Weekend Fun

Scenes from this weekend in my world.

1. collecting dill that the frost missed  2. making pumpkin puree  3. foofee cat napping  4. dottie girl headed to the garden  5. planting garlic - 72 cloves  6. while miss kitty watched  7. also planted green onions - 24 bulbs  8. my happy Mr. and pepper the hen

MarshMallow Wha?

My sister and I were jaunting about town today, going through a large list of stops that I had created and she added to, and having a lovely time at it.  We went from Inglewood to Old Hickory to Hendersonville to Goodlettsville to Millersville to home again home again jiggity jig.  Our last stop was at the Save-A-Lot for my groceries mainly because I love their cake mixes.  Really, they rise all the way across not just in the middle.  Plus I love a good chance to save money on groceries and I certainly do there.  We happened to need to go back up the first aisle and a lot of times this is where they have goods that are not always in stock.  Well today... I found a goodie.  Matter of fact I bought three.  One for home one for the DC and one for gingerbread houses next week.  The product I found was Kraft Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits.  You know... the tiny marshmallows that you find in hot chocolate pouches? 

And I don't know about you, but I am still one of those kids that saves the marshmallows in a good bowl of Lucky Charms by eating all the other stuff first and then separating the marshmallows by color and eating the by which one has the least first.  What an odd ball.  All of that to say that I am in lurve with these things!  You can put them in cookies, on cupcakes and you better bet I whipped up a mug of hot chocolate tonight just to have something to put them in.  Who am I kidding?  I did it so I would stop eating them straight!  I plan on dreaming about them.  Once the hot chocolate buzz wears off.  "I should have known better" is what I was telling myself whilst making it.

These might be on every shelf in every grocery store across America but I've never seen them before.

Add some YUM!

Yeah... this is another oddity of me... I like to read grocery store ads.  Especially Publix.  I can't believe I missed out on their 2 for $7.00 Oscar Meyer Bacon today!  Mental kick in the tush for not picking this up before I went in there in search of jelly beans that look like rocks.  Which I found.

Best Clay Ever

Seriously, this is the easiest and most kid friendly recipe I have found.  I by kid friendly I don't mean it is edible.  I would eat it and once it is finished I really don't think you could it is so hard. edit: seriously?! i need to start proof reading.  what i meant to say is... And by kid friendly I don't mean it is edible.  I wouldn't eat it and once it is finished I really don't think you could it is so hard.

This is a great recipe for making charms, Christmas tree ornaments, jewelry, gift tags, whatever!!  We made this at my day care yesterday but I have been itching to make it for a while.  I made the actual clay then the kids pounded it out and cut shapes.  Then I did the baking and they did the painting.  So in the morning hours they made them and after nap time they painted them.  It really worked out especially to give the clay time to harden.  Fantastic stuff I tell you!

Best Clay Ever

1 cup cornstarch, plus more for dusting
1 box 16 oz baking soda
1 1/2 cups water
wax paper

In 2 quart sauce pan, combine cornstarch and baking soda.  Stir in water.  Heat in medium low until thick and begins to form a ball.  This should take about 10-15 minutes depending on temperature of clay.  Turn dough ball out onto cornstarch dusted surface.  Knead until cooled and smooth.  Your clay is now ready to mold and shape or cut out or whatever.  You can store left over clay in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap or a zipper bag for up to three weeks. 

Place shapes on to wax paper lined baking sheets.  Bake in preheated to 300 degrees oven for 30 minutes.  Turn oven off and leave baking trays in the oven for one hour.  Transfer to wire rack to cool.

We used regular acrylic craft paint on ours.  I tried to water down the paint as water color but it absorbed and would take the finishing spray.  I like everything to shine so I gave ours a quick spray of gloss once the paint was dry. 

These are super simple to make and semi-addictive.  One batch makes about two cups of clay and endless possibilities.  The finished product is really hard.  I threw one on the tile floor last night and it didn't break.  Have fun!

 The mashed potato phase.

 OK maybe a little more than two cups.  It does go a long way.

 I love the fingerprints!

These kids were so proud of their work!  Each child made two of which one we made in to a necklace and the other will be on our Christmas tree at the day care.  Fun Stuff!

What We're Reading

As you know I am a big fan of the library.  For the past few years I have used the Davidson County library system to transfer books in and rent DVDs like no body's business!  Lately I have found myself renting more and more books for the kids here at day care.  They really enjoy them and are very careful when handling them.  I have also found that books become scarce when a holiday is coming up.  All, and I mean all, of the kids books with Thanksgiving topics have been checked out for weeks.  I got smart to this real quick and have signed up for Christmas books early.  Most of them were not checked out and some of them were on waiting lists already which means that you probably will not get them in time.  Check out times for books are three weeks.  So what is the point in getting on a waiting list?  Especially when you can renew checked out books.  It all of a sudden seems like a vicious kid book cycle doesn't it?  Regardless... I'm in because it's all about them isn't it!?

These are our books for this week.  As you can see, two of them are still on the Fall-ish theme with pumpkin heads and scarecrows. 

 

The kids in my day care love story time.  And I love taking on character voices and interested faces.  Especially when they say "Again!"  We sometimes read books five and six times each in one sitting.