Science Fun

Each day I attempt to do a fun craft or activity with the girls. Especially now that they have finished their 'official' lessons for the year.  Keeps them occupied and makes certain I spend time purposefully engaging with them.  <When they are playing happily together, it's tempting to let them be and get projects/chores done.>   Such activities are usually fun for all.

Today, we began our craft time making some felt Bible Buddy Bookmarks. This was a colossal fail as the elmer's glue was just not cuttin' it.  The pieces would NOT stick together.

Once we bagged all the pieces up, the girls began begging for a 'replacement' craft. Trinity reminded me of a 'keep them busy' activity we'd done in the past.  Putting shaving cream in a bag with a drop or two of food coloring.  One then squishes it all around 'mixing' the colors.  Unfortunatly, we hadn't enough shaving cream and Daddy wasn't willing to forfeit what was left of his 'expensive stuff' for our project.  Guess that will be saved for another day.

Hmmmmm..... needed another idea.  Pinterest.

I came upon a neat suggestion using vinegar and baking soda with food coloring to have what I'll call 'color explosion'.  What a blast.  We've done similar activities in the past - volcanoes and the like, but.... this was a bit different.

                                           We gathered our materials.

  

Simple.  

A bottle of vinegar and container of baking soda.  

 4 clear cups for each girl, 4 large baking pans, 4 spoons for each, and food coloring.  

*Note: The pan made for super easy clean-up.

We lined the cups in the pans.  Filled them with vinegar.  Put drops of food coloring on the spoons. Then, filled the spoons with baking soda.

A little hesitant, Charity adds her first spoon

Next came the fun part -- adding the baking soda spoons to the cups.  Watching the girls excitement as the vinegar reacted with the baking soda, resulting in a "color explosion" out and over the top of the cups was priceless.

Adding spoon after spoon for bubbling fun

2 down, 2 to go

What fun.

Our finished product of fizzy fun

I think they had even more fun as they poured all the contents of their cups into the bottom of their pans and 'played'.  Occasionally we added a bit more baking soda to produce some 'bubbling', otherwise they just enjoyed scooping, stirring, and pouring their concoction back and forth from cups to pan.  The most creative aspect was the girls making 'spoon people' who were swimming and/or bathing in the now green vinegar/baking soda slush.

Stirring and pouring is half the fun

Sometimes ya' just gotta enjoy the simple stuff.

Why I'll never have my own cooking show

As I was making enchiladas for lunch today, I was struck by the concept of why I'd never have my own cooking show.  Now I'm not saying I've ever had any notion that I COULD, but I can tell ya, after today, I'm darn tootin' sure I WON'T.

First off, I'm no chef.  I can follow a recipe with the best of 'em.  Maybe even change it up a bit. I'd consider myself a decent - possibly even good - cook; but come up with a recipe off the cuff, on my own?  Nope, not happenin'.  My go to spices are garlic, onion, salt, and pepper.  Not exactly Iron Chef material.

Beyond that, however, was the insight by which I was clobbered today.

I'm a messy cook.  I guess I've known that.  I really dislike clean up when I'm finished - so does everyone else that ends up with that job. There's got to be a reason for that.  :-)

As I was preparing the enchiladas - which I've never made before - I was reminded, quite vividly of just how messy I'm inclined to be.  While making the rue for the enchilada sauce, which needed to be stirred frequently between chopping onion and zucchini, this tendency was more than obvious.  I'm not sure if I had one too many cups 'o joe this morning resulting in jerky, terse movements; or if I was just overzealous in general; but practically every time I grabbed that wooden handle to stir the concoction, I sloshed it out and over the side of the skillet, usually into the well of the burner in front of the one I was actually using.  I can't even tell you how many times that happened.  It seemed and looked like EVERY time.

I tempered my fervent grasp on the spoon as I stirred in the tomato sauce.  All went well, until.... I finished pouring in the sauce and went to put the can into the sink - you know, to keep my work station tidy.  It was at this point that my well intended efforts resulted in yet more disarray.  With a slight flick of the wrist, a stream of red cascaded from the mostly empty container.  As if in slow motion, the tomato sauce splattered, with a flourish, quite artistically, onto the front of the dishwasher door.  If I were an abstract painter, this might have been quite grand.  But, alas, I'm not and my dishwasher door was no artist's canvas.

Cleaning up the mess, I noted reason three I'm not cut out for the Food Network or any other 'food' show.  Not only was I messy, I was a mess.  I wasn't smiling cheerily at the camera.  I wasn't calm and pulled together deftly moving from one task to the next. I was whirling around the kitchen like a chicken with it's head cut off. I was sweating, wincing, making several trips to the same cupboard to retrieve items I had missed or forgotten the many trips before.  It was NOT a pretty sight.

I console myself with the fact this was a new recipe. I hadn't rehearsed making it. It wasn't an 'old standyby' that I knew like the back of my hand.  However,  I'm still quite certain, if I were to ever have the opportunity to display my cooking talent to the world, I'd be just as messy; just as frazzled.  I wouldn't remember to smile and talk about each step as I did it.  I'd have ingredients on the floor, on my face, and most likely all over the place.

In conclusion, I'll simply continue preparing meals for my family, making a mess as I go, enjoying the time to explore new avenues with my cooking abilities.  I'll bring my kids in on the fun, allowing them to make messes too.  Although, I find it even harder to stay calm when THAT happens. :-)

Are you a messy cook?  Do you gather everything together before you even start?  I am hit or miss on this point. I often do, which makes things run quite smoothly, but other times - like enchilada day - I don't and it makes for a much more lively escapade.