Winter Outing and Free Visit to Science Center

It was a beautiful day. One reason was that the weather was perfect, with snow on the ground, but not the roads. It wasn't too cold either. Another reason was that Gabey had off school for MLK day. The best reason was that JEFFIE had the day off too! (oh so rare) The post office made him work non stop since last spring. I can probably count on one hand that he had a day off except Sundays. They called him in on ever off day, and made him work so much over time. This day off was fabulous. He decided to take us to the Science Center, because it was free that day. Now, I probably won't do it ever again on a free day, because it was so over crowded that my stress level went through the roof. Every time I turned around I was afraid I'd lost Gideon or Gabriel. Jeffie "adopted" Gideon, and I watched out for Gabriel. I hate crowds. Aside from that, we did have a really nice time, especially since we were together and all healthy. Thank you, Lord.

Before we left, I made some quick snow paint, so we could decorate the snow.

Jeff started a snowball fight with the boys.

Look at that form.

Yeah, hiding behind the car didn't protect them.

I love this guy!

Snow Angels

Our arrival to the Cleveland Science Center

There was a great place to take photos inside the Rapid Transit tunnel. The plexi-glass was colored. 

Rock Hall of Fame

Through the yellow glass

Mather Ship. We're going to have to tour this when it opens in the summer.

When we came in, there was a cool bubble demonstration, showing how the bubble would float in the middle, being held up by the dry ice. 

I packed the items to make our lunch, and Daddy bought fries, and drinks for himself and me.

I made sandwiches with humus and pumpernickel, my favorite right now. I was proud of being so thrifty, even though people may have looked at us funny.

Jeffie and Giddy enjoying sandwiches. 

I loved this funnel tube. It was so pretty.

This was an awesome music machine, made from PVC pipes. I seriously have wanted to make one ever since. You use the foamie paddle, and hit the round opening, and the pipes are pitched by size. it looked like a fun pipe organ.

Gabey and Gideon liked spinning these spheres. They made beautiful swirls.

Animation Cylinder called a Zeotrope. It would spin, and the tiny individual photos would show through the side windows and it would look animated. I should try making one. 

Rainbow making prisms were cool, but really hard to photograph. 

We stopped in the Bubble demonstration, which was way cool.

This was a treasured moment that I had to capture!

I love bubbles!

Thankfully, this sweet guy took it in stride when Gabey decided to lean all over him during the demonstration. HAHA, we were laughing so hard.

Bubble solution over dry ice! 

Dry Ice Mushroom

Annnd, the bubble popped.

She passed out a little bit of the dry ice bubbles for everyone to hold. Yeah, he didn't really eat it. Ha Ha.

Back to the Mather on our way to the car.

Jeffie using the dock bollard as target practice.

Key Building

Terminal Tower

We Interrupt This Catch Up, to Show You Some SOFTIES

Child's Own Studio

I am in love with this artist, and her Softies.

She accepts drawings by children, and is commissioned to make stuffed renderings of them.

I am smitten.

Here are some of my favorite Softies that she's made so far. You simply have to visit her site, so you can read about the sweet children, and the artist who makes them so happy.

Cloud Dough and other Fun Stuff

Make any surface magnetic... simply put a PAN on it! HAHAHA!!

One day, we lost our power, and Giddy and I spent the morning bundled up with hot water in zip lock baggies, and water bottles under fleece blankets. It didn't last past the morning, and we were fine, so we didn't end up leaving the apartment. just played.

Giddy and I loved this craft/activity. I found it on Pinterest (of course). 

 Cloud Dough  

8 cups flour

1 cup baby oil

I made less than the batch said, and used a little more oil in my ratio.

Mix and mix, smoosh and smoosh, until it's the consistency you want. like wet sand, only better.

Cloud Dough

packs and smooshes like wet sand, only it's soooo soft

treasure hunt in cloud dough

smells so good, feels so soft

Vintage Nook and Goofy Lego

I love my little nook, and am happy to be able to display my books again.

The print is from when we were growing up. I need to get it framed. 

You can hardly see it, but the little bell on top is from my brother's trip to Europe
The doll is from my Grandpa when he was living, and the little figurines have been in our family for a long time.

