The Handbasket Kitchen was recently remodeled, including a lovely butcher block counter top beside the stove. With that countertop comes the need to season it. With that need, comes a bunch of research. What can we season it with that will serve the purpose, but still be food safe, and preferably environmentally friendly? We finally decided on Mineral Oil.
A little more research, and we find out where to buy the oil. The pharmacy. With the laxatives.
I happily grab the bottle for $5, a bargain! I march up to the teenage boy cashier. Boy looks at the bottle ("intestinal lubricant") and at me... back to the bottle, back to me... Awkward pause, awkward silence which I know I shouldn't fill, but I am compelled.
"Just gotta season up the butcher block before the relatives come for dinner" I tell him happily...
I should have known that would come out as a potty inuendo... the boy just about turned green. Thankfully, I had the wisdom to stop talking, rather than explain to the rest of the store.
April 23, 2011
April 12, 2011
Oldies But Goodies
Christmas, 2009
She's JUST turned 2, and of course speaks in complete sentences.
Off we go on a family visit to the bookstore for GrinchMas... where she quickly becomes obessessed with the Grinch... One Problem...
Momma, member when we saw the Bitch at the Books Place? I yiked that.
GULP... the bitch? think Helena, think... Then it became the game... Is dad a Grinch? No, Dad's not a bitch! Is Momma a Grinch? No, Momma's not a Bitch... are you a Grinch?
YES! I a yittle Bitch! (Jumping up and down and clapping)
Summer 2010
We're temporarily using a different child care while our other provider heals from an injury. This daycare has Christian influences, and says grace with meals. The lil one is off washing her hands, and looks down to see them together in "prayer" position....
"Oh!" she says "Thank you Cheeses!"
Christmas Season, 2010
The "kid friendly" radio station with holiday music, played on the radio, conveniently at about 8:30 AM each weekday morning, about the 12 things at Christmas that are such a pain to me.... The second thing? Rigging up the light.... and as you near the end of the verses, "Now Why the Hell are they blinking?" (links to edited version, which is NOT played on the radio... of course!)
3YO, laughing HYSTERICALLY in the backseat.... "Why the HOL-I-DAY blinking!
Kid Friendly? Kid Safe? I guess... if you have my kids!
She's JUST turned 2, and of course speaks in complete sentences.
Off we go on a family visit to the bookstore for GrinchMas... where she quickly becomes obessessed with the Grinch... One Problem...
Momma, member when we saw the Bitch at the Books Place? I yiked that.
GULP... the bitch? think Helena, think... Then it became the game... Is dad a Grinch? No, Dad's not a bitch! Is Momma a Grinch? No, Momma's not a Bitch... are you a Grinch?
YES! I a yittle Bitch! (Jumping up and down and clapping)
Summer 2010
We're temporarily using a different child care while our other provider heals from an injury. This daycare has Christian influences, and says grace with meals. The lil one is off washing her hands, and looks down to see them together in "prayer" position....
"Oh!" she says "Thank you Cheeses!"
Christmas Season, 2010
The "kid friendly" radio station with holiday music, played on the radio, conveniently at about 8:30 AM each weekday morning, about the 12 things at Christmas that are such a pain to me.... The second thing? Rigging up the light.... and as you near the end of the verses, "Now Why the Hell are they blinking?" (links to edited version, which is NOT played on the radio... of course!)
3YO, laughing HYSTERICALLY in the backseat.... "Why the HOL-I-DAY blinking!
Kid Friendly? Kid Safe? I guess... if you have my kids!
Mincing Words
3YO: Momma, did you see that bite? it was EGLANTOUS! I mean it was weally, weally, weally, WEALLY BENOURMOUS!
April 11, 2011
Mincing Words
Converstaion between Darling Husband, 6 Year Old and 3 Year Old the other night
DH: Kids, I am the cat master
6YO: I am the cat master too!
DH: No, but you are the cat Master in Training
6YO: I want to be a cat master
(This is where I interject that Master in Training has the same initials as his future school, M.I.T.)
DH: Kids, this is important, I am the cat master
3YO: Why are you the cat bastard?
DH: Kids, I am the cat master
6YO: I am the cat master too!
DH: No, but you are the cat Master in Training
6YO: I want to be a cat master
(This is where I interject that Master in Training has the same initials as his future school, M.I.T.)
DH: Kids, this is important, I am the cat master
3YO: Why are you the cat bastard?
