Further artistic endeavors by Jaws

So, grandma and uncle and aunt are here with us today.(uncle and aunt, being my younger brother and my sister who is 13 years old). As I previously blogged about, Jaws has an intense fascination with make-up right now. And so of course Grandma was besieged when she started putting on her face the other day. Grandma, being the wonderful grandma she is, went ahead and did Jaws face, too, whilst she watched carefully in the mirror, and then Loli's, who of course could not be left out of the action.

The other day I noticed I hadn't heard any piercing shrieks or demanding assertions for a long while and so I went off to find Jaws. This is what I found:



Jaws had of course gotten into Grandma's makeup, and as you can see, she tried to carefully re-do everything she had learned from watching Grandma in the mirror. She did a pretty good job for a two-year-old, don't you think?

As you can see from the picture, she was sad when I found her, because she knew that soon the makeup would be coming off. So as a consolation prize, I took a picture of her, let her look at it, and then let her take a bunch of pictures with our digital camera. (another obsession of late).

Here are a few select frames from that shoot:





Jaws most often has the lens turned on herself during her creative photographic endeavors. Like some others I could mention (John, Caitlin, Emily. Lol, you guys know I love you.) Anyway, she managed to turn it the other way for the last one... and caught her aunt at an unguarded moment. Sometimes I think we should just hand cameras out to all the kids in the world. Kids are so much less threatening with a camera. And so people don't try to ham it up and look good... they are just their honest selves. Observe the skeptical, "I'm bored, and I'm barely tolerating you but I'll play along because I love you and you're my eternal niece" look on Kirsten's face.



(Kirsten, you know I love you.)

Brave, Brave Loli

A "veil style"... got impatient trying this. It's a lot harder than it looks. So we only did a little bit and it still took about an hour.





These took only two and a half hours! Aren't I amazing! Lol. Anyway, I employed a movie and lots of lap-laying time to help loli out with this one... but by the end she was barely tolerating it. I don't blame her. Two and a half hours sitting is absolutely no fun. Especially when hair-follicle torture is involved.

Yay for Loli!

more violence, please

So, my friend who is a writer, always gives the same writing advice to any Mormon who asks him to read a manuscript. Across the top he scrawls (or types in block letters), "needs more sex and violence." He's only partly being serious of course. Or maybe not at all. I'm really not sure. But it reminded me of this exchange between my two daughters.


Loli: Mom, can we watch a movie?

NSG: Sure. What do you want to watch?

Loli: Ummm.... (considers the screen, considers her toes, then looks at me hestiantly) how about looney tunes?

NSG: (regretfully) no... actually, I don't want you guys to watch those for awhile.

Jaws: Ooney toons!

NSG: No.

Loli: Why not?

Jaws: Ooney Toons!!

NSG: I kind of want to keep you guys away from any kind of violence in movies for a while.

(side note... this decision made, after finding Jaws Whaling on Loli with a Soccer pendant, causing significant bruising to Loli's forehead and back, and eliciting the first ever "hard" spank NSG has administered to any of her children.)

Loli: Sigh. O-KAY. How about Moe and the Big Exit? (Current veggie tale favorite.)

NSG: Sure.

Jaws: ooney Tunes!!!

NSG: No, baby. I don't want any violence.

Jaws: (Begins her dissatissfied jumping-up-and-down-with-hands-clenched move) Vi-lence! VI-LENCE!!



Epiolgue: We have not watched any movies with any kind of violence in them (even of the mild, looney toon variety) for two weeks. Loli is hitting a lot less. Just a small tip for any frustrated parents out there! :)

Another heart-heavy moment

donations can be made for hunger relief, in lieu of flowers.

a slight vent...

brought on by a small project I did this morning.

I WANT TO BE PUBLISHED!! I want my story in a gleaming, hardback cover (I'll even settle for gleaming paperback) lined up on a bookshelf in a real bookstore.

I want people to read my stories. I want to be speaking to a lot of people! I want an audience for my creativity! I want covenant to take this new manuscript I just sumbitted, read it, and fall over astonished at my brilliance and prose! I want...

well. Not a very realistic scenaro, I'll admit.

And are those motivations really pure? I don't know. Do I want recognition, or the fun of telling a good story? It's all mixed up inside my imperfect heart, and completely indistinguishable.

I guess I mostly want lots and lots of people to enjoy what I write. That's what I really want.

And a glamorous picture with a lauding bio on the back cover woudn't hurt either.

Cross your fingers for me, that this new manuscript will go over well. I sent it in a week ago... they said around 6 months before I hear back. 6 freakin' months. Oh well. That means I can do other projects with the peace of heart that comes with knowing I have something in the works.

Thanks for listening (er, I mean... reading).

Hairku Friday

I have decided to participate in a little thing called Hairku Friday... it's a bunch of adoptive mothers (and in my case, pre-adoptive mothers) who write a Haiku about the hairstyles they are trying on Fridays.
So here goes:





My fingers make rows
Shaky like a first-grader
learning to draw lines.

fainting goats

eating meat

Jaws: Heaw! Bekfist! (shoving a toy plate with a stuffed panda bear on it in Loli's face).

Loli: (Picks up the panda bear and tosses it violently across the room) we don't eat meat!

Yay! It finally happened...

My family is blogging now! Hooray!! Here's their new blog.

Just a defensive sort of warning... that picture of myself and my siblings was taken when I was 4 and one half months pregnant. So, yeah... not a fair representation. Especially right next to my gorgeous sisters and brother. NOT looking for compliments or reassurances here... just saying. A little disclaimer.

eating grass

Jaws: Ine eeding gass.

NSG: Don't eat grass.

Jaws: (looks at me consideringly from under her eyebrows, puckers her lips and chews thoughtfully.)

NSG: Go spit it out in the garbage.

Jaws: Ine Eeding! (Gives an emphatic nod; then in an extremely dignified manner, walks back outside.)

Well, all right, then.

My pirate name...

Your Pirate Name Is...

Mad Buxom Betty

What's Your Pirate Name?

Hmm.

I have neglected...

to add some new links:

Putz,

who, when he first started posting, made me unsure as to whether he really was a 66 yr old, retired man from southern utah, or a bratty teenager playing a prank... I have settled on the 66yr old retiree. I think. In any case, I have decided I like him because he is wacky but oddly insightful, and he has told me he likes my poetry, which always earns brownie points with me. I don't know if he means to or not, but sometimes he also makes me laugh a lot. Laughter is good for the system. Go check him out.

and

Michele,

My bassoon virtuoso, blond, hippy vegetarian cousin. She and I share some interests. :) I enjoy her blog, which is a minimalist and mature read.