Immune

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a rather weak stomach. It's the reason I ultimately decided not to go into nursing. And it was definitely a factor in never wanting kids. An old pastor joked that I was not a fan of the “5 P's”; poop, pee, puke, puss and phlegm. And that is so very true, with one exception.

My daughter. I have had diapers explode in my lap, have been peed on, lost count of the times I've been spit up on, and just last week, was, once again, a human Kleenex. Not a gag, not a wretch. I am, thus far, immune to the bodily functions of my baby.

I always thought people who told me that when I had my own kid I'd be just fine with all this stuff were liars. I thought there was no way that I would be able to handle the messes associated with a baby. I'm not sure how it works, but it's true. The smells, messes etc. just don't faze me. Everything else that makes me nauseous still does though. Go figure.

Adventures in DIY

In my post-baby quest to live a more frugal, healthful life, I have become a bit of a Pinterest junky. I have pinned & tried several different DIY cleaning and household products. Some have been great successes (laundry detergent), others, miserable failures (dish soap).

I've made 2 different batches of laundry detergent, but the one I prefer is the one I made out of a bar of Ivory soap, 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup of OxiClean and a few drops of lavender essential oil. It gets clothes nice and clean with just a tablespoon of detergent per load, and I don't have to worry about using it on the baby's clothes. I put some vinegar in my Downy ball to clear any remaining soap residue off the clothes before I dry them, and they consistently end up nice, clean and soft.

The dish soap was a complete and utter disaster. The washing soda spilled out of the box and overflowed the measuring cup into the pan I was dissolving the bar soap in. The final product was a congealed, lumpy white mess that didn't foam at all, and left a weird white film on the dishes. We quickly returned to using Dawn!

I made a batch of homemade hair spray. It was SUPER simple to make, and incredibly cheap. All it took was 1 cup of hot water, 1.5 tablespoons of sugar and a few drops of essential oil for a pleasant scent. It completely filled my recently emptied hair spray bottle and only took about 5 minutes to make.

And it works AWESOME! The hold is just as good, if not a little better, than the store bought stuff I just finished using.

Other DIY projects I've tried are bug spray and homemade shampoo/conditioner. The DIY bug spray also seems to work well. The only problem I have is remembering to apply it! I don't know yet how the shampoo/conditioner work yet. I'm still finishing up the last little bit of old product. I am still debating on whether to make DIY deodorant and shaving cream...

Word of the Day - Part 4

Absquatulate - To leave hurriedly, suddenly, or secretly.

Why Art is Important

In case there was any confusion in my last post about what the subject was, it was NOT about trying to make nudity socially acceptable. It was about art, and that art, even art depicting nudity, is important to society and shouldn't be censored just because some people are too cowardly to explain things to their kids.

Art is important, in all it's forms. Whether it is painting, sculpture, photography, quilting, music or any other type of art, it is important. Art, in it's various forms, can teach, can inspire, can cause controversy, lead to discussion, depict reality, offer escapism, invigorate, relax.

Art, in all the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, speaks to us in ways that words often can't.

Of Course You Realize, This Means WAR! (slightly NSFW)

There's a war a-brewin' in suburban Kansas City. Depending on who you ask, determines what the war is about. According to the American Family Association of Kansas and Missouri it is a war on family values and decency. According to a contributor to the Kansas City Star it's a war on artistic expression and free speech.

The cause for this brouhaha? A statue in a botanical garden. This statue, to be precise. 

There are signs warning parents of statues “depicting the human form” in the garden, but that's apparently not good enough for the AFA.

According to the artist, Yu Chang, the statue “symbolizes our loss of identity when we only take pictures of bits and pieces for people to see.” Basically, a symbol of the human tendency to dehumanize others and make judgements based on incomplete information. All this fuss seems to prove the point the artist was trying to make!

The AFA is trying to claim that the statue is in violation of Kansas anti-obscenity laws and are trying to get signatures on a petition to take to court to get the statue removed. The same thing happened a while back, and failed, so I'm not sure what they are trying to accomplish by doing the exact thing again, considering the court threw the suit out. I made a cursory review of Kansas' anti-obscenity law, and as far as I can see, there is no violation.

All of this makes me wonder, what makes this statue so much more obscene than, say, that super famous statue of David? You know, the one with his teeny little manhood hanging out. Is it because there is *gasp* a nipple? Or is it because it's “modern” art instead of “classical” or “Renaissance” art?

I have to conclude that the AFA group has not spent very much time outside of whatever little sheltered circle they call home. The Kansas City metro area has many statues and fountains that are just as, if not more so, “risque” than the one in the botanical garden. On the Plaza alone, in plain view of the public, with no signs warning parents, there are multiple fountains and statues depicting various states of nudity. 

There is the Pomona fountain, which happens to be on a corner at an intersection, with her boobs & butt hanging out. There's the fountain by Starbucks with a frog spitting water on to a little naked boy's crotch. And those are just two of the fountains on the Plaza with nudity. Is that some how less offensive to the AFA, or do they not care because it's in Missouri?

And then, of course, there's the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, a place where children go on field trips, that is packed to the gills with nudity! 

There is this

on the outside of the building.

This statue

is on prominent display in middle of the museum. 

An entire exhibit is dedicated to sketches of nude figures with no parental guidance suggested. 

And, let us not forget, the tribal fertility statues or the Roman and the Renaissance nudes.

Pretty much since the beginning of art, the human form, in all it's glory and imperfection, has been depicted in various mediums. I find it depressing that so many people in the Midwest, instead of appreciating art, and the beauty and variety of humanity that it can depict, automatically jump to the “Sex, porn, indecent and obscene” mindset when they see a sculpted boob.