The Friday Five

Stranded!It's the "stranded on a desert island" question! You can only take one thing from each category. What is it and why are you taking it?

A food that can be planted and regrown. I would take some type of berry. Probably a raspberry bush. I could eat berries every day. In fact, my old neighbor can vouch for the fact that I am not able to keep my paws off of berry bushes, whether they are mine or someone else's.

A person you haven't seen in a long time. I would probably take my old roommate Charity. We had a big falling out after college and haven't talked in many years. I know she has had a colored past from snippets I've heard here and there... plus Google will tell you a lot about a person. I would like to get the full story of what happened between now and then and get answers to some questions that have been burning in my mind. Plus, she was a very fun person to be around. She was always able to plan a good time. So hopefully after we cleared the air, we could come up with things to entertain ourselves.

A book you (were) read as a child. I always loved the book "Harriet the Spy". I read that book over and over.

A celebrity. I would take George Clooney. He strikes me as someone who would be fun to be around. (And he's easy on the eyes!)

The entire episode run of a television show (it's a very nice desert island). Mash...I love that show. I used to watch this all the time in college. The re-runs are on all the time and yet they never bore me.

My Favorite

My favorite artist is Jackson Pollock. I love his free-for-all style of painting. I would have loved to see him at work on one of his pieces.

I actually got to get up close and personal with a few of his pieces while in New York. It was interesting to see all the "crap" he had mixed in with the paint in some of his work. There were cigarette butts, washer, nuts and bolts, etc. It was so cool.

I just found this website that lets your inner Pollock do it's thing. Click here to try it out!

Holy Cow!

I'm still trying to get the new computer set up to my liking and haven't added any photo stuff yet, so you get a generic post from me. I wanted to post about the new insulation we had blown into the attic and the gigantic mess they left in the driveway (not the house where I expected it!) but I don't have pictures ready yet and I haven't posted anything in a while.

So, I found this picture of a gigantic sting ray found in Thailand and thought it would knock you out with how big it is. I can't imagine snorkeling along and seeing something this huge slide up beside me. (I can't imagine snorkeling either, what with my fear of finding dead bodies in the water, but that's another story)

Check this out:

How cool is this?

I adore this dresser. Doesn't it look fantastic. I wish I knew someone who could make something like this!

Like a pig in heaven

I decided to make Riley's birthday cakes for his kid birthday party. We had a farm theme complete with barns and animals. I used just a regular box cake and canned frosting to make both cakes. Mrs. Betty Crocker has made great improvements in the taste of her cakes. They no longer taste like the box they come in. They are moist and full of flavor.

I found the patterns for both of these cakes on Familyfun.com. They have tons of cake ideas that are easy enough for someone as inept at cake making as myself. The pig cake had a strawberry flavor and the cow was chocolate.

The only hard part about making these cakes was trying to find the right candies to make all the add ons. It is impossible to find black lace licorice in the big town of Helena. I had to cut up regular licorice into small strips.

This is the new "dog" that has come to live at our house. It was a birthday gift to Riley from his Auntie Nille. He's one of those dogs that grows and can be programmed to learn your child's name. I haven't yet programmed him, so he just says "friend" instead of Riley's name. (I know, I'll get around to doing it... hopefully today)

The crazy thing about this dog is as it grows, I swear it's voice gets deeper. The first day it has this cute high-pitched baby voice, but now It sounds like a big burly lumberjack. If that thing starts swearing or telling the kid it needs a beer, his batteries might go missing!

Riley carts this thing all over the house. He has a bit of an animal obsession. He loves anything with four legs.

Put on your bell bottoms and crank the Partridge Family

Can anyone guess where this lovely pattern is found?

On Mrs. Brady's shirt.... no

On a couch found in the back part of the Salvation Army?.... no

This lovely pattern lines the bottom of my silverware drawer. It's been there since we bought the house 6 years ago. It's a lovely piece of carpet and is glued into to drawer. I never think about it until it comes time to clean the drawer and then I have to break out the vacuum to get it clean. Who else has carpeting in their drawers?