Happy Halloween!

Here is a super fun 'carve your own Jack-o-lantern' website. Carve faces over and over into the virtual pumpkin without all the muss and fuss. And no moldy, nasty remains...like the four squishy disasters on my porch.

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

Does anyone know if mold catches fire? I am sorta afraid to light these fuzzy things.

And here are my two dressed up in their costumes for their school's Halloween event last weekend. So much for the super cute costumes you can get away with making your kids wear when they are little. No more puppies, bears, pea pods....but I'm still drawing the line at no blood and gore.

The best costume I saw at the school event was someone dressed up as Ugly Betty. She was spot on!! I actually had to do a double take. The hair, the braces, the glasses, the hideous fashion disaster. It was fantastic! And sadly, I didn't get a picture because I was elbow deep in serving brownies at the dessert booth.

Ugly Betty...she really is kinda scary.

Today's Fact or Crap: Trench Coats

My Fact or Crap calendar has sure been work-related of late. Here was yet another interesting factoid (or could it be crapoid)?

FACT OR CRAP?

Trench coats were used, quite literally, in the trenches.

That would be FACT.

The jacket, which went on to reach peaks of fashion success even on couture runways, was first worn by British soldiers during WWI. The design kept the soldiers warm and dry in the dark trenches throughout Northern France and Belgium.

Here is a new Flowing Metallic Trench coat by Rainforest we recently received in stock. It also comes in Ruby Red and Pewter. The trench isn't just for wearing in the trenches anymore!

An Ancient Fairy Tale of Woe

Once upon a time there was a pair of glorious rubber boots. They were fashionable, they were functional but just a wee bit too big for the wearer.

So that wearer carefully packed them up, wrapping them snugly in newspaper to cushion their ride in the brown metal delivery truck and sent them back in for an exchange.

Upon arrival, the boots were unwrapped from their blanket of newsprint.

Low and behold, the boots and the newsprint had become one.

Oh, the tragedy!

Oh, the horror!

Alas, these two souls were never meant to embrace as the inky parchment left telltale signs of itself embossed upon the pliable rubber of the boots.

No matter the scrubbing, the washing, the rubbing, the cajoling. The stubborn ink would not be banished.

These glorious boots were now marred for life.

Never again could the boot peddler sell those boots. No other townsperson would wear them whilst splashing through rain puddles, weeding their garden, walking their dog or simply just to look cool.

Instead they were cast aside...into the pile where all soiled, defaced boots go before they are sent away to the dreaded far-away town of Goodwill.

The moral of this story:

Please, please, please don't wrap up boots in newsprint when sending them back for a refund or exchange.

Thanks!!!

Could It Be Don King?

Oh no. That is just my dog. Might be a good Halloween costume for her.

Dog King. HA HA HA!!

Seriously though. WTF is up with the crazy hair??

Join the DLL Rainwear Mailing List

We recently added a "Join Our Mailing List" function on our website.

If you are interested in receiving occasional emails from DLL Rainwear about new products, upcoming sales, special offers and the like, please do sign on up.

We PROMISE we will not bombard you will daily emails. We also PROMISE we will not sell your information to anyone.

DLL realizes how annoying it is to get daily emails from companies pushing their stuff (my inbox is jam packed with those and I really can't stand them.) It is equally if not more annoying to get other junk you never even signed up for (i.e. all of the Medicare, AARP, hearing aide and flippin' "How to Plan Your Funeral" stuff I've been getting since I turned 40. I am deeply offended....)

We just want to be able to let you know every so often about cool new products, send you a coupon code or let you know about a blow out sale.

So if that sounds like something you'd like to sign up for, jump on over to DLL Rainwear, scroll down a bit and look for the Email List sign up on the left hand side. If not that's cool too. Either way, we still love ya.

But I do think you even get a special coupon code when you sign on up!!!

What Treats NOT to Dish Out on Halloween or How to be a Good Goodie House

I found an article on what are the top 10 least liked Halloween treats. Here they are:

1. Toothbrushes (That is just asking to be egged!)

2. Raisins (Again...eggs on your windows.)

3. Candy corn (I like it but I guess most people don't. They look like little teeth!)

4. Smarties and Necco Wafers (Agree on the Neccos but Smarties?????)

5. Dum Dum lollipops (Really? I though kids were suckers for suckers.)

6. Apples (More egging....)

7. Tootsie Rolls (Again....really?!?)

8. Misc. hard candies (Mainly those yucky strawberry shaped things, peppermints and butterscotch's---total granny candies.)

