Posts tagged children
Writing on the Window
Breathing on the Glass
Proof.
“Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found.”
And this is why I have zero faith in humanity.
I made a cute little chalkboard for Evie yesterday! The chalkboard was made out of a flooring sample from Home Depot! Check it out:
They have a ton of samples in the flooring section and they have a bunch of linoleum samples cut into perfect squares too, for anyone who wants to do some linoleum printing. I just painted it with Martha Stewart’s chalkboard paint (which I got for $3, thank you Michael’s for the 50% off coupon!) and viola! Tiny chalkboard for Evie! Now she can stop asking to play with my vintage one hanging on the wall. The edges of some of the samples even have grooves where the flooring is supposed to fit together where you can store your chalk!
After I took the picture I realized Evie didn’t have an eraser so I made of one those too. I just took a small rectangular piece of foam that I had laying around, glued felt to one side and a piece of cardboard painted black to the other. She just LOVES it! As you can see, she keeps making me draw Yo Gabba Gabba guys, specifically the stuffed ones she has and loves the best. (Omg, stuffed Plex is her best friend until forever.) This couldn’t have been easier, and I’m sure there’s a ton of other things you could add to it, maybe for a teacher’s gift? (I just thought of that right now and I’m so excited! Too bad Evie isn’t in school yet!)
The whole project cost me the price of the paint! The flooring sample was free, I had chalk and enough scraps to make the eraser. Three bucks! You can’t beat that.
Remembering the Past
The people who sold the house left a bunch of stuff in there that they couldn’t sell at the estate sale (because everything was priced ridiculously high) and my dad made my brother and I go through it all and take the stuff we wanted before he threw it out or donated it.
There were a ton of books (woo!) and I took a bunch of them home but what really caught my eye was the folder of cards left in the boxes of books. There were birthday, communion, Christmas, every kind of card you could want from the early 1960s through the mid 1970’s. There were even little Valentine cards you take to school to give to your friends. They’re all signed, which sucks, but I took them anyway and I know there’s something hiding in all those cards. There has to be something I can do with them! I just can’t figure it out.
I think I took them because leaving them behind seemed so sad. They were selling the house for their mother, and these were obviously important to her. They were her kid’s first birthday cards and the cards she got for her baby shower and it seemed too tragic to throw them, and her memories, away. I have a filled photo album I bought at Amvets one time too. Maybe I’m just too sentimental but someone needs to remember these things for her, even if her kids don’t want to.
I want to do something with them but at the same time, I don’t want to ruin them or sell them and have the thought lost. I just have no idea about how to go about that. I follow some insanely crafty and artistic people… Do you guys have any ideas? Do you think selling digital copies of the cards would work? Some of them are so beautiful that I feel like people need to see them but I’m selfish and don’t want to give them up either. If I did try to sell digital copies, could I just add a dotted line for people to cut around, if they’re not square?
Bringing Up Baby: Are. You. Kidding Me?
This morning, as I do most mornings, I watched the Today show. I have no idea why I do this to myself. More often than not, this show ignites a fury within me that can’t be healthy before noon, but I do it nevertheless.
So what set me off this morning? This story. A short piece about a…
This is propaganda? I’m with you on the almost foaming at the mouth anger. Would anyone call a little girl playing with [insert standard male toy] gender identity propaganda? Of course not, because there’s a double standard here. Women are supposed to be able to do anything, cross standard gender rolls or stay within them but the minute a boys toes are painted pink he’s gender confused? I call huge bullshit on that. Shame on anyone who thinks this is anything other than a little boy wanting to emulate his mother, who he loves and holds above everyone else. Kids love colorful things and finding out you can actually paint on yourself and it’s ok with mom makes it almost required that a kid, any kid, does it too. No child would ever know it was “wrong” unless someone told them it was. They are innocent and don’t think in terms of “confused” or not confused. Fun is fun, pure and simple. Adults should take a lesson from kids. I wonder if all the people complaining about this were always so uptight. Maybe they were born with a manual on how to act like the “correct” gender. I know Evie wasn’t. She loves matchbox cars and playing video games just as much as her littlest pet shops. I dream of the day Eric teaches her how to change her own oil and brakes. Why would I ever place a “confused” label on that?
im so fucking tired… when do kids start sleeping in? puberty??? fuck me.
