October, 2011

Crafts / Events / Kids — No Comments
31
Oct 11

Happy Halloween 2011

Pumpkins carved

Jack-O-Lanterns in the dark

I made the costumes for both kids this year and actually finished them. Several stuffed animals (and one leather handbag) were sacrificed to make Nola’s barbarian costume. Her boots were the cutest part, but you can’t really see them in any of the pictures. Nola the Destroyer!

Nola the Destroyer

Gunner was a viking warrior — quite fitting with his Norwegian heritage. He also had awesome boots, and a sweet “fur” cloak with a wicked medallion clasp, of which I’m totally jealous!

Both kids won 1st places in their age groups at our local Halloween party costume contest! (I really had to futz with this next picture; Nola’s face was totally washed-out for some reason)

I have to thank my mom for working so hard making all my awesome Halloween costumes when I was growing up, and thusly inspiring me to work hard to make my kids’ costumes. The torch has been passed!

Kids / Opinion / Reviews — 1 Comment
20
Oct 11

tokidoki® Tattooed Barbie® Doll

So an indie company had the audacity to commission, produce, and sell a Barbie® Doll sporting permanent tattoos. (As opposed to the similarly available Barbie® with temporary tattoos.) Let the fur fly! as sensationalism sets in, and the dissenting opinions of the very loud minority overshadow reason and sensibility (yet again, go figure).

tokidoki® Barbie® Doll

A lot of people are saying that a tattooed Barbie® is inappropriate for children, and I admit they are probably right — seeing as you have to be at least 18-years-old to legally get a tattoo. But this particular tokidoki® Barbie® Doll costs fifty dollars (and is apparently sold out, by the way), so I doubt that anyone is actually giving this to a child to play with. It is more likely to be kept in its box on a shelf as a collector’s item.

Unfortunately, there are many “trolls” out there, using this as an opportunity to get out the ol’ soapbox and shake fists at the sky about the degredation of society as a direct result of self-expression through the act of body modification. Comments like, “Get full sleeve tattoos and tattoos all over your face and try to get a professional job to prove me wrong” and blah blah blah. Thankfully, I’m seeing a lot of intelligent replies from teachers, doctors, white-collar professionals from nearly every spectrum, telling their own stories of being (many times heavily) tattooed and getting along just fine in both the workplace and society-in-general.

I stumbled upon this “controversy” this morning via my local TV news channel’s Facebook page, which posted “MORNING BUZZ: Some parents are upset over a new, tattooed Barbie doll. What do you think?” and so I added a few of my own comments to the fray.

THIS IS AWESOME! I used to draw “tattoos” on my Barbies myself, lol. And I love the pink hair (also used to “dye” my Barbies hair, with markers). But… why is there a cactus on a chain?

Also, you’d be surprised who you’re working with and around and coming into contact with every day, who have tattoos that you don’t even know about or ever see! I was having blood drawn once and the tech saw my inner forearm tattoos and complimented them and we started talking about it and after he was done drawing blood he took off his lab coat and rolled up his shirt cuffs and he had FULL SLEEVES (that’s total tattoo coverage) ON BOTH ARMS! It was sweet!

There’s a lot more tattoo acceptance now-a-days — in case you couldn’t already tell by the mainstream release of a tattooed Barbie. It’s not the 60s anymore, when only sailors and Hell’s Angels had tattoos. I’ve never had anyone make a negative comment when they see that I have tattoos, in fact quite the opposite; people are interested and give compliments and ask questions. Personally, I see tattoos as more of a gateway to conversations with people, rather than a social blockade. And a lot of tattoos are easy to cover up for job interviews and other working situations, if needed.

Easiest solution: IF YOU DON’T WANT YOUR KID TO HAVE A TATTOOED BARBIE, THEN DON’T BUY THEM ONE! How about some parental discretion?

I don’t have time to follow this thread today (I have Halloween costumes to make!) so hopefully I won’t get railed-on by trolls!

Needless to say, I would have no problem if my daughter wanted to get a Barbie® with tattoos or brightly-colored hair. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, in fact, considering that both myself and my husband have visible tattoos, as do many of our friends and relatives. I do, however, have a problem with paying $50 for any Barbie® Doll! She’ll just have to draw tattoos on her $10 Barbie®s and color their hair herself!

Kids — 1 Comment
7
Oct 11

1st Grade Halloween Party

So I suckered myself into helping plan and supervise my son’s class Halloween Party. I just couldn’t leave that blank line unfilled on the sign-up sheet! Though I did myself a huge favor by abstaining from classroom celebrations for the rest of the year… I’m pretty sure.

