All posts by Dottie

Vintage Video:: The Incredible Mr. Limpet!

Uncategorized, Vintage Movies

This past weekend, I went to a children’s birthday party and one of the ladies reminded me of this great film I grew up watching on Saturday afternoons on KPIX in Connecticut.  The Incredible Mister Limpet, starring the delightful Don Knotts, who always had the knack of turning his charmingly nebbish ways into comedy that any kid or adult could love.

What made this film so nutty was the fact that it was part live action part animation, which totally worked allowing the cartoon side to be so magical as opposed to the live action “reality” section…

 

The plot is a rather impressive one with a few more adult plots around war and it might be tough for wee ones to get some of the plotlines, but I think any six year old and up would find this to be a bang up movie!

The story begins September 1941 just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Don Knotts plays the fish loving Henry Limpet who tries to join the U.S. Navy with his pal George Stickle, but is rejected.

Feeling downcast, he wanders down to a pier near Coney Island and accidentally falls into the water.  Instead of drowning, Mr. Limpet turns into a fish and hilarity ensues.  Because fish with glasses are funny, right?  I’m just so glad he got to keep his glasses…

He makes pals with a crabby crab.

And falls for a most beautiful female fish, known as aptly named LADYFISH!

But along the way, he finds out that the Nazis are going to bomb the U.S. But not on Mr. Limpet’s watch!

Mr. Limpet saves the day. YEAH!

He connects with his old pal, George and warns him of the danger!

But he decides his life in the sea isn’t so bad. So, he says good by to his friends

Did you ever watch this movie as a kid?  What did you think of it? Would you watch it with your kiddos today?

Happy birthday, Peach! A letter for you

Real Life

Dear darling Peach-

How did this happen?  Somewhere along the line three became magical. You became magical. And now you are four. So I need to give you a little snapshot of where you are and what you do right now.

One evening right before bed, you brought me a card you made and put it on my bedside table. You said that if I missed you during the night, I could just look across at the card and see it and know that you loved me.

You are a tremendous artist who prefer your people to have very pointy teeth. But hearts on dresses Of course.

You are still a very big fan of orange, although pink and purple are making serious headway.

You are writing your ABCs and words quite nicely, although the letter K is still proving to be most troublesome.

You like sweets. A lot.

You, dear girl, still need  your nap, even though you fight it EVER SINGLE DAY and then pass out for one and a half hours.

Nothing delights you more than pretend play. I love watching you act out different stories with your dolls, animals, crayons or anything that happens to be around.

Although a good game of hide and seek is always appreciated. You always choose the same hiding spots and giggle to give yourself away. You like be found.

You’re negotiation skills are maddingly good. So good that I plan to send you in the next time we have to buy a car.

No one can make a better felt sandwich than you can!  Who wouldn’t care for a bite of a tuna salami cookie crepe sandwich?

I think you enjoy the tutus more than ballet class–just like your mama.

I love your love of old songs.  Nothing is dearer to me than hearing you sing, “Shoo fly pie and apple pan dowdy”. Or the songs you make up.

You love the idea of a board game, but enjoy playing with the pieces of the game more than actually playing the game.  You’ve served me many a pie made up of pieces from the Hi Ho Cherrio game…

And you are mine. Mine. Ours. And I love you to the moon and back and then some.  Happy birthday, sweet Peach!

And I hope you like your very very special present…I’ll share it all with you next week!

 

 

Monday vintage fun!

Uncategorized

Oh, what a weekend.  It has been insane.  I don’t know what is in the air of our house.  Basically, a freaking cup of crazy is in the air…  Birthday parties, family coming to visit, Eric sliced open his knuckle and ended up getting stitches, and if you’ve been watching on Instagram, you know about the chickens–expect a post on that.  But in the middle of all of the crazy, I did wrestle up some fine finds on Etsy to share with you. Enjoy!!!

OK, this lamp is killing me. It’s not enough that the giraffes are wearing different hats, but one of them is carrying an umbrella.  And get this–it is only $15.00.  From Etsy seller, Brookaloo Vintage!

I loved this book as a child! From Etsy seller, Once Upon a Bookshop.

Nifty shoes from Etsy seller, Vintage Girl NY.

This elephant outfit makes me want to reproduce again! From Etsy seller, Lishyloo!

The perfect zipped sweatshirt from the seventies. From Etsy seller, Sweet Shop Vintage.

This springy dress makes my heart smile! From Etsy seller, Toadstool Vintage.

Phone + chalkboard = genius! From Etsy seller, Lil’ Milli Jayne.

I love these cards for many reasons, but who wouldn’t love an elephant ice skating? That just seems to go against the laws of physics! From Etsy seller, Betsy Fern Vintage.

I so would have loved this coat as a kid! From Etsy seller, Bondplace Vintage.

If I could get away with cramming the Peach into this rainbowtastic sweater, I would! Well played, Reware!

Snap that App:: Wee Alphas

Uncategorized,

The Peach is obsessed with writing right now. No piece of paper is safe in our house from someone spelling her name and practicing writing.

Although the rote experience of writing on paper will never go away, we like to supplement our girlie’s learning lessons with an app or two. But believe it or not, finding a fun one that engages your kiddo and is actually enjoyable and beautifully designed is actually very hard to find!  Thank goodness for the clever folks at Wee Society, who created the most addictive and beautiful app to help your kiddo learn the alphabet!


The somewhat silly stories and quirky illustrations of Alexander the Angelfish, Biki the Buffalo, and their furry, feathered or finned friends, are full of surprises.

The goal of the Wee Alpha app is for your kiddo to find each letter of the alphabet hidden in the animals, activate some really fun little animation in each letter picture, and then practice drawing your own special letter – set to rad music by Rabbit!

  • Interactive animations that respond to touch, encourage discovery and promote pre-literacy skills
  • Music, narration and sound effects from indie rock band Rabbit
  • Letter highlighting that helps reinforce ABCs
  • A sketchpad to practice drawing your special letter
  • Tips for parents to create teaching moments

What makes this app so wonderful are the beautiful illustrations of all the animals.  And what luck, the clever folks behind Wee Alpha, also offer those endearing little animals in poster form.  Pretty sweet, huh?

Kindertown, a leading resource for finding quality educational apps for kids, named Wee Alphas in their top 5 learning apps for 4-year-olds. Hot dog! If that isn’t enough to make you download it to your app…

And keep an eye on Wee Society as they are planning on launching a cool new app soon called You-Things!

What are some of your favorite apps for your pre-schooler?

 

 

A little window into fourth grade Dottie

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Folks, I just had to share this…

My parents sent me my old doll house that I’m giving to the Peach for her fourth birthday.  It had not seen the light of day since it was packed up when I was 12 years old.

But as I was unpacking it, I found this gem–a crumbled up note card from a book report presentation I did in 4th grade. Let me share it with you…

After reading it through it occurs to me that this note card was from a book report on 4th grade on MOMMY DEAREST!  Are 4th grade kids still reading that? Is anyone still reading that?  I really don’t think Mommy Dearest was a proper book to read at the age of 10! What was my mother thinking? What was I thinking?

And clearly I was mildly obsessed with Tupperware because I can’t remember if that was part of the book or not.  Or why it was so important to this book report.

What was the most inappropriate book you ever read as a kid? Oh, there are soo many ones! Oh man, like Flowers in the Attic? Remember THAT book?