Work with me here on this post, okay?

It will soon be Thanksgiving and you know how that can stress out a woman’s brain.  Today, you might think mine has taken the train to Topeka.  But it hasn’t.  It just wants to have a little fun.

Imagine it’s Thanksgiving.  Imagine that you’ve fixed the best Thanksgiving meal ever.  Kudos to you.  Now, imagine you gather your family around and dance the Funky Chicken.  Can’t imagine that?  No?  Well, Leroy, I certainly can — and it’s a hilarious sight to behold!

What is the funky chicken dance?  I’m glad you asked.  It’s one where you don’t have to worry about stepping on your partner’s toes or looking like you’ve won Dancing with the Stars.  All you do is act like a chicken in time with the music.  Watch this YouTube video to see how high school students did it in 1995.  It’s kinda blurry but you get the idea.

If you want to bust a gut laughing, watch the Lawrence Welk version.  Their hair and clothes style.  Oh my!  But watch for only a little bit to get the gist of the dance because they are as stiff as marionettes and don’t look like they are having any fun at all.  (They do give great instructions at the beginning though.)

Now, when you dance the funky chicken on Thanksgiving Day, do it with an at-ti-tude man.  Don’t be prim and proper like the Lawrence Welk folks.  Get into the dance.  Peck other chickens with your beak-hands as you dance.  Flap your chicken wings like there’s no tomorrow.  Wiggle you little tail feathers with gusto.  Bounce up and down.  Strut around.  You know, just like the chickens out back in your chicken coop.

I recommend that you download this midi file.  Go to http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/eltonjohn/561/indexwaltz.html and scroll part way down to find the chicken dance polka.  (I like this version because at the end it speeds up.  What a hoot to dance to.)  Right click on it and save it to your computer.  Then, burn it to a CD so you can pop it into your CD player for dancing (and also when you want to liven up Grandpa when he is Geritol-challenged).

Do you know how many times I listened to this song (my head a bobbin’ and toes a tappin’) while I typed this post?  4,398 times.  Love that song! Just makes me want to get up and do the funky chicken.  Ready Natalie?  Ready Spencer?  Let the dancing begin!!

(Note:  No rubber chicken was harmed in the making of this post.)

In my jaunts around the Internet, I have seen sites explaining how to make notepads.  I was intrigued.  Then, I was discouraged.  Those sites made it seem like such a laborious process involving pieces of wood and heavy metal clamps.  Couldn’t there be an easier way?

I came up with a lazy man’s method that is simple and doesn’t require those pesky blocks of wood and metal clamps.  I used small binder clips instead.  MUCH easier.  (Something my weakling grandma arms could handle.)

I created some designs where I could get 3 notepad pages per sheet of 8 x 11 piece of paper. I printed the designs on various colors of paper.  The Gingerbread Nook and Original Country Clipart by Lisa have such cute notepad templates that I won’t even post mine because I am so embarrassed by how amateurish they are.  Sigh.  (I wish I had found their templates before I struggled making mine . . .)

Then, I cut the paper and put them in stacks of 30 pieces.  I don’t know why 30.  It just seemed like a nice number. For the back of the notepad, I cut up some manila folders.  I used one piece to add stiffness for the one inch magnet strip that I put on the backside.  If you have lightweight cardboard, you could use that.

I clamped on two small binder clips — one on each side.  I used a very cheap paintbrush to brush padding compound on the top end of the notepad.  I didn’t put any clips on the top edge but if you have lots of pages you  might want to do that.

Note:  I bought some padding compound from an online company.  The compound cost $2.98.  Shipping cost $5.98!  The jar of compound was really small and I thought the total cost for it was rather expensive.  I did a trial run using Elmer’s glue.  That notepad seemed to stay together just fine.  So, if you don’t want to spend $9 on a small jar of padding compound, you could probably use Elmer’s glue and be just fine.

After letting the compound dry for a while, I put on a second coat.

Then, on some of the notepads, I decorated the top part of the notepad with stickers and scrapbooking paper.  (The lime green flowered pad on the far right in the picture below has some scrapbooking paper on it.)  I put a one inch magnetic strip on the back so I could put the notepad on my fridge.

