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Shoe Box Toy Car Garage

October 12, 2014 By: AreWeZenYetcomment

IMG_2582

No doubt Kidday loves his cars as much as his trains, and when I came across this Shoe Box Toy Car Garage on Pinterest, I was inspired. I knew I wanted to make some modifications, though. Specifically, I wanted the garage to be mobile and easily put away because frankly, I’m a neat freak. I decided to turn the lid of the shoebox into the car garage floor where the cars could be serviced. Once play time was over, the cars could be placed into their toilet paper roll parking spots, the box turned right side up with the cars now laying on the bottom of the box, and the lid closed making it easy to move from room to room or take on trips.

If I were to do this again for Kidbe, who seems to be a car-lover in the making just like her big brother, I would cut the toilet paper rolls down a bit because they’re deep as-is and when the cars roll all the way to the back of the box, they’re hard to get out. It was a bit frustrating for me that they moved to the back so much, and certainly we like to avoid child meltdowns if at all possible.

The supplies listed below are what I used and would vary depending on how elaborate you want to be.

Shoe Box Toy Car Garage

Supplies

Shoe Box
Toilet paper rolls (or paper towel rolls or a combination of both — just make sure they’re similar in width and you cut any paper towel rolls down to the same length as the toilet paper rolls)
Paint
Decorative Papers
Glue
Electrical Tape
X-Acto Knife

How-To

The first thing I did was line the box with some decorative paper and Elmer’s glue. I kind of went all out and even lined the back wall that would be covered by the toilet paper rolls because fancy! This will be where your precision knife comes in handy, taking care of edges and sides under where the box has flaps. After the glue dried, I used black electrical tape to outline three rectangles which would serve as service spots.

Shoebox Toy Car Garage Lined with Paper

Next up: painting. I decided early on that I wanted to paint the exposed ends of the toilet paper rolls so they wouldn’t just show cardboard. I poured black paint into a wide rimmed, shallow vase and dipped one end of each roll in the paint. I shook off the excess then laid them out on a piece of cardboard to dry. I put the painted side down because I didn’t want drips drying down the length of the roll. Not that any drips would be seen once the garage is assembled, and not that I did it this way because I’m anal retentive. (NB: Keep an eye on them as the rolls dry and as they near completion, flip them over so the paint end is on top and won’t stick to the cardboard you’ve laid them on.)

I also painted the box to cover up branding and labels as well as to make the color uniform. Then, I took a paint pen and tried my hand at some faux pinstriping and garage sign paintbrush lettering.

Shoebox Toy Car Garage Top

Assembling the car spots is pretty easy, just stagger and layer them. For the first row, leave some space (an inch or so) from the sides/walls before you glue down the first and last rolls. From the second row on, glue rolls so they’re resting in the middle space of two rolls underneath them or one roll and a side wall.

Here’s the finished product again:

Shoe Box Toy Car Garage

Kidday was pretty excited to see this little surprise I’d been hyping up for a couple weeks. He was so excited, in fact, he played with it for all of fifteen minutes… and then didn’t play with it again for a couple of days until I gave him a friendly reminder of its existence. He plays with it regularly now, and this shoe box toy car garage is really worth the time and effort.

Black Forest Smoothie Recipe

October 12, 2014 By: AreWeZenYetcomment

 

Black Forest Smoothie Recipe

 

This Black Forest Smoothie Recipe was born out of a lot of leftovers. I had made some coconut curry the day before and had some leftover coconut milk, I had an open bag of frozen cherries in the refrigerator, and the last of a big tub of spinach. This smoothie came out even better than I’d hoped. It’s a great blend of creamy, sweet and tart.

I wish I could report that no smoothies were harmed in the making of this blog post, but unfortunately, the smoothie pictured above met its demise shortly after I took this photo. Kidday asked for a sip of my smoothie lunch and no sooner did I say “Please be careful, it’s in a glass cup” than I heard a huge thud on the floor and saw a chocolate flavored Jackson Pollack gracing the canvas of our floor, stove and dishwasher.

Black Forest Smoothie Recipe

1 ½ cups full fat coconut milk (or milk of your choice)
2 cups frozen sweet cherries
1 medium banana
¾ scoop of chocolate protein powder (we use Vega Performance Chocolate Protein Powder)
1 cup baby spinach
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

Put all ingredients except melted coconut oil in your high speed blender. Once blended, add in the melted coconut oil and blend again to incorporate.

