Dry erase wall paint -- Write your thoughts anywhere!

Okay guys, I want this even more than the Mario wallpaper. No joke, this is absolutely ingenious and I'd use it constantly. I can think of so many places that this stuff would be amazing, but I don't have to. Ideapaint gives dozens of ideas and reasons to use dry erase Markee paint in your home, at school, and at work. Here are some of the basic reasons:

  Larger dry-erase surface for less $

  Just one coat

  Warranty-guaranteed

  No cracking, peeling, staining or yellowing

  No costly removal – just paint over it

  Uses fewer raw materials

  60 lbs less than other whiteboards its size

  Least expensive to ship and install

  Erases effortlessly

  As smooth as the surface you paint

  No seams

Not to mention that it's formaldehyde-free (unlike many dry-erase surfaces), and sticking with dry erase instead of chalk cuts down on issues with allergies and asthma, plus keeps more dust out of the electronics. Wouldn't that be great in schools?

And how about at work? In the meeting rooms, inside office spaces, in the cafeterias (changing daily menus :D), etc. Or how about for schedule areas like in the hospital nursing station where everyone's going on and off duty at different times? Really, go check out the main site for all sorts of places this stuff would be so convenient and ideas you'd probably never think of yourself.

At home, well, I wouldn't want to encourage kids to write on walls or anything, but....how freakin' cool would that be?? To have a playroom where you can just write right on the walls? Okay, fine, so if that wouldn't be allowed, how about in the office for jotting down to-do lists. Sounds a bit boring to me to me, but hey, maybe when I'm not looking, you'd doodle a little, too. ;)

Obviously it's a bit pricey (you can write on it!!), but if you're going to be spending money on paint anyway, or if it'd cut down on costs in the long run (less paper, not having to buy dry erase boards in the first place, fewer cleaning supplies and paint when the kids write on the walls anyway), then why not?

Check out Markee dry erase magic paint and it looks like it's even more reasonably priced. Oh, and it dries clear, too, so you don't have to choose from the dull colors like white and beige in order to be able to draw on your walls. I know I sound like an advertisement, but I'm in love with this stuff, and if I can't have it, hopefully others will get it, hehe.

And the winner of the Asian dining set is....

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm really late with this (it's still within the same month!) and I'm sorry, blah, blah, blah, lol. Better late than never, right? I'll make it up to you by skipping all the jibber jabber rambling and cut straight to the chase.

Chose at random by the aptly named Random.org is comment #45:

That lines up with Owen's Mom for leaving a comment about the panda bread on Quirky Cookery. Congratulations and enjoy your set!

More creativity taking over your t-shirts

I pretty much never wear t-shirts, so they have to really stand out for me to even give them a second glance. There are some hilarious shirts over at 10steps, though, both for advertising's sake and just plain ol' everyday wear. Actually, there are 40 of them, so this post isn't even remotely representative of the various designs they featured.

Recyclart - Where creative art meets practicality and eco-friendly

It's no secret that I have a thing for offbeat art and when you combine it with my adoration for geeky eco-friendly inventions, Recyclart had me skimming through page after page of pictures within minutes.

The people who submit things there seem to have found a use for practically anything. Some just look really cool like the chairs above, others are for practical purposes like using canoes rain gutters for house-side gardens, and yet others combine both and turn them into true pieces of recycled art.

~Edit~ Here's another site with a limited selection of pictures with some different creations based on the same idea. 

Gorgeous widescreen wallpapers for your desktop

I love having a widescreen laptop, but one of the downsides is that a lot of pictures just won't look right on it without being forced to show it is a tiny image centered in the middle. Bleck. Now my screen is usually filled with windows and I rarely even see my desktop, but when I do, I want it to look nice.

And that's why I'm sharing this list with you. There are only 30, but that's more than plenty to choose from when they're that stunning.

Nobody here

Do you remember when I posted about this "thing," among others?

Well I was kind of at a loss of words then, and the same applies now to the "Nobodyhere, just me" site. I can't even really describe it or tell you what to do with it. Just...go and see for yourself...I guess, lol.

Talk like a Pirate Day - September 19

I'll spare you the cliches and puns here. I won't even type like a pirate! Instead, check out these rules if you 'really' want to be like a pirate. ;)

Here are some examples:

1. Pirate Law: "ARRRRRRRRRRR..." is a perfectly acceptable answer to any question.
   
   
2. A pirate does not "go shopping". Unless by "shopping", you mean "killing".
   
   
3. Peglegs must be made of timber or some other suitable wood. Plastic, ceramic, porcelain, or metal peglegs are utterly unnacceptable, simply because it complicates the use of the phrase "shiver me timbers".
   
   
4. Real pirates have chest hair. If you cannot grow chest hair, you may be a cabin boy.
   
   
5. Under no circumstances is a comb-over an acceptable pirate hairdo.
   
   
6. No pirate may ever change his shirt because it is "wrinkled". A pirate may only change his shirt if it is completely soaked in blood.
   
   
7. When drinking, Pirates may sing. "Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest" is preferred. Kelly Clarkson songs are not allowed.
   
   
8. No pirate shall ever drive a minivan, unless he drives the minivan into a tavern, for the purposes of looting barrels of rum from said tavern. Upon completion of this task, the minivan is to be burned. No exceptions.
   
   
9. No matter how hard it is raining, two pirates may never share an umbrella. Pirates do not fear rain.

You snooze, you lose - Donation alarm clock makes this a reality

The SnūzNLūz wifi donation alarm clock connects to your online bank account and donate money to an organization you hate every time you hit the snooze button. Yikes!!

While it seems a bit excessive to need something like this to get out of bed, it's a really cool idea. Just pick your most hated charity, set up your account for SnuzNLuz, and tell it how much to donate every time you hit the snooze. I'm sure you'll think twice before hitting snooze yet again every morning.

