Tuesday, February 13, 2007

de la corazon: a pre-St. Valentine day lesson


For my big son, I tie-dyed a thermal and for my petite chiquitita, a small white zip-up hoodie....with plans to add some heart via iron-on. These are clinical looking hearts, I've cut out or painted them or put them on home-made paper. Included in the (to be ironed on later)mix is a mask of Kali, of the West Bengal persuasion. All this ironing on must first be printed out & I got me a sweet printer that occasionally goes on the fritz...you know, just like the average printer only it's been eating the thinner, tastier printer paper here lately. So I choose up my hearts, put in the iron-on transfer paper, clicked okay print and walked away for a little while. Udon noodles were on the stove and a slurpy little boy was awaitin'. When I went back to the printer I was expecting to see my hearts all manifested before me on that little clear plastic arm/catcher thingie....only IT Wasn't There! Oh No, I ran thru all the bad things about this in my mind. I couldn't even see any part of the paper so I was sure it scrunched up the whole thing. No little piece sticking out like usual that I can pry out with the tweezers, dammit. I started wondering if they would take it back because it malfunctioned...I thought, Uh-oh, no more printer because it's a year old and even though I still have the box....the store probably won't take it back. I was starting to feel pretty bummed about the whole thing. Already missing all the fun artsy fartsing I do with my poor old printer. I pressed cancel/resume three times. I turned it off & on and listened to the paper feeder make a pathetic little whirring sound. No heart for the cool tie-dye thermal for G. and no cute little Hoodie for Happy. Sad. Then I looked down and realized I was standing on the paper that had printed my current heart's desire. The printer had printed it beautifully! And spit it out onto the floor. Disaster averted.
The moral of the story being: Don't go thinking the worst right out the gate because you'll end up stepping all over your heart for no good reason. And/or It's important to Look Around.

7 comments:

Beta Fishy said...

What a wonderful valentine's day story and warning. I need to keep that in mind during my daily life.

~Diamond in the rough~ said...

I think we can all use that lesson in our lives. Thanks for the reminder

pinda said...

i sounds a bit like that iron fella from the wizard of ozz-story. (Your printer may want its heart back) Pour mechanical guy. At least he has some toner running trough his vains

Anonymous said...

Tie-dye is lovely. And what a great Valentine's Day story. Plus, printers are weird. :)


RE: I've always been hard on myself and am the least hard on myself I've ever been. :)

Girl of Approval-who doesn't feel like signing in.

Hola, I'm JMac: said...

Love your story and those anatomy hearts are awesome! Cool idea to put them on the tie-dye shirt and hoodie. Happy Valentine's!

Mathew Parkin said...

wowzers, a valentines day miricale/magic!
they do sound like lovely iron on ideas
xx xx xx

Heartful said...

Wow, I love that story, and what a "moral" at the end of it, standing on your heart.