Art Class on the Driveway

Today I had an epiphany as I was backing down the drive way heading out to take Zayne to pre-school. As we reversed over top the painted and chalk covered driveway we had turned into our canvas the previous afternoon, I realized another legitimate reason for paying pre-school tuition instead of keeping him home and teaching him myself. Which is, that it is providing me with the peace of mind that my son is receiving a balanced education, instead of lets say... just having art class everyday. Of course we read, practice writing, and all of those responsible parental educational endeavors. Though I must admit, my trend is showing a disproportionate emphasis on the creative, artistic, impromptu lesson plan. With him attending preschool three days of the week, I can now embrace my art teacher methodology and release the guilt of not supplying my child with a well rounded education. It's a good thing too, because I must echo what Zayne said when he heard my lesson outline, "this is going to be awesome!", and it was.


It was an eclectic combination of children's literature, pop culture, color theory, green environmental philosophies, temperance, and my Dad's often used edict "be a builder, don't be a destroyer". Our canvas and classroom? The driveway. Our textbook? The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Our art medium? Sidewalk paint & sidewalk chalk. Our background music? No Doubt station on Pandora. It was our creative expression of Truffala Trees, Once-lers, and the disintegration that results from greed, & over-consumption, all encapsulated with the moral:

"But now," says the Once-ler,
"Now that you're here,
the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear.
UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It's not.

(The Lorax by Dr. Seuss)

Lullabies

At the risk of sounding like a broken record...todays synopsis would be described as expending every effort to try to put Pender to sleep. This is a common theme in our daily schedule. Especially since a week ago he decided that he was going to boycott the pacifier he has used since birth. At one point this afternoon I even reverted to the surprising method that worked like a charm last week on the way to pick up Zayne from pre-school. Every detail had been anticipated and prepared in order to set the stage for Pender falling asleep in the car on the way there (changed, fed, nursed, etc.) So as we were driving along listening to the smooth methodical xanax induced voices so familiar to NPR, I figured their hypnotic rhythmic chatter would lull him to sleep. Instead, my 8 month old gained an energy surge from listening to an interview about fonts. Seriously? Fonts. Even I was stifling yawns, and I like writing, & fonts! But it is one thing to visually explore the typeface, and quite another to listen to someone drone on about Times in New Roman via a radio program at 1:45 in the afternoon. Spurred by boredom and necessity to prevent myself from falling asleep at the wheel, I changed the channel to a local rock station. I recognized the opening chords of Metallica's Enter Sandman. I turned it up, and started to sing. As I reached the chorus "Exit light, enter night. Take my hand, we're off to never-never land", I realized that the chatter from the backseat had ceased and as I checked in the mirror, and there was Pender, eyelids fluttering, and slipping into sleep. I thought since he adamantly opposed AC/DC the other day, and finds Rage Against the Machine intolerable, that he had completely vetoed moms hard rock. That was when I smiled in loving realization that my little Pender is just a purist when it comes to his metal mix. And this wasn't just his attempt to escape the music by submitting to sleep. He proved this as he and I were driving home from my birthday dinner. Metallica (King Nothing) came on and he was smiling and singing happily while banging his hands to the beat. Like I said. Metal purist. I love that boy..."say your prayers little one, don't forget my son, to include everyone..."

NYFW (New York Fashion Week) part 2: About Face

As I'm on the precipice of officially "being IN my 30's" (as one good friend pointed out). I thought it appropriate on the eve of my birthday to add a second post to my series on NYFW by divulging my desperate, vain, & seemingly futile effort to prevent the decline of my face (aka. my skin care regimen.)

At the beginning of the year I wavered on my brand affinity. A need to replenish my products occurred at the same time as the birth of my son Pender which incidentally meant that in addition to purchasing numerous baby items, we also had to start buying bulk cases of diapers from Costco. So despite my brand loyalty & preference to Lauder (Estee Lauder), I did what any good middle class momma hit in the pocketbook by the recession and a newborn would do. Fore-go the Nordstrom cosmetics counter and hit up the beauty aisle at Costco. So as I cruised through the skin care aisle with my two ton cart, and two little boys, I could tell already that this was going to be a sacrifice of massive proportions. Where was my sales staff en vouge in head to toe black, smiling through Chanel lipstick and Lancome juicy tube gloss? No where. But then I saw the Borghese label and thought "Okay maybe, this won't be so bad." I've used Borghese's Fango mud mask since I was 18, so I trepidatiously chose a serum and moisturizer from Borgheses Kirkland (Costco) brand line. I should also add that while checking out there was no friendly sales staff to chat up, smile, and ask for a few extra samples ( I have always come away with an array of mini travel friendly items, whether it be 'free gift' time or not.) But I braced myself. I looked at my sweet little boy and knew he was worth it. The real test though came in the weeks to come. Now maybe I jumped to conclusions, it really could have been a combination of the post pregnancy hormones assaulting my face. But the new products did not seem to be remedying the disastrous effects. I then dug out the last little travel sizes of my Lauder Idealist, & Day Wear and began my week experiment of seeing the difference. The moment the Idealist smoothed onto my cheek, I knew I had been wrong. I was ready to atone for my infidelity. I decided that there had to be some other place for this momma to cut corners then with one of my most visible features. So almost 2 months after my deviation, I walked back through the doors of Nordstrom, strolled right up to the Lauder counter and purchased my skin care with the money I'd saved from our dining out hiatus (since attempting a restaurant with a sleepless infant is such an enjoyable time ;-) So I'm back to my preferred skin care program: Mary Kay Timewise 3 in 1 cleanser, Estee Lauder Idealist Pore Minimizer, Estee Lauder Day Wear Moisturizer, Estee Lauder Night Repair Eye Cream, Mary Kay Firming Eye Cream (for the daytime it wears great under make-up.)
And now here is my feeble attempt to illicit rationalization for going out to purchase Lauders new Illuminator: one word. Melasma (pregnancy mask, it looks like a massive colony of freckles have communed in blotches on your face.) I have remnants on my forehead and a month or so ago a friend 'so considerately' pointed out that I also have it on my upper lip (which had somehow escaped my sleep deprived eyes.) Following that tragic discovery I raced to the Internets to determine that it was in fact, Melasma, and not just 'age spots'. But not before I had already frantically applied every anti-aging product within reach.