Does anyone else freeze poppers (tetra pack, juice box) as a cheap and slightly healthier alternative to ice blocks?

I thought this was universal, until my husband said he had never had a frozen popper before. He thought I was crazy and teaching my son to be weird until he tried it. Mmmm, frozen icy goodness.

A 250mL popper which takes 2 seconds to for a hot, thirsty kid to drink, can take 15 to 20 minutes to eat.

Ask any mother how much she would pay for 15 minutes silence, on a long, hot, "Boooooring", weekend day....

Use a serrated knife, like a bread knife to score the package all around the middle, then cut the frozen popper in half. You will have to give it a bit of a whack. Give the child a teaspoon and half the popper, and tell them to go outside. It can get quite messy, little flecks of ice get flicked everywhere and melt into sticky droplets. Leave the other half in the freezer for later.

I've been away for a while, on holidays. Pics and lengthy posts on their way...
I have also been working on a project with HH.... see I can't wait to post about it.
In the meantime, read 'The one straw revolution' by Fukuoka, 1978

I have embedded it at the bottom of my blog, so scroll down...

or read it at SCRIBD

phew

Its so hot, still, at 9pm.
Its only 26 degrees or so, but the humidity makes it feel worse. Trying to get comfy is hard when you are irritable and sticky.

I'll stop whinging now. Here is a recipe for my lime cordial:

1 cup lime juice
1 cup raw sugar
1 cup water

Go next door and "borrow" about 10 limes. To juice the limes, sit them in hot water, or zap them in the microwave for 10 seconds. Roll the limes on the bench to loosen the juice, then use your citrus juicer. You should get more juice this way. (Save the rinds, the zest freezes well. You can rub the spent half limes all over your kitchen sink/bathroom sink/bathtub/toilet to freshen them.)

Heat the sugar and water until the sugar is all dissolved, do it in the microwave if you can't stand the thought of turning on the stove in this weather.

Add the juice to the syrup. Pour it into a bottle. Store it in the fridge, labelled, or someone, possibly your husband, will take a swig from the bottle and decide it tastes terrible and never touch it again. No matter how many times you tell him he should try it diluted.

To drink the cordial, you can add just a dash to cold water, soda water, or lemonade. Top up the glass with lots of ice and stick a few mint leaves in it.
Lie outside on the verandah, in the dark and tell the kids you are on strike.

Fridge words

I love fridge words and the stream of consciousness poetry that some people create with them. However, I do not love the price. :)

So in the spirit of anti-consumerism and "refuse to consume", I made my own. Use any words you like, mine all lean towards ethics, creativity and politics. Include pronouns, adverbs and determiners, if you want to make up a narrative. Try to be creative. Pick strange words, e.g. "dastardly", or "autohagiographer". Pick a theme, use words from a poem or quote you love, or only pick silly sounding words.You can also include names of friends, family and pets. If you've got kids who have sight words or spelling lists to memorise, you could make them a set. Hmmm, fun, (yawn) better yet get them to make their own!

Materials:

• Sturdy card board or construction paper. I got some sheets for Christmas from my Mum and Dad, they came wrapped around a piece card board, I don't know why. I kept the card board, as you do.
• Magnetic strip. I used strips of magnets from off the back of those ubiquitous calendars politicians and real estate agents bombard you with at this time of year. Promotional magnets and magnetic business cards would work well, too. They are surprisingly easy to cut with normal scissors.
• Pens, Pencil, Ruler, Scissors, Glue. I used Glustick, but I would recommend using something a bit stronger, maybe UHU power stick, or craft glue. The magnets are slick, so you need something that will adhere to plastic.
• List of words.

Step 1: Write your words onto your cardboard. My handwriting is notoriously messy, so instead of trying (and not succeeding) to make all my letters neatly identical, I used a variety of pens and font styles. If you like, you could print out your list , then glue the paper onto your cardboard.

Step 2: Stick your magnetic strips to the back of the cardboard. Tip: Do this before you cut out individual words, working with one large piece of cardboard and a few pieces of magnetic strip is easier than dozens of teeny pieces of cardboard and magnet!


Step 3: Cut out the individual words.


Voila! Fridge words! Have fun :)