Dear Hot Dog Owner:

I didn’t steal your lunch. I know there are a lot of similar lunch bags in here, but I’m amazed you didn’t wonder why there was someone else’s lunch in your bag - or why it was on the opposite side of the fridge. Honestly, it made me giggle. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a secure place to hide your dogs so they too don’t get stolen, you might want to compose your own nasty note for the lunch thief. Or bring in a Tupperware of earth worms… just in case…

Lunch Saga, Part 1

For the last few years I have had dishes and flatware as well as my lunch stolen from the lunch bag I keep in the refrigerator down in the break room here at work. It's so frustrating to go to a deli and pick up 2-3 days worth of lunchy stuff only to find my empty lunch bag sitting on top of the fridge the next day when I want to eat lunch. My home silverware collection has dwindled to the point where I'm considering buying a whole new set so we have enough forks and spoons to get us through a meal.

I blame the night cleaning guy for throwing it in the trash, but I could be wrong.

My lunch bag has a bright ribbon on it so I can identify it in the fridge, (my name is even written on the ribbon) and there's now a big nasty note taped inside the lid that basically says "Keep Out and Stop Stealing My Sh!t" This has helped... until today when the most bizarre thing happened.
Today I went to get a snack out of my lunch bag and couldn't find it in the fridge where I usually keep it. I looked on top of the fridge, in the cupboards, then had the thought that someone finally stole or threw away the entire bag. A little voice in my head suggested I open the other side of the fridge, just in case.

Voila! There it is...on a shelf I never use, with my bright ribbon facing the back of the fridge.

I opened it up, pushed aside my nasty note, and was amazed to discover someone's package of hot dogs tucked in the back behind my yogurt, a bagel, and today's lunch, which was brought in on Friday.

Huh. Is this a gift?

Or have they been having the same problem I'm having and thought it would be more secure in my bag with the nasty note inside?

Since they didn't leave me any buns or ketchup, I decided to remove the hot dogs and place them on the shelf where my bag had been sitting (on the other side of the fridge from where I always keep my bag.) Then I put my bag back in its usual space, turned so I can see the bright ribbon right in front.

I'm debating putting a note on the fridge to let the hot dog owner know where they can find their lunch...

Foggy Lens

This is one of my favorite paintings. When she was in the 3rd grade, Rachel asked me to buy her a $2 canvas because she wanted to paint. She took it outside to the picnic table with a box of paint and brushes and went to work.

Within a short time, she had created this. She calls it a mess and doesn't like it, but there's just something about it that I love. It hangs on my bedroom wall so I can look at it every day.

Cost? We already had the paint, and the canvas was $2.

Oh, and I had the feed the starving artist when she was done.
A PB&J sandwich and a glass of milk set me back an additional 35 cents.

Getting Zapped at the Science Museum

...as seen in the OMSI parking lot...

Electric Vehicle Charging Station, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

It's a Zap car, parked at an Electric Vehicle Charging Station at OMSI*... plugged in and charging.

How neat is that?

...as seen in the OMSI parking lot..., originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

When I mentioned this to a friend, he said they have these charging stations in downtown Salem, too. I hadn't seen them, but we do have a few of these three-wheeled Zap cards tooling around in the city, so it makes perfect sense to me.

Have you seen anything like this in your area?

*OMSI = Oregon Museum of Science & Industry

Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City

This is one of our favorite beaches. Never too crowded like the ones in Lincoln City, interesting tide pools, and there's always the sand dune to climb...

Ummm, yeah, this must be low tide.

Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City, Oregon, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

The group of people to the left of the tidepools found something interesting. Maybe a starfish? Could be sea anenomes or some tiny rockfish?

Cape Kiwanda Tidepools, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

Those gnarly looking black and white things at the bottom of the rock walls are mussels. Like the kind you would order in a seafood or Italian restaurant.

Rachel in a cove at Cape Kiwanda, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

This was a dumb idea. Barnacles (the hard pointy little white things) hurt to walk on. Like walking on tacks. Ouch!

barefoot on the tidepools, originally uploaded by Adventures of Pam & Frank.

