Make It/365! Two Weeks In

I've been keeping a record of all of my 2017 "making," and I thought I would share some of the entries with you so you can check out my progress.  As promised, I have used the word "make" to refer to actual creative enterprises, as well as more abstract endeavors .  Check it out:

In the first two weeks of the new year, I have:

• Made an effort to find a friend's lost dog by going door to door in my neighborhood.
• Made a big pot of spaghetti.

• Made a blog post. 
• Made it to church on the first day of the year.
• Made "cute animal" sketches in my sketchbook.

• Made school lunches again after the winter break.
• Made a master list of DIY cleaning products from a binder full of notes and clippings.
• Made an appointment to start getting allergy shots (and made it to my appointment).
• Made our house cleaner than it's been in awhile.
• Made Valentine doodles in my sketchbook.

• Made it through to the end of a book I was reading.
• Made an afternoon snack for six little girls having a play date.
• Made erasers out of eraser clay with my daughter.

• Made a yummy dinner of spiced mini-burgers and pita bread.
• Made excuses to myself about why I'm not making things in my craft room.
• Made a beautiful dinner of roasted chicken and vegetables in a cast iron skillet.
• Made a smoothie for lunch.
• Made gingerbread cookies with my kids.

• Made it through a major mishap--washing an entire box of tissue the girls let fall in their laundry basket.
• Made my exercise goal on my new watch (on just one day, lol!).
• Made chocolate chip banana bread.
• Made a lunch date.
• Made a Pin the Gumball on the Gumball machine with my daughter for her birthday party.

It's been fun to reflect on my day each evening through the lens of "making"..."what have I made today, anyway?" I hope to do more traditional making--working my way through the supplies in my craft room and the pins on my Pinterest boards--but until I get to it, I like seeing all the other ways "making" makes an appearance in my days.

Keep those ideas coming for my Make It/365 list! I got some great new ideas in the comments for my last post, and I will continue to add and update along the way.

In Memoriam

Stella Kaskey (1997-2016)

I lost my long-time feline companion, Stella, on Tuesday afternoon. She has been by my side since I was 24-years-old and she was just 3-months.  My first husband and I found her at the SPCA after she had spent her earliest days on what I like to call "the mean streets of Kensington" in Philadelphia.

She was a fighter from the beginning, making sure I did not change my mind about adopting her.  I told this story on Facebook already: I had spent some time playing with her, and decided that she was the kitten we would take home with us.  But when they put her back in the cage so we could fill out the paperwork for her, I had a moment's hesitation when I saw an adorable little tuxedo cat two cages up.  He was all black with a little white marking right where a bow tie would be.  I mean, adorable!!  But Stella was watching me the whole time, and she clawed her way up the front of the cage and looked at me with these meaning-filled eyes, and I could hear her just as surely as if she spoke out loud: "Don't you dare change your mind, lady! I am coming home with YOU!"

It was tough to find a name for Stella.  The "finalists" were Zelda and Stella--Zelda for F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, and Stella for--no, not A Streetcar Named Desire!--Sir Philip Sidney's sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella.  (My college English professors would be proud!)  I think it was a year until I felt like the name Stella was the proper fit.  Now, of course, I couldn't imagine any other name.

I had just accepted a job to teach at Haverford High School when we first brought Stella home, but summer vacation wasn't yet over, so I spent the first day with her just sitting on my lap to get to know me.  We literally sat on the sofa for hours, she just getting a feel for me and looking around at the apartment, her new home.  We really bonded that day, and it was a bond that lasted us for the nineteen years that followed.  I told her, "You have to live until I'm at least 40 years old.  That's a requirement!" And she met her obligation, and then some.  She lived an extra three years beyond.

You can see that we had a tendency to order each other around!

Stella has lived with me in four different apartments and two houses.  She's been on road trips and in airplanes many times in her younger days.  She has been by my side through a separation and divorce, a remarriage, and some highly questionable boyfriends in between.  She has comforted me through countless sad days and sicknesses. She was there for me during the absolute anguish of two miscarriages and the amazing joy of two births.  She was always a notoriously crabby cat, but she fully accepted and loved my husband, and let my daughters mess with her in ways that no one else on earth was allowed to.