April 10, 2011
This Year's Event
This year's party was great! 16 kids in attendance, ranging from 3 1/2 to 7. Most parents stayed, but a few chose not to. My main goal for the past week was to have everything seperated into laundry baskets in the order it was needed, that way, I could walk in with one basket, and then if someone showed up early, I could get things rolling. Otherwise, I could have the buckets out, and take advantage of the kindness of my mom, her husband, my aunt, grama, and other relatives. They've all seen how I run parties, and are AWESOME at playing along and helping out!
We started out with Lego Time at the tables. I searched out a great deal at Toys R Us (birthday coupon for $3, flier with $5 coupon, buy 2 get 3rd free, get free extra mini-set, 20% off one set... , I walked away with 3 large sets and a bonus set for about $22).
Knowing that not every kid is a lego building fan, some mazes and other idea starters were out on the tables as well, such as:
http://robotclub.ab.ca/articles/20/lego-and-duplo-printable-grids
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/space-exploration/printable/34168.html
http://www.printactivities.com/ConnectTheDots/astronaut-dot2dot-2.html
http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Space-Stationery.html
Next, we converted a game from Diane Craft's Active Play into a Meteor Shower. I carefully set it up with the kids, and they really take it from there. Basically, I had about 40 small stuffed "rocks" or Meteors for the kids. They don't want them on their side of the barrier, so they toss them over to the other side. There are kids over there throwing them back though. It seems like 6 years old is a little too old for this as a large group, but since it was a party, and not school, a little chaos is fun, right?
When the game was over, I challenged the kids to stuff all the meteors into the black hole... Just a coffee can with tissue paper hiding the label.. it was tough, and took a few minutes. Meanwhile, all my relatives were busy cleaning up the legos, and putting out the next activity (Did I say thanks? Thanks!).
We had 2 space ship options to create, with supplies for each child to do one of each. One was this flying saucer from Family Fun. The other was a pre-made kit, which I bagged individually. I ran around with a sharpie writing names on saucers and baggies with spaceships, and I know at least one other marker was out there too!
When that started wrapping up, we played "Pin the Person on the Planet," a variation of the game we're all familiar with, right? Each munchkin picked a lego guy (there were about 30 options, and a few extra heads)and a flashcard that showed a planet (from the Target dollar bins). We made sure they knew which planet they were aiming for, then the blindfold, and you stick your lego person onto the lego planet... The "winner" prizes were to one side, and the "consolation" prizes were to the other side, so when the first 5 kids all won, we were able to just let kids pick whichever prize they wanted... no biggie!
Two guys on Mars
Next was the pull string Pinata. I found a lot of VAGUE directions like this...but that was enough to get me started... I used a diaper box, and had the hubby cut a bread crumb canister into 8 one inch sections using a razor blade, covered them in tissue paper, and stuck them on the "top" which was actually the bottom. For the pull strings, we did a whole bunch of ribbons, but one was looped through a few holes I'd punched in the "bottom" flap. I didn't follow these directions, though you could!
The only thing holding the box shut was a layer of tissue paper, and while only one of the two flaps would get pulled open, I counted on gravity and brute force to make all the candy fall out the open side, which it did! Since the theme was Space AND Lego, and the Pinata was Lego, it only seemed fair to fill the pinata with Spacey items... So SUNmaid raisins, STARburst, and MILKY WAY, along with glow bracelets were the goodies. The glow bracelets all cracked when they fell to the floor, which made for a neat effect (and hopefully not too many upset parents, for sending a TON of stuff home with their kids!). We did the "all pull at once" version, I should have made the strings about 3 feet instead of the 2, but it worked fine. Each kid had a baggie (no ziplock, just the cheapies) in one hand, with their name for collecting, we counted to 6 and PULL! I super curled the key ribbon so I could make sure it got pulled too.
Last was, of course, CAKE! We changed some of the directions from that website, NECO wafers are so hit or miss, we left them out entirely... I added Oreos to the filling layer. We talked through the beverages, but the easiest option was juiceboxes... at the last minute I decided to offer water as well... good thing.. it was about a 50/50 split for the kids!
On the way out the door, of course, everyone received a goodie bag. Each one had Lego Crayons (made from the molds, which are tough to come by, at least in the US), a Space/Lego booklet, Lego Magazine, a space toy from a Space Toob, and a little lego kit, all in a brown paper bag, which was big enough to hold everything but the Flying Saucer...
Soundtrack to the party:
I am the Highway, Audio Slave
Why does the Sun Really Shine, They Might Be Giants
Airplanes, B.o.B.
