Ode to a laminator

inspiring? original? 

I'm always so impressed by authors who, when asked where they get their ideas, say something about how ideas and characters are just always in their mind, waiting to be written about. What would it be like to have that many stories in your brain?

To be honest, I'm a little jealous. I would love to be able to write books, but I don't have a single original story in my head. I read too much, so most of my "head stories" are just combinations or retellings of other books. I would hate to start writing a book only to realize when it was done that it was unoriginal.

Ahem. Stephenie Meyer, you know you did not come up with the idea of Twilight on your own. I am 100% convinced she read Sunshine by Robin McKinley (a very good book by a very good writer), fell asleep, and dreamed that historic (?) dream that resulted in Twilight. Your book is not original, and it is badly written.

Sorry.

Anyway, because I like to read, and I like to write, but I am not a writer of stories, I have for you:


                    Ode to a Laminator

gentle heat welcoming me in to it’s inner circle

a plastic-scented blanket

warming my hands and filling my lungs

carcinogenic? maybe   

comfort smell: sending me back to the Memphis Zoo

eight years old

an elephant pressed out of wax, too hot to touch

sticky and pink   

subtle beat of the rollers

covering your posters, flash cards

soothing me in to a standing dream

a bubbling creek in the green woods

Remember: Just because you have a lot of ideas does not mean you should write a book. Write because you have something to say. Write because you like the way your hands move across the keypad. Write because a laminator inspires you.  Maybe the world would be a better place if Stephenie Meyer had stuck to poems about laminators. 

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YelpStar

Every star has to do a little self-promotion to prove to the world how fabulous they are, it's the way the star world works and we all know it.

It should come to no surprise to any of you that I have once again received a Review of the Day on the popular business review site Yelp. I'm actually losing count as to how many ROTDs I've received, I'm just that good. 

Although to be honest, I think I'm getting ROTDs because I review random places and offer a unique perspective (that of a parent - my reviews would often be different if it weren't for Ox and Little Frog's contribution in my life. . . every minute detail of my life).

I've been yelping since 2009, and was nominated to be an Elite member in 2010 (and 2011, and 2012) which just means I get to go to really cool events at restaurants that want a little extra promotion. It's only a bummer that are always held on Tuesdays so we only go during the summer. But they're fun.

So without further delay I present to you:

Mamastar's Fantastic ROTDs
on Yelp

TEASOURCE

The Happy Gnome

Ideal Diner

Hazel's Northeast

Okay so there were only four. What can I say, I'm can't keep them all straight any more.

Mod Podge

I love Mod Podge from the bottom of my heart - always have. I'm crafty, but not super crafty, and have always been intrigued by collages (enter Mod Podge).

Backstory:
Little Frog has a major thing for shoes: she actually smuggled a pair out of Target when she was one. I still don't know how.

Little Frog's feet haven't grown in nearly a year which means we have a lot of worn-out shoes. I don't really want to buy new ones, because no doubt she'll immediately outgrow them.


Thanks to a Pinterest pin, and already-on-hand supplies I transformed Little Frog's beloved sparkle shoes, well-scuffed, into something a bit more jazzy. It took maybe 5 minutes, and Ox was incredibly impressed (the girl was already abed).

Mod Podge dries so fast, and is super sticky. I know these glittery additions will last (especially after coating them once again with Mod Podge - it dries clear)


I'll probably redo the entire shoe, rather than just the tips and a few stripes, but I'm out of Mod Podge.


(clearly my next project: work on lighting in photographs, although I'm keeping my eye out for a pair of junky ballet flats that I can Mod Podge for myself - I'm thinking little squares of tissue paper would look pretty awesome)

holiday hearts

This was a 4-chamomile-tea kind of night - the weekend was THAT busy (well, and like a fool I pigged out on veggies so my system was a little whacked)I have to buy more chamomile, because the whole month of February is busy. Very busy.

Okay, it doesn't look that bad in the picture, but remember! It's February!  at least 7 of those squares belong to other months, plus you must recall that if there is more than one thing happening on any given day, it counts for way more craziness.

Which brings me to last Friday. Along with receiving home Ox's first ever set of grades we received a note that all Valentines must be finished and brought to school by the 8th. Umm, that's a full week earlier than I had planned for, and with stuff planned on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, I was a bit alarmed.

Little Frog is quite engaged in the process.

But we did it. 70 cards.

Ox had a boys choir fun day on Saturday so Little Frog and I worked on phase 1 of the Valentines.

Pinterest spoiled me for store-bought invites, so I picked up a box of 60 pastel cards & envelopes at Target for $12. So with a little (okay, a LOT) of folding, cutting, and gluing we had our cards.

Little Frog helped by rolling around, occasionally making executive decisions such as "use more pink,"and gluing the hearts to the cards with fairly precise pounding.

I have a bunch of stamps left over from a high-school addiction to buying stamps with which I did nothing, so we put them to good use. Ox wanted to stamp out "I Love You More Than Sea Monkeys" but I reduced him to just "PIE."

Because Pie is good. 

Little Frog just had fun, but was more excited to write her name on a few until she got bored. I had to remind her a few times that there is no "H" in her name. She likes H.

70 cards later. . .

I wish I could get my camera to work, I'd show you how much cuter they were after Ox wrote out his classmates' names on them. . .

And after the envelope decoration frenzy - who knew a box of a zillion sparkly heart stickers could be that entertaining.

(okay, that part was way fun)

I'm pretty surprised that we got them all done. Not that we had a choice, really.

Oh, and we also crammed in some eating, sleeping, a birthday party for my grandma, a superbowl party, and an estate sale run.