Super Bubbles

My kids and I do these "Super Bubbles" every year.  It's one of our favorite Summer activities.  I didn't come up with this, but I'm glad somebody did.  I've been doing it since I was a kid.  I thought I'd share the recipe on here, maybe you will try it out.  I know you'll love it!

You can see 2 things happening in this last picture.  1- even I'm having fun, and 2- my house still needs painted...it's a work in progress!

So here's the recipe...it's very cheap and really simple to do!

For the bubbles you will need:

• 1 bottle of dawn dish liquid soap (the plain-old school kind only..the new ones with added crap do not work nearly as well) (costs about $1)
• 1 bottle of glycerin it will probably say skin protectant somewhere on it (found in the pharmacy section--wal-mart is where I get mine)  (costs $3-4)
• water

The basic recipe calls for 1 gallon water, 1 cup dawn, 4 tablespoons glycerin.  I usually end up adding all the dawn and glycerin to my gallon of water, but you can mess around with the recipe.  Just combine these ingredients in a tub of some kind. 

I use a dishpan.  Stir them together gently, creating to many suds kind of ruins what it can do.

As you can see, there is plenty leftover, which I save in an empty jug for the next time.

The next step is making your bubble wands.  There are plenty of ways to do this, you can be creative.  Bend coat hangers, use fly swatters, etc.  I prefer yarn and straws for 2 reasons.  I always have both on hand, and you can make all different sizes.  All you do is cut yarn to any length desired, stick 2 straws on the yarn, then tie the ends of the yarn together. 

Your straws are your handles...dip these in your tub of super bubbles..and have fun!  Oh, and something I haven't tried yet but want to..is adding food coloring.  Enjoy!!!

blog...mythbuster-style!

