In a galaxy far, far away...

This has to be the ultimate Christmas present this year! Should you ever find yourself lost in the galaxy, and wanting desperately to return home... or maybe you were taken against your will?

"In case of alien abduction, these dog tags may save your life. The crucial data an alien will need to get you back to Earth is die-stamped into these dog tags."

Don't worry, they do offer a full money-back guarantee:

"Should you ever be abducted by aliens while wearing Location Earth Dog Tags and not returned safely to Earth you will be entitled to a full refund of the purchase price."

(How exactly will you be able to collect on that refund?!?)

Hurry! Order your dog tags now!!

Go ELF yourself!

We did! Check out our moves here!

You can elf yourself here.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Over the river and through the woods...

Ken Levine, an Emmy-winning writer, posted several helpful Thanksgiving Travel Tips on his blog. A few clever favorites:

* Leave for the airport NOW. Especially if your flight is on Wednesday.
* Bring no luggage. Wearing the same clothes for a week is a small price to pay.
* Southwest has no reserved seating. Get in one of the latter groups boarding. You don’t want to be one of the first to sit then watch as fifty people glance at the empty seat next to you, then to you, and decide to sit somewhere else.
* Those people in the Stand-By line – those are the same people who think they can get rich selling Amway products, and the Tooth Fairy really exists. Don’t fly Stand-By unless you like sleeping in airport terminals for five days.
* Air travelers: avoid O’Hare. Better to land in Dallas, even if your destination is Chicago.
* If you’re dropping someone off at the airport don’t even think you’ll be able to stop. Have your travelers practice the tuck and roll from a moving car. The first couple of times they’ll bounce but by the fourth or fifth try they should have it down.
* There’s more legroom in Exit rows. When the flight attendants ask if you are willing to help out in case of emergency just say yes. Like it’s going to make a big difference anyway if you crash.
* If you’re flying on an airline that doesn’t have reserved seating never sit next to anyone whose already eating or reading Ann Coulter.
* Put a big strip of duct tape on your luggage so you’ll recognize it easily. And it makes a nice fashion statement.
* Watch "PLANES, TRAINS, & AUTOMOBILES" again and think of it as a “best” case scenario.

It's almost time!

Until we can listen to Christmas music 24/7 and not feel weird! :)

It's all about the Benjamins...

This post is mainly for my dad, because he loves to go shopping among the throngs of crazy people on the day after Thanksgiving, also known as "Black Friday". (For those who shop online, the Monday after Thanksgiving is known as "Cyber Monday".) We likely won't find ourselves out shopping on Black Friday, since I have to work, but it is kinda fun to see days in advance all of the bargains we will be missing out on. TheBlackFriday.com is a great place to sneak a peek at various store ads to even plot out where you might go early Friday morning. CyberMonday.com lists bargains for Monday. May the force be with you - may you run fast and have the strongest grip for the last item on the shelf!!

$611 BILLION

My brother has an interesting post on his blog today on the cost of the war in Iraq and how that money might have been better spent. He links to a slideshow created by The Boston Globe. Completely astounding! Check it out here.

Be sure to buy a turkey you can handle!

A co-worker sent me this one...

"Thanks for leaving the lights on for all the INVISIBLE PEOPLE!"

Random environmental awareness...
NBC's "Green Week" was a good idea, but only really worked in this week's "30 Rock". You can see some pretty hilarious highlights here. I'm sure they're hoping that at the very least it got America's couch potato population thinking about their effect on the environment. Hopefully each of us considers our own carbon footprint, and the small changes we can make. This frightening article has me rethinking the plethora of plastic shopping bags that we definitely reuse in the Sprik household, but still receive way too many of. (Not a reflection of my addiction to Target, of course! ;) Many of you know that one of the shopping quirks at the company I work for, is that customers must purchase or bring their own bags for their groceries at our stores... which is a great way to cut down on plastic waste. Another clever way is a non-disposable shopping bag, like the customizable ones you can now make at LL Bean.

Cool Invention

Now this is a clever invention... (and a great stocking stuffer!)

How to Perfectly Fold a T-Shirt

We happen to use a Flip 'n Fold at our house for folding t-shirts. This method looks pretty interesting, quick, and doesn't require any props...

Fall back

If you've been oblivious today to the time change, then I should have told you about this service earlier! (Remember my Arizona family, now you're the same time as Utah, not California.) Send yourself and others scheduled text message reminders at TextMemos.com.

Just a tourist...

The first few pics are in from Brian's sightseeing day in Bristol... enjoy!

"Bob's your uncle!"

Brian's off to Bristol for a week of training for his new job... he will be missed!!

(The meaning of the post title.)

Stay posted for pics from his trip!

GPK

Oh my! I haven't seen these in years... Garbage Pail Kids! I've posted our names and our siblings' names below. You can find your own name here.

Blue Moon... I saw you standing alone...

It's definitely no secret that Brian absolutely adores South Haven, MI's Sherman Dairy Blue Moon ice cream. There are many different variations across the country of Blue Moon. Some descriptions of the flavor include fruit, Fruit Loops, orange, pineapple, lemon, cherry, raspberry, cantaloupe, honeydew, peach, licorice, pistachio, coconut, almond, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, custard, chocolate, marshmallow, and bubble gum. (I know, it sounds like a horrible stomachache, not to mention the fact that it's BLUE.) But he loves it, so that's okay.

Every time we head to Michigan he talks about stopping at Sherman's, but without fail his mom has already picked up a gallon or two for him. A few weeks ago when we were in Madison,WI, we accidentally found a small ice cream shoppe that served the smurfy flavor... and he was in heaven! Later that week, he lucked out and we found it for sale at our local Meijer's.

If after all of this you're still curious about Blue Moon, you can make some for yourself:

Blue Moon Ice Cream

6 servings - 30 min, 10 min prep

1/2	cup milk
1/2	cup sugar
1/4	teaspoon salt
1/2	cup half-and-half
1/2	teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla oil
1 1/2	cups whipping cream
1/8	teaspoon blue food coloring
3	teaspoons vanilla pudding mix
1	teaspoon raspberry flavored oil, pureed or 1 cup frozen raspberries, pureed
1	teaspoon lemon flavored oil or lemon extract

1. 1/2 cup of milk scalded in pan.
2. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/4 tsp of salt. Stir till dissolved.
3. Add 1/2 cup of half and half.
4. Add 11/2 cups of heavy whipping cream.
5. Add vanilla, raspberry, lemon flavoring.
6. Add blue food coloring.
7. Chill in fridge till very cold.
8. Put in ice cream machine!

Big Love

This has to be one of the cleverest group Halloween costumes I've ever seen - a polygamist family! Kudos to my old roommate, Kristen Young (now Birkmeyer)... she's brilliant!

"The only thing you can truly plan on... is to be surprised!"

Brian and I went to see "Dan in Real Life" last weekend...

It was hands-down, one of the best movies we've seen in the theaters in a long, long time - nice message, heartwarming, and completely hilarious. Professional movie-see-ers think so too. The soundtrack is definitely on my downloads list.

Night of the Living Democrats

Starring us and some of our political friends...


I'm just goofing around... Patrick's voice is usually much deeper!