Monster Lips!

I found the above image/recipe on the internet last year... I think it's a martha deal. It's really easy and fun to make with a little one. Sliced apples with peanut butter and candy (candy corn, red hots, gummy worms, ect.), nuts (in different shapes and broken) and raisins to look like teeth. The set of lips in the top right corner have marshmallow creme instead of peanut butter. I think using caramel instead of peanut butter would be rather tasty, also using some of that red candy apple stuff would be cool since it would look like blood! Fun! Here are pumpkinbutt and my Monster Lips:

And here we are trying to look scary!

it's the most wonderful time of the year....

yay! My favorite time of year! A time of year when it's okay to leave the house without make up and folks just think you're wearing a witches mask!

i am hoping to be decorating this "house" with a bunch of cool halloween posts since i don't think i am going to be decorating my real one. I just started back to school and will be some kinda busy for the next few months.

The above image came from a very cool book: Goth-Icky. A Macabre menagerie of Morbid Monstrosities with text by Michael J. Nelson of MST3K fame.

Goofy Golf !!! Panama City

I was going to tell you all that I do have a birthday that seems to happen about once a year at some point...but luckily I didn't have to ( mary ann!! wink, wink). So on with the birthday biz! I have been asking for the same 3 things for my birthday for the past 5 years....pink cake, goofy golf, and to play the bowling game at my favorite "dive" called the elbow room. The goofy golf in my town was devastated by Hurricane Ivan 2 years ago so we drove 2 hours away to go to the BIG Goofy Golf in Panama City. It was built in 1959 and is bad ass!!! This was my first time going to this one.

The monkey was my favorite! His eyes glowed red and his dryer-hose-looking-tail swung side to side! CUTENESS!

That big purple dinosaur is the coolest! And you can go inside him! See below!

My promo shot to be the next crocodile hunter.

Inside this guy was a spiral staircase that went all the way to a lookout point at the top.

my other favorite! I like how he is gingerly holding the chain to raise the monkey up and down yet has such a pissed off look on his face.

These photos don't even show the half of the stuff at this place, just the coolest of the cool. Among the other stuff is a really huge man-made underground cave, a Egyptian sphinx, a pirate boat, a few other dinosaurs, a rocket, a wooden haunted house, a goony bird, a snake, a Buddha, a castle....All in all, there are two courses with a total of 36 holes. But I'm not going to lie to you, some of the holes and their corresponding attractions have seen better days.

So what is this Goofy Golf all about you ask?

"In 1958, Lee Koplin reinvented and reenergized the idea of mini golf when he opened Goofy Golf in Florida. Suddenly, unlike its predecessors, obstacles became oversized. Giant dinosaurs, pyramids and other kooky sculptures towered over the putting areas. Goofy Golf dwarfed the idea of Tom Thumb golf and gave the game an amusement park feel. Even sculptures that were not part of the game were set up along the walkways to add to the surreal fantasy landscape."...Statement blatantly stolen from somewhere.

The other really exciting thing (at least to me) is that they still had original vintage post cards for sale! Here are a couple, Check it:

(this card shows that hand pose nicely)

(this card shows a bunch of stuff that is not there anymore, 'cept in the background is that wooden haunted house I spoke of)

more photos and info from one of my favorite sites, Roadside Architecture.


Other birthday happenings: Dixie Doll Kat called me first thing that morning and sung Happy Birthday as Marilyn Monroe-ish. And she is getting me a very interesting present .. I'll share once it happens (I'm the hold up!). She took me out on the town last weekend and bought me drinks and we played the bowling game... it was good times. No pink cake though (pink cake= that imitation strawberry prefab cake mix with prefab strawberry icing, yum yum!) . One year I am going to make myself a 3D pink dinosaur cake, yes siree! ..or maybe I'll do a few small cakes that are differnet goofy golf attractions! Aww, forget that! It's MY birthday! I should be getting a foot rub or something by Johhny Depp (in character as Ed Wood of course) while John Flansburg of tmbg sings me happy birthday in his skivees and a Mexican sombero... ahhh...that would be a grand birthday!

Back to reality....my birthday has come and gone....and left me as an old lady...Seriously.. I am an old lady...like, break-a-hip old.

Lovies!

