robot•jumping•rope

The husband gets lots of fun design files to look at for work, and of course he sends them to me - and I always share with friends. Let’s take a peek, ‘kay?

Would you just look at the cuteness of this green stuff! I adore that smock-y top on the upper right. How easy to make this?! Finding the fabric, now that’s the trick. I’ve been thrifting sheets and large dresses for this very purpose, but alas no pretty grass green yet.

Now check out the black and yellow - I’ve a Vera sheet in my stash that may be turned into a top soon, y’all. And the shoes, while verboten for myself, would be cute on someone who could actually walk in them. And I’ll take a set of those mugs, please. Pronto.

I don’t care how busy this is on the mama hips, I’d wear it. I’d dance in it on the lawn in my bare feet. In the rain. On a Monday. Feeling like a Mondrian all the while. Or a subway sign.

Same goes for this number. Sigh.

Moving on to decor, this is so great for outside or inside. If I had an outdoor entertaining space (and any extra cash) this would be going in it:

dandelions!

and more dandelions! Great idea for this huge photo behind the bed. I’m collecting ideas for a new look for our bedroom and this is a sweet one. Assume one can have a good photo blown up to extra large size, or so I’ve heard…

Hope you enjoyed these.

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Today is library day. With my lovely librarian lady friends. Today I take everything to the desk and WATCH THEM CHECK IT BACK IN.

Ha!

* * *

with love until later,

me

someone sweet (and sweetly delusional, apparently) has asked me for tips on how to set up an art area/make art more accessible to toddlers, etc.

“Art time drives me batty. I recently set up an area to make art materials more accessible, but I just cringe every time the paint comes out or my daughter puts the markers in her mouth.”

Oh honey, it battys the best of us, I wager. Around here we don’t let anyone under 5 have markers. Just go on and call me an art supply nazi, but crayons or colored pencils are de rigueur until little ones figure out markers are not for eating - and remember to leave the damn caps on. And no matter what the package says, those “washable” markers have never completely washed out of anything for me.

My tips aren’t so much toddler-specific, more general insights into how we do things around here when it comes to creating with paint and paper and other crafty materials. We have tried a lot of stuff in a lot of places but the most workable way to play with the messy stuff right now is on the kitchen table with a huge cheap vinyl tablecloth on top and on the floor. The kitchen is ideal so that I’m right there to monitor the inevitable mishaps, plus we usually have a plan for creating something beautiful (more on planning below).

Old shirts of mine or Daddy’s for paint smocks are a MUST. Start this one early: if painting is to be done, you must wear the shirt - soon it will be automatic to grab it whenever it’s time to create. Keep these handy inside a nearby closet on hooks or stashed in a box like we do, along with the cheap vinyl tablecloths.

I keep cheap paper plates stocked for make-shift artist’s palettes, and the kiddos pick 3-4 colors (any more and you’re asking for a dirty brown picture) of acrylic craft paint. We use these because I love the color intensity and they’re cheap. A bit of each color is squeezed on the plate palette. A mug of water that won’t tip over and a folded paper towel help with rinsing brushes and changing colors.

Warning: controversy ahead! My opinion is that with very young artists it is key to have a specific plan of some sort, whether it’s (mom) slicing up fruit for (kids to) stamp designs with, tearing construction paper pieces for gluing onto a pre-drawn shape, etc. If you just put all the supplies out it can be chaotic and confusing and a little structure can be a very helpful thing, even for the youngest little painter. And it won’t stifle their creativity! The structure creates steps to success in a medium, which builds their confidence to do more with it, or move on happily to something else. I have highly original kids (in my opinion) so it can’t be doing too much harm!

Kids are so different, too, in their mess-tolerance. My daughter used to adore finger painting everything in her immediate vicinity, so I limited it to the bathtub walls, where she could graffiti to her heart’s content and I could wash it away afterwards. It wasn’t about the product with her as much as the process, the “doing” was a blast. But my sons are neat and tidy and splatters and streaks don’t appeal, so putting tinted shaving cream into a giant ziploc bag was a lot of fun to draw shapes in - and no muss.

