Floam!

If you have a kid who watches kid TV, you’ve probably seen the commercials for Floam. In the ads, Floam is fun, Floam is exciting, Floam inspires creativity, Floam ends global warming, our dependence on foreign oil and world hunger.

In reality, Floam is messy, Floam gets on the carpet and won’t come off, Floam is the bane of my existence.

Jonah got Floam a while back and we quickly found that, contrary to the pictures in the commercial, Floam does not come out of the container ready to use. Floam is a mixture of foam microbeads and some kind of slimy goo. When Floam sits, unused for 10 minutes or more, the goo settles on the bottom and the foam microbeads rise to the top. Each time you use Floam, you have to mix these two substances together. The goo is sticky and the little beads love taking up residence between your fingers.

When you play with Floam, just about the only thing you can do is stick it to other things. It won’t hold its shape. You can’t create Floam coil pots and ash trays. According to the commercial you can “Floam” your skateboard, your bike or a model dinosaur. Of course all these projects would require about $1,379 worth of Floam (about a cup of Floam is $6.99!)

Now for a confession: A couple of weeks ago I noticed the tub of Floam up in a corner of the cupboard (where I keep all my half used candles) and since it had been probably 4 months since Jonah had played with it, and since I had absolutely no desire for him to play with it again, and since I decided to assume that it was all dried out without even opening the lid to check, I threw it in the garbage.

Two days later (garbage man had already come and gone) Jonah asks me to get his Floam down. “It’s right up there on that top shelf,” he assures me.

“No it’s not.” I say.

“Yes it is…I know its right up there!” He’s so confident; my heart breaks just a little bit for him. I know what I have to do.

“Jonah, I threw the Floam away.”

Jonah’s eyes get big with disbelief and he looks like he’s just learned the truth about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny all at the same time. (Not to mention the truth that his mom occasionally throws out his stuff.)

I can’t help myself. I open my mouth and this comes out: “I’ll get you more Floam. We can go to the store right now!”

So we have more Floam and I’m back to picking foam micro beads out of the carpet. Meanwhile, Jonah Floamed one of his Army guys. (See photo above)

I Have Questions

Question #1: Are you right brained or left brained? Click this link and tell me if the lady is spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise. The site claims that most people will see her spinning counter-clockwise and that you can force yourself to see counter-clockwise, but I don't believe it. Anyone out there able to prove me wrong?

Question #2: Have you read or heard of these books? (See list below) After an hour or so spent browsing some blogs, Kirkus Review, and Amazon, here is my list of books to read. I think they are all middle grade and young adult. Do you have anything for me to add to this list? Anything I shouldn't waste my time with? Of course I will wait to start reading until December when I'm done with Nano writing. I'm just thinking ahead/wasting time.

The Bearskinner, by Laura Amy Schlitz

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Like Stuart Little, by Peggy Gifford (evidently a story about procrastination, so it seems to be right up my alley!)

The Navigator, by Eoin McNamee (might be a little too "fantasy" for me, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I'm judging the book by the author's really cool name.)

The Name of This Book is Secret, by Pseudonymous Bosch (speaking of cool author names...)

The Arrival, by Shaun Tan (waiting for me at the library NOW! A graphic novel, I believe)

Kiki Strike: The Empress Tomb, by Kirsten Miller

Love, Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli (I loved "Stargirl" and am not to sure that I want to continue with the series since I really liked where it ended.)

Good Masters, Sweet Ladies: Voices From a Medieval Village, by Laura Amy Schlitz (Fuse #8 can't say enough good things about this one, so I don't think I can pass it up. Not really non-fiction, more like the script for a play.)

Hatchet, by Gary Paulson (I'm trying to read "boy books.")

Black Queen on Black King

Now that I’m trying to write a 50,000 word novel, the game Spider Solitaire has become much more interesting to me. Before I tried to discipline myself to write a certain number of words everyday, Spider Solitaire ranked about a 1 or .5 on a scale of importance. Now that I’m writing a novel, Spider Solitaire’s ranking has jumped up to around 8 (on a scale from 1-10).

Why is this? Could it be that organizing the cards into neat little groups gives me comfort when I can’t organize my thoughts? Or, am I just lazy?

Meanwhile, Ethan is in his room “working” on a 5 paragraph essay which is due in 2 days. However, I can hear the familiar sounds of his favorite game “Bulls-Eye Balls” and I know it’s impossible to play that game and write at the same time. Maybe he and I should have a little writing party.

Candle Rules

Did you know there were rules to owning and lighting a candle? I had no idea until I found myself in the mall (I have no idea how I got there!) and wandered in to Yankee Candle Company.

First of all, a bit of advice to Yankee Candle: Could you pare down your scent selections a bit? How am I supposed to choose between Sparkling Vanilla, French Vanilla, Sugar Cane & Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcake and Christmas Cookie (which smells surprisingly vanilla-y)? It's vanilla for crying out loud! I need to save my ability to notice tiny to non-existent details for choosing between Hershey's Extra Dark chocolate bar and Hershey's Cacao Reserve chocolate bar.

