<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713</id><updated>2009-12-03T05:27:50.254-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Flock all'a y'all</title><subtitle type='html'>We're flocking southwest Missouri, one yard at a time. Our clients hire us to sneak into the yards of their loved ones in the wee hours to leave "Public Displays of Affection," sure to bring joy to their victims -- um -- loved ones.  Join us as we search for our sanity while dropping off and picking up personalized yard cards and flocks of tacky plastic lawn ornaments in the Springfield, Mo., area.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>39</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-115358397404106149</id><published>2006-07-22T10:59:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-07-22T10:59:34.056-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Send a Public Display of Affection on Their Lawn at Dawn!</title><content type='html'>&lt;embed src="http://widget-38.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="site=widget-38.slide.com.com&amp;channel=72057594038415672&amp;cy=bl" width="600" height="475" name="flashticker" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-115358397404106149?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/115358397404106149/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=115358397404106149' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/115358397404106149'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/115358397404106149'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2006/07/send-public-display-of-aff_115358397404106149.html' title='Send a Public Display of Affection on Their Lawn at Dawn!'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-114874558165062441</id><published>2006-05-21T19:30:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-07-07T11:24:35.600-05:00</updated><title type='text'>The weather's fine for sleeping with the windows open!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Tombstones%20Rich%2050%202.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Tombstones%20Rich%2050%202.0.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, no!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's that time of year again. The weather's just right (at least for a few days in a row, it was) for sleeping with the windows open and getting a nice, cool breeze.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;See the windows cranked out on the second floor?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While that feels really great and lots of folks love to sleep that way, it can wreak havoc in the lives of professional flockers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our victim's home was less than 10 minutes from ours, in one of the most beautiful, well-known neighborhoods in the area (the victim's, not ours -- ha!).  This home was just a couple of blocks from one of the lakes in this neighborhood.  Nice area, nice lawns, and I don't ever worry about theft or vandalism when I set up here.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It was about 5:45 a.m. when we got there and I was looking forward to a quick setup and getting back home to sleep in a little more on a Saturday morning.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There were several windows cranked open along the front of the house.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, no!  Last time we delivered to a house with windows open, the victim was either already awake or we woke her up. I'm not exactly sure, but I think she may have been up already because her teenaged son came out and got in his car to leave for band practice while we were setting up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We set the tombstones and yard card up as quickly and as quietly as possible, tip-toeing all the while.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Didn't want to risk waking everyone up by taking a photo, so I came back later in the day while I was running errands.  Actually, I came back by twice because it was a straigth shot from my house to the grocery store and I was so darn curious. The first time I drove by, neighbors were outside and cars were slowing down to take a look.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I always get such a kick out of that!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So I came back by a little later and people were still taking a look.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fun, fun, fun!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's the best part of this business.  Making people happy.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Tombstones%20Rich%2050%203.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Tombstones%20Rich%2050%203.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-114874558165062441?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/114874558165062441/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=114874558165062441' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114874558165062441'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114874558165062441'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2006/05/weathers-fine-for-sleeping-with.html' title='The weather&apos;s fine for sleeping with the windows open!'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-114874219858481136</id><published>2006-05-10T21:43:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-05-27T10:48:04.050-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Duckies, Bass Pro Shops, Brad Pitt and Flockings, oh my!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Loftis%20Duckies%201.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Loftis%20Duckies%201.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A mom recently hired us to set up in front of her son's place of business for his 40th birthday.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It was to be near one of the busiest intersections in town, just across the road from the world-famous original Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World.  Yup, that's my town's claim to fame -- Bass Pro Shops.  Oh, and we can't forget Brad Pitt.  He grew up here, ya know.  His family is still here.  We hear of Brad-sightings once in a while, but not so much lately.&lt;em&gt;(But don't get me started on Brad or Brangelina.  Jennifer Aniston and I are now joined by the bond of men who did us wrong...  Hey, Jenn.  Ring my digits, girrrrrrl.  We'll meet at Starbucks 'cuz I'll be there for you when the rain starts to pour...)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Back to the details of this flocking.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Actually, the business itself sits just off the busy intersection, with the east side of its parking lot facing the intersection and its entrance (to the north) opens to a less-busy street that runs behind. Kind of confusing to explain, but both the east and north sides of this business' parking lot are highly visible, even though they're not directly on the corner of one of the busiest intersections in town.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The building is bright yellow, so when the mom requested our giant yellow rubber duckies, I was concerned that they wouldn't show up too well against the backdrop of a yellow building.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As with setting up in front of any business, we run a greater risk of theft or vandalism, so we didn't do our usual sneaking-around-in-the-wee-hours bit.  We set up about 7 a.m., so it was already light outside and the birthday boy was already there. Picked the display up about 6 p.m., but we had already been the victim of a theft. We lost yet another of our precious giant yellow rubber duckies.  (Have you heard the story of our first heartbreaking duckie theft?  If not, &lt;a href="http://www.mymommybiz.com/newsletter/april302003.html"&gt;here's a link to read it in an e-newsletter&lt;/a&gt;.  Once you get there, scroll down until you see the headline, "Ab-DUCK-ted.")&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We took advantage of the fact that we were setting up near this busy intersection and put out two yard cards (at no extra charge -- see how flocking nice we can be?) instead of our usual one yard card. Plus it was easier to break it up and do, essentially, two displays on this job because we didn't have a nice, wide grassy area to do our usual duckie placement.