There are other parents signed up to provide snacks, drinks, cups/plates/napkins, “prizes”, and to donate supplies for the games, which is really nice that I will (hopefully) only need to worry about planning and gathering and executing. It’s a short time slot as far as holiday parties go, so we shouldn’t need much. Maybe three-or-so “stations” with fun activities, then send everyone home full of sugar!

I would prefer to avoid the standard “monster hands” (a.k.a. hairdresser gloves filled with stale popcorn that all children have touched, probably after picking their noses), bobbing for apples (a.k.a. let’s shake our heads like dogs and spray water everywhere and why would I want to eat an apple when there’s ten-tons of candy laying around?!), and the gross-out-fake-outs (cooked spaghetti as worms, peeled grapes as eyeballs, etc.). There’s not enough space for a “haunted” hallway, themed relay-type races, or other large-movement activities (sorry, toilet-paper-mummy game!). So after searching online for ideas, I think I’ve settled on three pretty solid and entertaining activities for the party. I hope they go over well with the kids!

Pin the Face on the Pumpkin

Classic! Gunner suggested this one. We’ll separate the kids into groups for each “station”, and I thought we could have some Jack-O-Lantern face shapes cut out and as a group they would be blindfolded one-at-a-time and each would get a different face piece to place, and see the Picasso-esque end result!

Beanbag Spider Toss

“We were looking for a different take on the bean bag toss, so I made a game out of a cardboard box, some fabric scraps, and fabric paint. Basically, kids throw spider beanbags into a ‘web’ with holes. Web Box: The easiest way to make this is to spray paint the box black, paint on a web with with 3-dimensional fabric paint, and then go back and cut 5 or 6 holes between the webbing, evenly spaced around the spider web. Spider bean bags: Cut two circles of black fabric and 8 little spider legs for each spider. Pin circles right sides together, pin top of 4 legs to each side (right and left sides) of spider body, remembering to pin the top of the leg to the outer edges to be sewn (don’t pin the foot there). Stitch around edges, leaving a 2 inch opening for turning. Turn the spider body right side out, making sure all of the legs have been stitched on correctly. Fill with dried beans and slipstitched closed.”

Pop the Treasure Balloon

“Supplies needed: At least 2 balloons for each child, Enough ‘treats’ for each balloon to have one. Add the ‘treat’ inside each balloon and blow up. Tie the balloon. Dump all the balloons on the floor and tell the children how MANY they may pop. The children must pop the balloons by sitting on them and bouncing. Treat ideas: spider or other types of rings, candy, mini balls, anything small that will fit inside a balloon.”

Be sure to check out the linked pages above for more of the “runner-up” suggestions, including Pumpkin Bowling, Yarn Spider Web, and Bugs on a Log. If you have some great ideas for kids’ Halloween party fun & games, I would love to hear them!

Events / Opinion — No Comments
1
Oct 11

Occupy Wall Street (with dignity, please)

You know, I am 100% behind the whole Occupy Wall St. idea, and I’ve heard very intelligently-worded, thoughtful and moving speeches and interviews from some leaders and activists participating in this momentous political movement. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen some videos of “protesters” just being effed-up stupid. For example, inciting unrest and antagonizing the police (who are maybe hundreds, trying to control crowds of thousands), and then screaming “POLICE BRUTALITY” when they throw your ass on the ground and arrest you. Standing around shouting “WE ARE PEACEFUL!! WE ARE PEACEFUL!!” and then charging at a line of police officers, is NOT a “peaceful” protest. Not a very smart thing to do, ever. No sympathy.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m sure there are some shitty cops out there who would punch your grandmother in the face for no reason. But for the most part, they are average citizens (just like you) who are working long hours at a stressful job (just like you) for a paycheck to provide for their family (just like you) and would like to make it home at the end of the day without a trip to the hospital (just like you). The police are in fact there to protect you from yourself, protect other people from you, protect you from other people, and keep the situation from breaking out into a riot. Because when large groups of passionate, similarly-minded people congregate en mass, as peaceful as their intentions may be, mob-mentality will rule — and it only takes ONE black sheep to get the herd running off a cliff.

BY ALL MEANS, PLEASE KEEP POSTING VIDEOS showing that there are people in this country standing up for what they believe in, and not just believing what the government and corporations and the media are feeding them! Exercise your rights! (they’ve been getting a little flabby lately.) Stand strong for those of us who cannot or will not be there! But please, please, don’t go posting bullshit, inflammatory videos, that clearly show you being an ass, acting in a way that would get you arrested anyway, even if you weren’t part of a mob of protesters. It’s disrespectful, and diminishes the extremely important message that SOCIAL and POLITICAL CHANGE during this tumultuous time is necessary for America to recover from the malicious devastation that occurred in the financial sector.