Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Be Careful What You Specifically Don't Ask For...

Sometimes I have a reader ask to send me something via the post office. I've gotten more than my fair share of random fun stuff this way: fan art, an old typewriter, capsule toys, and even some handmade jewelry and toys. (Who has two thumbs and is insanely lucky? This girl.)

When readers e-mail us for the address, John and I like to jokingly inform them that shipments of poo are frowned upon, since John still anticipates a disgruntled baker sending us poo patties some day.

So last week, we got...this:

In addition to a cute pile o' poop notepad, flying poo cellphone charm, and monkey poo stickers, Obsidian from Australia *also* wrote my letter on "genuine roo poo paper," made from - you guessed it - kangaroo poop.

I bow before your snarky greatness, Obsidian.

She also sent me an adorable little bracelet and light saber earrings. *squee!* (Next on the agenda: get my ears pierced. Or, since I'm a wimp: get more clip earring backs to convert these. Heheh.)

Hmm...I wonder what I shouldn't ask for next? ;)

47 comments:

  1. Too cute! sounds a lot like how you signed our Cake Wrecks books. ;o)

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  2. It doesn't hurt to get your ears peirced...alot...

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  3. This post is so hilarious and such a great unexpected gift. But more importantly (and please forgive my naivete) but you can converte regular earrings to be clip-ons. Sorry, this is coming from a girl who once had pierce ears but hasn't worn them in so long and has no desire to get them re-pierced. So, long story short, could you do a tutorial post on how to do the conversion?

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  4. Roo poo paper is taking the "Go green" thing a bit too far.
    Light saber earrings. That's what I need. My cool factor would increase with my third grade students.:-)

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  5. everything from Australia is awesome! I want to move there. I actually have a kangaroo ... "daddy bags" lighter holder (yay mass effect 2 euphemism!)
    You should get your ears pierced. I'm a total sissy for pain and I've done it twice. totally worth it.

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  6. I'm about as wussy as they come - but I got my ears pierced when I was 19, and I haven't regretted it for a second! In fact, I enjoy earrings so much that I went back when I was about 24 and got the top of my ear pierced as well. Currently my hot wish list item are the new Rebel Alliance earrings from Her Universe. :)

    VW: geeky earrings are the holy grall of geekdom! :)

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  7. having some what recently gotten...well, lets just say two of my more sensitive bits pierced, I can't offer the advice that you go to a reputable piercing place, even if it is just for your ears and not the mall stores. They will do a much better job of it, and will hurt less than the 'peircing guns' I remember my ears hurting for a while after I got them pierced. Longer than they should have anyway.

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  8. My dad has this cow keychain that you squeeze and "poo" comes out the back end. I think one of his friends from church gave it to him.

    You could be like Oprah and wait til you're 50 to get your ears pierced. It's really not that bad. I got mine pierced when I was six and it didn't really hurt at all. I'd rather get my ears pierced than stub my toe.

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  9. Hi Jen and John(THOJ)and #1! Speaking of poo, my mom has a bag from China (they lived there for 2 years recently) and it's all about "baby poo" and "choco poo". This link is a picture of the bag (this isn't my mom's, but it is the same exact bag) with great close-ups of some of the most hilarious Engrish. :) Enjoy!

    Elizabeth

    http://danielleandaj.wordpress.com/page/10/

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  10. Hooray someone else who doesn't have their ears pierced! :) I want to get Hermione's Yule Ball earrings from The Noble Collection, but they only come in pierced. Do the clip on converters work well?

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  11. If you decide to get your ears pierced, I don't recommend your local Wal-Mart. Now, I've had it done there twice (once when I was seven and then my senior year). The first time, all went well and it was fine (yep, I remember back that far). But, my senior year, they gave me the trainee (I mean, I guess she had to learn some how, I just wish it hadn't been on me!) and the gun hung up on the plastic around the stud on my ear. Got infected because of it. Even with the hang up though, it didn't hurt that bad. The part you get pierced isn't really connected to too many nerve endings and if they don't hang the gun up, it's over in a few seconds and it stops hurting within minutes. Trust me, I know. I've done it three times (Only have one hole, the first two closed up because I didn't take care of them. My mom did a home piercing the second time, fourth grade). It's really not a bad experience. Just find a good place to do it. Tattoo parlors are a good choice because you know they will be clean, sanitary, and precise. I wanted my last ones done at a parlor but the guy I wanted to do them only did gages and didn't have a punch small enough to do regular holes. So, ask around to see who does regular holes. Jewelry stores may also be a good bet, but sometimes they can be a similar set up Wal-Mart.

    I hope I didn't totally scare you off piercing your ears. It honestly is not that unpleasant and once the six week healing period is done, you'll really enjoy the look. I wore clip ons between the second and third piercing and they just about killed me. Too heavy and pinchy. Kudos to you for pulling it off for so long and being willing to convert the pierced ones. That's pretty awesome.

