Boil, Bubble, Toil & Trouble

Today for #NationalFudgeDay we made two variations of fudge, a simple microwave peanut butter deal with only 3 ingredients, and then an old-fashioned chocolate variety, cooked on the stove that required a candy thermometer and way too much of my time. I figured, why not? I have a candy thermometer in the closet that I have had for 10-15 years that I haven't ever used. #NeverHaveIEver has become a theme with doing these National Days, somewhat. We've used them for learning and trying new things, it's led us into a few somewhat ridiculous undertakings such as smoking a brisket back on Otis' birthday, which we had never done, but #NationalBrisketDay fell on that day so why not? Life should be playful. That one didn't really turn out so well, though, but we learned a lot and most importantly we tried something new. We tried something new today in making fudge as well as using a tool that I had all the intentions of using in the past but didn't. Ironically, I intended it for candle making, all those years ago, but broke it in today with candy making. Luckily, the same tool can often be used for different jobs. We spent most of the time waiting, it seemed. There is so much waiting in fudge making, both varieties; even the easy kind needed to set up in the fridge 2 hours.

The fancy kind had several stages of waiting, though: wait for it to boil, then let it simmer and wait for it to heat up, then let it sit and wait for it to cool down; don't stir me now or I'll crystallize, waaaaaaa, now stir me or I won't set up right! Fudge is sure finicky. We mixed it up and Celie did the constant stirring part, but soon after we came to a boil, she bailed on me. She came back for the next stage, but I got stuck with the waiting while she went off to more interesting things. She came back around before it was all said and done, though. It was a process, but in the end, I'll be damned, we made fudge. Maybe Tom Petty was talking about fudge making when he said the waiting is the hardest part? #CelebrateEveryDay

The Power of a Smile

This has certainly been a powerful smile. Originally composed by Charlie Chaplin, for the film Modern Times in 1936, the words were later added nearly 20 years later by lyricists John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, based on lines from the film. It's been covered by so many people through the years; how do you choose a version? Nat King Cole's was the first recorded with lyrics and is a classic. Judy Garland sings it like it was her own personal anthem, and I am sure it was in its own way. It was Michael Jackson's favorite song, as well, even played for his memorial. If I am remembering correctly, I believe I was told that it was my maternal grandmother's favorite as well? A person's favorite songs can sure tell you a lot about them. This song has certainly inspired many to smile through the hard times in all of its incarnations over the years.

#SmilePowerDay #CelebrateEveryDay

Chomp Goes the Weasel

Well, I dug a hole and buried a chicken, this morning. We lost 3 out of our smaller brood of 8, last night, the youngest gang of our flock. 5 of them are left, so we'll move them in with the bigger ones now, because it appears that Nettle, the rooster of the group, was one of them, sadly. We liked him. I couldn't even identify the poor bird I buried, pretty gruesome, and the two others were nowhere to be found. Signs of a weasel, I'd say? Ironically, we left 5 of that group in a big bush in the front yard last night, because they have been deciding to roost there and there were only the 3 in their coop. We were worried about the ones out in the bush, but figured they would most likely be okay, and we would work on training them into the big coop tomorrow, but ironically it was the 3 in the coop that got plucked off? So, we're lucky we left most of them roosting in the bush! Also, the irony is not lost on me that yesterday was #NationalPopGoesTheWeaselDay?! No. Kidding. So, we've been listening to variations of that song to boot. Celie said that's like killing someone because it's your birthday, which is fairly accurate. Of all the nerve! Life is ironic. #CelebrateEveryDay whether you want to or not, I reckon?

Frustrating Fun in the Heart of the Home

 Well, I decided against celebrating #AxeThrowingDay and #ForkliftSafetyDay today with the kids, but hey, there's always next year, right? So, instead we made some cookies together. Yesterday, we missed #NationalPeanutButterCookieDay so we tackled that one retroactively today on what was, incidentally, #NationalKitchenKlutzesDay! The kids all helped make the cookies, mostly Jasper and Celie, while we listened to Bluey: The Album. Good times. Cooking with them is frustrating fun, which is somewhat like a positive threat, or eustress, as I have discovered it to be called...it keeps you on your game. Jasper loves using the mixer and will get a little wild, but he's generally a good helper. He helped roll the cookies into balls and did the crisscross pattern with the fork. Celie helped to measure out all the ingredients. Yesterday, she actually made all of us scrambled eggs for breakfast, but being the junior kitchen klutz that she is, she had egg all over the counter, and dropped the ramekins into the mixing bowl twice, but pushed on through the inevitable mishaps. It's pretty much how you learn, making a mess of things. She made tuna salad this morning and it was all over. She's a klutz-in-training. I'm the senior kitchen klutz; I wasted our last stick of butter the other day. Thinking Jasper had put sugar into a measuring cup, I beat it into the butter, and here it was salt. Thing is, I looked right at him when he was playing with the salt beforehand, so I should have known? "This is the worst icing, ever!" Celie said when she tried it, and I was confused because I hadn't tasted it, until I'd realized what I did. Oops. A little salty, much? We're just clumsy learners, I reckon; haste makes waste, but practice makes perfect. #CelebrateEveryDay