     'Indecisive women'.  The simple task of picking a restaurant to eat at opened my eyes to the importance of blogging about stereotypes.  You've had the conversation, 'where do you wanna go?'~~ 'I don't care, where do you wanna go?'  This may be old fashioned, but isn't the man supposed to be the leader and the decision maker?  Should this conversation be less about me and more about your level of manliness?  Shouldn't a man be happy with the fact that he can choose to eat whatever his little heart desires?  Maybe we aren't being indecisive.  After all, we "indecisive women" are busy thinking about all the other petty, unimportant things we have to make decisions about.  Like the lives of your 3 children.  I decide what they will be eating for 3 meals a day plus snacks, that's a minimum of 12 feedings in case you lost count.  Then I decide to cook it so they don't starve.  Then I decide to have them brush their teeth so they don't rot out of their mouth.  Then I decide to clothe and groom them so they are clean and less prone to sickness and infection.  I decide to clean the house so everybody has a healthy environment to live in.  I decide teach my children morals and values so they grow up to be all that they can be.  I decide to play with my kids and tell them that I love them so they don't grow up to be serial killers.  I decide to show them how to do chores so they are not lazy down the road.  I decide to teach them things, like how to read, write and add, so they are not illiterate and can function in the world.  I decide to put them to bed at night, so that they can all wake up well rested the next day and prepared to have me make all of their decisions for them, all over again.  All 3 of them.  So I'm thinking, maybe we are just sick of making in excess of 1,000 decisions a day, so when it comes to something like where to eat dinner, I don't care.  I'm just happy I'm not cooking it!!!  P.S.  If you're asking me where to eat, then you don't know either, making you equally indecisive. 
     'Women are weak'.  On the way back from dinner (the establishment I chose, by the way) I told my husband I wanted these little mini Christmas tree things cut down in my front yard.  I asked him to provide a chainsaw for me to do it with.  He chuckled, and not just on the inside, which was his first mistake.  I told him I wasn't an idiot, the things are so small a butter knife could probably do the job.  He laughed again and told me I would need practice before I "just went out there chopping trees down".  I informed him that I wasn't going to go out front acting as if I were a greenhorn, I know how to be careful, and that I could handle it.  He ended the conversation by telling me he would do it.  That means they will be full blown pine trees before they are ever cut down.  That's not how it's going down.  I will get a chainsaw.  I will be cutting the trees down in all my protective gear wearing, blue collar glory.  One thing you should never tell me is that I can't do it.  Then it becomes less of a task and more of a dare.  There are better odds I get killed by some sort of assassin caterpillar out there, than me cutting my own arm off.  My point here is, why do men think women are incapable of things like this?  It's absurd.  I'm almost 5'3", Jimmy has friends smaller than me, (male ones), and I don't see him running to their house to prevent them from mowing their lawns! So clearly it's not a size thing.  Then what is it?  Oh yeah...I'm a chic!  I can't do manual labor!  I don't know what got into me!  I can't wait to see the look on his face when he comes home from work and those trees are gone.  Sweet, sweet, victory.  I birthed 3 people, how's that for manual labor?!?
     'Typical jealous women'.  I have to agree that these do exist, but speaking on behalf of myself and millions of other smart women out there, maybe it isn't jealousy.  I think it's brains.  Just an example, perhaps planning your buddies bachelor party at a strip club sounds like a good idea to a man.  I would never tell my husband not to go because I'm jealous.  Nope, I would tell him he's not going because I am smart.  Those girls want your money and will do what it takes to get it.  Your not staying home because their boobs are showing, your home because your ability to keep your money may be clouded by the fact that their boobs are showing.  Your welcome, now you'll have the money to retire one day!    
     'The wifey's PMS-ing'.  Sometimes, this may be true.  Some ladies do have it bad.  Instead of getting all pissy pants about their bad mood, just be glad it's not you losing bodily fluids all day and having major stomach cramping.  How about, bring them home a sixer and take the kids outside for a few?!  What you don't want to do is accuse your lady of being crabby cause it's that time of the month.  For all you know, she didn't get that promotion, then came home to the kids, to find they had cut her face out of all your wedding pictures to use them for a mommy collage, which they taped to her favorite shirt, and then stapled to the most expensive curtains in the house.  Followed by a food fight, someone cutting their hair off, some vomit, a broken toe, and a round of screaming sword fighting to top it all off.  Be kind, and since life has no rewind, take the load off of her for a little bit, instead of walking in the door talking about how sitting quietly in your air-conditioned car in traffic prevented you from arriving home five minutes sooner.  I'll guarantee she'd take sitting in traffic over another nose bleed session any day.  How about we start telling men to quit PMS-ing when they come home from happy hour talking about how their buddies girl problems are really hard to listen to (over a few beers).
     'Women aren't as smart as men'.  Another one that is true, in some instances.  But there are definitely women out there who are smarter than men.  Like those 'dumb' women who try to tell you it's important to check the fluids in the car and check it for leaks.  That seems dumb until your car overheats and you have a blown head gasket.  I apologize if there is a man reading this and didn't understand what I just said.  For the women, you may know what I'm talking about, if you don't, no worries!  Nobody expects you to know it anyways!  Some women do know a little something.  But I have to say, man's attitude has made it a much simpler existence for us!  If I want to go outside and work on a car, good for me.  If I don't I can just pretend I don't know what's going on, and poof, I'm out of it.  If I get pulled over, I can just pretend I don't know what he means by registration or speedometer, and poof, I'm out of it!  If I don't want to pump my gas or check my own tire pressure, I just say I don't know how, and poof,  If I'd rather sleep than navigate, I pretend I can't read a map, and poof!  The kitchen sink has a leak?  I don't know how to do that either!  Seriously though, men do the same exact thing.  That's why you never see them changing a diaper after they just built a house.  They pretend they can't figure it out, and poof!  We get out of doing way more than men do, which just might prove, we're smarter.  
     Don't take me too seriously here, my point is..men: don't stereotype us!  Haven't you figured it out yet?  We're always right!     Later y'all!  ~Jovial Jess   

