A more organised school year

If your DC's schools are anything like mine, you get a ton of diary events thrown at you via newsletters, emails and tiny printed notices until its impossible to keep track of it all! So yes, I gave in and made one of those Post-it Note school year calendars. And I love it!

I knew I was going to use these small square "full adhesive" post-its so I needed a paper big enough for 5 x 5 squares to fit in. Its only going to be for school days so I haven't put Sunday/Saturday in there.

I don't have a printer that could print a A3 size template so I drew one with black pen on a large sheet of cartridge paper. I gave the lines a slight squiggle to make it look like photocopy or stamped effect.
Leaving blank the days that have passed, I wrote (as neatly as I could) the dates at one corner and finally the month on a larger piece of Post-it.

Not bad for a hurried job? You could use a pristine sheet of paper unlike mine (with a fold across the middle).

I will post a printable template for A4 paper (you'll need 2 x A4 sheets glued together)

STUFF I USED:

1. Post-it Super Sticky 50.8mm x 50.8mm Full Adhesive Notes Pad
2. Post-it Index Ruler Set includes Index Arrows
3. Sharpie Twin Tip Marker - Black
4. Cartridge Paper - Card - A3 - 220gsm

Kim Kardashian discovers racism exists

Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and baby North at a Vogue photo shoot

Kim Kardashian on having a bi-racial child

I discovered this via Jezebel and I'm surprised to say that it is indeed a thoughtful post. I don't have anything against Kim,  I'm not terribly aware of celeb goings-on. Nothing like becoming a mum to mixed race children to wake you to the complexities of prejudice in the western world. I find it hard to believe the Kardashian sisters never faced any kind of race-based discrimination before? Perhaps wealth and privilege can totally hermetically seal you against life. Perhaps they never ventured into the sort of redneck country where racism grows ripe and flourishes.

However, they have encountered a backlash from the moneyed folks of the Hamptons:

Residents want to keep the Kardashians out.

This desirable zip code is described by Forbes as the favoured home for many multi-billionaires. Its hard to translate this nicely, but, yes its a haven for rich, white people. While the Kardashians may hail from Armenian stock they're as much born and bred in America as any other Hamptonian (is that even a word, do I even care…?).

What people are saying about her daughter's hair

Alyssa Lyons with her daughter

What People are saying about my daughter's hair

Alyssa Lyons, like me, has a multi-ethnic family with children who inherited their genes from a diverse range of nationalities. In her case, the comments they attract have ranged even farther from "Are they really your children?" Were I in her place I would be hard put not to smack the commenter…

You see, my daughter is multiethnic, born of a Puerto Rican and Irish mother and a Jamaican father, and her ambiguous racial identity lends itself to commentary about her hair. Sometimes, I wonder whether people are simply complimenting on my daughter's hair, and question myself for racializing the issue. I've considered that maybe people are simply complimenting her and that I shouldn't take it too seriously.  

But then I realize -- it's always about her hair.

Grrr. Again, it's an increasingly multi-ethnic world. Have these people been living under a rock somewhere? Have they not noticed all these people with a mix of racial features and colouring walking around? On the other hand, if they have lived all their lives in a town like ours, they've probably never seen a "coloured"/"ethnic"/"multicultural"/(insert dainty PC term here) person before in their life. Much like the ones who still glare at me as I go past.