You Comment ~ I Follow

Ever seen those little doodads in people’s sidebars and wondered what the heck they were about? I used to think they were something to do with entrecard or something similar.

Turns out, it’s a new~ish blogging movement to make comment links count towards your search engine rankings.

Okay, it’s like this. A few years ago, Google got fed up with giving out GoogleLove to every Tom Dick & Harry with a comment~spamming~robot and came up with a new html attribute (read: tricky code), “no-follow”.

The search engines and blogging platforms clambered onboard in hopes that this would spell the end of comment spam forevermore.

As we all know, it didn’t work. And it also adversely affected those commenters who were genuinely taking part in the blogging community.

So bloggers taking part in the “You Comment ~ I Follow” movement remove the “no-follow” from their comments on their blogs and put up this cute little doohicky device to let others know about it.

There’s a number of ways to rid your blog of “no-comment” blues:

• Wordpress bloggers can use the Semiologic No_Follow plugin,
• Blogger users can alter their template code,
• Moveable Typers can disable No-Follow, too.

I’ve joined up because I think that one of the main points of comments is to build community and by spreading the linklove, we’re doing exactly that. If you need help making the changes, just give me a holler.

You can get a No-Follow badge and become a follower here.

Paper Mache How~To with Humour

Back in April I mentioned that we had been doing some paper mache (or papier mache, for those sticklers like Carrie out there).

I was planning to write about it, but our camera broke, so there were no photos.

Just today I was at Molly Chicken, the site whose how~to inspired me, so I thought I’d share the love and send you on over to say hello to say hi to Lynn.

What really made me go and look at her site in the first place was the title of her paper mache post. I won’t tell you here, you’ll just have to go see for yourselves.

Let’s just say that I tried doing what she suggested and found the crafting much more fulfilling.

Ever the interfering rebel experimenting crafter, I couldn’t resist using some differently~shaped containers and paper colours for our paper mache efforts and this square one is my absolute favourite.

It now sits on my desk, slowly filling up with crafty bits.

Won’t be long and we’ll have to make some more containers for my junky bits creative equipment.

I’ve been collecting interestingly~shaped containers, so the results should be really fun.

Blogging Prompt ~ Start Your Engines

WonderHubby and I have been talking about thinking about planning to get a larger family vehicle.

One day.

So I thought that for today’s blogging prompt, I’d ask you all (yes, all 3 of you) to write about your dream car.

I know, I know. Drooling over cars is supposed to be a man~thang. No longer is it so…

Our talking about thinking about plan is that before too long we will want to take the Kidz out with a friend each. Heaven knows why, but we will want to.

My little blue Pulsar will not do. Not if we want to avoid stuffing someone in the boot with the mouldy picnic rug and the rusty umbrella I keep meaning to replace.

WonderHubby’s little red Corolla will not do. For the same reason, but minus the rug and umbrella.

Hence, we need to talk about thinking about plans to get a larger family vehicle. Probably for moi, although I love my little Pulsar.

Now we’re also limited by the fact that we prefer to own Nissans or Toyotas, because of their reliability.

It makes it easier because there’s less choice, but then there’s less to choose from and that might make it hard to find something. Huh?

So we need to talk, and think and plan this whole business a little more, and then in two or three years time I’ll announce that we’ve bought something.

We’ll be looking for a Nissan/Toyota 6/7 seater in a nice colour, which is reliable, has air conditioning, power steering, and central locking.  ~Oh, and isn’t too big.

Wish me luck.

Home Beautiful? I think not.

Doesn’t our table look pretty today?

I cut some of the roses from our front garden, like I’ve been meaning to for almost 2 years. Since we moved here, in fact.

Certainly, this picture is not a spotless article of gardenly domestic joy. (Is gardenly even a word?)

They have big, light~brown aphidy things on the buds and under the leaves.

The edges of the petals are beginning to brown already with the damp (we’ve had a bit of rain lately).

And there’s that little hand reaching in to finger one of the artistically (autistically?) placed crystals, while I growl warningly and then scream in frustration.

Hmmm… Time for a dose of peanut m&m’s again.

Do You Get Dressed Up To Go Out?

Mr Bump loves dressing up.

I couldn’t bear to make him take that gorgeous ballgown off just because we had to pick up Wren from school.

Note the spaghetti sauce on the sleeve and hem.

Actually, it’s an old nightie that belonged to my mother.

Although by the time I was playing dressups, it was my gorgeous ballgown.

I felt like Cinderella in it, and can remember dancing on top of my parent’s dressing table (because of the mirror), singing into a hairbrush.

And that was only last year…

Size is not Important

I am short (5′2″).

My husband is short (5′4″).

Therefore, our children are short, and likely to stay that way.

There are a number of things that hubby and I have had to deal with because of our height~impaired status.

I am putting together a list today in order to help smooth the way through life for our unfortunate offspring.

• You will never win a marathon, unless it is open only to pygmies and other people under 5 foot.
  Have you seen the length of most marathon runners’  legs? They’re longer than I am tall!
  

• Sometimes it will be hard to get served in fast food outlets.
  Try wearing platform soles, or failing that, keep a folding footstool in the boot of your car.

