crooked house

This Is Important.

I think I first saw this perfect cartoon on Fuse #8 but I can't find it over there now. I swiped it from Language Log where they are very fittingly debating about the cartoonist's choice of word order. Should it have been "Someone on the internet is wrong"? Hmm.

I've been feeling a bit frustrated lately because I haven't had a moment to put the internet to rights. For instance I've been ruminating on the subject of excess packaging and you know you want to hear all my thoughts on that. And there was something else I wanted to make a proclamation about but I can't remember what it was right now because I can hear Luke stirring in the other room and I've let him sleep for far too long already. We'll be up till midnight. See you when I can manage to book a babysitter or when Luke starts school, whichever happens first. I know you'll be on the edges of your seats (in your pajamas, I hope) just waiting for my opinions on plastic.

Update: Mateo and Mar very kindly informed me in the comments that the comic is from xkcd, which is updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Lizzie Skurnick on The Westing Game

In her latest Fine Lines column, Lizzie Skurnick makes some most excellent points about Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game, a novel for kids written in 1978. It's one that really stayed with me -- I'm sure I read it at least three or four times when I was around eleven or so. And when I reread it a couple of years ago, it still wove its spell. It manages to be more weirdly and successfully compelling -- so much more strikingly moody -- than most adult fiction. That's quite a feat. (Via Pickle Me This.)

Water Colour Flowers

Luke and I tried to do this craft project suggested by Arounna Khounnouraj over at Bloesem Kids. Arounna, a designer, comes up with the most incredibly beautiful and professional-looking crafts to do with children. You can see her little boy (or someone's little boy) helped her with that painting. Luke, who was initially interested in trying this one, changed his mind once we actually sat down with the paints. Mine resembles Arounna's the way Cheez Whiz resembles Brie de Meaux from Renard Gillard (apparently the World's Best Cheese.) You must go take a look at hers. Luke's isn't a kind of cheese at all. It's a kind of pickle and therefore not to be compared.  I am hungry.

Margaret Atwood on Anne of Green Gables

Margaret Atwood is brilliant, informative, and spot-on about the Anne of Green Gables phenomenon. I can't pick only a paragraph or two to excerpt from this article, it's too good.  Just go read it. (Via Gwenda.) In it, Atwood makes an cynical joke about how, in her "sourer moods," she's wanted to write a more historically accurate version of Anne and you know, if she had done the prequel instead of Budge Wilson I  would have finished it by now. The Wilson didn't draw me in immediately. Although, to be fair, I haven't given it a serious try. I'll get back to it soon. After I finished the Dance to the Music of Time series, I got drawn in to Rebecca West's The Birds Fall Down which is very good and oddly, out of print. Since it deals with terrorism (pre-Russian revolution but still) maybe it's time for it to be issued again. I should be finished with that one tonight, if Luke goes to sleep on time.

Why Is A Crooked Letter That Can't Be Straightened

MOMMY comes down the stairs at noon on Saturday morning. LUKE is whirling around the living room sing-shouting nonsense words.

LUKE (stopping short, running with open arms toward MOMMY): Mommy! You awake! Why you sleep so long?!
MOMMY: (scooping him up and kissing him): Because I was very tired!
LUKE: Why?
MOMMY: I didn't get enough sleep this week.
LUKE: Why?
MOMMY: Oh I don't know. Maybe because I have a busy little boy.
LUKE: Why?
MOMMY: Um, because I wanted him.
LUKE: Why?
MOMMY: Because I knew I'd love him and I do!
LUKE: Why?
MOMMY: Because you are so loveable, that's why.
LUKE: Why?
MOMMY: I need coffee.
LUKE: Why?

And so the "why" thing has begun. I'd heard of it, of course, but I had no idea what a force it is. Between the whys and the newly intense tantrums and the 24 hour flu and the numerous self-inflicted sharp blows to the head* and the fact that both our babysitters have been unavailable and David's had to work a lot of extra hours this week, it's been a busy one. The one moment I had to myself I googled "why children ask why" and found this article by Dr. Greene, which I found useful. You know, once I'd had my coffee.

*His, not mine. Luke's smashed his head badly at least three times this week. Once rolling dramatically down the front stairs, once leaping naked and soaking wet out of the bathtub and running full-tilt down the new wood floor of our upstairs hallway, once flying headfirst into the wall while jumping on the bed. I suppose I should be grateful he's still got the mental capacity to ask why.

In other news, my digital camera seems to have crapped out just in time for the birthday party we're planning to have next Saturday. It's a Canon PowerShot A540 and I need a better one, preferably one with a quicker shutter speed since almost every time I want to take a picture of  Luke it turns into an action shot. If you know anything about digital cameras, please do comment or shoot me an email.

Beware the Word Whammer

This is one of the first random arrangements of letters Luke put into the Word Whammer he got for Easter. It sounds out the letters for you so you can learn to spell words! Thank you very much, Gramma.

Bad Eggs

Eggcident or eggicide? You decide. But don't overlook this vital clue:

Stuffed Toys Made From Your Child's Drawings

Using only thrifted and recycled materials, Lizette Greco makes toys based on the drawings of her children. Above is the very fancy and creative See-through Predator. Watch this video of her children operating on it. You can order one based on your own child's work.

Or follow Martha's directions to make one together.

I plan to do one as soon as Luke moves beyond scribbling. Or maybe I should sew two ribbons together, stuff them, and tick that one off my to-do list.

Bowling Shoes, Heather Mills's Pantsuit, and Wet Hair

On a whim, we went bowling this afternoon.

Check out the shoes Luke and Grandpa wore:

They match this outfit Heather Mills was wearing yesterday for the court hearing about her divorce settlement of 33 million dollars or pounds or whatever it was from Paul McCartney:

Image from Go Fug Yourself.

It was pouring down rain when we left so we ended up looking a bit like McCartney's lawyer, too. (Heather Mills apparently drenched her with a glass of water during the hearing.) Maybe these spooky convergences are a sign that we're going to come into money...

Bzzzpeek and Clare Beaton's Felt Collages

This is lots of fun: bzzzpeek is a collection of onomatopoeia -- various animal and vehicle sounds as said in languages from around the world. Via educating alice, who has tons of great links lately.

Luke and I have been reading a couple of books by  Clare Beaton: How Big Is a Pig? and There's a Cow in the Cabbage Patch. We are fans of her collages, which are done primarily in felt. If they look familiar, you may have seen her work in a couple of recent commercials for cough medicine. I'd love to see her do a children's television show. Here's one of the rather syrupy ads (ha ha, I kill me):