The first stop was MOSI (the science museum in Chicago). We had a reciprocal membership to our science museum that was still good so Ian pulled up out front and Quinn and I popped in together and were back out in about ten minutes. They've added a new machine to the building, not just switched out one of the molds for a new figure. They now make a pair of chicks hatching out of eggs to go by the live chicks in the genetics display.
My own space apart from the babble of the internet
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Bonus Chicago Mold-A-Ramas
On the way back to Milwaukee at the end of our Spring Break Road Trip we decided to stop a couple of places in Chicago to add two more Mold-A-Ramas to our collection. They were both places we already had Mold-A-Ramas from, but new figures we didn't have.
The first stop was MOSI (the science museum in Chicago). We had a reciprocal membership to our science museum that was still good so Ian pulled up out front and Quinn and I popped in together and were back out in about ten minutes. They've added a new machine to the building, not just switched out one of the molds for a new figure. They now make a pair of chicks hatching out of eggs to go by the live chicks in the genetics display.
The first stop was MOSI (the science museum in Chicago). We had a reciprocal membership to our science museum that was still good so Ian pulled up out front and Quinn and I popped in together and were back out in about ten minutes. They've added a new machine to the building, not just switched out one of the molds for a new figure. They now make a pair of chicks hatching out of eggs to go by the live chicks in the genetics display.
Thursday, April 26, 2018
In no mood for other people's updates
This is a short, grumpy post that I should probably not hit "publish" on, but sometimes this blog is my venting space, and I feel like I will get past these feelings sooner if I try to pin them down with words. So indulge me a moment, and I will post about Mold-A-Ramas and the like again soon.
With apologies for being vague (since some stories are not mine to tell), one of my kids was pulled out of a school event that they've been looking forward to for over a year and I'm angry. I get the problem, and I don't specifically fault the school since the people making the decisions were at the district level, not the teachers, but I do not think the way things were handled was fair, and the decision had the potential to exacerbate the situation they were supposedly trying to mitigate.
In any case, I did everything I could to advocate for my kid, and since the decision left my hands I've been trying to just accept things and come to peace with it. It's all okay. The world certainly didn't end. Compared to the nightmare I was living through a year ago at this time, this is like a dream scenario. Life is good.
But then there is Facebook. And blow by blow updates from happy parents nervously fretting about their kids off on an adventure. I had expected to be one of those parents. Instead I'm reminded with each post that I feel my kid was denied something they had earned and it hurts. I don't want to resent those other families. I don't for a minute wish anything but the best for those other kids. I hope they have a fabulous time.
I just don't want to hear about it. At least not right now. Is that petty?
I feel a little like I did the first year or so after my dad died and I really didn't want to hear other people's stories about their dads. Father's Day was painful. (Father's Day is still painful.) I don't begrudge anyone their happiness. I just sometimes have trouble juxtaposing it with my loss.
I understand that we know things intellectually, and that we can't control how we react emotionally, but there is also the image in my mind of the person I strive to be, and that person is better at all of this. Or at least better at accepting all of this.
Until I figure it out, I think I will stay off Facebook as much as I can afford to. It's not helping.
The silver lining in all of this has been my kid, who is grappling with their own mix of emotions and reality and is doing it with a grace and maturity that I find astonishing and deeply reassuring. That's more than enough to sustain me. (As long as I avoid the jabs of other people's updates, at least for now.)
With apologies for being vague (since some stories are not mine to tell), one of my kids was pulled out of a school event that they've been looking forward to for over a year and I'm angry. I get the problem, and I don't specifically fault the school since the people making the decisions were at the district level, not the teachers, but I do not think the way things were handled was fair, and the decision had the potential to exacerbate the situation they were supposedly trying to mitigate.
In any case, I did everything I could to advocate for my kid, and since the decision left my hands I've been trying to just accept things and come to peace with it. It's all okay. The world certainly didn't end. Compared to the nightmare I was living through a year ago at this time, this is like a dream scenario. Life is good.
But then there is Facebook. And blow by blow updates from happy parents nervously fretting about their kids off on an adventure. I had expected to be one of those parents. Instead I'm reminded with each post that I feel my kid was denied something they had earned and it hurts. I don't want to resent those other families. I don't for a minute wish anything but the best for those other kids. I hope they have a fabulous time.
I just don't want to hear about it. At least not right now. Is that petty?
I feel a little like I did the first year or so after my dad died and I really didn't want to hear other people's stories about their dads. Father's Day was painful. (Father's Day is still painful.) I don't begrudge anyone their happiness. I just sometimes have trouble juxtaposing it with my loss.
I understand that we know things intellectually, and that we can't control how we react emotionally, but there is also the image in my mind of the person I strive to be, and that person is better at all of this. Or at least better at accepting all of this.
Until I figure it out, I think I will stay off Facebook as much as I can afford to. It's not helping.
The silver lining in all of this has been my kid, who is grappling with their own mix of emotions and reality and is doing it with a grace and maturity that I find astonishing and deeply reassuring. That's more than enough to sustain me. (As long as I avoid the jabs of other people's updates, at least for now.)