• Tall people will look down on you.
  Like cats, some tall people seem to feel that being at a greater height infers superiority.
  Oh. Are you tall? Well, except for you then.

• Get to like the word Cute.
  You’ll be hearing it for a loooong time.

And now for the benefits…

• Being naturally closer to the ground, you will be good at finding dropped coins.
  However, if you drop a note, make sure you wave it farewell. You will not be fast enough to outrun any long-legged marathon-runners in the area.

• The cheaper stuff is usually on the bottom shelves in the supermarket.
  Don’t ask me why, probably because a cat-like, 6”7′ grocery manager has assumed that short people can’t afford the expensive stuff.

• You will look younger for longer.
  From the back, at any rate.

• It’s a good excuse to approach attractive tall people.
  You won’t ever have to pretend that you can’t reach the top shelves in the supermarket.

• You might be pint~sized, but your brain needn’t be.
  Height doesn’t affect brain~power or creativity, so go ahead and take on the world!  We’ll be doing all we can to support you…

Blogging Prompt #3

Today, how about tripping on over to Google and taking a squizz at what comes up for a search on “boomerang”?

Okay, now choose the 131st result and read it.

If it’s unthinkably inappropriate for some reason, try the 113th or 311th result.

That’s your inspiration for today, get creative and go to it!

Edited to add: ~My apologies that this didn’t publish on time. I got the date wrong when scheduling.

My Workspace is Littered with Body Parts

No, I haven’t taken up serial murder as my latest hobby.

Nor am I studying mutilation and dismemberment 101 at the local university.

We’re making paper dolls together this weekend, and the Kidz are loving it.

I suppose I could have also easily called this post “A paper doll to call my own”, but then people wouldn’t be able to find Kidzarama on Google with fun searches like serial murder body part, or university mutilation and dismemberment.

These things are important.

But back to the paper dolls.
Wren & Mr Bump were floating around while I was bloghopping today and spotted a picture of a paper doll somewhere.

Please can I have one of those?

What could I say?  So of course I went looking for paper doll & clothing patterns for the rest of the afternoon.
The weirdest thing is that earlier today I actually impulse~bought some small gold brads. Not sure what I was going to use them for, but they came in real handy making these dolls.

Am I psychic, or what?

The best doll patterns I found were

• Victorian paper dolls,
• Liana’s paper doll blog with dolls & fashions
• Circa 1880 vintage paper doll & clothes,
• Connie Francis paper doll & lots of matching clothing.

I also loved this paper doll fairy at Wet Noodle Posse using Mirkwood Design’s doll pattern.

In case you didn’t look closely at the picture of Wren & Mr Bump’s dolls (Wren’s is on the left), do so now. They did all the cutting themselves, which means they really wanted these dolls.

But notice how the clothes don’t quite fit? Well, the Kidz wanted moving arms & legs and fashion. Don’t ask for much, do they?

So we dressed the vintage dolls in some of Liana’s doll clothing and have stuck the clothes onto each doll with blutak.

I kind of think that makes them even cuter than if they matched.

If you really enjoy this project, then you really should check out Hazelruthe’s post on paper dolls.
She has links to what may be every paper doll printable on the internet.

Craft Round Up

I thought I’d do a list of some of the best craft posts that I’ve found over the past week.

Hope you are as inspired by them as I was…

Lusi at Fiskars Craft had a fantastic indoor treasure hunt with her 3 children, which would work well outside, too.

She and the kids created treasure maps and various special destinations in the house to trek through on their way to ‘discovering’ the buried treasure.

Nan posted about some lovely woollen pieces that she’s been working on over  at Nannybird Crafts, including a dish~cloth dress, and a cute “tie one on shawl”.

Makes me wish I could crochet or knit or something. ~See? I’m not even sure which is which.

Over at Crazy Stamp Girl, Jen has come up with a cool 10 rubber stamping ideas for children. We don’t actually have any stamps, but it’s definitely on my wish list to get a small collection of cute ones.

Chris posted a list of great butterfly crafts at Kid Crafts Magazine, that her 5 year old daughter enjoyed. I thought that the butterfly flier was especially creative.

I also found a new blog, Simply a Mom. Hope has written a great post on putting together a rainy day box.

This box and Lusi’s treasure hunt would have been perfect for our last school holidays, as it rained 13 days out of 16.

We were extremely waterlogged, and Wren & Mr Bump both had severe cases of cabin fever.

Luckily, these holidays have been very different.

We’ve had a night away in Newcastle to see Disney on Ice, ferry trips, an archaelogical dig (more on that next week), sleepovers and Grandma’s and visits to lots of different parks.

Plus they both seem to have gone through an “emotional” growth spurt and are treating each other much more nicely nowadays.

Which makes all the difference, doesn’t it?

A Bump on a Log

Time for more firewood.

Mr Bump insisted on climbing up to the top of the huge pile of firewood that we had delivered today.

I didn’t mind, but I was just worried about his little feet in those not~so~practical, but ever~so~stylish sandals.

It’s either fashion or safety, and we chose fashion today.

Usually he wears socks with them, too.

Yep, Mr Bump is a fashion icon in the making.
Georgio Armani should watch out.

The new label is Bump Designs.

Don’t worry too much about the foot safety, though.

He still has all eleven toes.