Category: My Life List

Go Mighty: Worth It Challenge

There are activities on my Life List I expect will be rewarding — doing something scary, traveling, volunteering for baby-saving activities, that kind of thing.

I did not expect that removing hair from my legs for thirty days would be one of the Rewarding Things. It started as an effort to do more small things that make me happy. And while this project isn’t exactly going on my résumé, it has had a surprising impact on my day-to-day contentment… read the rest of Shaving my Legs for 30 Days? Worth it on Go Mighty.

If you like this post, you might also like:

How Liz used Pinterest to get her reading lists organized. I now want to do this.
Desiree on accomplishing your life’s goal, but not your life’s work.
Katherine is all about Punk Rope, which is apparently a thing?
Paige in praise of getting your butt out of bed.
And Camille thinks you should visit the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

Go Mighty members have been recommending Life List ideas as part of our Worth It Challenge. Let us know what you’ve done that was worthwhile by tagging one of your stories #worthit.

Mighty Thirst: Blueberry Cheers and Blueberry Cheesecake Boom

You know what they say. When life hands you cake vodka, you make… a perplexed face because what is this shit? My friends and their ironic purchasing habits.

So this post is about using up an entire bottle of cake vodka before the people who brought it leave. This is both to teach them a lesson, and also so the bottle won’t linger in your cabinet and bring shame upon your household.

Our mission? Fruity drinks that taste like cake. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday night, and better ways to spend a Sunday morning. Onward!

I had a bag of blueberries in the freezer (how long have those been in there?), but these would likely work out ok if you subbed in any frozen berry. This is two variations on a blueberry/almond milk drink in an attempt to make a cheesecake thing happen. Both are good, the second is sweeter and more milkshake-y. Continue reading “Mighty Thirst: Blueberry Cheers and Blueberry Cheesecake Boom” →

St. Patrick’s Day Flowers

Another cheapie bouquet from the grocery store. I made this awhile ago, but thought it would be pretty for St. Patrick’s Day, if you’re a holiday-decorating type. It’s green button mums, and a weed-type flower whose name I don’t know called Alstromeria or Peruvian Lillies (thanks, Lisa N.!).

I chose them because they’re the same color family, but totally different textures.

First I took all the crazy leaves off the bottoms of these guys.

Then I pulled the mums apart so I could work with arranging individual flowers instead of a stalk with a bunch of different heights.

They look cool together, and I was happy with the result.

Fair warning, both flowers lasted forever and then a weird thing happened. The mums didn’t grow in water, but the weed flowers did, so at the end of the week it was a big ol’ mess. Ah well.

Then I made this tiny guy for my bedside with leftover flowers.

Twofer.

If you liked this, you might also like:

10 Tips for Making Florist Style Bouquets from Grocery Store Flowers
Flowers for Jaime and Henning’s Wedding

Penny Peonies, Made from Carnations

Hey look! I made fake peonies from carnations I got at the grocery store. If you miss Spring, or just can’t afford to pay $6-$10 for a single flower, this is a surprisingly satisfying solution.

I actually love carnations just how they are, so I got this big bunch of them at the supermarket for about $12 total.

I made a little work station by cutting off the wrappers and spreading them out. You’ll need floral tape, or masking tape if no one will be inspecting the flowers too closely.

This is how carnations come, so you’ll need to use the scissors to separate them into individual flowers. Once you have a good stack, take the fluffiest one for the center of a “peony,” then add five or six more carnations in a circular pattern around the centerpiece.

Once you have a bunch that’s the right size, pull at individual stems until there are no gaps between the flowers and none are sticking up when you hold them in a tight bunch near the flowers’ heads. Carnations are basically weeds, which means they’re super hardy, so don’t worry too much about bruising them.

From the top, it should look something like this. Once you have the right shape, wrap the stems tightly in floral tape all the way up to the bulbs just below the flowers.

They should look like this.

The amount of flowers I started with will yield you about six Penny Peonies, though half of them will have much shorter stems than the other half.

Whabam! Try this, it’s relatively easy, and will make you feel like a genius. Which, you obviously are.

Mighty Thirst: Pineapple Crush

Sometimes you want a little snack with your drink.

