The popcorn issue.

I love popcorn. It's one of my favorite snacks.

I use to buy my popcorn in bulk from Costco.

They had a big 12 lb. container that lasted forever.

But like all things at Costco....things come and go and

you can't count on products staying around there.

So one day when I was almost out of popcorn 

I bought the one on the right in the picture at

Meijer. I just grabbed it and put it in my cart.

I have to say I didn't even look at the price.

Some things I just need in my life...popcorn is one of them.

Boy did I get ripped off. It was $5.99.

The much larger one on the left 

was only $3.98 at Walmart.

 I didn't even notice until I had

them both in my cupboard at the same time and 

then I was appalled....and annoyed.

Even if they were the same size and the

Walmart one was cheaper that would have

been bad enough. But the smaller one from

Meijer was $2 more??

What a big difference on a small item.

My trips to Meijer have been almost

non-existant since the popcorn issue.

Sorry Meijer...you lost a customer

over popcorn.

Sweet Shoppe Ideas for my Friends out there

UPDATE: October 2011

Here's  a cute new one we recently did.

I like the words "Sweet Escape" but 

"Sweet Shoppe" or "Sweet Shop" works for me too.

If you'd like to see even MORE variations,

click on another blog post I did on Sweet Shop Ideas.

Sweet Shoppe Ideas from Marlyss Hollyer on Vimeo

 We make a bunch of different styles of 

Sweet Shoppe signs for candy buffets.

Candy Buffets 

 are so popular these days.

And no wonder. 

Who doesn't love candy...both

to eat right there at the party and

to take home too.

No gooey cakes to take home that

you might drop and have an

ucky mess.

As with everything though:

There are rules.

Can't always dig right into

the candy buffet before you

eat your veggies...hence we

had someone order this

"Candy Buffet Closed"

sign from us. 

 

I was playing around with my iphoto slideshow

application to see how it works and 

I made the quirky little video at the top of the page.

I hope it works but just in case it doesn't...

here's one of my favorite Candy Buffet signs we

made for Laura at Mitzvahlicious.

Laura designed it and we made it and we loved it.

Party Decorations: DRUM SETS and BASS DRUMS

We've had fun this year making some new drum

related party decor. Here's one we especially loved 

with this cool logo that the family sent us to use

in the center of the bass drum. It was from their invitation.

On the same track, here's a bass drum that sat on a 

Placecard Table with one of our amp boxes and

a guitar for a musical collage of three. 

We love that rule of 3.  

Now this drum might look 3D but it is actually one dimensional foamcore.

It's very similar to our guitar centerpieces.

Here's a side view.

We've also made centerpieces with

 a different drum look.

These were on a 12" square base and

the banners were the table designations.

We also can make a drum set

Sign In Board featuring your

favorite photo of your hot drummer.

Or....maybe just a fun Welcome Sign to

sit on the table with your place cards?

Or a Memory Book? We do those also and

they cost about 1/2 of what a Sign In Board costs.

It does seem like we've done a lot in blue, black

and silver. But we're open to using other 

colors. It just hasn't happened yet.

Maybe we'll find a girl drummer who

has a set of purple or pink drums.

Wow....that would be wild. 

I'd like that. I'll post an update here

if that happens.

Survivor Redemption Island BUFF I WON!

I don't win many contests. But then I don't enter many. 

But I do watch Survivor and it's one of my most favorite shows. I watch it upstairs in my bedroom.

I followed Jeff Probst's live tweets while the show was playing.

 Except for the week my granddaughter Haley had the 24 hour flu and threw up on my bed just as it was starting. That week I was glad I was taping it so I could watch the rerun but I missed the live tweets because I was...well...you can imagine what I doing instead.

They had a contest to show your "living room" and how you watched Survivor and send over a tweet.

I snapped this picture and sent this Tweet.

I had my ipad set up and my tv on.

Now this isn't the best picture ever and certainly not award winning. But I won a Survivor Buff autographed by Jeff Probst for it. I think I won because it was different than the kind that most people posted. Most people showed a brightly lit living room with kids eating popcorn on the floor. That type of picture. Mine was just different. Maybe it stuck out for that. Whatever the reason, I won a buff!

I had to wait 6 weeks for it but it came just the very next day after I had wondered out loud if I really had won a buff and I wondered where it was. I was an impatient winner.

It's a long stretchy tube of a thing. 

You can wear it around your head like a headband...which is

how I'll probably wear it....or as a neck scarf. I'll probably do that too when the weather here in Michigan isn't hot and humid.

But here's my survivor Haley who survived the flu 

and got to wear it first to our Memorial Day parade 

where it was hot and humid and she was giving away lemonade.

She could wear it as a top. That would never fly with me. 

No way is it THAT stretchy.

 

But I got a major kick out of WINNING!

