book drifts and a lap top bag

As I get older, I find myself worrying less about goal setting and thinking more about how I should live.  What constitutes a good life?  It's creeping into midlife, late night thoughts of mortality territory, and the more I think about it, I realize, the less I know.

Which is probably why this is what my bedside looks like:

Actually, this ever shifting messy pile of books is not a new thing.  I'm just trying to justify my book drift with my existential angst.  I've always been untidy with books, coffee cups and general art supplies.  A little cavalier when it comes to leaving my mark on things, especially since I consider literature, art and curiosity to be of much higher priority than being neat and clean.

My childs have learned well from me.

We don't need no stinking gloves.  Our kitchen table bears the marks of a hundred projects.  And often our art falls into collaboration, as we inspire and encourage each other.

Messy creativity with weak boundaries may not be a virtue, but it still qualifies as a way of life.

In the same way, I love combining what I read with what I make.  One of my favorite children's books is Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.  I love it as much for Alvin Schwartz's short stories as for Stephen Gammell's illustrations.  If you don't have a hard copy, you can check out some of the stories here.

My attempt at recreating the illustration from The Dead Man's Brains is not super duper excellent, but it was a free hand machine stitch drawing that I touched up a bit with water colour and wanted to keep around because it's still kind of cool.  And reminds me of a good book.

This is it:

I've made it into a laptop bag, since I've been transporting the laptop back and forth from home to my studio. It is all machine stitched, no hand stitching.  A closer look:

You'll have to forgive my messed up hand, with the scrapped knuckles from the gym and the nail polish that girl child applied.  She's a great kid, but not so precise with the paint (see second picture of this post).

Also, on the theme of screw ups, I managed to some how put the patchwork panel intended for the back of the bag on the inside and putting the inside pocket intended to hold a power cord on the outside back. 

My only real defense is that while piecing the bag together I was also having a small argy-bargy with The Man over text messages about what-I-can't-even-remember, and I was all flustered and did not pay enough attention to what I was doing.  Which reminds me why I wanted to have a studio in the first place, so I could focus on what I was doing and not have to redo things or rip them out so often because I was distracted by family life.  I will have to start ignoring messages from home, keeping at least one boundary a little intact.   

 

I don't think that will stick though.

haunted house thank you

A thank you sculpture the childs made to someone who gave them a little Halloween treat. It's made from a empty box of tea and odds and ends from our robot part (aka, broken toys) and other stuff we've picked up while walking.  It's a bit weird to actually have to blank out the kids' names, but I couldn't not share this. It's amazing what a little glue and paint will do. 

lamp of epic

It's not always easy to engage boy child in a craft. But, I've discovered, toys + hot glue + spray paint is an irresistible combination.

We always have a few toys from the thrift store laying about.

The lamp was also purchased at the thrift store for a few dollars.

Below is boy child's pondering face.  Each toy was placed carefully with great thought put into balance and overall aesthetics. 

Spray paint found on sale at the hardware last week.

And together they make boy child's lamp of epic-ness. 

summer wardrobe, fleshies, houses

Well, for everyone around here who has been crying about how much they love summer, here you go.  Hot enough for ya?  It is for me.  I am of Northern descent, I don't really do heat.  Boy child also seems to be withering (you must remember this as the kid who walks outside in the snow in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt).

Girl child seems to do alright, though, in hot weather.  At least, she has the wardrobe for it.

Other than melting and generally trying to control traffic in the backyard full of neighborhood kids (which is a dozen posts in itself but I can't even think about it anymore), I have been doing just a little bit of sewing.  Slowly, I've been creating an army of naked fleshy dolls who indeed have a purpose, other than creeping people out when they come to visit. 

I will get to share their story with you sometime down the road.

The childs and I, when we aren't in the backyard, warring with the neighbor tribes, have been building up a little gothic village on the top of one of the book shelves.

It started with just a house for boy child's road play mat and since the childs have discovered it's quite fun to design your own house.  Girl child, when she plays with the scene, has been referring to it as Night Vale, our absolute of all time favorite podcasts.  I personally have been referring to the middle house (above) as the-house-that-doesn't-exist-although-it-seems-like-it's-just-right-there-when-you-look-at-it-and-it's-between-two-other-houses-so-it-would-make-more-sense-for-it-to-be-there-than-not-but-it-does-not-exist.  Obviously.  I mean, look at the oak doors.

However, J.K. Rowling has just put out a brand new Harry Potter short story online and ramped up girl child's love of all things Harry, so this little village has suddenly morphed into Diagon Alley.

Whatever they are to be, I think our little houses are prepared.

Hope you all in my hemisphere are keeping cool.

summer ennui

It's brilliant that the childs are old enough to be fairly independent with their projects.  They just do stuff now, all on their own.  Sometimes they even work together without anyone crying.

The cross dressing is entirely theirs also, although I'm doubtful they are aware of it.

