Well Slap My Face and Call Me Stupid!

"Intellect is invisible to the man who has none".

~ Arthur Schopenhauer

As I sit here writing this post, 
I am laughing at myself!

You will understand why in a moment....

I am always looking for ways to re-purpose items.

I love giving vintage gifts 
or things made from vintage items.

So, I was shopping at a flea market recently 

and came across a huge selection of older encyclopedias.

I am a sucker for dictionaries, 
atlases, encyclopedias, and hymnals,

as I use them in art projects. 

If I find a pretty set, I decorate with them.

So, I'm standing there staring at this huge display 

and I see a low shelf full of encyclopedia 
year books, in no specific order.

A light bulb goes off in my head! 
This would be so cool 

to give as a gift in honor of a person's birth year!

Are you following me?....
these were older year books from the 50's and 60's!

Right up my alley...
my husband, my siblings, myself!  How cool is that?

A vintage year book about the year you were born! 

Who needs those new birthday cards that include this information when you can have the real thing?

I started filling up my buggy!  

They didn't have newer ones, 
so I couldn't get any for my children...
until I was at Goodwill a few weeks ago 
and low and behold, 
there were year books from the 90's decade.
  
So I bought my boy's year books too!

I was so proud of myself, thinking about 

how I was going to blog about this great idea for another re-purposing project.

Until I gave my teenage boys their books....

I presented them with their books 
and explained that the year books high-lighted everything going on in the world 
the year they were born!

They both stood there looking at me with this 
"here she goes again" smile on their faces.

Can you see it?...
I was so excited...they were completely blase'!  

So, a couple days go by 
and I see the 15 year old's year book 
on the coffee table...

and think, wow he's reading his book!  

I was so proud of me!  

DRUM ROLL.....

Start laughing now OK?  

Because I have to laugh to keep from crying....

My 15 year old comes in the kitchen and says,

"Hey mom, you know that book 
you bought me about my birth year?"

I say, "yes honey, what about it?"  

(thinking he is going to tell me how neat it is),

"It's the wrong year!"

"What?" I say..."doesn't it say 1995?"

"YES MOM! 
But the 1995 book 
is all about what happened in 1994!!"

"OH MY LORD!"

I grew up using these books!  
I knew this!!  Somewhere in my brain I knew this!

So my sweet child,
seeing the dejected look on my face,

as I realized I had a box of  year books in the basement I couldn't use, said,

"But that's OK mom...
I want to keep it, it tells all about 
the OJ Simpson trial!!"

I just died laughing!  
I mean rolling out loud 
and he stood there looking at me 
like I was mindless!

So again I say, 
"Slap my face and call me stupid!"

One last thought!

It is a great idea for a gift!
  

Just make sure you buy the year book titled 
AFTER the year you need!

I may be putting a few in my booth to sell!!

Be Authentic....
if you can't laugh at yourself 
then no one can laugh with you!

Join me in my laughter...will you?

Be Real ~ Martha