It. Goes. So. Fast.

Tomorrow is a big day in the deRosier house. Not just big - huge. Trevor is moving into the dorms at UC Davis. Our only child is going to his top-choice university to study what interests him most in life. He has wanted this for so long; we've wanted it for him even before he knew what a university was. We are thrilled for him and so, so proud. 

But there are other emotions too, of course. Sending your child out into the world is hard, in so many ways. Somehow, 18 years has flown by. My baby is an adult. How?! 

Mary Louise Kelly, host of NPR's All Things Considered, gets it. I just finished listening to her memoir, It. Goes. So. Fast. I loved it. Affiliate link here and below. 

In terms of parenting experiences, Mary Louise Kelly and I don't have a lot in common. She was reporting on war zones during her children's early years; I was a stay-at-home mom, spending my days with other moms at parks and libraries. Her kids had a nanny; Trevor literally never had a paid babysitter. In their teen years, Kelly was live on the air when her kids got out of school; I volunteered at the school and picked Trevor up from school every day. But we both love our children with our whole hearts and we both now know firsthand how quickly the time with them flies by. 

Kelly's book is as much about her career as it is about being a mom, because the two are intertwined. And honestly, if her memoir wasn't about parenthood at all, I would still have loved it. She's had a fascinating career and is such a gifted storyteller. I usually recommend printed books, but in this case, get the audiobook. Hearing her words in her own voice is powerful, especially when she is talking about her sons. Pure love. 

Subpar Parks

I've been doing a lot of jigsaw puzzles lately, on my doctor's orders. (Best prescription ever!) Along with proper rest, healthy eating, and exercise, puzzles help with the brain fog that is associated with cancer treatment. Jigsaw puzzles have many other benefits, including reducing stress, improving short-term memory, and preventing cognitive decline. And not just for cancer patients. Everyone, including children, can benefit cognitively, emotionally, and physically from regularly solving jigsaw puzzles. 

My friend Kathy recently sent me the Subpar Parks puzzle. If you're not familiar with Subpar Parks, you're definitely missing out. Artist Amber Share has illustrated the actual 1-star reviews tourists have left after visiting each of the National Parks. They are hilarious. 

Subpar Parks is also a book. (Affiliate links here and below.) In addition to the illustrated reviews of each park, it has information about the history and features of the National Parks.  

I've been to quite a few of our country's National Parks. I'm a fan. I give the concept of National Parks 5 stars. They are, without a doubt, America'a Best Idea. 

That said, I don't love them all equally. Each park has many 5-star qualities about it, but I definitely think some parks are better than others. I thoroughly enjoyed Gateway Arch, but I don't think anyone could argue that it is better than Yosemite, for example, even at its most crowded. Hot Springs was really neat, but I preferred Acadia. I wouldn't have loved it nearly so much in the winter. I had a fantastic time at Congaree, but an even better time at Badlands... even though it was 105° when we were there. 

Obviously, there are a lot of factors that can impact how much someone enjoys a visit. I can see how crowds, high prices, bad weather, a closed visitor center, aggressive insects, and other factors could completely ruin a park for someone, but I have a hard time seeing how anyone could then leave a 1-star review. I'm glad they did, though. Not only are they really funny, but presumably the authors will not be returning, and that's one fewer miserable person there the next time I visit a National Park.

My Breast Cancer Journey

It has been less than four months since I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It's hard to believe, as it feels like breast cancer has been part of my life for much, much longer. Fortunately, I am at the end of active treatment (surgery and radiation) and now consider myself a breast cancer survivor. 

To be clear, I do not consider myself cancer-free, in remission, or in any way "done" with cancer. I have ten years of endocrine therapy and oncology appointments still ahead of me. I may have late side effects or even a recurrence. But I have survived so far. And I'm doing well. 

Throughout my breast cancer journey, I've been keeping friends and family informed through CaringBridge. I've now copied all of my posts over here to my blog, where anyone can access them without having to create an account. I hope that sharing the details of my journey will help future patients, or their loved ones, to learn more about breast cancer and see one possible outcome. 

https://www.cindyderosier.com/p/my-breast-cancer-journey.html

Crayon Melt State Fruits: Pear, Peach, Strawberry, Watermelon, and Tomato

It's been almost four years since I've pulled out the warming tray to do a crayon melt project. I'm surprised it's been that long, since it's one of my favorite techniques. I love the painterly effect it gives on these, each of which is an official state fruit.  

Pears are the state fruit of Oregon. 

Peaches are the state fruit of Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. (Technically, peaches are Alabama's state tree fruit.)

