Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Squirrels!!! Etc.

So, I went on a rant about e.l.f. cosmetics yesterday and their distasteful "I Have A Dream" ads. Of course, I also had to send them an e-mail. Because  (a) I am just that kind of a citizen or (b) I clearly have too much time on my hands. You decide. I received a note back from them saying that they did not intend to come across as disrespectful. And then lo and behold...I get a sales event  e-mail from them this morning that said  "TODAY we have a dream!" I guess the dream is just going to keep going.

Anyway....in all of the celebratory hoopla yesterday, I completely forgot about Squirrel Appreciation Day! This is a major misstep on my part because as some of you may know, I LIVE for squirrels. Live ones. Fake ones. I don't care. I love me some squirrels. I always celebrate the holiday and can't remember when I haven't.  So today, I thought that I'd rectify the situation by walking around the house and photographing the newest squirrel related items in my collection. Here goes:

These first two were birthday presents from my friend Joan: 



I had seen different versions of these measuring spoons (mostly a cute little chicken) but never the squirrel and definitely not one devoted to Tennessee exclusively. I don't use these but keep them up hella high on the kitchen shelves because one of my kitties is fixated on eating his little eyes off.



Squirrel Peanut Butter!

This is an empty can which I've added to my vintage products collection. I have no idea what Squirrel Peanut Butter tasted like but I imagine that it was most likely the finest tasting peanut butter in the world. Unless it was made of real squirrels - then it was just sadistic. As you can tell, Joan is great at picking squirrel gifts!

Now back to spoons!



This spoon rest is from my friend Allen. Look at the glorious eyelashes on that girl! 
 I heart her too much to let her hold gloomy spoons so she just hangs out and classes up the joint. 





My Mom gave me these next ones. 




You can tell by the way that I cut their feet off when taking the photo that they make me a little nervous. I think it's their expressions. 






All rhinestone eyes and "I'm gonna eat your face off!" 

Still, I love them and am not one to shy away from whackadoodle faces on things. They're prancing across the top of my china cabinet every day of the week. Some day, I'll have to take you on a tour to see the odd faced things in my house. Honestly, I'm pretty sure that I'm drawn to knick-knacks and such if they DO have weird faces. 

Here are some recent eBay scores.  They're all wooden brooches. 


They're taking a walk past my one dilapidated Marx dollhouse in this shot. I found mine on the side of the road and it's more haunted house than dream house. Did you all see the end of the Fallout Shelter Marx dollhouse that we looked at the other day? That baby went for  $1040.00 and some change! Whoowhee!  

Here is Mr. Grumpy Squirrel. He's an old chalkware piece and more than likely, was a carnival prize. 


He's a pretty mean looking squirrel too. I found him in an antique store that has more frilly eighties stuff than shriek-worthy stuff so you never can tell about what a store is going to have. He's as large as a house cat and heavy as all-get-out. 

Finally, here is a notebook that my adopted brothers Johnny and Michael sent me from Florida. I think it pretty much says it all about my love for squirrels!


Aww! 

I hope that you all are having great days today - and if you did remember to celebrate Squirrel Appreciation Day yesterday, then I hope that the buzz hasn't worn off yet and you're still as giddy as school girls!

p.s. Are any of you other Blogger users having serious formatting issues? I've got fonts changing mid-post and spacing going insane and well, I'm just barely sorting it all out. Zoot Alors! I just went over to look at my coding and felt a little bit like fainting. So, in the spirit of squirrels who do the zaniest things, I'm going to leave it all just like it is today. 

Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha

20 comments:

Rita said...

Looking at your pictures always reminds me of my Grandma's house. I mean this in the best possible way. :-)

Eartha Kitsch said...

Ha! I'll take it! : ) I'm pretty sure that my own grandma's house is the reason that I like the things that I like today. Especially ranch houses and paneling and snack foods.

Unknown said...

Squirrel spooning is now my new favorite concept! Also, The ELF email yesterday was just ridiculous. I mean I get marketing synergy and stuff, but that seems like a stretch.

Dakota said...

