A life less digital

Tag: toys

  • Alien fruit

    On holiday, I like to relax. And take pictures of fruit.

    camera + fruit + toys = alien fruit

    peach and pear
    Oversized luggage?
    pears and alians
    Take me to your leader.
    garlic peach pear
    Where did I leave that garlic?

    Here’s one I wrote earlier

    Tiny tablets and toys. It was a quiet morning at home. I was pondering the largeness of my multivitamin tablet.

    The sound of one glove clapping. Hold my hand…

  • Lego is blog superfood

    I’ve been suffering from an extreme case of blog procrastination. If this blog was a small child, well-meaning strangers would frown at its unsuitable footwear and thin arms.

    But hooray! All the planets are aligned, the Interweb is working, and my hands are warm enough to type.

    Quite a few people stumble here by searching for Lego.  So to feed up my poor malnourished blog, here are some amusing Lego pictures. Does anyone ever get tired of cute Lego? Not me.

    Lego minifig crocodile man
    Grrrr. No idea what this Lego minifig is. Some poor man trapped in a crocodile suit?
    Lego minifig hippy
    We had a hard time trying to describe what ‘a hippy’ was to the kids.

    Proof that I was in New York

    I did make an ambitious claim several weeks ago that I would put up some pictures from my NY mini-break. Here they are:

    New York Chinatown signs
    The ancient Chinese culture and traditions on display in Chinatown.
    New York September 11 memorial
    The 9/11 memorial at sunset.
    New York croissant cat
    It’s a croissant cat!!
    New York Central park
    Central Park. It looks fake, doesn’t it? But it really was this pretty…
    New York Met elephant vase
    At The Met I found out that mid-18th century French porcelain could be terrifying.

    So, the blog child-beast has been fed. And I can happily procrastinate away for another short while.

    Here’s one I wrote earlier

    Lego love for all the family. It really really hurts when I step on hard, sharp, pointy bits of Lego. I suffer through strange foot indentations because  Lego is wonderful.

    Too lazy for words. Greetings from New York. I’ve just popped over for a high-end mini-break with husband.

  • Tiny tablets and toys

    It was a quiet morning at home. I was pondering the largeness of my multivitamin tablet.

    Then I took some pictures:

    Hello! We love our Omega-3 fish oils.
    Taxi and pill
    Delivering the drugs.
    Jam and toast and multivitamins
    ALL the vitamins you need in one MASSIVE pill.
    pills and pencil
    The love drugs.

    Here’s one I wrote earlier

    I heard a bus shelter singing  In these drippy flannel grey spring days, I love colour. My eyes are hungry for bright shiny colourful things. Like these…

    Pictures of words  Someone has poured concrete in to my sinus cavities (I have a cold). This is a lazy ‘picture post’ today.  I am too tired to write many words, so here are some pictures of words that have made me smile …

  • It’s a (pink) girl’s world

    I try very hard not to fall in to the blue/boy and pink/girl trap. I hate the fact that some very ordinary things are being gender-coloured. See exhibit A: Pink Globe.

    Pink globe
    It's a (pink) girl's world

    Is Lego just for lads?

    My boy has always been showered with Lego gifts. Cars, rockets, spaceships, planes, robots, trains… But when it came time for his sister to experience the  world of high-quality plastic studded construction bricks, she was not impressed.

    I wanted her to use her imagination to build wonderful freeform creations  from generic secondhand Lego. She wanted cool Lego sets like her brother, but they had to include pink, sparkles, babies and ice-creams. Sigh…

    My solution – I scoured eBay for girly Lego. It took ages, but I think I’ve found the solution.

    The Lego spaceship
    The Lego spaceship
    Little Lego car in corner
    Little Lego car in corner
    Lego on pillow
    Good morning my lego love
    Hello Kitty tea set with Lego
    Hello Kitty tea set with Lego
    Lego with playmobil ice cream shop
    Lego combined with Playmobil ice cream shop

    Girl power

    Here’s one of my favourite pics of a strong female role model for my daughter …

    Princess leia in bread
    The Princess of carbs

  • How Star Wars took over my life

    I used to like Star Wars quite a lot. As a young-ish urban childless New Media professional, basic Star Wars knowledge was mandatory.  We all spoke fondly of the original films, and bitched about the betrayal of the prequels.

    Now my family has surrounded me in Star Wars again, and I am thoroughly sick of it. I trip over Lightsabers left in the hallway. I step on dismembered Lego Star Wars figures. I try to block out the sound of my boy humming the Star Wars theme song.

