Tag Archives: EGP Award

EG Parent Award #64

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We all have that one story… 

Okay, I have at least a dozen.

The “I had a great idea from the interwebs and totally nailed it!” story.

  
What is that?!? Oh, that was just my attempt at a Charmander cake for Nefarious – and of course I ran out of icing while doing this. At 11pm. See – nailed the cake AND parenting with birthday cake preparation.

This week’s EG Parent Award DID NAIL IT! Probably as much a surprise to himself as the rest of us. Especially if you have read his previous ‘handyman’ posts.

  
Bruce at Big Family Little Income has done it again. Yeah, we have a thing going on (blog-speaking of course) but the man has outdone himself this time.

  
He even shared instructions on his page – including a warning of exactly how many beers it will take to remove the Little Tikes stickers.

The heartbreaking part is we live too far away to steal this from him. Zaltu thinks it’s purrfect. 

Oh well. To the Garage!!

EG Parent Award #61

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You are probably already aware of this one, and I’ll be honest – I really should have posted it last week. But to use a new catchphrase I am madly loving right now:

Image courtesy of Dad and Buried

Image courtesy of Dad and Buried

You really should check out Dad and Buried (Facebook). His blog is equally as funny. Although he is not the EG Parent Award recipient this week, he has been pretty darn close. It’s only a matter of time…

Anywho, the actual recipient this week is… Jonathan L (GeekDad) with his absolutely adorable 2yo.

It is not enough that she refers to the Protocol Droid as “Creepio”, but she has the sweetest little voice for the Imperial March. Well done, Dad!!

That kid is going to have a musical future. Mark my words.

EG Parent Award #58 – It’s Just a Patch

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A little while ago, I came across an awesome woman, Rebecca Millar from Geek Grrls. A humble mum in Australia, who is studying and working while being … well, an awesome mum.

dolls

Photo courtesy Geek Grrls (Facebook Page)

At first, I shared her Facebook Page, aimed purely at her ability to transform the most horrid of Bratz or Monster High dolls in to beautiful offerings to many SF/F goddesses.

BTW: This project started out from the frustration in the lack of female dolls in geeky merchandise. An ongoing issue that is gradually changing as seen in the new DC Superhero Girls series. Gradual change.

But did Rebecca stop there? Hell no.

Recently her daughter has been diagnosed with a ‘lazy eye’; treatment being a patch over one eye during day (to encourage the lazy one to get its act together).

As with most young spawnlings, Rebecca’s daughter wasn’t exactly thrilled on this idea. Not in the slightest.

So Rebecca appealed to her daughter’s geeky-interests. “You get to be Nick Fury!!”

YEAH BABY!

And then her daughter said, Mum gets to be an Avenger too!!

nick fury patch

Photos courtesy Geek Grrls (Facebook Page)

How awesome is this?!? Cosplay to help medical treatment AND the love between parent and spawnling to share the cosplay!!

You, my dear lady, are an awesome parent. Evil Genius Parent – for finding a way to encourage the medical treatment, and encouraging your daughter to include you in her fun. Double points.

EG Parent Award #57

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Cosplay. I love it. The Spawnlings love it. And I would be lying if I didn’t say I was totally surprised by the enthusiasm of EG Dad when he expressed how much he loves it.

Tho15003-Best-Part-Of-Being-Over-40ugh, in hindsight – I shouldn’t have been surprised. This is the guy who turned up at the cinema with EG Bell (his sister) dressed as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. For the premiere of Independence Day at the movies.

Yes, they completely embarrassed their friends. Yes, they had a great time. No, there are no photos (it was even before me).

But tonight’s award is not about EG Dad. That would be a tad unfair and ‘un-sportsman-like’, considering the outrageous advantage he has over all of you (NB: Me).

Tonight’s award is for another parent. A parent who not only supports her spawnling in their quest for cosplay fandom, but is happy to take upon the role of “prop holder” and “lesser-known movie character”. A parent who understands the need for simplicity to be able to afford the support for the family. A parent who has no problem hearing “your daughter looks great, but who are you? … Who? … Never heard of them” because THEY KNOW THEIR GEEKDOM, YOU TRY-HARD!!

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On your left is Jen. Doesn’t she look awesome! For the uninitiated, Jen is cosplaying Arrietty from the Miyazaki film of The Secret World of Arrietty (based on the book The Borrowers).

On your right, is her spawnling and spawnling’s friend, cosplaying Kiki and Tonbo – from Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Apparently, everyone knew who THEY were. But poor Jen was asked all the time. Seriously? Sure, it was a smaller convention, outside of your usual big cities – but damn! Jen’s outfit is spot on.

