Edible Peanut Butter Play Dough

During the school year, I have a job as a nanny of three boys under the age of six. While I absolutely love playing with the boys, I can only run so much and I only have so much energy. So when my energy has depleted, I like to try to come up with creative arts and crafts projects for the boys while I recover from our last game of "a boy and a girl walking through the jungle".

 

The other day, I decided I wanted to make some play dough for the boys. For some reason, they have no actual play dough in the entire house. There are SO MANY recipes for edible play dough scoured through pretty much every source imaginable. On a whim, I decided I wanted to make peanut butter play dough, because who doesn't love peanut butter? The boys I watch constantly ask for a spoonful of peanut butter as their treat for the day.

 

Looking throughout recipes and recipes, I finally found the golden one. It tastes pretty darn good and molds to shapes just as normal play dough would. The only downside to this recipe is that it tends to crumble if gone unused. Other than that, this recipe is perfect to kids to play with- and for adults to eat!

 

 

Edible Peanut Butter Play Dough

 

2 c. confectioners sugar

1 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. honey

 

Place all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Stir until all ingredients are combined. Use hands to combine crumbs into balls.  Now you're ready to play!

A Casual Dress Up

As technology advances many aspects of daily life, it can morph very personal experiences into impersonal encounters. Less people are reading hard-copy books on a daily basis because they prefer reading them on their tablet or phone. More people are watching television and movies instead of attending plays and community activities. While technology plays a vital role in our society, it's also important to still partake in "human" experiences.

About a month ago, my sisters came to visit my family. My mother, sisters and I decided to go attend the play, Wicked. Although I'm not a fan of actually participating in plays, I do enjoy watching them. However, it's often hard for me to decide how I should dress for occasions such as these. For this specific event, I decided to dress up, but to still look casual at the same time.

[Shirt: Old Navy, Skirt, Purse: JC Penny, Sandals: Gift]

The internet can be educational too!

Everyone knows that technology has a great impact on the world- it's constantly changing and I, among many people have embraced that change. I remember when I was young and the internet was just barely being introduced to the public. As far as different methods of technology goes, the internet is one form that is doing wonders from an academic and educator standpoint. It can aid me in my endeavors both pre and post career.

As a college student, I'm well aware of how beneficial the internet can be. I'm constantly using the internet whether it's on social media or educational websites. Most, if not all colleges today offer something that would not have been achievable even twenty years ago- online classes. I tend to like to keep myself very busy during the school year which entails taking a lot of classes. Sometimes the classes I want to take aren't available in a convenient time slot, so I have the option to take the class online instead of through a traditional face to face lecture method. This saves me the headache of not only trying to figure out how to fit five classes that are all offered during the same time, but it also offers a lot of flexibility that traditional classes do not. If I have a lot of assignments and papers due a certain week, I'm able to adjust my homework schedule according to my hectic and crazy life.

The internet can also aid in the many assignments and papers that a student is bound to run into. Although I took my only required English class two years ago, I still find that I am constantly writing research papers and having to Google homework answers when I get stuck. The internet might not seem essential or need-based for these activities, but it shortens the amount spent on homework immensely. On research papers alone, I have saved hours and hours through being able to look at online databases for peer reviewed journals and articles rather that having to search through an entire book that might or might not be available at the school library. If I didn't have access to the internet, I would end up only being able to take half as many classes as I do now due to the lack of available time spent on homework.

There's nothing worse than being frustrated because you are unsure about a question, procedure or what to do with your life in general regarding academia. Believe it or not, the internet can help with that too! The internet has a multitude of school forums that any student can join and freely post on. I've used forums discussing academics many times throughout my college experience. They deal with many problems from what someone should bring to college to what are good test scores when applying to a certain program. I'm constantly on the go and I can attest that receiving advice about something I'm clueless on is valuable, especially when I can receive an answer within minutes!

Thus far, the internet has been very useful while attending college. However, I also plan to heavily use it when I graduate college and become an elementary school teacher. The internet has become a crucial tool to master when teaching at any grade level. Elementary school teachers often require more parent teacher interactions than they do at higher grade levels. Handing students flyers and letters to give to their parents is a good way to promote communication, but it's not always the best way. Students often forget or deliberately withhold information from their parents (such as a letter indicating a student is not doing well in a certain subject). By using the internet, it is possible for teachers to directly communicate with parents through email or other means. This can promote better communication and relationships with parents, students and teachers.

Professional networking is used in any career and the internet makes it more accessible through websites such as www.linkedin.com. By using the internet to widen your professional networking, you can access jobs and career opportunities that you might otherwise not be able to. It also enables easy access to communicate with other professionals in a certain career path. As a school teacher, this would be very useful in trying to contact individuals as guest speakers or to arrange field trips.