Thursday, April 19, 2018
"Mold-A-Rama" at Third Man Records
Jack White has his own "Mold-A-Rama" machine at Third Man Records in Nashville because of course he does.And "Mold-A-Rama" has quote marks around it because technically that's a trademarked name used by a specific company, so the machine at Third Man Records is labeled a "Wax-O-Matic." The machine at our store (which is still not up and running yet because we have to find a leak before we can put it out for public use) is not labeled anything at all other than as a way to "Make your own souvenir in seconds!" but we can at least claim to have something in common with Jack White. (I'm also from Detroit, but I think much past that the similarities and any claim to additional coolness ends.)
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Mold-A-Ramas in San Antonio
We had an unexpected change of plans for Spring Break this year, and when I gave the kids a choice about other options, the one they all agreed on was a road trip down to Texas to get the (possibly) last Mold-A-Ramas from a zoo for our collection. San Antonio was the one place on the Mold-A-Rama map that we didn't know if we'd ever reach. There's no reason for us to go there. So we seized the opportunity to do something random and went with it!
San Antonio is lovely, and I will write about the whole trip soon in a different post, but for now we will focus on the heart of our mission: The eight Mold-A-Ramas at the zoo.
It's a lovely zoo. (And at this point we know zoos.) It's compact and laid out very well. It had the most memorable collection of birds I think we've seen at any zoo, including a ton of storks or cranes (not sure which but they were long and white) and vultures and grackles that were there voluntarily in droves to nest in the trees in the park.
We showed up very shortly after the zoo opened at 9:00, along with our small cooler to collect (and protect) our Mold-A-Ramas. There were signs saying coolers weren't allowed in the zoo, but I showed the woman at the gate that there was no food in ours, and we'd come all the way from Wisconsin just to get Mold-A-Ramas and wanted to make sure they didn't break, and she let us take it in.
There are eight machines in the zoo, all arranged in pairs in four spots. The first place we stopped, however, had no power! We asked a zoo employee why the machines weren't on and she said that whole area of the park was having maintenance done and power wouldn't be back on until probably 1:00.
Not an auspicious beginning, but also one of those times we are reminded that our collection is ultimately silly. We were there really just to enjoy time together in a new place, so it would be disappointing not to get all the Mold-A-Ramas we came for, but nothing to get truly upset about. I did call ahead before we settled into our plan to make sure the machines were running before driving to the other side of the country, and they assured me they were, so the two powered down machines were only a temporary setback. We hit them again after lunch on our way out of the park and sure enough they yielded our precious plastic toys.
They were all figures we already have from other zoos, but they were all good, and the machines worked well. We got another waving gorilla, the three monkeys, a triceratops, giraffes, a lion, a panther, an elephant, and a hippo.
A new twist on the machines: They take credit cards now, and the price seems to have gone up universally from $2 to $3.
Up next, a stop in Nashville for our only musical instrument Mold-A-Rama!
San Antonio is lovely, and I will write about the whole trip soon in a different post, but for now we will focus on the heart of our mission: The eight Mold-A-Ramas at the zoo.It's a lovely zoo. (And at this point we know zoos.) It's compact and laid out very well. It had the most memorable collection of birds I think we've seen at any zoo, including a ton of storks or cranes (not sure which but they were long and white) and vultures and grackles that were there voluntarily in droves to nest in the trees in the park.
We showed up very shortly after the zoo opened at 9:00, along with our small cooler to collect (and protect) our Mold-A-Ramas. There were signs saying coolers weren't allowed in the zoo, but I showed the woman at the gate that there was no food in ours, and we'd come all the way from Wisconsin just to get Mold-A-Ramas and wanted to make sure they didn't break, and she let us take it in.
There are eight machines in the zoo, all arranged in pairs in four spots. The first place we stopped, however, had no power! We asked a zoo employee why the machines weren't on and she said that whole area of the park was having maintenance done and power wouldn't be back on until probably 1:00. Not an auspicious beginning, but also one of those times we are reminded that our collection is ultimately silly. We were there really just to enjoy time together in a new place, so it would be disappointing not to get all the Mold-A-Ramas we came for, but nothing to get truly upset about. I did call ahead before we settled into our plan to make sure the machines were running before driving to the other side of the country, and they assured me they were, so the two powered down machines were only a temporary setback. We hit them again after lunch on our way out of the park and sure enough they yielded our precious plastic toys.
They were all figures we already have from other zoos, but they were all good, and the machines worked well. We got another waving gorilla, the three monkeys, a triceratops, giraffes, a lion, a panther, an elephant, and a hippo.
A new twist on the machines: They take credit cards now, and the price seems to have gone up universally from $2 to $3.
An excellent day and an excellent haul! I can't believe we actually have Mold-A-Ramas we got ourselves from San Antonio. I love that those little plastic animals represent such a fun family adventure. It was a great trip.
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