Author Archives: Mindy Long / @mindywrites

Thanksgiving Placecards

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My kiddos and I whipped up some little place cards for our Thanksgiving table today, and I scanned in a couple so my mom can print them for her table, too. I just have to add some legs, beaks and waddles to these little guys and they’ll be ready to go. Each one is a custom print. 

Painting with Evan is always a messy endeavor. 

He loves to mix the paints together to see what colors they make.

Then he spreads the paint up his arms and starts reciting lines from his Spiderman movie. He is very serious about the entire process.

It makes me smile. It also makes me cringe a little since I know I’ll have an extra load of laundry to do tonight. I think it is worth it though because on Thursday when I sit these little guys on the table, I will have forgotten all about the laundry. At least that is what I’m telling myself right now as my washer and dryer hum away in the background.

 

Pumpkin Oreo Pops

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If you’d like to make a cute little edible addition for your Thanksgiving table, let me recommend pumpkin Oreo pops. All you need are Double Stuff Oreos, candy melts, lollipop sticks and green Tic Tacs.

Here are the easy-peasy directions:

1. Open up your Oreos. I did a bunch at a time and ate any that broke. You may want to keep a glass of milk handy for this part of the process.

2. Insert a lollipop stick and close the babies back up. 

3. Melt your candy melts in the microwave according to the package directions. 

4. Dip the Oreo into the candy and make sure to cover the whole cookie. Lay the dipped cookie on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. 

5. After it sets just a little insert the green Tic Tac into the top. If you wait too long it will be too hard, but if you do it too early it will fall off. So, play around with it a bit. Don’t worry. You can eat any mistakes. 

6. Once the cookies harden all the way, place some of the melted candy in a baggie, snip the end and drizzle some candy back over the cookies. That’s it. You’re done. I think they would be cute as place cards on a Thanksgiving table. 

Oh—and, if you want to get ahead on Halloween next year, you can try making Mummy Oreo pops. I didn’t get this posted a month ago as I had planned, but since I’m a glass half full kind of gal, I prefer to think I’m just getting a jump start on Halloween 2011. 

Clearing the Clutter

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Want to know a little secret? Actually, if you know me, you won’t be surprised, but I’ll tell you anyway. I’m a pack rat. I save magazines (I might want to pitch the editors one day, I reason), books (you never know when you will want to re-read that amazing novel), and a few select cooking sections from the Washington Post (I will eventually try the recipes).

I’m re-vamping the office, which means I have to sort through those stacks of papers and rows of books to bring some simplicity to my surroundings. I am making progress. Today I tossed my 2006 Writer’s Market and a year of back copies of Working Mother. Of course, I had to thumb through each copy and got caught up reading an article or two. That explains why I’m treating my re-vamp as a marathon and not a sprint. 

In clearing my clutter I’ve come across some of the things I love but that I’ve never taken time to display. I’m hoping to finally frame a Jodi Picoult autographed novel and an autographed John McCain non-fiction book. I’ve always thought I would hang htem in an office “someday.” For some reason I always thought that someday would be when I had a new house with a big office, but I’ve decided there is no reason to wait. We should embrace the life we have instead of waiting for the one we might have, right?

As I sort I know there are things I can’t part with—such as my back copies of Writer’s Digest, copies of my own articles and business receipts. I’m trying to find a creative and concise way to store and organize them. I’m paying attention to where the piles accumulate and trying to figure out why. Maybe getting to the bottom of it will help me minimize those piles moving forward.

Albert Einstein said, “Out of clutter, find simplicity.” That is my motto as I finish clearing off my bookshelves and sorting through my desk drawers. It might even extend out to the rest of the house, but I’m taking it one step at a time. 

Concocting Sculpting Dough

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Today we whipped up a little batch of sculpting dough. This is somewhere between playdough and clay. It is a thick dough that dries pretty quickly. It is good for making ornaments, shapes, beads, etc. Ready? Let’s get started.

First, head to your pantry and your craft closet. Here is what you need: food coloring (Evan’s favorite), glue, water, flour and cornstarch. 

Put a few drops of food coloring in a bowl. I told Evan to do four, we ended up with about eight. Life is all about compromise, right? Then, pour in 1/4 cup glue.

Pour in 1/4 cup water and stir it up. 



Next stir in 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup cornstarch. It will get pretty thick, so use some elbow grease. 



Once it gets too thick to stir, pour it onto the counter and knead it for five minutes or so. You’ll want to get all of the flour and cornstarch mixed in. Now is the fun part. 

Start shaping the dough! You can roll it out, cut it into shapes or sculpt it. The dough does dry quickly—a little too quickly for my guy’s tastes. The outer layer starts to get a little crusty, which wouldn’t be bad, but Evan was having a lot of fun just playing. I finally convinced him we should cut out some shapes. We did Miss Madelyn’s initials, since she was being so patient while we whipped up our little concoction. 

