The Results

We apologize for the slight delay in posting the Peep Show results. We ended up with 79 votes coming from our friends and family, their friends and family, other random people and Donny Osmond. I know we have already done this, but we want to really thank the Singleys again. We are already brainstorming our next collaboration with them.

So, here are the winners:

#1. Forth of July Hot Dog Peeping Contest – Lizzie & Micah Heiselt (yes, it is a bit embarrassing)

#2. Let My Peeps Go – Meg Singley

#3. Lincoln's Last Peep Show – Dave & Danica McDonald

Honorable Mentions go to:

Easter Hunter – Matthan Heiselt

Don't Fear the Peeper (More Cowbell) – Bryce Barrand

Peeps Bathroom – Cassie Singley

Sergeant Peeper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – Brad Singley

Winnie the Peep – April Heiselt

Thanks again for everyone that participated. The competition was fierce and the voting really did come down to the wire. We can't wait until next year!

Addendum: Due to several requests I have posted the final scores as a comment to this post. Check it out if you wish.

Last Call for Votes

As a friendly reminder, all votes for the 2008 Peep Show must be placed by the end of the day today. Thanks for all of the participation and help thus far, (especially to the Singleys). It has been a huge success. We look forward to tallying the votes in the morning and finding out who the winners are.

Peep Show 2008

We were so impressed with the entries for the Peep Show. There were 23* of them this year. Take a stroll through the gallery below and then cast your vote! Here are the rules for voting:

1. Everybody can pick a 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place entry.
2. 1st place votes will get 3 points, 2nd place gets 2 points, 3rd place 1 point.
3. Entries with the most points win.
4. All votes must be cast by next Sunday night, March 30th.
5. Anyone can vote, whether or not they entered the contest.
6. Cast your votes in the comments section, or if you prefer, e-mail us. (heiselt at gmail dot com or heiseltea at gmail dot com)

1. American Peepinators

2. Beach Peeps

3. Bunny Bath

4. Cadbury Farms

5. "Don't Fear the Peeper (More Cowbell!)"

6. Easter Hunter

7. Easter Island

8. Fourth of July Hot Dog Peeping Contest

9. Harry Peepter & the Quidditch Match

10. High School Peepsical

11. Let My Peeps Go

12.Lincoln's Last Peep Show

13. Oregon Trail Peeps

14. Peep Town's American Idol

15. Peepémon

16. Peepza

17. Sergeant Peeper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

18. Shakespeepe

19. Teenage Mutant Ninja Peeps

20. The Ugly Duckling

21. This is How We Roll

22. Winnie the Peep

23. Peeps Bathroom

*Addendum: Entry #23 was finished on time, but merely got lost in the pipe works. Sorry about that.

Spring Cleaning . . . or not

I thought Spring Break would be a great time to do some Spring cleaning, especially since we aren't getting out much this week (Simon is doing much better today, but his nose is still running like a river). Today my focus is our iTunes and my clothes.

We have 25 days of music/books/podcasts in our iTunes. That is 30.58 gigs. Most of the music is from Micah's days sailing the high seas of file sharing, when he would grab any music he could from the network his apartment complex was on. We don't listen to a lot of it, and we don't know what a lot of it is. We have gone through it before and thinned it out a bit (I think we used to have 29 days worth). But for some reason no matter how much I feel like just tossing everything, once I sit down at the computer and try to figure out what is worth holding onto and what is not, a little voice in my head starts saying things like, "Well, maybe someday you'll learn to salsa dance, and then you'll want this Latin music so you can practice in the living room sometimes." Or, "Maybe if you have this German music playing sometimes, Simon will pick up on German and then he will be really smart." Ha! As if the boy could be any smarter. Also, as if I want to listen to German music when we have 23 days worth of English music. Or, "I hate Ace of Bass and don't care if I ever hear 'All that She Wants' ever again . . . but 'The Sign' is so junior high dance-ish that how could I possibly trash it?" It's ridiculous and I know it.

And then there is the clothing issue. I am not somebody who really likes to shop. I don't have a lot of clothes. I threw a bunch of clothes overboard when we moved to Hawaii, threw some more overboard when we were in Utah (things that had been in storage, like winter clothes), and then as soon as we got to New York I realized I still had a some clothes that I held onto, not because I liked them but because I couldn't bear to part with any more. Of course, I haven't found a use for them since, and they are now sitting in a pile of things to be given away. Now that I've cleaned things out several times, I find that most of what I have left are t-shirts with sentimental value (my marathon shirt, shirts Micah designed for the PCC) but that I only wear to bed because they are a little big for my normal style. It's a shame we didn't budget for a Spring Fashion shopping spree. Looks like I'll be wearing the same five shirts over and over again for the next year.

At least it makes getting dressed in the morning a little easier.