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  12. Totally get your ears pierced! :)

    Also, I am totally going to buy a bunch of LEGO lightsabers, drill holes in the hilts, and add jump rings and fishhooks! They sell packs of them on Amazon. I feel so inspired!

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  13. Tillamook, Oregon has a whole shelf of Poo stuff. You can even get cow pies in the fudge section (which are really good). As for piercings, get r done! (I have 4, but two were sort of an accident. I started with two for my 13th bday. In college I thought one more would be cool and after it was done thought it made me even more lop sided than I was, so I went home and my sister wanted another. The beautician gave us the two for the price of one person.) Just use lots of neosporin on the holes and you'll be fine!

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  14. Hahaha I know Obsi, and one thing you never say is "don't" to her because she will! lol

    Actually never say "don't" to any Aussie, because any of us "will"!

    Enjoy your poo lol

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  15. omg i totally have a sketch book who's pages are made of elephant poo :D and it smells like lavender....

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  16. If you can get the courage up to get your ears pierced, there are some places that will do both ears at once so you only have to go through it one time. And it is so worth it! It opens up the accessory world in so many ways.

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  17. The fact that someone awesome like yourself doesn't have pierced ears makes me feel infinitely better about my unpierced ones.

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  18. Just rain on someone's parade. I had my ears pierced about 30 years ago. The piercing wasn't so bad, but everytime I tried to change earrings I threw up. Finally gave it up and let them grow back closed.

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  19. My daughter is a competition dancer. She hated wearing clip-ons so bad because they pinched that we would glue the gems to her ears for competition days. My daughter was terrified to get her ears pierced, but when we finally dragged her in she said it hurt less to have them pierced than to wear clip earrings all day. Now she only complains about costume sequins. :D

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  20. Just so you know - I've had my ears pierced twice (the first time I had a bad reaction to metal and I let them close over), once with the earring gun, and the second at a professional piercing/tattoo place. I'd definitely recommend the needle piercing option at a professional place - it really didn't hurt at all (though I have a really high pain tolerance - ex. I got a tattoo and it was only annoying instead of painful) and it was easy to care of the piercings (though I was impatient and took out my sleepers two weeks early. . .) I tried unpierced earring options and they were never very comfortable to wear for more than 30 minutes (most lasting less than 10 before I yanked them off).

    also, you can get elephant poo paper products :)

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  21. Obsidian, if you are out there, I DESPERATELY want to know where you got the pile of poop notepad!? Im from Australia, so hopefully it will be easy : )

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  22. I was recently commissioned to knit poo for an animated film...there were moments when I couldn't quite believe what I was doing!

    WV 'dingo' - how appropriate

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  23. I would join the masses suggesting that should you decide to get your ears pierced, you go the tattoo parlor route. When my daughter and her two besties wanted to get their ears pierced for their 12th birthdays, we researched all the options. Not only was the tat/piercing shop safer and less painful, it was actually cheaper than a Claire's type place. They do far more sensitive areas than ears, so doing ear piercing was actually a walk in the park for our guy, even if it was for three giddy, silly, scared sheepless tweenagers.

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  24. Kristen, I wouldn't suggest wearing clip-on earrings if you've had your ears pierced before. Piercings leave a little tunnel of scar tissue through your earlobe, which makes it VERY uncomfortable to wear clip-ons, even more so than normal.

    If you're not magnet-sensitive, you could try converting your earrings to magnetic backs. Just glue the earring to a magnetic metal disk (some may already be magnetic) or a super-strength magnet (available at Hobby Lobby or Michaels) then use another super-strength magnet on the back of your earlobe. You may have to play with different strength magnets until you find a pair that holds well enough while not pinching too hard. I wouldn't use this method for precious earrings though, because they can come off if they get caught in your hair or something.

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  25. getting your ears pierced doesnt hurt that bad. Im a competitive dancer and i ended up getting my ears pierced just so i could wear the earring for dance. I was so scared but it didnt hurt at all. I think you should. :)

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  26. It was only a matter of time... :D
    Hmm, maybe you should ask folks not to send you monkeys now.

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  27. I don't understand why piercing would be a problem. You have lightsabers.

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  28. i'm with you on the whole ears pierce thing. all my friends have their ears pierced but i don't and one friend's nosy mom is always asking me when it's gonna happen. but considering the fact that i am deathly afraid of needles and/or anything entering my skin, i think the answer to that would be a big fat no!!!!!!
    (even if they say it doesn't hurt)
    -your gloriously geeky tween reader kate

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  29. hey jen have you ever heard of magnetic earrings? they are just like regular ones but the earring and the back both have tiny, extremely strong magnets on them. they come in lots of cool designs, too!
    -gloriously geeky reader kate

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  30. It doesn't hurt a lot to get your ears pierced...trust me, I have 9ear holes ;)

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  31. Jen- If you DO get your ears pierced, go to a piercing studio and get them done by a professional piercer. The needles they use are actually sharp and it hurts much, much less than it does getting them gunned at one of those places like Claire's. :]

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  32. The ear piercing isn't a problem, but the earrings could be. I can no longer wear cheap earrings for any length of time because my ears get infected within hours of putting the earrings in. It doesn't matter if they are new earrings or ones I've worn before. I can wear gold-filled ear threads or earrings with gold posts, but not most of the other metals. Just something to think about.