Teaching is a very time intensive career path because it doesn't stop when the school day ends. Teachers of any grade level put in a lot of time and effort both after and before school hours. They grade papers and prepare lessons, for example. A lot is expected of them, and that is where the internet comes in handy. There are a lot of educational websites available for teachers that can help them with things such as lesson plans, educational videos and language learning. These websites can help teachers become more organized and have more time to focus on what they're really there for- the children.

No matter where I am in my life, I know the internet can help me out in more than just being social and playing games. It has a great educational purpose and can help anyone whether they're in college or far into their career. It isn't a one note wonder, but an album of new opportunities that present itself in a new way everyday.

My life consists of books.... and more books

So I have in fact, not died. I did, in fact, succumb to the lack of time that affects many college students every year. Simply said, taking 20 credits and working 35 hours a week doesn't leave for much play time. Heck, it doesn't even leave adequate time to sleep. Now that school is over for the summer, I find I have much more time on my hands. So what have I been doing with that time when I haven't been working? Reading. Lots and lots of reading. My life consists of books. I've always loved reading, but I don't think I've ever read this many books for enjoyment in my life! Here's a few that I read recently and what I thought of them:

• Full Ride By Margaret Peterson Haddix: This is about a girl named Becca Jones who goes into hiding with her mother after her father gets arrested for some hefty white collar crimes. It's Becca's senior year in high school and it's time for her to start applying for financial aid and colleges, but her mother reveals to Becca that if she does this, it could reveal her past. As she digs into her past, she finds out that she and her mother might be in more danger than she ever thought. I just finished this book today, and it was a page turner. I read this book in a span of hours and it definitely didn't disappoint. It has to do with the pressure of college (and paying for it!), while still adding a thriller and mystery storyline to it. Great read. A

• Trafficked By Kim Purcell: This book centers on an illegal Russian immigrant named Hannah who comes to America as a nanny. When she first gets there, things seem fine but she soon finds a rude awakening. She never gets paid, the parents restrict her from leaving the house and they seem to somehow know something about her missing uncle. This book deals a lot with sex trafficking, manipulation and the importance of finding help. It also has a touch of mystery added to it. This was a great book (another book I read in a matter of hours) and I highly recommend it. I only wish there was a sequel to it! A

• In The Land Of Invisible Women By Quanta Ahmed: This book is a biography following a female doctor through her journey in Saudi Arabia. I've been really into female oppression in the Middle East lately, so I thought this would be interesting read. Learning all about the crazy rules and regulations in Saudi Arabia was very interesting. Unfortunately, that was about all I was interested in. The book was very long and moved very slowly, so it was hard for me to keep interest in it. Although I'm sure this was a great book for some, it just didn't do it for me. B-

• Etched In Sand By Regina Calcaterra: This is a biography that follows the story of Regina and her experience of homelessness and the foster care system while living in Long Island. This is a short book of only about 200 pages, but every page of it is riveting. I loved this book. The story filled me with hope that things would turn out well. The fact that it was a true story made it all the better. I would definitely hope that everyone gives this book a chance. A

• The Maze Runner By James Dashner: As many probably know, this book is being made into a movie. This is NOT why I read the book. I actually started it last December but became so overcome with my busy schedule that I was just barely able to finish it. It centers around a boy named Thomas who awakes in an unfamiliar environment with no memories. He's been dropped in a settlement with other boys, but no girls are to be seen. Around the settlement is a giant maze, and it's the only way out. The only problem is, no one can seem to solve the maze. Although this book has a good premise, I felt it just wasn't done all that well. It seemed like the author used a lot of cop outs when writing. It was an okay story, but I probably won't pick up the sequel.  B-

• Shades Of Grey By Jasper Fforde: First of all, this book is not to be confused with 50 shades of grey- with the exception of a similar title, these books have literally nothing to do with one another. This book takes place in a dystopian society where color dominates. Every person has a assigned color in the society hierarchy, with greys being the lowest and purples being the highest. Whatever assigned color you are, you can only see that color. This book was a great read, although a little confusing. There was a lot of new words introduced in the book, and I felt that this overtook the plot itself and made it harder to understand. There's a sequel that should be coming out soon, and I felt like this book was more a prequel to the sequel. It was basically all background information- there was no big climax at the end, which irritated me. It was an interesting book, with a great premise, but a let down in the end. C

•  Framed By Clair M. Poulson: If the title didn't give it away, this book is a mystery book. It's all about a girl named Adriana who is a witness in a murder investigation and believes the person on trial is innocent. This book was also sort of a letdown. It could have been quite good, the plot proved that. However, it wasn't very well written and some hints and foreshadowing in the book were just too plain and obvious. There was a romance weaved into the story, but it was just so incredibly cheesy that I hated reading it. C-