My daughter now has in her bedroom an easel with large paper sheets and a tin of watercolors. Underneath is a another round vinyl tablecloth. She can paint anytime as long as she asks me first and cleans up after herself. It took a few times to teach her to dump the water out and hang her smock up and clean the watercolors but now she does a great job. We started her with the easel at age 5. Your mileage may vary.

Since they’ve been old enough to enjoy drawing we’ve kept a handled bin with crayons on one side, colored pencils on the other. It’s really handy to carry around if one prefers to draw outside or in the living room. I’ve heard of families who give each child her own art box full of supplies and this sounds so fun. We tried it but mine left everything out all the time, so the communal box was introduced. They share surprisingly well.

Semi-controversial but another thing we’ve done is stop the loose paper drawings (except for things brought home from church school or homeschool co-op, and special art projects we do at home) because frankly it’s a nightmare keeping track of everything when it’s loose. Everyone in the house has a spiral-bound sketchbook. I buy them when they’re on sale or use coupons - Michael’s even has packages of 3 once in a while and with a 50%-off coupon they’re a steal. When a sketchbook is filled (must draw on each page and fill it!), it is dated and tossed into a giant Rubbermaid tub to be saved for all eternity. Even the 2.5 year old has his own sketchbook and he feels so important! We take them everywhere - the park, grandma’s house, church services (no more fidgeting!), car rides, etc. I hated this idea when my husband first suggested it, but it turned out to be so smart for us. Probably because I’m the clutter queen and keep piles of everything, everywhere. The guilt over tossing out all those loose masterpieces was eating me alive. Again, your mileage may vary.

SO. I’d like to hear what other mamas have to say about ideas for the all-important craft arena. Bring it on in the comments, baby.

was I not informed sooner that this is possible? hmmm?

Popcorn is the single reason supporting the purchase of my first ever microwave last year. But a) decent microwave popcorn isn’t cheap and b) it scares me a little ever since that guy and the lawsuit and you-know-what happened. So now I’m in heaven. Redenbacher heaven. Just be sure to shake the kernels before popping so that they are evenly coated and lying non-clumped on the bottom side of the bag. If they’re in a big clump on one end things can go very wrong. (oh, and the staple isn’t big enough to cause a problem in the microwave, by the way, although you should try putting a cd in there sometime: “Look Mom! Fireworks!” Okay, you shouldn’t, but man it’s cool. and scary.)

So we made our Wednesday library trip today. Lots of new goodies.

I adore my county’s fabulous library system, truly. And I live in constant envy and admiration of nearly all library personnel. They’re in a big quiet climate-controlled box surrounded by words and pictures. What’s not to envy? But some of the employees at my nearest branch are frakking nitwits, plain and simple.

Here’s why:

technically, one may check out a book at one location and return it at another, say, the smaller branch closest to your home that doesn’t have the best TinTin or Calvin & Hobbes collection your 8 year old lives for but is on the way to Krispy Kreme and Caribou Coffee so it’s really convenient to drive through and slip those late items into the return slot because it’s all about the drive-thru at this point, isn’t it? Well, it is for me.

So it should be doable, but apparently it isn’t. Or maybe the slow-as-a-tick elderly (seriously, we’re talking fossil material) gentlewoman who “helped” me try and figure out my dilemma is really just out to get me.

I’m sure she covets my life.

Anyway, I recently tossed (gently) my 57 slightly overdue books and audio-visual materials in the mysterious gaping mouth of the Return Area and sure enough, 4 days later receive an email that tells me (in a horrified librarian tone, I swear) at least 8 of these books are still at my house and could I please return them promptly before my card is blocked. BLOCKED. My library card is one of my great true loves so right away they’ve got me. BLOCKED? NO!

