Day 59

Sarah loved studying astronomy, but it had a way of making her feel very, very small.

Day 58

Debbie had been waiting all night for this. With the kids asleep, she could finally take down her hair, grab a drink, and sit in the tub with bubbles up to her neck.

Day 57

Tack-climbing is always a great way to relax on a Saturday evening.

Day 56

The new roller coaster had gotten rave reviews, but Tricia wasn't so sure she liked hanging 24" in the air.

Day 55

One of Jack and Jill's favorite date-night activities, and the best midnight snack ever, was making freshly roasted peanuts.

Day 54

Indy had been amazed to discover such a primitive civilization living in the urban jungle. After several days of observation, he concluded that they were nonviolent, and he hoped they'd accept his peace offering.

Day 53

After realizing the limitations of the mobile-phone black market, Irina and her gang stumbled upon a much more lucrative form of income. She thought it terribly amusing that small children everywhere would surely be blamed for playing in their parents' wallets.

Day 52

Lysa hated it when the kids left the toy room looking like a train wreck. At this rate, she'd never get to bed.

Day 51

It had taken all day to build, and it wasn't pretty, but Marc had finally figured out how to get his new supplies to school. And if he started driving now, he might even make it before tomorrow's tardy bell.

Day 50

After a long day of cliff diving, Matt was ready for dinner. Unfortunately for him, so was the shark.

Day 49

The stage was set for a mutiny...

Day 48

One of the questions I'm asked a lot is, "Do you work?" That's usually met with the Captain Obvious look and a smile. I have six children. Of course I work! When do I ever NOT work? No, I don't have a salaried position outside of my home.

Every six months, though, I spend two days working as a staff member for Divine Consign, one of the largest semiannual consignment sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. (We may even be the biggest; I'm not sure.) With two locations, Grapevine and Plano, DC has a combined 70,000 square feet of kids' clothes, baby gear, toys, maternity, and nearly everything else that's baby- or child-related. As a staff member, I work during the presale, when the sale is closed to the public but open for volunteers, consignors, and first-time moms. I'm a devoted DC shopper--with raising six kids on one income it's been a lifesaver--and have shopped there almost exclusively for eight years.

This is a shot taken last night in Plano--AFTER all of the consignors and volunteers finished shopping, and this is still probably less than a third of what is there. (And yes, that's Drew ducking to try to get out of the pic. Didn't work.)

So yesterday, at the Plano presale, I scored some great deals as a shopper but also spent 12 hours on my feet working my staff position. Total exhaustion, but I'm excited to do it again next week in Grapevine! If you're in the Dallas area, check out the Plano sale, at the Plano Center on Spring Creek just east of 75. The Plano sale is open to the public today (Friday) from 9a-8p, and Saturday is half-price day, also 9a-8p. Grapevine is next week, and there are still volunteer shifts open that will allow you to shop the presale night.

With all that being said, the Plano sale floor was the setting for yesterday's photo.

Brian and Josh had heard about the black market for body parts, but neither had any idea it was this bad. In any case, they were confident that they could rescue the next intended victim.

Day 47

Ahem. A public service announcement, courtesy of your friendly Captain Obvious:

It does no good whatsoever to stay up late to take a picture, edit said picture into a nice little file, upload the aforementioned file to your photo site, compose a caption, and put it all together as a blog entry. If you then neglect to click on the little orange button link entitled "Publish Post," your work will remain unseen.

That's all for this morning, thank you. And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming...



Vader was speechless but thrilled. Now if he could just figure out a way to pick it up, he could overthrow the Emperor and rule the Empire alone!

Day 46

Rushing to the surprise inspection, Buzz realized too late that he'd forgotten his helmet, and now his secret was out.

Day 45

As usual, Susie was up too late playing around on the computer. She was exhausted but figured she might as well stay up and read Facebook, since her eyes wouldn't close no matter how hard she tried.










Ironically enough, I've fallen asleep three times at the computer trying to post this. Off to bed I go...

Day 44

Most people usually assumed that a missing cell phone was a random event. It was always, in fact, an operation that had been meticulously planned months ago, down to the very last detail.

Almost there...

Thansk to your help, we're up to 45 of 50 states! Citizens of Alaska, South Dakota, Montana, and Iowa have all been sucked into the world of LEGO figures during the last five days. Welcome to my warped sense of humor! :D

That still leaves:
North Dakota
Hawaii
Vermont
New Hampshire
Delaware

I've been trying to figure out what I'll do once we reach all fifty. Besides thinking about a related pic for that day, my original idea was to throw a party and invite all of you over for cupcakes. Since that just doesn't work, I'll probably do a LEGO giveaway instead. It won't be anything huge (and let's face it, a cupcake is much more tasty), but it's much easier to ship a LEGO box than small baked goods covered with frosting.

So, thank you to everyone who continues to pass along the link, whether it's through word of mouth, email, FB status updates, your own blog, or any other method you've used to share the insanity. Keep it up--it's very much appreciated! And don't forget to join the Facebook page, since I'll be working on a separate giveaway for the fans there.

