We didn't think it would happen so soon

What are you supposed to do to keep your kids safe "from the Internet"? Last week, Bub signed up for a Twitter account. He just turned six. The only reason we found out was because he used his father's email address.

He denies it was he who signed up for the account at five something in the morning. While everyone else was sleeping. We have a Chromebook that we let him use for Khan Academy and Memrise (he works on Mandarin and memorizing his multiplication tables). But apparently we're going to have to have someone sitting and monitoring him (likely, me) because otherwise, who knows what he'll do.

Hubby is looking into solutions and has been playing with the router, but we don't have a computer on at all times to control the Chromebook (yeah, I know, maybe we should).

I didn't think we'd have to worry about this until he was at least in fifth grade or so. Good thing he doesn't realize how easy it is to get an email address.

As it is, I recently realized that he's more proficient on a computer than my mother. Now we must teach him to use his power for good, and not evil.

This it the type of stuff I live for:

The kids knew I was stressed so they wrote this out in the bathtub. The last part is improvised. After all, they only had one of each letter and number, so something's gotta give.

I ran out of Meyer-lemon infused olive oil. And my Williams-Sonoma doesn't stock it. Luckily, you can find recipes on the Internet to do it yourself!

I guess the two pictures look the same, but I couldn't decide which angle looked better.

Anyway, there were a number of varying recipes between using the peel of one to four lemons, grating or peeling it, adding cardamon or not, and letting it boil or not.

In the end, I used the peel of one lemon, peeled, with cardamon, and lightly letting it boil for a few minutes, then turning it off and letting it cool.

In the future, I wouldn't peel such long slices. I want them long and continuous enough for them to be easy to fish out (the cardamon kind of derailed that plan), but some of the peels were so long they stuck out of the oil, and I want them short enough that the entire peel is submerged. Also, I would try more lemon peel. But, it has a light lemon flavor and it works. If I saw Meyer lemons on sale I might pick some up, but this lemon was fresh off the tree so that wasn't so bad either.

What is this? Well, it's not food.

For Princess' toddler class, you have to do a "special project" which is to clean something or buy something (like a crate of diaper wipes, or the special cups they use in the classes, etc.) or make something. And I went with making something. This is supposed to be purple Play-Doh, the cooked recipe. I volunteered for this because purple was Princess' favorite color, and I chose to do Play-Doh because I did it for Bub when he was about this age and I thought Princess might like to watch too. She did.

However, while I burned Bub's blue Play-Doh, Princess' Play-Doh did not turn out much better. For starters, I was out of flour. So I substituted corn starch for the flour. I also forgot to add the dye to the water, adding to the mixture as an afterthought. And I added a packet or two of grape-flavored Kool-Aid for the fake-grape scent. But it had turned blue, so I ended up adding a lot of red food coloring to turn the blue-grey blob into a dark purple-grey blob. Also, the color was kind of sitting on top. I kept stirring (before I put it on the stove) in the hopes of making sure I had no dry spots. And as soon as it started pulling away from the sides I turned the heat off. That seemed to help, and it got more and more purple as I stirred. And luckily, this time I didn't burn the Play-Doh.

This is a FO I hadn't posted.

The yarn was Lorna's Laces Swirl DK in Vera, and I followed Ann Budd's Basic Mitten recipe. They fit well enough, although I had to lengthen them to fit my middle fingers and thumbs. They've been getting a lot of use at the ice skating rink since Princess and I are taking lessons. I'm thinking of knitting a pair of thrummed mittens next though, for some serious warmth.

So I finally did it.

I had Bub try his hand at writing a song. And he did it, but he refuses to learn to play it. I thought he'd be more motivated if he actually wrote it himself, but I was mistaken. Still not sure how to work on motivation.

When it rains, it pours

Today was the kids' field trip to a petting zoo this morning, so I finally dumped all of the pictures that were on the camera onto the computer. I guess I kind of have a lot to catch up on.

For instance, another (another?!) pair of jeans I bought, but I wanted to point something out in case it might be helpful to other people. Typically, the problem I have with jeans is that waist-gap deal--if it fits in the seat and the thighs, the waist is too big. Hubby however, noticed something (and this was maybe 13 years ago, but humor me) and that is this: if the slant, or curve of the middle seam down the back of the jeans was not straight, like this pair below, then there was no back gap problem.