Oh, this post has me drooling!! Of all the many varieties of anthropomorphic critter kitsch, squirrels are among my very favorites! When I was little we used to have a semi-pet squirrel named "Tufty Nutkin"; he lived outside, but we used to feed him peanut butter sandwich crusts by hand. (I realize this wasn't a good practice in retrospect, but it left me with a deep love of those bright eyed 'n' bushy tailed creatures!)

And good for you for emailing the ELF folks about that stupid advertising slogan! Shame on them for viewing such an important and beautiful event as a money-making opportunity :(

Anonymous said...

So, I have to admit I did more peeking behind the squirrels then at them. When are we going to get a tour of your amazing home? I loved the kitchen photos you posted before, would love to take a peak at the rest. I do love squirrels too, I really want an outside lamp post with a squirrel on the side like in my 1960's Speigel catalog.

Anonymous said...

I found a squirrel cookie jar the other day for a few bucks... You've made my heart swell with pride in my purchase!

Lauren T said...

Squirrels make me happy! I have a tiny squirrel planter on my desk that holds pens and pencils. And of course, my favorite squirrel find was Ernesto the taxidermied squirrel. I'm still so pleased Rae bought him!

Dina@VintageAdvantage said...

OK, you crack me up :-))
"all rhinestones and I'm gonna eat your face off" LOL
Writing to ELF about that tasteless ad is totally something I would do, and my husband would laugh at me.

Rae - Say It Aint So said...

you know i am a fellow squirrel lover! i didn't even know about the holiday! i love all these little guys, especially those wooden brooches! i've been on the lookout for some more wooden animals but haven't found any i love lately.

Mr. Tiny said...

It is so interesting to me to see how regional old-timey stuff can be. I'm probably wrong, but I don't ever see that many squirrels out our way. I LOVE the measuring spoon squirrel and think it's hilarious to measure baking soda from a spoon that came straight out of a squirrel's rear end! HA!

Unknown said...

wow!!!that is awesome!!!!

RetroSandie said...

A squirrel fixation - well, that is a different collection! Lots of cute ones in there - I have owl salt & peppers that remind me very much of your measuring spoon squirrel. Right down to the wee googly glued on eyes!!! It's so much fun to find a new treasure!!! Hope you enjoyed Squirrel Appreciation Day!

BEESTLYproducts said...

squirrelparty.com

OMG! the other night, one of our ceiling vents fell down and dave insisted that there were rabid aquirrels hiding all over the house. we spent hours turning everything upside down in the middle of the night to make sure none sneaked in.

Karen/Small Earth Vintage said...

Ah, I love this post and your squirrel collection! Particularly that spoon holder squirrel and the cute wooden brooches. We don't see squirrels where I live...I'm not sure if it's the type of trees or presence of predators (!). We used to have this one guy visit us, though, in the autumn. He had a bald patch, so I recognized him. He drove Lucy the dog insane, naturally, running through the trees in our yard. He hasn't been back in years, though. :(

SUZY8-TRACK said...

Oh wow, the squirrels are fantastic! Love them all! I have a little brass squirrel that I've had for many years, but he's not nearly as cute as your collection.

Anonymous said...

"Zoot Alors" makes a dandy name for the squirrel in everyone's back yard.

My Zootie loves to chatter at my gang of clueless dogs from the highest branch of the tallest tree. When one of the dogs realizes theyre being mocked, pandemonium ensues. But Zootie always prevails, high-tailing it away soon as he sees all the dogs teeming in distress, barking and jumping up after him, as if they had a smidge of a chance ...

Kitsch n' Keen said...

Oh boy! Would you like to know how those creepy rhinestone eye squirrels started out! I've got 'em -- I'll upload a photo..maybe to my blog? to show you. Hehe!

Betty Crafter said...

Eartha, I'm dying over here. Squirrel perfection.

letthemwin said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e_88G4TY_w

Pardon a couple words in this video, but I couldn't help myself after reading the squirrel blog. Too Cute!!!!

Diane
Honey Stop The Car Vintage

Stacy @ Stacyverb said...

I just don't have the dedication for collecting, but I sure do like looking at your collections. :)