ThinkGeek has some great suggestions for donation pairs, too. For example, if you're a butcher, donate to PETA. If you're a hippie, set it to donate to the American Coal Foundation. Check out the others, too.

If you're pregnant and you know it....

 
...paint the belly and share it with the world? At least that's what these women did. ;) If you're going to be showing for Halloween, you might want to check out some of the costumes shown, too, such as the "bun in the oven" one, hehe.

Glass-shelled hermit crabs

 

We tried having hermit crabs a couple times. For a family that was in contact with hundreds of animals any given year, the hermit crabs seemed so stereotypical and silly.

And so I wanted one, of course. :P

Of all the animals we rescued, rehabilitated, raised, released (can I get any more 'r' words in there? recycled, reduced, reused??)....we couldn't keep those hermit crabs alive. I felt horrible for it, too, because what should be so hard about hermit crabs? I did all the research and was intrigued by how they choose new homes/shells and how hard it even is to make them feel safe enough to do that in captive environments like ours. They were comfortable to walk around, both in a tank and in our hands or on the floor, etc, but to change to larger shells is completely different. It has to be perfect.

That makes these shells even more amazing. Read more about the hermits moving into these man-made shells over at the NZ publication.

Anti-abuse bus stop ad only beats women when no one is looking

This is one of those rare times where I post something somewhat serious. It's still quirky....different, interesting, not quite the norm....but serious, no less.

I first saw this a couple months ago and I'm still amazed that someone actually thought to put together an ad like this. I'm impressed really, but a little saddened that it's such an issue that there's even a need for them.



It's the first poster that actually responds and reacts to people looking at it. When a person is looking at the poster, there's a perfectly normal, loving couple, but when the person looks away, the woman is being beaten.

It's quite a shocking way to get the idea across, but it makes perfect sense, too. Domestic violence happens when you're not looking....both in people's homes and on these posters.

There's a brief delay with the switch so that people actually know what's going on instead of having to sneak a peek out of the corner of their eye. Kudos to the designer.

Half Pint Dad & Sprog Tshirt Sets - The apple/nut doesn't fall far from the tree

With the overwhelming amount of mommy bloggers out there, I don't get to see nearly as many dad-oriented items as I'd like. Twisted Tees has their own section dedicated just to dads and their little ones, though, and I'm loving them!*

There are a few more varieties, including a set that say "actual size," hehe, and the half pint ones come in several different colors. And if you're a mom and you just have to have something like this for yourself, there 'is' a babydoll tee style of the plain white half pint shirt.

*Most of them anyway. There are a couple that feature the "F word" that I don't find appropriate, but otherwise, I love the rest.

If I were homeless and begging for money....

I would create a quirky sign like some of these homeless men did.

Wanchai Ferry Asian dining set giveaway

Yep, it's giveaway time, although this time you'll have more time to enter. Up for grabs is this beautiful set of two rice bowls, chopsticks, and bamboo placemats, along with two coupons to sample the new Wanchai Ferry Chinese meals.

This is great for those nights where you want to stay-in, but still enjoy a nice meal. Each meal is ready in only 14 minutes and get this, no MSG! Your choices include orange chicken, shrimp lo mein, spicy garlic chicken, sweet and sour chicken, and sweet and spicy shrimp. Mmm.

I'll be doing a more in-depth review of my own experience with the dishes over at Quirky Cookery, but in the meantime, let's show you how to get your own set.

Contest Rules

Required entry: Comment below. (Comments
are open and you can comment anonymously, but I need a valid email
address or I won't be able to contact you if you're a winner.)

Ways to get more entries:
(For each entry, please leave a separate comment below letting me know what
you did. If you're already a subscriber, just leave a comment saying
so. If you follow me on Twitter and tweet about the contest, tell me
your username in a new comment.)

-- Subscribe to Quirky Jessi (lots of ways....using RSS, through Blogger, or even by email)

-- Subscribe to Quirky Cookery

-- Comment on Quirky Cookery
(any post is fine, just remember to come back and tell me you commented
here for the contest; can be done up to 3 times total for 3 separate
entries)

-- Tell me about your favorite Chinese dish

-- Tell me about the best fortune you've gotten from a fortune cookie

-- Follow me on Twitter (Quirky Jessi) and tweet about the contest (can be done twice a day for multiple entries)

-- Blog about the contest (link back to this post and leave the URL in comments below)

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-- up to 2 separate entries (post on a forum? use Facebook? another
site you love? just be sure to leave the link in the comments)

Remember to put each entry in a separate comment so they'll all be counted. :)

Contest
ends at midnight EST, September 14. Sponsored by MyBlogspark and Wanchai Ferry.

Guitar Hero meets Rubik's Cubes x2 - The multicolored multitask

All I can say is "Holy...cow...."

Seriously, who thinks to even do this in the first place? And then actually puts it into play? This kid, I guess. Keep watching, as he has to wait for a while before he even does the switch to the second cube, so you can see he's a whiz at doing the cubes quickly on their own, but just has to wait out a difficult, fast section of the song. Take note that he doesn't finish with 100% accuracy, too, which makes him even cooler in my book that it's not perfect....but pretty darn close. Way to go geeks!

Just when I thought snuggies had completely faded away

Okay, so maybe they haven't faded away completely. I saw another knock-off name of a generic brand wanna-be the way and had to chuckle to myself. Then I saw this and well, given all my other Snuggies posts, I figured I might as well throw this one into the pile for comedic relief during a post flashback exploration later.

And the verdict is, you probably shouldn't buy a Snuggie unless you really, really, really need a warm fuzzy blanket, are too lazy to use a regular blanket, are incapable of buying a robe, 'and' you enjoy looking stupid. What a winning combination!