If, however, there was no curve and the line was straight, it would be a waste of time to try the jeans on. This pair really curves up, however, and I can relax, knowing that they actually fit.

Schoolhouse recipes

These are not my recipes, but I'm posting them because I get the same hand-out every class for the same play dough, bubble solutions, etc.

Cooked Playdough

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
2 TB cream of tartar
3 cups water
3 TB salad oil
food coloring
extract or oil for scent (lemon, peppermint, cinnamon)
packet of Kool-Aid for color or scent

Combine flour, salt, cream of tartar, salad oil and water with food coloring added into water. Cook until sides pull away from the pan and it forms a ball. Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture is no longer sticky. Keep in plastic, airtight container.

Flub

1 box cornstarch
2 cups water
food coloring, if desired

Combine food coloring and water, then add to cornstarch. Mix and explore. Keep in plastic airtight container.

Bubble Solution
2 cups Joy or Dawn liquid dishwashing soap
6 cups water
3/4 (cups, presumably) light Karo syrup

Combine all ingredients, mix, let sit at least four hours before use. Fits into a 2-liter soda bottle.

Crayon Cookies

Sort pieces of broken crayons as to color. Remove paper wrappings. Put into muffin paper-lined muffin tins. Place in oven for 5-10 minutes at 350F. Crayons will melt and form a cookie-shaped crayon. Cool and remove the muffin papers.

Bead Clay
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup cornstarch
warm water

Mix flour, salt and cornstarch in bowl. Add warm water gradually until mixture forms a shape. Knead until smooth. Make beads, pierce with toothpicks or straws and allow to dry. Paint and string. Seal, if desired.

