"I Love You" In An Unconventional Way

After several months of intensive, visual therapy ("look left, look right...how many fingers am I holding up")  Connie finally was authorized to remove her eye patch (which by this time was covered in enough rhinestones that it over shadowed the office disco ball).  Two things happened!  One, Wendell was entranced by duality of her vision and her two (count them) two gorgeous blue eyes. Two, depth perception having returned, Connie suddenly appreciated Wendell's manly good looks.  Since then the rest of us in the CELEBRATE labs in Colchester, VT have noticed them beginning attempts to court each other.  For example we have seen:

- Connie's handbag filled with cut-out paper hearts

- "Wendell, you wow me" written on the window in the morning dew

- We received a letter from the Burlington International Zoo thanking us for our adoption of a pair of love birds named "Connie and Wendell" 

- Connie's dented fender when she was shocked by Wendell's recorded voice reciting love poetry over her car speakers. She told the police officer responding to the fender bender that she found a CD in her car stereo and confirmed Wendell was not in the back seat as she first thought.  (She ran over our prized crab apple tree in the traffic circle in front of the lab)

- When invited over to Wendell's RV for cocktails, he served a delicious, fruity "Connie-Tini". A tsunami of nausea washed over the staff.

- Connie wrote "I'm wild about you" backwards on the rear window of his car.  Glancing in his rear view mirror his pace maker worked overtime!

- Wendell screaming "Meana Tanda Wena" Zulu for "I Love You" (Picked up form his studying abroad in the Congo learning from the native people the finer points of pom-pom people dolls.  Boy did his International Crafts degree pay off!)

Finally, after too many "Connie-Tinis" combined with the recent memory of her accident Connie decided to spend the night in Wendell's RV to be safe.  As she laid her head on the pillow, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"!  Wendell for yet another romantic surprise had placed a sturdy Hersey Kiss (point up) on Connie's pillow.  Having poor vision in the dark, Connie's left eye caught the silver foil and her cornea was no match!  Yes fans, the eye patch WILL return..... DON DON DOOOOOONNNNNNN.

We hope you were inspired by the prolific, romantic expressions of Connie and Wendell's blossoming love for one another!

To be continued....

Connie, an androgynous senior woman with eye patch

::A New Look For An Old or Used Book::

Garage sale season is here and everywhere we go there are piles of old/used books and they are dirt cheap! Here are some clever ideas to re-purpose those books that won't make you sacrifice your favorite Kindle or Nook!

1.) Gift Box-  Take an old book and hollow out the interior with an Xacto knife creating a niche.  What you have just made is a gift box!

2.) DIY Magnetic Poetry/Sayings- Find a large print book. Stick your favorite pages on to self-stick magnetic sheets.  Cut the words apart and you'll have the beginnings of all sorts of fridge lit!

3.) Bookends- Find some hardcover books that catch your eye.  Depending on weight, glue together a minimum of 2-3 books together and let them dry for at least 48 hours.  If you decide to pile the book with the spines horizontal, you are all set.  If you plan on standing the spines vertically, make sure to glue the covers of the end books to the first page so they don't fan out.

4.) Tables- Glue a stack of good sized books together and pop a tray, framed mirror, wood, glass, marble, etc  on the top. You will literally (ha-ha) have a pedestal table!

5.) Place Mats-  Find large format, brightly colored colored children's books.  Remove your favorite pages and laminate!  Instant place mats that would be fun for your little ones!

6.) Accent Shelves- Measure the length of the spine of your book.  Secure two "L" brackets to the wall at the height at which you would like your shelf.  Make sure they are within the span of the spine.  Place you book on top of the "L" brackets and you have a cute accent shelf for a small display!

MEAL OF THE MONTH FOR JUNE

HEALTHY GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN


Ingredients:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp vegetable oil (preferably peanut)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp rice-wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp chili sauce, such as Sriracha
4 cups steamed broccoli florets, for serving
Cooked brown rice, for serving

Preheat your oven to 375F. On a foil-lined baking sheet, toss the chicken chunks with the corn-starch. Spread the cubes out and bake until they're cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.  Next, in a saucepan, heat the oil, garlic, and ginger on medium for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Add the broth, soy sauce, hoisin, vinegar, honey, and sriracha; simmer 3 minutes. Whisk the remaining cornstarch into 2 tablespoons water; add that and heat until the mixture has thickened, about 30 seconds.  Add the cooked chicken to the pan with the sauce and toss. Serve alongside the broccoli and over brown rice.

::FABULOUS FORAGING FEATS::

As you can recall, last week we posed a foraging challenge to you and boy did you respond!  We got four fabulous entries that we will share with you later in the post.  First, here are a few ideas we concocted at the CELEBRATE Lab!

Branch Necklace

Find a seasoned twig (not brand new but also not crumbling).  Drill a hole through the stem in a location of your choice.  String cord through the hole and decorate with beads, wire, paint, glitter, etc.

Reed Necklace

Many plants have hollow, reed-like stalks.  After the plant has died and the stalks have dried out naturally spray paint them in some fun colors.  Next, cut them into segments (A band saw works great become it doesn't crack or crush the stems).  String them onto some cord, adding beads between segments.  The beads help to make it look more uniform.

Framed Feather Art

Walking through the forest we often come across lovely feathers.  Why not turn them into wall art.  Simply, matte and frame.  Simple simple!

