Crochet Firefly Spaceship

Remember how I was all worried about getting Baby M's gift done quickly? Well, it didn't take that long.

Though it does look a bit ... phallic.

Serenity actually breaks down pretty simple shapes. Tubes, circles, squares, triangles.

And I think Mr. M like it.

Baby Gift Brainstorm - Firefly

So Mrs. Kinne was due to have a baby in May. I figured I had most of April to finish his gift.

Then he decided to arrive in March.

So we're a little behind schedule.


Oh, and he's fine. A total champ. All the more reason he needs a really awesome gift.

His name is Malcolm, after Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly, so OF COURSE he needs a Serenity-something. Mom says she wants a Pigeon Hat, so I guess I can make him a Jane Hat for next winter.

But I think he needs a space ship, don't you?

(Free pattern, score!)

(another free pattern!)

and maybe some little guys, eventually ...

Birthdays ... uhg

I'm feeling so much UHG about the kiddo's upcoming birthday. First, he'll be 3 years old, which is like, what? No ... what? But, like, .... what? I'm having a hard time with it.

Second, I won't actually get to celebrate his birthday on his birthday. I am having Radioactive Iodine treatment on the 11th, after which I will need to be quarantined from the entire human race for 3 days. Just me and my Netflix and my knitting and painful salivary glands. Which, don't get me wrong, I'm am looking forward to -- also not having an overactive thyroid, which sucks, let me tell you. But the fact that I don't get to do birthing things with him, that sucks even more.

Finally, he'll be three. Wait, I already said that. It deserves saying again. He'll be three. He was never a terrible two-year old, but all of a sudden, as Three starts to peer around the corner, he's turned into this ... well ... toddler! UHG! He's such a ... TODDLER!!! He doesn't listen to reason, he doesn't want to do what I tell him to do, he's gone from only freaking out at me in the privacy of our own home to freaking out at me wherever we happen to me, which usually means there are other people around who, you know, notice the small child flailing around on the floor and the mother trying to keep her cool.

But anyway ...

Birthday things. Probably the weekend before. Which is fine, he can't read a calendar ... yet. He can tell time, and use a mouse (not that that's relevant to reading a calendar, he just happened to learn that today).

Themes ...

He's a big fan of the Mo Willems Pigon books (Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, the Pigeon Finds a Hotdog, etc.), and sometimes they talk about hotdogs. Because hot dogs are awesome. In Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late he dreams about a Hot Dog Party. So we could do that.

I've also been knitting Pigeon Hats and putting them on Etsy, so he's used to A LOT of pigeons around the house.

So we could have a Hot Dog Party. Only problem is we don't have a grill, and if you're going to cook 800 hotdogs for a party, it would be nice to have them on a grill.

Even though he likes his hot dogs cold now. Yuck. Apparenty my brother used to do the same thing when he was little.

But maybe the food isn't important.


Cake. now CAKE is important.

Thinking I could do a bus-shaped cake and draw the pigeon in the window.

Or a pigeon-shaped cake (but that pan might be hard to find, for free)

Or just a regular cake with a pigeon drawn on it ...

Or ...

too ambitious? He would just love them.


Decorations.
God I love pinterest.

So simple.
And we could do games like Pin the Pigeon on the bus, or whatever. Toss the pigeon into the thing. Don't let the pigeon do something. Nothing over the top, because this might just be the grandparents. We don't have very many little friends at the moment.

Play Cash Register

I bought a bunch of big frames for my teaching space, and each of them came in a big cardboard box (within another bigger cardboard box). Nice, thick cardboard. I just couldn't throw it out ... I may have a problem.

Ro has been obsessed with the grocery store. He loves picking out the food, putting it on the checkout belt, asking the cashier for stickers, etc. He has a little play kitchen and play food, and a really cute shopping basket, but no way to really play "store" at home. He doesn't have a cash register.

But I had a bunch of cardboard and about 20 minutes free. And really that's all I need.

(Please excuse any out-of-focus pictures ... thyroid disease-induced shaking ... another post for another time).

1. Design:

(the pieces of cardboard were about 20" long, so I made this 10" long, just for convenience)
There is an angled screen and an open area for a drawer that can slide in and out.


To use my measurements, you can download this template picture.

(Also, seriously, I used the Pythagorean Theorem. In real life. Go call your High School Math teacher and apologize.)


2. Measure and cut.

3. Tape together.

 

I used duct tape on the inside of the corners (tricky to maneuver all the pieces and tape the INSIDE, but it looks better). Had to reinforce the drawer with tape on the outside of the front corners because that's the piece you pull to get the drawer out.


4. Decorate.

I used a black sharpie and drew a screen for the checkout (with his favorite foods and their prices), a credit card swipe slot, and a keypad.


5. Fund.

I just cut out some green construction paper and drew presidents on them. Ro doesn't really get it, but I think he knows they are supposed to be dollars. Cut circles from any leftover cardboard and you've got coins. A little rectangle from leftover cardboard can be a credit card (make sure to have a serious discussion with your toddler about financial responsibility before handing over the card).