Umbra Conceal Floating Shelf

Bowtie Bliss Pasta

Is is Martha that says, "It's a good thing."? 

That's what pasta is. Ha ha.

This meal came about when I ran out of cheese. Horrors!

I threw in a bunch of stuff that I thought would give it taste, and it turned out great. Very Thankful.

Usually, I'm happy if a meal is edible. It's my motto... It may not be amazing, but it's edible. Ha ha!

I'm not a recipe maker, I'm like my grandma. I just throw stuff in. I have no measurements.

Cook the pasta

Throw in the black olives, cut tomato, sliced ham (I used deli sliced- 'cause it's what I had)

Mix in Olive Oil (oh yum)

I used a little bit of the garlic you get in the jar

Salt and Pepper (whatever. just season it however you want. haha.)

Let it all simmer down. Next time, I'll use more tomato. I was just using what I had at the time, and the tomato cooks down. I hope you find this pasta meal as yummy as I did. It's nice and simple, and THAT'S a good thing!

Organizing Hats and Tshirts

I am seriously not caught up yet? Ugh, I'm never going to make it. This has been a marathon of posts. I think I broke a record.  I'm still posting the photos that have been stored on my camera since last November, since I finally got a memory adapter to transfer them to the computer.

So, little by little, I've been working the new apartment to get it organized, and tidy. I'm getting so many great ideas from the internet. I was browsing Walmart and came across these great baseball hat hangers that strapped to the door. After thinking about it for a minute... I thought, I can do something like that. $2.00 later, I have my thrifty hat hanger. Twine and binder clips keep my son's hats and my hubby's hats organized and not in a pile in the closet. I wrapped the twine all the way around the door, so there's actually room on the other side of the door, where I put some ties before I found a tie solution, which I will have to post about another time.

I bought more Idea Cubes (I don't even know the current name, they used to be called that.)

I love these. They are so versatile. I used them for years as bunny habitats. I recently used some as feather displays at a craft show. Now, instead of having to dig in the drawer, or closet, Jeff can show off his Tshirt collection. It's easy to stock, and easy to find what you're looking for.

Have you seen these great crystal cut cubes? My hubbie has a nice little collection of these too. They're fun for the whole family, it seems. Ha Ha.

French Dip Crescent Rolls

This was another Pinterest find. I HAD to try it. It turned out scrumptious!

I got it from Mama Loves Food Blog

I changed mine a smidge. I didn't use horse radish, and I made them with the large crescent rolls.

It turned out to be a great night. My sister brought a huge salad, and my brother brought a home made cheesecake. We had such a nice evening together.

Coffee Filter Wreath

Who else has tried this? I saw a billion tutorials popping up online, and on Pinterest, so I tried it myself.

It turned out ehh, pretty good. Next time I'll use the #2 filters, instead of the monster #4 filters. haha! The wreath was HUGE. Side note... everyone called it the powdered donut while it was up. HAHA.

So, you just hot glue coffee filters all over a wreath base, and it turns out looking like a big carnation.

Tasty Snack

I surprised the boys today by making them Snow cones... well, bowls, really. I just put capri sun in some snow. haha. They loved it. Usually, they're so picky about food.

I shouldn't have been surprised that this turned out so well. I mean, who doesn't like pizza ingredients?

For New Year's Eve, we made pizzas with english muffins. I had some ingredients leftover, so decided to experiment. 

Chips

Pizza Sauce

Mozzarella Cheese

Toppings (i had mushrooms, and ground meat toppings)

and nuked it. Oh yum.

Chocolate Play Dough

You HAVE to try this craft/food! It's both! It's so simple to make, and really fun to play with...

and it's fun to eat!

I found it at Edible Chocolate Play Dough by

Joyful Homemaking

Mix 16 oz (one conainer) of Chocolate Frosting

1 cup of Peanut Butter

1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar

I ended up having to add more powdered sugar as I mixed the dough. 

It turned out smelling heavenly, and was easy to work with. We had loads of fun

making shapes, and sneaking tastes. 

Margo says the mixture stays good in a baggie in the fridge for about a week.