Wordless Wednesday: Anole Lizard Camouflage

Cereals I Miss

Don't you hate it when a product you love is discontinued?  And you wish you'd known it was going to happen so you could prepare for the product apocalypse by visiting every store you can think of and buying them out of every last one of those items?  It is always my fervent wish that these items would make a comeback and suddenly reappear on store shelves. 

The two cereals I remember and miss the most were Smurfberry Crunch and Dunkin' Donuts cereal.  The Dunkin' Donuts cereal box was divided in half with chocolate on one side and glazed on the other.  They were shaped like mini donuts (or Cheerios, whatever). 

                

But even more than Dunkin' Donuts Cereal, I loved the Smurfberry Crunch cereal.  They were dark blue and red roundish star-shaped pieces (supposed to look like Smurf Berries of course!) that tasted a lot like the berries in Cap'N Crunch.  But way better!  I was devastated when they stopped making this cereal.  I would buy the Crunch Berries cereal (the one with nothing but berries) hoping it would fill the void, but alas, I was destined to bear the sorrow of breakfast cereal despair. 





Maybe since they are making a new Smurfs movie they'll get around to bringing back the cereal! 


Dunkin' Donuts Cereal images found here.
Smurfberry Crunch image found here.

Hope Springs Eternal. And So Do the Weeds.

When visiting my parents' house recently, I noticed they had a little something extra on their door mat.  They have one of those coconut coir mats, with the really rough, porous material.  Sometime this year a little seed found its way into the weave of their doormat and made itself a home!  This little baby is growing right in the doormat, and seems to be doing quite well.  It's kind of cute, isn't it?  I mean, you know, for a weed and all.

Tiny Backyard Visitor

Yesterday morning I mowed the back lawn, and afterwards I let the dogs out so they could play.  As I opened the back door, Pixie charged out and almost immediately stopped to sniff something fascinating on the door mat.  I shooed her away when I realized it was a teeny, tiny little frog.  Or toad, I guess I should say.  I couldn't believe how small it was.  It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen!  It instantly reduced me to mental baby-talk. "Awww, awen't you just the cutest wittle toady-woady?"  I ran inside to grab my camera and I shot several pictures of it.  It didn't move a muscle, even when I had it on my macro setting and had the camera right on top of it.  If it wasn't for his little sides moving in and out as it breathed, I might have wondered it if were still alive.  I guess it didn't find me very intimidating. Must have been the baby talk.  There is a small chance I had one of those "Did I say that out loud?" moments. 

Anyway! Moving on.

I wanted to get a shot that would give a sense of scale, so I went back inside to get a dime to place next to it.  The little toad was still there when I got back, although it did eventually make one huge hop as I fussed with the right placement of the dime.  But then it sumbitted to my photo shoot again.  Don't you love it when nature is so accommodating? 

World's Smallest Cheese Grater!

I was visiting my parents recently when I found this itty bitty little grater in their kitchen.  I couldn't get over how tiny it was.  For some reason it just really tickled me how small it was.  It looked so useless!  I kept calling it the Barbie Cheese Grater.  After taking pictures of it next to two quarters my mom had lying on her desk, I finally asked Dad why they had such a miniscule grater.  He informed me that it's for spices and garlic and stuff like that. Which of course makes much more sense, but it's just not as fun that way.  We decided that I could always use it to grate those individually packaged snack sticks of cheese - like string cheese!  But of course the best part of eating string cheese is being able to "play" with it.  I love pulling off all those dainty threads of cheese! So if I want one of these adorable graters for my own, I guess I'll just have to start using whole nutmeg like Rachel Ray.  Apple pie, anyone?

Smarter than Your Average Can of Beans

Earlier this year, back when it was still cold and the thought of a nice hot bowl of chili sounded really appetizing, I came upon a can of Ninja Beans.  Actually, the beans weren't ninja - it was the can.  They slyly sat on my shelf looking all innocent and harmless.  The truth didn't come out until it was time to make the chili.  The can - the perfectly round, undented, unflawed can - had a secret.  Someone had been teaching this can how to master the art of unopenability.  It meditated daily and practiced its newfound skills.  If it could master these skills in time, it would be able to withstand even the sharpest and strongest of can openers!

Luckily for me, the can had not yet reached the master level, although it did give me a run for my money.  (About $0.88.)  I caught the can off guard with my trusty manual can opener.  No fancy machines needed here!  But soon the can called on its training and began to fight back.  Suddenly the blade on my can opener was having no effect on the formerly weak metal.  I squeezed the handles harder, and I cranked and cranked the can opener, all to no avail.  Yet I was not about to give up!  I tried to pry up the edge of the lid enough to pour out the beans, but too much of the lid was still holding firm.  I needed to find a way to cut away more of the can.  I was determined.  I wanted my freaking chili, darn it!  So I took my can opener and manhandled that can to the best of my abilities.  I banged, and I twisted.  I worked the sharp edge at a different angle against the can.  By now the can was all kinds of warped and it was getting harder and harder to even reach the can anymore. 

At this point, my mind had started to go fuzzy with frustration.  There is a distinct possibility that I may have contemplated using my teeth.  I might have considered throwing the can on the ground and stomping on it if I could have done so without the juice making a sloppy mess on my kitchen floor.  Thankfully my perseverance paid off, and I was eventually able to to get enough of the lid loose so that I could pry it open and get the beans out of the can.  So take THAT, you evil can of beans!  I am victorious!

PS - The chili was awesome, and I didn't even starve to death before I could eat it.

Well, at Least I've Been Writing SOMETHING!

I haven't been writing much on my blog, despite a few decent ideas tumbling around in my head.  But I have been writing some lenses (articles) on Squidoo!  I actually churned out about 5 of them in the past week or so.  I wrote 3 of them on local places here in the Myrtle Beach area that I enjoy - Huntington Beach State Park, Atalaya, and Brookgreen Gardens. There's nothing like writing one of these lenses and telling others about how awesome you think they are to make you want to go out and visit again!  My park pass just expired at the end of last month though, so I'll have to pay admission to see Atalaya and Huntington Beach or break down and buy a new annual pass.  I haven't been to Brookgreen in way too long.  I really should get back there.  It's a shame that I drive by so often and never stop in to enjoy it. 

I also wrote a lens on Swan Lake Iris Gardens, which is in the town where I was born and raised.  I never really realized how awesome it was to have something like that in my own backyard until I moved away and saw that every city didn't have one like it.  When I was researching the lens I found out that you can't feed the swans and ducks anymore.  That's so sad!  We used to go all the time, and we'd always take a loaf of bread to feed them with.  It was a great way to enjoy the birds up close.  But this is much healthier for the birds - they stick to their specialized diet and don't ruin their supper with white bread and cereal! 

The last lens I wrote was on barcode art.  Have you ever seen this?  There are a few ways it's used.  Some people distort the barcode into different shapes (that still scan!), or use individual barcodes to make portraits.  Others cut barcodes from packages and make collages with them.  I particularly like the graphic design businesses that create pictures with the barcodes to use on packaging.  They're just so fun! 

So anyway, that's what I've been up to.  I'd love it if you would check out the lenses and let me know what you think of them!  I'm not much of a writer, so I know there is plenty of room to improve.