Here are a few of our masterpieces: 

Evan liked this dough, but it wasn’t nearly as popular as last week’s slime. I think this would be a lot of fun for little girls making beads for necklaces. The beads dried completely in about two hours. I expect everything else will dry overnight. I will make this again during the holidays so we can create some custom ornaments for our tree. 

The Recipe:

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup glue
4-8 drops of food coloring
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

Mix water, glue and food coloring in a bowl. Stir in flour and cornstarch. Mix in bowl until thick, then turn it onto the counter and knead for five minutes. Shape into shapes and then let dry. 

Salty and Sweet

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My hubby’s grandma introduced me to this little salty-and-sweet treat. I had to mix up a batch for our house. The key is to get just the right ratio of peanuts and candy corn. Not only do I like the way it tastes, I also like the way it looks. These little candy corns are inspiring all kinds of baking and decorating ideas right now.  

The Perfect Family Photo

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I just booked a family photo session and I’m already nervous. It has been two years since our last family photo. There are several reasons for this. The first is that I hate my hair. I’ve always hated my hair. I think it all started when I was three years old and used the kitchen shears to cut my bangs to the scalp. Things haven’t improved much since then.

The other reason family photo shoots send fear down my spine is that I do a horrible job of coordinating outfits. I see all of those other cute family pics where everyone is wearing a white shirt and blue jeans or coordinating sweaters and I suddenly feel inept. I think a big part of the problem is that I rarely allow enough time for finding new clothes for a photo, so I usually end up trying to coordinate the best I can from our existing wardrobes. And let me tell you, it is slim pickings around here.

So, this year we have plenty of time for me to perfect the family photo ensemble. But, I need your help. Do you coordinate the whole clan for photos? Where do you shop? What do you look for? Tell me, tell me, how do you do it? I know there must be some trick and I need in on the secret.

We’re hoping to do an outdoor shoot in early December, so I need something warm for everyone and possibly even hats for the kids. Send me your advice!

Sleep. Glorious Sleep.

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For the life of me I can’t figure out why my kiddos fight sleep. I want to grab them by the shoulders, shake them and tell them that there will come a day when they won’t be able to sleep. There will be late-night cram sessions, finals, deadlines and, maybe someday, children that will keep them from the glorious thing we call sleep. 

I would like to shout in their ears, “Enjoy it now, while you can, before it is too late! Nap, please! Sleep in. Go to bed early for one day you won’t be able to!” But I don’t.

Instead I rock. I sing. I read. I tickle backs and stroke hair. I cuddle. I replace pacifiers. I put Evan’s Taggie Bear in the freezer, because he thinks he’ll sleep better if his bear is cold. I pile the blankets on in just the right order and later, when Tag has gotten lost in the mound of blankets, I dutifully retrieve him and place him back in my little guy’s arms.

I read sleep books, try their tactics and then get to the part that says, “Some children are naturally larks.” That means I start my day in the 6:00 hour, which is an improvement from a year ago when it was in the 5:00 hour.

But in those wee morning hours when the house is dark and the neighborhood is quiet, I remind myself that this too shall pass. There will come a day when my little ones aren’t so little. Before I know it I’ll be nudging teenagers, flipping on bedroom lights and telling them it is time to wake up. One day, the house will be empty and I’ll think back to the late-night cries for mommy and miss having my kids at home.  So tonight when I am forced to climb out of my nice warm bed, I’ll try to enjoy the cuddles I’ll be giving and savor the moment. Pretty soon, I’ll be able to look back at this time in my life and laugh. I’m sure I’ll also wonder how I was able to get by on so little sleep. 

 

Freelancing: National Punctuation Day

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Everyone who loves grammar will want to take time to celebrate National Punctuation Day tomorrow. Some cookies shaped like commas or cupcakes decorated with exclamation points would be wonderful treats in honor of the day. I’m not quite sure how I’ll celebrate yet, but I hope to come up with something creative. Here is an article about the day from the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. 

Concocting A Mess

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Evan is into Spiderman these days. As in, he can’t get enough. We play Spiderman, read Spiderman books and watch Spiderman on t.v. He is going to be Spiderman for Halloween, but I just ordered his costume yesterday. Later in the day Evan asked me if he could paint. I said sure, got out the paints and gave Evan some paper. I went about making dinner, which means I was in the kitchen with Evan, but had my back to him quite a bit. Imagine my surprise when I turned around to find this: 

He can even shoot webs. 



His feet got in on the action, too. 



Dinner was late. And I am still cleaning up red paint. Luckily it was washable. 


 

Creating: A Star

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I did it…I’ve become one of those moms. The kind that thinks her child is beautiful and assumes everybody else does too. So because I’m that mom, I entered one of Madelyn’s apple picking photos in a contest. I received an e-mail today from Parents.com that she is a weekly finalist. I don’t know how many other people received this e-mail, but I do know that now Miss Madelyn needs votes. And because I’m that mom, I’m going to go ahead and ask you to cast your ballot. Will you spare a few clicks today, hop on over to Parents.com and vote for my little sweetie? You can also like it on Facebook! Remember…vote early and often. And, tell your friends.