Here are some of our favorite submissions from the dozen we received!

Package Decor by Beverly from Spokane, WA.  Beverly tells us the ribbon is made from a long leafed plant which she dried and spray painted and the then she glued baby pine cones and pebbles to it.  Eco chic!

Leaf Transfer by Suzanne from Nice, France.  Suzanne placed an ivy sprig under a cloth napkin and hammered it with a rubber mallet transferring the pigment.  Next she accented it with craft paint.  

Walking Stick by Vladimir from Latvia.  Vlad as his friends call him (per his email) found a dried yet sturdy straight branch.  He stripped the bark off and embellished it feathers, beads, and metallic paints.  Then he gave it a few coats of varnish.  He drilled a hole through the top end and strung a piece of rawhide to serve as a wrist cord. 

Serving Tray by Eleanor from Checotah, OK.  She said these are pressed golden rod pressed between paper towels in a book.  She stressed to make sure your greenery is very flat and dry so they do not mildew.  She then placed the greenery on  matte board and covered it all with glass.  

Thanks to all our readers for their wonderful submissions!  Keep them coming!

READER CHALLENGE ALERT!!!!

Hello Faithful Fans!  We have a challenge for you.  We're going to spend the time between now and our next post foraging and creating items with the things we find in the fields and forests around us.  We challenge you to do the same!  Go out into your environment natural or man-made (to you urban readers) and create fabulous things!  Next email pictures to currenteventplanning@gmail.com and you might be lucky enough to have your creations featured!!!  There may be prizes...maybe...

Good Luck!  Michael, Kathleen, and the crew at CELEBRATE!

Not Just Your Mother's Clothespins Anymore!

Here are a few wonderful ideas for re-purposing those always handy clothespins!

1.) Use a spare clothespin to hold a nail to avoid hitting your fingers when hanging a picture frame.

2.) Attach a strip of self-adhesive magnet to one side of the clothespins.  You can then attach nails or tacks to the magnet and then you can clip it to your shirt or other area close to your work space.

3.) Create a simple picture frame/holder by clipping a clothespin parallel to the bottom edge of the picture (long or short side depending on the picture's orientation)

4.) Attach a Popsicle stick to one side of the clothespin and create a bracelet "assistant".  It'll make putting on a bracelet a one woman job!  Hold the handle (Popsicle stick) in your hand with the clothespin facing down your forearm.  Clip the clothespin to one end of your bracelet and wrap the other end around and secure.  Tada!

5.) Use several clothespins to fold and secure the corners of your picnic tablecloth to protect it from gusts of wind.

6.) Keep several clothespins by your laundry hamper.  When you soil something simply clip a clothespin on to mark it for stain treatment!

Clothespin Frock by Christopher Bailey for Burberry  YIKES!!!

Our Lab Loves Mother Earth!

One morning Wendell walked into the kitchen wearing Connie's silk robe and pulled a box of Captain Cavity Sugar Flakes from a plastic grocery bag.  At the same time, Connie was making fluffy pancakes and couldn't seem to locate her syrup pitcher.  A typical Tuesday brunch at the lab!  As we all sat down around the reclaimed Texaco sign that serves as our conference room table we found ourselves in a heated discussion regarding trash.  This was triggered by Wendell throwing the thick, plastic bag which held his too-sweet cereal  treat on the floor and the coordinating box which once contained the dentist dream into the trash.  We all yelled in unison, "There must be another use for that!" (meanwhile, Connie with her one good eye was still fumbling around trying to locate her pitcher).  Here are the ideas we jotted down on our napkins (because we reuse EVERYTHING).

To solve Connie's problem:

-Find yourself a small decorative, attractive teapot!  A charming syrup pitcher!  Look at yard sales, thrift shops, or your cupboard!

To solve Wendel's problem (it'll take even more than our team's help to solve HIS problems but we digress):

The Cereal Box
- A drawer organizer.  Slice off the tops and bottoms and fill them with odds and ends.  You can even use the small boxes for paper clips, staples, etc.  Kathleen recommends reinforcing the corners with tape for a longer life!

-A cupcake carrier.  Reseal your empty box of cereal and lay it flat.  Next, cut the now top off of the box creating a tray. Slip, the cut portion inside the tray to reinforce the bottom.  Now you can send you child to school with cupcakes for the bake sale without needing to fret about your expensive platters.

-Photo mailing.  Use scraps of the box to mail photos or documents without fear of them getting bent out of shape.  Cut any box into useful sizes for that matter!

- Shims.  Cut the box into small squares or rectangles of the same size.  Secure them with a rubber band.  Next time you run across a off kilter table or chair you will have the perfect solution.

The Cereal Liner


The liners are thick and water repellent  therefore excellent to pack your hoagie in.  Take the liner and remove any cereal dust.  Next cut into sheets and wrap your sprout wrap tightly!

You can also use the bag to smash stale bread into bread crumbs.  The liner is thick enough to take the abuse.

The Plastic Grocery Bag

Wrap your knees in plastic bags to prevent soiling your jeans while gardening.

Throw a plastic bag inside your purse or man-bag.  Next time it rains you will have a place to stash your wet umbrella!

You can of course wrap up a paint brush when taking a break.  The bag will keep the paint moist and ready to get back to work!