So I call, drive, stop and park and WALK IN and explain that these poor lost books were placed by me in the Return bin days ago and they must be lost, floating around in library purgatory somewhere or (most likely) a (nitwit) library employee screwed up in not removing them from my account.

Blank stare.

My 8 and 6 are playing piggy-back in the Large-Print section and my toddler has disabled the self-check machine.

More staring, as Elderly Gentlewoman asesses my Roxy t-shirt (girls kick a$$!), dirty jeans and black-polished toenails. Perhaps I should check my home again, she says slowly (smugly!), this happens a lot, people don’t realize they still have them, especially when they check out as many books as we do (pointed look in direction of my obviously over-literate offspring).

A few more fruitless attempts at convincing her I am not stealing library materials to resell on eBay and it’s over. I am defeated. I am BLOCKED!

But I am not done. 3 days later an email tells me the “missing” items were found and all charges have been removed from my account.

HA.

This has happened 4 times now.  My account has 4 pages of fines and notes and probably warnings!

I tire of it.

nitwits.

Okay, enough downergirl®. Time for dinner - seasoned black beans on rice, guacamole (my children have just discovered guac is good eatin’ - thanks Chipotle!), baked tortilla chips and sweet tea.

Beautiful weather here today. 70 and sunny and the garden beckons for a haircut after dinner. See you tomorrow, my loves.  It’s good to be back and writing again.

2 in one day!

the mind reels.

totally forgot to plaster my self portrait Tuesday all over your screen.

with my beloved hellion,

love

see, it’s like this: I’m the kind of person who is consumed by a new interest for a bit, who then burns out on said interest because it is All-Consuming, then after an extended break comes back to find balance.

oh how I love the internets - and you - but needed a wee break in order to revive my passion for ye olde blog.

All or nothing personality, you ask? Why yes, however did you guess?

And in a way the number of blogs and friends and ideas and photos and etc etc etc was beginning to overwhelm me. My a.d.d. brain was freaked.out. There is no earthly way to connect with everyone I want to love on and give props to and read and connect and share joy with. And I really, really wanted to. And it doesn’t seem right that people were reading me and I couldn’t get to their stuff. As per usual this led to guilt, which led to denial, which had me turning off my flickr and ignoring my robotness right and left. Plah.

And don’t point fingers at me and say “told you so, you wacky homeschooling nutjob” but teaching my kids (while toddler stealthily tornadofies the next room) takes such a huge chunk of energy and planning - it’s fun, it’s working, it’s way cool - but it’s tiring and saps me.

So by now you’re like “huh? you were gone?” and this sounds really smug or self-important. It isn’t meant to. The path away from Martyrdom is a slippery slope but I’m doing my best to stick to the trail.

Moving on. So I come back to 50jillion spams. What the frak? WordPress is NOT on my christmas card list this year. And isn’t my banner depressing? That is supposed to be blue, instead it’s teacher’s lounge-gray. I’ll fix that.

New stuff:

i’m 38. weeeeeee!
got a nano for my birthday. ebay rocks. it’s hot pink but i can live with that with 4G of workout tunes, baby.
saw my fave band Yo La Tengo last week. Old Married Couples Rock the Granada!
in-laws coming this weekend!
one of the chicks on The Bachelor has my name! crazy fluff t.v. but it’s like a trainwreck and I can’t stop watching the humiliation and catty-pants action.
tearing out basement walls for slow but steady remodel over the next decade.
my Honda is dying. he’s lived a long, full life but it’s almost his time. sniff.
Battlestar Galactica is on hiatus so I am watching La Femme Nikita (the series) from Netflix. Stylish crime-fighting and beautiful leads. Highly recommend.
Mexico cometh soon…June 14…!!! starting to chew my nails about leaving the kids for 7 days. trying not to jump on the worry wagon.

ciao and perhaps a photo or two tomorrow ~ be well and xxxxx