1/4 Cup pineapple
1 Shot Vodka
Cream Soda

Chop up your pineapple until it’s the size you want for biting. You can also freeze it or use frozen pineapple to ice the drink, or blend the fruit with a little water if you want more pineapple flavor and a slushy texture. Add your preferred pineapple format to the glass, pour vodka over, top with Cream Soda to taste and give it a little stir.

Now turn your heater all the way up, and go find your sunglasses. Ah. Hawaii in January.

I’m making 100 cocktails as part of my Life List. Here are a few of the others:

Toddy Shots
The ABC
Café Picante

How to Make Care Kits for Homeless People

Hank and I made Homeless Survival Kits as part of a Life List goal to do a holiday project together. It surprised me by becoming an easy way for Hank to ask me questions, so I wrote about that over here: Talking to My Kid About Homelessness Without Giving Him Nightmares. This is something that has come up a lot in San Francisco, where we have a lot of folks on the streets.

We do give money to our local food bank, but I’d like to have something on me to offer when people ask for help, so Hank doesn’t get the message that you can be indifferent to people in trouble. I did a little research on what to put in our kits, and we ended up using:

Gallon-sized, rainproof ziplock bags
Disposable razors
Lip balm
Travel deodorant
Body wash
Bandaids
Folding travel toothbrushes
Travel toothpaste
Ibuprofen
Wet wipes
Kind bars (softer to chew than granola)
crackers

More items to consider:

Water bottles
Bus passes
Combs
Tampons
Hand warmers
Shaving cream
Socks/gloves
Cheese or peanut butter crackers
Applesauce
Pudding
Vienna sausages with pull off lids
Plastic forks and spoons
Additional ziplock bags to keep belongings dry

There’s a good thread on Meta-Filter that has a lot of suggestions in comments. You can drop your kits off at a local shelter, or give them out individually.

Also, some nice things to consider generally:

Softer food is easier for people to chew if their teeth are hurting. Homeless people don’t have access to dentists or often any way to keep their teeth in shape, so consider that when you’re choosing food.

Hydration can be a big problem when you don’t have a house. If you’re offering food, try to offer a drink as well.

Take your leftovers, and request plastic silverware. If you live in a big city, never turn down your leftovers when you can hand them to someone within a few feet of the door, or leave them on top of the nearest bench or post box for someone to find. I told a waiter I was leaving the rest of my dinner out, and he taped silverware and a napkin to the top. Genius! So now I request one if the place seems to offer takeout. Also, I like to write the date and time on the box if I have a pen.

If you have any simple habits you’ve adopted to help out the homeless people in your community, or any advice to offer if you’ve been homeless yourself, please let us know in comments. And Happy Holidays, team!

Teaching My Kid to Light Stuff on Fire

I just got back from Australia, so last night Hank and I were reading about how Koalas don’t drink much water.

Hank: “That’s because the leaves they eat have water. Most animals in dry places get their water from their food.”
Me: “… I did not know that.”
Hank: “Do you know that the human head weighs eight pounds?”

Ah, I kid about that last bit. Speaking of which, the Jerry Maguire little boy went all Anthony Michael Hall, amirite? Also, if you know what I’m talking about, that link will make you feel decrepit. I’ll just go find my movie glasses while you see if Viva Las Vegas is playing on AMC.

Anyway, Hank has been poring over science books and begging to film an experiment “show” since he was about four. Two years later, I finally figured teaching other kids about science would be a good way to remember vocabulary and concepts himself, durr, so we filmed a couple. We read about how everything works beforehand, and I had him explain it back to me, so he could narrate the video.

I know so much about convection now. Gentlemen.

I posted a couple videos on Go Mighty:

Keep it Clean: Hank’s Expanding Soap Experiment

This Earl is on Fire: Hank’s Tea Bag Rocket Experiment

Holy crap. Did you have any idea Ivory soap and tea bags did this stuff? GAH! Particularly the tea bags. If you let me enter your home, I will now demand that you let me light a teabag on fire. I need you to see.

We’re doing three more experiment videos, so if you have any cool ones to recommend using household items, let me know.

And if you already knew about the soap? Why didn’t any of you tell me? I can hardly look at you.

This post is part of the Too Small to Fail initiative sponsored by Next Generation and the Clinton Foundation, whom I like very much. They’re trying to close the Word Gap by encouraging all of us to take small steps to improve kids’ chances in school — like talking to and making lots of eye contact with pre-verbal babies, and increasing one on one time with kiddos. More info here.

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