Cleaning out the Computer

So I stumbled across some old documents of mine on the old computer here and decided to look at them.  I found my few typed up pages of my attempt at writing Jacob Black's (yes, from Twilight, don't judge) love story.  It was a great exercise for me one summer, it takes so much thinking to plan out a story!  I remember scribbling pages and pages, my hand couldn't keep up with the words I wanted to write and it all turned into an illegible mess on the paper.  Reading through the typed up pages I was surprised how it wasn't all rubbish.  I was intrigued with the story, slightly confused (mostly because it wasn't finished) and I couldn't remember all that I had planned out!  Now I want to find my hand written rough draft and try to remember where I was going with that story. 

I also found some little paragraph stories, maybe from college writing class, not sure.  One of them really made me giggle and I just had to share it.  I barely remember writing it and am now hoping it is not someone else's story that I somehow have stolen.  So here it is...the grape juice incident.

-writing prompt

imagine that you have an identical twin.  before you begin writing, think about some tricks you would play on other people with your identical twin.

-now write a story about playing tricks on people with your identical twin. 

The purplish red liquid soaked into the plush pure white carpet.  My mother’s mouth opened and shut, no sound escaping.  Her eyes, at first wide with horror and disbelief, quickly narrowed to slits that pierced through the back of my head.  You’re life is over, I told myself.  Taking a deep breath, putting on the most innocent expression I could make, I slowly turned myself around to face my doom.  Seeing her face turning a color similar to the now permanent stain on her favorite carpet, I decided to risk it all and go for gold.

“oh my goodness! How did that juice get on the carpet?! It couldn’t have been me, I don’t even like grape juice.”

My mother finally found her voice, at the volume of speakers at a rock concert.

sorry for spelling, capitalization and grammar errors.  I didn't edit it, just wanted to share it.  I also was never good at grammar.  Seriously, got a 68% on the grammar final..when I usually get A's in everything else.  So yeah.   k, time for bed..or to search for that notebook....I think it was black.....

I am Sami

Our Own Pinterest Fail!

I Did Not Make This "Craft"
  If I did it probably would have been much lazier...like just a bag of candy.

My sister in law, who is crafty, wanted to make a thank you gift for a student.  What do students like? Candy. Right? Right.  Our co-worker found an awesome idea from Pinterest and used her fancy phone to email a picture of this lovely bouquet.   See below.

Cute, right? Right.  The so called "co-worker" explained the craft, saying it uses Twizzlers and toothpicks to make the flower stems.  Now, to be fair, my sister in law did not research how to do this "craft" on her own. I'm not even sure how long she looked at the picture.  Enough to get a basic idea, I guess.  In additional fairness, her eyesight has been questionable.  In her younger days she was seen talking to a shrubbery thinking it was her parents. 

   In any case, candy and a vase was purchased by the alleged co-worker (a.k.a girl who parks in the same lot we do) and toothpicks were somehow procured.  The two ladies, who supposedly work together but have yet to verify this on Twitter, did not work on this craft together, which leads us to our lovely fail result.  Now, to be fairer still, I did not see the crafting of this project, but I heard about the anguish my sister in law went through trying to assemble this at the last minute.  

   The Twizzlers were pull and peel, not like the ones in the picture.  The gumdrops were spice, the icky minty and licorice ones that my Dad and I love but nobody else does.  My sis in law put the gummy bears in the vase and they barely covered an inch of the bottom.  First sign of failure.  The toothpicks kept breaking and weren't holding anything upright.  Second sign of failure.  She tried making a flower with multicolored spice gumdrops.  Its at this point that I wish I had a video of her attempts.  It all apparently looked horrible.  I have to wonder if the girl who says she works with us but I have yet to see a paycheck meant to sabotage her on purpose.  My sis in law gave up hopes of a lovely bouquet and tried to decoratively layer the candy in the vase, which I think she did nicely, but it looks nothing like the inspiration.

  People have asked if it is some sort of worm farm.  Could be.  Cute? Not right. She really tried her best.  We don't even know if the person it was made for likes candy. Or sour gummy worms.  Or Twizzlers.  I will tell you right now they will not like spice gumdrops.  Only weirdos like those.  I guess the moral of the story is don't try anything you see on Pinterest.  Let your sister in law do it and then you can make fun of it and pretend you had something to do with it so you can submit it to pinterestfail.com.  

Water Beads!

These things are AWESOME!

