Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Sea Creatures: Live on Broadway

My 2 and a half year old son likes playing with his sea creature toys. Especially his sharks. He has a toy great white shark and a couple dolphins he employs as stand-ins. These understudies get to play “mapo” sharks and “hammahead” sharks and “tigah” sharks. The great white even plays a barracuda from time to time. The kid has an ever-growing imagination. Something I have tried to take inspiration from. I mean, we tend to like keeping our thoughts between walls and on straight lanes as we get older. Kids don’t care about being rational ...or correct, for that matter. Just yesterday the stingray was a pelican and a robin played a pterodactyl.

My wife and I are constantly wondering whether or not to give him the other Mako shark toy we have in a bag in the basement. Yes, he would love it. But, the more he has, we fear, the less he will allow the walrus to become–of all things– the downy woodpecker (yes, he’s also big into birds and unless you are a birdwatcher he knows more birds than you).

In the mornings he has me going down to the computer to search for shark pictures on the internet. And this is no easy task. its difficult to avoid images of great whites leaping 8 feet out of the water whilst squishing a seal like a tomato in a vice. But, I’ve learned to veer us towards nurse sharks and whale sharks, which are harmless to just about everything and, thus, G-rated.

We also look at starfish and the giant octopus and turtles and he just soaks up information and spews it back out into play scenes with birds and cars and sea creatures. They all interlink to him. He sees no boundary between land and sea and sky. Dolphins swim and fly. As do sea lions and turtles. You know, the turtle might make a nice spaceship or maybe a hot rod.

I think maybe the key is forgetting about being right. And doing with what you got. It would be wise advice from 2 and 3 year olds to we, the adults inside our boxes.

Big Big Ocean Things

My 2 and a half year old son is really into his "sea creatures" right now. especially the shark. He has a great white shark toy and a couple dolphins he employs as stand-ins. these understudies get to play any number of other sharks, such as the "mapo" shark, the "hammohead" shark or the "tigah" shark. that being said, the great white shark often gets to play a barracuda. my son is not too particular about who plays what role. a breath of fresh air, i'd say, in this age of type-casting and flat out wrong-casting. he looks past mere appearance and really lets the animals assume different functions.
Just last week his stingray was a pelican. and a robin got to play a pteradactyl.
in the mornings he likes to look at sharks on the computer. which is no easy task considering that its not easy to find a picture of a great white shark that isn't leaping 8 feet out of the water whilst squishing a seal like a tomato in a vice. many times i just type in nurse shark and whale shark, which are harmless to almost everything and make for a much more g-rated image search.

Monday, September 29, 2008

tall tease solved

About a week ago we posted a picture of matt standing on my desk. And I know you've just had sleepless nights wondering what the answer could possibly be. Well grab your blanket and snuggle down because the answer is C. obtaining new blog fodder.

About my second or third week working here I happened to peer up and notice a few stiff, black, but rather cute, eyes peering back down on me- A row of blue and yellow peeps shared the edge of the lighting fixture with peep snowmen.

regan wood, whose desk I'm preserving, was back doing some freelance while both chelsie and jackie were out and explained it all me. Since I could never be as thorough as someone that has nearly a decade of Mckinney under their belt, we'll save that story for later time. Until then, enjoy these pictures!

Wade has actually added peep ghosts to the line up since this picture.

Nice shot, matt, via jackie's camera.

Please note the dust crowning the heads of these sugary angles.

Go ahead and watch this so you can get your stuff done.


Appropriate for monday.
Check out Lev Yilmaz's website and other you tube videos.

Friday, September 26, 2008

When I grow up...

I want to be like Wade. Which is why this past weekend I had to try to make Wade's famous sugar cookies. You can already deduce that of course, they were not nearly as delicious as his. But, I had to try. First off, I couldn't use his tried-and-true Kroger brand mix. Blame Clayton for not having any Krogers in town. So, I had to settle for Betty Crocker.
Second, I couldn't remember ever buying cookie sticks, so I had to roll out my dough without them. - which resulted in too-thin, uneven dough. Now I understand the need for the cookie sticks! Funny thing is, when I went in my baking drawer to retrieve my decorating supplies while the cookies baked in the oven, look what I discovered:


Cookie. Sticks. Sigh... If I had only known that my Mom had bought these in... October 1989???


Back when Michaels was actually "MJDesigns". I guess when she let me borrow her assortment of cake decorating tips, she also threw in this package of cookie sticks. Next time.

After baking it was time for the decorating. Which tip do I use?

My laziness at washing my one Wilton-brand reusable bag 3 times for my three piping colors left me creating my own piping bags out of Wilton's parchment triangles. Word of caution, if you do not roll the top of the bag down properly, icing will ooze out the top, down your hand and then all over your freshly decorated cookies. I had to learn the hard way.