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another concern was the only grassy areas available were actually the city's right-of-way, and we didn't want to risk putting our display far enough into the grass that we might block drivers' vision.  So that's why the duckies are planted as close to the inner curbing as possible.  I didn't want to get any calls from the city teling me to pick it all up NOW, or go back to pick it up in the evening to discover it had all been yanked out and put through a wood chipper or something.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are a few photos of the dual duckie display for Darrell's 40th bday.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Loftis%20Duckies%202.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Loftis%20Duckies%202.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;See that traffic light at the intersection (in the photo above)?  Look past it and to the right. You'll see the (fuzzy) Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World sign, and some treetops at the massive Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World complex.  I avoid BPS as much as possible except for an occasional trip to its fabulous restaurant, Hemingway's. And I know the nearly-Bubba-free way to get in there.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Loftis%20Duckies%204.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Loftis%20Duckies%204.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Loftis%20Duckies%203.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Loftis%20Duckies%203.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-114874219858481136?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/114874219858481136/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=114874219858481136' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114874219858481136'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114874219858481136'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2006/05/duckies-bass-pro-shops-brad-pitt-and.html' title='Duckies, Bass Pro Shops, Brad Pitt and Flockings, oh my!'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-114694724278336408</id><published>2006-05-06T15:07:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-05-27T09:42:21.386-05:00</updated><title type='text'>We're in the Springfield daily newspaper!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/BUSINESS03/605020336/1092"&gt;&lt;a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Picture%20Matthew%20took%20for%20News-Leader.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Picture%20Matthew%20took%20for%20News-Leader.0.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.agreetingyard.com"&gt;AGreetingYard.com&lt;/a&gt; was featured in the &lt;a href="http://news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/BUSINESS03/605020336/1092"&gt;May 2, 2006, business section of the Springfield News-Leader&lt;/a&gt;.  Wanna read it?  Just click the previous sentence, where it says "Springfield News-Leader."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pretty good translation of the interview.  Only a few minor errors, and it's stuff that I always discuss with my customers when they're ordering anyway. So there won't be any surprises.  For example, the story states that we rent the displays for a 24-hour period.  Well, we DO rent them for a full 24 hours for an extra fee, but our normal, basic, everyday, most popular service is for the display to be in your victim's yard from dawn until dark.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In other words (and to accomodate all of our deliveries, and to accomodate folks who might be early risers, etc.), we usually make our deliveries between midnight and about 6 a.m., and we pick up after dark.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, no biggie.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We're just excited to finally have some coverage, and it's really boosted our web site visitors in the last few days.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My son has had a bit of teasing at school, however.  It seems that a few of the kids have said the lawn greetings business is a stupid idea.  Apparently these kids need to learn a little bit about being an entrepreneur.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stupid idea?  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, if it's THAT stupid, why does &lt;a href="http://www.agreetingyard.com"&gt;AGreetingYard.com&lt;/a&gt; rank high in the search engines?  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And if it's THAT stupid, why are there &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com/forum"&gt;similar, profitable businesses not only across the United States, but also in several countries&lt;/a&gt;?  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, well.  Sticks and stones.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be sure to &lt;a href="http://news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/BUSINESS03/605020336/1092"&gt;read the story from the News-Leader&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;P.S.  The boy genius is now a published photographer. He took the photo that ran with the story. Love ya, boy genius!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-114694724278336408?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/114694724278336408/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=114694724278336408' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114694724278336408'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114694724278336408'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2006/05/were-in-springfield-daily-newspaper.html' title='We&apos;re in the Springfield daily newspaper!'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-114874697293206344</id><published>2006-04-27T21:12:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-05-27T11:22:52.960-05:00</updated><title type='text'>The Flamingess in the news</title><content type='html'>One of our friends in the industry (and a fellow board member of the &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com/forum/"&gt;International Lawn Greetings Association&lt;/a&gt;) Kerry (alias the Flamingess) is &lt;a href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2006-04-26/news/cityside_full.html"&gt;featured in her local newspaper&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's a fabulous, fun article and the reporter did a great job capturing the essence of Kerry's business, &lt;a href="http://www.flamingosurprise-ca.com/"&gt;Flamingo Surprise in Oakland, CA&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2006-04-26/news/cityside_full.html"&gt;Click here if you'd like to read the story&lt;/a&gt;.  It's a kick!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Know what else is a kick?  &lt;a href="http://flamingosurprise-ca.blogspot.com/"&gt;Reading Kerry's blog&lt;/a&gt;.  She keeps up with her blogging duties way better than I do.  Shame on me.  From surprise sprinklers going off mid-flamingo to drunken drivers plowing into the Flamingomobile, Kerry shares it all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(Drunk dudes?  Hitting Flamingomobiles?  And you thought flocking was easy work???)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if you need a giggle, visit &lt;a href="http://flamingosurprise-ca.blogspot.com/"&gt;Flamingoing in the Bay Area&lt;/a&gt;.  And if you live in &lt;a href="http://www.flamingosurprise-ca.com/"&gt;Kerry's neck of the woods&lt;/a&gt;, be sure to call her next time one of your loved ones is having a special occasion.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-114874697293206344?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/114874697293206344/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=114874697293206344' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114874697293206344'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114874697293206344'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2006/04/flamingess-in-news.html' title='The Flamingess in the news'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-114574084657071716</id><published>2006-04-22T16:16:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-04-23T16:10:11.773-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Neighbor mows two offensive letters in yard</title><content type='html'>Here's a very, um, &lt;em&gt;different &lt;/em&gt;sort of lawn greeting.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It seems that folks in Vancouer, Washington, were ticked off at a neighbor, who rented the house but neglected the yard.