7 Quick Takes (vol 2)

Happy Friday to all!

1. Two Saturdays ago, Princess and I spent mommy and me time shopping for stickers that Lacy found at Dollar Tree. Granted, we had to go to three different Dollar Trees (Dallas, Plano, and Frisco) to find them. We got Stations of the Cross, Mysteries of the Rosary, crosses and crucifixes, names of God, and Christmas/Nativity. They also have Jesus and Mary stickers too, but we already had those. The sets come four sheets to a package. What a deal!

2. We promptly added Mysteries of the Rosary stickers to Princess’ Rosary scrapbook, a rather long (months!) craft project to create something for her to look at while praying and learning the rosary. It’s turning into my craft project. Cute idea: take one 8x8 memory book that conveniently comes with 10 pages (20 sides), and create a scrapbook page for each mystery. I’ll probably add the prayers to the inside covers.

3. During our trek across the DFW Metroplex, we also stopped into the new-ish Catholic bookstore in Plano: Two Hearts (I can’t find a link). It’s located relatively close to my office, except that I work mostly at home these days. Anyway, in the back of the store, they have a nativity set up including dress up clothing for the kids. I loved seeing Princess dressed up as Mary holding the baby Jesus doll.

4. We’re in the process of hand painting eggs. I’ve gone through the tedious process of blowing out the eggs (two!), and Princess and I each painted one. We’ve tried and tried, but none of us can tell which side is the top or bottom! Must be the free range eggs I used.

5. I have discovered that I can read Kindle books on my iPod. Yes, you have to turn a lot of “pages”, but it’s still cool. It’s a free app – first one that pops up in the Apps store if you search on “Kindle”. Not that I buy a lot of (or any) Kindle books from Amazon. However, I did discover that sometimes books come up priced at $0. That’s right: free! I keep an eye on Kindle Review for free books.

(Of course, I guess I can just sort on Kindle books by price (low) on Amazon...)

6. Today is April 15 – tax day! However, due to some sort of D.C. holiday tomorrow, which has to be celebrated today (i.e. not on the weekend), we all get the option of waiting until Monday to turn in our taxes. This is good since I can’t get my accountant on the phone.

7. Princess is excited to wear red to Mass this Sunday for Palm Sunday. Red is her favorite color!

On that exciting note, have a great weekend!

Making Marshmallows

Last night we (mostly me) made homemade marshmallows. Not the healthiest food in the world, but nonetheless, tasty and fun to make. And, as a side benefit, making marshmallows works as a science project for Little One: mixing solids and liquids and heating them changes the form of the matter, mixing in air changes the consistency. You can do your own search, but here is the recipe that I used:

Homemade Marshmallows

.75-oz unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes of gelatin)
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Corn starch
Powered sugar

Line 9 x 9-inch pan with plastic wrap and lightly oil it. Set aside. (I used two smaller pans since I didn’t have the correct size. I also sprinkled the oiled plastic wrap with the powered sugar mix below.)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for about 10 minutes. (I don’t have a stand electric mixer, so I used a large bowl. You do need a large bowl.)

Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil and boil hard for 1 minute. (Other recipes called for a candy thermometer, which I don’t have. Notice a trend?)

Pour the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer, using the whisk attachment, to high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, add in the vanilla extract beat to incorporate. (To continue the trend, I don’t have a whisk attachment for my hand electric mixer, although I’m pretty sure I did at one time.)

Lightly grease your hands and the spatula. Scrape marshmallow into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Take another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap and press lightly on top of the marshmallow, creating a seal. Let mixture sit for a few hours, or overnight, until cooled and firmly set. (Just like on the bottom of the pan, I sprinkled some of the powered sugar mixture on top first.)

In a shallow dish, combine equal parts cornstarch and powered sugar. Remove marshmallow from pan and cut into equal pieces with scissors or a chef's knife. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in confectioners' sugar mixture. (At the time of this post, I haven’t gotten this far. I read on another site that using a pizza cutter works great too.)

Store in an airtight container. Makes about 40 large marshmallows, depending on the size you choose to cut them.

Little One and I had great fun, especially scraping the bowl afterwards. Granted, we had to go straight to bath, but it was still yummy!

Writing books

Yesterday, my first book arrived in the mail. Before we all get excited (happy dance!), let me just say that this is a self published children’s book that would have to be revised prior to any actual publication. For more information on self publishing, try Blurb.

I learned several things. First, a lot of work, dedication and focus go into writing books. It took me several years to finalize a 30 page book (mostly due to finding the right illustrations – via photography – to go with the story).

Second, I’m excited even if the book is never sold anywhere. How cool is it to see a finished product like a book that you created?

I’m thrilled that Little One was excited to read the book and now wants to write a book too. How cute! There is much truth in the fact that children imitate what they see their parents do. They learn by example, by seeing and doing.

Final lesson: There is a reason editors exist.

Bird Watching and Photography for Kids

No, we didn't take photos of birds. I give credit to my husband for the first activity for Little One: bird watching. Take two empty toilet paper rolls and tape together to make binoculars. Print out photos of birds and tape to walls and ceiling. Go bird watching with 3-year-old. Clearly this can be done outside with real birds. But it's a little hot, so there are not many birds about.

Since I come from a line of photographers and got a camera at a very young age, I decided to take a tour of the neighborhood with Little One and a small digital camera. She took to it quite nicely, and even got some good shots. Thankfully, digital cameras don't use expensive film. She managed to take 273 photos in 20 minutes!