Rainy Days and Saturdays

         Ahhh rain...  I used to LOVE rainy days.  And storms.  And wind.  And most of all, snow storms.   (I am told this an adhd trait.  Nonsense.   I like to think it simply means I have a discerning soul.)  But rainy days are not quite the friend they used to be.  Rain and humid/damp days mean MILDEW, especially in my 90 year old moldy, musty house.  And that means a sneezy, wheezy Feisty Pants. Which in turn means a grumpy Feisty Pants.   It does not help that it also means no bike rides for FP, who has watched every interesting show EVER made for tv and played with any toy worth playing with and done everything fun to do EVER and now has nothing to do or watch or see.  Plus, by some hideous quirk of fate, her parents are the most boring people who ever existed.  Even the dog has died of boredom. (Read that as spent the day snoring on the couch.)  Bubbles are not bubbly enough, paint is not artsy enough, and tv sucks until 8 PM (When the new Dr. Who comes on).  Eight pm is, however, CENTURIES away and she will been driven mad with boredom by then.

             So, all of this horrible, terrible, obviously terminal ennui has sent me running the interwebs to scour for a cure or, at least, some interesting ways to keep Feisty Pants from succumbing until the sun comes back or the Tardis arrives.  I am passing some along in no particular order in case you are mean and boring too.

1) Bubble wrap painting:  This one's been making the rounds on facebook.  You simply need paint (probably fingerpaint will work best), large sheets of paper and bubble wrap.  Wrap bubble wrap around feet and /or hands (use a bit of tape to keep in place) squeeze some paint onto the paper and let the little ones go to town.  I wouldn't do this on a carpeted floor, but we are philistines with all hardwood here so we like this. If you're fussy, try spreading out an old sheet on the floor first to keep the mess contained. 

2) Edible tinkertoys- For this all you need are marshmallows and pretzel sticks.  You can throw in some berries if you really want to be fancy.  The kids simply poke the sticks into the marshmallows and build to their heart's content.  They can even eat their buildings.  You could even substitute cut fruit and cheese cubes for th marshmallows and call it the most fun lunch ever.  

3) Fridge Art- I got this from my grandmother who had nine kids and over thirty grandkids.  By the time I was around (I am the youngest girl of my generation, second youngest overall) she knew every trick in the book.  Once a month, she would hand me a box of crayons and have me draw a scene on the side of her fridge. (Some theme pertaining to the month)  I got the thrill of drawing right on an appliance.  (It's like being asked to go ahead and draw right on the wall!) She got a quiet afternoon with no whining.  If you use the cheap waxy crayons, it's amazingly easy to clean with windex. 

4) Recycled crayons- you will need broken crayons and a lightly oiled muffin tin.  Have the kids gather up all the broken crayon odds and ends. Make sure to remove any of the paper labels.  Simply place the pieces into the muffin cups. (They don't need to be filled.)  Let the kids decide on color combos, etc.  Then place the muffin tins in a large cake pan.  Add hot (stove hot, not tap hot) water to the cake pan and let the crayons melt together.  When cool, simply pop out the new crayons and have fun.  You could even simply place the muffin tin directly into the oven and bake to melt, but I am unsure at what temperature. I'd guess 250 and keep an eye on them, but I am guessing here. If anyone reading this knows -hit me up in the comment section.

                    So there you go, that should get you through at least an afternoon.   If these don't work you, you can always send your kids over here to listen Feisty Pants complain about how they don't know anything about boredom because she is stuck with us and we are the most borrrrring people who ever existed.