July 16, 2005

• Little Georgia is feeling crappy this morning so I get to write while she sleeps. It can be quite a challenge to find time to sit down at the computer with her running around. It is a constant motion, this modern-maternal role, but entertaining to say the least.

  
  

              So I jumped on here to tell everyone about a new invention by the Crayola crayon company. I am a long time fan of their plastic little wonder sticks. My frugal mother never understood why the crayons from the dollar store were not good enough for me, but alas…the Crayola. How I love them.

  
  

  I think it all started with Magenta when I was about 5. My step dad and I were coloring (back then, I was an only child and Mom never frequented the dollar store in those days… 3 to 6 kids in the house will change your shopping habits!) I had some Crayolas, you know the BIG box, well we dumped them on the ground and Dad started to read the colors to me. I guess a little lesson in colors, right well…when he got to Magenta, he didn’t pronounce it as you would normally pronounce Magenta. He said it all funny like and it was the strangest word I had ever heard. (At that point, I doubt I had ever heard of Magenta either!) I started to laugh every time he would say it, so this turned into a game and he would say Magenta and then chase after me and I would laugh so hard, then the tickling started and by the time we were done playing, Magenta was my new favorite color. 

  
  

  From then on I would always use the color Magenta in all of my coloring projects. I would look for Magenta in every box of crayons that I used. I began to notice that not every box had Magenta, sometimes I would find it in a box of ol’cheapo crayons, and then the color just wasn’t right. That is when I stopped using those crayons. How can they jip the kids into thinking they are using pure unadulterated plastic color, how can they put those nasty little hard specks of color in the middle of that do nothing but tear your page. How can you even SEE the color when you are using supposed crayon that resembles something more like a candle. How do they expect a child to fall in love with painting their little worlds with the colors they love. How? Man, How?

  
  

  Yeah, so, Crayolas rock. I always look for new reasons to buy a box.

  
  

  One time, I was with my friend Bob, in his Pop’s garage and we came across Bob’s Crayolas from his childhood. He let me have them, for “making candles” (yeah whatever…). Boy, was I stoked. First thing I did when I got’em home is dump them outta the jar and read all of the colors looking for Magenta. I was 21 years old. Some things stick with ya forever. I still have them, in the jar. I don’t use them though, they are “antiques”.

  
  

  My Grandma Archer has a REAL antiques box of Crayolas, the green and yellow box is all color distorted, but it is a brand new box and she keeps it in her chest of treasures.

  
  

  This chest of treasures is the strangest box full of all ins of old-timey stuff like Christmas tree tinsel made out of lead and these weird hard plastic balls on a string that you somehow move around to get the balls cracking together…these were outlawed because chips fo plastic would come off and get in kids eyes. At any rate, this chest is full of weird stuff like that, you know in the original packaging and all.

  
  

  So she would NEVER let me play with the Crayolas from the chest, but I could look at them. They still smelled the same but they didn’t have the sharpener in the back.

  
  

  When my youngest Sisters & Brother were old enough to color, I bought a 48 box to have at the house when they would come over and stay the night. We had great fun on many nights coloring pictures.

  
  

  As soon as I could, I wanted to introduce Georgia to the Crayola. So I went shopping. It has been a maybe 10 years since I went shopping for Crayolas. I know the Crayola Company has been on a roll trying to introduce all sorts of new products and product bundles and even furniture to entertain kids. But I didn’t realize what I would find in the Crayola aisle of Wal-mart.

  
  

  Washable Crayons.

  
  

  At first I was thinking, yeah ok, washable… this means you spend 4 hours instead of 6 scrubbing the crayon marks off walls. 

  
  

  I bought Georgia the 7 pack of the fatties. I also picked up a blank Crayola brand drawing pad that has a spiral binding. I figured she could work up a pretty good portfolio.

  
  

  Georgia has had a BALL drawing pictures with her Crayolas, she filled the drawing pad and has moved on to single leaf paper and another composition pad. (I gotta get her something else.) So far, I have been pretty pleased with myself for sharing this great joy of mine with her. It is cool.

  
  

  Last time I posted, I shared pictures of some decorative painting that I did in the living room. Ever since that day, Georgia has been putting her own decorations on the walls, floor, deck, furniture and just about any surface that will accept the crayon mark.

  
  

  The first time I went to clean the crayon mark off the wall I sprayed some cleaner and prepared to scrub, but the mark came of in ONE GENTLE SWIPE. It was totally amazing. I cleaned it all off the walls in total disbelief.  I also noticed that they have left marks of color on her face when she sucks or chews on them, I guess because they dissolve so easily in water. It’s ok, they are still the same old non-toxic Crayolas.

  
  

  Since it is so easy to clean off surfaces, I have been letting Georgia express herself all over the house. Though I never see her do it, there seems to be a new drawing every day.

  
  

  Here are some pictures of her work, before I wipe the slate clean and let her start over.

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  The Windows:

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  My kitchen:

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  Her Kitchen:

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

  This one shows that she is a Braves Fan!!

  • 10:04 am
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