Archive for January, 2007

Try this at home!

Monday, January 29th, 2007

Remember the ‘stained glass‘ project? I just thought you might like an update from someone who decided to use this technique in her apartment. Only Eva has a way of taking a pretty good idea and making it much cooler. Have a look. (more…)

Write On (or not?)

Monday, January 29th, 2007

Parents have a right to tell stories about their funny kids, so I have to do it every now and then. Bear with me.

Mary’s anxious to learn how to write, but more often than not, her only examples of manuscript are notes I’ve jotted in cursive. Even when I’m -trying- to print for my kids, I have a hard time keeping the letters in block. So she’s decided that pretty handwriting’s got to have curls. While the results would definitely not win points for readability, I do think I’ve got a future fontographer on my hands. (I’ll include a scan at the end of the article so you can see what I mean)

Ethan, tragically, seems to have lost his spark since starting school. He’s annoyed that his kindergarten teacher demands initial caps followed by lower-case on his name, as he’s been writing ETHAN forever. We were starting to fill out valentines for his class, when I asked, “Ethan, remember… Which letters in your name are supposed to be capitalized?”

He sighed: “There aren’t any I’s in ‘Ethan’, Mom.” (more…)

First Aid for Icy Hot Burn

Saturday, January 20th, 2007

Immediate relief for Icy Hot burns or chemical burns from other Methyl Salicylate ointments such as Bengay, Bayer Muscle Joint Cream, ArthriCare Ultra Cream, and Tiger Balm:

To cool the burn, carefully wipe off excess cream with a kleenex, apply olive oil with a cotton ball, wipe off with another kleenex, and THEN wash off with water. This stops the burn within minutes. I am not a doctor, just a mom who prayed for help and is sharing the answer she got, because it really works. Let me know if it works for you too.

*IMPORTANT* IcyHot now makes a “no mess” roll on formula which leaves a film over the the active ingredients (I guess to keep it from getting on your clothes? ) If you’re burning with this formula or any other brand like it, you WILL need to wash off the film first with soap and water, and then use the olive oil trick to stop the burn. (Update: that isn’t completely stopping the burn for some people, though most say it helped somewhat. Avoid the roll-on stuff!)
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A real snowflake

Saturday, January 13th, 2007

My kids and I made paper snowflakes this winter out of our names. They’re really quite beautiful. But my kids weren’t at all convinced that REAL snow looks like that. So I took this picture.

Closeup of a snowflake

Closeup of a snowflake

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