Leprechaun Mirror

Today I'm going to share a tutorial for a cute St. Patrick's Day craft I made with a 1st and 2nd Grade Girl Scout Troop.

I started with the instructions on this site, but added a few more steps.

Supplies

• 1 hand mirror per child (from the Dollar Tree)
• 1 sheet of foam core per every 6 children (from the Dollar Tree; it's like a thick sheet of poster board)
• 1 pack of colored craft foam per every 4 children (from the Dollar Tree)
• Foam glue
• Scissors
• E-6000 glue
• Exacto knife, metal ruler, pencil and cutting board
• Template from the site that inspired me

You might have noticed the green felt in my supply picture. I was going to use it to make shamrocks, but I ran out of time.

1. Use the Exacto knife, metal ruler, pencil and cutting board to cut two 8" x 8" pieces of foam core for each child.

2. Trace the shape of the mirror on one of the squares and cut it out with your Exacto knife.

3. Use the cut piece of foam core as a template and trace it onto a colored craft foam that will be used as the background color. It's the blue piece in my daughter's example.

4. Use E-6000 glue to attach the cut-out foam core square to an in-tact square. It will form a perfect little nest for the mirror. Glue the mirror in place.

The mirror should be almost flush with the top piece of foam core.

5. Cut out the template pieces. Before you trace them onto the craft foam, lay them out on your mirror and adjust them if necessary. I did make the hair piece a little "taller" to fit my mirror.

6. Trace the template pieces on the craft foam. Cut them out just to separate them from one another, but let the children cut along the lines.

7. I like to create little place settings for crafts so the kids can get started right away. I covered my tables with plastic since we were working with glue and put the following in front of each chair: mirror glued to foam core, craft foam pieces ready to be cut out, and scissors. I also scattered a few things around the tables for the kids to share: foam glue, photos of the finished project, and paper towels. It's also smart to have a few extra supplies just in case someone makes a mistake. And don't forget to have a garbage bag or can handy!

Some of my girly girls did not want to use the beard. But my silly girls were all for it! This is a picture of the mirror my daughter made. She added some gold coins for a little something extra.

One Way Encounter

What should have been a nice Subway lunch with my husband turned into an awkward encounter. Although it wasn't really an encounter unless an encounter can be one way. I encountered, but the person I encountered didn't encounter me. Does that make sense?

Here's how it went down. TJ got up from the table, leaving me unprotected in the booth by myself. A guy I used to work with walked in and sat down in another booth, directly facing me.

There was absolutely nothing between our line of sight. I was about to say hi, but then he looked away without a trace of recognition. Then it went like this in my head.

Look away. He hasn't seen you yet. He'll notice you in a few seconds, so just pretend you haven't seen him yet.

Oh! I think he's looking! Look up and act surprised to see him.

Ooop! Nope. He didn't quite see me. I have no where else to look. Pick up my phone.

There! Now he's seen me. Try to time it to make him think we notice each other at the same time.

I almost said his name before realizing he didn't see me yet. It's a little too far away to shout a greeting, but I don't want to be rude. Is NOT saying anything more rude than shouting across the restaurant? Once he sees me, he'll realize that I would have had to see him. He'll know I was ignoring him.

Ok, he noticed!

No. No, he didn't. Maybe he did, but doesn't want to talk to me. Maybe he forgot who I am. No, he's too nice for that. I just saw him the other day, and we greeted each other by name. He knows me. He likes me.

Yes!

No!

I went back and forth lots more times before TJ finally came back from his adventure around Subway. That's when I realized that I was making this into a ridiculous situation. I snuck a photo and told TJ that I would explain later. In the end, I never got my encounter, and TJ was disappointed I wasn't taking a picture of something more exciting.

And now that I think about it, I don't know why I was so anxious for an encounter. It wouldn't have gone further than a couple words. And then I wouldn't have had a story at all.

My pedicure guy

My oldest daughter, Emma, is in 8th grade show choir.

You might not know what a big dealio show choir has become. Back in my day, we practiced a handful of times and did one show. We wore royal blue sequined crop tops with elastic-waisted black skirts. We were totally in it just to wear those sequined tops. Nobody got to wear sequined crop tops back then without being in show choir. We had three big moves. Low jazz hands, high jazz hands and the scandalous shoulder shimmy. There's WAY more to it now!

In a borderline-bad-mom move last weekend, I took Emma to a mall between her performance and the awards ceremony. She probably should have hung out with the other kids at the competition, but it's hard to say no when your 14-year-old daughter wants to spend time with you. I had a brilliant idea when we got to the mall. Pedicures! Well, pedicures for Emma and me. 8-year-old Gwen opted for a manicure.

As we waited for our turn, I noticed a young manly man guy come through the back door. I assumed he was there to visit a friend or maybe do some repair work. But much to my surprise, he pulled up a chair and started my pedicure. Here he is giving Gwen her manicure.


I really wish those paper towels weren't in front of my Gwen!

Here are some questions I asked:
- Are you from here? Yes.
- Do you have kids? No, but if I ever have a little girl, she'll have the best nails ever!

That's all I asked because I couldn't stop thinking of questions that might offend him:
- Is this your real job?
- Are you a tattoo artist at night?
- Why are you working here? Are you dating a girl who works here who is making you do this?
- When did you decide you wanted to do nails?
- So what do you want to do when you grow up?

Since I was speechless, the conversation was pretty much up to him. He told me about how he'd been out sledding with his buddies the night before. Sledding and drinking vodka. Oh, ok. As he was massaging my calf muscles, he told me that the ladies usually love that part because he has strong hands. I was speechless again and wondered if I was on some kind of reality show. Evidentally not.