1. Get outside. It doesn't have to be fancy - walk the dog, weeding, shoot baskets, go to the beach, go on a bike ride, etc.
2. Watch a great old movie - like How to Marry a Millionaire or Some Like it Hot.
3. Work on a project - if you can only concentrate on something easy, work on somethingeasy. But working on figuring sometheing out means you're not whatever else is on your mind and you're getting some amount of control over whatever you're working on.
4. Find something funny. When someone makes me laugh or smile, I forget that I'm busy being upset.
5. Talk it over with someone.
6. Baby chortles, knock-knock jokes told by a novice, etc.
7. Go on an adventure.
8. Read a good book. Perhaps not good in the sense of high brow literature. But good in the sense of engaging, uplifting, fun.
9. Catch up with what your peeps are up to - Facebook, blogs, twitter, etc.
10. Surfing ravelry or flickr for new projects.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Ten on Tuesday on Thursday
This week's topic is 10 things You Would Tell a College Freshman OR 10 things You Wish You Had Known When You Started College.
I've rearranged it in my mind to 10 things I learned in college that I didn't even know I didn't know.
1. How to get around on the city bus (no car. tired of bumming rides.)
2. There are more computers available at the lab starting around 7pm, and the lab is open 24 hours. The CS majors were doing work from 7pm to 2am. [there's a reason none of the core Computer Science classes start at 8am]
3. Learned about copy cards for the school copy machine network.
4. How to find good fiction using the Library of Congress cataloging method (the sci-fi was on the 4th floor).
5. How to eat alone and read a book at the same time.
6. If you do the right thing then you won't have trouble owning up to it. [just because you can doesn't mean you should]
7. The library is a good place to do homework. The first floor has tables for semi-social homework - lots of engineering groups there, [at UCF you walk in at the 2nd floor], the 5th floor has very quiet carrolls. Also, you can get a study room for a group study from the circulation desk.
8. Ask about student discounts. Bring your student ID always.
9. You can buy a roll of quarters at the student credit union. It's good to do this on a week day, and have quarters available for laundry on the weekend.
10. It's better to sort laundry by color than by weight. [A load of towels and jeans would overwhelm the washer and it wouldn't spin dry.]
I've rearranged it in my mind to 10 things I learned in college that I didn't even know I didn't know.
1. How to get around on the city bus (no car. tired of bumming rides.)
2. There are more computers available at the lab starting around 7pm, and the lab is open 24 hours. The CS majors were doing work from 7pm to 2am. [there's a reason none of the core Computer Science classes start at 8am]
3. Learned about copy cards for the school copy machine network.
4. How to find good fiction using the Library of Congress cataloging method (the sci-fi was on the 4th floor).
5. How to eat alone and read a book at the same time.
6. If you do the right thing then you won't have trouble owning up to it. [just because you can doesn't mean you should]
7. The library is a good place to do homework. The first floor has tables for semi-social homework - lots of engineering groups there, [at UCF you walk in at the 2nd floor], the 5th floor has very quiet carrolls. Also, you can get a study room for a group study from the circulation desk.
8. Ask about student discounts. Bring your student ID always.
9. You can buy a roll of quarters at the student credit union. It's good to do this on a week day, and have quarters available for laundry on the weekend.
10. It's better to sort laundry by color than by weight. [A load of towels and jeans would overwhelm the washer and it wouldn't spin dry.]
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Glue Batik!
First. This is not a one day project. It's not a one week project. It turned into a one month project (plus another month to blog about it).
I first saw this entry on Crafty Crow. And traced it back to the original inspiration. Kind of sketchy details, but enough to go on. And here's a sketchy recap of what we did.
What we did was this...
1. We used Elmer's Gel school glue and white t-shirts from the fabric paint section of Joann's.
We found that the gel glue is hard to squeeze, so the girls used paintbrushes to apply it. It was still kind of challenging to do it gracefully.
We let it dry for a week or more. Wanted to give it time to cure and then we got doing other things. :)
2. The painting. We used acrylic paints from the craft store (you know the ones. There's a rainbow of colors, smallish bottles, about $1/pop). Squirted some paint into a ketchup/mustard squirt bottle (in the cheapola section of the big craft store. You could use a spritz bottle for a similar but different look.) and squirted paints onto the shirts. We did this on the front yard. It would be helpful to have someplace outside to let them drip dry (e.g. a clothesline or a dedicated drying rack). We let them set for another week or so. The colors co-mingled with the help of gravity as it was drying, so bear this in mind when you are picking colors.
