Pumpkin paper mask

I thought I would share a halloween craft that we did with our brownie troop.  This is a quick, easy craft that proved to be quite fun with the girls.

Supplies needed:
 

Orange construction paper

Pencil

Scissors

Hole punch

Yarn 

Like I said, this craft is very easy. 

Draw a pumpkin on your piece of orange construction paper.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  Not all pumpkins are the perfect pumpkin.  :)

Cut your pumpkin out.  Draw a face on your pumpkin and cut the eyes (nose?) and mouth out.punch a hole on either side of the face.  Take a piece of yarn and attach to one side (tie in a knot).  Place the mask over your face, yarn going around the back of your head, and attach to the other side of the mask.

 

 

Then you can go and scare your dog.

BOO!

Fundraisers

The kid's schools are always doing fundraisers.

Order your school supplies and the school makes some money (yea, don't get me started on this one. I wrote a little about this subject here). Benefit nights: order food from a  specified restaurant and the school gets a percentage of the total dollar amount.  Overpriced wrapping paper.  Market Day.  Book sales. Ice cream social (one of the biggest fundraisers our school does). Yearbook. Oh, yea. They make money on the year book. Can you believe that?  

 

I could go on and on.  Everything the school does is to make money.  It's not like they need all of this money.  We do pay an arm and a leg through taxes to send our children to these schools (our public schools are decent, I have no reason to complain about the education they are providing my children).  There are a number of people who live in the area that (pay the taxes) and then send their children to private schools (almost like paying double for your child's education). And then there are the empty nesters who pay taxes and don't have kids in school (we are surrounded by them).  So, there should be a little extra cash floating around for the schools to use. 

Today I just received a flyer for yet another fundraiser. This one has a tiny copy of Bella's artwork. It's so small, you can barely see it. The idea is that I can order items and have this artwork imprinted onto them.  My problem?  Besides the overpricing of the items?  It doesn't look like any of the artwork that Bella has ever done!  Bella told me that the teacher had them draw a picture of an alien. (An alien?) I guess I can see some people good at drawing an alien, but, Bella?  Drawing an alien?  Yea. I hate to say it but it looked awful. Bella agreed. She said it was the first time she drew an alien. She didn't want to draw one, but that was the assignment. 

The sad thing is the teachers keep bringing up that the kids have to get their orders in. I don't like that the teachers are giving the kids this big push just so they can make money for the school.

I'm thinking this whole fundraising is getting a little out of hand.  I think I would prefer to be asked if I can just donate some money when needed.  Or how about giving us a break and limit it to a couple fundraisers a year?  

What do your schools do for fundraising? 

Bella's wish list

It's a good thing Bella put the little "TM" (trademark) after those wish list items. We don't want to be sued. 

Scary Journey's Black Pom Pom Spider Craft

Back again with another easy Halloween craft.  This time we are making a black spider.

I found this craft on Enchantedlearning.com.  Click here to view the tutorial.  They have some great craft ideas.  Check out the rest of their website!

Let's get started:

Supplies Needed:

Black yarn
cardboard
scissors
4 pipe cleaners
google eyes
glue

These directions are taken right from Enchanted Learning's website. I did edit them a little with some changes that I made when making my spider.

Cut a piece of yarn about 2 feet long; put it aside for later. Cut a piece of scrap cardboard about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide.

Wrap about a yard or two of yarn around the rectangular piece of cardboard (don't wrap the yarn too tightly or it will be hard to take it off the cardboard).  *
*I would go 3 yards or more on this one if you want the spider head to be really puffy.

Lay your 2 foot long string down and place your 4 pipe cleaners on top.

Carefully remove the yarn loops from the cardboard (make sure the loops retain their shape) and place on top of pipe cleaners.
 
Tightly tie the 2-foot-long piece of yarn around the middle of the loops plus pipecleaners. Cut the yarn loops at their edges. Trim the pompom so that it makes a nice circle. Bend the spider's legs and glue on googly eyes.

Again, this is another great kids craft. Also makes a great girl scout Halloween craft.

Scary!

Pumpkin and Ghost using Popsicle Sticks

Thought I should add to Scary Journey's Halloween crafts for the year before it's too late!  Halloween is creeping up on us.....fast!

