Book Update: Currently, I’m reading “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute.” Really interesting book on how an “investment” (collecting stuffed animals) became a vehicle for money. Ty Warner apparently was crazy. He started the company and created beanie babies. But, he also created a company that lied to customers, lied to retailers, cut supply to increase demand, and led a secondary market that created more crazy people. One employee left the company because he didn’t want to keep lying to customers. They were instructed to tell them that shipments would take 5 days when in reality they would take 1 and 1/2 months.
Due to Consumer Regulations, one of the beanie babies posed a choking hazard. So, Ty and Patricia Roche had to dismantle a whole carton – about 15,000 beanie babies and send photos to the government as proof. Some beanie babies would be “retired”, but they were still shipping to England. Patricia would have to dismantle those beanie babies as well when they arrived and sell the inside pellets back to the Asian markets.
Then, there were crazy customers. One accidentally hit her kid’s head on a door trying to get to a newly released beanie baby. One collector racked up four digit phone bills calling long distance to collect beanie babies she didn’t have yet.
Oh, here’s the new tile I made. Since Easter is over, I didn’t have any holidays to really use on a tile. So, I made this one up instead. It’ll help me remember my wedding anniversary date, too! Bonus! (Well, I get it confused because I graduated with my Master’s degree on August 3, 2002 and got married August 2, 2003.)
Recipe: As many that hosted Easter or had the kids dye eggs, you may have ended up with a LOT of hard boiled eggs leftover. Sure, they are tasty and nutritious on their own. But, throw them into a salad and they make a great sandwich for a snack or rounded out lunch.
This recipe substitutes a great source of protein and calcium – Greek Yogurt – for a calorie filled not much else concoction: mayonnaise. Although you could make mayonnaise from scratch…. But anyway – Greek Yogurt is faster! Feel free to add tomatoes, lettuce, or bacon to the sandwich with your favorite French, whole wheat or white bread. I used my usual whole wheat bread in the photo.
- 8 hard-boiled eggs
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp. dried dill
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp. mustard
- Cut up the hardboiled eggs in a large bowl. Mix in the yogurt, dried dill, salt, pepper and mustard. If the mixture is too thick, add a little more yogurt. Stir until well combined and enjoy!
the beanie baby book sounds fascinating! i was in junior high during the beanie baby craze…but my sis was crazy for them. will have to read it!