Choosing to Make Life Beautiful

Celie will often reiterate the question nonchalantly to me, almost as a conversation starter: "Mom, what is the meaning of life?" It has become my standard answer to reply: "Life is whatever you make it." Life has no meaning; we give it meaning. It's not in the hand you're dealt, but in how you play your hand, I guess you could say. You decide what everything means, that's what makes life beautiful. 

#MakingLifeBeautifulDay #CelebrateEveryDay

Playing Games with Your Inner Child

Today for #NationalChildrensDay we mostly just tried not to be jerks, but truth be told, it was hard. We had things to do, so we couldn't do anything eventful. It was honestly a pretty challenging day, and there's no pausing the shitshow; things go awry here, often, but that's par for this course. Children test us and force us to grow up alongside them. It's ironic, isn't it? Are they a cursed blessing or a blessed curse? I jest, they are absolutely a blessing, but they push every single button you have and even install a few more on you for free. Sometimes, we're the ones who need the time outs. I've learned that it's mostly because they trigger us where we need it and try to engage with our inner child. Children are from another world. They don't quite live in this reality, but we sure try like hell to keep them here and make them follow our rules. If your inner child is in exile, it's pretty hard to play with any of these critters because it's all they do. Play and pretend. "Ain't nobody got time for that, I'm over here working and being real!" "Oh, yeah? What if I told you that you're just pretending too and it's silly?" If you aren't comfortable allowing your inner child to come out and play, it can be a drag to parent. We spend our lives slowly covering up this precious, inquisitive, and playful inner being that we are born as with all of these layers of rules for this reality and how it supposedly works proper. We'd be better off taking some lessons from kids: Be present; live now. I have learned more so far from my children than I ever imagined possible. Here's to all of the children out there, inside as well as out. #CelebrateEveryDay

Back in the Day of Black Cows

Today, Papa Bear ripped out our kitchen window and made an even bigger hole in the wall to put in a larger one. It was the LAST original window in this place that was here when we moved in almost 20 years ago. Being the kitchen window, it's especially exciting for me; I can't wait to wake up in the morning to it. He has changed out every other window in this place, and has framed in quite a few new ones himself, as well, so this was a milestone of sorts. We celebrated afterwards with root beer floats, because it's #BlackCowDay and apparently, we like cold sweets 'round here? The Black Cow, as it was originally known, was invented in August of 1893 by a man named Frank J. Wisner of Cripple Creek, Colorado using Myers Avenue Red Root Beer. That was 26 whole years before this A&W even came around in 1919, the same year my Pap was born! Meanwhile, breakfast cereal was only invented 30 years before the Black Cow, which is crazy to think! Things were harder, yet so much simpler, back then. There were only so many options and you had to make everything from scratch. Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. They lived on the bare necessities, and that's why they invented things, because they were needed. We have much different needs today and so many more ways to have them met. Imagine, back in the day, ol' Frank looked up at the full moon over Cow Mountain and thought it looked like a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream, and then he had the idea to put some root beer on it, and nobody else had done that yet, as far as he knew, all those years ago. Far out. So, tomorrow morning I'll be gazing out of the kitchen window down into the woods, musing: "Where does the time go?" #CelebrateEveryDay

Donald Duck and The Wise Little Hen

 It's #DonaldDuckDay and we were surprised to see how much he has evolved through the years; talk about character development. Donald, who turns 89 this year, was first introduced on June 9, 1934 in this "Silly Symphony" aptly named "The Wise Little Hen": neither Peter Pig nor Donald Duck would help the poor chick either plant or harvest her corn, so she finally just goes and does it herself with her peeps. Then Donald and the pig literally take turns kicking each other in the butt when it's all said and done, and the wise little hen eats her corn herself. Classic tale. #CelebrateEveryDay