9. Laffy Taffy (I am an offender here for sure.)

10. Anything "Fun Sized" (which equals small and pitiful and oh-so-disappointing, unless you get a fistful.)

Consider yourself warned. Good thing I didn't buy my candy yet so I won't yet again Smartie and Laffy Taffy all those poor kids in my neighborhood.

Canadian Rubber Boot Wedding

A customer of ours, Amanda from Alberta Canada, recently had a gorgeous outdoor wedding on a beach behind the house in which she grew up. She was nice enough to send us some of the wonderful photos from her wedding.

Amanda told us that it rained the entire week leading up to the wedding which left very muddy bogs that the bridal party and guests had to muck through to make it down to the beach.

The muddy bog en route to the the beach. Bad for satin wedding shoes.

The beautiful beach at the end of the bog...with the wedding attendees waiting.

Amanda decided she needed to fore go the typical delicate wedding shoes for some fabulous and functional gumboots.

Pre-wedding photo...showing off the boots!

Bride's grandma in HER kickin boots!

Wedding party on the beach in their gorgeous gumboots.

Amanda the bride and her maid of honor.

Amanda and her new hubby!

Amanda, thank you SO much for sharing with us. You all looked FABULOUS!

Fact or Crap

Last Christmas my friend, MeiLei, gave me a Fact or Crap calendar. It has a new tidbit each day on a variety of things from politics to sports, food to movies. You are supposed to guess if the information is true or false.

I have a lot of crap stored in my longterm memory (which I like to call important trivia, thank you very much). Now at least once a day, I add one more tidbit to that ever increasing trivia data bank. Of course I always forget the boring stuff (i.e. politics, sports ~SNORE!~ and the like).

Here is today's Fact Or Crap which just happens to be relevant to work:

The umbrella was invented in Japan in the early 14th century.

Answer: Crap

Here are the facts:

Named for the word 'umba' which is Latin for 'shadow' or 'shade', the bumbershoot dates back to antiquity. Not to be confused with umbrellas, the equally useful parasol was designed to shade sensitive skinned folks from the sun.

Today's umbrellas have come a long way from the plain black versions. There are so many sizes, colors, designs and features that there is the perfect umbrella for any need.

So next time the rain drops are falling on your head, pop open your colorful bumbershoot, put on those rain boots and get singing and dancing in the rain!

House of D

Like so many people I have a Netflix account. We got it during the writer's strike when there was NOTHING TO WATCH ON TV.

I took the questionnaire Netflix has on their site which has you rate movies you've seen so they can then recommend others you may like.

I have a few hundred movies in my queue, most of which I don't recall the plot. And the synopsis provided with the DVDs aren't usually inspiring.

Needless to say my husband often grumbles about 'all the chick crap' we keep getting.
I keep telling him to go throw stuff in the queue or be quiet.

Again, needless to say, neither has happened.

So two weeks ago we got a movie called the "House of D." Again the grumbling and again the pitiful synopsis.

Here is the plot synopsis:

By working through problems stemming from his past, Tom Warshaw (Duchovny), an American artist living in Paris, begins to discover who he really is, and returns to his home to reconcile with his family and friends.

Woo hoo. Sounds super exciting huh?

The movie stars David Duchovny, Robin Williams and Tea Leoni to name a few. David Duchonvy wrote and directed it. I like all those actors but it still took me two weeks to watch it (sans hubby).

But I have to say, it was SUCH a good movie.

It is sort of a flashback movie of David Duchovny's character at age 13 living in New York City and all he goes through at school, at home with his recently widowed (and depressed mother), his first crush and his relationship with his friend Pappas.

The young boy who played Tom was fantastic. His name is Anton Yelchin. He and Robin Williams, who plays Pappas (a 40 year old mentally challenged man) were so good together. They call each other Pap-Ass and Tom-Ass.

I won't even begin to try and convey any scenes from this movie as I would never do it justice. But it was funny, sad, heartwarming.

I highly recommend it.

My husband actually watched it and said it was "Not bad." For anything that isn't at all similar to"Die Hard," "Terminator" or "The Matrix" that is considered high praise.