    I may look into the magnetic earrings that some people mentioned.

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  33. http://storesense.megawebservers.com/HS1964/-strse-1880/Blue,-JEDI,-LIGHTSABER,-CHARM,/Detail.bok

    Look! this site has clip-on! :)

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  34. OMG, Jen! I went looking for some light saber earrings of my own, and found this awesome etsy site:
    http://www.etsy.com/shop/crimsonking

    Has great Lego cufflinks from Starwars, Harry Potter, etc. MAkes me want to get married just to deck out the groomsmen with these! ;)

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  35. Thank goodness I'm not the only one terrified of getting their ears pierced!I say the next thing to ask for is the clip converters, but I can't ever find any converters for studs. Oh well! Happy hunting!

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  36. "Obsidian, if you are out there, I DESPERATELY want to know where you got the pile of poop notepad!?"

    Ebay :D - I just did an ebay search for "poo" and that was one of the things I found. (the stickers and charm were ebay finds too) Sadly the store I got it from doesn't have any more... but maybe someone else on ebay will have them..

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  37. Go Obsi... we LOVE your work hon! ;)

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  38. I stumbled across these
    little non-pierced hoops the other day and I was thinking they would be handy for converting earrings. All you would have to do is remove the hook from a pair of pierced earrings, and the loop at the top of the decorative part of the earring (where the hook was attatched) could slide right onto the hoop. :)

    You could have just one pair of the hoops and a whole bunch of fun dangly things that you could switch out any time.

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  39. Oh Jen, I am so with you on the not ear piercing thing, and you just can't take it back.

    I have had it done 3 times (6,12,20), It lasted the longest when I was 6 cause my mom changed the earings for me. I get totally wierded out by putting earings in, taking them out, and feeling them in my ears, and hanging from my ears. The last time I had them in it was less than five min before I had them out again. I can't sleep with them in, I can't function. Oh and it hurt all three times, and I have a high pain tolerance, don't even flinch at IV's.

    I have not worn earings in a very long time, but my earlobes ich all the time. If I knew then what I know now I never would have done it, let alone 3 times.

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  40. Oh and I forgot, The poop song for your enjoyment.

    "Someday, poop will come out, fall in the toillette, and go in the drain, theeeeeen it will make it's way to the rivvvver. Float. Float. Bob up and down, till a big bear comes ouuut and eats it. Digests it, then it comes out as poop poop, oh the wonderful poop poop, crap."

    Okay so it is way better when it is a van load of teenagers sing screaming and trying to outdo each other, but that is for another time, another place.

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  41. I think you should get your ears pierced... then you could get these
    They are cake and "hidden" Mickey =)

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  42. I had my ears pierced when I was about 13... I had heaps of trouble with mine not healing, but then I found out (thanks to a rash from a necklace) I'm allergic to most metals... so once we'd realised that, and switched to using sterling silver earrings, my ears healed up fine and I've never had a problem since.

    - so long as I only use sterling silver or gold hooks. I can't even wear surgical steel, anything plated (since the plating isn't thick enough to stop a reaction) or supposedly "hypo-allergenic" stuff. Which is a pain, but most dangle earrings I can swap the hooks for - it just means I can't wear a lot of the stud ones.

    (don't get me started on how much a metal allergy sucks, you have no idea how much metal you get contact with that's difficult to avoid - the button on jeans, the arms of glasses, the back and buckle of a watch - GRRR!)

    I now have 2 holes in each ear and my nose pierced. I had them done with the gun at a pharmacy - I can't handle the idea of the other way, as I'm very squeamish about needles and things. But I can't leave the piercing earrings in, I have to take them out after a few hours and put sterling silver ones in.

    For me, it's the idea of the piercing that is worse than the piercing itself...

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  43. LOVE that you don't have your ears pierced. My 7 year old is getting to the, apparently, peer pressure age where all the girls are getting theirs pierced, but she's on the fence. I'm encouraging her not to do it (but ultimately, it's her body, she can do what she wants to it), but it's nice to have someone other than my grandma as a reference point for people who don't get their ears pierced. It's such a refreshing change from all the pierced at birth girls around these parts.

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  44. Hey I found this over on etsy and thought you would enjoy it, if you haven't seen it already....

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  45. Jen and others: never be ashamed for not having piercings! That's just ridiculous. It's personal choice and always will be.

    I have 3 ear piercings and no horror stories but would never pressure somebody else to do it.

    So there :)

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  46. joining the masses and stating no gun, go to a piercing shop. you may pay more $ say than at pagoda or claire's, BUT the gun basically rams the not so pointy stud through your ear, causing keloids, or scar tissue. go with a needle. although not as fast as two girls on either side of you, it's safer, more sanitary.

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