Really fun toy (and virtually free, too!)

Chronologically, I worry that I have way too much in common with your average four-year-old. I tend to get really excited about stuff that I suspect most "real" grownups don't get too worked up about....

That having been said - I made a really fun thing today...

It's a bubble blower that blows a gajillion tiny bubbles - the result is similar to that of the Gymboree "Bubble Oodles", but without the six dollar price tag! It's hard to be this cheap, but someone has to do it....

All you need is:

• a clean, empty yogurt container with a lid
  (ironic, since Dannon just discontinued using plastic lids, which actually is a move I support - it's estimated to eliminate over 3 million pounds of plastic annually, which probably just got thrown out...)
  
• a straw
  
• a hole punch
  
• bubble stuff
  

Use the hole punch to punch one hole in the lid of the yogurt container. Punch a second hole in the side of the container itself (place it about half an inch from the top). Pour some bubble solution into the container and place the lid on. Place the straw in the hole on the lid and lower it into the bubble solution. Blow. The bubbles come streaming out of the hole on the front of the cup!

A few notes - obviously, if doing this with children, make sure that the kids understand to blow, not suck, the bubble stuff. (You can place a small pin hole in the straw to make drinking it more difficult...)

I modified this design from one I found online. The original instructions had you punch two holes in the lid - put the straw in one and leave the other empty for the bubbles to come out of. Sounded good in theory - but serious design flaw: the bubbles shoot out of the second hole and RIGHT INTO YOUR EYE!!!!!!!
The redness has almost entirely abated now, thank you...
Moving the second hole to the front of the container is a needed improvement...

Anyway - Scheck and I are headed down to the green space to blow a Brazilian bubbles and practice our game of catch.

This headline cracks me up.....

Saw this story on CNN.com and the headline cracked me up....

Women have known about this for years.... It's how I won Bubba's heart.

Administrivia....

Today has been filled with the kind of things you have to do to keep home and hearth running.

• Went to the Y. (yawn. groan)

• Went to Publix (double yawn - although I did manage to redeem $19.50 in coupons! WooHoo! Not for nothing am I the cheapest woman in America....)

• Did Laundry.
• Did Laundry.
• Did MORE Laundry.... (dear God, will it never end???)

Hopefully, later on tonight there will be time to do something more fun. Although, I must say that my main fun creative projects are kind of at a standstill right now...

In an attempt to rekindle the creative flow, I was lucky enough to purchase a copy of Jess Hutchison's wonderful booklet, Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy. I began by attempting to make Squarey. First of all, he is the one the Scheck picked out of the book as the one that he really, really wanted to have. Personally, I was thrilled. I mean, look at the guy - he's a big square! Seemed like a good way to get my knitting skills back up to par. He was pretty fun and easy to knit up - I've got all of his pieces made - but I am waiting for both his pillow insert, and his eyes (both of which I ordered online) to arrive in the mail so I can put him together.

While waiting for the stuff to come in, I started working on Henry. He's been somewhat more challenging - what with increasing and decreasing and the little double point needles and all - but he's still been fun. However, I've gotten to the point where I need his eyes now, so am at a standstill on him, too....

Nice Weekend

Well, yesterday's post was a mammoth one, so I thought I'd not attempt to tackle anything more... a little overwhelming, no? But the weekend overall was a gorgeous one, and we did some fun stuff.

On Saturday, we (Bubba, Schecky and I) drove up the road a spell to visit Tanglewood Farm.

Oh.... My..... God.....

Imagine, if you will a small "town" filled with miniature farm animals. That's right - minis! 'Lil cows, donkeys, goats, ponies, pigs, sheep, llamas....even a 'lil buffalo! And, of course, the only thing better than tiny farm animals is baby tiny farm animals. We were lucky enough to get there while their January "Baby Fest" was still going on. There may be something cuter than a baby miniature pig, but I'm not sure that I know what it is. (And that's saying something, because as a rule, I am not a big fan of the pigs. Honestly, my affection for the pig pretty much stops at "that's some good eatin' right there....")

