Many of my readers have wondered how to make the baby blanket with the fan edging. So, I thought that I would make a little movie to show how it was done. After all, a picture (movie) is worth a thousand words of explanation!

I have a wonderful friend who is expecting her first baby and I was invited to a shower for her. I decided to make her a baby blanket. You’ve heard the expression ‘killing two birds with one stone.’ Well, I have two birds (purposes) here — make a gift and make a little movie.

I dug out my 30 year old Kenmore sewing machine. It’s as creaky as my knees as you can hear in the movie clip. My cameraman (husband) was trying different things with the camera attempting to get close up views. Some of the filming was fuzzy. Rats! While I might not get an academy award for best filming, at least you will be able to get a better idea of how to do the fan edging. I hope this helps.

Happy sewing!
Digi-Gram

I’ve previously mentioned that I believe one of the great benefits of technology is how people who would not normally cross paths are now able to ‘meet’ and be a part of each other’s lives. Shonnie from Terrell, Texas, is one of those people that has come into my life and has shared with me what she does with her grandson.  Shonnie writes:

“We do what my grandson wants. We play with a plastic bat and a big ol’ plastic ball. He hits the ball when I throw it to him. We are not starting with tee ball. He does have a stand to practice with or to drive his mom crazy when I am not there and she can’t throw the ball for him.

“We each ride his bouncy horse. I make the horse buck because my legs reach the floor and it looks like the horse is bucking. Jakob tries to make him buck but he does not have enough lead in his bottom yet. We play on his rug with the cars that he got for Christmas. We make cookies. We play golf with his golf clubs and with mine if the weather is okay. We snuggle and watch a movie. We have lots of hugs and I love yous.

“I am doing with him all the things I could not do with my kids …… All I know is grandkids are the second chance to be young again and I am gratefully that God gave me that second chance…..”

Sometimes we grandmothers might think we have to do big productions, or take our kids to special places, or spend lots of money on them. Shonnie shows that the simple things in life (like just playing with your grandchildren) are very important. Important to the grandchildren and to the grandparents. Snuggles. Hugs. I love you. I like those the best!

Thank you so much for sharing, Shonnie!
Digi-Gram

I like to think that I am efficient. My alter ego tells me I’m just lazy . . . Whatever.

Even though I’m faster than greased lightening when typing (have you ever wondered just how fast that is??) and am just as accurate (I never strike the same place twice . . .), if I can be faster I’m happier. Here’s a quick technology tip that can make your browsing the Internet just a wee bit easier — by typing less.

Let’s say that there is a web site that you like to check out occasionally. You do not have to type in the whole URL in your browser’s location bar. Forget typing in http:// and forget typing in www. For example, if you like to see recipes on the Pillsbury site, you can just type pillsbury.com and your browser will automatically fill in the rest of the information for you! Go ahead. Try it! Other examples: jeep.com, yale.edu, nytimes.com, nutrition.gov, and un.org.

This can also apply to sub-pages on a website. Let’s say you want to check out the Pillsbury’s Bake-Off contest. Just type in pillsbury.com/bakeoff (you don’t have to capitalize the ‘B’ and the ‘O’) and your browser will zip to the page that talks about the Bake-Off. (This year’s winner received one million dollars for a peanut butter cookie recipe! Mmmmmm . . . maybe I ought to be trying out my hand at cooking instead of spending my time writing this blog!)

This quick typing tip will work in Internet Explorer 6 (haven’t tried it in 7) and Firefox 2. 0 on a Windows based machine and in Safai 3.0 and Firefox 2.0 on a Mac computer.

Happy computing!
Digi-Gram

Roll those dice! Whaddya have? Snake eyes? A straight? Zilch? To bad.  You lose all your points!

Over thirty years ago, our good friends taught us a dice game called Zilch. It is easy to learn and fun to play. You can play this game on New Year’s Eve with your grandchildren, on your grandchild’s birthday, when your grandchildren come over on Sunday evening, on a summer afternoon when it’s too hot to play outside. Play this game when you just can’t face one more game of Uno . . .

Not only is this a fun activity to do with your grandchildren, it is an easy birthday present, Christmas gift, or a ‘just because’ gift to give to your grandchildren. Just go to a dollar store, buy 6 dice, and wrap them up!

Here’s a video showing how to play the game.

As I make these short videos demonstrating games and activities, I have come to appreciate all of the skill, time, and effort that goes into making a full length movie! Here is a blooper clip of playing zilch. (Hopefully it won’t take long for these two videos to load . . .)

Below, you’ll find the rules for playing Zilch. Have fun as you are creating many happy memories playing Zilch with your grandchildren!

Digi-Gram

Zilch

Items needed: 6 dice, paper and pencil for scoring

Scoring points

1 = 100
5 = 50

In one roll:

3 ones = 1,000
4 ones = 2,000
3 twos = 200
3 threes = 300
3 fours = 400
3 fives = 500
3 sixes = 600
a straight (five dice in a consecutive number order) = 1,750
3 pairs = 1000

How to play:

The first person rolls six dice. One or more scoring dice must be pulled out and set aside on every roll. The player must get 500 points before he can start keeping score. If he does not get 500 points, he gets ZILCH for that round and passes the dice to the player on his left.

If the player gets 500 points, he may may continue rolling the dice. Or, he may stop, write his score down, and pass the dice to the next player. It is his choice as to what to do.

Whenever a player rolls the dice and cannot pull any points out, he gets ZILCH (no points) for that round and passes the dice to the player on his left. As long as he can pull out at least one pointer dice, he may continue rolling the dice and accumulating points. If no score is made on a roll, the player zilches and all the accumulated score for that turn (not from previous turns ) is lost.

If all the dice are used for scoring, the player can pick up all six dice and continue playing with all 6 dice again.

The winner is the first person who gets 10,000 points.