So I saw all over Pinterest this summer these things called water beads.  It looked weird and strange and like yeah right, I'm not doing that.  Its all in the "sensory" play experience whatever that I think is a different way to say having fun touching things.  When you're probably supposed to be doing something else. But I'm always on the lookout for activities that help the preschoolers work on their fine motor skills and keep them occupied/playing in a calm manner, i.e. legos.  What a wonder the legos are for these guys.

So end of summer I'm shopping in Dollar Tree and I see a "magical" vase with "magical" beads - water beads for a dollar.  Ok, I will get it and try it.  They could be neat.  If not, I only wasted a dollar.  I got the multi-pack with 3 different colors including clear.  They start out tiny and you add water to them and they grow to their full size in 6 to 8 hours.  They end up being about marble size.  There was apparently some other product that started marble size and grew to be like small ball size which was dangerous because little kids eat them and then they expand in their stomachs and block off essentials organs.  They have been recalled. Good thing!

So these things ended up being awesome!!!  They feel so cool, and its just some sort of I don't know, it feels like gel but not sticky like gel.  Its just water left on your hands.  The best color is the clear ones because they disappear in the water.  I've heard of other preschools using them for play and the kids have to search for them in the water with their hands.  I love showing these beads off to everyone and they all love them! Some high school girls were playing for a few minutes and I had to kick them out so they wouldn't miss class.

water beads!

So here is my problem with them.  I've had the beads hydrated for about 3 weeks now and the kids play with them almost everyday.  Guess what happened? Yup, they got gross.  I think its mold growing on them.  I took a test batch and soaked some in rubbing alcohol (they dissolved) and the other in hand sanitizer (they are still intact but the mold seems to be too.  I have taken my whole batch and am washing it with soap and water and will lay it out to dry on towels over the weekend.  I'm hoping this will stop the molding.  I might try a test batch with bleach, see what that does.  I researched online and found that most people smash them after a few weeks, or freeze them which is awesome but then they break apart.  I really don't want to waste all my money by destroying them, but I will if thats my only option.  I also read that if you let them dry out they won't mold, maybe that's a regular drying out??

look closely, see the brown moldy spots?

So I will let you know what happens with my beads.  I highly recommend these things, the kids LOVE them and so do adults and there are so many science, math, and other applications for them in your classroom.  Yay for Sensory!!!

 

 

 

my collection..about $3 worth

Update 10/27:  I have sad news.  All those beautiful beads you saw there (above) grew moldy and gross.  Like actual fuzzy mold.  Ick.  So they were tossed in the garbage when the preschoolers wouldn't see.  (sad face).  I did some more research and found that, yes, you need to let them dry regularly so they won't mold.  I had a new batch of pink ones that I let dry and they didn't get as bad.  They were also from Dollar General and there were a lot more, but they did not get as big.

"them are like princesses... because them are so beautiful!"

The kids loved playing with these too.  I rinsed them and let them dry spread out on the tops of these plastic tubs and after a couple of weeks they had shrunk down to their original teeny tiny size! This past week the kids had fun putting some back in the water and watching them grow again. 

Lesson learned - make sure to let them dry and don't buy a bunch all at once because you will run out of room and containers to dry them and they will get moldy.  Also I don't recommend dumping the leftover broken ones in your sink, the bits will stick together and clog it up.  I have been flushing the bits down the toilet or in the garbage.  Just keep in mind if they dry they will shrink and then if they are exposed to moisture again they will expand, which could be bad in some locations. 

WATER BEADS!

More Americorps - the Northwest

Vampires!

   Also when I was in Americorps I rented a car and drove from Sacramento, Ca to Forks, Washington...yes, because of the Twilight books.  I read the books before the movie, saw Twilight (book) in a library in Florida and was like, hmmm, ok, I'll read this teeny bopper book.  I enjoyed it.  I hate the movies.  I strongly dislike Kristen Stewart and think she cannot act and that Robert guy does NOT look like Edward and ugh! what a way to ruin things.  Tangent.  SOOOO I wanted to visit the small town and what better way to do that then drag my 2 teammates along and hit some awesome sights along the way?  We had a blast.  I only wish I had taken more pix of Seattle.  I think I was saving my battery or memory or both for Forks.  So, part 1, the trip up.