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The neighbors said trash was piling up in the yard and the grass kept getting longer and longer, yet the renter didn't take care of it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Finally, one neighbor got his mower and took action. But he didn't mow the entire yard.  No, sirree.  Instead, he mowed two letters into the yard to let the renter know how the neighbors felt.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ha!  Anyone wanna guess which two letters he probably mowed?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Possibly the same initials that would stand for Frilly Underwear or Florida University???&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wanna see the video on CNN's web site?  Just click:  &lt;a href="http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&amp;etMailToID=1029711878"&gt;http://www.emailthis.clickability.com/et/emailThis?clickMap=viewThis&amp;etMailToID=1029711878&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ready to send a message on someone's yard?    &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let's hope it's not two letters that express anger.  We specialize in lawn greetings that make people feel GOOD!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If there's a message you'd like to place in the yard of someone you care about, please don't do it with a lawnmower.  Just visit us at &lt;a href="http://www.agreetingyard.com"&gt;http://www.AGreetingYard.com &lt;/a&gt;or call us at (417) 823-3915 and we'll be delighted to turn someone's yard into a giant greeting card.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And if you're not in the Springfield, Missouri, area -- don't worry!  We can probably find someone near you to do the same thing.  Just visit the International Lawn Greetings directory at http://www.flamingoed.com/flamingo, click on the state where you'd like to send the lawn greeting, and you'll find some fabulous flockers just waiting for your call.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-114574084657071716?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/114574084657071716/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=114574084657071716' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114574084657071716'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114574084657071716'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2006/04/neighbor-mows-two-offensive-letters-in.html' title='Neighbor mows two offensive letters in yard'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-114876699330168852</id><published>2006-01-15T16:54:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2006-05-27T16:56:33.320-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Tacky Yard Art</title><content type='html'>Once in a while I run across someone who doesn't understand the appeal of yard art.  Not that I would set out yard art and leave it permanently, but whatever floats your boat, right?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I prefer the portable, temporary kind of yard art because it doesn't make your neighbors hate you and also because it puts money in my pocket!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Found an amusing web site from 2001 with a tacky yard art contest going on. There was a place to click and view the entries.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So in case you get a flocking of flamingos or one of our other styles of critters and you're thinking YOU'VE got it bad, dig this:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://suite101.com/files/topics/75/files/2001tacky.html&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-114876699330168852?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/114876699330168852/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=114876699330168852' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114876699330168852'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/114876699330168852'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2006/01/tacky-yard-art.html' title='Tacky Yard Art'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113522799452812369</id><published>2005-12-21T23:01:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2006-02-18T00:13:52.443-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Here's our Christmas card -- er -- Christmas YARD!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/him8nc/ChristmasCardphoto2005.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/him8nc/ChristmasCardphoto2005.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yup, I'm a procrastinator.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Didn't get my Christmas cards in the mail.  Haven't made cookies or fudge.  Still not finished Christmas shopping.  Pretty pathetic, right?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I had the best of intentions, though.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When the teddy bears, cows and frogs started telling me they wanted to be a part of our Christmas card, I listened to them.  They're vital to our business, of course, since it's all about them sitting in yards for hours on end to make special occasions even more fabulous.  They wanted to wish you "Merry Christmas" in their own, three-dimensional, tacky lawn art way.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So we hired the hottest, most artsy-fartsy photographer in all of southwest Missouri.  Um, OK, we didn't really do that.  We conned my dad into taking the picture for us.  You can probably see his reflection in the windows. (At least it's not as scary as the reflections of ugly naked guys taking pictures of stuff they auctioned on eBay, but that's a little too risque for our family friendly blog...)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Forget the post office.  Why not use technology to wish everyone Merry Christmas?  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Or, in this case, our critters insisted we wish you a &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Beary Moo-y Christmas and a Hoppy Moo Year&lt;/span&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here we are...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Boy Genius, my brilliant son who is now taller than his mom. He's in 8th grade in the Middle Years Scholars Program at his high school. It's a fabulous program, with about 125 kids participating. He's an amazing kid and my best friend. &lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;(Ah, Mom! That's not cool!!!)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And there's my youngest baby, Fletcher the neurotic Pomeranian. He's six years old now, and we're lucky he's still around. Last February, the pit bull of a neighbor's son jumped the fence and had Fletcher's entire head in his mouth, ready to chomp, when I screamed. Turns out the idiot had a court order telling him never to bring the dog inside the city limits again, and the dog had a history of violence against many neighbors. The dog was executed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's been a great 2005.  We've met lots of new friends, visited lots of yards to set up our "Public Displays of Affection," made some online friends, and helped start the &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com"&gt;International Lawn Greetings Association&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And my fabulous parents just celebrated their 50th anniversary!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please forgive us for not getting our Christmas cards (that's right, Christmas -- not "holiday" or "seasonal") out on time. It doesn't mean we've forgotten our family members, friends and clients.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Here's to a fabulous 2006!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Jill&lt;br /&gt;Chief Executive Flockologist at &lt;a href="http://www.agreetingyard.com"&gt;AGreetingYard.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113522799452812369?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113522799452812369/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113522799452812369' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113522799452812369'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113522799452812369'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/12/heres-our-christmas-card-er-christmas.html' title='Here&apos;s our Christmas card -- er -- Christmas YARD!'