Second, for a jar full of smelly wax, these candles are pretty pricey. Some marketing genius came up with the idea to sell the 14.5 ounce jar for $19.99 and the 22 ounce jar for $22.99. (That's 7 and a half ounces for just $3 more!) The medium sized jar will burn for up to 90 hours, which is just about as much time as I want to have the scent of Autumn Wreath penetrating my home. The large jar will burn up to 150 hours. To me, that is a commitment I just don't want to make. What if I get tired of smelling Autumn Wreath after 100 hours? I'm stuck with this scent for another 50 hours.

Yes, I know, I can put the candle on a high shelf somewhere and forget about it for a while, but I have better things to fill my shelves with than half used candles.

After finally deciding on a medium sized Autumn Wreath candle and purchasing it, enduring invasive questions (What's your phone number? Can I see your driver's license? Are you sure you don't want the large sized, 150 hour burning candle for just $3 more? What about a $10 "illuma-lid?") the cashier informed me she was including a list of tips and instructions for my candle.

Silly me, I thought I just held a match to the wick and let the candle do the rest. My 2 page "Complete Guide to Candle Use, Enjoyment and Safety," includes general candle rules (extinguish candles with care as wax may splatter. A candle quencher or snuffer is recommended), storage instructions (candles are sensitive to temperature! I had no idea.), and instructions on cleaning spilled wax (basically, if you spill the wax, you're screwed).

So, I'm off to trim my candle wick to 1/8 inch, make sure it's properly centered, find a safe, non flammable place to set it, carefully remove the glass lid (which is breakable), and burn the candle for one hour per inch of diameter. I'm a little intimidated, but I think I can handle it.

Catalogs, Meet Recycling Bin

I joked with Robert that lately, we've been getting 2 toy catalogs a day. Well, I may have been exaggerating, but it does seem like the toy catalogs have been multiplying in the mailbox. I basically hand the catalogs right to the kids who literally spend hours poring over them, announcing every 20 seconds, "I want this for Christmas," and then, "No, I mean I want this for Christmas."

Today when I got the mail we had three toy catalogs: Target, eToys (are they still in business?) and Discovery Channel Store. The Discovery Channel Store catalog has an interesting looking hydrogen fuel rocket for only $40. When Ethan gets home and starts looking at this catalog though, I bet the first thing he'll ask for is the DVD collection of Mythbusters Season 4.

I'll let the kids tear the catalogs apart for a few days then it's off to the recycling bin they go!

**UPDATE**
I called it! After a minute or so of flipping through the Discovery Channel Store catalog Ethan exclaimed, "Wow! Mythbusters Season 4 DVD Collection! Can we get that?"

Back In the Pumpkin Saddle

Some of you may know that I had a pumpkin pie disaster a couple months ago. Without going into too much humiliating detail let me summarize: There was a party, pumpkin pie was requested, I offered to bring it (Yes! Of course I can make a pumpkin pie!), the offered pie was not so much pie, but more like pumpkin pudding in a crust.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve been hesitant to use my pie plates again. In fact, I think they stayed in the back of my car for 3 weeks after the pumpkin pie disaster.

So, tonight I gave it another shot. Following the same recipe, I made another pumpkin pie. It turned out great and it was delicious. I probably wouldn’t even mention it, but Robert insisted on taking a picture of the pie for my blog. So, after he worked with the pie for several different poses, I felt a little obligated to blog about the pie.

p.s. Those of you with whom I will be sharing Thanksgiving dinner will be happy to know of my pumpkin pie success as that is my food assignment. See you then!

Dumb Dumb

If you were here, Ethan would offer you a Dum Dum lollipop. I don’t know how these suckers got their name, but just maybe it refers to the people who save the wrappers and send them in for cheap merchandise.

Ethan is currently trying to save 20 wrappers so he can get a “Dum Dum” cap. He has 17 wrappers saved, and 3 more lollipops to eat until he has 20 wrappers. Right now, he’s offering a lollipop to anyone who passes by his room. I asked him why he doesn’t just take the wrapper and throw the lollipop away.

“Mom! That would be wasting!” Ethan gasped.

Once Ethan eats his remaining 3 Dum Dums, he will have 20 wrappers. He can then mail them in, along with $8 for the cap and $2 for shipping and handling, for a Dum Dum cap.

I am really having a hard time biting my tongue on this one. I suppose, when I was Ethan's age, I would have sent in 50 Bazooka bubblegum wrappers and $2 to get the Fortune Telling Fish if I'd had the stomach to actually chew that many pieces of gum. (Not that having a strong stomach should have anything to do with chewing gum, but I don't have time to come up with any more creative of a reason than that. All my creativity is going to Nano right now!) After a while, a bunch of candy wrappers is really just garbage, isn’t it?