Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Good Morning Brain :-)

Mermaid gave me this book for Christmas.

In my industry there is a boomlet leading up to the holidays but not during the holidays. Christmas is not a good week to send all your furniture out to get reupholstered or paint your Kitchen or move  into your new home. So typically, my Decembers are slower. I take vacation time and I get restless. Some might say when I am restless I am also irritable. Even cranky. Maybe impossible.  My business life mostly returns to normal  just after Epiphany. But during the 12 days of Christmas I have few commitments. In times past I used this window of opportunity to do all the end of year chores but since all of that is on a spread sheet now I just push a button and it's done. To tell the truth, I am not even the person pushing the button.

 Mermaid and Blowfish routinely encourage me to do  creative things for my own enjoyment. To explore my love for all things creative in ways which differ from the volumetric art which is interior design. This book is  a collection of creative problem solving exercises. They  could also be described as fairly typical art school assignments. Here is today's challenge from page 158:

" Do you remember the lunchbox thermos? OK, how about lunchboxes? Lunch?
Lunchbox thermoses were the defacto standard for transporting liquid refreshment to school, work, anywhere that such refreshments would be needed, The lunchbox thermos would fit perfectly in the lunchbox, and wold be blazoned with whatever character/design adorned the lunchbox itself. Usually made of plastic, the lunchbox thermos had a screwtop lid, then a second topper which doubled as a cup, complete with handle. The beauty of the lunchbox thermos was it kept things hot or cold, depending on what you needed. Alas, modern packaging has rendered our old friend obsolete. Water in plastic bottles, fruit punch in aluminum pouches,milk in cardboard cartons with straws. The lunchbox thermos just can't compete anymore. Your TASK today is to come up with 10 alternative uses for the lunchbox thermos."

I've come up with several new uses.

 So far my favorite is to use it for the sanitary transporting of my  toothbrush
just to annoy the TSA.

How about a really cool sewing kit? Pin cushion built  into the cap so it will stay put and soforth.

You could make a pretty interesting bird feeder or bird house.


I can't but wonder what would happen if I showed up at Starbucks asking for a
refill.


I could list all ten but really what I want to do is share this task with each of you :-)
Please leave in the comment section your ten, or two or just one great one would be welcome.
I anticipate great responses.  Afterall I've read your haikus!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beating your TSA toothbrush idea will be very difficult.

I knew a guy in college who had a dope-smoking device that looked like a magic-marker. Maybe a clever doper (oxymoron) could make a bong out of a thermos?

Buzz Kill said...

The thermos keeps hot things hot and cold things cold...how does it know what to do?

I had a Zorro Lunchbox and I can't tell you how many times my mother had to replace the glass liner. As for a new use, how about a martini shaker just in time for New Years? Actually, I remember it sounding like a martini shaker when I broke the liner.

chickory said...

an art tool box. would be great especially to haul watercolor gear because if it gets spillage you just rinse it out.

a pinhole camera.

an ammo box for the car - a use a muppet case and youve got handy camoflaging.

refrigerator. yeah. you put stuff in it, and set it in between some rocks in the cold creek

fishy said...

Troll,
I would need a diagram! I have no clue how a bong works.

Buzz,
My Mom was very creative in her use of a thermos for our school lunches.
Zorro huh? You and my bro. I'm actually surprised he never jumped off the roof. I DARE you to shake up martinis in a vintage thermos Friday night.

Chickory,
Love the ammo case idea!!!! The unexpected is sometimes the best defense.


So now I am thinking my Baby Elephant Rattle idea is better than the TSA aggravator. One could actually adopt the Kong dog toy idea and put peanuts in there to maintain Baby Elephant interest.

Aunty Belle said...

ha! cain't ya jes see a party whar ever man is given the Race Car, Darth Vader, Batman, Dukes of Hazard thermos he had in grade school now filled if sour mash--ok, thas' a funny image BuzzK.


bird feeder fer long billed birds

vase fer teacher's end of year party

fill wif' ice, use as rollin pin

fill with soapy water for blowin' bubbles

emergency urinal fer 3 year old boys on road trip

Unknown said...

1) a flask of course!!! for both hot or cold adult beverages on New Year's Eve ;)

2) for making sandcastles... I think it would make great building blocks and such

3)for storing medicines that need mixing for my ponies... keeping things hot helps with the mixing process.

4)for catching lightning bugs!! the way they would glow against the mirrored interiors would be mighty cool!!!

I'm sure glad you're enjoying your book! <3

fishy said...

Aunty,
Love this as an emergency road kit for boys :-)
The cold rolling pin is a really good idea for the serious baker with marble countertops for pastry making.

Mermaid,
I absolutely love the idea of using this for sandcastle molds, great for turrets and the like.
Plus it can utilize the cup/cap as well as the main cylinder. Very smart.
Not sure you could see the lightening bugs.

Horse meds need to be mixed warm?
The things I learn from you!

My number 7 was these thermoses
would make great time capsules. I'd fill mine with heritage seeds Monsanto hadn't altered for the "good" of mankind.

Jenny said...

I'd use my old one (red plaid, loved it!) for cosmetics or art supplies. I would also keep one as a first aid kit, a place to put my gloves, maybe even to hold pencils/etc.

In the thermos... hmmmm... what would I keep? hmmmmm.

VODKA!

Pam said...

I am thinking (and maybe it is for a getting-closer-all-the-time-event that we are looking forward to next year) ... that the lunch box would be a very fun crayon box or craft box for the grandkids, eh? Plus you could grab it and go when taking a set of kids somewhere to help keep them entertained in the car. Hmmmm. I didn't get a lunchbox of my own. Had a hand-me-down. And it wasn't even a good one. Some pink padded ballerina thing that smelled bad. I usually ate in the lunch line!

Pam said...

P.S. Love the pinhole camera idea.

fishy said...

Boxer,
I bet you were cute swinging that plaid lunchbox as you traveled the sidewalks b'tween school and home.

Love! the idea of a warm place for storing gloves.

Pam,
Pink, padded, smelly ballerina thing? I wouldn't have used that either.
I just adore you are getting into the thinking mode of "Pamogram".
I am sure I will be the same if the day comes. One of my 10 was along these lines, a carrying case for sidewalk chalk, a mini graffitti kit :-). Another was as a portable baby bottle warmer because they don't have public microwaves at the park.

Blowfish thought the pin hole camera idea rocked it!

moi said...

Cocktail shaker!

Aunty Belle said...

Golly FIshy, where is ya? THought you'd be at Boxer's this mornin'???

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

I think that i would use it as a condom for my big ass cock