Nicole VanPutten

President Gerald R. Ford died Tuesday at the age of 93. President Ford was the oldest living President and a uniquely structured individual who took charge of our nation at an unfortunate and troubled time. President Ford was raised just north of Kalamazoo in Grand Rapids and he later attended University of Michigan as a star on the football team. Ford later studied and coached football at Yale during his quest for his Juris Doctrate. President Ford married Elizabeth Bloomer in 1948 and has four children, Susan, John, Steven, and Michael.

President Ford held a positive and realistic spirit during his time in office, whether he was in the White House or not, always maintaining, “I am a loyal Wolverine. When they lose in football, basketball, or anything I still get darn disappointed.”

Please follow the links below to read more about President Ford.

The White House biography of Gerald R. Ford.

Wikipedia - Gerald R. Ford. 

The American President: Gerald R. Ford.

Naval Service of Gerald R. Ford.

Gerald R. Ford International Airport - Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Separately, a keyboard, some pink balls and a man in patten leather shoes and a pink tuxedo shirt don’t conjure up any Christmas spirit, but put them all together and WHAM, instant holiday goodness. For your very own whopping dose of holiday cheer, click here.

I realized this afternoon, in horror, I have yet to write the obligatory post telling fond tales about my dogs, Olive and Madeline. When I joined the blogging world in September I simply jumped in. My wonderfully talented husband took care of the technical details, advised me of some blogging dos and dont’s and then suggested I take a gander at other blogs to get a feel for blogging in general. I now believe I owe Michael an apology because I fully intended to put all of his generous advice in action, but I forgot about the last part. The pinch of guilt I feel for not yielding to Michael’s sensible instructions is nothing compared to the anxiety I’m feeling for neglecting my dogs.

It turns out everyone who is anyone with a blog writes about their dog (that rhyme is completely unintentional and unavoidable). For example, blogger Highlandscot debates on the distinct personality differences in his Border Collies in the post A Dog’s Life and Barbara from the Midwest actually refers to herself as a “sucker” in the post Heart Wrenching which includes a photo of her dog after a bath. I even discovered Dogloverboutique who posted It’s Raining and My Dogs Won’t Potty Outside wherein she freely asks for advice on the use of “designer dog raincoats” and the merits of allowing her five dogs to “potty” inside during inclement weather. Now I feel really horrible. Those poor dogs.

Olive and Madeline are happy dogs. They eat, they play and they sleep. They’re both scared of loud noises and neither one of them likes squirrels. The love carrots, riding in the car and hanging out in the backyard. Madeline likes toys while Olive prefers treats and they both enjoy going on walks. Olive and Madeline are dogs, my dogs, and I am happy to say I no longer feel neglectful at all.

Apparently, Einstein had to prove, yet again, that he was a genius by creating a logic problem that 98% of the population cannot solve. I’d call it a typical grammar school case of “I’m smarter than you are” with the annoying real world equivalent of “no really, I am smarter than you are”, but let’s assume Mr. Einstein’s intentions are pure. Al developed a simple question, Whose Fish?, and constructed a ridiculously difficult answer to which I’m still not privy. The hints below are rumored to be a complete set of the data Einstein originally provided with the question and the clues, which are mine, should be used at your own discretion. Good luck.

Hints:
1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Malls keeps birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhills.
8. The man living in the house right in the center drinks milk.
9. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the one who keeps cats.
10. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the one who smokes Dunhills.
12. The owner who smokes Bluemasters drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Princes.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

My possibly accurate clues keeping in mind I have yet to solve the puzzle:

• The Brit has a bird.
• The Swede drinks beer.
• The Dane lives in the blue house.

If the pressure is too much click here and I’m told the answer will appear.

When I discovered Electrolux’s Vacuum Shoes yesterday I nearly fainted with joy. My name is Nicole, and I am a addicted to cleaning. I believe this affliction is handed down, generation to generation, hidden in an inconsequential strand of DNA and released into the psyche at the first smell of Murphy’s Oil Soap. I am a dirt ridding maniac and Electrolux is my new inspiration.

