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Make Your Own Volcano

I got this wild idea that I should start doing science experiments with my kids. My little sister and I used to love watching Mr. Wizard on TV when we were kids. Although I don't remember actually doing any of those experiments, I do know we regularly made our own erupting volcanoes.

Over the years, I have mastered the homemade kitchen volcano. It's the only science experiment I actually know off the top of my head, so this is the one I did with the Nuts when I decided to be their Mr. Wizard.

After 25+ years experience, here's how I do it:

1. Make the dough. You can use any dough recipe, but this is the one I use because it smells good, I have everything in my cabinet, and it's already brown.

3 C flour
1 C salt
3 Tbsp veg oil
1 1/2 C hot water
1 C cocoa powder

I just throw it all in the mixer and add a few drops of water if it looks too dry. This is the Pinenut's favorite part.



2. Mould the dough around a 16 oz bottle. I guess you could use a 2 liter, but you'd need three times the dough. That's like 9 C of flour and 3 C of cocoa. Do you know how many double chocolate cookies you could make from that?



3. Mix 1 Tbsp dish soap, 1 Tbsp baking soda and 1 Tbsp on water. Pour into volcano. The dish soap makes it bubble, not fizz. Oh! And add some red food coloring, if you have it. If not, the kids won't notice the lava the blue, or whatever color your dish soap is.


4. Pour about 1 C vinegar into the bottle. It will take a few seconds to react and bubble up, so you don't have to drop the measuring cup and run for cover. You have time. It also doesn't shoot out. It bubbles over, like most volcanoes in real life. This is supposed to be a learning experiment, not a movie prop.

But make sure your kid actually pours the vinegar into the bottle, not down the side, or you'll have a mess. That's why I always put our volcano on a baking pan.

Ah, now he got it in there! Awesome.

We did save this volcano and did a few repeat eruptions over the next few days, but remember there's still vinegar and left over solution in the bottle, so you'll have to pour faster. Also, the overwhelming stink of vinegar will eventually get you, forcing you to pitch it. In my case it was two and a half days.

Spartacus

My extemely fit cousin convinced me to try out a workout she's been doing called "The Spartacus." I was able to find it online here at Men's Health Magazine so I don't have to video tape myself doing the moves. Thank goodness, because without an iphone, I'll never get around to that (I am talking to you Mr. Hilarious).

I consider myself in great shape, and wasn't sure if this 45 minute workout was as tough as my cousin bragged. I really like to mix-up my non-run workouts because if I do the same thing week after week, I don't feel it anymore. I'm the type that likes to feel a little sore after strength training so I know I actually worked something.

I did all of the exercises with 8 pound weights and was pouring sweat by the end. It seemed to go quickly either because you are moving to a new move every 60 seconds or I had great company.

After my post-workout shower, my legs felt a little jello-ish and now, my butt is sore even though I am just sitting here. I will definately do this routine again, although I hope I don't end up looking like this guy:

Go Fly a Kite

Ahh, Spring. Some look forward to blooming flowers. Others are excited for baseball season. My 6 year old, the Walnut, can't wait to go fly his kite. I look forward to this as much as I look forward to mowing the grass on the backyard hill and weeding thistle. The problem is the Walnut can't fly a kite. I can't fly a kite. Does anyone really know how to fly a kite anymore? It's some kind of lost art, like origami. Just like our paper cranes look like wadded up fast food napkins, we can't seem to get our kite to stay up more than ten seconds. The attempt usually ends with a frustrated Walnut and a mom ready to "loose" the kite for the rest of the year.

We had an especially windy day recently and actually considered the kite flying attempts more successful than usual. The Walnut asked if I would video tape it. I think he knew this was the peak of our kite flying career.

The Evolution of St. Patrick's Day

We are a proud Irish family and take great joy in celebrating our holiday, St. Patrick's Day. When the kids were very young, I would meet my cousins at an Irish pub to watch Irish dancers and listen to Irish music. We'd go early, before any of the Irishmen drank too much, and head home for an Irish dinner.

When my daughter was a preschooler, we started making cards and sent them to family members complete with a photo of the kids in Irish garb.

When they started school, I would bake shamrock cookies for them to share with their classmates. I'd also play silly "leprechaun" tricks like die the toilet water green or sprinkle gold glitter on their pillow.

My daughter became an Irish Dancer five years ago and walked in the St. Patrick's Day Parade as well as performed at schools all over the city. Our day was non-stop from 7AM until 8PM, and we barely had time to eat. St. Pat's became one of my most dreaded days of the year. I would still make Shepherd's Pie to eat before we collapsed in exhaustion.

She quit dancing this year, and when she told me she wanted to quit (because "it's getting competitive, and I am just a social dancer") I was thrilled to reclaim St. Patrick's day. This year I was so relieved we didn't have to do anything for St. Patrick's Day, that I didn't do anything. I didn't cook anything, buy anything, or make anything. We didn't even go to the parade.

I have to confess that I don't even feel slightly guilty for ditching the past traditions. Maybe I'll play some leprechaun tricks next year or make Irish Stew, but it was nice to have a year off.

Handymom

I started detail cleaning the bathrooms on Sunday and decided to fix the stopper in one of the bathrooms. It regularly doesn't seal causing the toilet to run. Mr. Hilarious hates home repairs and would rather pay a professional. I figure a plumber would charge the same as a year supply of Starbucks. So I convinced myself I could fix it. Obviously I am slightly delusional. After two hours, this is what the toilet looks like.



And this is how I fixed it.



It will stay this way until my very handy father-in-law comes in town.

Cinder-gigi

My 5-year-old neice, Gigi, is a cleaner. The last time she spent the night with us, she made all the beds and picked up the bedrooms. My daugher said, "I wish Gigi could live with us. It would be like having our own Cinderella!"

My sister tells me her daughter is a cleaner because she never complains about cleaning, and it's something the whole famly does together. I tried this technique. On Sunday I said in my, "We're going the park!" voice, "We're going to clean together today!"

My three little nuts moaned and groaned. Half way through the day, my sister sent me this photo of her daughter:



This was the end result of my kids cleaning their playroom.



At one point, while I was scrubbing the shower, the kids decided to play with play-doh all over my newly mopped kitchen floor. They were quiet, tucked behind the kitchen island like they were hiding.



Making the doh mess quietly and without fighting and letting me clean in peace was the most help they had been all day. Today, I'll take it! Next week, we'll work on actually cleaning.