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113514323450628090</id><published>2005-12-20T23:24:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-20T23:55:02.510-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Walk Like an Egypitian</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Vince%20Jericho%20%26%20Kortni%20flamingos%20close%20up.1.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Vince%20Jericho%20%26%20Kortni%20flamingos%20close%20up.1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Vince%20Jericho%20flamingo%20pose.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Vince%20Jericho%20flamingo%20pose.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Vince%20Jericho%20%26%20Kortni%20wide%20view%20flamingos.0.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Vince%20Jericho%20%26%20Kortni%20wide%20view%20flamingos.0.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;These photos of the display to celebrate the naturalization of a local radio show host made me laugh. I suppose Vince Jericho is posing like one of the flamingos that he discovered outside of &lt;a href="http://www.ksgf.com"&gt;KSGF 104.1 FM's&lt;/a&gt; studio, but I kept hearing the Bangles' "Walk Line an Egyptian" in my head.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the photos with Vince is Kortni, his producer/call screener/right-hand woman. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We set up the display Dec. 8, 2005, which was actually the day before Vince got his citizenship. KSGF had a reception for him that evening right next door to the station, at the Knights of Columbus hall.  We had a time conflict here in Flamingoland, so we had to make a snap decision -- do we set up the display so he could see it in the morning and drivers could see it all day, or do we set up the display in front of the hall so it would be seen that evening?  Well, our little time conflict solved the dilemma for us, and we went with putting it up the night before so passersby could view it all day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This was the first time we had an opportunity to use American flags in a display, which made it even more exciting. Some lawn greetings businesses across the country use American flag displays to welcome military folks home, and now that we have a bunch of flags, we think it would be a great thing to do as a show of support for our men and women in uniform.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Congrats again to &lt;a href="http://www.ksgf.com"&gt;Vincent David Jericho&lt;/a&gt; and family on their naturalization.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113514323450628090?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://ksgf.com/misc/Photo%20Album' title='Walk Like an Egypitian'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113514323450628090/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113514323450628090' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113514323450628090'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113514323450628090'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/12/walk-like-egypitian.html' title='Walk Like an Egypitian'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113485029129766220</id><published>2005-12-17T14:06:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-17T14:11:31.313-06:00</updated><title type='text'>"Lawn Greeting" term is now recognized by Wikipedia!</title><content type='html'>The term "lawn greeting" is now recognized by Wikipedia. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The definition:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Lawn greeting&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A lawn greeting is a prank display set up in the lawn of an unwary recipient, most often done under the cover of night.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The most popular form of lawn greeting is a flock of plastic flamingos, the classic symbol of tackiness in suburban America. Many lawn greetings companies are themed on delivering pink flamingos along with a personalized sign, usually with a humorous saying for the recipient.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The popularity of lawn greetings has expanded to include groupings of a wide array of critters and symbols, including but not limited to pigs, cows, chickens, frogs, large rubber ducks, tombstones, hearts, swans, fish and many more themes. The decorations may be flat signs, three-dimensional, or larger than life inflatables.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Baby announcement storks are also included in the lawn greetings industry. These giant storks are often 6-8 feet tall and typically include a personalized "baby bundle" with the baby's name and vital stats. This is often left as a keepsake for the parents.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lawn greetings are typically ordered by friends and family to surprise the recipient for an occasion such as a retirement, birthday, graduation, or even wedding proposals. They are often set up by loved ones although many companies specializing in these displays can be found worldwide.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Flockings" are often done by groups trying to raise funds. They leave a flock of pink flamingos on the lawn of an unwary recipient. That homeowner then pays the flockers to move the flamingos to someone else's yard.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And at the end of the definition is a link to the &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com"&gt;International Lawn Greetings Association&lt;/a&gt;, a little group I'm quite proud of because I serve as vice president and PR chair.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113485029129766220?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_greeting' title='&quot;Lawn Greeting&quot; term is now recognized by Wikipedia!'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113485029129766220/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113485029129766220' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113485029129766220'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113485029129766220'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/12/lawn-greeting-term-is-now-recognized.html' title='&quot;Lawn Greeting&quot; term is now recognized by Wikipedia!'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113434968345191921</id><published>2005-12-09T22:57:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-11T19:08:03.466-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Celebrating USA citizenship for a local talk radio show host</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/him8nc/DSCN1039.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/him8nc/DSCN1039.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's not every day you hear of someone becoming a naturalized citizen, and &lt;a href="http://www.ksgf.com"&gt;KSGF 104.1 FM's&lt;/a&gt; morning talk show host Vincent David Jericho is becoming a citizen of the USA today. Congrats, Vince and family!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.agreetingyard.com"&gt;AGreetingYard.com&lt;/a&gt; set up a fun Public Display of Affection in front of the radio station on West Grand in Springfield, with flamingos (just because they're eye-catching and fun) and American flags. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vince mentioned us on the radio this morning. From his perch inside the studio it was a little difficult for him to see the display, but he did notice cars slowing down as they drove by.  Finally, at about 7:45 a.m., he mentioned on the air that he'd been flamingoed.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113434968345191921?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113434968345191921/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113434968345191921' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113434968345191921'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113434968345191921'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/12/celebrating-usa-citizenship-for-local.html' title='Celebrating USA citizenship for a local talk radio show host'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113402411649740616</id><published>2005-12-08T00:39:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-08T00:41:56.496-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Flamingos Speak da Lingo</title><content type='html'>Here's a little something fun to share, just because it makes me laugh.