Spiders...metal and otherwise. I just don't understand.

Some things I don't understand.

I bought this copper spider and spider web years...and I mean

MANY years....before Jacob showed his interest in collecting

tarantulas. It appealed to me and I'm not sure why. 

Actually, I have two.

The other one isn't as coppery cool as this one but, nonetheless,

I willing and gladly purchased it at some art fair.

This one has been hanging in a window on my back porch

for more years than I can remember.

You know how things hang around so long that you don't really

see them anymore?  Well, today I really looked at it. And 

admired it. And was surprised in a way that I hadn't notice

this phenomenon before.   Who started collecting spiders first?

Me or Jacob?

I've never had an urge to own a live spider. I admire the

beauty of some of Jacob's tarantulas. I really do. But I don't

want to hold them and feed them like he does.

But I was surprised at myself. Why had I purchased these so

many years before my Jacob started on his hobby of

tarantula collecting? I wonder if they had some subtle influence

on him as he grew up? 

Or had I myself tapped into something that I unconsciously 

knew I would respond favorably to in my future and share

with my grandson Jacob?

I stared at his sculpture and tried to understand it.

I tried to analyze why I was drawn enough to it to

pay someone for it and hang it in my window.

I couldn't really pinpoint it exactly. 

Why not a frog or a bird?

If I figure it out, I'll let you know.

Until then....well, I guess there are just

some things I don't understand.

Friendly Tarantulas

This summer my grandson Jacob and I are

going on an out of state adventure involving

his tarantula-loving hobby.

I plan on blogging about our adventure here.

We both are looking forward to it.

I find his hobby unique and cool and I've learned

so much about these beautiful creatures. 

But no....I haven't touched one yet.

Even though this one pictured is extremely docile and

easy to handle, I'd really rather just take pictures of it.

And be a cheerleader and enthusiastic person who

enjoys watching someone like Jacob learn and grow and 

have fun with his very unique hobby.

But I really and truly do find them 

to be beautiful creatures and uniquely individual

as we are.

World War II Memory. A very personal story.

My Dad was in the Army in World War II.

He was in the infantry and combat and had some stories to tell. Many of them involved weapons and mortar shells and fox holes and death and harsh living conditions. I'm positive that the things he saw stayed with him until the very end of his life in December 2010 at age 89. I could tell by some of the things he was talking about that those memories were alive and well and never too far from the surface of his mind. 

But in 1944 my Dad received this telegram from the Red Cross.

It's old and crumpled as you can see. 

I'm sure it was wadded up and thrown across the room. 

 I can also see him punching the guy that had the unfortunate 

task of handing it to him.

 I know he did that. What else can you do with 

that anguish when it's handed to you.

I'm sure he then picked up the telegram, smoothed it out and 

carried it home with him and cried over it. I'm sure a DNA test would
find salty tears imbedded in the fibers.

In case you can't read it, here's what it said:

Dr states wifes diagnosis eclampsia.

Caesarean section Dec. 19

Twins. One Dead.

Wife oxygen tent. Prognosis guarded.

Urges presence.

No other problem.

Well....both twins died. 

I'd say there WAS another problem. 

Two boys that would have been my older brothers died.

Boys that already had names picked out. 

My Mother came close to death as well. 

(But I'm happy to report that she is still alive and although grieving heavily for the loss of my Dad this last December, she is surviving and continuing the journey.)

My Dad got to come home from the vicious war and 

was allowed to stay for just a brief time. 

Then he had to go back to the war.

As the years passed and they both reflected on this terribly sad time in their lives, they looked at it as an event that very possibly spared my Dad's life. Where he was at that particular time when he received this telegram was a very dangerous place. 

There were many lives lost.

It may very well be so. 

I personally believe that our lives are more 

planned out than we are aware of. 

We are just living our story. 

That's how I look at it.

Maybe one of those twins finally made it down here. I know I finally got a brother 3 years after I was "baby boomed" into this world after the war was over.

I think it's special that my Dad saved this piece of our family history. He put it in a frame with a V-mail love letter that he wrote to my Mom and that she had saved. 

 (This photo was taken shortly after

my Dad and Mom married in the early 1940's.)

My AWARD for Best Party SHOE Centerpieces & other crazy shoes

What is it about shoes....and especially HIGH HEEL SHOES....
that are just so much darn fun?

 There's lots of analysis on the internet about why

people are so in love with shoes so I won't rehash that information.

What I am going to do is give you my opinion of 

BEST SHOES!

I'll start with 

BEST PARTY CENTERPIECE SHOES 

and give that award to Stacey and I. 

I can do that because this 

is my Blog and I made the rules about an hour ago 

for this awards ceremony. 

But if someone comes along and shows me something

cuter, well.....I may re-consider. But until then...Tah DAH!