There is something about summer that always brings about a relentless sense of ennui in me.  While the childs are all busy making and doing stuff I'm all thinking, 'why bother?'  And 'what the point of it all, really, when you get right down to it?'

Don't Panic.

Maybe it's the heat or the destruction of my usual routine once all the neighborhood kids are out of school and in our yard all day long?  The high and low pressure changes that come with the evening storms?  My internal sense of irony needs to counter balance all the sunshiny happy people?

Maybe it's hearing the sirens of emergency vehicles nearly constantly.  None of us have lives untouched by car accidents, either our own or involving someone we love.  Sirens always make my heart skip a beat.  Given the increase in sirens and how often we're outside or, even, inside with the windows open, my heart doesn't beat normally from June through to September.

I'm not the only one who notes the seemingly increase in frequency of sirens in the summer.  Here is boy child's scene today:

That would be an accident in the intersection, with one vehicle flipped over.  One emergency vehicle responder on the scene, another on the way.

The paper house, by the way, is my contribution the child's paper road mat.  I suppose it tells you all you need to know about where I'm at lately.

While I feel like my doing-stuff-ness crashes out during the summer months, like always, I do enjoy a good read.  'Why bother?'  turns into 'Why not?' when there is a good book or four to be had.  It's not so hard to be listless and vaguely depressed laid out in a hammock with a stack of books beside you.

Which is where I'll probably be for the next few months, in the hammock, while the childs buzz about with all their energy and excitement.  

Good book recommendations are never more so welcome.

peg games

Last week, or maybe the week before, I was fabulously, hideously ill with the flu and then lingering strep throat.  Some evening during that hazy time that I am unable to pin point, The Man and childs made these little peg games using scrap wood and pencil crayons.  (Or perhaps, if you are not from western Canada, you will call them coloured pencils.  Or colored pencils if you are not from Canada at all.)

The games rest, incidentally, upon a scrap wood picnic table that The Man also built and stained during the last few weeks.  I'm not entirely certain what about my being sick drives The Man to woodwork, but I suspect it has something to do with having to do so in the garage and thus neatly avoiding the house where the ill woman lays about whining.  Even though The Man has only a hand saw with which to slowly and labouriously cut wood with.

The square game is tic tac toe and the triangle is that one where you jump a peg and take the jumped peg away, eventually ending up when you can't jump any more pegs.  The lower the number of pegs left, the more a winner you are.  Whatever that game is called.

I personally find the games about as fun as a dental appointment, but boy child in particular has a love of tic tac toe and I have played an obscene amount of rounds with him as of late.  He's getting trickier.  I may have to concede that the student may be surpassing the master.  Maybe, hopefully, I can gracefully retire from the tic tac toe circuit soon.

being all low-key

A lot of boring old regular life stuff has happened lately. It's wonderful.  It feels good to have nothing dramatic happen as of late and to finally, finally start letting go of our time.

I am slowly learning the secrets to balancing outside activities with homeschool.  It seems like we have tons of time to set up extra evening classes for the kids - climbing, two theatre groups, skating - and still keep up with my own obligations and even try to eke out some sort of social life for The Man and I with friends and family.

Haha.  Extra time is an illusion.  Whether you are at home, at work, at school.  There really is no such thing.

Our homeschool facilitator likes to tell a story about one of the families he visits.  Whenever someone asks the homeschooling father, 'What about socialization?' he responds with, 'Oh, yes, we're trying to cut down.'

I hear that.

How true it is that homeschooler is an oxymoron because homeschoolers are never at home.

But I am not well suited for the endless busy-ness.  I also believe that children should have a great deal of time on their hands to dally about and daydream.  Unstructured time keeps our creative side well nourished, not to mention also helps get the laundry and dishes handled so that we don't all have to run around in clothes picked off the floor in haste whilst running between activities.

So, here we are, idle.

This is girl child idly sewing a pocket for her birthday gift to her brother.     

I love the look of serious concentration on her face.  It is tremendously difficult for her to control the machine's speed and keep a straight seam.  I am nearly bursting with pride at her increasing mastery.

And here is boy child, idly showing off yet another Lego set he has built.   That would be a mechanical shark eating a diver. Of course.

That boy has been completely gobsmacked by Lego lately.  I've started figuring out how to handle our embarrassing large Lego collection.  We have Lego from The Man's childhood, plus much that has been collected and given and found for us over the years.  There may be some sort of genetic Lego thing happening.

I should tell y'all about the Lego building activities at the library boy child has been attending.  There is much I've learned about organizing and helping kids expand their building repertoire.  Another post, perhaps. Because this post I'm taking about how we are all busy with activities.  So we have time to fold out the hidabed, eat treats, and watch musicals.  Boy child's current favorite is Mama Mia (there is a whole other post in that too, I'm sure).  Girl child is particularly favoring Little Shop of Horrors as of late.  I am totally open to musical ideas - both of my childs are nuts about them and I've watched Crybaby so many times that I want to cry. 

This is my favorite.  I become insanely pleased when the kids paint stuff.

