Sharon's Contest

Sharon at http://adventuresofmycreativity.blogspot.com/ is having a Blogiversary contest - we were in the Plain Vanilla Knit-Along together...

Go over to her blog and leave a comment to enter the contest....

Purple Trim

I'm so proud of the Man-Cub I could bust...

He passed to his purple trim belt last night at Tae Kwon Do - so there was no knitting going on...
Some of the highlights of test night...

I always feel a little bit sorry for the instructors - getting neck chops and scissors...

There was a whole lot of kickin' going on...

I love how they seem to 'hang' in mid air right before a kick...

This was the actual board break - you can see the board is in two pieces...

After the test - there was a Christmas potluck - it was loads of fun...

Christmas Luminaries

These are the recycled tin can luminaries the Man-Cub made at the Pack meeting - very pretty...

Christmas Around the World

Is the theme for this month's pack meeting - we had the boys hold up a card with an image of a christmas tradition from another country.

Ireland - a green shamrock covered fruitcake.
Scandinavia - balsa wood ornaments.
Poland - poppy seed rolls.
Austria - greens and apples and linzer cakes.
England - Punch and Judy, and plum pudding.
Italy - a pyramid shaped Ceppo.
Greece - St. Basil's boat and bread with a coin in it.
India - festival of lights - lotus boats.
Sweden - Santa Lucia crown.
Mexico - Pinata.
That's the Man-Cub with Mexico and a Christmas Tree shaped pinata...

Then for an activity we punched holes in a tin can full of ice to make a candle holder.


But the highlight of the evening was the pinata...

And apparently we're really good pinata makers because it made it through about 30 boys and finally had to be busted by one of our den leaders...

Here is the melee...

We had saved some candy for the ones who didn't manage to grab any...

Angel Candle

The Man's mom had one of these candles when we were in high school - I had never seen one before that and then I had not seen them since - but there is a sort of old timey hardware store here and they stock a lot of neat Christmas decorations and they had them for sale - you light the candles and the heat rising up makes the little angels go around...

The Man-Cub likes to light the candles and sit at the table to read...

I'm trying the video thing again - I hope you can see/hear the angels...

A Christmas Pinata

The Man-Cub and I spent part of the afternoon finishing up a Christmas pinata - it's going to the Pack meeting with us tomorrow - to be completely demolished I'm sure -

We started with a cardboard frame in the shape of a Christmas Tree...

Then we added several layers of newpaper soaked in a water/flour mixture - very goopy and messy that...

We cut a slit and filled the cavity with candy - then we plastered over the slit with some more newsprint - it's pretty heavy at this point. Then we cut strips of colored tissue paper and covered the outside and 'decorated' the tree.

Nativity Update

We finished the Nativity Stable - and we love-love-love it - it turned out perfectly...

We painted it with watercolors - the Man-Cub thought the cracks made it look more realistic - and the whole thing got a coating of satin finish polyurethane...

...and we added a backing of posterboard - the little stick is a dowel rod for the Angel - and the folded flap of cardboard is a sort of easel stand - like on the back of a picture - it folds out to provide some more support....

Normally - Baby Jesus doesn't come out until Christmas and the Three Kings don't come until Epiphany (January 6th) - but they're here early for the picture...

Dishy Scrubby Thingy

I make these little dish scrubbers whenever one wears out...

- they're really cheap (the netting is 77¢ per yard at Stuff Mart) so less than a dime each.

I just cut strips about 1 inch wide from the netting...

...and crochet a circle - it takes about 5 inches to make one circle...


I like mine soft and floppy so I usually just do one thickness - but you can crochet two circles together to make a more substantial scrubber.

I must admit that this 'yarn' is no joy to work with but in about 10 minutes I can create a very functional scrubber...

Dishy Scrubby Thingy Pattern

Chain 5 and join to form a ring.
Rnd 1: 8 sc in ring.
Rnd 2: ch 1, 2 sc in ea sc around. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 3: ch 1, (sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 4: ch 1, (sc in ea of next 2 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 5: ch 1, (sc in ea of next 3 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 6: ch 1, (sc in ea of next 4 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 7: ch 1, (sc in ea of next 5 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 8: ch 1, (sc in ea of next 6 sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join. Pull the little tail of yarn back through the stitch and tuck it into the crochet and you're done...

Hand-made and recycled

I try to make or buy a lot of hand-made things for Christmas - and the Man-Cub has a couple of young cousins (R&D if you're looking - don't spoil the surprise) - so at a local craft fair the other day - we found these cute little horsies - when you rock them they actually make the sound of a cantering horse (Their legs are loose and knock against the center block) - and you can go faster and slower for a trot or a gallop - it really does work and it's so much fun - little character dolls can ride them too - they are so sweet...

