Fun at Beppe's House

Could it POSSIBLY be nearly Christmas?

Today Jonge and Famke came to my house and spent the entire day with me. We had a great time.

I am exhausted. But, in a good way.

There were a few holiday related emotional outbursts, but I calmed down nicely after my second nap. :)

It's a lovely winter wonderland we live in, but we certainly could not WALK in it. No. Jonge and Famke would need MUCH longer legs to do that.

So, instead we put on coats and boots and stepped into the garage to 'feed the birds'. I had to shovel a path in the driveway but we did all manage to scoop up several cups of seed for the starlings and sparrows, which later flocked in to finish it off.

Just a few steps outside of the garage was enough to cause fingers and cheeks to become icy cold in just seconds.

Back inside, while I recovered from shoveling ONE short path, I allowed them to wear themselves out by jumping on the couch. This seemed to tire them out enough that good naps were taken by all.

I did not jump on the couch. Just watching them tires me out.

And, this is to add to your list of "Don't try this at home!":

Have you seen those magazine pictures of GORGEOUS ice wreaths made from SIMPLY freezing water and then hanging outside a LOVELY ice wreath with perhaps something interesting frozen inside?

Well. As if I haven't tried enough projects that have failed, I had to add just one more to my ever-growing list.

Sometime this year I bought two aluminum jello molds shaped like a bell. Rather large ones. While reorganizing a cupboard, I found them and thought how nice a set of bell wreaths would look hanging upon my door.

So I added water to the molds, and some red food coloring and as I was putting them into the freezer I remembered that I would need a hole for hanging them.

Setting out in front of me were the ever-present pill bottles. Of course, those wanted to float, so I also had the ever-present ziplock bag of marbles (don't ask).

It really seemed like it was all working out just fine.

Until today when I attempted to unmold them.

Of course, I chose to do this when Jonge and Famke were happily eating lunch at the kitchen table, looking out of the window periodically as we waited for the flocks and flocks of birds to arrive.

First, I noticed that adding red food coloring was a mistake. Just touching the frozen bell once was enough to cause my entire hand to turn bright red.

The bell held tight.

Being the rocket scientist that I am, I thought to unmold them over the sink. Doesn't that seem wise?

Well, it did to me.

Until I heard a lot of 'plinking'.

This was, of course, the marbles from the pill bottle falling into my garbage disposal.

Nope. Trust me. Do not attempt this at home.

(if perchance YOU have been successful in doing this, don't tell me about it until i've recovered a bit)