The little pre-fab suncatcher kits from the dollar store are a favorite at the moment. They require little planning or creativity, but they present some tricky dexterity challenges for the preschooler, trying to keep the paint from glopping into the wrong spot. 

Then you just pop 'er up in the window and done.  A tidy break from emotional investment in arts and crafts. 

Here is boy child with our new favorite toy.  Actually, I've decided to refer to it as a math tool, having to do with planes and dimensions, but what it is is the coolest thing to play with.  I had one when I was younger and quite pleased to find them growing in popularity again.  Whatever these pin things are called.

Another thing we've managed to find time to figure out is those darn Rainbow Loom things.  Well, the basic bracelet.  We haven't managed to make unicorns or minions or anything, but, hey, baby steps.

Of course, in my post about how we've haven't been doing much at all, I actually photographed the kids doing stuff (except for maybe boy child sprawled out watching a movie, but he was actually quite busy memorizing the lyrics to Dancing Queen, which will obviously serve him well in his adult years) but what I am not showing is the best part: The hours upon hours that my childs have spent outside playing with the neighborhood kids.  Building forts in the snow, arguing, putting on shows, arguing, unearthing forgotten toys as the snow melts, arguing more, playing with the building blocks, kicking around balls, having massive arguments that involve projectiles... it's all good. 

Except the arguing.  That stuff gets right up my nose.

But I do recognize it as a normal part of learning how to get along with other and I find if I stay out of it, it becomes resolved quickly and everyone moves on.  I see it as my role to provide water and snacks whenever somebody becomes upset or overheated and other than that, make sure the projectiles aren't skin piercingly sharp.

Ah.  These are the best times.

Soon enough I'm sure I will forget that we like to stay unbusy and enroll the kids in too many programs again.  It seems I have another costuming assignment coming up involving some Victorian wear for a production of Sweeney Todd.  Which is kind of exciting, so I'm sure I'll get all wrapped up in that too.  And there is always more programs being developed that are interesting, theatre productions, roller derby to play, special exhibits and events happening around town that we will all want to be involved in.  In the meanwhile, however, I'm enjoying having a bit more free time to spend at home. 

Attack of the Lumpy Space Princess clothes pegs

I knew they'd get around to it eventually.

Yesterday's craft was a bust, at least as far as actually engaging the childs, but then this morning I woke to busy little hands at the table.  The childs had pulled everything out for themselves. 

They didn't fancy the paints today, however (part of me was glad), and the felt pens worked just fine for their project.

Presenting Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum and the Nice King being swarmed by a self cloning cloud of Lumpy Space Princesses.  (Yes, the NICE king - y'all caught that episode, right?)

It's odd to say that only a few short months ago we were completely innocent of the experience of Adventure Time but it has quickly become very dear to my children.  Despite my continuing objections to the show, it does have seem to have charmed my childs.  LSP and Ice King in particular (my kids always love the bad guys best).  Have I mentioned that boy child has asked for the Adventure Time theme to be his special bedtime song, the last thing he hears before he falls asleep?  Actually, since he likes to sleep with a giant preserved bee embedded in glow in the dark resin, singing Adventure Time to him is one of the most normal things about boy child's falling-to-sleep routine.

I swear, the kids aren't always stuck to a screen.  It just looks that way on, you know, the screen.


But, still, it's a fun little show.  And we even found a couple more Adventure Time toys from that giant fast food corporation that I'd prefer not to mention's toys in the thrift stores already.  We'll ride this fascination for awhile yet.

peg family (or what craft my kids didn't do)

This past weekend I spent away at a roller derby bootcamp and when I came home Sunday evening I found The Man had moved our old tv from its hidden spot in the basement to the kids' room and hooked up our even older N64.

By late morning Monday the childs still hadn't emerged from their newly wired grotto so I decided to set up an enticing craft to draw them out.  A few days early I had brought home several bags of crafting clothes pegs (if you are nice, you will not remind me of my anti-craft supply rant from last week, I choose to believe it's different if I buy them from the thrift store) that I set out with some paints and some visual references (Google images) of their favorite characters from books and, even, Adventure Time.

Oh, I think to myself, I am so clever! What child wouldn't want to do this rather than play brain rotting video games?

Which was, obviously, very silly thinking. 

An hour or two later I had this family portrait to show for my efforts:

Painted by yours truly.

And this is what the childs were, still, doing:

And are still today.

I am beginning to talk to my peg family children, being so lonely in the absence of my real children. 

When I suggested that the childs go easy on the controllers since, as I said, if we treat it well, their own children will be able to play these games too, girl child replied that her own kids won't be into video games but like nature instead.

Pfft.  Whatever.

I have decided to let the games stay in the room for another twenty four hours and they go back into the basement until, oh, next winter maybe?  In the meanwhile, I may use this little bit of quiet time (relative quiet time, ear muffs are still necessary) to catch up on my reading and laundry.

Video games aren't all bad.  And at least I have my peg babies.