The end result. Carolina Tarheel cookies for tailgating at the UNC-Virginia Tech game.


The cookies seemed to be a hit with our tailgating buddies. Though, they have never had real Wade-Lewis sugar cookies, so it's probably an unfair conclusion on the success of my cookies. I think Wade should continue to be McKinney's official cookie-baker. But know that perhaps you too can be successful recreating these tasty treats for your unknowing family and friends!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Rick Moranis, Anyone?

Good Times

SCTV - Bob and Doug MacKensie
eh?
Ghostbusters
"Who does your taxes."
Little Shop of Horrors
"No, I don't know anybody who deserves to get chopped up and fed to a hungry plant!"
Spaceballs
"Raspberry. There's only one man who would dare give me the raspberry... Lone Star!"
Bad Times
Honey, I'm Sorry I Lost My Ability To Make Rational Decisions About My Career
My Blue Heaven - A Blah boring picture from an even boringer movie.
And can you believe that Kurt Cobain missed out on the Flintstones movie by shooting himself one month before its release? Tragic.

Oh, Rick.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

tall teaser


Why is Matt standing on my desk?
A. creative way to look down on me
B. demonstrating the "here's the church, here's the steeple" nursery rhyme
C. obtaining new blog fodder

Stay tuned next week and our guest blogger will let you know!

Friday, September 19, 2008

McKinney Cookies

We all had some great ideas from the beginning on how to announce our blog to the agency. It was agreed that food would be the best crowd pleaser—but it had to be really good food. Trust me, we would not have wanted our blog associated with my tofu soufflé (although I like it). So it was an obvious choice to have Wade make his famous sugar cookies. But it was only after he lugged in plate upon plate of the secret snack that we realized these weren't just sugar cookies. These were custom Mckinney logo cookies! 140 of them! Talk about designer cookies.


They were piled in a basket lined with strips of paper featuring our blog address. The snack area was flooded, and then the applause emails started rolling in. My personal favorite was from julia, titled "thanks for being awesome," and contained the following image.

We all took a deep breath, enjoyed a cookie, and then got back to work.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Mama Said To Share

best tasting brand


rolling method


candle votive as cutter


lift and flip on pan


silpat by another name


egg whites for royal icing


piping outside in


ready to share


Sugar Cookie
1 pkg. Kroger-brand sugar cookie mix.
1 stick butter melted.
1 egg beaten.
¼ cup flour.
Mix ingredients above until dough forms.

Roll dough portion between 2 pieces of wax paper.
Use cookie sticks as guides for rolling pin for consistent thickness.
Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes until edges turn lightly brown.
Turn the pan after 3-4 minutes for uniform baking.

Royal Icing
1 lb. 10x sugar.
3 egg whites.
½ tsp. cream of tartar.

Beat with mixer until smooth.
Thicken with 10x as needed or thin with drops of water for correct piping consistency.

Tip: Roll enough dough for 2 large cookies between two sheets of wax paper. After cookie cutting, remove excess dough leaving only the cut cookie shapes. Lift the wax paper with cookie shapes and carefully flip on to cookie pan. Then, peel away wax paper from the cookie shape and repeat process.

If you truly enjoy baking cookies, consider purchasing a Silpat baking liner for your cookie sheet pan. Cookies never burn using the French-made liner. I own two so I can fill a pan with cookies while the other is in the oven.

Piping is an art. I recommend the Wilton-brand reusable bag. Pipe from outer cookie edge in as if coiling. If consistency is right, holes will fill as you pipe. Icing too thin will run.

Monday, September 15, 2008

the final pre-revealing meeting

wade was thoughtful.


chelsie put her fist (well finger tips) down while jackie teleconferenced in.


matt stayed out of it.


bliss took less than flattering photos of everyone.


and the decision was made to go live 9/15/08

Cock-a-doodle-doodle

circa. labor day 2008.
some doodles of ours went up around the agency as teasers for the impending arrival of this blog.
the idea—simple.
these drawings are more than likely the kinds of things that mama would have seen and thus decided and decreed for all the neighborhood to hear that we, her most-talented lovelies, could draw. bless her encouraging heart.
so. think about your humble beginnings as you scroll down. maybe it never was drawing. maybe your blog would be 'mama said we could crunch a bunch of numbers.'
Anyway,... Begin the Doodle Perusal.
irby doodle dandy (sketch 1 note: those are actually pears)
can you find the christmas tree with fabulous style?
here's bliss taking it up a notch...

...and dreaming of the dancing carrot (which everyone knows doesn't exist).
clever ideas cont...

wade hits it over the fence sports analogously...
here's jackie shoving it in her art teacher's ugly, nay-saying face
that's my mug in the back!
subtle placement example


and finally, bliss thinking outside the cork block. thank you and good night.