Not only are they so dang cute, they were

 fun to make.

These shoes were made from foamcore and

totally unwearable because they are one 

dimensional. But nobody plans on wearing them 

because they were to sit on a dinner table at 

an event with the theme Dancing in the Street.

Now...it could have been for a fashion themed party

or a Sweet 16 or a girly Bat Mitzvah instead. 

One time....years ago....

we did a party called "A.J.'s got sole" and it had

shoes as a theme. Not quite the same as these though and

my pictures of it aren't very good because it was so long

ago that I didn't have a digital camera and didn't know

my pictures weren't so good until they got developed.

But I digress.

Here's some other award winners:

BEST FUNNY SHOE

BEST TOY SHOE

BEST "I COULD MAKE THAT" SHOE

BEST SELF DEFENSE SHOE

BEST DOG SHOE

BEST HALF-A-SHOE

 

BEST JUST TOO HIGH  SHOE

BEST TOILET BOWL SHOE

BEST LONG SHOE

BEST BAREFOOT SHOE

BEST SHOE MOSTLY LIKELY TO FALL ON YOUR FACE IN

BEST SHOE TO NEVER BUY EVER

BEST ROLLING STONES SHOE

BEST SHOE FOR TARANTULA LOVERS

BEST SHOE AS ART FOR THE WALL

BEST SHOE TO MAKE YOU ENJOY SNAKES

BEST TATTOO SHOE....OUCH!!

BEST SHOE TO MAKE ME FEEL NOSTALGIC

Again...I give myself another award.

Yes...my bronzed baby shoe.  Ahhhhh.

I keep it in my fairy themed powder room and

inside it I plunked a hand painted rock with

a baby chicken on it. Don't ask me why. I'm weird like that.

I'm my own room service

A fantasy of mine is to check in a hotel for a week or so and have room service bring me all my meals and take the time to take loads of tutorials on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Uninterrupted.

On a full belly.

Hidden away and just focusing.

And learning.

Well...it isn't happening.

But I can make it almost happen. I can make the food myself and bring it up to my computer and set up my ipad next to my computer.

I received 6 months of tutorials to "Lynda.com" for my birthday from my family. I love that site. I'm soaking up the information whenever I can grab a moment.

I'm making my own room service. Nothing too fancy. After all...that's not where I want to spend my time. Not like what I might order from REAL room service.

But, hey, it's food. It will fill me up.

All I have to do afterwards is shake the crumbs out of my keyboard or wipe the spaghetti sauce or jelly off the keys.

Marlyss I Am

You might think with a name like "Marlyss" I am the only one.

Not so.

There's plenty of us. Enough to have a "Marlys Club" that anyone with a variation of the name can join for $5. I haven't joined. They are in Minnesota and I'd never make a meeting.  In fact, I find it hard to believe myself that there are enough Marlyss's in Minnesota to have more than a couple people meet for coffee at Starbucks. But it looks like they had a crowd. Maybe it's because they posted this following notice on their website and they got a good response. No...I'm not kidding 'ya.

Maybe you won't believe this next piece of information either.

There is a ROCK BAND named MARLYSS. 

Oh yes....really.

They own the domain name "marlyss.com" which should be mine if you'd asked me.

But no....they own it and have a very poor one page website on it.

They play songs like "Termite" and "All the Weeds". 

Don't ask me what I think of their music. Please don't.

But here's something I like.

There's a book and comic strips written about a red haired and freckled little girl named Marlys. It's written by Lynda Barry. You can even buy her book on Amazon and it seems to have wonderful ratings.

Ok....I have red hair and freckles. Well...sorta. Not as red as it used to be and not nearly as many freckles as this Marlys in the book has. Thank goodness for small things!

I'm sure you'll find this "How to Draw Marlys" information very helpful.

Something everyone needs to know. Or not.

This is probably more information than you ever wanted to read about the name "Marlyss". But one last piece of information. My Dad found the name for me. He saw someone with that name and she was very pretty and he thought if he had a daughter that would be a good name for her. Thanks Dad.

Tree of Life and other cut-out names

We cut out names like crazy around here.

Most often they are around 30" or so and

used for Sign In Boards or for Candle 

LIghting Centerpieces for items we make or

to send out to those Do It Yourself folks.

 

These names also work great on the Placecard

table as a sign to welcome and greet the guests.

 

Like Coby's sign plunked right there in the middle.

 

It was a take off on the invitation that had a 

Tree of Life on it and an abstract and slightly funky

kind of Jewish star design.

Funky and whimsical are things I really like.

 

Add great colors to it and I REALLY like it. 

 

On the base we added turquoise and royal blue poufs with a 

new lime green metallic mylar we just found to the mix.

Yum.

I want to change my name to Coby and keep it!