Redwood forest on the coast of California

view inside one of those crazy trees

herd of some animal we saw, no idea what they are

sometimes the drive way quite spooky

beach..west coast...Pacific ocean ya'll!

catching some rays (notice the layers of clothing) and the California plate..what what?!

cool rock

some bear statue...I don't know if this was warning you there were bears, the size of bears, or some sort of tribute to appease the bears and keep them away...it is California

another neat beach view on a rainy day

stuck in traffic jam, almost in Seattle! notice the lovely license plate blurring...you're welcome

One picture of Seattle! See the crazy totem pole thing? So neat.  Also, that hospital in the background to the left is where Grey's Anatomy happens.  True story*

This is that fish-place where the workers have tons of fun and throw fish.  I saw it in some motivational video for some job..I'll try to find it online..almost across the street from here is the first Starbucks! So wish I had taken a picture

Seattle Bay  (Actually I have not clue if it is called that. I shall go research now.)  Puget Sound - haha, I think I knew that

As you can see, these pictures were taken in April. 2008.  That is all.

*not true story, I just made that up.

Death Valley

Surprise!
K, so I was totally gonna share pictures from the hammock in spring, but I cannot find them! And in my search I came across theses pictures I took at the Racetrack Playa in Death Valley while I was in Americorps.  It was so worth the very long drive down the gravel road there, the rented SUV, and the trip home in the dark almost out of gas and thinking we saw a UFO, when really it was the moon rising.  Ha!

As you can see, I had the date stamp on there. Useful for remembering but kinda messes up the picture

A sailing stone! If you don't know about these, look it up, so fascinating

we got there a little before the sunset, but it went behind those mountains fast!

I'm being all scientific and studious...here is a rock, hmmmm

now I was being artsy with the black and white.  No, I don't know those people

All these pix were with my old camera (also red) not as great as my teammate's Cannon Powershot which made me want the one I got for Christmas last year, yay!
   As you can see, I took these in March, I was wearing shorts, it is Death Valley after all, I hear it gets pretty hot there.

Allons-y!

Sunrise I saw one day on my way to work.  The picture never comes out as awesome as it looks in real life.

I like this one better even though you can't really see the sun, its got some of the foggy mist that was all over the fields that day.  Gorgeous.

 

That's it. Happy Tuesday!

Bonfired

I Love My Camera!

   So I got my wonderful camera from my wonderful husband at Christmas.  Last Christmas.  No, not this past Christmas (I forget what I got....wait, I'll remember......wait for it.....wait for IT.....nope, can't remember...I'll come back to this)* but the Christmas before that.  I have had this camera for a year and a half now.  And I have taken a few (thousand) pictures with it.  Pix of landscape, foliage, people, stars, flowers, clouds, cats, kids, babies, and even (um, trying to think of something zany here) a bug!  I recently figured out how to do black and white, and therefore many other color varieties, in like May.  My camera does some fun zoom and focus stuff that I don't have much control over, I just know how to press buttons.  But somehow, last night, I accessed hitherto-for unknown wonderments of my camera!!!!  I can do fish eye lens! I can do toy camera! I can do multiple shots! There is a setting for kids and pets! There is a setting that looks like a parrot that says it is for super vibrant color - I guess they are including the green parrot in that.  Most of these cool things I didn't get to really use because it was getting dark and we were having a bonfire...then I found it.

Nighttime setting.
Ooooooh man.

Taking pictures of a fire normally, the fire is kinda a blur type thing.  Not with nighttime setting!! I got some SUPER AWESOME pictures!! Like individual flames! Like, what? I took that picture? Me? Wow! Are you ready for this? I don't think you are.  I will start you out slowly, with a nice sunset and blah bonfire.  Hold on to your hats.  I don't care if you are wearing a hat or not...go get a hat and hold on to it.  Ready?
(read the captions in a little girly dreamy voice.  Until you get to the crazy pictures ... don't worry, you'll know)

la la la, nice sunset

getting the fire going, la la la

ho hum, blurry picture, cool

getting rather dark now

whoa! look at those flames!

Boom! Fire!

Can you feel the heat? Smell the smoke? How's that hat doing?

 I told you! Awesome, right? Oh man.  Then I discovered long exposure!!! Tried to take a picture of some stars.  It was a black picture.  Then I tried the cars going by...neato.

car

I can't wait to try the other programs! My cats are gonna be so annoyed with me tomorrow!!

 *I forgot I was supposed to be remembering.  Ok, I got a Nook! Wow. Can't believe that took me that long cuz I love my Nook and hmmmm, maybe I should look for its secret section of unknown wonderments.