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ever wonder how two flamingos might fit the Beatles into a conversation?  Well, &lt;a href="http://www.flipflopflyin.com/bingoflamingo/index.html"&gt;here's your chance&lt;/a&gt; to find out.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I guess I have a twisted sense of humor becuase this makes me chuckle.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113402411649740616?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.flipflopflyin.com/bingoflamingo/index.html' title='Flamingos Speak da Lingo'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113402411649740616/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113402411649740616' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113402411649740616'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113402411649740616'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/12/flamingos-speak-da-lingo.html' title='Flamingos Speak da Lingo'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113402391546653825</id><published>2005-12-03T19:17:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-08T00:39:23.050-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Christmas open house for WAHMs</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/him8nc/DSCN1019.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/him8nc/DSCN1019.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our &lt;a href="http://www.agreetingyard.com"&gt;"Public Displays of Affection"&lt;/a&gt; (a.k.a. lawn greetings displays) aren't just for birthdays, new babies, or anniversaries.  Today we set up a fun display to help attract attention at Christmas open house.  Here's a photo of that display.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Several WAHMs (work-at-home moms) held this open house for their customers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I learned about the even through one of the WAHMs participating in the event. Kristi V. in Springfield runs two businesses from home -- &lt;a href="http://www.friendshhipbears.com/006KV/ "&gt;Friendship Bears&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://reps.southernstylegourmet.com/406KV"&gt;Southern Style Gourmet&lt;/a&gt;. Be sure to click on those links to visit her sites.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113402391546653825?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113402391546653825/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113402391546653825' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113402391546653825'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113402391546653825'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/12/christmas-open-house-for-wahms.html' title='Christmas open house for WAHMs'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113379696205902660</id><published>2005-12-02T21:33:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-08T00:42:58.076-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Christmas lights at this house are choreographed to music</title><content type='html'>How crazy is &lt;a href="http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp"&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From &lt;a href="http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp"&gt;Snopes.com&lt;/a&gt; (which is a great source to check on urban legends before you forward them to your entire address book and embarrass yourself):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Carson Williams of Mason, Ohio, who spent about three hours sequencing the 88 Light-O-Rama channels that control the 16,000 Christmas lights in his 2004 holiday lighting spectacular. The musical accompaniment is broadcast over a low-power radio station so that it is only audible to visitors tuned in to the correct frquency and doesn't disturb the neighbors. &lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113379696205902660?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp' title='Christmas lights at this house are choreographed to music'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113379696205902660/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113379696205902660' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113379696205902660'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113379696205902660'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/12/christmas-lights-at-this-house-are.html' title='Christmas lights at this house are choreographed to music'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113344865916486749</id><published>2005-12-01T07:34:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-01T08:56:47.983-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Yard cards are catching on across the country for Christmas</title><content type='html'>How fun is this?  Some communities are latching on to the concept of yard cards and yard art, and using them to help celebrate the season.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In Bloomington, Ill., the &lt;a href="http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/120105/new_20051201023.shtml"&gt;Northwest Neighborhood Association&lt;/a&gt; is continuing a tradition that began in 2000. Neighbors are creating their own yard art. Prizes will be awarded Dec. 20.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Twila Braden, the association's program chairwoman, was quoted in the Pentagraph newspaper:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;"I just thought it was such a neat idea," Braden said. "What a more wonderful way to give neighbors a greeting."&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;a href="http://www.rctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051130/MTCN0303/311300100/1306"&gt;Robertscon County Times&lt;/a&gt; in Tennessee tells of a group of firemen who have been creating yard art as a fundraiser for Toys for Tots for about 15 years. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kudos to these firefighters for their efforts. One firefighter cuts the yard art out of plywood with a jigsaw and the other firefighters paint them as time allows, according to the Robertson County Times.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And in &lt;a href="http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2005/11/30/news/illiana/8947eb46e218012e862570c9000d9c03.txt"&gt;Northwest Indiana&lt;/a&gt;, residents set up at Southgate Plaza in Homewood, Ind., to paint yard cards, a tradition for seven years in this community. Painters pay $95 to participate. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, as an artist and a business owner, I'm concerned about a couple of quotes from these news stories.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From the firemen, regarding how they got started creating yard art: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Back then Yates saw a man selling similar items on the side of the road. He said he bought a reindeer, just to get the pattern.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And from the artists who paint their yard cards in the Indiana mall:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Artists chose Christmas cards with a picture they liked and had transparencies made of them. The transparencies were then put on an overhead projector and the images traced on to the large boards. The boards were then painted and will be illuminated with spotlights.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For all I know, the guy at the side of the road may have given the firefighters permission to use his designs, but here's the part that alarms me. Over and over again, I've witness people do exactly this -- buy someone's yard art (or any other creative product, for that matter) and use it as their own pattern to reproduce it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And the artists in Indiana may have some sort of special arrangement worked out with the greeting card companies that allows them to shine the card designs with a projector and recreate them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But without permission from the owner of the copyright, it becomes copyright violation, folks, and that's not cool.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's a &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1499&amp;hl="&gt;frequent topic&lt;/a&gt; of conversation for the &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com/forum/"&gt;International Lawn Greetings Association&lt;/a&gt;, where we try to mentor newbies to the industry and help everyone (newbies and old-timers) understand so they don't cross that line and steal someone else's intellectual property.