Mary Ann sent me a huge package of things last week to help cheer me up! And it absolutely did. Look at all of this great stuff I got!

First off, she made me this adorable apron. It is made from a very delicate white dotted fabric along with.. I am thinking the floral print is from a bedsheet? Along the edges is white eyelet ruffle trim. The bottom section is pockets and that is where all my goodies I am about to show off where 'hidden'.


An extremely funny card (I put up here a few days ago), marble magnets, a bracelet and a little magnetized closure pouch (isn't that fabric the most !)

Then these two necklaces. The one on the left has a clear glass pendant with swirled green accents on a black satin cord. The necklace on the right...omg...I LOVE it...The pendant is a bezel set flat glass marble with a singles ad underneath saying: "Pretty Kitty Seeks Alley Cat" along with the rest of the ad. This has got to be one of the best ideas I have seen in a long time and so well made.
And did you notice that everything is color coordinated? That gal just thinks of it all! I don't know if it's clear or not but she made all of these things (other than the card) !!!!! She has a on-line shop a very mary design, that I highly recommened you checking out!

Thanks so much for the cheery package mary ann!!!!

Oh! The things you can do with wieners!

Serving up some leftovers! :

Greetings dear Swapatorium readers!

I bring you this lovely Wiener Crown Roast
to delight and amaze!

It is fully endorsed by Dr. Stupid, I might add.

So are you amazed? Are you just dying to make one of these to impress or depress your friends and family? It would be the perfect dish to bring to your bi-weekly Wieners are Wonderful meeting. Just call around first to make sure that someone else isn't bringing the same thing... That would be oh so embarassing! Read on for the behind the scenes secrets!

I based my Crown O' Wieners after these two images* of wieners in action:

However both of the above recipes have cabbage/sour kraut shacking up in the middle...sooo not happening in my house! I decided to alter the innards to something else that I thought would be more appetizing, afterall, folks I do have to eat these meals. (I used cornbread and chili). I have no recipe measurements to offer only how to construct this. I made a pan of cornbread and cut out 2 round same size pieces. First, slice hotdogs lengthwise stopping short of the outer skin so both sides stay connected. Next, take one piece of the cornbread, place on plate and start toothpicking (not sure that is a real word but you get what i mean!) opened wieners into cornbread. Add some chili in middle section placing the other piece of cornbread on top (toothpick same as earlier). Fill to the top with more chili. The green onion ribbon is to hide the toothpicks and adds a bit of extra stability and flair. Garnish that baby up because we all know that garnish makes a meal taste better because it looks better! That's just a little bit of advice that I offer for free, next time it'll cost you.

ps... I like having any excuse I can find to say the word "wieners"....It makes me laugh.


Enjoy!

~mary~

* images from WeightWatchers Recipe card found via internet and Family Circle Library of Cooking

Update! Looky what i found at a thriftstore this weekend!!!!! The complete set of WeightWatcher's recipe cards!!!! I won't be making the "Makerally" but there are quite a few other disturbing recipes/images that are going to be turning stomachs in the near future around here..............

and i forgot to mention this in the swapatorium post but there is a flicker group by a chic that was written a book on a few of the recipes from this weightwatchers series (thanks amanda for sending me that link!)It's worth a look-see.

Join Us!

Well then...Why not sneak off to the swapatorium? That's where I am hiding out today!


*this extremely funny image is from a card sent to me from mary ann!

Kitschy Crap

I got this book, Kitschy Crafts, as a gift this week. It highlights a few different crafts from the mid century to now. I'm just going to say it...the book kinda sucks. It has great use of layouts, fonts/text and images but the how-to and the craft selections are very mediocre....caprisun juice packet purse (seen it! and didn't think it was such a great idea anyway)... record bowls (cool, but they are in very single alternacraft book out there)...tie dye (this was never a good idea...ever! and even thinking about it makes me queasy and there are a million online how-to's for it I'm sure).

So anything interesting at all? I did find out that those grape cluster deals at antique malls are a handmade craft! The book tells how to make them but its pages long and is asking too much of me and my time. That is one cool lamp though!


As a side note I want to thank everyone for the kind emails and comments I have been getting about my 'sock drawer'... It's still in disarray and I don't know when I will be able to get it really taken care of and life has to go on right?