Two Pennies Please

A few months ago I had a friend turning a quarter of a century, which is kind of a big deal. That person is also a big deal.
In an attempt to not only show my friend how much I care, love and appreciate them, I also wanted to do something different.

On a random bolt of inspiration I came up with two projects. A box of 25 items and a penny heart.

This box was filled with 25 things, each thing being in groups of 25. For example, she had 25 cans of beer, 25 fake tattoos, 25 packs of ramen noodles, 25 pens, 25 sticks of gum, 25 sweet treats, 25 pixie sticks, 25 tampons, 25 condoms, 25 hair ties, 25 band-aids and a whole bunch of other stuff I have currently forgotten.

This box was over flowing with items. During my quest to fill this box I also realized it might have been a better idea for someone turning 24. A lot more items come in multiples of 4 and 6 a lot easier than multiples of 5. Beer for example comes in groups of 6.

What seemed to really take the cake though was the penny heart. I found a penny for each year my friend has been alive. Starting at her birth year of 1987 and going all the way up until 2012. I was lucky enough to almost all the pennies either at work or in my piggy bank except for two pennies. I could not find 2005 and 2008. My friend was coming back into town soon and I was running out of time, so I decided to call the bank. They seemed like the most logical place to have vast amounts of pennies. It would be my best chance at finding those two pennies.

I knew my request was a little off the wall so I called them early in the morning, explained my project, explained the years I was looking for, and wanted to see if I could pick them up at noon. They said sure.

During my lunch break I head over to the bank.

I was not exactly sure who I had talked to in the morning so I got in line to talk to a teller. I explained to her that I’m trying to find two pennies and was wondering if it would be possible for her to look through her drawers. After a few blinks of utter confusion she called her supervisor over. The story is explained again and the supervisor started to check with some of the teller and their drawers looking for my pennies.

I had a seat to allow the teller to help other customers while the search for 2008 and 2005 commence. I feel bad that I came in at noon but I thought they would have explained this odd request sooner rather than later to the other people.

After about 15 minutes of searching, the supervisor called me over and I exchanged two pennies for my two missing dates.  I thanked them profusely and headed back to work.

Once I’m done with work I stopped by the craft store, picked up a frame, some foam backing, and a marker. I had to actually put everything in the box and make sure I had 25 items of everything while I soaked my pennies in vinegar and salt.  

The pennies went from dirty brown to shiny new copper color in a matter of minutes. A good rinse and dry, I assembled the project.

First making sure the pennies looked like a heart, then making sure they were all facing the right direction, and then gluing them down. Once everything was dry, in the frame it went, and walla, all done!

Family Figures

While driving to work today I was behind a SUV that has the little happy family cling on things on the back of the car. I’ve often pondered about these little guys.

First, what happens if someone dies? Do you have to take Fluffy off the back window?

What happens in divorce? I would think about the same thing?

Are you promoting the last child syndrome by keeping them on the back window as a baby?

Why do the baby things never seem to be boys or girls always the bald unisex creatures?

When said baby turns a certain age do they get promoted to a real person figure? Like blow out the candles for your 5th birthday, now everyone come outside and we'll change the sticker?

Today’s little family had a Dad, a Mom, two boys a girl and a baby. After going wow that is a lot of kids I noticed that Mom was a bit higher than dad. Actually, she was the highest in the line of people. Was that intentional, unintentional, or someone’s subconscious coming out?

Do these little family characters ever get stolen?

Are these always put on by wives or do some husbands walking through a store go “OOOOHH, honey we have got to put these on the back of MY car!”

If you are a crazy cat person, advertising it on the car…is that a good idea?

Do you have any issues with these little characters on the back of the cars? If so let me know! Leave a comment below or on the facebook page.

They call me Snow 5th Street

Isn’t that how that game is played? To find your stripper name it is your first pet’s name with the first street you lived on? No? It sounded like a good.

Always with my eye out for something new and exciting to try, I went to my first pole dancing class the other day.

Yes, I’ll say that again. I went to my first pole dancing class.

According to the lingo they were using, working out on poles or pole dancing is called Poling. Also, there are apparently different thickness of the poles. I did not lose the irony on that conversation.

I had no real expectations for this class. I asked them first what I should wear. They said a tang top and some shorts. They said socks if you’d like because the floor is cold. I wore socks. I am so tired of cold feet and winter hasn’t even started.

After checking out the map and wishing I had remembered to bring my GPS, I headed out to this location.

It took me about 10 minutes to drive to the area but another 10 minutes to find the actual place. I kept taking the wrong turns. Also, this studio being so new, they were still working on getting a sign and some more lights.   

I find the place, get signed in, I get my little punch card so it shows that I have 4 classes left. I giggle because it seems like all the new things I try usually involve release forms saying if we accidentally die, no one can be sued. That and helmets seem to be my new norm. I take off my layers of sweats and jacket to get to the tiny little shorts and tang top. Then I stand around with a few other people waiting for class to start.

The instructor is like don’t be shy go grab a pole. I go stand by a pole but don’t do anything. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m trying to resist the three year old Shannon just taking one hand and walking around in a circle until she get dizzy and has to stop.

After the poles are check to make sure they are tight. Then it is time to stretch.

I consider myself a pretty athletic person. I run, play soccer, I can do decent in most classes at a gym. This was some of the strangest stretches I have done. I also learned that my hamstrings are SUPER tight! Ouch!