    However, with some effort, I can think of a few positive things about Star Wars:

    • The kids use The Force to attack each other when they’re playing Star Wars, rather than traditional hitting, kicking etc. Non-contact violence.
    • Like all good space operas, the Star Wars films have interesting storylines for the kids to re-enact and interpret. The plot is just as important to them as the spaceships and weapons. The gadgets and technology are part of the Star Wars world, but not the main focus.
    • I understand why Jar Jar Binks exists. To little kids, he is a comic genius.
    • Princess Leia sometimes gets involved in the fighting, so my daughter can join in the battles. (We pretend that Princess Leia has a Lightsaber too …)

    My Star Wars home

    Here is some photographic evidence of the Star Wars-enhanced home I live in.

    Lightsaber in toilet rollI found this in the bathroom one morning. A simple tribute to the Lightsaber by my boy…

    Princess Leia trapped in sticky tape
    Princess Leia trapped in sticky tape

    Han Solo may have been encased in Carbonite, but see what happens to poor Princess Leia in our house. I spent ages looking everywhere for this damn figure, then my daughter told me that “The princess was stuck-ed”.

    star wars lego on shelf
    Dad’s Star Wars Lego – do not touch!

    My husband keeps his ‘vintage’ Star Wars Lego safe on top of our bookshelf. When little kids come over, they stand there wide-eyed looking up at it. I feel a bit silly saying: “No, you can’t play with that, it’s special Lego for adults.”

    Lightsabers and vacuum cleaner
    Lightsaber storage disaster

    The Lightsabers are stuffed in behind a door, amongst umbrellas and bits of a vacuum cleaner. When will Ikea come up with a Lightsaber storage solution?

    Brought to you by the Interweb – Star Wars as an educational tool

    I’m not too sure about this – Lucas Learning was set up by George Lucas to provide “technology-based instructional materials
    that make learning challenging, engaging and fun.”  Hmmmm – shameless merchandising, anyone?

  • Pictures of things I hope you don’t own

    I do tend to write about pushing back the tide of digital detritus that washes over us. Pointless crap is not exclusively found on the Internet – see pictures below.

    poop &scoop barbie
    Feeding the dog crap.

    I saw this Poop & Scoop Barbie on sale at Christmas. I was disappointed that the dog’s poo wasn’t pink and sparkling and shaped like a B.

     

    decorated thongs sandals
    Look what came back with me from the (plastic) beach.

    Unfortunately, these didn’t come in my size. I have small-ish feet, and these were designed for the larger lady who wanted the “I’ve just stepped in a bucket of novelty plastic marine crap” look.

     

    ugly owl collection
    A sad sad collection.

    I bought a very tasteful small display cabinet from eBay. At no extra cost, it came with a huge set of hideous owls. Here is a selection of the poor creatures …

     

    Nair glitter wax
    It sparkles and smells like cherry.

    Obviously glitter and artificial cherry fragrence makes ripping out unwanted body hair Fun Fun Fun.

     

    Kitchen gadgets
    That chicken suffered even after it was killed.

    This charming display of kitchen gadgetry includes: Butter Melter (Perfect for melting butter, chocolate and more!); Flavour Injector (Includes two needles and storage case) and a Veggie Twister (Turn your vegetables into attractive spaghetti or spirals in seconds!).

  • Lego love for all the family

    It really really hurts when I step on hard, sharp, pointy bits of Lego. I suffer through strange foot indentations because  Lego is wonderful. The kids use their brains to think of things to make, eyes to find the right pieces and fingers to click it all together.

    Of course Lego have a bountiful website, but nothing compares to the sound of small hands rummaging around in boxes of plastic bits.

    Lego snowman

    A snowman to last for years

    I’m not sure about the sinister eyes, but the carrot nose is very amusing.

    Vintage Lego – groovy

    1970s lego people and furniture
    I believe this is called ‘vintage’ Lego.

    I found some of my old Lego at my parents’ house. The people look quite ABBA-esque don’t they? I loved the cute furniture too, although the scale was not quite right.  These Lego people would have had a hell of a time trying to wash their hands …

    Vintage Lego – space age

    Check out that hi-tech computer!

    This is some of my brother’s old Lego. I think the hi-tech computer screens are adorable. I wonder if there are Lego iPad pieces yet?

    Lego planes

    lego planes on shelf
    Lego planes arranged very neatly on my shelf.

    One morning I found these assorted Lego planes neatly arranged on my shelf by my son.

    Lego sweets

    lego sweets
    An assortment of Lego sweets.

    A piece of foam + Lego lights = sweets on a  cake. My daughter is hoarding these colourful little pieces of plastic to make desserts …

    Brought to you by the InterWeb – Edible Lego

    Look what happens when Lego nerds get in to the kitchen – edible Lego.