Uneventful Event

This last weekend Chad and I attended the Boxacon event in Waukesha, WI. Aimlesst put together a great gathering with lots of science fiction themed boxes, tons of great food, a fantastic turn out and weather that cooperated for the most part. I got to see several "old" friends and meet lots of new people as well. Everyone was friendly and gracious to my DH, as I knew they would be. And unless I just haven't found them yet, I didn't come home with a single cootie. In spite of my knee, I managed to walk a short trail and find a few boxes with the help of Shorty, Pitties, and Atomic Beans (thanks for allowing the slack boxing guys!).
All in all, it was fairly ordinary. Don't read that as boring though. I just mean that nobody got set on fire, or arrested, or any such nonsense.

I purposefully left the file size of this photo huge so that you can click on it to enlarge the picture. I thought about trying to identify everyone, but quickly gave that up as too daunting a task for this early in the morning.

I only carved one new stamp for the event. M has been bugging me to carve Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver for months and I finally gave in. It isn't any light saber, but if I had to choose one to have "for real", I'd pick the sonic screwdriver in a double heart beat. There isn't much that little gizmo can't do.

On the way home, we stopped for dinner at the Chicken Basket, one of Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive ins, and Dives. It has been on our list since February. Yes, the fried chicken and mac n cheese were as good as we expected. Maybe the guy does know what he's talking about after all.



Of course, this begs the question: Could a person, theoretically, put together a road trip that combines the best of both the letterboxing and the foodie worlds and convince said person's family to actually take such a hypothetical journey?

Cooties!

We're still in the Time Machine today, only this time it's to revisit cooties. First, I have a slight confession. My cabinet is a place where cooties go to die. Sorry. When I first started letterboxing and learned about the little buggers, I thought they were fun. I came home with one of them from my first event.
While planning on meeting with a fellow boxer during Hubby's hospital stay in Minnesota, I carved several "hospital germs" to pass along, only the meeting never happened. So they were pawed off on a local friend and I still get reports occasionally.
"Below Zero" was carved for a friend when we boxed together in the January snow a couple of years ago. It has long since gone off the grid.

All of the Chinese themed cooties were carved for SILO since there was a Chinese New Year theme. Only I spent the morning stuck in the snow in the ditch and never made it to the event, so they too were passed along later. Only one survives to my knowledge.


And then there are the "Tunes". These cooties were based on songs from the 50s that get stuck in your head. They attended a couple of events along with their matching Jukebox stamp (more as a tabletop box) and then were retired. Or repurposed, I should say. They have been featured on LTCs, sent out as Hitchhikers, and given as gifts.

After hosting a small event in my house, my feelings toward cooties changed dramatically. Those crazy people even cootied my dog. I was finding cooties for days; in my silverware, on my fridge, in the bathroom candle...

A well executed cootie would still be fun, but most of them that I have seen (including my own) aren't worth the effort of stamping them. **Gasp!** Did I just say that out loud? For the most part, they just detract from time that I could spend getting to know people or hunting "real" boxes.

Gonna Be A Bear

In this life I'm a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definately deal with that.

If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate Expects you to wake up growling. He Expects that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup. Gonna be a bear!

Author unknown, but thanks Aunt Cheryl!

The image is an enlarged version of my Teddy Bear cootie from the Tunes in my Head series.
Blogger's note: It would be downright goofy of you to think I was actually serious about any of this, but especially the whole reincarnation bit and the swatting the cubs bit.

Cootiepalooza!!

It all started with the rain yesterday. Frankie the Moose and Tweeter conspired together and cootied Pinky Poo. She promised revenge. Then with another day of rain today, everyone was getting a little punchy and Pinky found my stash of cooties left over from the gathering in Columbus, Ohio. Before you knew what was happening there were cooties flying everywhere, the carving supplies had been pulled out and there was very little actual stamping taking place. It looked more like the melee of a grade school cafeteria food fight.
I pulled out the whistle and eventually brought the chaos to a halt. We decided that since they were all over the place anyway, we might as well have our own cootie event right then and there. With a little organization and cooperation, all the buddies were able to stamp about seventeen cooties a piece. I threw in an event stamp to finish things off and scooted the buddies upstairs for a nap so that I could clean up the mess.
I'm not sure what I'll do if it rains again tomorrow. I'm fresh out of ideas!