What Barbie taught me
My not-so-secret dream job has always been to be the person who poses Barbies for commercials and photo shoots. I’ve had a lifetime of practice, and you’d be surprised how much emotion you can convey in her tiny face when you tilt her head exactly the right way.
But enough about me, let’s talk about Barbie. She’s been in the news over the past couple of weeks after debuting her new body types and skin colours. There’s now a curvy Barbie, a tall Barbie, a petite Barbie — as well as the original — with seven skin tones, 22 eye colours and 24 hairstyles. With the hashtag #thedollevolves and headlines like “Now can we stop talking about my body?” the Internet exploded with commentary about her new look. The general consensus is “About time!” but also “Maaaaybe we still don’t want to buy them, actually. But thanks.”
The problem with most of the backlash is that … they’re getting it all wrong.
If you look at a Barbie from 1994, then yes: she’s got a huge chest that slopes dramatically into an impossibly small waist. She’s on her tippy-toes and she’s almost definitely a blue-eyed caucasian with long, silky blonde hair. (My personal favourite was Ice Capades Barbie who was all of those things, except she was an anchorwoman named Rebecca.)
That’s the Barbie everyone remembers, but it’s not the Barbie that’s been steadily evolving for 20 years now …
Continue reading in my weekly parenting column, “The Mom Scene.”
Transfer letters without stenciling
Put down your coffee cup, because this is officially your cue to turn to the person next to you and say “Um, did she really need to label the door to her powder room?”
Nope, but I wanted to!
That wasn’t my plan all along, though. It just kind of happened. I was planning out an upcoming DIY project and came across a tutorial that promised to be “the easiest way EVER” to transfer letters without stenciling.
Now, I have transferred a lot of letters over the years. Sometimes I’ve painstakingly done it the ‘right’ way — cutting them out, tracing them on the finished product, and then painting them.
Like when I made this “Clarke family” sign for our front hall …
But usually I chose hand-lettering because I couldn’t be bothered to spend all that time cutting around the delicate details of a serif uppercase “A.”
But this method — which really is the easiest thing ever — involves scribbling with pencil (or chalk) on the back of a printed word or phrase. Then you press the paper against your finished product, pencil-side down, and trace the letters with a sharp tool (like the tip of a mechanic pencil). Lift up the paper and the letters are there!
When I read the steps, I pretty much dropped what I was doing and tried it immediately. I’m sure some people would do a test on a scrap of wood rather than the door of a room designed to be used by their guests, but I felt very confident that day.
I printed out the word “Powder room” and obediently scribbled across the back (just behind the letters).
Then I taped the paper to the door, firmly traced over the letters, and the pencil marks were magically transferred!
I used a thin brush and a bit of grey acrylic paint to make the letters pop on the white door, and that was it!
(If you’ve been using this method for years, I have no idea why it’s taken me so long to discover it — especially given the amount of time I spend on Pinterest. But trust me, I’m making up for lost time now.)
I want to poke myself in the eye with that mechanic pencil when I think of how many hours I spent cutting pointless stencils. I could have used this method on canvases, wood projects, walls — you name it. Oh, well. What matters is that we have each other now, and I’ll never let go.
I already have plans to do the basement door across the hall, but I can’t decide what to put: Basement? Family Room? Man Cave? Toy room? Carpeted Lower Level That’s Perpetually Covered in Sawdust Because We Don’t Have a Garage?
Transfer letters without stencilling
Put down your coffee cup, because this is officially your cue to turn to the person next to you and say “Um, did she really need to label the door to her powder room?”
Nope, but I wanted to!
That wasn’t my plan all along, though. It just kind of happened. I was planning out an upcoming DIY project and came across a tutorial that promised to be “the easiest way EVER” to transfer letters without stencilling.
Now, I have transferred a lot of letters over the years. Sometimes I’ve painstakingly done it the ‘right’ way — cutting them out, tracing them on the finished product, and then painting them. But usually I chose hand-lettering because I couldn’t be bothered to spend all that time cutting around the delicate details of a serif uppercase “A.”
But this new method really is the easiest thing ever …
Continue reading in my weekly DIY column …
My favourite shirt is the one I make myself
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| I made this one LITERALLY ON THANKSGIVING even though I was hosting, so that’s how easy it is. I did a size Large but found it too loose in the body and the arms. |
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| This was my second attempt (size Medium this time and it was a much better fit). |
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| Most recent LDT in Medium. |
I love, love, love this pattern and highly recommend it. Four dollars can make you a lifetime’s worth of shirts …
… especially when you practically live at the fabric store anyway, amiright?
The day I missed Zumba
I missed Zumba on Monday, but not because I didn’t want to go.
I really, really wanted to go. I even got dressed in my Zumba zwag at 6 a.m. (for my 5:30 p.m. class)
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| Who wouldn’t want to wear this shiz ALL OF THE DAMN TIME? |
But then the day happened.
I had too much work, not enough time, and definitely not enough patience. Darling Husband was sleeping off the night shift so I was with C but I wasn’t really with her. I was working on and off, here and there, between meals and snacks and distracted Barbie sessions.
After we picked D up from the bus, I did more of the back-and-forth routine. Sort-of Mommy, sort-of Writer. I was angry I wasn’t getting to focus on my work. Angry at my husband for daring to SLEEP (Who cared that he’d been up, working, the whole night before? Not me).
I planned to throw quesadillas at the kids, wake him up at 5 p.m. sharp, and fly out the door to my usual Monday class. My therapy! My social time! My sanity!
But by 4:45 p.m., it had occured to me that maybe … I shouldn’t go. Maybe I shouldn’t put myself first today? Maybe I shouldn’t skip out on dinner and miss bedtime and arrive back home after the kids were asleep?
I’d been kind of a sh-tty mother since waking up that morning — and, if I stormed upstairs to wake my exhausted husband, I’d also be a sh-tty wife. As much as I REALLY wanted to leave the house, leave behind my annoying and stressful day, it didn’t feel right.
And so I didn’t go.
I worked another 15 minutes and then closed the laptop. I didn’t wake up my husband. I made quesadillas without rushing. I poured milk. I spooned salsa into the little silicone cups the kids like. I sat down with the kids and we ate slowly together, talking about our days. We packed C’s treasure box for preschool. We did the bedtime routine and I was home to read two stories.
And it felt really, really good.
Normally I’m the first person to argue that stay-at-home parents deserve — no, require — to put themselves first sometimes and get the eff out of the house at the end of a long day. But that’s not always the answer.
Going to Zumba as usual, after the day we had, would have made me feel good in the moment — lights flashing and bass pumping — but awful before and after.
If I’d gone, I literally would not have been D all day except for a passing kiss. I wouldn’t have spent any meaningful time with either of them all day. And I probably would have been snippy with my husband when I woke him up in a hurry so I could rush out the door. Instead, we had time to watch a quick show together before he left for his night shift.
So I missed Zumba. And although I missed Zumba, of course, I didn’t have to miss my family.
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