Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The blank stare strikes again

My mother was over at my house today, and for some unknown reason, I thought I'd show her my latest little projects. They're greeting cards made with old flashcards. The flashcards have sentences printed on them, for kids to practice their reading skills. They're very plain, fairly large, and are printed on both sides. Greeting card fodder!!!

So I show my mother a card I was working on - a card with some decorative pink papers as a background, then a flashcard with the sentence "Thank you for the pretty cake," inserted into a transparency sleeve that takes up most of the front of the card. I was so excited. The sentence was so big and so industrial looking, and so random. I waited for her response to my latest creative binge.

And then I saw it. The blank stare. The "I'm not sure what I'm looking at," stare. The look that says she's trying to figure out what she's going to pretend to be impressed with, but try as she might she just doesn't get it.

Finally she says, "Thanks for the cake? I don't understand..." So I have to explain that the sentence is thoroughly just a random thought, mildly amusing but not intended to be directly relevant to any particular situation. And I explain that the flashcard is two-sided and is destined to become a bookmark that can be easily removed from the front of the greeting card.

And I got the blank stare again, though a bit more concealed.

Argh. Ah well, I still think they're gonna be cool. When I get them finished, I'll post one out here and beg for compliments.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, parents just dont understand sometimes..lol

arlene,
West Bremerton flowers

Denise Felton said...

Your mama SO loves you and your art. She's just very...literal. But she gave you great genes! :)

Janna said...

LOL! You crack me up. I second what Denise said.

idyll hands said...

I used to get that when I'd play my mom a piece of music I liked. In fact, I got that look after my first concert in college. We played some amazing music - but it was 20th century music. Her comment was "That was interesting". I was crush at first, but eh, for each their own!

Oh Mandie said...

My mom does that too! - and it drives me nuts!

the first time I showed her a journal she said "How much do you sell these things for? Cant I just buy a notebook at the dollar store for like $.50"

She didnt get it either - I'm concluding that its a "Mom" thing

Unknown said...

LOL, I am LOVING this post!!! I get that from both my mom and my grandma sometimes. I made the cutest bib from Amy Butler fabrics once, and my Grandma just stared at it. "Well, do you like it?" I asked. Her reply was for me to just make a plain bib and then buy a cherry applique from the store and iron that on.

And when I showed my Fawn picture to my mom, upon completion, she said, "Hmmm... I don't get the sheet music." Uh, whats not to get? Its pretty!!

Anonymous said...

Anne I know that stare well - and I don't even know your mother! Just wanted to tell you I've tagged you, details are on my lastest post :)
Love your kitty too.