Just for fun I thought I'd do this:

You Are 92% Creative

You are an incredibly creative person. For you, there are no bounds or limits to your creativity. Your next creation could be something very great... Or at least very cool!

How Creative Are You?

What is the "Michelin Man"?

Ever wondered, pondered what on earth the Michelin Man actual is? Is he a man, is he a bunch of tires stacked upon one another? I even thought he might be tire tubes laid one on top of another. As my husband and I were watching tv this morning and a Michelin Tire commercial came on we pondered, "what is the Michelin Man"? So I thought I'd get to the bottom of this mystery. I know this sounds pathetic :) but why not get to the bottom of things and get off the couch and exercise my brain :) I love a good mystery. Apparently according to the web this is what he is and how he came to be:

The Michelin Man was anything but cuddly in his earliest incarnations. He had a frightful, mummy-like aspect then, and sometimes appeared as a gladiator or a kickboxer. In the Italian market he was a grandiloquent memoirist, a nimble ballroom dancer, and an incorrigible ladies' man. Stranger still, back then he was known as the "road drunkard." To this day his official name is Bibendum, the Latin gerundive meaning "drinking to be done." The name comes from the first series of posters featuring him, which bore the Latin legend Nunc est bibendum--"Now is the time to drink"--and depicted the tire man hoisting a champagne goblet filled with nails and broken glass, sometimes garnished with a horseshoe. The seemingly tortured conceit, as the ad copy spelled out, was that "Michelin tires drink up obstacles"--i.e., they wouldn't puncture easily.

Yet what sounds today like a preposterously ill- advised advertising campaign made keen good sense at its moment in cultural history. And the quirkiness of Bibendum's origins is part of what inspires such loyalty among his fans today.

In 1889 the brothers André and Édouard Michelin took control of a struggling rubber products business in Clermont-Ferrand, an industrial city in central France. According to the company's official history, a bicyclist came to their workshop in 1889 with a flat tire. Pneumatic (inflatable) tires had just been invented by John Boyd Dunlop the year before. Pneumatics provided a much more comfortable ride than the alternative--solid rubber tires--but they were subject to punctures, especially since roads were so poor. In fixing the flat, the brothers discovered that the customer's Dunlops were glued to the rims, making patches extremely time-consuming. They soon developed and patented a detachable pneumatic tire that could be repaired in 15 minutes or so. Next they pioneered pneumatic tires for carriages, and by 1895 an early automobile known as the Éclair (it looked like one) completed a 750-mile race on Michelin tires.

During this period Bibendum was in gestation. His first kick in the womb came in 1893 when André argued to the skeptical Paris Society of Civil Engineers that pneumatic tires could "drink up obstacles." Fetal Bibendum kicked again in 1894, when Édouard motioned to stacks of tires at an auto exposition in Lyon and commented to André, "Add some arms, and you'd say they were men."

Then, in 1897, while thumbing through a commercial artist's portfolio, André had a fateful epiphany. It was triggered by a sketch that had been rejected by a Munich brewery, showing a legendary king hoisting a stein and uttering a Latin toast. André told the artist, who went by the pen name O'Galop, to substitute a tire man for the king. In O'Galop's final version, completed in April 1898, Bibendum is flanked by two tattered, flaccid rivals who couldn't hold their rusty nails. To contemporaries, the competitors' caricatured faces were readily recognizable as those of John Boyd Dunlop and the then-chief of Continental Tire.

If Bibendum was made of tires, the reader may ask, why wasn't he black? Simple answer: Tires weren't black until 1912, when makers first began adding carbon black as a preservative. Until then they were either a gray-white or a light, translucent beige.

A bit of trivia for you!

Today is Memorial Day

Today we honor the men and woman who have devoted themselves to serving our country past, present and future.

Schools out for summer!

Wow it's been a hectic couple of weeks. School ended this week. My son's last week consisted of a special activity every day. First there was water day they had a hose attached to the corkscrew slide with a rectangle pool at the bottom. They had a sprinkler and a couple of little pools scattered on the playground, which is covered with sand. They had an area where they could blow bubbles. That was a fun day. The next day was ice cream day, they made ice cream in baggies, cool! Then they had a read over day instead of sleep over.... My daughter and her friend came into the class and read a couple of books. This is the first and last year they will be together at school, since there is a 7 year age difference between them. It was a special treat to have sister come in and read. On the last day of school it was game day. We had about 5 games going I think, I was in charge of the "Don't wake Daddy" game. That was a fun one, never played it before, I think we'll have to get one.

For my daughter it was her last year in Elementary school (sniff, sniff) I'm not sure who this has been harder on? I am thinking thoughts of how she'll never have a playground at her school again.... This ends an era of elementary school. My baby is growing up fast. At her school the kids are divided for Jr. High, half go to one school and half to another. That is sad since some feel they will not see each other again. They will, but not on a daily basis at school as they are used to. So her final week they had a promotion ceremony where they sung a really cute song to the tune of the Lion Sleeps tonight, but it was specific to them and the activities they have done, what they learned and their teachers, it was really cute. The theme was out of 6th grade and into the Wild, thus a jungle theme. Each child came up and received from their teacher his or her promotion certificate complete with a graduation picture with cap and gown. I'd post that photo, but my daughter isn't particularly fond of how it turned out. Taken the day after we returned from Sea World. She can keep it as a memory.... :) Afterwards they snacked on what else but, animal crackers and punch. That was one day before school was over, so on the last day the 6th grade went bowling. After school was out it was very emotional. Lots of tears and hugs because of the great divide I spoke of. Now we are into our "summer".

To ALL you Moms out there
Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!

I have to share the wording of the card my children got for me:

Mom,

I can't imagine what life would be like without you. I'd probably be eating candy I got from a stranger, talking with my mouth full, and waving around sharp objects while I sit too close to the TV in yesterday's underwear.

Thanks and Happy Mother's Day

Who's the "lucky" one?

Today my son and I took my Mom to Wal-mart, she is home bound and needed some groceries. We went after my son had gotten home from school. While we were at the checkout the cashier asked if my son was in school. I said he was and that he went in the morning. She said "my daughter got lucky, hers goes all day". I'm sad to think this woman feels her daughter is the "lucky one". I personally consider myself to be so blessed. It won't be long before my son will be in school all day, there won't be a choice, he'll grow up and he'll get married and leave home. What exactly is the rush to get him out of the house? Some day he'll be gone and the house will be empty, these moments will never be again. I know we have our moments, but the good ones far out weigh the not so good. I know I'm blowing this way out of the water, one tiny little comment. It's not the first time though, so I felt I had to vent. So many times I hear similar comments. I choose to have my son go to school half day. Next year he'll be in Kindergarten and I had the option of full day but chose half day once again. I am so thankful for this option. His current teacher says she wishes more parents would do the half a day K-5 option because kids have no business being in school all day at that age. Let them be kids and let them play she says. If it is an option, and so many times it is but people aren't willing to make the sacrifice. I want to spend time with him because time goes by so fast and I want to enjoy him while he's little. On the way home from Wal-mart my son was talking to me and asking where heaven was. He asked if it was above the clouds. I said we don't really know where it is but I'm guessing it's above the clouds somewhere. He said, well Daddy and I can build a rocket ship, he's got lots of wood and then they will know where heaven is. After that he said they could also build a tall ladder. I said, I need to tell you the story of the tower of Babel :) I love having these sweet little chats with him. Had I been so "lucky" as this woman spoke of, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to hear my son talk about these things, he'd be at school. These are precious times and I am blessed to share them with him.