super science

Today is my last day as Super Science Teacher (how awesome is that job title?) at Tobin. We are going to make, and launch, rockets.

Here is my prototype. The nose is crumpled because it hit my ceiling when I tested it out. :-)

Here is the pattern that I used, from the exploratorium.

Edit: The rockets were super awesome! The kids had a great time coloring them, cutting out the fins (Caellum added eight fins in total), and especially launching them out by the playground. They flew a lot higher than I thought they would; two rockets in the kindergarten class got stuck on the roof! And the older kids had fun seeing whose could go the furthest. I think it was Vincent who said this was the best science class ever, haha. From him, that means a lot.

Patriots' Day

Did you know that today is a holiday? Me neither. A bit later I plan to bike across the river and cheer on the marathon runners, but I thought I would upload a quick pic of the felted pot holders I made for my mom (which are also appropriate for Patriots' Day).

I found the pattern at purl bee, which is such an adorable blog for those who are crafty, or those who like to read about the amazing things other women do. Depending on the day, I fall into one or both of those categories. I chose crimson, cream, and navy instead of the usual red, white, and blue to make them look a little more americana-y, and to match my mom's kitchen. They were originally going to be a Christmas present, but I am not so speedy when it comes to knitting. They were, however, finished in time for her birthday (three months later), and uploaded to the blog a month after that! Geez, you'd think I was busy or something. Actually, I'm not. Anyway, I thought they turned out brilliantly. They were pretty simple to make, but this was the first time I had tried intarsia knitting, and the first time I felted anything (not counting when I put my banana republic dry-clean-only turtleneck sweater in the washing machine).

Christmas cards

I uploaded photos from my Nikon from the past couple of months, so here are a few happenings from weeks past.

I made my own Christmas cards this year! I love brown paper, so I let Trader Joe;s do most of the work for me. To make these simple cards, I cut out some of the text and holiday images from paper bags, and glued them on to white cardstock.

our Christmas tree

This year (really the past few months) has been full of firsts since I've moved to Cambridge. One among them is my first real Christmas tree. At the small fruit stand outside of downtown crossing, we bought a tree from a Jewish man and brought it home on the t.

All of the ornaments and garland are homemade and food related, which feels quite fitting.


Here is a montage of how we made the cinnamon-applesauce ornaments, the same technique Krystal and I made at a cooking class in Salt Lake City several years ago.

The ingredients. We followed the recipe on the McCormick website, and added a dallop of glue.

The cookie cutters. We made a special trip to target for these beauties.

Mr. P mixing the dough. It smells so good! And kept the apartment smelling that way for the next week.

Rolling the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap. I don't have a rolling pin, so we improvised with a bottle of tequila.

Cutting the "cookies." Pro-tip: we used a drinking straw to make the hole for ribbon.

And they're reading for the oven. Two and a half hours at 200F.

I was so excited by these, that we segued straight into salt dough ornaments. The white snowflakes turned out beautifully, but we had a bit more trouble with the red. I forgot the step in the recipe which seals in the color (spray them with cooking spray), and we ran out of non-stick cookie sheets. They are still on the pan (several days later).

on my needles

I've been knitting like crazy since the first snow flurry in October. The snow promptly melted and the weather returned to fall, but not in time to dissuade us from making mulled apple cider and purchasing a drawer-full of wool yarn. I've put my first attempt at a sweater on hold to make a few Christmas gifts. Here is a glimpse of what I'm working on now.

I'll take another photo and link to the pattern once I'm finished and this gift has been gifted.