Bucket List

Today I crossed something off my bucket list that has been a year in the making.  

I exclusively breast-fed Little Lady until she was 6 months and then continued to nurse her several hours a day until she was a year old.  I had a lot of time on my hands.  I checked Facebook a bazillion times, wrote emails, played endless games of Solitaire, 4 Pics 1 Word, Words with Friends, and many other things.  It wasn't until a friend started a "read the Bible in 3 months" challenge that I realized there was something much more productive I could be doing with my time.  So on May 6th of 2013 I started reading the Bible as part of a read-through-the-year app on my phone.  

I started reading thematically, meaning I have not read it straight through Genesis to Revelation, but have jumped around based on different passages and books that cross-reference each other.  It has been quite a year!  I started this endeavor not quite knowing if I would stick with it as I have attempted reading the entire Bible through in a year before and quit before the end.  

Today, I am exited to be able to say I completed my mission!  

I have learned so much.  By taking the time to read a small section each day, I felt I have really been able to absorb so much of what I have read.  Several months into the year, I switched over to reading the actual Study Bible instead of the Bible app on my phone and that made all the difference.  I was able to read the notes alongside each passage and really learn so much more about the context and meaning of the verses.  Thankfully Little Lady still takes 2 naps and even after I stopped nursing her back in November, I set aside the hour of her morning nap for my time with Lord to read the Bible and start my day right.  

As I read the last passage this morning, I was overcome with emotion (sappy I know), as I realized that each day for 365 DAYS I have met the Lord to read His word and learn more about Him.  To see it come to an end is quite emotional!  

Now I know what you are thinking - it doesn't have to end!  Start again! And I have contemplated that.  But for now, I think I am going to focus on reading different commentaries and studies on specific books of the Bible.  I read King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus Christ by Timothy Keller that looks at the life of Christ as told in the gospel of Mark.  I read this book while simultaneously reading the gospel of Mark in the Bible and it profoundly enhanced what I learned.  I would love to read more books like this, while going back to the Bible and re-reading books.  Does anyone have any studies or commentaries you would recommend for my next year?

Read the Bible in a year - Check! - says the village idiot 

Lab Rat

This past week I signed Little Lady up for a study...a research study.  

I'll clarify - a couple months ago while at a local farmers market, I was approached by the Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development to sign Little Lady up for a research study.  Since then, I have taken Little Lady to participate in about 5 age-appropriate studies.  

Now, you might wonder what would make me sign up for this.  It isn't paid.  Little Lady does get to choose a small prize at the end (a book, stuffed animal, onesie, etc), but other than that, the incentive for me was just something different to do!  Johns Hopkins University is not far from where we live, and I simply aim to schedule our appointment for a time that works well with nap time and lunch.  

Little Lady has done great for each study, and by "do great", I mean she sits there and participates as best can be expected for a baby/toddler and we have thus far made it out each time without crying or a break down - success in my book!  Each study that we have participated in lasts about 4-8 minutes and we are in and out with a free parking voucher and small prize!  

This particular study was titled "Short-term memory limits in infancy." Sometimes I cannot fathom that there is funding for this type of study.  This study involved Little Lady sitting in a high chair and participating with the researcher in the form of a simple hide-and-seek game.  

Little Lady passed with flying colors - or so I was told.  

After the study, Little Lady I chose this new book for her collection! 

If anyone is looking for something different to do, don't hesitate to give the Lab a call! They appreciate the volunteers and I always learn a little something about child development! - says the village idiot 

2014 Pinterest Challenge - Veggie Tags

Well here we go again.  

We've planted our crop.  Will it do better than last year?  

In honor of all the planting we did this past weekend, this next craft is something useful to help organize my plants and herbs. 

My supplies: 

Wine corks, a Sharpie marker, skewers

Step 1: Push skewers through the wine corks

Step 2: Write the names of your veggies and herbs on the wine corks with the Sharpie 

Step 3: Place skewers next to/in front of plants!  

Here's a sampling of what our garden looks like this season with the veggie tags in place:

I'm not sure how long these will hold up in the rain and elements but they look cute for now! - says the village idiot  

2014 Pinterest Challenge - Not Your Momma's Soap

Soap isn't just for the bath - or so says Pinterest.  I read that if you microwave a bar of Ivory soap, it turns into moldable mush that you can play with.  

I had to try it with Little Lady.

My supplies:

Food coloring, cookie cutters, wax paper, Ivory soap, cup of water, bowl and spoon

Now my goal was to preform a bit of a science experiment with the Ivory soap in order that Little Lady could play with some different textures.  BUT, mid project, I thought why waste a perfectly good bar of soap...

This adventure led to a super fun time for Little Lady, and a fun craft afterwards!