6. Buy things from around the house.
Gather food and other things, and pretend to buy them. With older kids, you can talk about dollars and making change, but here we're still working on the concept of "I give you money and you give me the stuff I want/need".


7. Post to Pinterest and get famous.
Is it a problem that my financial planning involves Pinterest-based fame? ...

Too many

that is all.

Stove-Top Popcorn, like a boss

I have a long history of sucking at making popcorn on the stove. In college, my roommate Maggie and I could have contests involving the number of kernels left at the bottom of the bowl. If your batch had less than 6, you got a free beer. If you had zero kernels left, I think you got a six-pack. I'm not sure I ever finished paying off all the beer I owed her.
In grad school, my roommate Rachel and I would make popcorn and watch Sex and the City ... and study. Cause we were lame. But I still wasn't all that good at it.

Cue Pinterest. Oh, Pinterest. You never really failed me ... until now. Even pinterest couldn't fix my popcorn predicament.

And then I sort of solved it by accident.

Here we go. Forgive the lack of measurements ... I tend to wing it in the kitchen.

Perfect Stove-Top Popcorn

Ingredients:

Vegetable/Canola Oil

Pop Corn Kernels

Any toppings you want (butter, salt, etc.)

In a 1-1/2 qt sauce pan, pour enough oil to just cover the bottom. Throw in about 10 popcorn kernels. Cover and shake a few times so kernels are coated with oil. Place over medium heat and walk away for a minute. I mean, don't leave the house with the stove on, but you can do dishes or something. This part is going to take a few minutes. Ever minute or so go back and shake the kernels around. You'll notice that they'll start to turn golden. When they start to pop, keep shaking the pan above the heat so they don't burn. Once they all pop (you'll know because you won't hear any "clinking" in the pan from the kernels), dump them into a bowl. Put another layer of oil down and throw another handful of kernels in (about a Tbsp), and shake a few times until coated. Because the pan is already the right temperature, the oil will heat quickly and the kernels will pop fast! As soon as they start to pop, keep shaking until all popped. Repeat until you have as much popcorn as you want.

Why this works: I used to put in as many kernels as the amount of popcorn I wanted. This didn't work because there were too many kernels, they would get stuck in the middle of the popped popcorn and not pop. Doing it in small batches means all the kernels get oil and touch the bottom of the pan, so they'll all get hot enough to pop. Also, when there are only a few kernels, you'll hear when it's done and won't keep the pan on the stove too long (which prevents burning).

Enjoy!!!

Jeopardy Review Game

(Cross-Posted to my birthy blog, Crafted Birth)

When I was in high school I had a wonderful Anatomy teacher named Mr. Annand. He was famous for a strict no-swearing rule in his classroom (punishment was 10 push-ups), his Friday Talks (where he lectured us on smart choices like abstinence ("not until you're married and financially stable") and not drinking ("when you're TWENTY-ONE"), and the infamous STD slideshow ("This ... is a penis. This is a penis with herpes. Any questions?"). But more than that, he was an awesome teacher with a wonderful ability to make the material fun. Interpretive dances about Mitosis and Meiosis, 3D models of DNA, and my personal favorite, Jeopardy Review games before big tests (and there was always a Potpourri Trivia category about movies).

During my CBI training, I wrote up a fun activity to review class material and get students to relax and have fun. Thanks to Mr. Annand, I have a very good idea of how to run a Jeopardy class activity.

Of course we need a good title.

"THIS ... IS ... PREGNANCY!"

And some categories. Classes 1 and 2 cover different types of care providers, decision-making, maternal anatomy, fetal positions, stage 1 labor, and stage 2 labor. Before covering stage 3 labor and pain management, I want to make sure students remember he key points of the first two classes.

And questions/clues, of course. Many of them are actually written so they can be answered in the form of a question.

I had so much fun with this. And the internet is oh so helpful with things like this.

Question font ... the official font is call ITC Korinna bold
But this one, ScaKorinna, can be found here for free.
http://fonts101.com/fonts/view/Uncategorized/29108/ScaKorinna
White with a black shadow.

The Category font is Haettenschweiler, but I couldn't find a porn-free site to download, so I used Impact. Close enough.

This school had a fun PowerPoint template, including the Final Jeopardy music.
http://sctritonscience.com/Wilson/powerpoint_review_game_templates.htm

I ended up making my own, with hyperlinks so I could go back and forth between the clues and the game board while the presentation was in full-screen mode.
(adding hyperlinks within a presentation).
Note: you can change the color of the hyperlinks in the color themes, so they'll be the correct Jeopardy colors and not the default bright blue that doesn't match anything.

This should be fun!!!

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------–

Like what you've read? Pregnant and looking for a class in Western/Central Massachusetts?
Check out Crafted Birth's current class schedule here.