And for my international readers, a huge thank you to you as well! A good-sized percentage of my readers are in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. I wish I had a realistic goal for countries other than the US, but hitting all of them is a bit lofty when you consider that there are nearly 200 countries in the world. Right now the current total is 20 countries, which is great! Keep passing it on.

Have a good week!

Day 43

For rent: Cozy unfurnished one-room apartment, floor-to-ceiling windows, domed ceilings, scenic neighborhood, plenty of ventilation, rustic setting. Great potential!

Day 42

Steve surfaced as quietly as he could and looked around. This was the hardest training exercise yet, but he was closer than ever to his dream of becoming an undercover agent.

Day 41

Rapunzel tried not to feel sorry for herself as she sat at her window and cried. She'd only wanted a trim to look nice for her prince, but the old witch cut off all but a foot of her hair. Now she'd never be rescued!

Day 40

Finn was pretty sure there was a clichè here somewhere, but he was too hungry to care.

Edited Thursday morning to add: I should give credit to my 12-year-old for my inspiration for this shot. He found a LEGO barrel in his room, brought it to me, and said, "Mom, you can have my barrel for your pictures. Don't you have some fish?" Why yes, yes I do! Thanks, Drew. :)

Day 39

A relaxing walk around the lake had seemed like a perfect way to spend their lunch hour. As Sam and Susie hit the halfway mark twelve hours later, though, the idea had definitely lost its appeal.

Day 38

So far, the evening had been perfect: a romantic dinner, dancing, and finally a moonlit stroll through the park. But as Jack stood behind Diane with the rose and ring box, he realized his plan had a fatal flaw. There was no way he was going to be able to get down on one knee.

A professional photographer will tell you that this shot is impossible, because there's no way to get a focus on Diane, the tree behind them, and the moon, while leaving Jack a little out-of-focus. So in the interest of full disclosure, this is two shots put together. No matter how I shot Jack & Diane, the moon wouldn't look right, so I finally used two shots--ISO, aperture, and exposure time all had to be changed. Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, you get the best of both pics!

Wow!

I am continually amazed at the number of hits here daily. I love it! It would be great if I were making money from this as well, but I'm not and am not trying to. There are very few things I enjoy more than making other people smile, and I'm happy to continue to do so.

So far, the Lego Blog has gotten hits from 41 states. I'm hoping to make it to all 50, and I have no idea how long that will take. Four days, four weeks, four hours? You can help! If you haven't already, send the link to your friends. Hopefully they'll not only look but want to come back and then send it to THEIR friends! And don't forget about the Facebook fan page. I'm not currently an admin on the page, so there isn't much content at the moment, but we're working on getting that changed so I can post updates and info there as well.

Here are the missing nine states:
Montana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Alaska
Iowa
Delaware
Vermont
New Hampshire
Hawaii

If you have friends there who could use a good laugh, please send it along! Thank you SO much for your continued support.

Day 37

Very few authentic photos exist of the Cabbage Patch Kids' lesser-known cousins, the Flower Bed Legoheads.

Day 36

Brian's mother had been telling him for years that his room was so messy, he'd lose his own head if it wasn't attached. One morning, he woke up to find she was right all along.

Day 35

"See? I told you the hotel had waffles the size of Texas!"

In all seriousness, is there any other state besides Texas that is so full of itself? Or, as a native Texan puts it, just so proud to be from God's own land? I've lived in Texas for eleven years now, and Texan Pride never ceases to amaze me.

If you know of any of the other states where you can get a state-shaped wafflemaker, post it in the comments--you'll help settle a bet between Jeff and me!

Day 34

The employee on the other end of the line had no idea how much teamwork was required to place a simple order for room service.

Day 33

Officer Jerry radioed for help as he and his partner chased the man in black. Police had been hunting for the cereal killer for some time, and now they'd caught him red-handed.

Day 32

Indy rolled over onto his back in frustration and defeat. He could manage "Left foot green," but "Right hand yellow" was NOT going to happen. Maybe this just wasn't his game.

Day 31

Diana really didn't understand why tabloids made such a big deal about plastic surgery. Every woman she knew had had work done to maintain her perfect appearance, and Diana herself was no exception.

Day 30

Speculation was rampant throughout the league, but no one had any real proof that the twins were using growth hormones or performance-enhancing substances.

Day 29

Joey was very disappointed. Apparently, you have to be THIS tall to ride on the planes at Love Field airport, and he just didn't quite make it.

This statue is of a Texas Ranger, and it's one of the first things you see when you enter the terminal at Dallas Love Field. It's immediately in front of the security lines. The inscription, which isn't visible in this photo, is "One Riot, One Ranger," referring to an incident when a single Texas Ranger was sent to quell a riot. More pictures of the statue--from a 'real' perspective, anyway--can be found here and here (scroll all the way down on that page).