Ice Cream Cones and Memories

 We enjoyed some ice cream cones today in celebration of National #ChocolateIceCreamDay. It reminded me how much simple fun it was as a kid, just to be able to eat the cone and all! Chocolate is the second most popular flavor of ice cream; more American's actually prefer vanilla over chocolate when asked, according to some sources. Otis, who is endearingly excited over the most mundane of acts, says it was the BEST ice cream he's ever had. I can't see anyone ardently thrusting an ice cream cone into the air and not be reminded of our trip to South Korea. Lemme s'plain. The feel of most of Seoul was very pleasant and unthreatening, very good vibe. For some reason, even though it's bigger than NYC, it felt much safer to walk around in. Anyway, my sister takes us one evening to what is described as a somewhat "seedier" area of the city. So, we're walking along this street, and I'm a little more guarded and watching out for people because of how she described it, even though it still felt relatively safe where we were, and then we come upon a group of young men, standing around in a circle, speaking in Korean. So, I'm thinking, ooh, here surely must be a group of young troublemakers to watch out for. Well, they all at one point shout out, almost like a toast, in unison, and into the center of their circle, they thrust their hands up and we see that they are each holding a vanilla ice cream cone. "The hooligans are loose; the hooligans are loose!" I'm thinking. It was hilarious; not a single chocolate cone among them. So vanilla. I may have digressed a bit, but it's related to chocolate by contrast, and was some seriously memorable imagery to behold. I'm not sure what those guys were celebrating, but it must have been something worthy of cheers. Vanilla ice cream day, perhaps? #CelebrateEveryDay

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party
Bryce Jordan Center
State College, PA 
April 2, 2023

April is sandwiched between both the boys' birthdays, Jasper's in May and Otis' in March. We ended up celebrating Jasper's birthday with a family party on April Fool's Day, because of the dates and everything. Unfortunately, we put a ton of time into getting our house prepared for receiving company, and there was a sudden wind storm the day of, when we were 2 hours shy of people showing up, and our power went out! (It stayed out for 48 hours, too!) Fortunately, we were able to move the party down to my folks' house, where they have a full house generator, a system that has saved the day several times now! That's another story. This one is about Monster Trucks. It was somewhat of a Monster Truck party, as Jasper ended up getting a big remote-control truck from his grandparents for his birthday. It was perfect timing, because a week or so back I had ran across the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live show and on a whim, bought tickets for the entire family and decided to give it a go, sensory issues and all. 

I had purchased sound canceling ear gear for both of the boys, and after arriving a week or so before the show, of course we could only find one set before we had to leave that day. But we still headed over, and figured we'd make due. We were a little late, so there were no crowds or lines going in, which helped with the overwhelm, but it was so loud in the building because they were right in the middle of the donut competition when we got there. So we got some ear plugs from the first aid stand, but Otis was still flat out refusing to go down to our seats. Jasper took the head gear, so he agreed to go down with Dad and Sissy, so I stayed back up in the hall with the little guy, trying desperately to convince him. I thought it was hopeless, until they took an intermission and I was able to convince him to go down to our seats. 

Luckily, after the intermission they went into Motocross stuff, with the lights on and it wasn't anywhere near as loud, so he enjoyed it enough he was okay with staying. By the time it got loud again, he was so invested that he did okay with me just jamming the ear plugs into his ears the best I could and cupping his ears with my hands as he sat on my lap. I'm glad he tolerated it this way, because overall he had a great time. So we made it through the show, even if we didn't have proper head gear. There was a kid with his father behind us that didn't have anything the entire show, and at one point where the dinosaur truck starts breathing fire after eating a car, I looked over and saw the poor kid was crying. It was definitely a sensory experience. 

The boys left happy and Jasper remembered all the names of the trucks he had seen and started drawing pictures of each of them when we got home. He named the remote control truck he got at his party from Grammy and Pop "Mega Crush" after that, so he seemed to understand the name game, and enjoyed decorating it with stickers and flames. 

The kids also had their first soft pretzels and Jasper just gripped his the entire time like a prop while Celie ate about three of them. I think that was her favorite part. And of course we found the other pair of ear gear not long after we got home, wrapped up in the blankets on the boys' bottom bunk. Glad it still worked out, because the experience was a good one. 

Initiating Tradition Through National Days: February - March 2023

We fit in as many National Days as we could in February and March. February 27th was #NationalStrawberryDay and I ended up making some Strawberry Shortcake, and it turns out somehow Celie and the boys had never had it before, which I didn't realize. So that was neat that it ended up being their first taste of Strawberry Shortcake. That's precisely what celebrating National Days is for, in my book. 

For March 2nd being #BananaCreamPieDay, my husband attempted to make his FIRST Banana Cream Pie. (He also made a Peanut Butter Pie, just because March 1st had been #PeanutButterLoversDay!) We also read a bunch for #ReadAcrossAmericaDay, which is actually Dr. Seuss's birthday (#DrSeussDay) so we essentially could make a tradition of having Banana Cream Pies for the good doctor's birthday every year. That would be fun. One of the reasons I like utilizing the National Days is the ability to stumble onto new traditions that we could establish organically as a family. All traditions were initiated by someone at some point, why not start some new ones instead of only following and studying the old ones?  

