Solar S'Mores

I've been teaching my students about being good stewards of the resources God has given us. Part of this was learning about alternative power sources. This week we took advantage of some solar power to make solar ovens.

It's a simple project, where all you need is a pizza box, some tin foil, black paper, and laminate.

Directions for the project are here: Pizza Box Oven

We made s'mores in ours, but I've heard you can even make cookies! Try it out!

Cleaning with Mary

Attention all you people who need to clean!

Would you like to clean quickly?

Would you like motivation and accountability?

Do you like chocolate?

I have the solution for you - Cleaning with Mary!

:D

(this is not Mary)

Seriously, I want to tell you something I've started doing with my friend/co-worker Mary. This was her idea. She is a fly lady fan and she cleans her house on Thursdays so that she doesn't have to bother with it on the weekend and she can sew, knit, and play with her cats (She was even on the show Cats 101 on Animal Planet!)



This was her idea:

We meet on facebook chat on Thursday afternoons. We each set our timer for 20 minutes and then meet back on facebook chat after the 20 minutes are over. We report on what we have done in those 20 minutes. That means I actually have to do something in those 20 minutes. Then we set the timer again, come back, and report. After we are finished, we (or at least I ) find some chocolate somewhere.



If you are someone who gets distracted easily with chores, this is a great motivational method of cleaning! You can't have Mary, she's mine, but find a friend and make cleaning fun and fast and chocolatey!



End Commercial!

Favorite Project Ever!

This is my favorite project ever.....

It really has very little to do with me and everything to do with the fabric. I was hired to make an apron for a little girl.

I thought of Heather Bailey's PopGarden immediately because of its whimsical and cheery color scheme. I want one of my own and I want to skip around in it!

A closeup of the apron bib and sash:

I liked it so much, I made another one, hoping someone else would like it too! It's now available in my etsy shop!

I just love the whimsical, vintage color scheme and the girlishness of the apron. That's what little girlhood looks like to me!