3. Then we soaked the shirts in a bucket to dissolve the glue. I do not recommend using the sink. The drain may not be quite the same again until someone snakes it out after that experience. Wash separately from your other stuff. And there you go.
I first saw this entry on Crafty Crow. And traced it back to the original inspiration. Kind of sketchy details, but enough to go on. And here's a sketchy recap of what we did.
What we did was this...
1. We used Elmer's Gel school glue and white t-shirts from the fabric paint section of Joann's.
We found that the gel glue is hard to squeeze, so the girls used paintbrushes to apply it. It was still kind of challenging to do it gracefully.
We let it dry for a week or more. Wanted to give it time to cure and then we got doing other things. :)
2. The painting. We used acrylic paints from the craft store (you know the ones. There's a rainbow of colors, smallish bottles, about $1/pop). Squirted some paint into a ketchup/mustard squirt bottle (in the cheapola section of the big craft store. You could use a spritz bottle for a similar but different look.) and squirted paints onto the shirts. We did this on the front yard. It would be helpful to have someplace outside to let them drip dry (e.g. a clothesline or a dedicated drying rack). We let them set for another week or so. The colors co-mingled with the help of gravity as it was drying, so bear this in mind when you are picking colors.
3. Then we soaked the shirts in a bucket to dissolve the glue. I do not recommend using the sink. The drain may not be quite the same again until someone snakes it out after that experience. Wash separately from your other stuff. And there you go.
10 on Tuesday - 10 reasons to love bacon
I don't know why, but the subject just makes me smile.
But here's what I like about it...
1. My picky eater daugter will eat it.
2. It's easy to make in the oven and finish at the same time as the eggs. My genius brother in law taught us how to make it in the oven. My aunt taught us out to make it in the microwave. Turns out the directions are on the back of the package. The oven method doesn't work as well with the thin center cut bacon. Also, it's helpful to put down foil (for in the oven, not the microwave).
3. Bacon cheese burgers. I am not a burger person. Or, really, a cheese person. But somehow bacon makes it OK.
4. Bacon Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches. They remind me of flying into Vero Beach with my family for lunch. It turns out I'm kind of picky about BLTs. They should be on toast. There is a right side for the mayo (the tomato side). I thought everyone knew these things. Oh, and you know what is good on a BLT? Ranch dressing. Also, avocado.
5. You know, my other daughter really likes bacon too.
6. Bacon and eggs. Or bacon and pancakes. yum.
7. Oh, and a good bacon substitute if you are at Bagel King (which is pretty kosher)? Grilled pastrami. My husband says this is not bacon and only wishes it was bacon. But if you can't have bacon.....
8. I like the cult food status of bacon. It's sort of a strange mix of hip and cheesy.
9. Thick cut Center cut bacon. Yum.
10. Best thing about bacon? You put it on anything and it becomes gourmet. e.g. filet mignon, scallops, cocktail weenies, etc.
But here's what I like about it...
1. My picky eater daugter will eat it.
2. It's easy to make in the oven and finish at the same time as the eggs. My genius brother in law taught us how to make it in the oven. My aunt taught us out to make it in the microwave. Turns out the directions are on the back of the package. The oven method doesn't work as well with the thin center cut bacon. Also, it's helpful to put down foil (for in the oven, not the microwave).
3. Bacon cheese burgers. I am not a burger person. Or, really, a cheese person. But somehow bacon makes it OK.
4. Bacon Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches. They remind me of flying into Vero Beach with my family for lunch. It turns out I'm kind of picky about BLTs. They should be on toast. There is a right side for the mayo (the tomato side). I thought everyone knew these things. Oh, and you know what is good on a BLT? Ranch dressing. Also, avocado.
5. You know, my other daughter really likes bacon too.
6. Bacon and eggs. Or bacon and pancakes. yum.
7. Oh, and a good bacon substitute if you are at Bagel King (which is pretty kosher)? Grilled pastrami. My husband says this is not bacon and only wishes it was bacon. But if you can't have bacon.....
8. I like the cult food status of bacon. It's sort of a strange mix of hip and cheesy.
9. Thick cut Center cut bacon. Yum.
10. Best thing about bacon? You put it on anything and it becomes gourmet. e.g. filet mignon, scallops, cocktail weenies, etc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