Speed and Velocity, They Might Be Giants
Satellite, Dave Matthews
Bad Moon Rising, Creedance Clearwater Revival
See you on the Moon, Great Lakes Swimmers (off for the kids 3)
Spacegrass, Clutch
Why does the sun shine?, They Might Be Giants
Rocket Man (punk rock cover), Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
We are All Earthlings, The Muppets
Space Oddity, David Bowie
Blue (Da ba dee), Eiffel 65
Across the Universe, Jim Sturges (covering Beatles)
How Many Planets?,They Might Be Giants
Countdown, Rush
Rocket Man, Elton John
Fly me to the Moon, Matt Dusk (but Frank Sinatra would work too!)
I don't want to live on the moon, Ernie and Shawn Colvin on Elmopalooza
What is a shooting star?, They Might Be Giants
Items included in the activity booklet:
http://www.printactivities.com/ColoringPages/Space-Coloring-Pages/space-travel-road-signs.html
http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes/Shape_Mazes/Astronaut-Maze.shtml
http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes/Math-Mazes/Space-CountingBy1s.shtml
http://www.printactivities.com/ConnectTheDots/Planet-Dot2Dot.shtml
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/devices/spaceshuttle/label/
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/space-exploration/printable/34168.html
http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Space-Stationery.html
http://creative.lego.com/en-us/parentscorner/activities/default.aspx
http://www.1800dentist.com/LEGO-Battles-coloring-pages
http://www.livinglocurto.com/2010/07/free-printable-lego-bingo-game/
http://www.dltk-cards.com/doorknob/dk4-lego.asp
http://powerminers.lego.com/en-us/downloads/posters.aspx
http://robotclub.ab.ca/articles/20/lego-and-duplo-printable-grids
We started out with Lego Time at the tables. I searched out a great deal at Toys R Us (birthday coupon for $3, flier with $5 coupon, buy 2 get 3rd free, get free extra mini-set, 20% off one set... , I walked away with 3 large sets and a bonus set for about $22).
Knowing that not every kid is a lego building fan, some mazes and other idea starters were out on the tables as well, such as:
http://robotclub.ab.ca/articles/20/lego-and-duplo-printable-grids
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/space-exploration/printable/34168.html
http://www.printactivities.com/ConnectTheDots/astronaut-dot2dot-2.html
http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Space-Stationery.html
Next, we converted a game from Diane Craft's Active Play into a Meteor Shower. I carefully set it up with the kids, and they really take it from there. Basically, I had about 40 small stuffed "rocks" or Meteors for the kids. They don't want them on their side of the barrier, so they toss them over to the other side. There are kids over there throwing them back though. It seems like 6 years old is a little too old for this as a large group, but since it was a party, and not school, a little chaos is fun, right?
When the game was over, I challenged the kids to stuff all the meteors into the black hole... Just a coffee can with tissue paper hiding the label.. it was tough, and took a few minutes. Meanwhile, all my relatives were busy cleaning up the legos, and putting out the next activity (Did I say thanks? Thanks!).
We had 2 space ship options to create, with supplies for each child to do one of each. One was this flying saucer from Family Fun. The other was a pre-made kit, which I bagged individually. I ran around with a sharpie writing names on saucers and baggies with spaceships, and I know at least one other marker was out there too!
When that started wrapping up, we played "Pin the Person on the Planet," a variation of the game we're all familiar with, right? Each munchkin picked a lego guy (there were about 30 options, and a few extra heads)and a flashcard that showed a planet (from the Target dollar bins). We made sure they knew which planet they were aiming for, then the blindfold, and you stick your lego person onto the lego planet... The "winner" prizes were to one side, and the "consolation" prizes were to the other side, so when the first 5 kids all won, we were able to just let kids pick whichever prize they wanted... no biggie!
Next was the pull string Pinata. I found a lot of VAGUE directions like this...but that was enough to get me started... I used a diaper box, and had the hubby cut a bread crumb canister into 8 one inch sections using a razor blade, covered them in tissue paper, and stuck them on the "top" which was actually the bottom. For the pull strings, we did a whole bunch of ribbons, but one was looped through a few holes I'd punched in the "bottom" flap. I didn't follow these directions, though you could!
Last was, of course, CAKE! We changed some of the directions from that website, NECO wafers are so hit or miss, we left them out entirely... I added Oreos to the filling layer. We talked through the beverages, but the easiest option was juiceboxes... at the last minute I decided to offer water as well... good thing.. it was about a 50/50 split for the kids!
He's happy here, I swear!
