Afternoon with the grandkids

After the bouncy ball idea fell flat. I recalled a craft idea that my daughter had pinned on Pinterest.  Found here .  We used knee-high stockings, annual rye grass and potting soil. The change that we did was that we used the see through goody ponytail holders to shape the nose and one, we even made ears.

A chenille stem was used for the mustache and felt for the mouth.  We improvised for our watering container. The heads would sink down into the yogurt cups so we cut holes in the bottom of "carry out" sauce cups and placed them inside the yogurt cup which kept the heads elevated. The water then placed in the bottom of the yogurt cup and the tail of the stocking threaded through the hole of the sauce cup to wick the water up.  Looking forward to  hair cuts.

Where is the bounce in bouncy ball?

Ran across a recipe for a home made "bouncy ball."  Because I had all the ingredients on hand I thought it might be a fun project to do with the grandchildren when they visited.  I read in one post a while back that they did not bounce like a "super ball" does, so my expectations were not that high.

I am of an age that I remember the rubber balls that came with jacks sets prior to the "super" ball.  With the rubber ball if you threw the ball straight down with some force behind it, it would bounce back up waist high which would allow you to catch it without bending over.  Then the "super" ball came on the market and if you thew the ball straight down with some force behind it, it would bounce back up and hit the ceiling and proceed to ricochet around the room while you chased after it.

With the bouncy ball recipe I was expecting the rubber ball results.  The first attempt I used latex gloves to protect my hands from the "sticky" stage. BAD idea, it was sticking all over the gloves.  Second attempt I used my bare hands and it did not take long for the "sticky" stage to disappear.  The recipe stated that when the ball was no longer sticky that you could bounce it. I tried, it hit the floor and bounced up approximately 6 inches and landed with a short roll.  I thought that maybe the product had to set for a few minutes to obtain its bounce.  When I returned there was a flat side to the ball. I quickly rolled it to remove the flat side and attempted to bounce it again. Same result...a return of about 6 inches and landed with a short roll.  Well maybe it needs to set a lot longer. So I place the ball in a plastic grocery bag and hung it on a door knob (to prevent a flat side). The next morning I took the ball out and bounced it on the floor with a return of about 6 inches and landed with a short roll.  With the fact that I am not a chemist and cannot determine if there is a problem with the recipe, the bouncy ball was placed in the garbage and a different project will be chosen to complete with the grandchildren.

fathers love their children too.

There are all sorts of trinkets, necklaces, pins and bracelets in the jewelry world for moms and grandmothers to signify their children or grandchildren. My grandmother had a pin that all the grandchildren and great grandchildren were fascinated with.  It was a gold tree branch that had several little boy and girl heads dangling from it. On one side of the head was the child's first name and on the other side was the child's birthdate. When great grandchildren came along a short piece of gold chain dropped the head down to a second row.  I still vividly remember sitting on grandma's lap and flipping through the heads, first searching for my own then just reading each and everyone.  I myself have a "mother's ring" that has the birthstone of each of my children in it.

Now my question I present to you is...what is there for Fathers? I thought the most logical would be a ring, but there were none to be found. But what else is there that could be done and be "manly?" Men usually do not wear necklaces, if they do they are usually either dog tags or thick gold chains without adornment.

Now what got me pondering this dilemma? I have a nephew that is a good dad but due to divorce does not see his children as often as he would like...which is all the time... I wanted to give him something but what?

Then the idea hit while I was perusing Pinterest... the washer jewelry but a key chain instead.  Nuts instead of beads.

Here is the result of my scheming...

Their names and birthdate on each washer.  Yes he liked it. I also made one for his brother and sister.  Hers had beads though to make it more lady like. 

And yes...I'm scheming again for some other family members...will post when complete. 

Let me introduce you to a Scub.

Hello there!
Let me introduce myself, I’m Byte. I’m a scub. what is a scub you ask? Well you all have heard of fairies, gremlins, leprechauns, sprites, gnomes etc.  They have all been around for years and there are various stories letting you know about them and their way of life.  Well we are another race of magical creatures. You have never heard of us before because our world is still very new, less than 100 years old. It came into existence in 1936 when the first script running computer was developed. We live inside the electronic world. Any device that runs script.  What is script? It is the language of the computer that instructs the computer what to do and how the screen should look.  We are inside looking right back at you as you utilize your computer or device.  We thoroughly enjoy watching you get upset and hearing the colorful language that is used after we have completed our handiwork. You see our race name is derived from our sole purpose in life: S-Script; C-cut; U-undo; B-bug.  You know the times you have been at work printing away and all of the sudden it states "printer not found," or when you try to open a new screen and it just hangs there and goes no where. Yep that is us at work. The only way to correct the problem is to shut the computer or device down and reload the script resulting in lost time. Your face gets red, eyes squint and jaw sets. I feel a joyous warm feeling radiating from deep within. Most of the time I work on my own but occasionally my cousins Mega and Giga come over and we Parrrtyyy! Of course we have to move on to another computer or device when the power goes out but we’re never far away. Some times we travel for awhile and sometimes we quickly return. We're always looking for opportunities to disrupt the day and making sure there is no logic to it.  That is how we survive because if there was logic to it you would figure out how to stop us. So remember me when you are looking for the important work you know you saved and it can't be found anywhere, I'll be grinning ear to ear






 
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diy recipes

I have recently came across several DIY recipes for laundry soap, dishwasher soap etc.   I long ago knew about ammonia and water for a window cleaner but I'm guilty as charged...I don't do windows very often.

There are a myriad of laundry soap recipes but most have the same 3 ingredients  bar soap such as "fels naphtha"  borax and washing soda.  The question, do you want liquid or do you want powder?  I have preferred liquid for years due to not having any clumps of undissolved powder lingering anywhere.  I have tried 2 recipes. The first recipe you were to dilute out to 10 gallon of liquid.  I didn't care for that so I diluted to 5 gallon and used half the amount of liquid.  You do have to shake before use, not a problem but would be nice if you didn't have to.

The second recipe found here is a highly concentrated liquid soap, mayonnaise consistency, one source stated to use 2-3 teaspoons the other source states 1 tablespoon (3-teaspoons) per wash load. With the cost of supplies and using the 1 tablespoon that works out to 1 penny a wash load. I will go ahead and use the 1 tablespoon.  I used a microwave safe glass mixing bowl and melted the grated bar soap in the microwave. I first heated the 4 cups of water on high while I grated the soap into the glass bowl. After mixing the hot water with it I then cooked it for 3minutes on high, stirred it and 2minutes on high and finished stirring until dissolved. The blog using the tablespoon also recommended doing the final mixing right in the quart jar with your blender.  I was using pint jars due to my giving away my quart jars, I also figured it would work better scooping out the soap when you are near the bottom of the jar.  The first two pint jars worked perfect on my blender just as the blog had said. The 3rd pint jar apparently was not that good of a match for the blender bottom. Determined after 3 rubber grommets were chewed up. So the last 2 pint jars I used the alternative method of using a hand mixer.  I will do the hand mixer from now on due to not being sure which jar was not a good fit. I don't want to buy anymore grommets.  Even counting in the cost of the rubber grommets I'm still cheaper than the cost of the large jug of laundry soap that I usually purchase.

I will choose to do the mayonnaise consistency laundry soap due to storage, I don't have to figure out where to store 5-10 gallons of liquid.

I have plans on trying to make my own dishwasher liquid but still have plenty of store bought on hand at this time.  Will let you know how that works out when the time comes.