Knock Knock

Pioneer Woman, will you ever stop sharing products that are too good to be true? I sure hope not, since this morning's post about Knock Knock products made my day. In their own words, Knock Knock is, "a product design company with aspirations to greatness. We concoct, manufacture, and distribute witty objects of cosmopolitan panache from our shamelessly sunny perch on the left-hand coast." And they do not disappoint. Here are a few of my favorites:


Corporate Flashcards:

Perfect for the recent graduate entering the working world, these flashcards promise to help the recipient "speak suit in no time!"

"Just Thought You Should Know" Sticky:

Perfect for those times that require subtlety. Oh, the fun I would have with these.

"I Didn't Realize You Were Cool Until" Sticky:

Perfect for letting someone know that they aren't as lame as you thought they were.

Fashion Citation:

Perfect for bringing along on the first warm day of the year when people run amok with a) spring fever and b) ill-advised wardrobe choices.

To Don't List:

Perfect for all of the overachievers in the world who need an anti-productivity list. Myself included.

Reality Check File Folders:

Perfect for making me laugh out loud. This one gets me every time.

I could seriously post their entire website here but I'll stop now before I actually do. If you need a laugh, look no further than Knock Knock. This was an excellent way to start the day.

It's just, such, just such a good post.

Christians of the world, let's face it: we're a quirky bunch. Sometimes it irritates me, but most of the time it's fascinating. Which is why I love the website (soon to be book!) Stuff Christians Like. And this post - because of its wrenching truthfulness - made me laugh out loud: 

#96: Using God's favorite word

For centuries, we Christians have secretly used God’s favorite word in all our prayers. To even mention it, I embrace great danger and peril and risk and other words that mean bad things could happen to me. This word, above all others ensures that God will hear your prayers and answer them quickly and awesomely. To put this powerful word in the hands of non-believers could mean that I am banished to the balcony at church and everyone knows that the holy spirit only touches people on the ground floor during service. But I must share. I am of course speaking of the word “just.” Here is how we use it in prayers:

“Lord, just hear us tonight. We just lift up our hands to you and pray that you will just send you love down to us in ways we just can’t understand. Take us just as we are Lord. Just, just. Just, just.”
I added those four for emphasis but it’s not far off from the truth. I’m not sure why we do but I should probably apologize. Next time someone prays you’re going to have highly refined “just radar” and will probably be thinking in your head, “I hate that site stuff christians like.”

(I just want to thank all the people that suggested this word just. There are just too many to thank individually.)

Treasured Memories

Last weekend, my parents went down to Pennsylvania to help my aunt move out of her house. In the process they went through a lot of old stuff which they were kind enough to bring back home and share with me. And now I will share it with you.

The first item was an envelope of letters that I had sent to my aunt through the years. Apparently I only thought of her on Thanksgiving, since every single card was a Happy Thanksgiving!!! card. And apparently, I never learned how to spell "aunt" throughout the duration of my childhood, since I continually referred to her as "Dear Anut Emily." (Dear Aunt Emily, if you are reading this, I do not think you are a nut.) But besides the timing and the spelling, the best part by far was the following: "Dear Anut Emily, Sorry I haven't written lately! This letter is going to be real short because the mail is coming any minute now! Do you like my stationary? We got a color printer so I made it myself! Is there anything new happening lately? Nothing here!" Short, sweet, and replete with 90's enthusiasm.

The second treasure was a box filled with my mom's momentos - photos, letters, etc. One of the standout articles was her driver's ed certificate, which was nothing if not a cautionary tale against ever letting your child get behind the wheel. This paragraph pretty much sums up the doom and gloom: "The automobile is today an essential part of our everyday life. Our children will be using one in their business or for pleasure until they die. How quickly they reach their graves may depend upon how competent and safe their driving is. Won't you help them?" Seeing as how my mom has totaled 5 cars since that letter was issued, the death proclamation didn't quite achieve its desired effect.

Moral of the story: keep anything that contains writing. It's literally priceless, and is guaranteed to make you laugh at some point down the road...a lot.

The joy of Wisconsinian answering machines

I just heard what was perhaps the most glorious answering machine message in the history of answering machine messages. While placing a call to Wisconsin to speak with a prospective student, I encountered the following after the beep:

"Allllllllllllllright. For the last time, we know that Brett Favre is playing for the Vikings. We're over it. If you want to leave a message for (lists names of family members), feel free. If you want to leave a message about Brett Favre and the Vikings, call somebody who cares."

And that's when I found my soulmates. In Wisconsin. Via answering machine.

Talkin' 'bout the car wash

Over the past month or so, I have become completely dependent upon Google Reader. But that's a story for another time. Today's story is about what one of my Google Reader updates from Etsy contained.

If you aren't familiar with Etsy, it's a burgeoning online powerhouse of handmade items. Many a fascinating product can be found on it's pages, and to keep up to date with what's new, I subscribed to their news feed on Google Reader. Usually the updates contain trinkets and accessories and sundry miscellaneous items. But today, they struck gold. And the gold was entitled, "News from craft + style."


It all started out innocently enough. A model with a pained looked here, an awkwardly posed model there. And then there was this:

And this:

I'm fairly certain these women just jumped out of a car wash.

Oh, fashion. Such a joy.

I like cheese

So because it is winter break we have had about a thousand prospective students visiting our hallowed halls this week. With an individual visit comes an interview with your admissions counselor, along with an information session for your whole family. This morning I interviewed a student and then brought her mom and 5 year old brother back for the info session. The poor little guy was trying so hard to be content while imprisoned in a tiny room with no entertainment, so he kept himself busy by writing a letter. To his mom. It said:

"Dear Mom,

I like cheese."

It made me laugh out loud. All day long. And it made me so appreciate a childlike worldview. I love it that kids are so much better at noticing and embracing the real stuff of life than adults are. Jesus knew what he was talking about when he told us to have faith like a child. It makes sense.

In honor of my new young friend, I think I'll make macaroni and cheese for dinner. Just because I like it. 

L-O-V-E

In honor of the Day of Love, here's a special Valentine's Day edition of Things That Made Me Laugh Out Loud (in classic Ross style):

Hey Everybody

I realize that this commercial is extremely overplayed, but I crack up every single time I see it. I don't know if it's when the tongue comes out or the dancing starts, but somewhere in there I just lose it. And therefore, it goes on the "Things That Made Me Laugh Out Loud" list. Enjoy.

LOL...for real.

So as a result of the aforementioned benign stress that has weaseled its way into this week, I've decided to start a file on my computer named "Things That Made Me Laugh Out Loud." This list may come in handy on days in which I find myself not apt to laugh out loud unless reasonable cause presents itself. List = reasonable cause. The idea occurred to me while I was reading the following on timteblog.com, which did indeed make me laugh out loud:

More from Smith about Tebow, from Tuesday night:

I hope he has a great career in the NFL wherever it's at, whether we're a cat in this hat or somewhere else in the league. He's gonna be successful at anything he pursues in life.

"Whether we're a cat in this hat" is one of the strangest phrasings you'll ever hear. It's certainly new to me. I'll take that as some kind of secret code for "Yes, we're drafting him."

Whether it's the visual of the misspoken phrase, the Dr. Seuss references it conjures up, or my current state of exhaustion that made this quote so hilarious to me I know not. I do know that it had me cracking up for a good ten minutes.

The very next thing I added to the list was the post with the Joe Cocker video, which still puts me into hysterics every time I watch it.

I'm sure there will be plenty more additions to come in the near future, and I'll be sure to account for them here as well and label them under "Things That Made Me Laugh Out Loud" so that you all can enjoy them too. This will be fun.