Avast, Me Mateys!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you...

TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!!

And no, I'm not making this up. Someone else did. So there.
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

An Update:

I went into full-blown Martha Stewart mode for this. (I do this occasionally. It's okay, so far I've always come back from it unscathed.)

So, I put together goody bags for my friends, since we went out to celebrate. I got plain black gift bags and decorated them with pirate stickers. Then I filled the bags with eye patches, goofy paper hats, chocolate "coins," plastic pieces of eight, bags of gold gum, pirates of the Caribbean puzzles and some other random pirate booty. As a centerpiece for our table I made a chocolate treasure chest from a mold I got at the Wilton Tent Sale and filled it with gobstoppers and Hershey's huggables. (Yes, I've been planning this for a while.)

We had a good time, the goody bags went over very well, but the highlight of the evening was the package of temporary tattoos that I picked up on a whim. We all put one on, although mine is the only one even remotely visible - I put a three masted schooner on my inside left wrist. (It still looks really cool - these things are more durable than I thought they'd be.) The other two ladies put theirs up high on their arms. The guys put theirs on a - his chest, b & c - their shoulders, in the back. It was quite entertaining to watch the contortions as they struggled to reach under layers of clothes and remain in their seats.

I have to say, however, that I did a much better job of being a pirate than they did. After I returned home, I changed into jeans and ventured out for plundering - AMNESTY DAY has once again arrived. YAY! It's like a village-wide garage sale, but everything is free!

It's probably fairly sad that I have SO much fun rooting around in other people's trash. But, man, I got some cool stuff!

* I found a really neat Keystone beer sign that will look great in my brother's basement, near the pool table and the dart board. It looks like a giant can of beer and it lights up.

* A complete, working Nintendo 64 system with extra controllers and a couple of games plus the Tomb Raider Gold game CDs

* A working HP fax machine

* A like-new, very nice, Lexmark printer - complete with a bunch of extra ink cartridges

* A storage container of someone's fabric remnants, including a wonderful selection of colored felt and some really nifty Christmas fabric (I quilt, so this makes me very happy.)

* A weekender-sized rolling luggage - the only good rolling luggage I have is HUGE and I've been meaning to buy something I can carry on

* Another alarm clock - I just murdered another one and was down to 7 so this is very welcome

* Other assorted cool things such as a Pouges CD, a nifty mirror, a paperback copy of "The Odyssey," a medical reference book, a like-new mini food processor, a plastic "briefcase" that will be a very cool travel case for some of my stitchery, some interesting cotton wadding - quite a bit of my score came from outside a dentist's office - including an unopened whitening kit although I may be too chicken to use that.

But, the best, the coolest score of the night was the garden stuff. Ooh, I'm so happy! Background - my mom's got this planter. It's black metal and about five feet tall and it looks kinda like a spiral staircase. There's a basket on top, and then 'steps' or shelves as it curls around a central post. Anyway, it's REALLY cool looking and I've made several attempts to steal it over the years. She's thwarted me every time - it's one of her favorites too. In the summer, it sits outside near the side of the house, and the flowers cascade around and down in a river of purple. It's beautiful! Guess what?!? I found one! I'll have to check more carefully, but it may be identical - it's very close. So now I have my own! Yay! Definitely was the high point of my evening! But, I also found a long tray planter at one place, a trellis at another, and chicken wire at yet another so next year, my morning glories will have room to spread out and flourish. Once I got it home, I realized that the tray planter had stuff in it - a hose nozzle and this really neat rake thing. (I described it to Mom and she LOVES hers - says it's great for breaking up clumps, and the gods know, with my clay I've got LOTS of clumps to contend with.) I also took the statue/bird feeder/outside dust collector of a bunny under an open flower. Quite cute. And I found a metal tripod thingie that I think I can make work as a tomato cage next year. So, I'm good for the garden stuff.

As with the last Amnesty Day, I started out "just going for a walk" to the library... with a flashlight. And I just kinda glanced around while I was walking. Then I really got into it and started rooting around. (I was going to link to my adventures last time and then I realized that I haven't finished it and it's languishing in edit. Oops.) And, unlike MM's looters, I'm so compulsive that I leave the trash more together and organized than when I found it. Actually, what really bothers me is the waste. As much as I enjoy scavenging, I'm somewhat appalled by the stuff that just gets thrown away. I won't go all philosophical about how much we take for granted living in a land of plenty, as least not right now, but it really bugs me. So, once again, I collected an entire Jeep load of stuff that I dropped off at Goodwill. You know, there are organizations that will come to your house and pick stuff up. They're happy to do it. There's really no need to toss entire leaf bags of clothes with the tags still attached, boxes of kitchen wares, working appliances, sporting equipment, etc in the trash. *sigh* Of course, if they didn't put that stuff and more out, I wouldn't get to play in it.

Well, at any rate, Happy Talk (and maybe Act) Like A Pirate Day!!