The Light At The End Of The Shovel

Yeah.

So it did this yesterday.

Again.

That used to be my backyard, and no, those are not bushes on the left.

Somewhere under there are branches, small-ish though they may be, that fell waaaaaay back during that ice storm.

Because it has pretty much done that once a week since HALLOWEEN.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

This week, these appeared at the grocery store.
In New England, these are a clear sign that Spring is coming.

Ok, mud season is first, then Spring.

The next sign will be the daffodils appearing towards the end of February slash beginning of March.

I'm so giddy, I may start digging for my flip-flops.

Until then, I will busy myself with your fab comments.

It's time for some more

Comment Love

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The new comment system is taking some getting used to, and it retro-fitted all my posts, so today's comments come mostly from one post, but it's a doozy.

On: Sometimes The Google Lies

Nikki: Oh no. I'm sorry, but I totally laughed out loud! Hey, I've been there MANY times. It's so frustrating. I enjoyed your journey anyway!

Susie: That does look like a nightmare craft!

Jori-o: Oh dear...naughty Google!

Lauren: HA! I love it :)I've totally had those experiences. New crafts are nothing if not an adventure :)

Cristina: I also thought I was making a big crafty thing, by making a apron to Nicole, after all, mommy made this, right? Now the time that took me to find fabric, the petrol, the time of cutting, measure, sewing...well at the end I think I spent more money then if I actually ordered from school.

T. Allen-Mercado: Oh no! I would've been NUTS-you waited 3 days?! Sue the Google!

I'm glad everyone got a kick out of this. I posted it for that very reason. When I told Hubby I had started the project, he asked how it was going.

My answer:

Well, let's put it this way: it will make a really good post.

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And lastly, best comment of the month:

On: A Snowy Birthday

Jori-o: Um, will you adopt me? My birthday is in November... =)

Jori-o-darling-o, if you'll come shovel my driveway, I will adopt you, your whole family, and Buck to boot!

Etsy's CPSIA Blog-In

I have posted about CPSIA here before, but time is running out.

If you have kids, you need to know.

If you craft for kids, you need to know.

If you buy for kids, you need to know.

Etsy is having a day long Blog-In today.

Click, read, act.

Sometimes The Google Lies

Last week, while watching Monkey cover himself in washable doodles just before bath time, it occurred to me that he might be ready for soap crayons.

Sure, I could buy them from the nice people at Crayola, but why buy when I can make?

So I did what any self-respecting crafty blogger does.

I Googled.

Google said this was all I needed to provide my darling child with hours of bath time fun.

I set about grating the soap in to flakes.

It stuck.

A lot.

Plus I was left with tiny chunks which could not be grated without losing a significant portion of my fingertips, so I minced them and tossed them in.

(Soap chunks, not fingertips.)

Added a little hot water at a time, constantly stirring.

Don't let the picture fool you. It is not liquid. It is foam.

No amount of stirring would make it liquid. I even tried to microwave it for a few seconds.

That only seemed to make it angry.

Undaunted, I divided the mush into four bowls and added the food coloring.

Then pasted it in to the popsicle molds.

And wondered what all that dye was going to do to my fair skinned child.

I briefly froze the molds to help them firm up, then turned them out to dry.

For three days.

At the end of which, they resembled decaying fruit more than soap crayons.

But it's what's inside that counts, right?

Unless what's inside is air bubbles and mush.

Lessons learned:

1. Sometimes it is better to buy it.

2. Sometimes The Google LIES.