The Tae Kwon Do Confetti Board Tutorial

Scout's Black Belt exhibition is this weekend...
and for his program he wanted to end with a Confetti Board - I said "What???" - he wanted a board to break and spew Red and Black confetti all over the stage...

...First we had to see if this would be allowed - and Yes - it's allowed - they have to sweep all of the splinters from all the board breaks off the stage in between each exhibition program anyway - so confetti will be no problem...

...Then we went on a 'local' search for some sort of balsa wood or veneer to build a board with - but alas, here, we have no local source and no time to order - so of couse we improvised......I cut a hole in the center of some boards and printed a 'wood' texture on some buff coloured construction paper......I just cut strips and then little squares from Red and Black construction paper for the confetti......spread some glue on the board and......pressed the paper on......then I flipped the board over and filled it with confetti......spread glue on this side......and attached another sheet of wood textured paper......and trimmed the edges......we made two just in case...

...and we made a test board to practice with in the gym here...
...it worked PERFECTLY...

Colour Week - YELLOW

Today's colour is YELLOW and I'm loving going through the house finding YELLOW...

It's funny because I thought there would be a lot more sunny YELLOW than Red or Orange but it hasn't really turned out that way - I do have an entire bright YELLOW bathroom so maybe that makes up for the lack of yellow elsewhere...
...but of course I started here in the office and couldn't find much YELLOW - there's a tiny bit on the handle of these pliers - I'm trying to fix Scout's little dynamo - it was so neat for camping when it worked - I think the gears are just 'off'......But wait...on top of the bookcase there's one of Nanny's crocheted doilies......I won't show you the YELLOW and Orange towel again as that seems to have frightened some people :) ...in the living room is Scout's little Galileo thermometer...then in the kitchen is a bunch of bananas (slightly overripe - I can feel banana bread coming on)......BTW - did you know that I've been peeling bananas WRONG all my life - you're supposed to peel them from the bottom - who knew......On the counter is Scout's new very YELLOW camera......and I just finished sewing all of the patches on his new Black Belt uniform and they are all bordered with YELLOW...

Colour Week - ORANGE

This is so much fun and I love how it changes your perspective just a little bit to go on a search for just one colour......once again I started here where I sit and looked for some ORANGE - and I found a little bit too......Next room as I head up the hallway on my search is Scout's - and admittedly most of the ORANGE found in the house belongs to him - this is his Pinewood Derby car from 2 years ago - it sits on a shelf in his room - I remember when he made it he had to find just the perfect colour of ORANGE......the release of the new Harry Potter movie spurred a renewed interest in all of the books - Yes - we have seen the movie - and Yes - we liked it a lot in spite of all the differences from the book - we didn't make it to the midnight showing but we were at the earliest matinee yesterday......I could post a picture of Scout's belt rack every day this week - I think all of the colours are represented - ORANGE is the first colour belt - symbolizing the acceptance of the instructor who now considers you a 'student' of the gym......the next room up the hallway is the bathroom - and I managed to find some ORANGE even there......in our bedroom some of the Man's tools - including a neon ORANGE tape measure - all of this really needs to be put away......now we're in the kitchen - where I was sure to find some ORANGE - I don't know if terra cotta truly qualifies for ORANGE or not - this is a little flower pot decorated as a gift from Scout's Kindergarten teacher - that would make it 5 years old - my how time flies......Scout's latest thrift find - I already posted about this one......and last in the kitchen we have some very ORANGE Vegan junk food......now downstairs - Oh my - someone really needs to pick up his ORANGE toys......and in the 'Train Room' there's quite a bit of ORANGE as that's apparently THE Lionel colour... ...a few more ORANGE boxes (some empty - as they are currently attached to a train) on the shelf...
...and finally a crumpled box that still contains the Man's old viewmaster - just the box is ORANGE - the viewmaster is black...

Colour Week - RED

Elizabeth at My Crafty Mess is sponsoring Colour Week.
Today's colour is RED - this is such fun!

At first I thought there would not be that much RED around the house but - I started looking around my workspace first and found several RED items...
...I love that even my mouse glows RED...
...That was without even getting up out of my chair - the little pencil topper was a Valentines Day giftie from Scout......so I stood up and walked past this bookcase with this sort of eclectic grouping of RED items......then on up the hall on a search for RED and found one of the Man's caps hanging on the closet door......Past the living room where of course we have RED sofas......turning the corner into the kitchen takes you past the china cabinet - where the only RED is Grandma's old coffee grinder (we actually used this coffee grinder when we were first married - we were such 'coffee snobs' then......we've recovered......apparently the Man left these RED berries sitting out on the counter overnight (he did the shopping yesterday)......the piano recently moved into the dining room (still not so sure I like it there but the Man tells me that all of the music in his Mamaw's house was played in the dining room) and sitting on the piano are a couple of RED Lutheran Hymnals (the actual colour of these was listed as Cranberry when we ordered them)......and finally hanging on the door on the way out of the house (through the garage) where they can't be forgotten hang not one but two RED knitting bags...

Donating...or...Thrifting

Scout and I took some of our 'junk' to donate to the local charity thrift shop - I have to be careful when I do this as I don't want to come home with more than I drop off - Usually I'm only 'looking for' sheets for my Lutheran World Relief quilts - but Scout happened to find this old Orange Juice Pitcher - he said 'Look Mom - this will be perfect for my orange juice' - and it truly is his Orange Juice - the Man rarely drinks any and if I drink very much at all it causes little blisters inside my mouth - ouch - but Scout can (and often does) drink OJ with every meal - we just make sure he drinks with a straw (better for the teeth)......I'm pretty sure that's not the original topper - but Scout loves it because he can hold it on tightly and shake up the juice......now if they only had that little set of glasses that went with the pitcher...

More Baby Birdies

The little birds are everywhere up here right now - they love our deck furniture - which we actually keep in the yard in the only shade that we have - our deck gets full sun in the evening and is not a very comfortable place to sit...These little birds rest here and are still fed by their mama and papa...
...we love watching them - but not cleaning up their poop...

It appears that Mrs. Kildeer will not nest in our yard this year - we're so sad about this - but the sexton put down fill dirt and planted grass on the rocky barren place where she always nested and apparently the new sod is not to her liking - she's been with us every year so we miss her a lot - hopefully she is well and happy and nesting somewhere nearby...

'Oven Baked Squash'

Kala from Vegan Craftastic commented on my post about frying squash that she breads her squash and bakes it...

...so of course I had to get out the ole Veg-O-Matic and try it...

...I spritzed the pan with some oil - dredged my squash in some cornmeal and placed them on the pan - then I also spritzed the tops of the squash with some canola oil too...

This was such a great side dish - a little bit different texture from the fried variety but still very good...