Strawberries are the state fruit of Delaware, Louisiana, North Carolina (technically, the state red berry), and Oklahoma.

Tomatoes are the state fruit of Arkansas, Ohio, and Tennessee.

OK, I lied. Watermelon is not a state fruit. It is the state vegetable of Oklahoma. If you think a tomato should be considered a vegetable and watermelon a fruit, don't take it up with me. Botanically, tomatoes are fruit and so are watermelons, but Oklahoma has valid arguments for considering watermelon a vegetable. 

I didn't make crayon melts of all of the state fruits. Others include oranges, apples, huckleberries, blackberries, plums, blueberries, grapes, cranberries, chokecherries, grapefruit, cherries, and pawpaws. Feel free to make those, or anything else, using the technique below. The materials list includes affiliate links. 

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Crayon Melt State Fruits

Materials:

• warming tray
• white paper
• crayons
• microtip scissors
• craft glue

Steps:

Plug in the warming tray. and put a sheet of paper on top. Scraps are perfectly ok. Use crayons to color in the fruits you'll be making. You can blend and layer colors as much as you want. 

I recommend removing the wrappers from the crayons and laying them on their sides for faster, more even coverage. When you do that, you're going to get wax that transfers to the crayon, but that's not a problem. Here you can see that I put the white crayon into an area I'd colored dark green, which blended and transferred to the crayon. To clean it off, just color on a clean area of paper. 

You have two choices when adding details to your project. For the watermelon seeds, I just dotted black crayon directly onto the hot red wax. Since the black shows up really well on red, this is a good option. 

If I'd tried to add the yellow strawberry seeds on top of the red wax while it was hot, they would have blended in too much. Instead, I removed the strawberry, let it cool completely, cut out my shape, then returned it to the warming tray for just long enough to warm up. Then I was able dot on little bits of yellow. 

Don't forget to color the stems and leaves that you'll be using on your fruits. When you've colored everything, unplug the warming tray and let the wax set. Then cut out the shapes using scissors. Glue the leaves and stems to the appropriate fruit. Have fun!

50 State Quarters: Coloring Pages Using Flair Pens

I just finished two more coloring pages featuring the 50 State Quarters. I've previously shared the first four (Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Wisconsin) that I colored with Ohuhu markers and the next four (Connecticut, Idaho, Missouri, and Montana) where I used inks as a base and layered colored pencil on top. Can you guess what I used for the Indiana and Delaware coloring pages? 

If you guessed Flair pens, I'm impressed! (Affiliate link here and below.) Specifically, I used this 12-pack of 0.7 mm tip pens. 

I printed the images as 7" circles, which is a ridiculous amount of surface area to fill with a fine tip pen. If I'd colored them in using just the 0.7 mm pens, I would have: 

• run out of ink partway through and had to buy more pens
• wrecked my hand
• lost my mind

Instead, I took advantage of a fun characteristic of Flair pens: they are water-based. By using a moist brush, you can drag the pigment beyond the place where you colored. Look at the tires below. For each tire, I colored part of it solid black, then drew horizontal lines on the remainder. Then I used my brush to blend them out. You can see the difference between the ones I've moistened (left) and the ones I haven't (right). 

Compare the blue outline of Indiana above with the finished project. See the way I dragged the blue in toward the center? I did the same thing with the black outline around the entire design. I really like the effect. And this technique lets you add color to large areas and still save your pen, hand, and sanity. 

A few precautions before you try coloring pages with Flair pens and water. First, print or copy the image onto watercolor paper for the best results. I did a trial run using printer paper and, as expected, it was a disaster. I ended up using Neenah Bristol Vellum because it was the best option that works in my printer. It didn't allow for as much blending as a watercolor paper would, but it didn't fall apart like the printer paper. 

Second, expect to have a lot of drying time. You can't apply Flair pens over moist areas, plus if you moisten two adjacent colors at once, the colors will run. Instead, work on one section at a time and then wait for it to dry before going on to the next area. I worked on both Indiana and Delaware simultaneously so that one could dry while I was working on the other. 

 

To cover a large space with visible texture (like the grass on the Delaware quarter), you can draw lots of little lines. I wasn't consistent in blending it out, but it doesn't bother me that the grass looks inconsistent. What does bother me are the lines on the horse. The 12-pack of Flair pens doesn't have a brown, so I had to use the black pen in different ways on the horse, the tack, and the boot. I suppose I could have used the purple and embraced a horse of a different color. 

I'm looking forward to coloring my next batch of State Quarters using a different method. I've printed out the designs; now I just need to pick my next medium and get started!

