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Saturday, February 07, 2009

Circle Time: The Show and Tell Weekly Thread

Show and Tell is wasted on elementary schoolers. Join several dozen bloggers weekly to show off an item, tell a story, and get the attention of the class. In other words, this is Show and Tell 2.0. Everyone is welcome to join, even if you have never posted before and just found out about Show and Tell for the first time today. So yank out a photo of the worst bridesmaid's dress you ever wore and tell us the story; show off the homemade soup you cooked last night; or tell us all about the scarf you made for your first knitting project. Details on how to participate are located at the bottom of this post.

Let's begin.

A few weeks ago, I went to the ChickieNob and Wolvog's school to talk about candy-making and allow the kids to make royal icing alphabet letters. I brought in one of my travel boxes of equipment and spoke about sugar art and showed them some of my tools as well as some burn marks on the back of my hand from a recent lollipop incident. I felt like a freakin' Willy Wonka. One child begged if she could just sit on my lap to be close to me and another told me that he really really really liked the ChickieNob and Wolvog so was he invited to their birthday party this year?

Truly, I wanted to tell the kids that this should be a lesson in life: treat everyone as if their mother could be Willy Wonka because you just don't know if they're an ordinary person or the source of extraordinary candy.

I especially loved the part in each session (I did the same activity twice) where the kids shouted out things and asked if I could make it out of sugar or icing or cake. And then the asker would fall over screaming in ecstasy when I'd reply, "yes, I can truly make anything out of sugar." A firetruck? Yes, I can truly make anything out of sugar. My teddy bear? Yes, I can make it out of sugar. A sleek, 29-gauge Follistim pen? Yes, I can make it out of sugar.

Now, when I walk down the hall to drop them off at school, it's like the kids are seeing a rock star. "That's her," I heard a girl murmur to her mother as I helped the ChickieNob with her coat. "That's the lady with all the candy."

You would think that my kids would get more sugar, but alas, they just get better sugar in the same small amount as everyone else.

I made a few sample flowers to pass around the room along with lollipops and caramels. Here's how they looked before they were crushed in a preschooler's death grip when he refused to relinquish their sweet goodness to the next child in the circle.


A bag of sugar flowers, by the way, will be included in our Purim baskets this year as part of our overall theme of rebirth-renewal-reflection. Think of it like party-in-a-bag.

And yes, I will soon do my Purim giveaway. I am just getting some pictures together this week as I do a few early baskets.

What are you showing today?

Click here or scroll down to the bottom of this post if this is your first time joining along (hint: link to the permalink for the post, not the main url for your blog and use your blog's name, not your name). The list is open from now until late Tuesday night and a new one is posted every week.

Other People Standing at the Head of the Class:

1. Weebles Wobblog
2. TheFertileInfertile
3. Bottoms Off
4. The Shifty Shadow
5. Life After Infertility & Loss
6. Infertility Podcast & Blog
7. Delenn
8. cara
9. Bodhi eKaH
10. The Olsons
11. The Steadfast Warrior
12. An Unwanted Path
13. The Life of Liv
14. Journey to a Wondraful Baby
15. Life and Times of Me
16. Cara (parenting after loss)
17. Fertilized
18. Busted
19. The Real Bean
20. Fractured Rainbows
21. Life Induces Thoughts, mostly random
22. Dora
23. Jen
24. Callie
25. Michelle's Path
26. Holly
27. I Want To Be A Mommy
28. Our Emotional Journey
29. Kathy (angrycanrn)
30. Baby Smiling In Back Seat




