Monday, September 18, 2006

The Things I do for my Daughter (or, Movies Lie)

My daughter turned 10 yesterday, and of course, we had to have the requisite birthday party. (I'm thinking of making a moratorium on birthday parties now that she's in double digits...)

She had it in her head that she wanted to replicate the scene in The Princess Diaries where Mia and her mother throw darts at paint-filled balloons to create a piece of modern art. My Music Man and I tried to explain to her that what you see in the movies isn't always...well, accurate...especially if it looks as simple as that did.

However, wonderful mother that I am, I agree to help her get it set up.

The problem was....how to get the paint into the balloons. And then, since I didn't want to fill the balloons up completely (too much paint), and if they weren't expanded enough, they wouldn't pop, I figured we had to put air in as well.

After much consideration, we decided to use a cut-off straw to pour the paint into the balloons (which were very small). We filled the balloons only about one-fifth with paint, and then took the straw out, and after wiping the paint off the edges, I blew up the balloons.

It worked perfectly until one of them popped in my face.

Not only did it get on my face, my lashes, in my hair, and on my teeth...but also all over my "I'm blogging this" t-shirt (which was, of course, accurate)...and it was at that moment that one of my daughter's friends (and her mother) showed up and walked around the corner.

(After she stopped laughing, she took the picture for me.)

And so I was a lot more careful after that, and only one other balloon popped in my face.

Things I learned from this experience:
  1. Paint doesn't come out of t-shirts
  2. Acrylic paint doesn't taste very good
  3. You can't wash acrylic paint off your soft contact lenses
  4. Pink acrylic paint works great as mascara...if you can get it on without getting in on your contacts
  5. Kids are fun.

16 Comments:

Blogger Alyssa Goodnight soliloquized...

Wow! I'm very impressed! You must be a wonderful mom! If my kids had asked for this, I would have worried over the difficulties, the mess, the clean-up, etc., etc. for about a split second before I said, "I don't think that will work."

Monday, September 18, 2006 10:00:00 AM  
Blogger Heather Harper soliloquized...

I love being a mom. Hehehe.

Happy birthday to your daughter and thanks for sharing. ;)

And...are you going to share a pic of the "painting"?

Monday, September 18, 2006 10:04:00 AM  
Blogger Jaye Wells soliloquized...

Love the t-shirt.

Man, the things we do for them. But it's usually a good story. Like the time I tried to make a ghost costume for my son. It should have been the easiest thing in the world, but not for me. He ended up looking like a white trash ghost. "Momma, I'm scared." Yeah, me too, honey. Let's go to Target and get a fireman costume.

Monday, September 18, 2006 10:42:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous soliloquized...

Splat!!

I'd love to see how the final "artwork" turned out.

Monday, September 18, 2006 10:56:00 AM  
Blogger Diana Peterfreund soliloquized...

So the big question is, did it work?

Monday, September 18, 2006 11:37:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous soliloquized...

I wanna see the final outcome too!

Monday, September 18, 2006 12:01:00 PM  
Blogger Mailyn soliloquized...

LMAO!!!! You have GOT to post the artwork. LOL

Monday, September 18, 2006 12:11:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous soliloquized...

1) Happy Birthday to your daughter!

2) You are such a fantastic mom to be willing to go through all of that for your daughter!!

3) Your affair with the new hairdresser must have been HAWT because you are looking tres chic in that new haircut! LOVE IT!

4) Definitely want to see the finished project!

Thanks for sharing, Colleen. What a fun post!

Monday, September 18, 2006 12:11:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous soliloquized...

BTW... was goofing off on blogthings today and saw this quiz. Thought you might like it:

http://www.blogthings.com/howmuchdoyouknowabout80smusicquiz/

I only scored 50%

Monday, September 18, 2006 1:32:00 PM  
Blogger Carl V. Anderson soliloquized...

Awww...what a good mom! Where is the picture of the art?

Thanks for sharing your mishaps, it was quite funny.

Monday, September 18, 2006 2:26:00 PM  
Blogger Catherine Avril Morris soliloquized...

Funny!!! Like everyone else, I wanna see a photo of the painting!

I loved your trailer for your Jan. '07 release, too, and can't wait to read it.

Oooh--my word verification word is "jazzyg." Nice. :)

Monday, September 18, 2006 2:59:00 PM  
Blogger Trish Milburn soliloquized...

LOL! I've heard of face paint, but I don't think this is what they had in mind. :)

Monday, September 18, 2006 3:48:00 PM  
Blogger Colleen Gleason soliloquized...

Alyssa: I tried that. I actually did list off all the reasons it wouldn't work, but the look she gave me...okay, I folded. I couldn't say no. It was the only thing she wanted to do at the party!

Jaye: I'm usually one of those "let's buy it not make it" people, as for Halloween costumes, but I got suckered into this one. My tee (my gorgeous tee!) will never be the same.

Annie: Thanks for saying the 'do looked chic. I wore it that way to church and not too many people complimented it, which always says, "Ew" to me...but I'm still working with it. And I do like it, for a change. And I can't wait to check out that quiz!

Catherine: Thanks for stopping by and checking out the trailer. 'Preciate it!

And as for the artwork...well, I forgot to mention in the post that by the time we actually got around to throwing darts at the balloons, the paint inside them had partially dried up and hardly splatted at all. (There was much more paint on my face than on the paper.)

We should have done it sooner, but it was two hours after I blew up the balloons that we did the dart-throwing. And I thought I had taken a picture, but I didn't get the finished product. I'll have to see if anyone else did, and what happened to the artwork.

I thought it was pretty cool, because my daughter did have her friends all sign it.

Monday, September 18, 2006 3:50:00 PM  
Blogger Jana DeLeon soliloquized...

The timeliness of the t-shirt is hilarious. And the paint looks fantastic with the new "do."

Monday, September 18, 2006 5:03:00 PM  
Blogger Dev soliloquized...

Fun story, Colleen! My answer would have been, "No". Of course I can say that ~I've never been asked. I suppose kiddo would just have had to look at me with the big eyes and pouty face and I'd probably have been a goner....

Did you happen to take pictures even if the paint balloons didn't work out as well as you wanted them to?

Tuesday, September 19, 2006 6:53:00 PM  
Blogger MJFredrick soliloquized...

OMG, what an expereince!

Thursday, September 21, 2006 6:22:00 PM  

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