My daughter and I went on a trip with her Girl Scout troop today to the Minna Anthony Nature Center on Wellesley Island New York today. The weather was hot and sticky but the breeze off the water was nice and the sun was shining so it was a beautiful day. We had a group of 7 girls and one boy that tagged along as well. We were earning our junior nationalist patch. The girls loved the nature center/museum and all the activities that were there. Once we had our workbooks and crayons in hand we were ready to start our adventure. Unfortunately the first step, the rock wall, set the mood for my little girl. She had the misfortune of spotting multiple spiders on the wall and she went into a tailspin. It was all I could do to convince her to continue. She gave in and continued with some reluctance. We enjoyed a nice walk through the woods along the water and even saw some geese floating nearby. We had an ambitious group of girls but the adults couldn’t hack the heat so we walked about 1.5 miles and we finished our book and turned around. My daughters attitude only changed once she knew we were headed back for lunch.
I realized today that my little girl is as girly as it gets when it comes to nature. Her fear of bugs overrides anything that could be fun about nature. Although she did like the butterfly house we visited at the center after lunch. Overall it was a fun day and some great memories were made. We did try to find a geocache near the museum but unfortunately it had been destroyed by the weather. I would recommend this trip to anyone who enjoys hiking in the woods and isn’t afraid of insects. Lots and lots spiders 🕷. They also have cottages you can rent in the state park camping area as well.
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My children are getting older and they have almost become too old to enjoy having their mother read a story with them at night. My son is 11 and insists that he would rather play his video games 24/7 than be bothered with anything else. My daughter, at 9 years old, is usually preoccupied with her computer games or Youtube as well. Luckily she still insists on loving on her mom before bed and I can convince her to read a short book with me before getting her tucked in for the night. I have a large number of young reader books for the kids ranging from books like "A Bad Case of Stripes" to chapter books series like "The Impossible Quest". I have always had a crazy love of books and was hoping to pass that on to my children. So far I'm somewhat unsuccessful. Electronics seem to have a hold on them. I finally decided that they spend too much time in front of screens and have imposed some limits. Last night as a result of those limits my lil' girl decided a story would be a nice way to end the evening and "A Bad Case Of Stripes" was her book choice. I love this story, it encourages children to be themselves regardless of how people may think of you for doing so. The little girl, Camilla Cream, battles with how people view her and who she really is. Wanting so badly to be accepted and loved by everyone, she looses who she really is trying to become what everyone else says/wants her to be. In the end she decides that she wants to be herself and that it's ok if she is not what everyone thinks she should be. My daughter loved the story and caught on quick to what it was all about. I know that bullying is a big problem that has actually been around forever and I think this book helps kids understand that people can say things that hurt you but you can really only protect yourself by loving yourself. If you love yourself for who you truly are, false words are just that, false words and once people see they can't break you down. They usually stop trying to. At least that's my experience. The best think I can give my kids is confidence in themselves. I try to let them know that for the most part people who hurt other people are usually hurting on the inside themselves and can't help but lash out at others. Being kind in return can often diffuse the situation. Another book we read is "What Does it Mean to be Kind?" That was also a book that was along the same lines in terms of being kind to everyone no matter who they are or how they treat you. We really enjoyed that as well. Both books are from Scholastic book orders and you can find them on their website. www.scholastic.com The site is currently down until August due to it being a site primarily for schools and it is summer vacation right now. HAPPY READING!! I am from a family of crafty people. My grandmother is a seamstress and also crochets, my mom can make things with leather, create amazing cakes and any kind of food as well as build just about anything out of anything. My dad can also build anything. So you can see why I love to create things and share them with everyone!
Here is an example of my mother's ability to create beautiful leather items. She creates/finds a pattern and makes things that have different themes based on what/who the item is for. This particular lamp is for a motorcycle rally raffle donation. She did a beautiful job and it looks great on or off!! She does occasionally do custom projects and enjoys making other's happy with her work. Although I do have a hard time getting her to charge what they are worth. I also struggle with pricing, I usually under price as does she because we want people to afford the items. Unfortunately that usually causes us to loose money on our supplies or time. Something like this takes hours, days and sometimes weeks depending on our available schedule so under charging usually makes the labor free when it may take 15 or more hours to complete one project. Just a thought, next time you go to a craft fair, don't tell an artisan that you can get it cheaper at Walmart, because Walmart items aren't meticulously hand made and don't match the quality. That is a statement that offends pretty much everyone in the room. And to be honest if that's how someone feels they should avoid Craft Fairs altogether. Ok so I don't want to end on a sour note. I encourage everyone to be creative regardless of your perceived talent, do it anyway, you never know what your capable of until you try! Sometimes you find you are extremely creative and can make things someone else can only dream of creating. You will also come to appreciate good craftsmanship! |
Hello!I'm Michelle, a wife, mom and full time graphic designer. I have been working in graphic design for over 20 years. I like to share things about my everyday life and projects I'm working on. Hopefully some of what I share can be valuable to you as well. You can learn more about me here. Archives
January 2022
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