• artsy fartsy,  half assed posts,  Paris

    The Great Insane Paris Project

    I must be crazy. I got a wild idea that it would be really cool to upload all my pictures from my Paris trip last year into Flickr and then make a QOOP mini flip book out of them. (Minibooks are so cute! I am in love with them! So handy! They fit in your purse! Memories in your pocket! Woo Hoo!) Why did I think I could do this when I don’t remember any of the names of the places AND I can’t spell AND I don’t speak French? I’m nuts. Not to mention I have a baby and I only get three 1.5 hour breaks a day that I should be using to vacuum and do dishes and scrub crusty food off the highchair. Oh yeah, I have some freelance clients who need some work done too. Why am I so dumb?

    Be a superdoll and do me a favor if you are bored at work and you happen to be a smartypants Francophile who knows the names of all these places and such. Leave me notes in the flickr comments and I’ll be your best friend forever. Really. Maybe I’ll send you something from my Paris shop. Or don’t. No biggy. It’s not like there’s a deadline for me to get this new wacky crazy project done. It’s not like I don’t already have a zillion projects half done waiting for me to finish. One more won’t hurt. OR… leave me the wrong names and mess with my head! Yeah, that’s even better!

    And since we’re just posting by the seat of our pants, here’s some random questions for the internet:

    1. Do you like lots of hurried half hazard posts (like this one) without relevant pictures and movies or fewer posts but with better content and care?

    2. Does anybody know anything about jogger strollers and which ones are better? I keep hearing that they are so big and a big old pain because they don’t steer properly. I’m thinking of buying a used one (because in my dreams I am the hot mama who runs every morning… more on that later).

    Okay enough from me. Must go drink coffee before the baby wakes up. Must get rainbow connection song out of my head! I’m singing it so much it’s making me sick!

    p.s. I’m not even done uploading Paris photos….there are so MANY!!!!!

  • artsy fartsy,  Bug

    Contact Paper is my Friend

    You wouldn’t think that when I’m in the middle of it. The stuff is so sticky. It never sticks where I want it to. It wrinkles and it goes on crooked and then there’s the cat hair and finger prints, it’s just a big mess. BUT when I’ve finally managed to finish my project, it’s a thing of beauty.

    My project was this: I was tired of Baby Bug displaying her artistic talents on the cupboard wall beside her high chair. Sure, I could move the chair (and I will when she gets big enough to kick herself off of it) but it fits there and it’s out of the way next to the wall. However, being close to the wall also provides lots of surface area for Baby Bug smear stuff on. I was tired of scrubbing the butternut squash, the bananas, the rice cereal and pureed carrots off the wall. It feels like all I do all day long is scrub up after the baby. Scrub scrub scrub. Every surface has to be cleaned. It’s a lot of work. So I schemed up an idea that would turn my laborious scrubbing into a simple wipe. Contact paper! A coat of high gloss paint would do the trick too but I’m not up for painting these days.

    So I stuck some pictures of her favorite people and a favorite toy between two pieces of contact paper and taped it up on the wall beside Baby Bug’s high chair. Presto: sticky swipe problem solved. As an added benefit we also have a fun game to play during our hour long “feeding the baby” sessions. While I try and dodge her swiping hands and sneak spoon fulls of food into her mouth, she can point out where her Daddy is or where Pounce is..

    She’s learning too. I say, “Where is Daddy?” and sometimes I swear she bats at the picture of Toby. Sometimes she just bats at the whole thing… but at least it’s easy to wipe off. She loves it, I love it. It’s great. I just wish I could contact paper her too.