Nancy Drew Got Nothin On My Girl

Easter was wonderful. The kids and I had brunch at one friend's, went to Imago for the amazing Easter service and went to an amazing single mama's house for fabulous pizza afterward.

The only blight on the weekend was the theft of Zombie Mac's MacBook. She was watching her little brother at a playground and a "bad guy," in the words of Sugar Pirate, came and just picked it up off the ground next to where she was sitting and helping Sugar Pirate with his jacket. I'm really upset because I can not replace it for her and it was a very generous gift from her grandmother. Of course we don't have renter's insurance because its been so hard to pay even basic bills like rent and electric.

Still, she impressed me with refusal to play victim in the whole thing. Through her detective work, she managed to get enough information about the guy so that he now has a warrant out on him. I am also very pleased with the work of Officer Justice of the Gresham Police Department. His response has been prompt, respectful, responsive and as proactive as a police officer is allowed. I really like the fact that he has allowed Zombie to be her own advocate and did not try to minimize her involvement or treat her "like a kid."

Its pretty doubtful she'll get the computer back and I'm not so sure that I would lay down over a grand to teach Zombie this type of self advocacy, but this has to be happening for a better reason than just random evil. Pray for the thief that somehow he gets the help he needs through all this. Pray for Zombie that nothing further happens to her and that she can be compassionate and wise as well as smart and spunky.

Easter Goodness

I am almost done with the kids' baskets.

Since we're "starting over" we don't have a lot of holiday paraphernalia. What a blessing: no tacky dollar store plastic ugliness to make our holiday full of useless trash; no excess of awful artificial weirdness called candy to fight over; just a few simple gifts for the kids because I love them!

I'm pretty proud of the baskets themselves. I made some paper mache bowls and added a handle of scrap yarn for the little egg hunters. Zombie Mac and I will have our baskets sans handles. Sugar Pirate painted his of course - any opportunity for the boy to use acrylic craft paint must be embraced.

After Easter, the bowls will be put into service as holders for our growing collection of pine cones and rocks.

These are super inexpensive (just right for my budget) and could be adjusted to suit your family very easily.

Supplies:
torn up newspaper or paper bag
a couple handfuls or so white flour
water
a glob of white glue or modge podge
paint
a plastic grocery bag
a small bowl for the mold

Directions
1. Tear up your paper (Great project for any paper tearing kid. One year old Ninja Monkey loved it.)

2. Mix water and flour until it is runnier than pancake batter and stir in the glue (This is good for goo loving kids like two year old Sugar Pirate.)

3. Put your bowl upside down in the plastic sack and start dipping the paper in the mix and laying it on.

4. When it is thick enough to seem sturdy, let it dry for a few hours before you take it off the mold and plastic sack.

5. Let dry completely (about two days), and paint if you want. To add some color to bowls I didn't want to paint, I put the paint in the paper mache paste.

6. Punch some holes in the side and thread with some yarn you tie off or anything else you think would make a great handle.