Morgenstimmung

October 10, 2014 By: AreWeZenYet4 Comments

As I was stepping out of the shower this morning, I heard a knock on the door. “Yes…?” I said, expecting to hear the voice of Kidday talk back to me since he’s the only one in the house who will knock most of the time when I’m behind a closed door. (I’m looking at YOU, Schmooops, my dear husband.) Except this time, Schmoops opened the door as he said “What’s Kidday having for lunch?”

I don’t know I tell him. And I don’t. I’m dripping wet with a towel wrapped around me. “I can’t — I don’t know. Whatever you want.” What’s he having for lunch, Schmoops asks again. “I can’t — I can’t… think… right now. You have to give me a minute.”

“Oh” he says as he turns to leave, “Kidday is crying because a song on his toy computer is sad. So he’s just lying in bed, listening to it over and over again and sobbing.” And as he says it, Kidday’s crying becomes audible in the background and I just start laughing my ass off.

I dry off, put on my robe, grab my hair brush and enter Kidday’s room. He’s lying down, head on his pillow, wearing his signature pout, dried tears on his face. Lovey in one hand, computer next to his head. Is there a song that’s making you sad I ask, as I brush my wet hair and sit on the bed. Yes, he says, it’s the song for the letter “N” and he presses it.

And the song snippet is immediately recognizable to me. It’s that song that’s always played when you see videos of the sunrise, or of spring time: birds hatching from eggs, time lapse of flowers emerging from the ground. I stifle a giggle at the thought of something so associated with life in my head making Kidday weep.

I tell Kidday that it’s normal for music to make us feel things and that’s what is so great about it. That when he was a baby, I used to cry when I heard a particular song on his projector. I would make Daddy skip the song if I was within earshot because I was guaranteed to start bawling. (Don’t judge — postpartum hormones… maybe.)

Then, I tell him that this song is actually a very happy song. That lots of times they play it with pictures of baby birds or flowers or new days when the sun comes up. I ask him if he’d like to hear the whole song and he says yes.

So, I scramble with my dripping hair to find my phone and Schmoops tells me we’re going to be late for school. Pfft. This is more important, says I. I sit back down on Kidday’s bed and Google search on my phone, but come up short. I decide to download one of those “name that tune” apps and find one that seems okay. Here we go! Enter password to download. Argh. Okay. Download complete, click on launch app. Now we’re in business. Oh, damn, I hope they don’t make me register. Schmoops opens the door to the room: “We need to finish getting ready for school; you two aren’t dressed. His lunch isn’t even done!” I wave him out of the room and say “okay.”

Kidday’s big, beautiful, brown eyes are looking up at me. Waiting expectantly to hear the song. I fear an imminent meltdown if I can’t make this happen soon. “Please don’t make me register. Please don’t make me register,” I chant out loud. The app finishes loading and a prompt to register appears on the screen. “Oh, hamburgers,” I say aloud as I think in my head “I !%*@ing hate you!%*@ers.” I register quickly, the app loads, I press a button and start humming our tune.

There are a few results. Hmm, interesting. I expected only one result as I have perfect pitch. (Ahem.)

“Morgensti… Morgenstimmung by Edvard Grieg. That must be it,” I tell Kidday. I go to YouTube, find it and start the video.

The music begins to play and we both listen intently. I close my eyes to illustrate to Kidday how refined folk like us don’t merely listen to music, no. We experience it, feel it through our bodies. I open my eyes as I hear some lovely strings in the background, then an oboe, now flute. It really is such a lovely song. I look over at Kidday and he looks at me with a huge smile on his face. Flute again, more horns, crescendo… it’s so, so beautiful. It’s — what the hell? My cheeks are suddenly wet. My throat is clenching. Is this happening? As the song nears the end, I’m full on crying, snot salty on my lips. I look over at Kidday’s confused face as he watches mine contorting. “It’s just so beautiful,” I manage to choke out. “Mommy’s crying ‘cuz it’s so beautiful.”

Schmoops opens the door to the room, presumably to remind me yet again that neither of us are dressed, lunch is still not ready and we’re going to be late for school. He takes one look at me, quietly shakes his head and closes the door again without saying a word.

Damn you, Morgenstimmung!!!

Kids Lunch Inspiration – Pasta with Parmesan and Vegetables

October 9, 2014 By: AreWeZenYetcomment

Kids Lunch Inspiration Bento Box

Kids Lunch Inspiration: organic frozen mixed veggies, gluten free pasta with butter and shredded parmesan, crackers, organic vegan gummies, almonds and cashews.

Kids Lunch Inspiration – Hummus Sandwich

October 9, 2014 By: AreWeZenYetcomment

Kids Lunch Inspiration: cottage cheese, almonds, cheddar cheese slice, hummus on whole wheat, strawberries and grapes, organic fruit strip star cut-outs.

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