Cornstarch Dough

1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup cornstarch

Mix salt and hot water and boil in pan. Stir cold water into cornstarch in bowl. Add cornstarch mixture to boiling water and stir. Cook over low, stirring until like pie dough. Remove and turn onto a board. When cool, knead until smooth. Texture is grainy. Keeps a long time if stored in an airtight container. Objects made will air dry to hard in 1 to 2 days.

~~~~~

I thought we'd try the muffin tin crayons yesterday, but to my shock and dismay, discovered the kids had thrown away all of the broken crayon pieces I'd been saving. Guess we'll be waiting a bit longer. Instead, we made the cooked play dough. I've tried this recipe before (blue in color, peppermint in scent) and I ended up burning it. This time we tried to make it purple with Kool-Aid, but the color separated and it looked grey, so I added a lot of red food coloring and kind of saved it. It has that artificial grape scent. I didn't burn it this time--as soon as I thought it was done, I turned the fire off. Also, I tried to dissolve all of the dry ingredients in the water before heating it. I wasn't completely successful, but there are no charred bits so I consider it a success. I will post a picture later.

For my super big girl horse

My daughter calls herself a "super big girl horse." Previously, she called herself a "big girl horse" but recently added the "super." I asked her why, and she explained that "big girl horse" was not enough. Recently I saw some charm necklaces in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and thought, "I could make that," especially when they were charging $89 and the reviews were abysmal. So I ordered all of the things I needed and did not already have: a stamping set (by far, the most expensive item), some chain, a couple Swarovski crystal beads to choose from (I wasn't sure which "purple" she preferred, but apparently her favorite color, "purple," is actually fuschia), and a blank silver charm on which to stamp said daughter's first initial on. I found a couple of other things I thought she'd like too (the crystal heart pendant and the butterfly bead):

 Here's a close-up:

But it turns out that even though she was interested in the crystal heart, she was not interested in the green butterfly. The stamping was problematic, so I've left it off for now, and this is what we have:

She loves it! It went so much faster than knitting and yet, was just as expensive (I chose to go with sterling silver rather than a base metal).

Spin pins

I just ordered a bunch of Spin Pins off Amazon, in the hopes that they would "change my life." I often think some item, some thing--typically a clothing item, or accessory or the like-- will change my life. And it never does.

Anyway, I ordered from a seller where you couldn't specify which color you wanted, but it worked out, because all of the ones I got were for dark hair. But they don't seem to work for me. My hair is too slippery and it slips out. I haven't gotten desperate enough to look for YouTube "how-to" videos, but I'm getting there. How long does your hair have to be for these to work? I'm wondering whether my hair (it's only shoulder-length) is too short. So I've tucked them away, to be brought out again when my hair is longer.

From left to right: mini spin pins, normal spin pins, and their updo stick, which is presumably for chignon-type styles.

Buckwheat grouts, what's your deal?

Tonight I also experimented with buckwheats. A few months ago I made buckwheat hull pillows, and now I'm trying the actual fruit (in my readings about buckwheat on the Internet, which I understand is a very reliable source, I've learned that buckwheat is not an actual grain, but a fruit). I didn't get the kashi (toasted) version, but the raw one. Which apparently, I have to toast. I didn't know. But apparently, you have to soak (or is it sprout?) it first.

This is my little two or 2.5 ounce sample of buckwheat in a melamine bowl. I added filtered water to it last night, and let it soak overnight. In the morning, I poured off all of the slimy water, and added more filtered water, not measuring any of the amounts. I let it soak all of today, until tonight. Pouring off the rest of the slimy water, I spread it on my toaster oven tray.

This:

 Went here:

I tried a couple of different temperatures, and I'm not sure my oven is calibrated correctly, but what worked best for me was spreading it out in a thick layer, on 350F for more than ten minutes, moving the grouts around so that they wouldn't stick to the sheet (they were still pretty slimy even after rinsing). Then, they were still kind of soft and chewy, and still not all brown but a little green, so I left them in the oven with the heat off while I came up here and started writing. When I checked on it, it had become this:

Voila! Now they are super crunchy (perhaps over toasted?), but I like the different texture. Tomorrow my cereal is going to be very interesting!

Edited to add: the finished product, the day after, on top of oatmeal and with dried cranberries and the amaranth puffs. It was a waste to add the amaranth because they soaked up the milk and you couldn't differentiate them from the other grains. The buckwheat, however, was very crunchy.

Popping Amaranth

I read somewhere that popped amaranth was a great alternative to popcorn. I'd like to debunk that. Amaranth is so small you have to eat it with a spoon, it's just not the same, in terms of a snack. That said, I've been really wanting to pop amaranth for awhile, but also read not to do it in a popcorn air popper (which is what I have and use) because it would either: a) fly out of the popper quickly and make a mess in your kitchen, or b) fall through the screen at the bottom and start a fire. Both were not attractive options. So, the little bag of amaranth I bought at Mother's Market, my local healthy grocery store, remained unused.

Until now.

Behold, from left to right: unpopped amaranth, popped amaranth, and overly popped/toasted amaranth. The latter was the first batch and I was afraid it was burnt, but upon tasting, it was fine so I added it to the lighter-colored popped grain.

What worked best for me was a hot pot, then throwing in two teaspoons of the amaranth, covering and shaking away from the heat until it finished popping, and dumping it out, to start again. It didn't hurt that the pot had a copper bottom. I tasted some of it tonight and it's not bad. A little grassy or green in flavor, but it's puffed, it's tiny, and I'm going to try it tomorrow as part of breakfast. If I figure out a few more things, I may start trying to make my own energy/snack bars. I love those KIND bars, but I can't justify the price.

WIP-Summer Sweater

So I've started another sweater. Originally, I'd wanted to knit a Forecast, but this yarn did not show off bobbles or cables very well, so then I thought something more like the Short Sleeved Cardigan with Ribbing from Fitted Knits (which to me, is basically Forecast in a heavier yarn, but without the bobbles or cables, and with short sleeves). But, I hate raglan sleeves, so I'd have to convert for set-in sleeves. And then I saw ankestrick/Fallmasche's Romy, which is a ribbed cardigan with set-in sleeves, in the Susie Meyers Contiguous fashion. 

I love the idea of contiguous set-in sleeves in theory, but I don't like the finished product as much as The Tailored Sweater Method way of contiguous set-in sleeves (which is quite a bit more fiddly and does not have that coolness factor but has a much better end-result). Thus, I'm knitting a plain Forecast/Romy-esque sweater in the Tailored Sweater vein. Here, just after picking up stitches for the sleeve caps:

 And my progress so far:

In a fit of enthusiasm, I picked up the stitches and knit the ribbed collar; I'm planning on picking up the stitches for the button band after I've finished knitting the body. Hopefully I have enough yarn for long sleeves. Otherwise, it will be a short-sleeved sweater!