My children think I’m a geek.  When compared to my friends and peers of the female persuasion, I have to admit that yes, indeedy, I am rather geekish.  So, what’s a body to do when she comes across a site that converts pictures into ASCII code? Why, give it a whirl, of course!

Take a look.  What do you think?  I think the ASCII code pictures are rather charming, if I do say so myself!

Isn’t this totally cool? It’s amazing how you can recognize the picture even though it is programming code instead of picture pixels.

(This is so radical I think that the next time I wake up at 2:00 a.m. and can’t go back to sleep, I’ll ponder how this all works. I might even wake up Grandpa to have an in-depth conversation about it. What do you say about that, Grandpa?  Huh?  What’s that?  You know, if you’d stop grumbling in your beard, I’d be able to understand you better . . .)

You don’t have to be a tech whizzard to do this.  You don’t need to be moderately geeky.  (Is there any such thing as moderately geeky, I ask you?)  If you are reading this, you have ample technology skill to create some ASCII pictures yourself.  (See, a website does all of the work for you.)

Photo2Text.com is where you go to create these types of pictures.  You simple browse to the picture you want to upload and click submit. You’ll need to enter in a nickname.  (You’ll see why in a moment.)

Then, you have the option of downloading a text file that can be opened in TextEdit on a Mac or Notepad on a Windows machine.  You’ll also have the URL that you can share with others to see what you have created.  (The URL has your personal nickname that you selected — so that people will see YOUR picture and not somebody else’s.)

Here are a couple of ways how you can use this idea with your grandchildren:

• Invite your grandchild over.  Take some simple pictures of the two of you to submit.  Print out the picture from TextEdit or Notepade.
• Have your grandchild bring a couple of digital pictures (of their family, friends, their pet) to turn into ASCII code.  Print up and give to friends or family members.
• Make a photo album of several ASCII pictures.
• Do a ‘through the years’ photo album of your grandchild using their school pictures turned into ASCII pictures.
• Get a mat board that has cut-outs for two pictures and frame a copy of the original photo and the ASCII code.  Or, do a collage of your grandchild using original pictures of family members or  cousins or friends and the ASCII photos.
• YOU create the ASCII picture and then e-mail or snail mail it to your grandchild.
• If your grandchildren live far away, e-mail them the URL.  Then, have them e-mail you a copy of the pictures that they create.
• Turn pictures of you and grandpa into ASCII code and snail mail them to your grandchildren.  Whether or not they live close by or far away, getting a letter in the mail with one of these pictures would be great fun for your grandchildren.

A while back, I received an e-mail from another grandma who suggested that I put my picture on my site.  That was a great suggestion!  So, here’s a picture of me holding sweet Kaylissa on the day that she was born.  Don’t we look lovely? 

So, have you made any chunky crayons yet?  What — no?  Why, you’ve had a whole day to give this a whirl!  That should have been enough time. 

I want to extend the crayon idea a wee bit.  Why not make crayon cookies?  They look absolutely adorable.  You can make the edible kind first.  Then, the coloring kind.  Then, spend time coloring and munching.  (I hope you and your grandchildren will be able to tell which cookie is for coloring with and which for munching on!)

This leads me to another fun cookie idea. Try your culinary hand at making some cookie pops. (I think these might turn out better than my cake pop fiasco . . . )  Cookie Pops:  Roll out sugar cookie dough.  Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.  Stick in a sucker stick.  Bake.  Frost.  Eat.  Life can’t get any better (or more delicious) than this!  (This recipe calls for store-bought sugar cookie dough.  I bet it will work if you use your own favorite recipe.)

Then there are the Cookie Cups, the Bull’s Eyes, the Honey Bee’s, and the Lightening Bolt cookies. Fun, fun, fun!

And hold on to your chef’s hat!  There’s even the Checkerboard Cookie.  The picture of these cookies is so cute.  Why, they look like checkers on a checkerboard.  (Imagine that!  That is probably why they named this recipe the Checkerboard Cookie.  D’ya think?)  Now the directions only say to spread red frosting on alternating squares and black frosting on the remaining squares.  Do pray tell how in the world do you spread the frosting so perfectly that it looks like a checkerboard instead of a one-year-old’s attempt at frosting cookies?  Mmmm?   Maybe for me the joy will be in the ‘attempt’ rather than a beautiful artistic end product.

