cutting and sticking has left me a worn out shell of a woman

[Cappucino]

and all I have to show for it is a glue-soaked bit of ripped off cardboard box with four foam hearts clinging precariously to the edges

every glitter star on the kitchen floor is nothing but a mocking reminder of the hollow dreams I had of what parenthood would be like

my soul is tired

[MrsBadgerAvecUneVoiture]

[passes corkscrew to Cappucino]

[motherinferior]

And I bet your children are frolicking happily in your misery, too.

[motherinferior]

Am impressed that you tried, though. I find taking the Inferiorettes to the local museum for Art and Craft sessions on the odd Saturday afternoon is as cuttingandstickingy as I can manage.

[Gingerbear]

Glitter is an evil invention.
Gluing and sticking are best left to nursery/school.
Smart/ Smarteenies/ Blue Peter be dammned for all eternity.

[Marina]

Am I glad to be number-crunching a poxy spreadsheet while I delegate this sort of horror to permanently cheery playworkers...

[Cappucino]

it wouldn't be so bad if I actually had something pretty to look at

some recognisable glittery item

not this bit of box

[motherinferior]

My children are doing a 'cookery day' with DD2's splendid childminder. I have been out for an uncharacteristic weekday lunch (admittedly after finishing a rather stressful editing stint) and am supposedly researching an article while beaming through the effects of an uncharacteristic weekday glass of wine.

Working parenthood is very underestimated.

[Cappucino]

I actually am supposed to be working. My mother is over giving them dinner

but it is too much after what I have had to go through

[motherinferior]

Can I suggest that if she's there, well, you don't need to be...and you sneak out for a civilised piece of cake in a caff, preferably a posh one not infested with children to remind you of sadder times?

[Cappucino]

then the game would be up

it would be obvious I wasn't making a grant application

[motherinferior]

Ooo, what are you applying for?

[Cappucino]

funding for schools performing arts

allegedly

[motherinferior]

I reckon Arty Stuff counts as practical research. Fieldwork, yet. So you can take the application with you. In your bag. Along with a frivolous magazine. You could take the box too, as a practical manifestation of under-eights' artwork which is a demonstration of the creative continuum which your application seeks to support and extend in a range of media.

[CappucinoTheHaikuPedant]

ooh you're good

you've done this before

[motherinferior]

Not applications (although my partner is one of the people who gets applications, not in arts stuff though) but you should see the report I edited this morning...no wonder I needed that glass of wine.

[Cappucino]

are you freelance then?

[Bink]

This seems like a good thread to hijack to say that nearly all of Monday was spent eliciting (coercing?) home-made collagery 80th birthday cards (for my dad, tomorrow) out of dd and ds and that was way harder (and I am prouder of) than anything I get done at work.

[Cappucino]

I think if you're going to do them for an occasion you're safer making them yourself and then pretending the children did it

this box creation is supposed to be a halo for an older cousin, ffs

christ knows what she'll think when she sees it

[motherinferior]

Oh, and in answer to your question, Cappucino, yes. But not Funding Stuff. Writing Stuff. Or rewriting Other People's Stuff.

[Cappucino]

that sounds good. I used to love editing when I was in newspapers. I liked the power