December Crazies

December's a crazy time in our family.  Finals are here for Megan, the house needs to be decorated with ALL THE THINGS, there are fifteen bajillion church services to plan and sing--sometimes you just want to FLY AWAY!

Yeah, I think I got a little crazy.  But seriously, I think if I flap hard enough, my hair might be able to lift me up off the ground.  Megan could grab my foot, and we'd just fly away.  Probably go to Port Orford.

Silly videos isn't the only way we relieve December Stress, though.

It was an ordinary Thursday, except the following day, Megan had a final.  So, I guess it wasn't so ordinary, now that I think of it.  We had been shopping for our Angel Tree girl, who wanted a Guitar and a Piano.  With the help of Toys "Backwards R" Us and Wal-Mart, we made that happen.

"What do you want for dessert?" she asked.

He didn't reply immediately but instead stared at the ceiling for a good fifteen seconds.  "I don't know.  I never know. What about a pot brownie from Freebirds?"

"Well...ok, if you want."

He drove on, the lights from the Wal-Mart parking lot dancing on the windshield of the car.  They were almost to Freebirds when he saw it.

"Wait," he said.  "Wait a damn minute.  What about Froyo?"

The U-Swirl place was right next to Freebirds.  It called to them, beckoning.  Come inside, it said.  Come get some sprinkles with a side of yoghurt.  You know you want the sprinkles.

He turned the car into the parking lot.  "Let's do this."


*******

Ok, perhaps that was a tad dramatic, but let me tell you: this was life-changing.  We're getting our yoghurt. (aside: Who came up with the spelling for that one?). I'm filling up on sprinkles, as is my want, when I see it:

O M G

Christmas Tree Cakes.  Just waiting there for me to eat them.  You could have as many as you want.  You could just fill an entire cup with them. Well, I'm not a glutton.  I'm only getting one.

That's what I'm talking about

In another bin, Megan saw something amazing, too.  Seems this store has a Little Debbie fan as the owner, because they had SANTA BROWNIES.

Mouth or Nose? We say Mouth.  Santa has a Hipster Grin.

So yes, friends, as my wife declared, this was the best decision of the whole day.  BEST DECISION.

Christmas.  In Froyo Form.

How I unwind from finals

I love old magazines.

Maybe it's the fashions, maybe it's the peek into a different time period...

Of BERLIN you say!  Have psychiatrists heard about this?

Maybe it's how happy it makes me that I didn't live back then...

When I'm working the desk, and I don't have any homework I need to do, Cameron likes to get me some old magazine volumes from the stacks so I have something to do besides play Farmville 2 stare at the computer screen for hours.

They are beautiful, hilarious, and bizarre.

Today, I bring you strange ads from issues of Good Housekeeping from the 1930s.  

No, this room needs to be destroyed.

The issues from this era, on the whole, seem to be trying to lift the morale of depression era housewives, telling them they can still have nice homes, eat good food, and raise well-rounded children on a limited income.  There are articles about how to can preserves, how to stretch that dollar, how to make something from practically nothing - together with short stories, poems, and non-fiction pieces.  It's like someone literate person printed out their Pinterest feed, went back in time, and started selling it to people.

Stewie was so innocent back then...

I could go on and on about what I've discovered looking through these magazines, but this is finals week.  So, if you taking a break from writing, studying, or grading, take a deep breath and thank God that you live in an era with the internet, indoor plumbing, and the ability to pursue whatever job you want (whether you're a man or a woman).  And that no one is calling your lips "common".