The Kid is Home / The Kid is Barfing

The title pretty much sums it up. Poor M, he's really sick, and it started suspiciously about five hours after he ate at the Taco Bell on Patton Avenue. I've looked up nausea and vomiting and stomach cramps on every web site I could find and the consensus is that there's nothing to do but ride it out for 12 hours and see what happens. M never gets sick; he has a cast iron constitution, so when he does get ill it throws him off more, I think, than people who are a bit more accustomed to it. And, of course, because he is my baby and I dote, I am all worried. But he has no fever, none of the scary symptoms: he's just throwing up and his stomach hurts. God damn Taco Bell. A & I are fine, and he's the only one who had Taco Bell, so I have spotted the culprit. I selfishly hope that's it, and not something contagious.

In other news, though, the tree is decorated and looks pretty good for a slightly sad, slightly skinny tree. The nativity scene, including Ganesha, the Dalai Lama, Santa Claus, Herne the Horned God and the Buddha, is set up on the mantel, surrounded by greenery and lights, and I, having perfected the shaving cream marbleization technique, am making slightly peculiar Christmas cards.

Shaving Cream Marbleizing:
You will need a can of shaving cream, some blank cards & 2 colors of watercolor paint. It helps to have paper plates & disposable plastic knives & stuff too.
Mix the watercolor with a little water until it is pretty liquidy and thin - think food coloring or ink. Spread about a half inch of shaving cream across a paper plate. Smooth it out, then gently pour some of each color paint on top. I found it worked better to pick up the plate and tilt it until the colors kind of ran over each other but didn't really blend; you can try using a plastic fork or something to move the paint around as well. Press your paper on top of the shaving cream and then remove. If there are blank spots, gently repeat. Then (warning: this is the mistake I made last time! That and using too many colors!) leave them to dry overnight. In the morning you can wipe the excess shaving cream off with a paper towel, no problem, but if you do it now you'll wreck the whole thing. It ends up not looking exactly marbleized, and not real dark either, but pretty and unusual.