Last night, to try to make me feel better, my husband said, "She was a sweetie." I looked at him and laughed, saying, "Did you even KNOW Stella?"  I've been calling her a crabby old lady for years; she would have given Grumpy Cat a run for his money.  I can't tell you how many times I've said to people who come into our home, "Um, you might not want to pat her; she's not all that friendly," while thinking what an understatement that was.  An unwelcome pat brought growls and a severe paw padding, and she even spit at the veterinarian once.  How embarrassing!

But I loved her spirit.  Somehow I needed her to love and accept me, even when everyone else in the world seemed to annoy her.  And then when my husband Michael came along, and I saw how much she accepted him, I knew he was The One.  We both agree that she was instrumental in making (allowing?) our marriage to happen!

Every morning and throughout the day, I find myself looking over at "her spot" on the sofa.  She didn't move around too much in these final months, so I still expect to find her there.

There's a little Stella-shaped hole in my heart.

Rest in peace, little girl.

Save the Dragons! Kids' Club Creativity

My girls have been "all about dragons" for weeks now.  My older daughter has scoured the library for every book with the word "dragon" in its title all summer.  This led to a two-week intensive planning session between my two girls for a "Save the Dragons!" club that they ultimately held with five additional friends this past Friday.

Some of the Save the Dragon! Club girls acting out fearsome dragons

These girls do nothing halfway.  My seven-year-old created a book that introduces the club, outlines famous dragon killers from history (thanks to Wikipedia), lists the rules for the club, and has drawings of all the various kinds of dragons in the world.  An excerpt:

In the old world, dragons roamed the earth freely. Then man was created and started killing the dragons. And then new people came to earth and tried to save them. Can we do it? If we try, maybe just maybe we can save the dragons.

Rules for the club include:

Protect the dragons. Never ever say or write that dragons are not real. No potty talk. No lying. If you leave dragon club not believing in dragons one little bit, you can't come back to the next dragon club. Take care of each other. Take care of stuffed animals. Raise your hand. Dragons matter!

Seven-year-old club leader reading the rules

My eight-year-old created a second book entitled "Dragon Watch: A Research Book." (The fact that it has a subtitle was very important to her!)  Her book includes a dragon's possible daily schedule, an extensive chart of dragon types, general facts about dragons gleaned from a computer game they like to play online, and sections with pictures and information about different dragon types, including Drakes, Serpents, Wyverns, and Nagas. There are even diagrams of their body parts, and a quiz to make sure you've been reading with attention!

The girls didn't have as much time to share their books and research as they had hoped, so much of this will be saved for the second Save the Dragons! club meeting.

During the first club meeting they were busy with:

Crafting paper houses for nano-dragons (very small dragons):

Eating the "dragon's head" snacks that the girls designed and created, which all of the club members enjoyed:

Going outside for dragon-themed outdoor games using pool noodles and lots of running around. (You will notice that two additional club members have joined at this time):

My seven-year-old was the official club leader, with my eight-year-old serving as "co-leader," and there were moments when the pressures of leadership threatened to get the best of the younger one.  It can be tough when expectations do not meet up exactly with reality, and though I had tried to encourage her to go with the flow and remain flexible with how things evolved, there was some stress when games were not played exactly as she had hoped.

I also think that our second Save the Dragons! club will be limited to 1-1/2 or 2 hours to reduce stress brought on by over-excitement and activity.

But I am mightily proud of the creativity and planning my girls put into this fun activity for their friends, and I saw lots of smiles and genuine interest from club members who had no idea what they were getting themselves into!

I don't think I ever organized such a well-planned and elaborate club for my friends when I was a kid.  How about you?  Did you participate in any fun, informal clubs when you were young?

Battling Summer Boredom

This past week on Facebook, I posted a picture of a list I have given my girls this summer in an effort to eliminate "the b-word" from their vocabulary.

That's "bored," in case you haven't already heard it a thousand times from your kids so far this summer!

The list is entitled, "Mom, I'm Bored!" There are two full pages of ideas for how they can spend their time (and "watching tv" and "playing computer games" do NOT make an appearance).

Last year, I gave them a similar list, but when they complained about being bored and I sent them to the list, they just said, "There's nothing on here I wanna do-ooo-ooo!" (You know that voice, right?)

So this year, I added a rule to the list: Before they can come to me and complain of being bored, they have to do at least three of the activities from the list for at least ten minutes each.  The goal is, of course, that something they end up doing will spark their interest and keep them busy for a lot longer than just ten minutes.

My Facebook friends were interested in getting a better look at just exactly what activities are on the list, so I thought I would create a blog post.

Here is the complete list of activity ideas:

“Mom, I’m bored!”