Lazy Days

I certainly didn't intend to spend my Spring Break wiping somebody else's snotty nose, but that is what it has come to. Micah brought home what appears to be the flu and Simon had it by Sunday. Somehow I seem to have escaped the worst of it with only a sore throat and a bit of achiness, but Simon is doing double duty. Not only has he had a high fever, watery eyes and runny nose, but he's teething. Or maybe the teething is causing the watery eyes and runny nose. I don't know. But what I do know is that I can see at least three teeth coming in on top. He's been chilling on the couch for the better part of three days now.
I have to say, I have imagined scenarios in which I was home with a sick child (or two), but in my imagination, the kids were old enough to appreciate a good book or homemade chicken soup. At least we can snuggle on the couch together.

Peeps and Prizes

Just a friendly reminder that your Peep Show entries are due this Saturday, March 22 at midnight Eastern Time. Ours is well underway and we plan to win all of the prizes. Yes, all of them. There are three. We just decided what they would be tonight.

1st place: $25 Amazon.com gift card
2nd place: $15 iTunes gift card
3rd place: $10 Cold Stone gift card

We think these would be welcome and useful to anybody, anywhere in the United States.Also, a reminder of the rules:

1. The display must include those abominable sugar-coated marshmallows called Peeps.
2. The deadline is Saturday, March 22 at midnight Eastern Time.
3. Submit a photograph of your entry to us via e-mail.
4. Blog readers will have one week to vote for their favorite after we post the entries.

There are no size restrictions for Peep Show entries, which I hope everybody saw on the original contest announcement.

Peep away!

Pi(e) Day 2008

We were lucky this year that Pi Day fell on the first day of my spring break. We were unlucky that Micah picked up a bug at work and we didn't get to celebrate with our friends as planned. But we did make pie, which is, of course, what Pi Day is for. Yes, there is a mathematical element to the celebration as well. You know, something about March 14th's numerical representation bearing a resemblance to the number of the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter or something like that. But really, who cares about that? It's just an excuse to make pie. Nonetheless, we did factor a math activity into the festivities. We began the day by standing pennies on end so we could knock them over and see how many landed heads up. It was for my math-for-journalism-people class. Pennies, by the way, are not flat coins. They are much more likely to land heads up. We got 44 heads from the 50 coins.Despite suffering from a fever and chills, Micah did have to go into work so he could submit his time card and get paid. That is kind of important. So we made a trip into Manhattan. While we were there, we picked up some apples from the green market for our pie and in the process of getting the apples we were seduced by the Peeler Man. As you can see from the video, he is quite a character. We debated whether or not we were going to fall for his spiel, and in the end decided that the entertainment combined with the peeler was worth $5. We used our newly acquired kitchen utensil to peel our apples and we are satisfied with our purchase.


And then we ate pie. It was tasty. As always.

This kid makes me laugh

And also, we make him laugh. Or Micah makes him laugh, anyway.

The Banana Boy

Simon loves bananas. With a passion. He will eat a whole banana in one sitting. He will try to get the banana peels out of the trash. And whenever he sees a banana, he goes a little bit crazy. Take our experience on the train yesterday, for example. I am wearing Simon and we are sitting on a bench. I'm reading an article for one of my classes and Simon is content just chilling and watching people. A lady gets on and sits next to us. I am fairly oblivious, but Simon starts squirming and making his wonderful moaning noise and stretching towards our new neighbor. She has a cup of coffee. And a banana. I move the article so that he can't see the banana any more, but it is too late. He squirms some more. I get out his cheerios as a distraction, but his gaze is still toward the banana. Finally, I admit to our neighbor that my child is coveting her banana and that is why he is a bit of a wreck. She offers him a piece, but I tell her that isn't necessary, he just ate a banana an hour ago. She kindly offers to put it away. Simon calms down. We end up getting off at the same stop as our neighbor. As we prepare to leave the car she says, "Are you going to follow me and steal my banana?" I assure her that I will try to keep him in check.

Domesticity

Micah was the saddest, loneliest man in the world when Simon and I were gone last week. He was also the busiest. Besides working, he served his jury duty sentence (but was not selected to actually be on a jury), completed our quarterly Costco run (I can't live without that 72 oz. bag of chocolate chips), and made himself useful around the house. The following pictures are evidence that not only did he take full advantage of the empty apartment, but also that he has skills to burn. Unfortunately, the coolest project is still incomplete and unable to be photographed. I'm so excited for when it is finished and we can show you.Micah's dad made this box a long time ago. Micah sanded it and restained it, then put a coat of polyurethane on it. He replaced the handle on the drawer and added the legs (which made the nightstand much taller than he anticipated -- but at least Simon won't be able to reach it just yet).

He also designed and sewed this saddle-bag for Simon's crib. It looks great and is so handy. The pockets are lined and everything. And notice all of the little ties -- can you tell how impressed I am? Usually Simon's stuff ends up strewn about the apartment, but no more. It would have taken me months to do this and it wouldn't have turned out half as nice.