March 3rd was #NationalAnthemDay, so I played The Star-Spangled Banner on the guitar, and we sang for a bit. We also discovered and examined all of the verses, proper, that we were not aware of, and most people are not privy to. March 3rd was also #NationalPoundCakeDay and I had never made one in my life. We read about how they actually took a pound of each of the ingredients back in the day, hence the name. We decided to take a whack at making one old school, so Celie helped me measure out ingredients and mix one up. We ended up not having exactly a pound of each of the

ingredients, but so close it was worth attempting. It turned out rather good, and I'd like to add some other things for flavor next time, some cinnamon or lemon, even. The kids ate it up and it wasn't bad. Heavy. Ha.

Seed By Seed by Esme Raji Codell

March 6th was #NationalOreoCookieDay so we ate some Cookie's and Cream Ice Cream, that counts, right? We played a mild bit of Mario for MAR-10, #NationalMarioDay; next year I would like to celebrate that one a little harder, perhaps make some Mario sugar cookies. For #NationalJohnnyAppleseedDay

#NationalChiaDay

on the

11th I purchased us the book Seed by Seed and we intend to focus on that one
more next time around. We goofed off for #NationalGoofOffDay on March 21st. For #NationalChiaDay on March 23rd, I didn't get to make the chia pudding I had hoped, so I decided we should start the Bob Ross Chia Pet that Joey got me a year or so ago for Christmas or something. That was neat to finally do, and we watched it slowly sprout. 

#NationalCheeseSteakDay

Joey made delicious cheesesteaks for dinner. on Sunday, March 26th for #NationalCheesesteakDay. His own versions, of course, in both chicken and steak form, and not the traditional Philly cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz. We don't prefer that kind. Delicious! The National Days are fun because they even get my husband into it, and he tries his best to play along, picking up things while he's out shopping that would work or count and has tried making things several times this year that he has never tried before. Trying new things can be frustrating and difficult, but there's always a first time around. You're only bound for improvement, thereafter. Next time around, we'll celebrate even better. 

 

National Pie Day 2023

Happy #NationalPieDay! I've recently started to incorporate the National Days into our homeschooling, and it's been so much fun so far. There is actually a National Day Calendar, and they have an app as well as classroom things for each day, even print outs and worksheets. There are thousands of National Days, and their theme is to "Celebrate Every Day" and I really dig this concept. 

National Days aren't exactly real holidays, but they are often recognized by organizations and businesses, though usually with some sort of promotion and not a day off of work like federal holidays. Many of the National Days are established by these same businesses and organizations to promote products or to spread awareness. Still, it's a neat idea to take some time each day to acknowledge a person, place or thing and learn a little more about said person place or thing that we didn't know prior.

I think it is important to essentially celebrate each and every day of life and what a memorable thing to fit into our curriculum. More importantly, perhaps it's a better lesson to look for something every day to celebrate, like the simple things. This is a skill you are often forced to cultivate later in life, after you have been taught to always think about the so-called bigger things and place importance elsewhere. If I can teach my children to celebrate and appreciate the mundane things in life, now, then there's a good chance they'll learn to accept later how mundane life can be, in general, without disappointment or discomfort. With all the dopamine fixes and stimulation in the world today, we need, even more so, anchored into our everyday lives and that's generally what traditions do. 

So far this year, we have celebrated #NationalPopcornDay with some Cracker Jack history and a box of their own and some microwave popcorn making. #StephenFosterMemorialDay led us to playlists that we are still listening to, including the classics "Beautiful Dreamer" and "Camptown Races", which are our favorites. We made chili on #NationalBeanDay, which we said technically also counted for January being #NationalSoupMonth! Jasper was very interested in #NationalBirdDay which we commemorated by talking about wild birds and purchasing a window feeder so we can watch them better. We snuggled on #NationalCuddleUpDay and talked about how precious life is on #CelebrationOfLifeDay. We hugged extra on #NationalHuggingDay and of course got strawberry ice cream for #StrawberryIceCreamDay and it's only January! 

Every day there are generally several National Days occurring, so it's going to take us YEARS to celebrate everything, but what do we have other than time and the rest of our lives together? If we make it a quirky tradition now, it may follow the kids into adulthood. Every day at The Brainery is another opportunity to learn something new. My husband had never made a pumpkin pie before today, but Jasper emphatically requested pumpkin, while Celie wanted peach for our celebration. He ended up making both, and Jasper was beside himself, helping his dad make the pies and then waiting patiently for them to bake. He even got upset that I had to put it back in for a few more minutes when it wasn't quite done but worked on developing his patience. After it finished cooling, just enough to be eaten, he gave it a silent thumbs up. That's the Jasper stamp of approval. We'll hopefully be making good memories for years to come along with these messes and treats! I look forward to continuing to incorporate these kinds of things into our everyday life as we adventure further into our journey of fun and learning.