Step 1: Unwrap Ivory soap from paper

Step 2: Place unwrapped soap on wax paper and place in microwave (I set the microwave for 3 minutes but it only needed about a minute and a half to grow pretty large).

The Ivory soap will start to grow into a giant Ivory soap cloud!

 Step 3: Place the Ivory cloud on a paper plate and play!

Little Lady went from what is this Mom?, to OHMYGOODNESSTHISISGREAT in about 1 minute

The craft begins when you are done playing!

Step 4: Place Ivory cloud into bowl, add a couple tablespoons of water, and stir until it is a thick paste

Step 5: optional - add food coloring 

Step 6: Smoosh soap into cookie cutter molds

(I think I added a little too much water because the soap was slightly too soft to properly mold but it worked anyways) 

Step 7: Wait a couple of hours and you will have bars of soap to use for play or bath time! (I put the molds into the refrigerator to speed up the hardening process but you could leave them out overnight to achieve the same effect).  

A West Highland White Terrier, a heart, and a bat :)

I think this craft would definitely be more fun with an older child who could actually watch the Ivory cloud grow in the microwave, but it was a great activity for Little Lady to play with a different texture and have a lot of fun in the process! - says the village idiot 

Science Experiment UPDATE

A while back I attempted a science experiment.  It was my Pinterest Challenge for the week and today I'm bringing you an update.  

I read on Pinterest that you can plant green onions in water and they will grow back, and you can plant the top of a pineapple in dirt and it will grow another pineapple.  I was skeptical of both these claims but decided to try none-the-less.  I am happy to say, today, almost 6 weeks later, one of them succeeded!

As a reminder - this is what my green onions looked like the day I "planted" them:

This is what they looked like a week later, and what they look like today!

Pretty good right?!   They actually grew, A LOT!  

Now for the pineapple...

The fresh, newly "planted" pineapple

Maybe I cut too much off, maybe I didn't water it enough, maybe it didn't get enough sun, maybe you just can't grow a pineapple like this.  Your guess is as good as mine but here is that same pineapple today:

Nothing grew.  No roots.  No yummy pineapple for us.  

1 out of 2 science experiments isn't terrible!  The green onions worked great and I have not had to buy any for 6 weeks.  The pineapple on the other hand, I will continue to buy from the grocery store each time we have a craving.  Has anyone else had any lucky growing a pineapple in a pot? - says the village idiot

It's Groovy Baby

Today I took Little Lady to Music Together, a early childhood music and movement program.  The class was conveniently less than 10 minutes away and inconveniently right during Little Lady’s naptime.  (She still takes 2 naps, one being about 2 hours after she wakes up in the morning).  

I am happy to say the class was great and the teacher was lovely!  I signed Little Lady up for a free demo class a couple of weeks ago just to see what it was like.  Normally, this particular class runs for a 9 week spring semester and costs $172.  Even though it was a great class, and great opportunity for young kids to be around music and rhythm, it is strikingly similar to the free Story Time we attend every week at the local library.  And library Story Time is free!  And YOU KNOW how I feel about anything that is free – cue Tuesdays at Ikea.  As much as I would absolutely recommend the Music Together class, the difficulty of timing with Little Lady’s naps, and the fact that a very similar free option is offered, probably means I won’t be signing up for the 9 week session anytime soon. 

If anyone has any questions about the free library Story Time, please don’t hesitate to ask! I have been taking Little Lady to Story Time since she was about 6 months old.  She loves it and it is a great way to get out and about, and expose children to books, reading, songs, other kids, etc.  We attend every Friday at 11am at our local library.  If it is a nice day, we even walk there and back!  What a blessing to have such great activities in our neighborhood!  We try not to take them for granted! – says the village idiot 

Tuesdays at Ikea

So I know this isn't a Pinterest craft or anything, but I am trying to get back into more consistent blogging.  Spring weather has arrived in Maryland and it is too beautiful outside to stay indoors at all - especially after the winter we've had! 

Today I'm going to clue everyone in on a free event you can take advantage of in Baltimore. A friend told me about this a couple weeks ago and today was a rainy, nasty day so I thought it was the perfect time to try it out. 

The great store of IKEA offers free meals for kids every Tuesday! Now, we already like going to IKEA. The chic furniture and inexpensive home furnishings make it a great place to go to look for things we need for our home. They also have a pretty cool selection of wooden toys and overall fun things to play with.  Since they offer free meals for kids, I conveniently showed up around 11:30AM this morning and Little Lady and I wandered around the magical world of perfectly designed furniture ensembles and ended by playing in the kid section with all the toys for purchase. 

We then headed to the cafeteria for her free meal!  

Now, I may have brought a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and pretzels for Little Lady and I may have eaten her free meal...A little cheap I know but you gotta get creative these days! - says the village idiot