New Year Wishes and a Pimped Out Red Flyer?

First of all, Happy New Year! Of course I wish the usual health and happiness, but most of all, I wish for all of us to have more Joy in our lives. It's something I strive for, and I hope you will too. It isn't that difficult to choose joy over the alternatives, you just have be conscious of the choice. After a while, it will become a habit. Really!

And now that I've caused some of you to gag on my sugary-sweet message, I'll tell you my plan for the next 250 days or so. Have any of you seen the movie Julie and Julia--or Julia and Julie--whichever! In the film, Julie vows to write a daily blog entry on recipe reviews from Julia Childs' cookbook. There's more to the plot of course, but that doesn't matter here. Read on . . .

My lovely sister, Pam (secret santa for me this year), gave me an intriguing book called Caffeine for the Creative Mind by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield. The tome boasts of offering "250 exercises to wake up your brain." Pam said she wanted me to post the results of each task on Facebook, but I think I'd rather share them here.

So, I'm going to make a vow--promise--no, strong suggestion that I will--probably--report on the results of each of these assignments on a daily--or weekly--or generally regular basis right here on this blog. I'll disregard any embarrassment that may come my way (I have no pride!) and tell you about each and every task--no matter how silly or dumb it may be. And silly and dumb are right up my alley, so consider yourselves forewarned. ;)

The first assignment is called: "Pimp my Red Flyer" and yes, it's as simple as it sounds. They want the reader to take a few minutes to pimp their wagon or "take an ordinary red wagon and . . . 'pimp it out' with whatever luxuries and additions you can think of. Create your ultimate urban-inspired, pimped out wagon."

My initial thoughts ranged from wondering whether we still had a leftover wagon in the basement, to basing my model on a Red Cardinal--you know, the bird. It flies--never-mind. But the more I thought about it--which was WAY longer than the 15 or 20 minutes the authors estimate for each exercise--the more I came back to using the Radio Flyer, or a photo of it, anyway. Here's my first foray:

So far, I've got a bed under a canopy, and I've tried to show how I'd widen the larger tires to take care of disturbing bumps while traveling. I stopped this sad attempt at visually creating my dream ride because those tires were starting to look an awful lot like my eyes after a long, sleepless night. Obviously, I am not and never was good at using that crazy Paint program. Go figure!

Rather than humiliate myself any further, I've decided to simply tell you about my personal pimped out wagon. It would still have four wheels, but they'd be under a luxurious recreational vehicle. The color red would stay, but I'd also like an option to change the exterior whenever the mood struck. So, depending on the day my ride would be red, purple, blue or green (it brings out my eyes). I'd need a plain black or white surface for the rare occasions that call for seriousness, and just for fun I'd have a Hippie Dippie Tye-Dye option, where the outside is covered in bright splashes of color in shapes like peace signs, hearts, flowers, and of course, the smiley face! The Hippie Dippie ride would also have fringe around the beaded-curtain windows, colorful patches on the tires, and macrame-trimmed headlights and doors.

I'd like my 'wagon' to convert from large (for hanging out) to small-ish (for ease of driving). And I either want robots to drive, clean and cook, or have a separate room for the live-in help. Speaking of converting, this ride also needs to transform into a helicopter for quick, short trips, or whenever traffic is annoying, and into an airplane for when I want to visit my peeps in Hawaii, England, and Virginia--or go on an adventure in Ireland or Australia.

I could go on and on, but I won't. ;) This exercise is over. I'd love to hear about YOUR pimped out wagon. Leave me some comments!