Anyhoo, I took a ton of pictures and as soon as I figure out how best to share, I will do so. Any recommendations, anyone? Host 'em here? Flickr and then link to here?

Anyway - I have managed to resist the lure of the baby mini-pig, but I must admit to a certain degree of covetousness toward the mini babydoll sheep. Wonder if there is enough grass in my urban postage-stamp-sized yard to support a sheep? Sure, it's a small yard... but it's a small sheep, too?

I took lots and lots of sheep pics. I loved their little facial expressions - going to have to do something sheep-related. Maybe knit one. I suspect there will be lots of too-precious sheep doodles in my future....

The weather remained freakishly nice on Sunday as well, so we spent some time out in the green space near the house and attempted to teach Shecky how to catch/throw a baseball. Bless Scheck's heart, he doesn't stand a chance.... both his parents are blessed with the athletic ability given to quahogs.... Fortunately, we all have a god sense of humor about this sort of thing...

The "catching lesson" soon disintegrated into a pecan hunt. There are a few huge pecan trees left in the green space (although, there used to be about a dozen, now there are two left) and oddly enough, no one came around and gathered them up. Typically in the late fall, you will see cars drive up and groups of people will hop out with their pecan sacks and completely gather them all up. I guess that with only two trees, they don't seem worth anyone's time?

So - we ended up gathering a huge sackful! Which made me feel all Martha Stewart-y, and "live off the land"-like. Plus, pecans are totally expensive, so, hey - free food! Of course, this means that I'll be stuck shelling nuts for the next two weeks....

I'm Coming In...

This is partially my friend, Phil's, fault....

He was the first one that I knew to have a blog. And I love it. Phil was my good friend, co-worker and neighbor. Then he moved all the way across the country. (I'm sure he could have moved further away, but it would have required leaving the continental United States....) Anyway, his blog, the Digital LandPhil , allows me a small window into his day-to-day life. Even though I can't just drop in on him in person anymore, I can still stop by and see what he is up to, what he is doing, etc.

So, the seeds were sown....blogs are a pretty cool thing....

Then, something happened earlier this year.... I was dinking around, Googling for things that would be interesting, and I stumbled across something I never even knew existed. A cupcake blog: Cupcakes Take the Cake (motto: "All Cupcakes, All the Time") And my life was transformed in a way. Here was a space devoted to cupcakes! And I could not have been more fascinated.... what else is out there? Who else is doing things that are interesting to me??? And within a short time, I discovered:

Molly Chicken
LoobyLu
Jess Hutch
Yarnstorm
Not Martha


Wow! Here I've stumbled across a community of these amazing women who are doing amazing things! Gorgeous, clever, witty crafty things. Delicious, tasty, yummy cooking things. And just living their lives - sharing what they are doing, their wisdom and ideas. I was just blown away.

And a bit jealous, too. It would seem that I've just been drifting lately. Kind of aimless, kind of without goals or inspirations. Which is not how I like to live my life. I mean, it's not horrible or sad - I'm not unhappy. But not happy, either. Just sort of there. So I would read these blogs with such awe, and yes, with envy too. Why wasn't I creative? Why wasn't I trying new things, and experimenting with new ideas?

And then it hit me - there was no reason, nothing standing in my way. Just me.

So, I've given myself a small kick in the pants (because, face it, sometimes that's just what a girl needs - a small self-delivered kick in the pants to get herself out of a funk) and decided to (in the words of one oh-so-wise-philosopher) Do Somethin'

So, here it is. I'm getting back into the kitchen, I'm picking my knitting needles back up, and getting my sketch pads back out....
I'm going to try to become a person with interests, and ideas, and goals again. I'm not sure what all will go here in this blog, but I figure it will grow and develop as I do. Probably a lot of stuff about what I am reading, and cooking and knitting. I'm just tired of feeling listless and aimless. Perhaps there will be something here that will be of interest to you, you are welcome to come along for the ride...

Clear the shallow end of the blog pool. I'm coming in....