Mystery Science Project

my 9th grader had to turn in a science project last week.

Wanna guess what it is?

To Crack or Not to Crack, that's the question

Cracking Knuckles.

"There is no evidence that cracking knuckles causes any damage such as arthritis in the joints."  

- Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center

"Knuckle "cracking" has not been shown to be harmful or beneficial.

More specifically, knuckle cracking does not cause arthritis."

- WebMD

Now, I did read that it could be a subconcious nervous symptom,

and that makes sense to me. 

WebMD suggests that whatever your subconcious habbit may be,

nail biting, knuckle cracking, cuticle picking, chronic coughing, or throat clearing,

they have three tips to helping you quit:

1. Make it concscious. 

Start trying to figure out when you do it and why you do it.

2. Write it down. 

Make a log of when you're doing it and what proceeds it.

3. Change it. 

Decide on something different to replace the habbit.

Doodle or do something else with your hands.

Do you crack your knucles? (I do)

Do you bite your nails or clear your throat? 

Any other nervous habbit?

I think I have lots of nervous habbits,

but I may try these three tips to see if I can change them.

A scientific experiement!

Scientists with a sense of Humor

Sir Isaac Newton's legacy is heading into Space.

A four-inch sliver of bark from Sir Isaac's famous Apple Tree is headed into Space on the Space Shuttle Atlantis to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society in London.

The astronaut who is carrying it, Piers Sellers, said,

"We're delighted to take this piece of Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree to orbit. While it's up there, it will be experiencing no gravity, so if it had an apple on it, the apple wouldn't fall," Sellers said of the mission. "I'm pretty sure that Sir Isaac would have loved to see this, assuming he wasn't spacesick, as it would have proved his first law of motion to be correct." 

The Atlantis is on its way to the International Space Station where “I’ll take it up into orbit and let it float around a bit, which will confuse Isaac, and bring it back and give it to the society,” he said.

Irony, right?

At least scientists have a sense of humor!

(This is the real Apple Tree at Sir Isaac Newton's homestead in England!)

Peeps

Did you know that if you put peeps in the microwave....

they explode?!

It's Monday, Peeps! Have a good one!

There's a Skull Growing in the Kitchen.

You thought I was kidding?

It starts out a few inches tall...and you throw it in water...and watch it GROW!
It's a novelty toy from Toy Joy, the best toy store ever, in Austin, Texas.
I lived in Austin for 18 years!
Before that I lived on a ranch.

Now I'm getting off track...

A gigantic growing skull is a little creepy, but we can consider it science, right?

Oh, speaking of science!

My 12 yr old's science experiment is currently being stored in the kitchen as well.





Wanna guess what he's doing?

Building blocks; chickens and atoms

I've often talked about growing up on a ranch in the Texas hill country. It was a wonderful experience, and one that made me who I am today.




At some point I was old enough for chores on our ranch, and my parents gave me the responsibility of closing up the chicken coop at night. During the day, the chickens roamed free throughout the barnyard, but at sunset, rain or shine, they never failed to automatically all file into their pen to huddle together in the darkness.



So, around dusk, every night, I mounted my shiny blue ten-speed with its blue & white woven basket, pretending it was my horse, and pedaled half a mile across the ranch by myself to close the pen and lock the chickens up.



The special chicken wire that framed the chicken coop kept snakes from getting to the chickens at night. I used to be terrified I’d run into a snake but it never happened. Closing the chicken coop was my chore, and I did it, even if I did pedal back as fast as those wheels could turn, my ponytail streaming behind me, certain that snakes, or the boogeyman my brother told me lived in the barn, was chasing after me.



Back then I was impressed with those chickens and how smart they were to go to safety every night, but now, as an adult, I realize how wrong I was. Those chickens weren’t smart at all. They were stupid to file brainlessly into a cage each night, reliant on others to ensure their safety. What would they do if we forgot to shut their pen? They’d die. They had no survival skills.

Stupid chickens.

But, keeping them alive, insured continuous egg laying, and we ate those eggs. So, they were useful. and, probably most importantly, I learned responsibility and courage, which were building blocks in molding my core values and attitude.


Today I read in the news about the largest subatomic particle super collider in Geneva, Switzerland conducting it's first test today. It's underground tunnels are 17 miles long, making up a massive underground ring hidden beneath farmland. The test today fired two protons clockwise and then later counterclockwise through the 17 mile tunnel, whizzing around at close to the speed of light. It's mind boggling.


The scientists hope to eventually send two proton beams through the tunnel going opposite directions so that they will collide and hopefully recreate conditions a split second after the big bang, which scientists theorize was the massive explosion that created the universe. It is likely this experiment could reveal more about "dark matter," antimatter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time. It could also find evidence of the hypothetical particle — the Higgs boson — which is sometimes called the "God particle" because it is believed to give mass to all other particles, and thus to matter that makes up the universe.

Am I baking your noodle yet?

These are the building blocks of our universe they're studying and manipulating, to discover more about this wild world and the universe. It's fascinating. It leads me to question, what if we do figure it out? Could we then create our own planets? Galaxies? Universes?!

Mind boggling.

Back to my original thought though, we all know some of the building blocks of our own character and person. But some we don't, leading to the whole nurture versus nature and other arguments. What are some of your building blocks? What events most shaped who you are or who had a big impact on the person you've become?

Banana in the tailpipe

Quick, name that movie!!

Ok, maybe not the best title.

I should have called this post

"How to blow up a balloon with a banana"

but that's not as exciting.

Or is it?

Ok, back to business. I bought this book a while back, but haven't really used it.
So, to provide some blog material enlighten my children's minds,

I opened it up and chose a science experiment to do.
The only problem was, my boys were totally not interested in doing anything.
They were deep in Lego land, building a dwarf castle and a Star Wars ship.

