Mom, I'm BORED: Free summer entertainment!

The kids are on summer break, and if I hear "I'm bored" one more time I might hang them by their toes. Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing some of the fun activities that we've enjoyed on the cheap.

Seriously, though, I do want them to have a fun summer. Of course, they want to go to Six Flags and Disney World, and though I am grateful for what we have, we do not have the disposable income for a Disney trip for four!

Fortunately, fun can be found close to home, at no cost to me!

Today's outing was to the Silver Comet Trail. It's a paved trail that goes from Georgia all the way to Alabama, used for walking, biking, roller blading, dog walking.. pretty much any non-motorized stuff. There is a parking lot and trail entrance just a few minutes from my house. It has one of those fun fountains for kids to play in, the kind where the water shoots up from brick pavement, and a small park area with benches and shade from a big oak tree.

With a high temperature of 96, it wasn't a good day for walking the trail. The fountain, on the other hand... how refreshing and cool! I sliced up a watermelon, put it in a big bowl, and took that, two hula hoops, Eli's contact juggling ball, and off we went.

After devouring the watermelon, we cooled off in the fountain.

The plan after that was for Sid and I to hula hoop, while Eli practiced his contact juggling, with all of us periodically running through the fountain to stay cool. As kids will do, they deviated from the plan, which was perfectly okay.
 

Sid had no interest in hula hooping, choosing instead to keep running through the fountain. E juggled for only a short time before he discovered the climbability of the big oak tree. I hula hooped, while E watched Sid and I from a bird's eye view.

Exercise, fresh air, and mom & kids time. I am pleased.

My 4th of July isn't so stellar/ Now updated with HAPPY!

Please excuse me while I make a brief but whiny blog entry. It is July 4th. This is what our weather is doing:

 The darkness is not my poor photography. It is storming. It has two hours to stop so that I can go enjoy some fireworks. Or else!

We went to see some fireworks last night, but left when it started storming. Evidently, it stopped storming 5 minutes later and the show went on-- without us. I've got 2 kids who want fireworks, and here it is storming again. We're going, come hell or high water, and we're staying until either A) we see fireworks, or B) There is zero chance of any fireworks happening under any circumstances.

If that weren't enough, my back went out. It rarely happens to me, but today it has been so bad that it has been almost impossible to think of anything else. The entire day has been spent attempting to alleviate the pain. I am now ignoring it, denying it, and willing it to go away. 

My heart goes out to people who have chronic back pain and have to live with this crap every day.

I'm going to feel like a giant sissy Mary when I read this next week and see how I'm whining like a child because I might not get to see fireworks. 

Several hours later:

 We saw fireworks! There was a light rain, and for a minute we watched from the car. I didn't like it. Felt like watching on TV. 

So we got out. And it was amazing. The boom, the smell of sulfur, the eerie surreal scene, and of course the sparkling puffs of light, the stars of the show. At one point there was a giant firework with a big bolt of lightning through it! The air was heavy and dark, the festivities soaked and dripping. It was really cool.
 
No pictures, because of the whole rain thing. Pictures don't do fireworks justice anyway. 

I haz a happy now!

With summertime comes... toe rings!

After almost a month of not creating any new designs, I decided that it was high time to come up with something to excite me-- and hopefully my potential customers as well. I sat down with my tools and my wire and proceeded to have that certain look that always makes my husband say, "What on earth are you doing? Often, a new idea just comes to me, and I eagerly get to work, twisting, cutting, and bending, until the idea is a reality. Other times, like the one I am speaking of currently, I sit down and tell myself I am going to come up with an idea, right now.That is when the desperate, concerned, somewhat psycho "look" can be seen.

This time, while racking my brain to come up with what people might want, I looked down at my sandal-clad feet, and I realized what I want. A light, feminine, shiny toe ring! I'm in sandals nearly every day in the summer, and I know that I'm not the only one. (Though I may be the only one who adds socks when it gets chilly, rather than giving up the comfort of sandals for something more weather-appropriate!)

So that is just what I did. Now, toe rings are a bit limited due to the nature of the toe.

Don't get me wrong, there are many possibilities, and I intend to explore the heck out of them, but you can't just take any round ring and put it on the toe. It needs to be a style that is slightly adjustable to allow for the area where the ring sits to be thinner than the end of the toe that the ring must first pass over. Yet it cannot be the type of adjustable ring that has two bands right up against each other, or you risk being pinched when weight is put on the toe.