Official tester: Ramen Noodle Diet

     Jimmy really likes watching shows he can learn something from.  The stuff on Discovery and The History channel.  I used to like stuff like that too...until I had kids.  Now, if I turn the TV on, I'm hoping for the most mind numbing shows possible.  The last thing I want to do when I get a chance to relax, is think.  So he was watching a show about how whales have figured out an efficient way to kill great white sharks, and may now be the most dangerous thing in the sea.  I hope that's true.  I've always had a fear of sharks.  Don't get me wrong, I am the kind of girl that likes to face her fears.  If I get the chance to swim with sharks...I'll do it.  But I'll definitely be sporting a chain metal suit!

     Even if I'm in a swimming pool, if I realize I'm the only person left, it's a mad dash to get out.  I don't want to be in there by myself!  You never know.  I realize the odds of there being a shark in the pool aren't great, but if somebody had it out for me they could even throw a few piranhas in there.  Which is even scarier, cause I could punch a shark away, but you're not punching a hungry school of piranhas off of you.  My BFF, April,  knows my fear and sent me this pic. 

     I really do wish Jimmy would stop making me watch all these educational programs.  About as much as I wish he would stop farting by me.  Or my milk for that matter.  I mean c'mon.  Milk is a sensitive thing. Nobody wants it if it isn't just right.  If it's a little warm you pour it out.  I feel like if you fart by it, it will go bad.  It sounds reasonable.  So why do people laugh when I start screaming that they have farted and curdled my milk?  April called me the other day to see if I had caught the latest infomercial on TV.  She said they are making blankets now that absorb the odor from a fart.  It's called a marriage saver.  I might buy it. 

     I saw Titanic. so you'll never get me on a cruise ship.  That seems stupid anyways, if I'm going to stay in one place, I can do it for free at home.
      I hate when somebody I'm in the car with spits out the window.  Spit and wind are very unpredictable.  Once it leaves your mouth you have no control over it.  What if that spit flies back in the car and lands on me?!?  I'm not crazy.  I have an example people!  My Dad and brother were going to work one day and Josh spit a hawker out his window and it flew back in and landed on the inside of my Dad's sunglasses, so he was staring right at Josh's hawker!  1. Ewwww  2. Dad was pissed.  If that ever happens to me, run.

     Have you ever woke up and realized you slept on your face wrong?  Sleeping with your ear bent in half.  That crap hurts.  It's only happened to me a couple times, but my ear hurt all day.  I never knew cartilage was so sensitive.  Now I always make sure my ear is flat when I go to bed.  Talk of body parts reminds me of another problem.  Sometimes I get sick, and when I do, I lose a bunch of weight.  When I get down to 100 pounds people start thinking I have an eating disorder.  Can't say I blame them, but I have recently thought out my plan of action.  I will have t-shirts made!  I'll order them to say things like: ~Crackpipe'n it!  ~I poop a lot!  ~Official tester-Ramen Noodle diet!  If people are going to talk, you might as well do it up!
     And while we are mentioning how I look I might as well share this story with you.  My hubby, Jimmy, went out with his buddy one night.  Jimmy tried to drop him off at home at the end of the night but he had drank to the passing out point.  So Jimmy drove home and his friend stayed asleep in our car.  I wake up to a knock on the door about 6am the next morning.  It was his friend.  I opened the door to let him in, and the guy looks at me and yells, "Damn, I thought I looked rough in the morning!"  I laughed so hard, but what an idiot!
     I happened across an interesting website the other day.  It's a payback, revenge kind of site.  Instead of sending flowers, it will send dead ones.  It has stories and ideas of revenge.  Some of them are just wrong, but some are great.  Here's the link if you want to check it out.  It'll provide some laughs. http://www.thepayback.com/revengestories.html
     That's it for now...until next time!   ~Jovial Jess