In case of boredom:

This post is adapted from my diary. It is my In Case Of Boredom plan for when I am at home and after I have finished my schoolwork. Here is the list. Note: this isn't in any particular order, I just came up with these activities off the top of my head.

                                In Case Of Boredom: 
1. Don't panic. :) Thank you, I know this sounds like The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
2. Look up interesting math stuff on Wikipedia. 
3. Find pictures of cute animals (also on Wikipedia.)
4. Bake or cook a dessert. 
5. Sit down in comfy chair with blanket, good book, and candy.
6. Find cool words--palindromes, long ones that don't repeat letters, like ortanique (a cross between an orange and a tangerine), and words that spell different words when you spell them backwards, like live and evil, and portmanteaux, which are words that are blended together, like smog (smoke and fog).
7. Watch a funny TV show.
8. Write in diary.
9. Ask Mommy if we can go to the skatepark. 
10. Play Minecraft.
11. Give self a spa treatment.
12. Listen to music and read book.

Of course, I could always do this when I'm NOT bored, but it's good to have an emergency plan. In my house, boredom is the "b-word", and if someone says, "I'm bored," they will immediately have to do a chore. Which gives you something to do, but still, I'd rather have a fun boredom buster.

If you have an In Case Of Boredom plan, I would love to know about it! Just type part (or all) of it in the comment box.

So much more than peanut butter and jelly

My last few posts haven't really been about travel. Sorry  if you really missed hearing about my adventures. Here's one just for you.

I REALLY want to go back someday.

In New York, Mommy and I went to a restaurant called Peanut Butter and Company that specializes in--surprise!--peanut butter sandwiches. If you think this sounds boring, IT WAS NOT. It was very good. There were more types of peanut butter sandwiches than I could imagine. They have some normal stuff, like PB&J, and some weird stuff, like the Pregnant Lady, which has peanut butter and pickles. That is crazy. And strange.

When you order a sandwich, they bring it out to you with carrot sticks and potato chips, "Just like Mom used to do." Interesting. My mom almost never allows potato chips in the house.

They have all kinds of peanut butter, and by "kinds" I don't mean texture like crunchy and creamy. (Although those are offered.) I'm talking flavors. There is a white chocolate peanut butter, and a cinnamon raisin peanut butter, and some spicy peanut butter made with chili powder. And a lot more types. Of course, you can have just the regular, unflavored stuff, but it's more fun to try something new.

I chose a Fluffernutter sandwich made with dark chocolate peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. That was wonderful--how could anyone have something against peanut butter and marshmallow, unless they're allergic? 

Mommy decided on peanut butter BLT made with maple peanut butter. She said she was surprised at how good it was. I was surprised too!

Scrumptious. No other word for it.

They make the best peanut butter sandwiches I've ever had. If you ever go to New York, make sure you stop there for lunch.  

How to make a Sockmouse

Yesterday, when I was playing with Rascal, I invented (I think) a new type of stuffed animal. I call it: the Sockmouse. They make great cat toys.

Sockmice are easy to make, stuffed animals that you create on the go. It is made of materials that most adventurers probably have in their backpacks. You will need:

• A bandanna
• A (spare) sock that you don't mind drawing a face on
• A Sharpie

Bandanna

Sock

Sharpie (I used the jumbo kind)

HOW TO MAKE A SOCKMOUSE

 1. Draw a face on the toe of the sock. Include whiskers, eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

  2. Stuff the bandanna into the sock, pushing it down as far as possible.

 3. Tie an overhand knot in the sock above where you stuffed the bandanna.

4. You just made your first Sockmouse! Give yourself a pat on the back. Then give your little fella a name and personality.

My Sockmouse, Mr. Sockmouse, loves sunflower seed and running in his wheel.

Smile!

I recently started arranging my dry cereal or crackers into smiley faces when I eat them.

Cheese crackers. This was the first smile I made with
food.

