Just The Two of Us

Doggin' It

It's Monday.  That means it's Pinterest Monday.  The day where I  extol the praises of actually doing some Pinterest projects, not just "pinning" them in a sort of "this is a great idea and someday I think this would be fabulous to do with the kids" sort of way.  Because before you know it, those kids will be 28 years old and may just be no longer interested in the cool hot dogs you can make for them.  Trust me.  It could  will happen.

In fact, I was front and center to this weird "the kids actually grow-up phenomenon" this past weekend.  The same day that I did the project below, I also made a ginger-bread house with The Kids.  Last time I checked, all four of those children were participants in the Rent-A-Kid program.  All four love the ginger-bread house every year.  Ok, they have loved it the years we've actually done it, which to be honest, isn't every one of them.  But they remind me every year that it's time -  we need to build that house.  And so this year I was on top of it.  I brought it over.  

We started honing our decorating skills, but it didn't take me too long to see that we were missing some one.  Quaid, who is now seven (I'm sorry?  Who gave him permission to grow up?  Huh?  I was.not.consulted.) decided that being in the other room with his daddy and RW was certainly way cooler than making a ginger-bread house with us.  Well then.  I'm just warning you.. it will happen to you too.

Back to Pinterest (seeing as it is, actually, Pinterest Monday).  I saw the way cool idea (I know, it's not proper sentence structure) of making hot dogs with spaghetti running through them.  Just to be clear, I didn't think this would be way cool for RDub and myself, but for The Kids. [cough].  I brought all the gear over to their house.  "All the gear" sounds a bit overwhelming.  "Gear" consisted only of hot dogs and spaghetti.  Oh, and some buns in case they wanted them.  I made sure The Kids were busy elsewhere, and I covertly started making my magical hot dogs.

I know.  Cool, right?  I threaded the noodles through and dropped them into a pot of boiling water.  And then after that I stood there and told Karen what a fab meal I made the night before, but seeing as that isn't relevant to this conversation, I'll skip to the final product:

Thinking I was oh-so-clever, I cornered 6-yr-old Ava and asked her how the noodles got in the middle of the hot dog.

She excitedly and matter-of-factly said, "OH! You take the noodles when they're stiff?  And poke them through the hot dog?  And them cook them.  That's how you do that."

So much for putting one over on her. 

So thus completes another Pinterest idea project.  And as for Quaid?  I'm guessing I need to come up with some cooler stuff to do.  Because clearly, the ginger-bread house didn't really cut it for him.   Growing up is for the dogs.

Sweet Success?

This week's Pinterest project comes from my "Rent-a-Kid" ideas Pinterest board.  Candied popcorn.  It's colorful.  It's sweet.  It's fun, right?

Well the kids (and again, by "the kids" I mean Karen's kids, in case anyone gets confused and wonders how RW and I suddenly produced progeny of our own after all these years) thought this idea sounded just grand when I informed them that we were going to make special popcorn.  Colorful popcorn. 

I arrived at their home, ingredients in tow.  They weren't that terribly difficult to carry, as the ingredients consisted only of sweetened condensed milk and a few flavors of jello.  We pulled out the air popper and started popping.

Meanwhile back at the stove...

I'm fairly certain we stirred about 10 minutes longer than necessary, only because there were 3 colors and 3 kids old enough to stir.  Apparently they have yet to figure out that standing at a hot stove stirring something for 15 minutes is about as exciting as watching a tree grow.  Not that I'm complaining.  I fully realize that as the kids grow I shall have to up my game a bit.  But for now, stirring pots of funky colors is just about the best thing ever.

We poured the colors over the popped popcorn and popped it in the oven.  I know.  It's a lot of popping.

And then we waited.  And we (this time the "we" refers to Karen and I. Just trying to confuse you) also endured endless questions from the kids.  "Is it done yet?"  "How much longer?"  "Deb, can we eat it yet?"  Eventually the oven timer beeped.  Now a very dedicated and selfless person would have jumped up and immediately whisked themselves over to remove said popcorn from the oven and present it to excited children.  Just so we are clear, apparently I am not that person.  After Karen and I finished our game (Monopoly cards, for the intensely curious), I sauntered over and took a look:

Well, it did live up to it's promise of being "colorful".  It was also sticky.  This is the part when "evil Deb" secretly laughs at her best friend, seeing as they are her kids and therefore by default, her mess.  Ok, not really.  I'm not that mean.  Usually.

The kids gathered up with their popcorn bowls, excitement oozing from their every pore.  We dished up and they headed back upstairs for their Friday night movie.  A few minutes later, Jentzen appeared back downstairs, bowl in hand.

"It's too sticky,"  he practically whispered, his five-year-old eyes averted.  "It doesn't taste like popcorn."

Karen told him to put in a bag of microwave popcorn for himself.

He did, and then ran back upstairs, non-sticky, regular popcorn in tow.  Then, in a chain-reaction sort of way, the other 3 kids tip-toed down the stairs one at a time, also looking for regular popcorn that was, apparently, easier to eat.

So I have to tell myself, sometimes it's about the journey, not the end result, right?  At any rate, I'm pretty sure we all had fun even if they didn't eat it.  After all, they did get to stir.  Sweet.

 

Aid For An Old-Style Phone

I know, I know.  I'm fairly certain that I had designated Monday's to be Pinterest day, and here it is, Tuesday.  Just getting going and already a day late.  This unfortunate tardiness was the fault of Mike and Herb (who I naturally wish to call "Erb" until I, once every 5 minutes, have to explain to myself that he is a guy, not a leaf of basil).  Mike and Erb Herb are the 2 gentleman who were whipping our rears at 500 last night during the monthly card club game, which takes place in the basement of a local catholic church.  

Never mind that RW and I are the 2nd youngest pair in this card club (Karen and her sister have us beat in that category).  But think about it.  If RDub is 56, I am 40, and we are among the youngest there... oh - and we still get beat just about every month.  I guess we don't yet have the... lifetime experience... of our competitors.

So here we are, on Tuesday, for Monday's Pinterest project.  Got all that, or are you as confused as I am?  This weeks project was this.  I thought, even though I'm not terribly practiced in the whole "crafty-do-it-yourself" arena, that I could probably give it a shot.

My phone-charger-holder-thingie started it's long and smooth-but-not-greasy life as a Lubriderm lotion bottle:

I know how impressed you must be at the fabulous lighting in that picture.  Yup, photography is just so my thing.  Ha.

I took a little bit of time to cut out the shape, but let's face it, not quite enough time, as mine ended up a bit kitty-wonkus.  Don't bother looking that one up in the dictionary, I am pretty sure it's not there.

After it was cut out/up (whatever!), I hauled out some card stock and Mod Podge and went to work.  Mr. Lubriderm bottle was reborn, and my (retro) phone went from frying on top of the radiator...:

to charging like a civilized phone:

Again, the lighting.  I know.  And those shadows are so artfully composed, don't you think?

All in all, a relatively successful Pinterest week, don't you think?