Yes, given the other two looked pretty good too… but still!

The thing is, Jen was telling me about how much fun the spawnlings had making the costumes (as did Jen). It was a real opportunity to shop around, fine-tune their creativity and learn some new skills. As with anything, there is always one particular item that is really hard to get, but totally makes the cosplay that when you find it – you can’t stop pointing it out. In this case, it was Kiki’s red radio. Complete with song to play whenever they felt like it. THAT is the personal touch that I love.

So Jen – you are this week’s EG Parent Award recipient. And may you find many more reasons to push your spawnling into the limelight (and hopefully embarrass them along the way).

Bring out your cosplay!! It’s time we started looking at cosplay inspiration again! Share your ideas, and any cool tips you learnt along the way!

EGP Award #56 – Parenting Blindfolded

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Today I evoked the utmost empathy from a fellow parent:
11709583_850391171708825_8079491538036555676_nLet’s just take a step back though. Let me paint you a picture.

I hate shopping. I hate all kinds of shopping. Grocery shopping. Clothes shopping (the worst). Gift shopping. Souvenir shopping. Anything to do with shopping. In theory, I should be unbelievably wealthy – but there’s a little thing called online shopping which keeps the spawnlings at bay, and our bank accounts empty. *Go back in your corner, LEGO*

But I also love food. Chocolate particularly. And we had none in the Lair. Absolutely none. Bloody travesty, right there.

So I made the mistake of ducking into the local shopping centre with Zaltu to pick up some goodies. Especially since Sinister had just competed in his first Eisteddfod, and Nefarious has avoided making fellow classmates cry for the last 2 weeks – rewarding with food seemed totally legit.

Except for the damn shopping centre. When you are a regular adult minion, you walk around the standard shopping centre and see it like this:

  • haMJsNotice the clear pathways between shops.
  • Notice the direct routes you can take from carpark to whichever merchant has attracted your attention today.
  • See the politely placed “floating vendors” along the walkways.
  • Even the food court seems neatly balanced, with space to mosey-on around at your leisure.

This seems in theory to be a beautiful laid-out shopping centre, specifically designed for your shopping pleasure.

WRONG!

This is what it really looks like to any parent with young children:

Map 2 Do you see those bright red stars on the map?

They are “Shopping Centre Rides”.

Or at least, that is their ‘polite name’.

I prefer to call these “Shopping Centre Landmines”, strategically placed around shopping centres to attract young children and elicit the most epic of melt-downs. And just when you think you have avoided the Peppa Pig Space Shuttle – BAM! There’s Thomas the Tank Engine with his creepy smile and alluring whistle. Damn, I hate those guys.

Today’s culprit was the Hot Wheels car outside Woolworths (picking up chocolate, remember?). I had put it off as we walked in, but ended up caving to Zaltu’s demands on the way out. Don’t judge me – it’s not like YOU have never negotiated with terrorists. images

Don’t get me wrong – I’m as tight as a Fish when it comes to money at the moment (read: family escape holiday soon), so I didn’t put any money in it. That didn’t help – she was transfixed. And this one was smart.

Normally, if it has a screen the screen will show part of the ride and then flick to a title shot before looping back again. But not this one. This was on a continuous loop, with no clear break – the car on the screen just kept driving around the damn track. And when I said time to go, Zaltu merely asked to stay to watch the finish.

But the damn thing never finishes. NEVER.

I ended up picking her up (and the groceries) and hauling her cute terror butt out of the ride towards the lifts.

At which point this sweet dad gave me the “I understand” look. And glanced down to his matching 2yo spawnling.

WHO HAD A BLIbirthday-party-blindfoldNDFOLD ON HIM, WHILE DAD WAS WALKING HIM OUT THE SHOPPING CENTRE.

And that, my minions, is how you beat the damn Shopping Centre at their vicious game.

Evil Genius Parent Award #45

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The greatest parenting advice ever given to me was from EG Opa:

Make sure your kids believe you are capable of anything.

An-ny-thing.

Coming from a man with a State Champ Black Belt in Karate, I definitely believed he could do anything. Protector and chief strategist; I know he would fight to the death for me, while stealthy ninja stalking my last donut.

Sneaky bastard.

But this latest EGP Award recipient goes one better. It’s clear this parent “knows people” – people who can take care of it.

People like … The Tooth Fairy

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This TF means business.

Of course, we already knew you don’t mess with the Tooth Fairy. But hey – things just got real.

I like their style.