Made with Yummy Mummy cereal (and one marshmallow)

Count Chocula

Yummy Mummy marshmallows

Chocolate chips

I think this one was made of Count Chocula marshmallows.
Not sure.

This one was star sequins. Not food, but hey, it's nice.

New Moon Girls magazine had an article about kids with cleft palates, a condition that disfigures the nose and mouth, and how girls like me can help these kids. When you find a smile in the world around you, you take a picture of it. You pledge to donate money for each picture of a smile to a charity that provides surgeries for kids with cleft palates.


You can also host a smile-a-thon. Ask family, friends, and neighbors to find or make smiley faces and take a picture of them and pledge money to donate to a cleft palate charity.

It's very fun to make smiles. You can do that too, or host a smile-a-thon yourself! (I actually haven't done that yet. Something to talk to my mom about.)                                                                                                    

Jell-O!

 I LOVE making Jell-O. I don't know why, just something about the taste, and the texture, and how fun it is to cook.
It's very good with whipping cream mixed in it ("decadent", Mommy calls it).

 I've stopped using the brand name packets after Mommy said that some of the food dyes they put in the Jell-O packets are banned in Europe. Instead, I make it from scratch, using this recipe.  I couldn't put the whipping cream in it, though, because Mommy says the lemon juice might make the cream curdle.

Sliced lemon smiley face!

First, Mommy showed me how to slice the lemons in half. That part was fun. For some reason, I really like using the knife. Then I squeezed the lemons, added some sugar and water, and started boiling the juice. That was not my favorite part -- I'm not a big fan of hot things. Luckily, Mommy did most of the work with the boiling water.

Stirring the mixture

The lemon gelatin dessert took a long time to set. Kathy was very impatient. The whole evening, it was, "Taryn, will the Jell-O  be ready soon? Well? Will it?" She called it Jell-O even though it wasn't. When it finally was ready, she thought I gave her less than I gave myself. (I didn't.) But we both liked it very much. 

Mommy made her special whipped cream to go on top, and it was very, very good. It reminded me of a lemon meringue pie.

Ready to eat!

Someday when I grow up,  I want to figure out a way to powder fruit juice without using artificial flavors and colors for my gelatin dessert. Then I'll package the mix. It'll be even better than the brand name packets. (And healthier!)

Papercraft! Papercraft! Papercraft!

When Kathy's friend came over to play one day, she brought over a Minecraft creeper made of folded paper and tape. I am a huge fan of Minecraft, so I begged the friend tell us the name of the website where she had gotten the creeper. 

The creeper

The website is called Papercraft. It has a bunch of mobs and blocks you print out.  They're unfolded, like this:

An unfolded NPC (non-player character) villager 

Folding the mobs was pretty hard at first. I got so frustrated I cried! But later Daddy showed me a cool technique for folding and tape-adding, and now I am Papercraft obsessed.  So far I have made:

• A block of diamond ore
• A bed
• A furnace
• A crafting table
• A cake
• A TNT block
• A pig

My creations. From left to right: Diamond ore, the pig,
the furnace, the crafting table, the cake, the TNT, and
the bed.

Kathy folded:

• A bed
• A baby creeper

Kathy's bed and baby creeper. Isn't it cute?

The next thing I'm going to attempt to fold is the villager (above). Hopefully, I won't get too frustrated. =)

Fishies!

I just downloaded a fish tank for my blog. My fishies are so sweet! The red one is named Kira, the orange one is Lola, the yellow fish is Heidi (yes, like the Project Runway judge. Kathy named her), the green one is named Fern, and the blue fish is named Skye. When they're hungry, you can click on their tank to give them food and they'll swim towards the it. 

To download a fish tank for your blog, go to "design." On your left, you will see the word "layout." Click on that. Then go to "add a gadget." When you're in the gadget department, click on "more gadgets." Search for "fish," and it will bring up the results. There should be six search results. Click on a fish tank, and start customizing your fish!