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A lot of people simply don't understand the concept. So many people have told me, "Well, I saw it on the Internet so it's free, right?"  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ignorance &lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;isn't&lt;/span&gt; bliss.  Reproducing someone else's artwork (or another form of intellectual property) is the same as walking into a store and shoplifting.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113344865916486749?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113344865916486749/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113344865916486749' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113344865916486749'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113344865916486749'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/12/yard-cards-are-catching-on-across.html' title='Yard cards are catching on across the country for Christmas'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113303060568127856</id><published>2005-11-27T17:27:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-11-27T17:35:00.116-06:00</updated><title type='text'>ACLU Gets Involved with Flamingos &amp; Nativity Scenes at City Hall in Cranston, Rhode Island</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://bigheadstudio.com/xflamingo0005.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://bigheadstudio.com/xflamingo0005.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In December of 2003, the mayor of Cranston, R.I., decided to allow individual religious groups to place displays on the lawn of city hall. Resident &lt;a href="http://bigheadstudio.com/toppage34.htm"&gt;Scott Bonelli&lt;/a&gt; decied to place pink flamingos all over the lawn as well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bonelli ended up getting quite a bit of press over this, which is all documented with plenty of &lt;a href="http://bigheadstudio.com/toppage34.htm"&gt;photos on his web site&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some say Bonelli and his "Church of the Pink Flamingo" made a mockery of the religious groups who were erecting nativity scenes and menorrah. Others say it was covered by his right to free speech. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A few flamingos did get stolen, as well as Baby Jesus.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then, lo and behold, some duckies arrived to hang out with the flamingos!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://bigheadstudio.com/xduckflam0015.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://bigheadstudio.com/xduckflam0015.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As of Nov. 27, 2005, Bonelli isn't sure if the flamingos will make an appearance at Cranston's city hall. But it sure is fun seeing them in action, along with all of the controversy they stirred up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Photos copyright Scott Bonelli and used in this blog with his written permission. It is illegal to copy these images without written permission of the owner.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113303060568127856?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://bigheadstudio.com/toppage34.htm' title='ACLU Gets Involved with Flamingos &amp; Nativity Scenes at City Hall in Cranston, Rhode Island'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113303060568127856/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113303060568127856' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113303060568127856'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113303060568127856'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/11/aclu-gets-involved-with-flamingos.html' title='ACLU Gets Involved with Flamingos &amp; Nativity Scenes at City Hall in Cranston, Rhode Island'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113302694392586998</id><published>2005-11-25T11:25:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-11-26T12:05:46.936-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Flamingos Top Turkeys in N.H. Town</title><content type='html'>Good to know that flamingos are making headlines in the world in spite of it being the season of the turkey.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-flamingos-returned,0,4539794.story"&gt;Newsday&lt;/a&gt; reports that in Kingston, New Hampshire, eight plastic flamingos were stolen from the yard of Debbie Barber two weeks ago. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;Barber, who dresses up her flock for the holidays and even takes a pair on vacation with her, thought she'd never get them back. &lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Two flamingos were found on the side of the road, eight were dropped off at the police station, a woman drove 55 miles to bring Barber more flamingos, and two more were left on her porch. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;She says it's going to be a full-time job to make costumes for the new additions, which she plans to dress as reindeer and elves for Christmas.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113302694392586998?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-flamingos-returned,0,4539794.story' title='Flamingos Top Turkeys in N.H. Town'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113302694392586998/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113302694392586998' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113302694392586998'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113302694392586998'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/11/flamingos-top-turkeys-in-nh-town.html' title='Flamingos Top Turkeys in N.H. Town'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113345011415339234</id><published>2005-11-17T21:14:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-01T09:15:14.153-06:00</updated><title type='text'>An Inflated View of the Holidays</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/16/AR2005111600598.html"&gt;The Washington Post&lt;/a&gt; is reporting something that we already knew to be true -- Inflatables are big this year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here at &lt;a href="http://agreetingyard.com"&gt;AGreetingYard.com&lt;/a&gt;, not only do we rent our fabulous, fun displays for yards, &lt;a href="http://affiliates.buyinflatables.com//idevaffiliate.php?id=369"&gt;we also sell these great inflatables online&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Snowglobes are very popular this year. You've probably seen them set up in yards and in front of discount stores. Before you lug one home from that big box store, compare the prices from our supplier. You might get a better deal, including shipping costs. And &lt;a href="http://affiliates.buyinflatables.com//idevaffiliate.php?id=369"&gt;be sure to check back after the holidays&lt;/a&gt; because you might find some great clearance prices. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Right now, there are some &lt;a href="http://affiliates.buyinflatables.com//idevaffiliate.php?id=369"&gt;great deals on Halloween items&lt;/a&gt;, perfect for stocking up and sticking in storage for a howlin' good time next October.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113345011415339234?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113345011415339234/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113345011415339234' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113345011415339234'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113345011415339234'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/11/inflated-view-of-holidays.html' title='An Inflated View of the Holidays'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113208050243713244</id><published>2005-11-15T12:48:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-11-15T12:52:46.796-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Group buying power and the invasion of the T-Rex army</title><content type='html'>&lt;br&gt;&lt;img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/him8nc/DinosIdolizedFossilized.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here's one of our most popular "Public Displays of Affection" -- our two-foot-tall dinosaurs.&amp;nbsp; They've been requested for 50th birthday celebrations, over-the-hill birthday parties, to tell a hot 35-year-old mom that she's still "dino-mite," and they've brought smiles to little boys who awakened on their birthdays to find a yard full of tiny T-Rexes.