apparently I started an entry some time yesterday and got as far as the word "so."
I've sat down to write an entry twice so far tonight and both times LJ retrieved an interrupted draft that consisted of "So" and nothing else. I WONDER WHAT THIS MYSTERY ENTRY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT? I have no idea.
So. Gosh. What's gone on since I last posted? Not much. Well, that's a lie. I saw TDS on Monday, and maybe when I'm not so exhausted I'll recap it. Generally, it was a pleasant experience and John Hodgman was there, so yay.
Today I did storytime. I was initially going to have a duck hunt, complete with those little plastic things that make quack noises when you blow through them. Unfortunately, I went to like, five different stores and couldn't find those plastic things. I was floundering to come up with something else and my mind went "hunting for ducks -> hunting -> dinosaur hunter." I pulled some books about dinosaurs and there you go.
Initially, I was going to cut up some pictures of dinosaur skeletons and have the kids go on a "scavenger hunt" around the department to find the bones and then reassemble the skeleton, but then I was surfing around some Pre-K dinosaur theme websites and got the idea to have them make their own out of macaroni. I thought that was a better way to get everyone involved.
Enter saidlian_nataly, and this is yet another reason I love Twitter: Caitlin saw me tweet my macaroni skeleton idea and messaged me on GChat to tell me this awesome and simple way she had seen to dye macaroni fun colors. Two boxes of macaroni, one bottle of rubbing alcohol, and some food dye later, and I had a ton of brightly colored "bones." Well, a ton of bright green ones, at least.
I didn't have red or yellow, so I was trying for green, blue, turquoise, and pink (I did have pink). I ended up with (l-r) regular green (supposed to be turquoise), light green (supposed to be regular green--that was the darkest it came out), blue-ish green (supposed to be blue. That little one is the darkest blue I got.), and pink (which is actually pink).
Here's a picture where the colors are more true to life:
I had four different dino outlines for them to choose from. Here is one that a child made for me:
And here's the one I made as an example:
They are BFF!
Everyone really loved the activity and the parents were all impressed by the colors. I wish I could take credit for coming up with it myself. I gave them all the "recipe."
I will have to remember this for my future kidlets and also for my future adopted nieces and nephews, as I have a feeling that the people in my life who are currently in long-term relationships will probably be having children a lot sooner than me.
***
Macaroni aside, today I also had my second cup of coffee ever, if you can even call it that. Once, about a year ago when I had zero sleep, I had someone make me "the least coffee-tasting coffee drink [they] could think of." It was some chocolate thing with a shot of some coffee stuff. Or something. Anyway, it was gross and I could totally taste the coffee even though they swore I wouldn't be able to. I drank the whole thing, though, because I was dead tired. Ew.
Today, I had them make me a "dirty chai," which is a chai with a shot of expresso. My sinuses have been keeping me from sleep, and I needed to be awake to get through the day, because I nearly died yesterday, I was so tired.
Here is a fact for you guys: IT STILL TASTED LIKE COFFEE OH MY GOD. Ew ew ew. But I drank the whole goddamn thing. Ugh. The plus side was that I was a little bit more awake.
***
I have so much writing to do and so many comments to answer and so much weirdness to document and also I am tired and stressed out over nothing and I kind of want it to be July RIGHT THE HELL NOW OH MY GOD.
So. Gosh. What's gone on since I last posted? Not much. Well, that's a lie. I saw TDS on Monday, and maybe when I'm not so exhausted I'll recap it. Generally, it was a pleasant experience and John Hodgman was there, so yay.
Today I did storytime. I was initially going to have a duck hunt, complete with those little plastic things that make quack noises when you blow through them. Unfortunately, I went to like, five different stores and couldn't find those plastic things. I was floundering to come up with something else and my mind went "hunting for ducks -> hunting -> dinosaur hunter." I pulled some books about dinosaurs and there you go.
Initially, I was going to cut up some pictures of dinosaur skeletons and have the kids go on a "scavenger hunt" around the department to find the bones and then reassemble the skeleton, but then I was surfing around some Pre-K dinosaur theme websites and got the idea to have them make their own out of macaroni. I thought that was a better way to get everyone involved.
Enter saidlian_nataly, and this is yet another reason I love Twitter: Caitlin saw me tweet my macaroni skeleton idea and messaged me on GChat to tell me this awesome and simple way she had seen to dye macaroni fun colors. Two boxes of macaroni, one bottle of rubbing alcohol, and some food dye later, and I had a ton of brightly colored "bones." Well, a ton of bright green ones, at least.
I didn't have red or yellow, so I was trying for green, blue, turquoise, and pink (I did have pink). I ended up with (l-r) regular green (supposed to be turquoise), light green (supposed to be regular green--that was the darkest it came out), blue-ish green (supposed to be blue. That little one is the darkest blue I got.), and pink (which is actually pink).
Here's a picture where the colors are more true to life:
I had four different dino outlines for them to choose from. Here is one that a child made for me:
And here's the one I made as an example:
They are BFF!
Everyone really loved the activity and the parents were all impressed by the colors. I wish I could take credit for coming up with it myself. I gave them all the "recipe."
I will have to remember this for my future kidlets and also for my future adopted nieces and nephews, as I have a feeling that the people in my life who are currently in long-term relationships will probably be having children a lot sooner than me.
***
Macaroni aside, today I also had my second cup of coffee ever, if you can even call it that. Once, about a year ago when I had zero sleep, I had someone make me "the least coffee-tasting coffee drink [they] could think of." It was some chocolate thing with a shot of some coffee stuff. Or something. Anyway, it was gross and I could totally taste the coffee even though they swore I wouldn't be able to. I drank the whole thing, though, because I was dead tired. Ew.
Today, I had them make me a "dirty chai," which is a chai with a shot of expresso. My sinuses have been keeping me from sleep, and I needed to be awake to get through the day, because I nearly died yesterday, I was so tired.
Here is a fact for you guys: IT STILL TASTED LIKE COFFEE OH MY GOD. Ew ew ew. But I drank the whole goddamn thing. Ugh. The plus side was that I was a little bit more awake.
***
I have so much writing to do and so many comments to answer and so much weirdness to document and also I am tired and stressed out over nothing and I kind of want it to be July RIGHT THE HELL NOW OH MY GOD.