This virtual visit to Pacific City has been brought to you by the letter S.

For Sun.

And Sand.

And Sea.

Butterfly Tote Bag

Bright purple tote bag, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

I have a thing for tote bags.

As I sew up other projects, I find fabrics that go together and I often whip up a quick tote bag - the size is based on my immediate need.

A few months ago I needed one big enough to hold a couple three-ring binders and a few other misc things, so I took some leftover obnoxious butterfly fabric and some leftover obnoxious purple fabric and made this cute-and-not-really-obnoxious tote bag. The handles are grosgrain ribbon.

DSCN5118, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

My discerning (now) 13 year old decided I should put the butterflies on the inside and the solid color purple on the outside. She said it's for a visual surprise, but I really think she doesn't want to be embarrassed if I carry the bag while we're out together ... in public.

Ok, yeah, it's wrinkly in the picture. It had been stuffed in another tote bag for a while. I use it to haul notebooks and my calendar (and lunch) to the day job. It's also handy for packing shoes into a suitcase or carrying display stuff to a craft show. I can fit a small crock pot in here, too.

Despite the wrinkles, it's cute, eh?

Old Time-y memories, getting zapped, and a cure for what ails ya

When I was a kid in the mid 70's, old time-y decorations from the turn of the century were all the rage. A popular clothing store had decorated its changing rooms with wallpaper that looked like old Sears catalog ads.

A few years later, mom took me to a big flea market in town where she had a booth. I got to wander around looking at all the antiques and misc crap (there was a lot of misc crap.) I was fascinated by the old medicine bottles. At about the same time, at home we had a bottle of some curious liquid that smelled terrible. The label said "Sloan's Liniment." Not sure where it came from, but I was amazed that people used that stuff... even more amazed that it seemed to work. Mom used it as a decoration and brought it out to show people when they came over to visit.

This is unrelated, but somehow whenever I remember the old medicine bottles, these memories merge with a day in the bathroom of our little old house in Washburn when I reached up to the wall sconce turn on the light. It was an old house with bizarre construction and weird nooks and crannies... and I'm sure it had several wiring and other code violations. Maybe it's because the house was kind of old time-y? Maybe it's because we lived there when old time-y things were so popular.

Maybe it's because that's where I lived when I developed my fascination with "all things old time-y?" I'm really not sure.
Anyway, when I touched the metal knob on the wall sconce, I got a huge ZAP! on my fingers that still hurts to this day when I think about it.

(On the upside, that little dose of electrical medicine taught me it's ok to pee in the dark.)

The other day I got an email full of old time-y pictures that made my fingers burn and ache, reminding me of the big shock I got from the light switch.

Maybe if I had been on one or more of these medicines, I wouldn't have minded the electric shock quite so much.

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A bottle of Bayer's heroin. Between 1890 and 1910 heroin was sold as a non-addictive substitute for morphine. It was also used to treat children with strong cough. ----------

Metcalf Coca Wine was one of a huge variety of wines with cocaine on the market. Everybody used to say that it would make you happy and it would also work as a medicinal treatment. ----------

Mariani wine (1875) was the most famous Coca wine of its time. Pope Leo XIII used to carry one bottle with him all the time. He awarded Angelo Mariani (the producer) with aVatican gold medal.

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A paper weight promoting C.F. Boehringer & Soehne ( Mannheim , Germany ). They were proud of being the biggest producers in the world of products containing Quinine and Cocaine.

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Produced by Maltine Manufacturing Company of New York . It was suggested that you should take a full glass with or after every meal. Children should take half a glass.
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Cocaine tablets (1900)
All stage actors, singers teachers and preachers had to have them for a maximum performance. Great to "smooth" the voice.

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Opium for Asthma

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Cocaine drops for toothache

Very popular for children in 1885. Not only they relieved the pain, they made the children happy!

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Opium for new-borns

I'm sure this would make them sleep well (not only the Opium, but 46% alcohol!!!!!)

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PS: To this day, I still love old bottles.