Stuffed Cloud and Raindrops

I love making little stuffed things so when I saw this idea over here, I knew I had to make one. Especially because we live in Oregon where it rains ALL THE TIME.

Captain America Superhero Mask

A while back I made some superhero masks for the boys I nanny. I neglected to make the Captain America mask because I didn't have the right color blue at the time. The six year old has mentioned a couple times now how he would really like a Captain America mask so I finally got around to making one for him!

A Little House Stamp

A while ago I made a flamingo stamp out of an eraser and have been wanting to do another one for a while. I saw an adorable idea over on Pinterest and decided today was the day to make my own little house stamp.

2013 Reading Goal: Dorothy Parker's Complete Stories

My latest book on my 2013 reading challenge is Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker.

Rating: 4 Stars




Dorothy Parker's name kept popping up on every "to-read" list I looked  at so I knew it was about time that I read her work.  Gosh, she is a feisty, hilarious woman! She has the ability to criticize society quite harshly, but almost always ends up giving me a chuckle. She has a great written voice that seems at first to align with the character she is studying--then suddenly, she whips out these little brilliant quips that  show you the absurdity in the person or situation. Once you are familiar with her work, you can come to expect them--but it doesn't make them any less hilarious.

She'll go into these long spurts about things like the important role of "feminine touches"--how being able to straighten and move and tweak a living room was the important job of the wife. Parker will show a woman, like Mrs. Weldon in "Too Bad", going about doing her special role of "touch-giving" and afterwards, she stops to examine her work. It is at this point that Parker writes, "It was amazing how little difference they made to the room." And then the story continues. Its those small moments that Parker really shows her brilliance. She shows that society has given this idea that these small, minute details are what is important to being a woman...and yet, it doesn't even make a difference!

Regina Barreca writes in the introduction that "Parker concerns herself primarily with the emotional and intellectual landscapes of women, the places where a thin overlay of social soil covers the minefields of very personal disaffection, rejection, betrayal, and loss." And Parker does it very well. Occasionally her work seemed to repeat itself, but usually it was when she was focusing on a different area or emotion within a similar character. Sometimes this caused me to set the book down and wait for a while to pick it up again...as a "fresh" pair of eyes was sometimes helpful when reading her work. When reading them all in a row, you start to appreciate less her wittiness and satirical humor. Usually though, once I picked the book up again, I soon found another brilliant story that caused me to think about it for days later.

There were so many goldmines in this collection. Yes, many of them caused you to laugh at the absurdity, but there were also so many that were just devastatingly sad. It will be some time before the haunting story "Big Blonde" isn't running through my head. Or "The Lovely Leave" about a woman who's husband goes to war and she is left behind. Or the double nature of "The Waltz" where on the outside, a woman is completely nice to a man but in the inside she is thinking the complete opposite. Parker shows society's ideas that a man is too important to throw insult at...that this single woman can't quite throw him to the side even though inwardly, she cringes at him.

I reallyenjoyed these stories....and think that Dorothy Parker is an important female author to read. I'm so thankful to finally have found an intelligent and witty female author that has had a long, successful career. She proves that it can be done! More than anything, I do wish that I could meet Dorothy Parker and see what she was like. She'd probably rip me to shreds but it would be worth it, I think!
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As I mentioned in my 2013 goal, I’m reading mostly women lit that focuses on women authors or complicated, strong female characters this year. Here is the list of my previous book reviews that I've done on this journey:

First: Madame Bovary
Second: Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress
Third: Patron Saint of Liars 
Fourth: Bird by Bird
Fifth: Frida Kahlo
Sixth: Women Seeing Women  
Seventh: Bridget Jones's Diary

Self Portrait Sunday

Dedicated to My Hilarious Brother

Little Pottery Pieces

I've been taking a ceramics class at The Craft Center for the past couple of weeks and finally have some work to show for it. These are my first two pieces...from the first day of class!

City Biking Truth #17

22 Fun Experiments & Activities to do wtih Kids!

Back in December I made a list of different experiments and activities that I've done with the kids that I nanny. Here is my round 2! 

Make your own potato stamps--pictured above


Awesome newspaper forts


Climbing love bugs


Color your own komodo dragon!


Wiggly eye drawing starter


Salt dough keepsake


Healthy peanut butter dip for fruit 


Making a straw flute

Masking tape roads



Musical Balloons

Balloon ping pong


Hidden Treasure Matching Game


Water resistant Valentine cards


Celery color absorption

 






  






Giant gummy worms!


Colorful Density column


Does it dissolve?

 
Fizzy Dino Tracks
 

Making it rain!

Making dew & frost 


Yarn monsters

 

Dyeing Eggs with Dum Dums
 

Oregon Coast Adventure

Florence, OR

Florence, OR

Florence, Or

Devil's Churn Wayside

Devil's Churn Wayside

Devil's Punch Bowl

Otter Crest Scenic Loop

Newport, OR

Newport Sea Lions

Newport, OR

Yachats, OR

Love Monsters---not just for kids!

I saw this tutorial over here and loved the idea of making monsters with the kids I nanny. I did the trickier parts like the hot gluing and cutting but the three year old really got into decorating his monster. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of his but I believe there ended up being four eyes on his and four noses and a big green yelling mouth. The six year old was not having any part of this project so I ended up decorating the second one and taking it home to my hubby! Because who doesn't like a good love monster?!

Self Portrait Sunday

For Valentine's Day, my hubby made me a giant fort in our living room. He.is.so.awesome.

Stumbled On Favorites

A few of the favorite things I've stumbled on recently.

Love biking on sunny days.

This music video is beyond cool.

The Kiss on a war torn building...beautiful.

Japanese manhole covers...how cool would that be?

This video is awesome. Totally had me going.

A breathing bicycle...wow! Now can I stop worrying about Beijing and their smog problems?!

Love the interactive quality to this Color Me _______ art exhibit.

Maidae celebrated Valentine's Day by having a bunch of people write love letters to their little selves. I love this idea...so sweet.

Just learned about this blog...I'm excited to dig into it a bit more.

THIS (helpful?) VIDEO IS AWESOME. I've watched it like 50 times (ok, 3 times).

Lumberjills

DIY Cat (Scratch) Fever

Time: A couple hours
Listening to: Solange
Drinking: Cold leftover coffee

I have a few cat fanatic people in my life so when I saw this kitty over here...I knew I had to whip a couple up.

DIY Valentine Flowers

Happy Valentines Day!

I sent some homemade flowers out to a few of my friends today. Inspiration from here.