Brayden's New (Hair/Hare) 'Do

When we first met Brayden, he was a 10-month old with a short mohawk. It was adorable and completely natural. Within a few months, his mane came in. The sides stopped growing, but the bangs kept going. He would toss them out of his eyes like he was in a shampoo commercial. They were obviously bothering him, so Steve put him on a chair and I did a quick trim. Very quick: after the first snip, Brayden wouldn't let me go back and even things out. Fortunately, it was enough to get the hair out of his eyes. That's the after photo on the left and some before pictures on the right. 

 

New 'Do (affiliate link)

It was very tempting to go with the obvious hare-cut / hare-do pun on this layout, but I resisted. I tend to be very literal when scrapbooking, and Brayden is not a hare. He's a rabbit. You can blame Bugs Bunny if you thought they were the same thing. Rabbits and hares are related, both members of the lagomorph order (along with pikas), which is what separates them from rodents. Rabbits and hares make up the leporidae family, but they are distinct. In general, hares are larger than rabbits, with much longer ears and back legs. Hares live above ground solo or in pairs, while rabbits live in underground tunnels in large groups.  Rabbits are born blind, without fur, and helpless, while hares are born with fur and open eyes. Hares have not been domesticated and, unlike rabbits, do not make good pets. The names of certain species don't help the confusion: jackrabbits are not, in fact, rabbits. They are hares. 

In summary: Brayden, a rabbit, has a new 'do, not a hare-cut. 

Visited Countries Map

Here's what my Visited Countries Map looks like as of today, 9/6/24.

Make your own map here.

At age 52, I have been to 34 different countries. That seems like a pretty high number until I look at the map above and see how little blue there is compared to all the grey. I've only seen a small fraction of everything our world has to offer. 

I know a lot of people who have been to far more countries than I have, including: my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, my aunt and uncle, my sisters-in-law, my nephews, a handful of high school friends, former coworkers, retired friends from church, and virtually every other travel blogger I know. A few have been to well over 100 countries.  

But I know far more people who are much less traveled than I am. There are a lot of reasons for this, obviously. Travel is a privilege that not everyone can afford. Life circumstances and differing abilities can make travel difficult or impossible. Some people travel internationally often, but keep going back to the same one or two places, giving them a very low country count. Others travel extensively through the US, a huge country with enough destinations to last a lifetime, but rarely cross the borders. 

I did some Googling to find out how my stats compare. Needless to say, I found a lot of different information with varying reliability. Here is some of the more trustworthy information I found:

• 71% of Americans have left the United States. 11% have been to 10 or more countries (source)
• 2% of Americans have traveled to more than 31 countries (source)
• The average American adult has been to 3 foreign countries (source)
• People in 27 countries have a stronger passport than those of us in the US (source)
• Roughly 450 people have been to all the countries in the world (source)

Unlike my goal to travel to the five Canadian provinces I haven't visited, I have no plans to visit every country in the world. But there are still several dozen countries on my bucket list. Obviously, there's Luxembourg. And St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Others topping my list include (but are not limited to) Iceland, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. 

How many countries have you visited? What's still on your bucket list? Let me know in the comments!

Universal Yums: India and the United Kingdom

Today I'm sharing the 7th and 8th boxes from our 12-month subscription to Universal Yums. This time, the featured countries are India and the United Kingdom. As usual, each box held a variety of snacks, an informational card, booklet and sticker set. 

This is what came in the India box: 

The booklet was a bit different than in previous boxes. Instead of present-day India, it focuses on a specific time period in Indian history: the Mughal Empire (1526-1857). According to an introduction by the co-founder of Universal Yums, this is the first time in their 10-year history that they've done this. It's an interesting idea. Given that I knew literally nothing about the Mughal Empire, I appreciate the education. Otherwise, I might never have known that the Mughal Empire was one of the weathiest during the Middle Ages, was famous for freedom of religion, served daily feasts of over 500 dishes to the emperor, and used three different animals as cavalry in their military (horses, camels, and elephants). 

An article called "Let's Spice Things Up" was all about the many spices found in Indian cuisine. I was hoping that the snack foods in the box didn't feature the hottest of those spices. I can't tolerate spicy food at all. I tried a (very) small sample of everything Universal Yums sent, but three of the snacks were too hot for me. Too bad - I liked the flavor, just not the pain. My favorites in the box were the Trufills and the Green Mango candies. 