Definitely throw it into your Netflix queue. I think I might actually go buy it next time I'm at Target. I seriously loved it that much.

Here is the trailer....assuming I can get the video to imbed. If not here is the YouTube link as well: House of D Trailer on YouTube

Back Away from the iPhone, Buddy

Today I was standing in front of a Starbucks waiting on a friend. I had just gotten off the phone with her and up comes a kinda sketchy looking guy who asks me if he can borrow my cell to make a short local call.

I flat out said, "No."

I sort of surprised myself because I usually at least say, "Nope, sorry."

I was a bit rude.

But we were outside and I am always wary of people asking to use things like a cell or camera and then bolting off down the street. And since I don't run, I'd be way screwed. I mean, this is my beloved iPhone we're talking about.

With my complete address book info in it to boot.

He was nice about it and went and asked two other guys. They too must have told him no or maybe they didn't have cells.

So the guy goes inside the 'Bucks and asks another younger guy who totally lets him use his phone. An iPhone at that.

And the shifty looking dude made his quick call and was done.

OK.

Me?

I felt really bad.

I went inside after a bit and told the young guy that he was really nice to let the man use his phone. And that I was a meany for refusing.

He said that maybe he earned his good karma for the day.

Ooo...I think I will have earned the bad no-cell-borrowing karma.

P.S. Apparently the characters at the top of this blog stand for Cause and Effect Karma. Thought they were appropriate.

Drunken Emails Be Gone!

Does anyone remember in the movie "JerryMaGuire" when Tom Cruise has an epiphany in the middle of the night, then prints and hands out his 'Mission Statement' to the entire company? And later regrets it after everyone has already read it? And laughs at him? And he gets fired?

Poor Jerry....

Jerry needed some goggles from Google....

I heard about this new 'service' Google has recently instituted. It is called Mail Goggles and is designed to help people who have a tendency to overindulge in alcohol (or midnight epiphanies) and then send out emails they oh-so-regret the morning after. (They can't help you if you decide to print, bind and hand it out like Jerry did. If you do that, you're pretty much screwed).


Apparently Google believes that drunk people aren't good at math. So they give you a few math problems and if you solve them, you can send out your email. If not, no emailing for you.




I had better never sign up for this. I am SO bad at math. I need to use a calculator (or my fingers) to do almost everything. Including checking my third grader's homework. That actually makes me wonder...would a drunk person not think of using a calculator? Hhmmmmm...

Long Time, No Virtual Barbie

Virtual Barbie really needed a new outfit. I decided after hearing someone on the radio mention AC/DC that she would be 'Back in Black" with a little metallic bling.

The Rainforest coat is very feminine with its ruched front and high collar. This is in opposition to the edgy Jeffrey Campbell Engineer 2 boots. All in all this outfit is a contradiction in style that looks pretty darn cool.

You go, Barbie. Hip chick that you are.

Totes Black Gold Sparkle umbrella: $28.00

Rainforest Black Packable rain coat: $225.00

Jeffrey Campbell Black Engineer 2 rain boots: $59.95

As the Boy Scouts Always Say....Be Prepared

(Very cool artwork from Vladstudio)

Having the right equipment is half the battle....

She should have shopped DLL Rainwear!

Now look at her.

Casey the Puddle Stomper from PA

Two year old Casey from Pennsylvania loves his Hatley Wild Pirates rain boots and slicker. His mom, Teresa, sent us this picture of him stomping in a small puddle that formed in the base of a tree.

You go, Casey. Give those puddles what for!

All This Drilling is Killing Me

For the past three hours someone in my neighbor's yard has been using some sort of REALLY LOUD drill that sounds just like the one at the dentist.

And for the past few weeks, the neighbor on the other side of me has been having his old fifty-something Chevy truck worked on and those guys also have a REALLY LOUD drill thingy.

Don't they have silencers for those things?

If not can someone please quickly invent one?

Before I am standing trial for a double drill homicide??

But I think no jury would convict me after I was subjected to hours and hours and hours of that hideous noise.

Cuz this is what I feel like I have been going through ALL.DAY.LONG.

Pretty much everyone can relate to this hideous experience.

Update: The drill has stopped! Whoever hooked that guy up with a silencer or possibly took him out, thank you!!!! You are my hero!

