Praying for Spring, Playing with Color....!
Think spring....think spring....it will work, one of these days. Munchkin likes to point out that we need snow so that we have water to fill up the swimming pools in the summer. Last night, with her second-grade reasoning she told me that it would be okay if we didn't get more snow because with all of our water jugs in the basement, we could just use some of those to fill up the pool! Haha. Excatly what Kurt and I were thinking when we filled those up, put a little bleach inside and marked a date---swimming:)
Last week I was looking for something new for the kids to do and decided to make some playdough. I pulled out what I had recorded as "The Best Playdough Recipe" and my cake decorating supplies and set to work cooking up our first batch. Now, there are a million play-doh recipes out there and I tried many of them before settling on this one, it was so fast and easy that I ended up measuring out as many batches as I could for how much salt I had on hand.
I used some GEL icing colors that I bought a couple of summers ago at a yard sale for an awesome price. Most of them were fairly dried out and gummy but since I could scrape some out and drop it in the pan at the beginning of the cooking process it melted and then distributed evenly.
SO FUN!!! SO COLORFUL!!!
I think that I had more fun making it just to look at the colors than anything. and....
the kids have played with it for HOURS.
Notice that the pink has a little purple swirled in? That was Bug who got ahold of two colors at a time. Call me uptight but I'm one of those Mom's that wants the playdough to remain colorful for more than five minutes. I spent some time showing the kids how to use different colors together without smashing them together so that they can still be pulled apart. The got the hang of it and 10 days later, we still have bright, vibrant colors :)
Here is JD's creation. I don't remember what he said it was, but it was fun! Here are some reasons that I love this recipe:
1. The oil in it makes it super smooth and it's NOT STICKY, it also keeps it from drying out.
2. Most kids are tempted to TRY and eat playdough, not that I blame them, it's so yummy looking. But this recipe has LOTS and lots of SALT in it - hence, detering most kids. I say MOST because in our house, who ended up trying to eat the most playdough? My almost EIGHT year old daughter! The same child who tries to put tons of salt on her veggies, lick the salt shaker, and snitch from spills on the counter. Sigh!
3. Adding a little bit of mexican vanilla makes it smell GOOD! I've thought about adding a little coconut extract, or orange, or lemon....mmmmm!
Dear Diary,
I hate the fact that I need to take so much medicine to deal with the pain of this disease. I am well aware of the issues in our society with people becoming addicted to pain-killers. My Mom was a clinical director and then a program director at a recovery house for a couple of years, and I've, you know, watched Oprah. What am I supposed to do when I can't get out of bed to get my kids to school? Dr's have to be careful - that's understandable, but taking pain killers until I can have surgery isn't going to land me in a recovery house or on Oprah, is it? The guilt I feel makes me feel like I'm going to land in jail though. Dr. Durbin made me feel like it's a crime to be in so much pain, and yet she is the only person who could help that pain - and she wouldn't. How pathetic is it to have to go to the ER with a desperate hope of some doctor having mercy on me and helping me? Like one of a hundred stories I've read in the media. People addicted to pain killers who go doctor-shopping to get the meds that they want. But I'm not. Then again that's what addicts say, isn't it? They grill you every time you need a refill, which is often because they'll only give you enough medicine to last a few days. They want to see your picture ID and have a hand-written perscription. I follow their orders and, in a sense, put my well-being in their hands - and I feel like they are wringing me to the point that I'm just going to dissapear. The person I know who understands this the most is my Faith. She knows because she deals with chronic pain too. She is a Mom and a wife who has Fibromyalgia - an auto-immune disorder that causes dozens of unpleasentries one of which is chronic pain. She understands the guilt that comes from even needing the medicine and she understands that there are people who will look at you as though you are a criminal, as though you chose the disease and the pain. She knows, and so last Thursday, during the middle of my literal breakdown, I called her. Sobbing. And I knew. The Lord sent her into me life for a million reasons, but today - today she is here to listen and hold my hand and cry with me and then together, we look forward towards a solution, and away from those who judge unfairly. Women. Sisters. Love each other.
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