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The cool thing about these dinosaurs, from a business owner's perspective, is the fact that they are no longer manufactured, yet I was able to order a ton of them from the factory.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How?&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why, it's the power of a large group of people banding together for a cause.&amp;nbsp; Back in the infant stages of the &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com/forum"&gt;International Lawn Greetings Association&lt;/a&gt;, a bunch of us wanted to order dinosaurs but discovered the factory no longer produced them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One of our awesome members spoke to the factory and worked out a deal.  We had to order a certain amount of dinosaurs to make it worth their while. Within a few weeks, we had commitments from enough lawn greetings business owners and the molds were taken out of storage.&amp;nbsp; Not long after that, I received my adorable dinos.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br&gt;As our association grows, we hope to be able to offer our members even more benefits such as the group buying power that made it possible for many of us to add dinosaurs to our inventory and continue to help make our customers' celebrations even more special.&lt;br&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113208050243713244?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113208050243713244/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113208050243713244' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113208050243713244'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113208050243713244'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/11/group-buying-power-and-invasion-of-t.html' title='Group buying power and the invasion of the T-Rex army'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113302804112954369</id><published>2005-11-14T18:55:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-12-06T12:05:32.223-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Flamingos included as part of Baltimore's "Miracle on 34th Street"</title><content type='html'>Neighbors in the &lt;a href="http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/bal-guide-hampden,0,1172014.htmlstory"&gt;Hampden &lt;/a&gt;area of Baltimore made the news with their tradition of Christmas yard art, which they've dubbed their annual "Miracle on 34th Street."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Both &lt;a href="http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/bal-md.christmas14nov14,0,5913520.story"&gt;Newsday &lt;/a&gt;and &lt;a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/visitor/bal-md.christmas14nov14,1,4268281.story?coll=bal-artslife-visitor&amp;ctrack=1&amp;cset=true"&gt;The Baltimore Sun&lt;/a&gt; report that this neighborhood of rowhouses has gone all out for decorations for the past 20 years.  There are even a few &lt;a href="http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/bal-md.christmas14nov14,0,5913520.story"&gt;photos &lt;/a&gt;with the article. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yard decorations on 34th Street this year include "armies of glowing plastic elves, rooftop Santas, pink flamingos, train sets and porches buried in teddy bears." &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;"The old people enjoy it as much as the children," said Sharon Burke, who climbed up on roofs yesterday with her husband, Donald, to hang lights. "When you come down here, it takes you out of the world's troubles, and you go into a fantasy land."&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This neighborhood's festive mood doesn't end with Christmas. Oh, no!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;On New Year's Eve, Hosier and his neighbors lower a lighted plastic foam ball from the top of a telephone pole. In a spectacle they compare to the festivities in Times Square, Hosier runs out onto 34th Street wearing a giant diaper (dressed as baby New Year) and pops a bottle of champagne.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"New York don't have nothin' on &lt;a href="http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/bal-guide-hampden,0,1172014.htmlstory"&gt;Hampden&lt;/a&gt;," Rodgers said.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113302804112954369?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/visitor/bal-md.christmas14nov14,1,4268281.story?coll=bal-artslife-visitor&amp;ctrack=1&amp;cset=true' title='Flamingos included as part of Baltimore&apos;s &quot;Miracle on 34th Street&quot;'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113302804112954369/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113302804112954369' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113302804112954369'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113302804112954369'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/11/flamingos-included-as-part-of.html' title='Flamingos included as part of Baltimore&apos;s &quot;Miracle on 34th Street&quot;'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113173909101716941</id><published>2005-11-11T13:58:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2005-11-11T13:58:11.023-06:00</updated><title type='text'></title><content type='html'>&lt;a href='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/62/8657/640/Pigs%20Hamsome.jpg'&gt;&lt;img border='0' style='border:1px solid #000000; margin:2px' src='http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/62/8657/320/Pigs%20Hamsome.jpg'&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hamsome!&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'&gt;&lt;img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' border='0' style='border:0px;padding:0px;background:transparent;' align='absmiddle'&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113173909101716941?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113173909101716941/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113173909101716941' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113173909101716941'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113173909101716941'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/11/hamsome.html' title=''/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113172988777208707</id><published>2005-11-03T20:05:00.001-06:00</published><updated>2005-11-11T11:29:57.526-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Dr. Phil and MomsTown</title><content type='html'>How can you pass up the chance to be mentioned on Dr. Phil's web site?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We've been busy over at &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com/forum"&gt;the International Lawn Greetings Association message forum&lt;/a&gt;, where I'm one of three administrators.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We found out there was sort of a contest going on at the &lt;a href="http://momstown.com/"&gt;MomsTown web site&lt;/a&gt;, where Mary and Heather (that's their photo) are always discovering great resources for work-at-home moms.  They launched their blog on Oct. 14, 2005, and asked moms to send in votes for their favorite mom sites.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The mom sites with the most votes were being compiled to create a list on Dr. Phil's web site.  We didn't find out about the contest until right before it was over, but we gave it a shot anyway.  It was pretty disappointing not to make it onto the &lt;a href="http://drphil.com/articles/article/494"&gt;list on Dr. Phil's site&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While our site isn't totally devoted to moms, the majority of our members are moms who are running their businesses from home.  So we figured we might as well take advantage of this opportunity to let more moms (and dads) know about our quickly growing industry.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hope this doesn't sound like sour grapes, but I know there are work-at-home mom sites out there with far more members, far more visitors, and far more legitemate, useful information than a few of the sites that did make it onto &lt;a href="http://drphil.com/articles/article/494"&gt;the list&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But my frown turned to a smile when I saw the &lt;a href="http://momstown.com/blogpoll.html"&gt;results of the poll at MomsTown&lt;/a&gt;.  