This was a simple project to do.  You  might want to do something like this with your grandchildren after you finish eating your Thanksgiving meal while those testosterone-filled family members watch football games on TV and make their blood pressure go sky high.

Before I get to the meat (or the ‘sweet’) of this posting, I’ve just GOT to share photos of some quilts that I’ve made for our daughter-in-law.

Blanket 1 front side

Blanket 1 back side

Blanket 2 Front side

Blanket 2 back side (For some odd reasons the polka dots on the border in this picture look white.  They are actually the green color.  So are the stripes.  Sigh. . .)

I also made another blue and white fleece blanket with the fan fold edging.

Now.  On to the pilgrim hats.

I mentioned a bit back here on my site that I was going to make cake pops for the baby shower that I was giving for our daughter-in-law (who got these quilts).    Then, I planned on writing about my experience.  But it was ugly.  (If you read about it, you’ll come away feeling greatly superior to me because your culinary skills far surpass mine. . .)

Well, before I made the cake pops, I had seen a picture of an edible pilgrim hat.  All it had was a cookie and a marshmallow dipped in melted chocolate.  In my naivety, I though, ‘I can make that.’  Then I made my cake pops.  Well, once burned twice shy as the saying goes.  I didn’t want scabrous hats joining up with my leprosy cake pops.  But I still wanted to make those hats!

So, being the clever person that I am, I came up with my own version.  One that didn’t require dipping of items in melted chocolate.  One that took the minimalist of minimal skills.  Here’s a picture of my creation.

They turned out pretty good.  I even surprised myself at how easy they were and how normal they look.

I purchased shortbread cookies frosted with chocolate and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  I bought frosting in a tube (because I was too lazy to make my own).

I put the frosting in a cake decorating bag that I had (mainly because I thought I could just squeeze the frosting from the tube — it came out looking like it was related to my leprosy pops — and because I was too cheap and lazy to go to the store to buy a decorating tip that fit the tube of frosting.  Whew!  That was a long sentence! )

I smeared some frosting on the top of the peanut butter cup and pressed it onto the cookie.  Then I piped a frosting buckle on and voilà I was done.  In like, less than a minute.  (I spent more time eating the peanut butter cup that jumped into my mouth than I did making the hat!)

I think that I’ll make some to put by each guests’ plate for Thanksgiving Dinner.

This would be a very easy thing for your grandchildren to make on Thanksgiving Day.  It will keep them busy and quiet (as they eat the rejects).  Just make sure you have extra cookies and peanut butter cups on hand!

It never ceases to amaze me the things that I stumble across on the Internet. But then, it’s not hard to amaze a pea-brained person like me.

Amy, who hails from Australia, is a graphic designer with great flair, creativity, and style.  Mucho style — style so fresh, so modern, so appealing.   Her site, Eat Drink Chic, is awash with chic-ness and eye candy.  (I have as much style as the Gobi desert has water in July.  . . .)

I saw a couple of things on her site that kicked my ‘grandma’ thinking into gear.  

So here’s what came to mind.  Amy has a free set of mini greeting cards and letter writing items and free gift tags. Assuming that you have granddaughters and that those granddaughters will be coming to your house for Thanksgiving dinner, I think it would be peachy keen to spend some time with your granddaughters making these delightful cards, envelopes, and gift tags.  Both of you could make a set to keep for yourself and a set or two to give away to friends or other family members.

What if your granddaughters live far, far away?  Well, you could make up these cards and tags and then send them to your granddaughters for their personal use.  Maybe this would encourage them to write a letter back to you… You might include postage to make it even easier.

Or, YOU could use them to write to your far away grandchildren.  I’m sure they would love getting a physical hold-in-your-hand-letter-in-the-mail from grandma.

You might also want to check out Free Printable Gift Tags for more tag ideas.  And, oh my!  Check out Tip Nut. (I had an anxiety attack from seeing all of the options on this site.  I think I will go lay down now and put a cold washcloth over my eyes . . .)

This activity would be an inexpensive and easy way to keep busy (and have fun) on Thanksgiving Day with your granddaughters.   And, low energy — since, if you’re like me, you’ll be more stuffed than the Thanksgiving turkey from all of your eating!