. Or something not brown.

The third dish was, admittedly, a bit of a cheat. It would equal sudden death in a real Top Chef challenge, but was a lovely little addition to our menu.

There was a leftover pan of cream cheese brownies sitting on the counter...

...and some Hershey's syrup and whipped cream in the fridge.

Voila! Dish number three: Double Chocolate Pastries with a Duo of Cream!

Because "Prepared Brownie Mix with Canned Whipped Cream Leftover From Thanksgiving" just didn't sound right.

The three dishes were presented to our Esteemed Panel of Judges (also known as Our Family, thus including both of us chefs...but not Tootsie, who heard the word "salmon" and caught a glimpse of Inner Beauty Briskettes and promptly resigned).

Judge Number 1 gave the menu a very solid Thumbs Up.

Judge Number 2 enthusiastically agreed, giving it Two Pointy Fingers.

Judge Number 3 (me), put her camera down and chowed.

Judge Number 4, Head Judge for this event, had the honor of announcing the winner...

...Asian Lettuce Wraps with Teriyaki Salmon, you are the winner for this challenge!

Inner Beauty Briskettes, please pack your knives and go.

(Double Chocolates with your Duo of Cream, you know you don't really count because you have immunity. Still, your performance tonight was integral to the success of your team, and you will remain safe.)

Congratulations to our winner!