The Inflatable-est thing I saw today.

There is a house near my home that loves to celebrate with inflatables- to the max!

Every holiday they their yard is literally overflowing with giant blow-up figures that I am sure fill the neighbors with joy and happiness!

I did not even know they made inflatable figures for some of these holidays.

Halloween of course is no exception. So let me toast their handiwork:


Seriously, my picture cannot do this house justice. They have more inflatables than I could fit in the picture!

If you are in Minneapolis, this house is just a 2 or 3 blocks East of the Chatterbox Pub and just west of Hiawatha. You should go and take in its glory! Remember that their winter holiday display is just around the corner!

Happy Halloween!!

The spookiest thing I saw today.

So I was hanging out with my 8 year old niece and I mentioned how much I love Halloween decorations (it is actually practically a problem as I have more decorations than I do square footage in my condo! Good thing my husband loves them too or it would be a long life).

Anyway, she drew this pumpkin for me:

Now I am exploiting it and using it as a blog entry...

I mean, now I can use it to get us all pumped up for HALLOWEEN!!!

Ow!

OH! I am hosting a Halloween party on Saturday with a friend and there is a coloring contest. If you want to enter, you could color and caption this and e-send it back to me! I would be proud to hang it up.

The smart assiest thing I saw today.

On the 16th Street Mall in Denver, I saw a man down on his luck with a new plan for making a living:





I give him points for being clever, but I guess I still owe him a dollar.

Since you read this, do you owe me or him a dollar?

The Speediest thing I saw today.

I was in lovely Denver, Colorado last week for work. Our hotel was on 16th Street, a pedestrian mall with electric buses that go up and down the street for people who would rather not walk.

Cars and bikes are not allowed on the mall. The buses are the only wheeled vehicles allowed on the mall. Or so I thought:




(I actually drew this by hand quickly on the plane and added the color online.)

This is one of several wheel chairs that I saw cruising down the mall where the buses roam.

Well played wheel chair users, well played.

The Earthiest thing I quickly drew today.

I drew this abstract and inaccurate picture of Earth because today people are uniting to blog about the environment.



Seemed like a great idea to me, though I am not environmental expert.

So this is a friendly reminder that we live on Earth and we should be nice to Earth.

I encourage you to check out other blogs and things out there to learn something new.

Now I am off to do some recycling and try to reduce my environmental footprint.

Oh here is a little about me today!

I was tagged by Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein to write 7 things about myself. see my list below.

I am suppose to tag 7 others to do the same, so if they are game, I would like to hear from:

Up Popped A Fox

Truth Surfer

Random Acts of Motherhood

Citizen of Flinn

Escape From The Scooby Doo Mansion

Black Coffee

Urban Pedestrian

And awaaaaaaaay we go:

1. I do not bring it up often, but I love Garth Brooks and some other late ‘90s country music. I have all of his albums, even that weird alter ego Chris Gaines album- which is not as bad as one might think.



2. If I had the power (or WHEN I have the power) I would ensure that everyone had a paid holiday from work on their birthday. We all deserve at least that day to take time for ourselves guilt and worry free.



3. One of my favorite things to do used to be filing my CD collection in alphabetical order by artist, then in chronological order by artist. When I moved more often, I would save this unpacking task until I could be alone and savor the job. Now that I use digital media for listening to my music most of the time, I get sad when I file away CDs that I have been using. I know that I am less linked to my music collection now and I miss the excitement of an album being released or searching for a used treasure at Cheapo.



4. I was a waitress in college, so I was almost always busy on Friday and Saturday nights. When I had one of those nights off, I cherished it and always did something fun with the time. After I stopped waiting tables, it took me years to allow myself to just relax on Friday and Saturday nights. I had this urge to fill them all with excitement because they were so special in my mind. I am over that now. I spent last Saturday night sewing and watching movies alone- and it was grand.



5. I recently took a weekend job as a counter server at a wonderful artisan bread shop. While the idea of getting to work by 6:30am does not thrill me, the job has actually been fabulous. The shop is always busy, the time flies, the customers are nearly all regulars who love to shop there, there are fun people who work with me and the owners are so dedicated. Surprisingly, I am actually a little bummed when I do not work there on the weekends.
(actual footage)


6. I have a very hard time waking up in the morning. This has been a historical problem. For years I have had multiple alarm clocks and even now my Mom actually calls me every work day to make sure I get up. However, if my bedroom door is closed and you open it I will bolt upright in bed. I guess my subconscious is ready to respond to an intruder.



7. I love when we get a thick snow cover overnight. I love when the trees limbs are heavy with white flakes and the yard is pristine- no foot prints or snow angels or anything. I really wish that everyone could stay home on these mornings to just snuggle up, look out the window, and enjoy the simplicity and calm of the new snow. The ugly truth is that life must move onward and that the new snow causes problems with traffic and tends to make people crabby.
   
   
   
   

The Securest thing I saw today.

Bikers have been stirring up attention in Minneapolis and some of it has been very sad.

Walking up the block the other day I saw a bike cleverly stored away from your everyday bike theif:


The bike was suspended 2 floors up, hanging out a window. It was secured by a rope that was slammed in the window and I assumed it was balanced on the very thin vanity ledge on the building.

I suppose they either:

1: pulley the bike up by the rope every day for storage

2: shove the bike out the window

3: are very tall, and therefore too tall for the bike

4: rarely use the bike

5: See it as an art installation

Either way, I commend their efforts!

In a similar vein, check out this tree suspended off a building in Paris.

The eye rolliest thing I HEARD today.

Ok, I did not SEE this, I heard it, lived it, and I had to share.

Someone knocked the side view mirror off of our car last night:




-not the end of the world, but I had to call and make an insurance claim.


I spoke to a lovely lady with a southern accent. She is probably in some call center somewhere and not in Minneapolis.




She suggested a repair shop that I had used in the past.

Being tired and annoyed that I was even making this call, I muttered aloud, but to myself, "I did not like that shop and they are hard to get to with the bridge detour."

She said, "You mean that bridge that collapsed? They haven't fixed that yet?" She said it with a tone that said "What's wrong with you people up there?" or "What could possibly be delaying the repairs?".

Sigh.

I explained to her that it is was a big bridge (6 lanes wide), over a big river and that it was a big mess that is still being sorted out.

In my crabbiness, I thought about telling her that people are still sorting out Hurricane Katrina too.

She just changed the subject.

I only wish that money, politiking, logistics, and the onset of Minnesota winter would not delay such construction (and other diaster repairs all over the who wide world).

The Dog is my Co-Pilot-est thing I saw today.

Walking through the neighborhood, I saw a loyal pet owner taking his best friend and some other guy on a drive:


The Some other guy had to sit in the back seat. Apparently the dog is a better navigator.