The concept is amazingly simple in theory but gloriously wonderful in practice. Simply slip your feet into a set of these vacuuming wonders and while you dust the floorboards you become an instant multitasker. Walking around the house has never been so useful. Take a look at the Shoe prototype at SCI FI Tech.com, but be cautious, your very own cleaning gene could be released at any time.

Thank you for being my husband. Thank you for the world’s shortest runway, simple explanations of inappropriate jokes, and giving me full authority of the television controller. Without you, switching letters around in names and group hugs wouldn’t be the same. I’m not sure how I endured years of full-screen movies, pun-less sentences and sub-par electronic devices. I have unending appreciation for your limitless patience for my limitless questions, your amazing grasp of direction for my inability to remain on course, and your foresight for my deficient equilibrium. Thank you for all the simple junk, the complicated stuff, and the impossible things. You turn the mundane exciting and the difficult less intimidating. You are the best you on good days to accept even the worst me on bad. Thank you for sharing with me everything that is you.

Michael I am honored to be your wife. All my love forever,

Mrs. Nicole VanPutten

I love snow. Its dazzling white uniqueness is so amazing every single individual flake of snow is different. Michael is not such a huge fan of the stuff because it’s cold. So today I am writing for Michael and all the other snow dislikers out there. Drum roll please……room temperature snow! Hooray!

You need plain paper (any color will do depending on what color the snow is in your world), a pencil, and scissors. I’ll wait while you gather up your materials. Okay! Come with me to the Snowflake Template Patterns website and follow the directions and you too can have beautiful warm snow that requires absolutely no shovel, salt or snow-brush. It’s as simple as clicking here.

Now, simply arrange your snow on the floor, hanging from the ceiling fan or taped to your livingroom window and ask yourself, do you really dislike snow?

Early Sunday morning I discovered another deer with a passion for accessories in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Detroit Free Press reports that “a small deer who garnered national attention by getting its head stuck in a plastic Halloween jack-o’-lantern for several days will be fine…”. Although this deer is a bit more Bambi like in size, its choice of human head gear certainly is more inventive then Colorado’s Volleyball Net Deer. Thankfully the deer successfully freed itself from the plastic pumpkin, but I have to wonder exactly how much Halloween candy it ate first.

Check out a picture of Mr. Pumpkin Head here.

Accessories are not part of my wardrobe. Much to my Mom’s dismay, I took my earrings out in the fifth grade and never looked back. On my wedding day I wore my Grandma’s pearls and I’ve worn my wedding ring everyday since, but you’ll probably never find my wrist covered in bangles or my neck adorned with a trendy charm. Honestly, I like accessories and their added flair but my fashion sense has not caught up with my taste, so for now I remain accessory free. There are times, however, when I am hit with a pang of envy at perfect accessories and this Colorado buck mule deer hit me hard.  Click the link and look for yourself. Purple has never looked so good.

I like the middle. I’m a middle child sandwiched between two brothers, happily existing with one younger sibling and one older. I thoroughly enjoy being in the middle of a three person line. I always know what the person ahead of me is buying and if that proves dull I can turn around to chat with the person behind me. The middle chair at a crowded dinner table affords me the opportunities of multiple conversations and sitting in the middle of a crowded theater ensures the very best experience. The middle has charm and opportunities that the edges will never have. Ahhh, the middle.

Although I understand the ramifications of assuming, I never believed I would happen upon something anti-middle until today. Bakers Edge created a brownie pan with no middle. Don’t believe me? Click here to view the “interior edges” of this awful contraption. Bakers Edge eliminated the middle without a thought to those of us who like it. Their brownies only have edges. They erased my siblings with a flick of their “heavy gauge cast aluminum”, they “patented” a entire theater full of bad seats, and they discarded good dinner conversation with “more edges”. Bakers Edge wants to push away the middle.

I’ll never give in to the pro-edge movement and if you’d like to help spread the word about the middle you know where to find me.