Some of their skills are, of course, more marketable than others. Take for instance, my twins. Molly and Austin are 11 years old, and their school has recently completed a Tae Kwon Do unit in gym class. This was really exciting for them, because they had both taken lessons on their own a few years ago, so it was a chance for them to excel a little bit. (I don't know about you, but the words "excel" and "gym" would never have been used in the same sentence to describe my life... unless there was a "not" in there somewhere!).
So, last night was their belt testing (all of the students tested for and received a yellow belt... my kids are actually blue belts, but I think the idea of testing with their friends was still pretty cool. Here's a shot of the group (actually before everyone was fully assembled... I think they had about 150 kids by the time everyone arrived)
My kids have all enjoyed martial arts (karate at first, then later Tae Kwon Do) and I have to say I think it's great for a variety of reasons -- physical activity, discipline, respect, persistence... the list goes on. But the very cool thing about Tae Kwon Do is the board breaking. For each belt, from the very first, the student is required to break a pine board (for the kids it's usually 1/2" to 3/4" thick). The first time you see it, you're sure someone is going to break a bone, but even the littlest of the kids can do it. It was especially exciting to watch 150 kids breaking boards!
So Molly and Austin have their talents, although so far we haven't found any that will pay for mom's retirement. Emma, on the other hand, may be on to something!
Emma is 14, a freshman in high school, and a very talented artist. Here's her most recent work
Now I know I'm her mom, but I just think this picture is amazing. Scary good. So good that I wanted it to be able to carry it around with me all the time. So, I went on over to Unique Skins and had it made into a skin for my phone. What do you think?
I didn't apply it perfectly, but I think it came out very cool. The back is just the hair and the earring and jewel... it almost has a woodtone look.
So, I'm thinking that I get Emma to work producing more of these masterpieces, and get her selling prints and skins for phones, iPods, laptops... While reminding her of the investment her loving parents have made in art lessons, computers, paints, etc. Who knows, I may end up with the deluxe suite at the nursing home!
The astute among you may have noticed that there was no knitting in this post. This is because the stupid scarf still has me aggravated. I don't actually like how it looks at at narrower width. I think I'm just frogging the whole thing and reskeining and finishing the yarn, and waiting for future inspiration. If you have any ideas for something that can be made with a couple hundred yards of dk-weight yarn, let me know. Otherwise, I'll have to find something to marry it with in the future.
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