Where is My Package?

The next time you can't find the package we have sent you, try looking here:





Tricky, tricky UPS man!

Scary Robot Girl

Apparently this 'girl' is a robot. If you check out this link you can see a video of 'her'.

*cricket*

OMG, how creeeeeepy!

Even worse?

The company that is going to mass produce her is called....

Cyberdyne

Come on people! Haven't ya'll seen Terminator?

A company called Cyberdyne making lifelike robots?

Is not good!!!

Case and point:

Do you think robogirl looks like this underneath, only smaller? Yikes!

I'm just a little freaked out by this I have to admit.

Damn my husband for making me watch these movies (over and over and over) AND now the TV show to boot.

Cuz now I need a stiff drink.

Before I start stockpiling weapons to protect myself!

P.S. I found out that a boffin is slang for scientist or engineer. Learn something new everyday. Again, Wikipedia saves the day.

Nothing Like a Bear to Keep Your Warm

Keep warm and dry this winter with Hatley's Bear scarf and rain boots.



Hatley's Country Bear Knitted Scarf for Women: $29.95

Hatley Oatmeal Bear Rain Boots for Women: $59.95

Football CAN be Entertaining!!

Who knew?? Football can actually be entertaining.




Now if things like this happened more often during games, I would totally watch!

DLL Rainwear's International Shipping Prices

DLL Rainwear does ship internationally, pretty much anyplace our postal service allows.

We use the United States Postal Service (USPS) instead of United Parcel Service (UPS). UPS charges brokerages fees on top of customs and duty. We have found most customers do not wish to pay these additional charges. If you would like your order shipped UPS, please contact us so we can determine if UPS delivers in your area.

The two types of international services offered are Priority Air Mail (PAM) which normally takes 6 to 10 days to arrive in customs and Express Air Mail (EAM) which takes 4-6 days. EAM is not available in all countries.

Below is a link to an Excel spreadsheet with a list of countries we ship to and the cost per pair of boots. Please note that any customs fees or taxes are NOT included in these costs. If you don't see your country listed, that doesn't mean we don't ship there. Please email us for more information!

International%20shipping%20fees.xls

Apple of My Eye

I love these boots. I really like that the women's boots match the kid's boots but are in a different color scheme. So you can be all matchy without being too matchy.



Hatley Women's Apple of My Eye rain boots: $59.95

Hatley Kid's Apple of My Eye rain boots: $29.95

The kid's boots also have a matching coat and umbrella. Cuz little kids? They like to be super duper matchy!

Doggone Dog

I went to Target over the weekend and bought Holly a couple of new toys. One WAS a monkey swinging on the moon. I say it "was a monkey" because in less than a day, this beast....

completely eviscerated this beast...

It is officially faceless, destuffed and desqueeked.

$4.99 down the drain.

Maybe as payback, I'll dress her up like this for Halloween. Look at those ears!!! Those and the tail would last 5.2 seconds before she gnawed them off.

Tainted Chocolate

My husband sent me a link to an article saying that the substance melamine has been found in some chocolate made in China.

That is the same stuff that was found in baby formula earlier this year and was the cause of 4 infants deaths.

First off, who knew that some chocolate companies had their product made in China???

Secondly, things are totally screwed up lately. War, famine, global warming, financial crisis, gas shortages, bad economy...and now tainted chocolate.

WTF?

And thirdly, with the mass amounts of chocolate I consume, this news can't be good. 40 years of chocolate inhalation might come back to bite me in the a$$.

If there is a recall on chocolate or a recommendation to stop eating it, I am in a world of hurt.

And so is everyone around me. 'Roid rage ain't got nothing on Kristen off chocolate.

That's like asking a smoker to stop cold turkey. Or a shopaholic to cut up her credit cards. Or telling Carrie Bradshaw she has to give away all of her shoes. Or letting Hugh Heffner know he's gotta give the 'Bunnies the old heave-ho.

Does anyone know if there is an equivalent of a smoker's patch for chocolate?

If not, I might need to check into the Willy Wonka Clinic for Chocolate Abusers. And I will be there a good long time....the detox will NOT be pretty.

Okay seriously? Don't be screwing with my drug of choice!

Talk About Screaming for Ice Cream!

Now this?

Is pretty darn funny.

(Unless your kids can read and actually do it, of course).