Day 5: Oh the Places You'll Go.

I thought long and hard about this one. For day 5, I'm supposed to share a photo of somewhere I've been.  Hmmm...which fabulous location should I pick?  Decisions decisions.

In the end, I opted for this:

Fairy Tale Forest in Oak Ridge, NJ.  I spent a good deal of my youth at that place.  There were huge plaster recreations of nursery rhymes and fairy tales.  I loved it.  In later years, they tried revamping the place with bright psychedelic colors which was more trippy than anything else.  Sadly, the redo didn't help the park and it closed in 2003.

Heartbreakingly, the site remains much as it was, just in awful disrepair. There are a few videos on YouTube where people have snuck into the abandoned site and filmed.

Here's one:

And here's another (this one absolutely breaks my heart).

Lost in Fairytale Forest has some more photographs of it in the disrepair along with some historical photographs which show it how I remember.

What I wouldn't give to get a copy of that vintage post card!

Random thought: Near the Mother Goose statue, on a walking path, when you looked up, you saw a cradle in a tree with a plaque hanging. It contained the lyrics to "Rock-a-bye Baby" painted on a piece of wood in intricate handwriting. At about 4 years old, I saw that and it suddenly hit me that the song wasn't a sweet soothing lullaby, but was about a baby plummeting to her death from up in a tree branch.

None of the videos or photographs show any evidence of that cradle or the sign that accompanied it. What happened to them? The fact that there is no proof that that even existed (other than in my memory) bothers me to no end.

On the 4th Day of Randomness, Your Blogger Gave To Thee...

A bad habit.

Day 4 compels me to share a habit I wish I didn't have.

I often say, "Patience is a virtue, it's just not MY virtue."

So, there you have it.  I wish I wasn't so impatient.

Girlysound streaming

I adore Liz Phair. I haven't been her biggest fans over the course of the past few records, but I've always loved Girlysound and now some songs are being rereleased as part of Funstyle (I could sing "Bollywood" all day) and Pop Candy is streaming Girlysounds. I've been listening over and over again. I had forgotten just how much I love some of these songs ("In Love With Yourself," especially). I'm having a blast listening to these over and over again.

If you're not familiar with Liz Phair, I should give you a NSFW warning. She does use colorful language, so be warned. Then again, if you need that warning, she's probably not for you.

Day 3: You've Gotta Have Friends (and a camera)

On the 3rd day of randomness, your blogger gave to thee, photographs of people you probably don't even know.

Perfect timing since it's Wordless Wednesday.  I can get the Wednesday part down.  The wordless, not so much.

Girls' Night Out in July

Dinner at shul a week or two ago.  

Don't you love the blur of kids in that last one?  Maybe you like the suggestive balloon animal with which we're posing.  Perhaps all those pieces of cake are making you drool.  Funny enough, in the top picture, we also had cake and took pictures of said chocolate cake.  I'm not friends with the cake nor am I in those pictures, though, so I'm not posting those.  :-)

And in honor of those awesome friends, some of my favorite friendship quotations.

"How I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl year after year, running over the same old ground and how we found same old fears. Wish you were here."--Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here)


"Strangers are exciting, their mystery never ends, but there's nothing like looking at your own history in the faces of your friends."--Ani DiFranco


"There are so many ways to be connected to people. There's some people that you feel this unspoken connection to, even though there's no word for it. And the people you've known forever that you know in ways other people can't, because they've seen you change…they've let you change."--Angela Chase from My So Called Life


"Love is blind, but friendship is clairvoyant."--unknown


"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."--J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

On the 2nd Day of RandomnessMy Blogger Gave To Me...

a very brief explanation.

Day 2 calls for explaining the meaning behind the blog title.  

Well, that's easy.  

I refer to my gaggle of kids as "The goat rodeo."  People are endlessly amused by this.  

We're in the process of moving, hence, "Relocating the Goat Rodeo."  

I know, the anticipation just damn-near killed ya, didn't it?  

Crafty Goodness Roundup

I've abandoned my weekly link roundup as of late (quite accidentally.  I want to keep it up, but life has a way of interfering).  My constant collection of crafty goodness that I hope to create just keeps growing, though.  Out of the kindness of my heart (and the selfish need to keep them somewhere where I know I can find them), I'm compiling a collection here.

Leaf mobile (found at Creative Jewish Mom).
We have tons of yarn, so this would be great to do with the kids.  Plus, I've wanted to dress up our front door for fall.  I actually created a leaf wreath with items from the Dollar Tree, but I love that look, so I may create this mobile in addition.

Halloween Bloody Bathroom
This is one I don't actually plan on doing (could you imagine the reaction from potential buyers when they came to see the house?), but I love this and other Halloween ideas they have on that blog.

Cutest Owl Costume EVAH!
Okay, so I altered the title a bit to better suit my feelings on it.  :-)  I'm all about birds, especially in relation to my youngest (we called her Tziporah when she was tiny because she looked like a bird) and I particularly like cute owls.  So I'm going to get to work on this costume today.

Again, on the bird theme, I want to make these
Paper Mache Birds
They seem pretty simple and very cute.

I've been scouring the side of the road for drawers to use to make this
Dollhouse.
That's so cute and would be a great way to use up some of my neglected paper supplies.

I am absolutely in love with this owl room for my youngest.  Again, with the owls.  I adore that bedding.  The problem is, it's no longer available.  *sigh*  I have a knack for falling in love with things that are either 3 years old (and therefore nowhere to be found) or from a foreign country.  I wonder if I could try to create bedding like that.

Heart-shaped photo arrangement
I love that.  When we (finally) move, I want to try that out at the new place.

Not exactly a craft, but these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes are calling my name.  Problem is, I'm drooling too profusely to respond.

There's a lolcat for that.

This simple Halloween decorating idea from the Graphics Fairy cracked me up.  I'd like to do that year-round.  :-)  That's another one that makes me wonder what the potential buyers would think.

This rock collage is darling and simple (and a much better souvenir alternative to buying plastic crap with the name of the state/town/country plastered on it).

These owl items aren't crafts, but they are adorable and I think they'll easily lend themselves to crafts.  I could easily recreate those with fabric scraps.  Although, I must say, we have some Stephen Joseph items for the kids and we've been very impressed with the company.  We had a problem with one and the customer service was phenomenal.

This French Vanilla Creamer seems simple to make and lacks all those extra chemicals.

These paper name mobiles are adorable and simple.  That's another thing I want to make for the kids' rooms when we move.  Hmmm...I would even do something like that for the front door to spell out, "Welcome."  That combined with that first leaf mobile could be super cute.

lolcats for the middle daughter

This makes me think of E.