I have an enormous amount of Popsicle sticks (unused) that were given to me.  I promised that I would do something fun with them. Why not use them to make something for Halloween?  A pumpkin?  Or a ghost?  Perfect!  I saw these two ideas all over the Internet.  I'm not sure who to give the credit to for the project.  If you want more images on what you can do, just google "Halloween craft using Popsicle sticks" and click on images.  There are a lot of cool ideas out there!

Well, here is my take on the project.

Supplies needed:
Popsicle sticks
orange paint
white paint
paint brush
hot glue
black foam
pipe cleaner (green if making a stem for your pumpkin, black or tiger striped to make pumpkin look like a trick or treat bag)

For the pumpkin:

Paint your Popsicle sticks orange.  Use a Popsicle stick (or two) on the back and start hot gluing the sticks to them.  Cut out your pumpkin's face out of the black foam and glue to the sticks.  Adjust your pipe cleaners (into a stem if using green) (into a half circle if making a treat bag) and glue to back.

For the ghost:

 

Paint your Popsicle sticks white and glue to two small sticks (I cut pieces from one of the Popsicle sticks).  Make a scary face by cutting it out of the black foam and glue to the sticks.

Easy project for kids!  This would make a great Halloween craft for girl scouts, too!

 

BOO!

Vegetarian Diaries - Vegetarian Chili

Ooh!  Can you feel it?  That chill in the air! It means only one thing.   It's that time of year.  Time to make a big pot of (vegetarian) chili and cozy up!

I have been making this recipe for years.  Forcing my family to eat a healthy bowl of cooked vegetables  Enjoying the taste of yummy vegetables.  It's so good (and good for you!).

Feel free to substitute other vegetables.  I have been known to throw in zucchini, green pepper or celery. 

By the way, I do make chili with meat for the rest of my family.  It's hard when you can't try it to see if it tastes good.  So far, I have had raving reviews.  Not sure what I'm doing right.  Maybe it's just years of cooking experience?

Well, here's the recipe:

Vegetarian Chili

4 tsp sunflower seed oil
1 medium size butternut squash, peeled, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
3 Tbsp chili powder
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 4oz can chopped green chiles
1 cup vegetable broth
2 cans black beans, rinsed, drained
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

In a large pot, heat 2 tsp of the oil.  Add butternut squash and cook, stirring until golden.  Remove and place in a separate bowl.

In same pot, heat 2 tsp of the oil and cook carrots and onion until well browned.  Stir in chili powder.  cook about a minute, stirring.

Add tomatoes, chiles, vegetable broth.  Heat until boiling.  Reduce heat to low;  cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in black beans and squash.  Heat to boiling.  Reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes or until squash is tender and chili thickens.  Stir in cilantro. 

Serve.


I use fresh peppers instead of the can of chiles.  Throw in a jalapeno to give it a little kick!
Sometimes I add kidney beans (so one can black beans, one can of kidney beans).
I toss a little cumin in there, too.

You can definitely make a small batch of this by reducing ingredients.  I make a small batch if I know I will be the only one eating it.  I would think you could freeze a portion of this, too.

Again, if you try it, let me know how it turns out.  I would love to hear from you!

Enjoy!

Cleaning up after the dogs

Well, I guess I could title this post, "Cleaning up dog poop."  That would be more like it.

When we adopted/rescued our dogs I was told (by my children) that they would do everything for the dog.  OK, when we adopted Newton, the boys were 2 and 5.  I didn't expect a whole lot.  They did quite a bit of feeding and their share of cleaning up dog poop.

About a year ago, I was told the same thing.  Alex and Bella wanted another puppy and said that I "wouldn't have to do anything."  Well, except let the dog out during the day while they were at school.  So, we rescued Pippen.  A year later and guess who is taking care of both dogs?

I do try to get the kids to help. It's not always that easy.

If I don't feed the dogs they don't eat.  If I don't check their water bowls, they will probably remain empty.  If I don't complain long enough (or do it myself) the dogs won't get brushed.  Which then leads to if I don't vacuum then our house will fill up with dog hair.  And, if I don't clean up the dog poop, the piles will be taller than our house in no time.

Having a dog is a lot of work and responsibility.  Throw in a second dog and things double.  Especially the dog poop!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I clean up a lot of dog poop.  It seems that with the addition of Pippen to our family, there has been a HUGE increase. 

I do like to hang outdoors, so, that's an added plus to having to do the clean up.

It's a lot easier to find me now.  Now the answer to, "Where's Mom?" is, "She's out cleaning up dog poop!"