Love Wii-ns

I had circled, very adamantly, "No". I held the pink form at arm's length and admired the circle. The circle that meant I spared myself another commitment. Look at me! Saying no like a healthy, sane individual who knows how to draw boundaries for herself! You go, me!

And then, the sweet little graphic designer that still survives somewhere down in the more colorful parts of my heart and mind where things are not only spelled correctly but are in beautiful fonts as well, spewed out an idea.

Aw, crap. It's you. I mean, it's really great to hear from you, designer darling, but now's not really a good time. Do you see all this stuff I have going on? I am in a perpetual juggling act...and I can't juggle. I'm going to have to sit this one out. Ya dig?

No, no, I don't think so. This is right up my alley and it would be a wonderful way to spend time with your son. You saw my idea...and you know it's a good one. Fine, my opinion aside, why don't you go ask Eric if he would like to participate?

*shifty eyes* No, thank you.

Now.

Sigh. Fine! But if he says no, I'm drowning you in horrifying clip-art images and grammatical errors.

So, I tucked my son in bed and, after a very pregnant pause, asked, "Baby, do you want to make a Valentine's Day box to enter in the contest at your school?"

"Yes." Plain and simple. Of course. He didn't care what and he didn't care how...just "yes".

So, we did. I scratched out the circle around "No" and placed a new one around "Yes" and even added an arrow to ensure they knew we would be bringing our A-game. And we made a Wii box. Something along the lines of this one:

Photo credit: some other family in InternetLand

And unless some little punk in his class brings oranges instead of candy, we should be good slot-wise.

And it was great. And some days I had time. And other days I had to create time using nothing more than a paperclip, a pair of pantyhose, and some glitter. One evening, after a couple of hours, I left my girlfriends to talk & laugh without me so Eric and I could finish our masterpiece. And the evening felt beautifully balanced. I had grown-up, Janelle-time with other women and ended with time-to-be-Mommy-time. I can't say for sure which conversation was more academic and profound, but both breathed life into my evening.

I did fulfill my strong desire to make something on the computer by creating this little monstrosity (ha!):

Design skillz are better than they appear.

It's a fake Wii game (I printed it and put it on a piece of cardboard shaped like a cd with a hole in the middle & whatnot). And it's done very elementary with mismatched fonts and poor typography. But it's got the cutest little Valentine's monster ever on it! This is for 7-year-olds, after all, and they only quasi-care about typography.

I will try to grab a picture of our complete project when it returns after the hardcore party that's going to happen in the First Grade class tomorrow. My hopes aren't high, though...Eric's got his mom's charm & appeal. He and it may just get loved to death. 

(Which Eric is hoping for, by the way. Then he can be a zommmbbbiiieeeeee.)

Happy Valentine's Day. And don't die.