Completely meaningless and arbitrary

So the park that we go to, Bub's favorite park, which we call the Blue Park because it's painted blue, is actually called Pattinson Park. The only way it could have been funnier is if it had been Robert Pattinson Park rather than Ron Pattinson.

Is a gingerbread house still a gingerbread house if it's made of graham crackers instead?

Bub did this all by himself. Notice the symmetry of the red licorice, the green Skittles on the roof (with the solitary green gumdrop on the chimney), the one orange Skittle or M&M on each side of the roof and the candy canes decorate both sides.

And now for an aerial view:

Bag woes

In October I thought I found the perfect bag on the Anthropologie site. Upon further inspection, it was by Tano. And it was perfect because it was crossbody (keeping my hands free to wrangle children), black but with weathered brass hardware (opposed to overly shiny gold or silver which would have looked tacky), and it had tons of pockets--just outside, four! But it was kind of expensive, so I thought I found the same thing on another site, and bought it. But it was not the same.

The cheaper bag looked cheaper but also came with a duster bag:



But it was not the same bag. Instead of a brown lining, it had bright red!



And it just didn't seem as nice. So then I bought the one from Anthropologie to compare (left is cheaper bag, right is Anthropologie one) and noticed that the Anthropologie bag's rings were thicker and all of them were adjustable (on the other bag, only two of the rings were adjustable, the bottom ones attaching the strap to the bag):



And the Anthropologie one had the nicer lining too (and leather pockets):



but sadly, no duster bag despite the higher price.

But today one of the little grommets (or whatever you call it, it's hardware) fell off and I don't know when it did exactly, but I couldn't find it anywhere even after backtracking.



(The left-hand side is fine, but on the right you can see that it's missing that little weathered brass piece.) And I only carried the bag (and gingerly at that) for one month! So that's spoiled me for expensive-ish bags (I know it's supposedy "affordable" at under $200, but really, I don't normally spend that much on a bag so for me, it was expensive but justifiable since it was an everyday bag that I'd use and thus the cost would amortize). So now my quest for the perfect bag continues.

What fantasy-me would wear for New Year's Eve. . .

since let's face it, this isn't going to happen in real life.

A new guilty pleasure

Just created an account on Polyvore. Gosh this is fun, it's like playing with paper dolls. . . without the dolls. I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to pack for the "visiting the in-laws" trip and thought this would help, but now that I've started, this is a whole new other project to distract me from packing. Polyvore is just fantastic. You can save items to use later, and let's just say that when I don't have to wear it, what I choose to play with is so, so different from what I wear in real life. More later, but for now, sleep.

My favorite fashion quiz

I first took this quiz maybe in 2006. It says I'm a "fashionista": 39% Flamboyance, 53% Originality, 71% Deliberateness, 36% Sexiness. Three years (and two kids) later, I took it again and what do you know? Same result.

http://www.okcupid.com/quizzy/results?quizzyid=5962495244888656825&userid=

that didn't work, so here:

[Tasteful Original Deliberate Prissy]

One is certain: you have great taste and plenty of ideas. You have clearly defined beliefs about what's good and what's bad in fashion but they are far from banal. Stylish and imaginative, you prefer to inspire admiration than to shock and you mostly succeed. Even if sometimes you'd like to have more courage to put on something absolutely outrageous you do great job in creating a unique look that others look up to. There is a possibility that you work in the fashion industry. If you don't, perhaps you should.

The opposite style from yours is Bar Cruiser [Flamboyant Conventional Random Sexy].

All the categories: Librarian Sporty Hottie Office Master Uptown Girl/ Boy Brainy Student Movie Star Fashionista Glamorous Soul Fashion Enemy Bar Cruiser Kid Next Door Sex Bomb Hippie Kid Fashion Rebel Fashion Artist Catwalk God(ess)

Your Analysis (Vertical line = Average)

• 

  You scored 39% on Flamboyance, higher than 38% of your peers.

• 

  You scored 53% on Originality, higher than 49% of your peers.

• 

  You scored 71% on Deliberateness, higher than 86% of your peers.

I had hubby take it and he came out as a "Librarian"; my best girl friend came out as as "Hippie Kid" and my best gay friend as a "Fashion Artist". To date this is the most accurate fashion personality test I've seen. I like it.

This is the end. . .

of the performing arts group I signed Bub up for. (He's not really a bub anymore, but having not yet decided whether or not to call everyone by name, nicknames.) Over the summer we did Music Together and every week he complained about not liking the class and wanting to skip it. So for this class, I had him read the description himself. I thought he'd enjoy it, and he wanted me to sign him up for it. I mean, it's learning songs, getting a CD and song sheet, and singing the songs in front of an audience. Well, he hated it. Every week was a battle. Every week he had practice was a fit, a fight, every time.

But tonight was it. Because this week was rehearsals. Thursday after preschool was a mad dash to find "plain black dress shoes" and black socks; Thursday's rehearsal showed me that he also needed black pants. I ended up putting him in the black pants he wore as a pirate for Halloween, because I ended up spending almost $30 on cheap plastic cowboy boots from Payless (the only black shoes he would wear, because he doesn't like black clothing right now and the boots had white and brown topstitching) and I'm not going to spend additional money on pants he'll only wear for an hour or two.

The parent performance was awesome. The little kids weren't in tune and didn't know where to go or when. Some of the older kids were really good. But the little kids were cute. Bub was looking for us when he came out and when he saw the audience he shouted out "Mama mama, wow, this is a large crowd of people!" He saw us in the audience though, and waved. And during the performance when he was supposed to be sitting, he was kneeling on his knees. I appreciated it though, because we were far back enough that I wouldn't have been able to see him otherwise. It was cute and not a waste of two hours, nevermind all of the money and effort to get him there. But thank goodness it's over, because he was ready for it to be done and honestly, so was I.

Children and aging

So I had a friend over for a play date. (To clarify, it was the children that were playing, we the parents, were working.) She saw a picture of me, when I was a fourteen, holding a baby. She looked closer for a moment and then asked if that was me with my baby. I said no, I was fourteen in that picture! And she responded with "Yeah, you looked younger, but I mean, I know that being a parent has aged me. . ." Wow! I can imagine it now, having a baby ages you twenty years.