Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Turn This into That: the one dollar (and ten cents tax) boy

Welcome to the very first storybook cottage
"Turn This into That" post
...where I attempt to use magical powers to turn something into a different something.  So if you like this kind of thing,
check back for future somethings
turned into different somethings.

Once upon a time there were a whole lot of girl barbies.

and one ken.

Here they are, up late on Thanksgiving night, decorating the ballroom for Christmas...while Sara was sound asleep.
 In our defense, we've bought maybe two barbies.
Neither of the two was ken, so they shouldn't 
be multiplying this quickly.

Ken is happy about this arrangement, being the only guy. But at the same time, it has to be somewhat stressful.
I like to think of him as
 
("Sir Galahad! You would not be so ungallant
as to refuse our hospitality.")

She also has three little girls.   zero boys.  

So this past Saturday we were
window shopping at ebay for boy
dolls, when I had an idea.
 "Ah ha!" I said,
"The Dollar General sells little girl
princesses for one dollar, and ten cents tax.

Off we went to buy her.
 I could hardly wait for the magic to begin.

First her ponytail came out.

Second, I got creeped out.

you can too.
AHHHH!  I KNOW, RIGHT?!

Then I cut her hair, and superglued it 
back on, starting from the bottom up,
covering the glue as I went.
 
equally disturbing.
(I dare you to pin it.)

There wasn't quite enough hair, leaving some
exposed, dry glue residue at the top.
 
So I took a brown sharpie to it.
If sharpies teamed up with duct tape,
there's an 86 percent chance they could
accomplish a pretty great something.
at least win bingo.

Then I brushed this paint 
over the eye make-up. 
 
(any light color could work)

Now she was a boy.  a naked boy.  

I'm not a seamstress.  I do simple sewing, but
making teeny, tiny shirts is out.
Having a naked kid lying around,
also not acceptable.
So he will like swimming...all the time. 
And he will like swimming in jams.

I took apart one of these for swim fabric.
from the Dollar Tree.
These were in my craft closet; they're the right size for
beach balls in barbie's pool.

Hopefully by winter this kid can find
himself a sweater and pants,
or a warmer climate.

Now for his before and after.

Introducing Alex...
  Once an ordinary, dollar store princess, he's now a nice, young boy BROTHER, with somewhat feminine eyes, who will make trouble for his sisters in the barbie house.  (It has been made clear to Sara that he was not
created for boyfriendship.)
  
Here he's swimming with his sister.
She stole his dress and shoes.
(it may have been Sara who stole them)
After cooling off, he wanted to play mini-golf.  I reminded him to wear sunscreen.  But he just said, "yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Okay," I said.  "Live and learn," I said,
"Live and learn." You know, sometimes when we want "that", but can't have it, we shut off our brain in defeat...pretty much making it a for sure no.  But if we can creatively pursue paths that
open ourselves to possibility, while accepting the "this" in front of us...
maybe we'll discover an effective way
to turn our this into that.

Sure, there are times no substitute will do, but sometimes, not always, but sometimes, the substitute ends up being better than what we thought we wanted.  right?  yup.  maybe not so much with brother Alex here; he's a good enough substitute.  but sometimes.

How are you making your 
today world beautiful?

3 comments:

  1. I took your challenge - http://www.pinterest.com/pin/91127592434909932/

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ha ha ha! that's so funny. have your friends called to show concern for you yet? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

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