You can’t complain to Mom that you are bored until you’ve done at least 3 of the following things for 10 minutes each!

·         Read a book.

·         Write a story.

·         Create a magazine.

·         Bird-watch in the backyard.

·         Practice fancy lettering.

·         Draw a map.

·         Teach yourself to juggle.

·         Write a letter to a friend.

·         Play with Stella. [That's our cat.]

·         Make miniatures.

·         Put on a puppet show.

·         Make a collage of magazine pictures.

·         Make a set of ATCs. [These are Artist Trading Cards.]

·         Set up dominoes, then make them fall.

·         Playing a rhyming game with your sister.

·         Create a handmade book.

·         Read the Bible.

·         Make up similes (“___ is as quiet as a mouse,” “____ is as noisy as a train”).

·         Create decorations (rugs, pictures) for the big doll house.

·         Write in your diary.

·         Design your own flag.

·         Blow bubbles outside.

·         Play Simon Says with your sister.

·         Lay on your back outside and find pictures in the clouds.

·         Have a face-making competition with your sister in the mirror.

·         Play the smile game with your sister:  Don’t smile first!

·         Build a fort with a blanket or sheet.

·         Call a friend.

·         Play soccer in the backyard.

·         Play a musical instrument.

·         Draw a picture.

·         Write a message with words and phrases from magazines.

·         Make a greeting card.

·         Draw with stencils.

·         Practice cartwheels.

·         Play Scrabble with your sister.

·         Play “I Spy” with sounds or colors or letters.

·         Write a letter or poem using alphabet rubber stamps.  (Put a table cloth on the table first, and wear a smock!)

·         Make letters with Play-doh.

·         Run through the sprinkler.

·         Play at the water table in the backyard.

·         Play with the garden hose. 

·         Make a backyard field guide, drawing and describing all the plants, insects, and/or animals you see.

·         Turn on music and dance.

·         Play veterinarian with your stuffed animals.

·         Have a staring contest.  Don’t blink first!

·         Make lunch or a snack for your mom.

·         Sing a song.

·         Explore with a magnifying glass.

·         Use a flashlight in the closet to make a shadow show.

·         Dust the furniture.

·         Organize your toys.

·         Make a postcard.

·         Sort buttons.

·         Build something with LEGOs.

·         Do a bead project.

·         Do a rubber stamp project.  (Put a table cloth on the table first, and wear a smock!)

·         Have a fashion show.

·         Play a board game.

·         Play a card game (UNO, Crazy Eights, Old Maid, WAR, Go Snorkeling, Five Crowns)

·         Make up a new game.

·         Practice math with a calculator.

·         Memorize a Bible verse.

·         Invent something.

·         Create a scavenger hunt for your sister.

·         Jump rope.

·         Play hair salon.

·         Go ant-watching in the backyard.

·         Do a puzzle.

·         Construct or draw a maze.

·         Race cars.

·         Track the weather.

·         Start a collection.

·         Play with sidewalk chalk in the driveway.

·         Make a bookmark.

·         Make animals and other pictures from your thumbprint.

·         Play Follow the Leader with your sister.

·         Sweep the floors.

·         Color with crayons.

·         Make a sticker picture.

·         Have a tea party.

And on page two:

·         Write to your grandmother.  Or all of your grandmothers!

·         Vacuum the carpets.

·         Make up a song, poem, or rhyme.

·         Create an alphabet book.

·         Designate a letter of the day, and do activities that start with that letter.  Speak using words that start with that letter as much as possible.

·         Build with Lincoln Logs.

·         Look through your baby book.

·         Build a Mighty Beanz race track.

·         Make up some tongue twisters.

·         Make a list of your very favorite foods.

·         Create patterns with coins.

·         Sing some songs:

o   I’m a little teapot

o   Itsy bitsy spider

o   Head, shoulders, knees and toes

o   The wheels on the bus

o   If you’re happy and you know it

o   This little light of mine

o   He’s got the whole world in his hands

o   London bridge

o   Old Macdonald

·         Pick out things you can sell in a garage sale or donate to children in need.

·         Do a craft from the Independent Crafts Folder. [I included easy things they could manage on their own.]

·         Make a Rainbow Loom bracelet or ring.

·         Work in your Wreck This Journal, or create a new journal of your own.

·         Get a toy from the basement that you haven’t played with in awhile.