So, I did it all by myself. Loudly narrating my every step

so they could think their mom is nuts hear and learn.

I chose an experiment that I actually had the stuff to complete it. Stuff on hand, you know.

For this, I only needed a bottle, a balloon and an old banana. check, check and double check.

First you much the old banana until all the lumps are gone.

It's kind of gross...but also kind of satisfying.

Then, the hard part,

you have to slide the banana mush

into the tiny opening of the bottle.

I used a plastic knife to do this.

It was messy.

Ta da! Banana mush IN the bottle!

Aren't you proud of me?

The kids still wouldn't help me.

Trust me, I kept asking.

The only balloon I could find was a water balloon,

which is thicker than a regular one,

so maybe not the best one to use,

but oh, well.

I put it on top,

and it just laid there all limp like.

Sad.

Then I set the bottle in a warm, sunny place,

and waited a day.

Sure enough, bacteria flocked,

as the banana decomposed,

and released a gas

that started to inflate the balloon!

Woohoo!!

And then I threw it all away because I'd had enough.

But, I like this whole science thing.

I may have to try another experiment soon.

A bodacious bag, the boys, books & a bad cut

I won a bag from Carissa at Good And Crazy People. She makes them herself, and they're so cute!! I really like mine. You can see more of her stuff at Apricot A Lot.

A few nights ago, we pulled out blankets and watched a movie in the den, National Treasure 2. Remy and Annie crashed immediately. Aren't they cute?

Yesterday, Remy bought an art kit at Michaels, the craft store, a cute dog to paint.

He managed to get paint in lots of other places as well, unfortunately.

It's now hanging on his room door.
He's so proud!

And Donny felt he had to try his experiment again, cooking egg in soft drinks.


he adds Sprite
and then Coke...
and it doesn't cook but looks gross...



I've emailed his science teacher in hopes of figuring out this experiment.
I'll let you know when I hear back from her.

We don't have a Barnes & Noble in our small town Texas, so the boys and I hopped in the car today and drove to a nearby town. We were in heaven.

As we entered the store, I told the boys they had a spending limit of $20 or two books.

Remy then said, "What's our speed limit?"

hehe....come to think of it, that boy could use a speed limit.

We spent over an hour browsing. I wish I'd had my camera to capture them sitting in an aisle surrounded by piles of books, loving every minute of it.

I was going to end the post here, but then had an unexpected event occur tonight. While doing dishes, a bowl broke and sliced the top of my thumb. Hubby was working late in Dallas, so I piled the kids in the car and drove myself to the emergency center a few blocks away.

I got in just before they closed for the night. They cleaned the laceration and then used silver nitrate to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding. Just in case you didn't get that...

cauterized = burned.

IT FREAKIN' HURT!!
I almost started crying.

Couldn't fill the pain pills at Walgreens due to an error of info on the prescription

and the e-center had closed by this time. Lovely, huh?

So, I'm up, hurting and trying to type with one hand, keeping my other hand elevated while it throbs in time to my heart.

Donny took a picture of it in front of the computer moniter.

Who knew doing dishes could be so dangerous?!

A Science experiment, Shopping & Southern Etiquette

My eleven-year-old, Donny, decided to show us a science experiement his class did in school right before summer. He said they cooked an egg in a soft drink.

We didn't believe him. That's just not right.

So, he bought some Sprite, we gave him an egg, and he went to work to show us how it was done.

He scrambled the egg....
and then opened the Sprite.
Remy is looking on in disbelief...
The Sprite mixes with the egg...and...

Nothing happens!! It doesn't change at all. We were disappointed. I think Donny left a step out of the process....surely. Or an ingredient. He said you can do this with raw egg or raw meat, and it will cook.

So, I've tried to Google this every which way I can possibly think of it, but I can't figure it out. Has anyone heard of this experiment? I may email his science teacher and see what she says.

Meanwhile, here's a smiley picture of Remy, who just lost another tooth!

Donny's smiling, even though his experiment failed. Poor Donny. I may pull out that fun experiements for kids book and try some more exciting ones...that actually work. Might make good blog material be fun and educational!!
And, since we can't end this post with a failed experiment, here are the boys with Annie...all cuddled up together in ONE chair. Amazing, huh? Annie thinks she's a lap dog and doesn't realize she's over 80 freakin' pounds!!

Oh, one more thing. I found a beautiful coffee mug the other day that I just had to have. It spoke to me, it really did. It's mine. No one else can use it. ONLY MINE. I don't drink coffee. So, it will be MY hot tea cup.

AND, I recently bought these adorable Wrap-a-Latte products that you can get your initial on for your coffee or HOT TEA drinks, to reuse and reduce waste. Isn't it adorable?!! I bought one for my mother-in-law and my mother. And myself, of course, because it was just too cute. I found them originally in a store here in my town, but then also found them online here and here.

I seen a lot of blogs lately talking about road rage, (most recently at Law School Sucks...And so do Lawyers and Amy's Brat Pack) and I just have to share my thoughts about that.

A Southern Gal's Guide to Road Rage Etiquette

1. You don't honk unless someone's about to run into you. It's just rude.

2. You do NOT gesture at other people. You know the gestures I mean. And, if someone makes them at you, you just smile and wave back. It drives them nuts. I think this is called Passive Aggressiveness.

3. If someone really butters your bread, then you have a perfect right to tell your children to cover their ears and then procede to yell away all you want in the privacy of your own automobile.

4. If you're forced to deal with someone face-to-face (say in an accident-type situation or a policeman pulls you over, god-forbid) playing the helpless female is essential and works every time. :o)

Thanks for stoppin' by, y'all!!