How to Do Themed Christmas wrapping

First you need to gather the necessary supplies: a couple creative friends, desperate for entertainment,...

some sharpie markers, tape, rocks, tissue paper, scissors, you get the idea. 

Also if you can multitask a classic Christmas film adds to the experience. 

 

Next you need to determine what your theme is going to be. 
 If everyday has felt like a battle. Why not have a theme that fits your feelings?

Thus the theme is laid. Give those you care about everything they would need to fight the daily battle against....whatever it is they are fighting.

Go big or go home.

Not even kidding.

Always be OVERprepared.

What better way to say Merry Christmas?

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Dead Fish, Undead Fish

So I'm not much of an animal person, but I have had fish for a few years. They are a unique kind from Asia, White Cloud Minnows. They are somewhat colorful small and difficult to kill. Not that I am trying to kill them on purpose, I just was less successful with other kinds of fish. I believe the words they used were resilient, to temperature changes and pH level changes, etc.  They were just the right kind of fish for me.
  However, since I have moved 3 times in the past 5 years, moving them has become less fun each time. After the last move, I decided that I would not maintain the typical number of minnows to 5-7, I would just let them die, naturally....In their own time. I started with 4, and one died a couple months ago. They strangest thing happened last week though. I had a fish come back to life. Seriously, he was stuck in the filter. I thought I would get him out the next day so I wouldn't smell fish on my hands since I was going to bed.

I tried to take pictures of my tank, but even with the underwater setting it just wasn't working, so I'll try my best to illustrate my point. Here you can see that one fish is stuck in the filter.

This is the next day. Two fish are again swimming in the water....

First I was shocked, doubting that he was ever really stuck in the filter. I quickly reminded myself that he really was stuck in there. Are there any life lessons I can learn from this? I would have put more that to that, except that that fish was on his side in the bottom of the tank that evening. I guess I can say that they are true to the advertisement: Die Hard minnows.
Here is his final resting place (between the rock and the leave plant you should be able to see his red tail attached to his silvery body).

If there were room in the label,  I would change this one to, "stranger than fiction."

How to Clean a Banjo

I wanted to learn how to play the banjo, because I thought it would be fun, but I don't have any money to buy one.  So, I got a loaner banjo from a friends' attic. It smelled horrible. I did not bring the chipboard case into the house and it needed some serious cleaning. Now you can benefit from my experience.

 

 First take it all outside, paper towels, window cleaner and a dust cloth. I used the dust cloth on everything first, then took the window cleaner and paper towels to the drum head (round plastic part of the banjo).

This banjo has had some abuse, probably some water damage on top of being old. Like original parts made in the 1950s and coming from KCMO - making it unofficially a ghetto banjo.

You can see where some wear is showing on the upper frets. I guess banjoist use that region a lot....

Well, the towels got black, not even kidding, it was disgusting. After wiping everything down, I realized it still looks like a ghetto banjo. Style points! 

So the next step would be, how to tune a banjo, or getting a strap or restringing a banjo or finding a case that isn't moldy... Never-mind, we need to name it, "Elliott."

Thus makes the beginning of yet another adventure....How to Play the banjo...

Nelson's 1st Car Show!

My roommates and I went to our first ever car show this weekend!

We were so excited to see so many cool, shiny and colorful cars.

 I got my picture taken with a GREEN car!

Then I had my picture taken with an orange car!

Look at how shiny this red car is?!

Look this one has a bike in it to that matches! They are BOTH black!

I think this one looks really red and reminds me of Star Trek, or
Back to the Future or the 80s.

I think this one must be really old because it is made out of wood.

I needed to get a picture of myself with some of the people there too! It was a really interesting group of people. They had a live band playing, food for sale and you put money in plastic cups to vote for your favorite car.

I really don't know a lot about cars but if I had any money I would have voted for this one. I'm not sure it got any votes at all.

Leavenworth

My roommates and I decided to take a day off and make it adventure day to Leavenworth! 

We got to see my hometown, visit the high school I attended, the home I spent my childhood and saw the federal penitentiary too! Our lunch break was at Homer's drive in. It was quite a tradition rich establishment. Hamburgers, fries, and ginormous milkshakes.