·         Pretend play:  Harry Potter

·         Pretend play:  My Little Pony

·         Pretend play:  Dragons

·         Practice pitching and catching softballs outside with your sister.

·         Play chess with your sister.

·         Do some one-minute challenges:

o   Balance on one foot

o   Hop on one foot

o   How many times can you touch your toes?

o   How many jumping jacks can you do?

o   Bounce a ball on the ground and catch it.

o   Dance without stopping.

o   How many somersaults can you do?

o   Gallop sideways.

o   Skip.

 ·         Play dress-up.

·         Go out in the yard and draw what you see.

·         Make up math story problems.

·         Build something with the Mah Jong tiles.

·         Look through a View Master.

·         Build a marble maze.

·         Make a gift for someone.

·         Build something with Tinker Toys.

·         Play with Noah’s Ark.

·         Make a pop-up book.

·         Make a list of things you can do when you’re bored.

·         Put on a play.

·         Go on an imaginary expedition, inside or out.  Pretend you are in a rain forest, on a trip to the North Pole, crossing the desert, or climbing a mountain.

·         Look through your yearbook.

·         Play with the big toy horse in the basement.

·         Play with the big doll house down in the basement.

·         Read through your old books in the basement.

·         Play school.

·         Make up knock-knock jokes, and tell them to your sister.

·         Play with the fairy garden.  Remodel their home.

·         “Play cook” in the kitchen sink.

·         Read a book outside.

As you look through this list with your own kids in mind, you will see places that you would want to customize and change it, based on their ages, interests, and the kinds of things they have to play with at home.  For example, one of my suggestions is to "build a Mighty Beanz race track"--that's a toy we picked up at a yard sale last summer, which is stored in the basement.  By putting it on the list, I am reminding the girls that it's down there if they're interested.  Same with toys like the Noah's Ark and the "big toy horse." If you make a similar list, you could include toys that are packed away that they might be interested in getting out.

I also included some "little kid things," like playing I Spy and singing songs like, "If you're happy and you know it." Sometimes my girls, now 7 and 8, will make fun if something is "babyish," then get totally enthralled in those old familiar things!

I put the list in a storage box, which I filled with different notebooks and activity books that they have accumulated.  Their summer reading assignment from school is in there, summer review activities my 3rd grader got from her teacher, some unfinished coloring books and word find books, their Wreck This Journals--anything that might help them pass the time if they can't think of something else to do.

They each get 16 minutes of computer time each day, and other than a recent infatuation with "Kung Fu Panda" they haven't been asking to watch any television.  They've only been out of school for four days (our district runs until June 21!), and we've had a picnic, a playground visit, piano lessons, a trip to the dentist's office, a free magic show, a birthday swim party, church and a pancake breakfast.  At home, they have been obsessed with the two sets of Goldie Blox their aunt and uncle got them for Christmas a couple of years ago.

"Boredom" has not been the b-word I have been contending with; rather, it's "bickering." We'll see if I've figured out anything to post about handling THAT before the summer is through!  Wish me luck!

How are YOU keeping your kids busy and creative this summer?

Playing Around in Nature: Container Gardening!

I know that many people think of things they want to do, but then don't do them.

I, on the other hand, have a tendency to want to want to do things, but just don't really want to.

Weird, right?

For example, I would always see people jogging on the sidewalk while I was driving down the road, and I wanted to want to jog, but I just really didn't actually want to.

And I would see people's beautiful yards, and I would want to want to garden, but I just never had much interest in it.

One by one, my wanting to want is turning into "want", and then "do."

(You're following this, right?)

Not only did I take up jogging about five years ago, but this spring I'm actually pretty excited about getting a container garden started in my back yard, tucked up next to my garage.

My container garden, one day old

I chose the spot because I can see it from the kitchen window, the family room window, the patio, and every time I head to the car.  I get absolutely the maximum pleasure from my herbs, plants, and flowers in this location.

Wandering Jew and LAVENDER!

In all of these photos, my little garden is just one day old.  Many of the plants I chose will grow, mound, trail, and vine, so I'm expecting a little more full and wild look in a couple of months.

Thyme, rosemary, basil and parsley

Calibrachoa on the right next to the lavender, with ivy in the planter behind

I don't really know what to expect, because it's all new to me, but I have some healthy herbs growing out there, and some happy looking flowers; now I just need to keep them that way!

A little Creeping Jenny tucked under the table, with a Calibrachoa hybrid on top of the table, at right

Et voila!  My container garden attempt has begun....