We're included in this mighty long list of web sites.  It's in alphabetical order and -- there we are -- &lt;a href="http://www.lawn-greetings.com"&gt;lawn-greetings.com&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113172988777208707?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.momstown.com/blogpoll.html' title='Dr. Phil and MomsTown'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113172988777208707/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113172988777208707' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113172988777208707'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113172988777208707'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/11/dr-phil-and-momstown_03.html' title='Dr. Phil and MomsTown'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113303487593938603</id><published>2005-10-26T13:00:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2005-11-26T13:54:35.940-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Udder Chaos 2005:  Annual Cow Auction in Ohio</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://www.youngsdairy.com/chaos/2005/Gingerbread%20Cow%20001.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.youngsdairy.com/chaos/2005/Gingerbread%20Cow%20001.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since 2000, &lt;a href="http://www.youngsdairy.com/index.html"&gt;Young's Dairy Farm&lt;/a&gt; in Yellow Springs, Ohio, has hosted "Udder Chaos," a fundraising "art exhibit using cows as the medium and the imagination of local artists for the inspiration."  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;About 30 plastic cows are decorated by artists and then placed on the farm for about 1 million visitors to see over a couple of months.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The cows are then auctioned to the highest bidder, with the money raised from each cow going to individual charities.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lots of fun photos of past years' herds may be seen by &lt;a href="http://www.youngsdairy.com/chaos/"&gt;clicking here&lt;/a&gt; and then clicking on the year you'd like to view.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113303487593938603?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.youngsdairy.com/chaos/2005.htm' title='Udder Chaos 2005:  Annual Cow Auction in Ohio'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113303487593938603/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113303487593938603' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113303487593938603'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113303487593938603'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/10/udder-chaos-2005-annual-cow-auction-in.html' title='Udder Chaos 2005:  Annual Cow Auction in Ohio'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113159415198289366</id><published>2005-10-18T14:20:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2005-11-11T11:03:58.606-06:00</updated><title type='text'>HomeBasedWorking Moms</title><content type='html'>I love stopping by message forums all over the Internet to see what's going on. It's a great way to "meet" the neatest people and learn about fun businesses.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And it's a kick to hear from those folks. Here's an email I received after posting a message at &lt;a href="http://www.hbwm.com/"&gt;HomeBasedWorkingMoms&lt;/a&gt;.  It's from another Jill --     Jill Caren at     &lt;a href="http://www.expressionspd.com"&gt;Expressions Photo Design &amp; Boutique&lt;/a&gt;.  She makes the coolest pop art and collages using her clients' photos.  Very unique.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Subject: Love This Idea!!!!&lt;br /&gt;    Date: Expressions PhtoDesn&lt;br /&gt;    Hi Jill,&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; I just saw your post on Mompreneursonline.com and just had to tell you that I love this concept!!!!! Is this your idea or a franchise?&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; I would love to include a link in my newsletter to you with a blurb about a great p/t biz if they are interested….we are in NJ and I do not&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; think I have seen anything like this here….can someone in NJ become an affiliate with you—or how would it work for them to start a biz here like this?!?!&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Oh, and if you do not know about it, another great networking group is http://www.hbwm.com is an awesome group of women who really try to help each other out!!!!&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;    Welcome and good luck with the business-it is really a GREAT idea!!!!&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Jill Caren&lt;br /&gt;    Expressions Photo Design &amp; Boutique&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;a href="http://www.expressionspd.com/"&gt;    http://www.expressionspd.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;ph: 800.304.5002&lt;br /&gt;    Creating art &amp;amp; gifts from personal photographs...&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be sure to stop by Jill's site.  She's very talented and her creations would be wonderful gifts.  She's been getting a lot of recognition lately, too.  &lt;br /&gt;Jill was featured in the April 2005 issue of  Woman’s Day Magazine in the article, “Turning Passions Into Profits.”  Her layouts have been included in the popular national scrapbooking magazines Memory Makers and Paperkuts.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113159415198289366?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113159415198289366/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113159415198289366' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113159415198289366'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113159415198289366'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/10/homebasedworking-moms_18.html' title='HomeBasedWorking Moms'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14099713.post-113173075357376673</id><published>2005-10-14T19:31:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2005-11-11T11:45:36.450-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Stuff A Friend Workshop</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/1600/Stuff%20A%20Friend%20lion.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5908/1265/320/Stuff%20A%20Friend%20lion.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We just added something new to what we offer at &lt;a href="http://www.agreetingyard.com"&gt;AGreetingYard.com Lawn Greetings Rental Service&lt;/a&gt;, and it's sure to be a big hit. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's our &lt;a href="http://www.stuffafriend.com/shop.php?him8nc"&gt;Stuff A Friend Workshop online store&lt;/a&gt;, and we have the most adorable "friends" to choose from.  They're available for purchase as individual kits, or you can order enough to have ready to go when the kids arrive for the party.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are lots of adorable animals to choose from and they arrive unstuffed (but with the stuffing) -- lion, bear, cat, penguin, zebra, bunny, leopard, dog.  You can even order little outfits and little accessories, depending on how fancy you want to get.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you'd like details on how to plan a party with Stuff A Friend as the kids' activity, send me an email at info@AGreetingYard.com and we can get the ball rollin'.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/14099713-113173075357376673?l=agreetingyard.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='related' href='http://www.stuffafriend.com/shop.php?him8nc' title='Stuff A Friend Workshop'/><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/feeds/113173075357376673/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14099713&amp;postID=113173075357376673' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113173075357376673'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/14099713/posts/default/113173075357376673'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://agreetingyard.blogspot.com/2005/10/stuff-friend-workshop.html' title='Stuff A Friend Workshop'/><author><name>Jillicious, CEF (Chief Executive Flockologist)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/10788753842692098985</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='05779474925600331323'/></author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></entry></feed>