The Man-Cub made this 'recycled' Christmas Tree and we have it in the center of our dining room table - it's a folded up Reader's Digest sprayed green and decorated...

...Just a gratuitous photo of our tree - the presents are starting to pile up...

Gingerbread Tree

We always make a gingerbread house - we will this year too - we've just been too busy to do it yet, but a nice lady from our church gave the Man-Cub a Gingerbread Tree kit -

- and he thought it would be nice in the 'yard' of our gingerbread house - when we build it - a quick read of the ingredients and the gingerbread is vegan - YAY - (our gingerbread houses get nibbled) - but the icing is not - no problem 'though - we just whipped up a batch of sugary stuff (a little too wet - but it worked anyway) and he chose the design for the white pine.

He stacked his tree and put the star on first...

He loves using the little icing squirter thingy...

Ta-Daaa!

...very nice and easy peasy - if you don't have time to bake...

Sleigh Rides in the Snow

We had our Cub Scout Christmas Party yesterday and the highlight of the evening was a real sleigh ride in the snow. It was so cold - about 6 below - but everyone bundled up and went outside.

Warming up the horses...

...the Man-Cub driving the sleigh - a memory to cherish...

Nativity

Y'all remember last Saturday the Man-Cub and I went to the town's Nativity display? The Man-Cub mentioned that our Nativity set doesn't have a stable - so that had to remedied forthwith...

We made a big batch of salt dough and shaped it into a stable. We talked about what a stable in Palestine might have looked like - and decided that it probably wouldn't have been the wooden type that you often see with Nativity sets. So we decided to make ours out of 'mud and stones'...

We're letting it dry now and we'll paint it with water colors - in nice earthy tones - (the lump by the small window is a pile of hay (that will also provide some stability when it's standing up) and the stuff hanging over the rafters is also hay - I'm hoping that it will look more like what it is once it's painted a nice hay-ie color...)

More Stenciling Fun

Our Webelos Den needed to make some table decorations for our Pack meetings - the Tiger's had a cute display and were lucky enough to find Tiger Cloth ready-made. We decided to stencil our own Webelos Table Cloth.

I originally made stencils by gluing the craft foam cutouts of the symbols to some scrap wood -


this worked fine for the big blue oval - but the boys couldn't see to align the other elements so we finally peeled them off and used just the foam stencils - we had wet washcloths for the paint-y fingers...

Here they are stenciling the Webelos W...

You can see some of the finished 3 part stencils on the cloth...

The finished table cloth - there are some visible boo-boos - but the boys were really happy with their efforts.

Then we made a centerpiece for the table by cutting craft foam into the shapes needed to make the Webelos symbol - with each boy cutting a different shape and then working together to make them all fit...


After everyone got cleaned up - we played the 'fitness game' - it's listed in the big 'How To Book' - and when I read it - I didn't think it would be that much fun - it's sort of a follow the leader type game - they get in a big circle and start walking and then I shout out different ways to walk, i.e., like a monster - like the toe of one foot hurts and the heel of the other - with your hands and feet on the ground and your bottom up in the air - etc...



Anywhooo - it was quite a workout and they all really seemed to enjoy it... followed by a healthy snack of course...

It's a Small World After All...

I thought this was really interesting - the world's population distilled down to a community of 100 - we have more to be thankful for than we even know...

Maya Caffe Review

I was lucky enough to get a sample of Maya Caffe from the manufacturer Teeccino - you can buy samples of their other herbal coffees but not the Maya blends. I had inquired about the Maya Caffe ingredients (they are all organic) on their contact us site and they graciously sent me a sample - I'll definitely be buying this. Y'all know that I already love the hazelnut and amaretto varities of their herbal coffees, but I wanted a plain stronger roasted flavor and the Maya Caffe delivers...

It's got a nutty deep flavor that is reminiscent of - well - coffee - it's very smooth - I drink my coffee with lots of soy milk - but I could probably drink this black...

Tofu Scramble

I don't usually cook a big breakfast on school mornings - but this morning this is what it looked like inside...

and this is what it looked like outside...

and I just wanted a big tofu scramble. I sliced some onion and pepper and gave that a quick zap in the micro - to speed things along. Then I mashed up some tofu in a cast iron frying pan - added a little oil, salt and pepper, and a little tumeric - just for some yellow color. I fried this over medium high - y'all know I like a little bit of brown on my 'eggs' so I like to let it get a little brown (most people don't - but I don't like it moist at all)

This was so yummy served with toast and some Maya Caffe (more on that later...)