I used to go to this place all the time. It was like a huge playground for kids, but is a bowling alley now.

Just to give you an appreciation of how great a landmark this dinosaur is, I recruited Pheffer to help.

This was a really unique Korean church we stopped at. It took us awhile to figure out that Pheffer was trying to tell us to take her picture in front of it.We have no idea why...

From a distance anyway we saw the federal penitentiary. They weren't allowing any visitors. We may have looked suspicious, a garden gnome, a German immigrant and a mute Asian...

On the way back home we came across more photo opportunities.

What a great adventure it was.

Looking for Superman

So I haven't had my picture taken with Superman but we did find him! Unfortunately we didn't have the camera with us ( I was with my roommates Salz und Pheffer) so we ran home to get it, but he had flown back home before we got back and now no one will believe our story.

California

I got to go with my roommates and some friends to California! It's a little town in Missouri, full of wonderous surprises. We ate a picnic lunch, did some grocery shopping at a Dutch market and took a few pictures of the sites around the area.

How to Make Green Eggs and Ham

I have always wanted to do this, since reading the book. It was actually quite simple. I even forgot to take the first few pictures. You put your eggs into the pan and scramble them first before you add the green food coloring OR turn the heat on. This should help to evenly distribute the greeness throughout.

When it seems to not be mixing any better you are ready to turn the heat up!

So now it's just like scrambling normal eggs, but GREENer.

I noticed that they yolk did not take to some of the food coloring, so I had a colorful pan.

At this point in time I forgot I was making eggs. They started to look really gross, but they still smelled like eggs.

So you can tell that some egg white stayed white despite my attempts to mix the coloring well.

Now you are ready to add the ham! I just used what we already had available = diced ham, but if had had any bigger slices that I could brown a little, I would have. Beggars can't be choosers...

I just added enough until I thought it looked right.  Then cook it until you can smell the meat.

Umm...Good. I do like green eggs and ham.

Round 1

So this is just another part of the fun to be had for me. I will tell a few stories and you vote whether you think it really happened or not (truth or fiction). After so long  I will respond with the right answers.

1. On my way to the post office, I passed an unnamed gym for women just as two employees were stepping outside for a smoke break.

2.  I have had my picture taken with two superheroes so far in my lifetime: Spiderman and Superman.

3.  I was reading to a group of children, when one boy sitting next to me, leaned over to sniff my armpit. Afterward, he smiled with his eyes closed. He did this not once but three times.

Let the guessing games begin!!

Tear -Free Onion Peeling

I remember watching a television show for children where they would try different experiments to test the best solutions to common household problems. This was back when most children knew what vegetables were (not just what you asked them to take off your hamburger at the drive-thru). One common problem they addressed was onion peeling without tears. I remember which ones didn't work, but couldn't remember which one did. What a helpful memory I have....

So I've decided to try them all myself, at the same time receiving assistance from my roommate Salz, since I am too short to reach the kitchen counter.

To begin, I gather the necessary supplies to combat the humbling onions.

For safety and so that I don't smell like onions for the rest of the day: Gloves

To reduce the amount of “tear-gas” making it to my senses: a mask of sorts

Salz looks like a person you can trust....Next, choose your weapon carefully.

Fill the sink with water, I chose cold water. Not sure if that matters, take a risk if you want. Just don't burn yourself and blame me for it.

Then put your cutting board into the water, making sure the water level is high enough for the onion to be submerged sideways.

Start peeling your onion until you get to the soft/shiny layers.

Place the onion onto your cutting board until it is against the bottom of your sink for stability. Now the real test begins. Start slicing with great care since the water and awkward position will reduce your hand's stability.

Several cuts in.

Tear check: No tears or redness either! I let the onions fall or float in the water until all were sliced.

I did bring some chunks back out of the water to chop into finer pieces. At this time I did experience some itchy eyes but no tears.

Fishing for the small pieces was tricky. It may help to use a small strainer, slotted spoon or veggie steamer to get all the pieces out of the water quicker.

 

I label my bags and freeze them so I can use the onions in smaller increments then most recipes call for and delay another onion slicing/crying episode as long as possible.  If you have any suggestions or recommendations to reduce the intensity of this common problem, you are probably right.

Respectfully Submitted By: Nelson