On the way out the door, of course, everyone received a goodie bag. Each one had Lego Crayons (made from the molds, which are tough to come by, at least in the US), a Space/Lego booklet, Lego Magazine, a space toy from a Space Toob, and a little lego kit, all in a brown paper bag, which was big enough to hold everything but the Flying Saucer...
Soundtrack to the party:
I am the Highway, Audio Slave
Why does the Sun Really Shine, They Might Be Giants
Airplanes, B.o.B.
Speed and Velocity, They Might Be Giants
Satellite, Dave Matthews
Bad Moon Rising, Creedance Clearwater Revival
See you on the Moon, Great Lakes Swimmers (off for the kids 3)
Spacegrass, Clutch
Why does the sun shine?, They Might Be Giants
Rocket Man (punk rock cover), Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
We are All Earthlings, The Muppets
Space Oddity, David Bowie
Blue (Da ba dee), Eiffel 65
Across the Universe, Jim Sturges (covering Beatles)
How Many Planets?,They Might Be Giants
Countdown, Rush
Rocket Man, Elton John
Fly me to the Moon, Matt Dusk (but Frank Sinatra would work too!)
I don't want to live on the moon, Ernie and Shawn Colvin on Elmopalooza
What is a shooting star?, They Might Be Giants
Items included in the activity booklet:
http://www.printactivities.com/ColoringPages/Space-Coloring-Pages/space-travel-road-signs.html
http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes/Shape_Mazes/Astronaut-Maze.shtml
http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes/Math-Mazes/Space-CountingBy1s.shtml
http://www.printactivities.com/ConnectTheDots/Planet-Dot2Dot.shtml
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/devices/spaceshuttle/label/
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/space-exploration/printable/34168.html
http://www.busybeekidsprintables.com/Space-Stationery.html
http://creative.lego.com/en-us/parentscorner/activities/default.aspx
http://www.1800dentist.com/LEGO-Battles-coloring-pages
http://www.livinglocurto.com/2010/07/free-printable-lego-bingo-game/
http://www.dltk-cards.com/doorknob/dk4-lego.asp
http://powerminers.lego.com/en-us/downloads/posters.aspx
http://robotclub.ab.ca/articles/20/lego-and-duplo-printable-grids
April 6, 2011
Over achiever
I like kids' birthday parties.
There, I said it.
Actually, I LOVE them! I love the fun and excitement and singing and cake and frosting (especially the frosting!)
I've been accused of being an overacheiver (moi?)
The thing is, they're fun! I'm too old to have my own party, so YES I will live vicariously through my children, and YES I will go overboard on elaborate schemes, because if I don't, who will, and... it's FUN! Parties I plan have themes, and activities, and movement, and treats, and tradition, and everything else that goes with having a birthday party. Before I had my own children, you'd catch me joining in with other people's party planning. At one point, I looked at a career in planning kids birthday parties... the problem is, I'd go over budget everytime, and spend all the money I took in on "just one more" great idea!
I've done the party place thing. I've been to party places, bowling alleys, Chuck E Cheese, and kids activity places... they're fun, no doubt. One year, I even tried paying to have a party at one of those places. It was just as stressful, didn't go the way I'd have planned it, and I walked away with a sense of disappointment, rather than, I'll admit, the pride I get from the parties I host!
All this to say... My boy's turning 6 in less than a week. He's had a duck party, a train party, a monster truck party, a USA party, a Trick or Treat party and this year... Space Lego party... More to come!
There, I said it.
Actually, I LOVE them! I love the fun and excitement and singing and cake and frosting (especially the frosting!)
I've been accused of being an overacheiver (moi?)
The thing is, they're fun! I'm too old to have my own party, so YES I will live vicariously through my children, and YES I will go overboard on elaborate schemes, because if I don't, who will, and... it's FUN! Parties I plan have themes, and activities, and movement, and treats, and tradition, and everything else that goes with having a birthday party. Before I had my own children, you'd catch me joining in with other people's party planning. At one point, I looked at a career in planning kids birthday parties... the problem is, I'd go over budget everytime, and spend all the money I took in on "just one more" great idea!
I've done the party place thing. I've been to party places, bowling alleys, Chuck E Cheese, and kids activity places... they're fun, no doubt. One year, I even tried paying to have a party at one of those places. It was just as stressful, didn't go the way I'd have planned it, and I walked away with a sense of disappointment, rather than, I'll admit, the pride I get from the parties I host!
All this to say... My boy's turning 6 in less than a week. He's had a duck party, a train party, a monster truck party, a USA party, a Trick or Treat party and this year... Space Lego party... More to come!
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