the mother of invention

Well, we're deep in the thick of forth grade market day. Blah. Two years ago Kate's group decided to do Michigan/Michigan State sugar cookies, which sounds fine and good, until you have to bake and frost 40 of them the night before. (There were so many food items to compete with that by the time they paid back the investor they had a grand total of $2 to contribute to their Philippine sister school. Zeeland Christian really should change the name of Market Day to Bake Sale Day. Just saying.) I was so determined that Elia not do a food product that I've been brainstorming ever since the cookie fiasco of 2015. I even created a prototype of a marshmallow shooter with (ok, for) Elia. It was fun, cheap, easy, and, for those who enjoy marshmallows, tasty! For reasons Elia can't fully explain to me, they have decided to forgo the shooter idea, and wanted to do either a duct-taped tin can garden planter, a duct-tape tin can pencil holder, or donut holes on a stick. Fine. I fished the tin cans out of our recycling, cleaned them, and helped Elia make a fancy garden pot. But when her group pitched these three ideas to Kate's class yesterday, they all voted for the freaking donut holes. (Kate promised she'd voted for the garden cup, but she was only one of three.) Elia, of course, now wants to dip these donut holes in frosting and put some special designs on them...you know, Michigan/Michigan State type of designs. Of course this will all have to be done the night before. I hate 4th grade market day.*

Anyhow, as I was creating the super-cool marshmallow shooter (the beauty is in the simplicity and the polka-dot balloon, courtesy of my 6-year-old neighbor--thanks Charlotte!), it got me thinking of inventions. On one hand,

I feel as though everything under the sun has already been thought of. How can we determine who thought of what first? Who created the first paper clip? Johan Vaaler in 1899, you silly goose, but had he not, are you telling me we'd have nothing to hold our papers together? Had Alexander Flemming not discovered the very special "mold juice" that was capable of killing a wide range of harmful bacteria (penicillin), would no one else have figured this out? What about Play-Doh? Potato Chips? Post-it notes? (Seems I've gotten stuck in the P's). And these are all physical things, what about thoughts or theories? My brother used to swear he came up with the second verse of "Eye of the Tiger" and that it just so happened to be similar to Survivor's version. Oh, he'll deny this loudly if he reads this, but I remember what I remember. (I don't think he even knows I blog so I should be safe.)

I heard on NPR the other day about a man who was so very bothered by the incorrect grammar on store signs around his town, that he created the 'apostrophiser'--a broom handle with two sponges and a number of stickers, so he can correct apostrophes in the dark of night. Over-kill? Absolutely. But if you had to drive by Mike's Motor's every day, it might just drive you to a similar fate.

As Greg was cleaning out one rather large stack of paperwork over spring break, he came across some blueprints for what he'd called the iBoard.

Unfortunately he did not pursue this line of work, and instead moved on to mapping English literature, so we're not enjoying the perks of endless money and fame. Another missed opportunity is when I, in essence, invented the concept of Pandora. In high school I listened to the radio a lot, and would always say (to myself if to no one else), "How cool would it be if everytime a song came on the radio that you liked you pressed a "like" button, and it'd save to your playlist, and soon you'd only have the songs you enjoy!" We are geniuses, I tell you.

Though Greg and I enjoy sitting on our ideas until someone else becomes rich from them, maybe our children will grab our genius torch and run with it. They say that necessity is the mother of invention, but based on my children's production prowess, sometimes I feel as though I just might be the mother of invention as well.

When Elia was but 6, she drew out plans for a high efficiency snow removal system. It included a truck, a plow, a coat rack, and a full-sized couch. (Sometimes I think she hangs out with Greg too much--check out this life-sized iphone he created for a film shoot.)

She also created a bird condo unit, a Frozen-themed pinball machine for a school project,

and just last weekend discovered a 100% natural swing in our back yard.

She cut herself writing on stone with a stone, so she fashioned a bandaid out of a leaf. (I think she may be setting herself up for moving out to our back yard.) Last year when she tried out for DI (an apparently highly exclusive creative club at school) Elia drew out the plans for a dog car-wash, and had she spent more than three minutes on it, she just may have gotten admitted, or at the very least gotten some dogs super clean! Last year Kate created a sound deterrent for class, using only some mittens, styrofoam, duct tape...and a hair pin. (Actually, not a hair pin, I was throwing in a Macgyver reference for you.)

As I read over this (as I tend to do at least once), I'm realizing that there may be a difference between ingenuity and invention. But as it's now Friday, and I have had a rather busy week creating marketable items for elementary students, let's not split hairs, shall we? Wait a second, a hair-splitter...I may be on to something!

*Guess what else happens in 4th grade? Learning to play the recorder, and if anyone has missed hearing "Hot Crossed Buns" since you learned to play the recorder, Elia would love to share it with you.