Skirt Refashion

Okay, so I recently bought a denim skirt from Savers for a total of $3. Let's face it, I only buy cheap clothing. This skirt was VERY cute, but a little long for my taste. I bought it anyways, and I just figured I would hem it when I got the chance. The only sewing machine I currently have use of resides with my family, so I couldn't hem it until the next time I came home. That was TWO weeks away-- way too long to wait before wearing something new I just bought! So I decided to wear the skirt a couple of times. I discovered something. I don't like hate wearing skirts that are over an inch past my knees. That being said, the first thing I did when I got home was hem this skirt so I could actually enjoy wearing it and not counting down the minutes until I could take it off. Hemming it took a total of two minutes and the after product is so worth $3!

Sometimes it's the little things that make our day (like hemming this skirt) and when this happens, savor it!

Decorating: Halloween

I'm usually big on decorating for special occasions, especially holidays. Sadly, since I've settled into college life I've struggled a lot to find the right balance of size, quality and how expensive decorations are. In many college dorms or apartments space is extremely limited, so creativity is a key element in decoration because as amazing as something might be, sometimes there just isn't enough space for it (a full size Christmas tree for example). Another thing I strongly consider when browsing for decorations is (of course) how much it costs. Being a college student, I want need to buy something that is extremely cheap. At the same time though, I don't want whatever I buy to look so horribly made that a five year old made it in ten minutes. That being said, as you've probably (or not probably, I don't really know if you would have guessed this) guessed, I do a lot of my shopping at Walmart and Target. Let me say, they have some pretty cute stuff there!

Interested to see how I decorate my room on a college budget? Well, here you go!

In the interest of full disclosure, my mother bought me these items for Halloween this year, so I did not personally pick them out. They're all cute nonetheless though!

 Okay, this last one isn't TECHNICALLY Halloween, but it's Fall! I feel like a lot of times Fall and Halloween decorations kind of mesh together, so I felt it was appropriate for me to include this one also.

DIY Calendar

It's already October. I know people say time goes by quicker the older you get, but this is getting ridiculous. I swear it was August two days ago. So I know it might be a little late to do this post, it being October and all. However, I loved doing this project so much that I just had to share it.

Last year, I saw that one of my friends had a homemade calendar hanging up in her room instead of the generic white and grey wall calendar I had in my room. I instantly decided that I was going to make a calendar for the next school year instead of buying a generic, ugly and expensive wall calendar. So that's exactly what I did. I was very surprised how easy and quick it was to make it. The best part? I didn't have to buy a single thing.

What you'll need:
  
Cardboard
Scissors
Tape
Paper
Printer
Stapler 

Instructions:

1. Find a piece of cardboard (there's probably empty boxes somewhere around your house, I used a box from something I recently ordered online). Make sure it's sturdy and in good condition. It can be as big or as little as you want. Next, decide how big you want your calendar to be and cut it to that measurement. To make things easier, I just cut the sides and top off of my cardboard box, so I was left with a piece that measured 14x19.25 inches.

2. Find a calendar template online that you would like to use, or if you are feeling particularly crafty, make your own. I found one online, but I can't seem to remember where I found it (I even looked online for about an hour trying to find the template I used before finally giving up). Print out the template.

3. Find a background to match your calendar design. Again, you can either search for one online, or you can make one yourself. I looked online and found a cute design within minutes. Print out your chosen background. You'll need to print out multiple pages and that number depends on how big your piece of cardboard is. Be aware though, that you'll want to have enough paper for it to hang of the edge of the cardboard. I printed out four copies of the design just to make sure I had enough.

4. Flip the background papers on the off side (the side of the paper that is blank and has no design on it). Bring the papers together and arrange them to fit the cardboard. Tape the sides of the paper together. Be careful to ensure there are no gaps and the design lines up if applicable.

5. Once all the papers are taped together, place the on side (the side of the paper with designs on it) of the paper facing the surface it is on, with the off side of the paper facing you. Place your cardboard on the center of the papers. Taking one edge of the paper, flip it up and tape it on the cardboard. Repeat with all sides until all sides of cardboard is covered. If this sounds confusing, just tape the paper to the cardboard just as you would as taping wrapping paper to a gift.

6. Flip the cardboard over. Make sure the design looks good on the cardboard and was done correctly. Next, take your printed calendar template. Make sure all the months are in the correct order and place them where you would like them on the cardboard. I placed mine in the center. Next, grab a stapler and staple the top of the papers to the cardboard.

And you're done!
*Please ignore what I wrote on the calendar*