Want to bring something to Show and Tell?
  • If you would like to join circle time and show something to the class, simply post each Saturday night (or earlier in the week or on Monday if you can't do the weekend), hopefully including a picture if possible, and telling us about your item. It can be anything--a photo from a trip, a picture of the dress you bought this week, a random image from an old yearbook showing a person you miss. It doesn't need to contain a picture if you can't get a picture--you can simply tell a story about a single item. The list opens every Saturday night and closes on Tuesday night.
  • You must mention Show and Tell and include a link back to this post in your post so people can find the rest of the class. This spreads new readership around through the list. This is now required.
  • Label your post "Show and Tell" each week and then come back here and add the permalink for the post via the Mr. Linky feature (not your blog's main url--use the permalink for your specific Show and Tell post).
  • Oh, and then the point is that you click through all of your classmates and see what they are showing this week. And everyone loves a good "ooooh" and "aaaah" and to be queen (or king) of the playground for five minutes so leave them a comment if you can.
  • Did you post a link and now it's missing?: I reserve the right to delete any links that are not leading to a Show and Tell post or are the blogging equivalent of a spitball.

21 comments:

Lori Lavender Luz said...

"I felt like a freakin' Willy Wonka."

Well, your name IS Lollipop and you DO have a way of helping people move forward with their dreams.

Haven't seen you eat dishes, though.

(But I know you can make them out of sugar.)

Kristin said...

LOL at Lori's comment. You are our own personal Willie Wonka!

Megan said...

Your flowers look great. I love to play with royal icing and fondant. I haven't tried any lollipops though...

JuliaS said...

I would have loved a 29 gauge follistim pen made out of sugar. That profasi injection would have been nicer out of sugar too. Can you make it in chocolate?

Can I come over and lick your wallpaper?

Okay - that was just kind of weird, but Lori started it!!!

LJ said...

How cool are those??? you're magical. I am convinced.

Cara said...

I'm with LJ, - you are magical. No amount of coffee would do it for me!

HaleyMarieOlson said...

I'm impressed! I always watch cooking/baking shows, which make me feel like I should be able to create five layer wedding cakes in no time flat, but the result is always much less elaborate than in my head...

The flowers look beautiful!

luna said...

this is just awesome -- terrific show and tell! the wolvog and chickienob must be so proud of their lollymum! and you are a superstar forever in these kids minds and bellies.

The Steadfast Warrior said...

"Now, when I walk down the hall to drop them off at school, it's like the kids are seeing a rock star."

Well you are a rock star for us, so that is a completely valid comment!

Your sugar flowers are gorgeous!!! I am thoroughly impressed! :)

Coffeegrljapan said...

Awesome! Sugar and beauty all in one place. I'm as amazed as those kids apparently.

Sam said...

those candy flowers are gorgeous!!

Eden Riley said...

You ARE Willy Wonka. You are the Pied Piper, a rock star .... Kumbya-singin' mofo freakin', black-boot wearin' magnificent soul.

One day, one of those kids will grow up and write a blog post aout the Sugar Lady who came to their school one day, and how magical it was.
XOX

Anonymous said...

You continue to amaze me...true ambassador for our community (and what my Leadership class in my MBA program called a "super-connector") and now THIS...sugar art. As if I didn't already, I now hold you in the same esteem as ChickieNob and Wolvog's classmates. I secretly harbor ambitions to chuck it all and become a baker in an Ace of Cakes kind of bakery and spend my days making beautiful creations out of the things I like best in the world...sugar and fats. The only thing stopping me is the fact that I am completely devoid of artistic talent. But you, you! The flowers are beautiful. And the follistem pen...Duff has nothing on you!

Brenna said...

Mulitalented! I'm so impressed (and now, hungry...)

Busted said...

Those are so pretty! I'm impressed.

Dora said...

That's awesome! The flowers are beautiful. Totally agree that you are magical.

I'm hoping my ice cream maker will make me a popular mom.

Jen said...

I want to come play at your house!! I can imagine the kids think you live in a hansel and gretel kinda house. (at least I do). :)

Baby Smiling In Back Seat said...

Beautiful flowers!

Oh, and re: your status message, yes I know exactly what that means. Next weekend I am at your disposal.

AnotherDreamer said...

Those are gorgeous!

And LOL about what Lori said. Very true.

battynurse said...

Those look fantastic.

Jamie said...

How AWESOME!! I would have loved to been a fly on the wall in that classroom.

Who want a superstar for a mom when they've got Willy Wonka?!?!