This is what came in the United Kingdom box:  

Having just been in the UK, I actually knew the answers to some of the trivia questions in the booklet. You knew that Big Ben is the bell, not the clock or the tower, right? There was a fascinating article about the importance of Cavendish bananas, a recipe for Scottish oatmeal scones, and information about some of the weirdest habits of Victorian England. Anyone want to try their beauty hack of putting a drop of lemon juice in each eye? Yeah, me neither. 

So how was the food? I absolutely loved the Rhubarb & Custard Bon Bons (affiliate link). The shortbread cookie was delicious. The pickled onion rings were... intense. Interesting, but intense. I absolutely loathed the lamb and rosemary crisps. They're vegetarian, but whatever they're using to make them taste like lamb was effective. Yuck. 

The last time I posted about Universal Yums, I got an anonymous comment from someone concerned that I was eating all this processed food while fighting cancer. Were they picturing me opening the box alone and immediately scarfing down multiple bags of chips and candies? To clarify, I am not eating everything in these boxes by myself. I try a tiny sample of each item. Steve and Trevor also sample everything, as does any friend or family member who happens to be here when we open the boxes. Then, we share the leftovers with others who are interested in trying new foods. I don't blog about each person's reaction to every item, but I assure you that there are others eating the food. And there is always someone who likes something I don't, and vice versa. I would never open a box without other people around to share the experience, since that's what makes it fun. 

Mother's Day 2024

The plan for Mother's Day 2024 was to go to church, then leisurely enjoy the brunch that followed. Instead, we skipped brunch, raced out of church as soon as the service ended, and got to the mall in time to be the first in line when the Men's Wearhouse opened so Trevor could rent a tux for Senior Prom. He'd waited until the last second to reserve a tux online, only to find out that he was actually a few hours too late. I was not pleased, to say the least. I had no choice but to take him to the mall to take care of it in person the next day, which happened to be Mother's Day. 

Fortunately, there were no problems getting the tux reserved, although the process took a lot longer than either of us expected. It was far too late to return to the church brunch, so we bought Wetzel's Pretzels for lunch and took a power-walk around the mall. It ended up being a lot of fun, albeit a very non-traditional way to celebrate. 

Mother's Day 2024 (affiliate link)

Mother's Day 2024 was not what I'd expected, but if parenting has taught me anything, it's that things don't always go as planned. As the tag at the bottom of my layout says, "Embrace the detour." That's exactly what we did that day. 

50 State Quarters Coloring Pages Featuring Ink and Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Remember the state quarters coloring pages I shared back in July? I colored those with my Ohuhu Kaalas. I chose four more states and challenged myself to color them using something different. Can you tell what I used? 

It's a bit of a trick question, because I actually used two different art supplies to color these. First, I used blending brushes to cover the large areas with dye-based ink (affiliate links here and below). 

Then I used Prismacolor colored pencils to blend colors over the ink base. That part was the most fun. My least favorite part was adding all of the leaves on Connecticut's Charter Oak. 

I love these coloring pages and am eager to keep going with more states. I'm going to color the next batch with a different medium, but I'm not sure what that will be yet. Stay tuned!

Model Magic Name Art

I'm back to crafting and excited to share my latest name art project! It was a lot of fun to make and is easy to do in the classroom or with other groups. Affiliate links below. 

Model Magic Name Art

Materials:

• white Model Magic
• parchment paper
• Folk Art paint
• Folk Art Extreme Glitter
• white cardstock
• craft glue

Steps:

Decide how large you want the finished name to be. Mine is about 5" x 1", which required a half-ounce of Model Magic. For longer names (or if you want a larger version, regardless of name length), add more Model Magic accordingly. 

Open your clay onto a piece of parchment paper. I used a cutting board because I had it out for another project, but parchment paper is a better choice, because you'll be able to paint your artwork directly on it. Divide the Model Magic into X pieces, based on the number of letters in your name. Some letters, like the I in my name, will need less clay. Add it to letters (like the N) that need more. 

Roll each ball into a snake, then shape it into the correct letters. 

Let the Model Magic dry completely, then turn it over to let the other side dry. Plan for a total of at least 24 hours of drying time. 

When it is completely dry, arrange your name on a piece of cardstock, then mark it and cut it to the desired size. Set the cardstock aside, then pick a paint palette.

Paint each letter with one of the colors. Let the paint dry. 

 

Select colors of Extreme Glitter to compliment your palette. Add a coat (or two!) to add a ton of sparkle. 

Use a small amount of glue to adhere each letter to the cardstock. 

I've been a fan of Extreme Glitter for many years and Plaid has just come out with a palette of pastels. I can't wait to give them a try! Any suggestions for what I should make?