Do you see a theme here?  Cookies.  Fun shaped cookies.  Cookies that grandchildren would enjoy making — and enjoy eating!  Why not invite your grandchildren over for an afternoon of baking and eating.  You’ll be baking memories that will last a lifetime.

If your grandchildren don’t live close enough to come to your house for cookie baking, why not send them the link to these cookies?  Encourage them to bake the cookies and then send you some pictures of them.  Or, you can bake the cookies and send them through the mail.

If you’re like me, broken crayons are as plentiful at your house as garage sales are on a Saturday morning.

If you’re like me, you’re ready to clean out the drawers and toss all of those bits and pieces of useless broken crayons.

If you’re like me, you might pause to wonder if there is something useful that you could do with them instead.

What’s a body to do?  Why, go chunky of course!  (Chunky as in the size of the ‘new’ crayons that you will end up with and NOT chunky as in the size of Grandma’s waist . . . .)

Gather up all of those pesky small crayon pieces.  Recycle them and make brand new ones — chunky ones that are easy for little hands to grab on to and ones that are a delight for older grandchildren to use in their artistic endeavors.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your chunky crayons:

muffin tin
broken crayons (with the paper labels removed)
vegetable oil
toothpicks

Preheat your oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour a small amount (1/4 teaspoon) of vegetable oil in each muffin cup.  Fill the cups with broken crayons pieces.

Place the muffin tin in the preheated oven.  Bake 6-8 minutes.  When crayons begin melting, remove muffin tin from the oven.  Stir crayons gently with a toothpick.  Let the crayons cool completely.  When cooled, turn muffin tin upside down and gently tap to pop out the crayons.

Be creative in your color combinations.  Mix light colored pieces with darker pieces.  Add silver, copper, or gold crayons to add glitter and glamor to your chunky crayons.   Use varying shades of only one color.  Add pieces of black crayons with yellow ones to make ‘bee’ crayons.  Or orange and black for Halloween ones.  Add white chunks to red ones for Valentine’s or Christmas chunky crayons.  Let your imagination run wild.

Here is a sample of some that I made.

Spend an afternoon making some chunky crayons with your grandchildren.  (If they’re a wee bit too young, you can make them and have them available for your grandchildren to use when they come for a visit.) Then, have lots of blank pieces of paper for creativity to soar from your grandchildren’s fingers.

If your grand chickabiddies live far away, chunky crayons would be fun to include in a package that you send to them.  Be sure to include paper and/or a coloring book.

Happy coloring!

Got a fondue pot from the 70s?  Good! Drag it out from the dark corners of your cupboards because it’s party time!  You absolutely need to have a fondue party with your grandchildren.  Absolutely.  They will absolutely love it.

Start with an easy cheese fondue (here’s a good basic recipe). Dip chunks of French bread into the cheese fondue.  And possibly vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli. Mmmmmm . . . good!

For a main dish, heat up olive or canola oil.  Cut up bite size pieces of beef and chicken. (If you have teenagers and if your budget can handle it, you might want to also have shrimp to cook.)  Spear meat onto the fondue stick and put in hot oil until the meat is cooked.  Dip cooked meat in cheese sauce — or barbecue sauce.

For dessert, have a chocolate fondue.  Fudgy Milk Chocolate Fondue. Yum, yum, yum.  This recipe uses sweetened condensed milk so you know it’s going to make your taste buds turn somersaults in jubilation!  Then you have strawberries, angel food cake, apples, marshmallows, pretzels, caramels, cinnamon bears — whatever — to dip in the chocolate sauce.  (I’ve even seen small squares of Rice Krispie treats dipped in a chocolate fondue.)

For a variation, try this chocolate peanut butter fondue. They suggest dipping animal crackers in the warm fondue. Great idea!

You might want to drag some polyester clothing out of your closet (if you still have some) or go to a thrift store to get some for your grandchildren to dress up in while you have your party.  Play some 70s music and do John Travolta disco dancin’.

If you have pictures of you and grandpa from the 1970s, you could show those to your grandchildren and laugh and laugh at the hairstyles and the groovy outfits you wore back them.

A fondue party is a great activity to do with grandchildren.  You aren’t slaving over a hot stove (your grandchildren cook their own food in the fondue).  You’re serving great food and having a great time socializing with your grandchildren.  Can’t get any better than this!