Given the elements that are absolutely necessary in a toe ring, I went with a style that I have seen many times, and concentrated on how I could make mine better. I blunted the ends of the wires to avoid poking of the skin. I curled the wire slowly and carefully so that it the curves are smooth and flowing, rather than rough and primitive, all the while being careful not to leave any unsightly marks on the silver with my metal tools. Ever mindful of functionality, I made the design so that the curl in the wire that is nearest to the end of the toe curls downward, toward the foot, to avoid snagging. Finally, I tumbled it for a few hours to harden the silver a bit, helping the ring to hold its shape while still retaining some flexibility so that it can mold properly to the wearer's toe.

I've been wearing it for 4 days now, and I am pleased with it. I even had to paint my toenails. They looked so plain next to my lovely ring. I've always admired toe rings on others, but never had one that was comfortable enough to wear on a regular basis. This one is going to be a permanent fixture for me this summer!

Photo & Prompt Challenge: Day 3

Your Favorite Show

This was a little bit tough because there are a few shows that I really like for various reasons, but the one show I make sure not to miss is House. I love the humor in it, especially the exchanges between the main character, Dr. House, and his best friend, Wilson. The witty humor, as well as the drama, keeps me coming back for more every week and waiting impatiently in-between seasons.

Painting by Ben Meiri from Ben's Craft. Click the picture to see this painting in Ben's shop on Etsy!

If you would like to participate in the 31 day Photo & Prompt Challenge, go here for the scoop!


 

A Slip of the Tongue

I made a collection on Artfire that I think is a lot of fun, enough so that I would like to share it with my blog friends!

A slip of the ton...

Curated By: HonkusGrogana

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

Aluminum Jewelry

I've discovered a new medium, and I'm in love! Aluminum. It's bright, it's shiny, it's  inexpensive, and best of all, I love the feel of it in my hands. Seriously, I'm one who has quite the thing for touching things, and working with aluminum wire is absolutely blissful.

My first creation in aluminum is a bracelet and ring set. Because I haven't had experience with how aluminum behaves as jewelry, I've been wearing the set-- and getting lots of compliments.
 

The bracelet is wonderful. I made each link individually, with a feminine spiral on each end, linking them together with jump rings. The great thing about this bracelet is that it is almost weightless. It is so light that I forget I'm wearing it. This is ideal for me, as watches and heavier bracelets never fail to have me tugging and adjusting them all day.

The ring, while beautiful, and a perfect compliment to the bracelet, does have a drawback. It is soft. Aluminum is a soft, soft, metal, and it doesn't take much of a snag to bend the ring out of shape. I have been wearing it for 2 days so far, removing it at night, and it still looks great. However, there have been several times already when I've had to gently put it back into shape. One such time was when I was filing paperwork, reaching my hand between tightly shelved manilla file folders. With a different style of ring, a bit more substantial and compact, this would be a non-issue, but this particular one can lose its shape pretty easily. I'm okay with it, but would certainly need to make that drawback very clear when offering this style of ring to anyone else.

Lastly, I made a butterfly pendant from aluminum. Again, this material just feels like butter in my fingers. I adore working with it. I haven't taken the pendant on a test run, but the only drawback I foresee is that it will not stand up to abuse, such as Baby tugging on it, as babies will do if they get the opportunity. The light weight will be a nice perk.

I look forward to working more with aluminum. At the moment, I can't seem to put it down!

Poke Salad, Yummy, Yummy

With springtime, all kinds of plants are coming up! Some that were planted deliberately, and of course, those weeds that spring up all on their own. One of the weeds indigenous to my area is poke salad. (Sometimes known as polk salad or poke salit)

A larger plant. Much smaller ones are used for eating.

I've always heard that it was edible, but dangerous if not cooked correctly. I've also always wanted to try it myself, but been a bit nervous about the whole poison thing. My grandparents thought nothing of it-- and their parents, with 13 kids, very little food, and eating whatever they could grow or kill, were no doubt thrilled to have it!  Today, I researched on the internet, became brave, went out and harvested poke weed, and cooked it up!

After the first boil. I boiled them twice.

Butter, salt, pepper, garlic, onions, jalapeno peppers

Topped with cheese & ready to eat!

It turned out yummy! Tasted very much like asparagus casserole. Even the kids loved it! I bet it would be good with rice in it as well.

If you should choose to try this, research first because doing it wrong can be toxic. You should only use new plants that snap easily when you bend the stem, no red stems or older mature leaves. I only used very young plants.

I'm so glad I finally did this. Not only was it tasty, it felt good to pick something right from the yard and eat it. And it was free!