Chalkboard paint started it all. I think Martha Stewart popularized it. And then Dana Tanamachi took it to new and exciting heights. I speak of chalkboard lettering. An earlier post about Dana here. The nicely packaged Chalk is available here.

Also known as a Hottie or, to most of us, a Hot Water Bottle. Originally made from metal, ceramic, glass or even wood, early hot water bottles actually contained the coals from whatever fire was had earlier. Now that the weather is finally getting colder (already had a hard frost upstate!!), I get a little peevish about slipping into an icy bed. I want my nose to remain cool, but I prefer warmth under the covers. My friend Jody swears by her hot water bottle. In fact, she says she’s got two on hand for chillier nights. All the pics are from Ebay.

Brilliant yellow plastic egg suitcase for a diehard camper or any lover of hard-boiled eggs. Went out to buy a dozen white eggs because the brown ones looked a little putrid against the canary color. Disclaimer: holder only works with small eggs. Too bad these won’t fit.

I think the idea here is that the relaxamat is meant to replicate the experience, in a far more benign and less scary manner, of the traditional bed of nails. Regardless, I think it has tremendous graphic appeal.

This morning my friend Patty sent me a link to a food blog that I had never heard of. So, like any good student of the web, I scrolled through, clicked links and basically enjoyed what I saw. Just when I was about to get back to work, I happened on this beast. This is the world’s largest gummy worm. Measuring well over 2 feet in length, weighing in at a mind-blowing, tooth-rotting 3 whole pounds and putting you way over your daily intake limit at 4000 calories!!! It’s positively scandalously vulgar. But, what fun to receive this on February 14th from your beloved instead of that typical heart-shaped chocolate thing. For more info go here.