What is THAT Splattered on the Floor?

You know the saying, "What do you do when life throws you lemons? You make lemonade."
Today has been one of those days.

Except I wasn't given lemons.
Try Splattered Nutella.
Yep, that yummy chocolate hazelnut spread.

I walked into the kitchen and splattered everywhere was a dark brown gooey like substance.
I took a couple of sniffs for fear of the worst.
Quickly assessed the situation and found:

Jie Jie jumping with joy with the brown goop spread up both arms to her elbows spraying it even closer to the ceiling above her.
Then she turned and I saw it caked across her face and nose, smudged into her shirt and splattered on her pants.
Another sniff to be sure, and then I saw the brand new opened jar of Nutella.
The 750g jar from Costco.
Half empty.

I started to take a step. The floor was a minefield of dark brown goo.

How in the world am I going to get to her?
How am I going to clean this up?
Where do I even start?
Plus a whole lot of other thoughts that I won't write.

Jie Jie showed me her hands and smiled. I cleaned off her arms at the sink while she giggled with delight. I sighed and debated on scolding her or laughing with her.

I remembered this post from a few years back. I ran out and grabbed the camera and took pictures. I remembered that although at this moment I was between tears and pulling my hair out, that in a few hours I would want to be showing my husband and laughing about it.

Oh, and by the way I forgot to mention that this all happened within a few minutes of having to leave for physical therapy.
We called and canceled.

The minefield. 

My cabinets...

I think she enjoyed herself.

We ate Nutella sandwiches instead.

I used some of the large globs near the jar. I just could
NOT waste it. It made for a nice snack.

My new saying? When life splatters Nutella at you, grab some bread and make a sandwich.

Any Nutella splattered at you lately? How did you make a "sandwich" out of it? 

Book Review: Gregor the Overlander

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

I enjoyed the book, though it took me a few chapters to really get into it. The language used by the Underlanders was fun to read. It was English, just grammatically different. 

To read a full review please click here. I read this for my Fill in the Gaps Project. 

Homeschool Wrap Up....Fall Field-trips

Not a lot of "schooling" went on this week in the sense of writing, reading, and counting. Instead, we had field-trips with the siblings (they were on Fall Break).
Pictures tell all...

Attended the parade to celebrate the 100th
Anniversary of the Republic of China.

Watched fireworks from our rooftop for the anniversary.
Okay, Jie Jie was actually sleeping, but GeGe and I watched.

Took the cable car with the glass bottom to the tea farms.
We didn't stay long because the kids were restless.

View of Taipei 101 from the top. That is a temple
on the left side of the photo.

Zoo trip...of course, we had to see the penguins. They
actually got in the water for us this time! Super happy!

Beach Time! Mei Mei playing in the sand.

GeGe body surfing.

Jie Jie thinks she is going snorkeling...

It was a good week, but now we have to retrain our brains back to the school-zone.

Homeschool Wrap Up...Apples and Writing

This is a bit late in posting, but here it is. We looked at apples this week and had fun with paint...

I got this cute letter matching game from here.
Jie Jie worked on this, but I found that her attention
span is something we need to lengthen. Reminding
myself that this is normal since we haven't had
"school" all summer. Retrain the brain. 

Counting. I drew very simple trees and put
apples on them and had her count them. Great
thing is that she gets 1-3 at 100%, so now I know
I need to challenge her with higher numbers. 

Writing. This was totally on her own. I
didn't even have my hand over hers. Still
needs work, but I'm seeing progress. We'll
work on more letters next week.

Japanese make the BEST stickers. I found
these at a stationary store so we could make...

...an apple counting book. She had to put
the stickers on the tree for each page.
We will cut the pages out and staple them.

Since the other two were home, Mei Mei
joined in the painting fun. I drew a simple
outline of a tree. They painted it in and added
apples by using their fingertips. We did this
in watercolor paints. (The lion outfits, are just
because they wanted to wear them...)

 My other two are on fall break this week. We will be doing some school work, but probably not as much as we would if they were in school. We plan to visit the zoo, go the beach, and some other fun things that can be "learning," too. 

How Will You Honor Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs died today.

I'm sure you have heard the news. It is probably the highest buzz on the social media right now. Everyone is in shock. Many want to pay tribute by posting his quotes, writing about him and his life work, and even going out to buy 1 or 2 iPhones in his honor.

The last one bothers me.

Who needs two iPhones? Really?

Okay, I'm right up there with thankfulness on the blessings of having any of Apple's i(whatever). The iPad has been really helpful with our daughter with special needs. She has a new way of communicating that is affordable to us. I could go on and tell you all the wonderful things that the i(fill in the blank) has been to us personally, but that is not what this is about.

When I read about people going out to buy an iPhone in his honor, I couldn't help but wonder if he'd really be pleased with that. From that question I wondered about what charity he was passionate about. I was surprised to find that he doesn't publicly donate. My mouth dropped, but I did some more digging, so don't judge yet because here is what I did find:
1. It's possible that he donated anonymously. His wife is on boards of a few nonprofit organizations. You can read more about that in this article by Andrew Ross Solkin.
2. Bono argued in a letter to the editor that Steve Jobs did give through Product Red. You can read about that in this article here.
3. Apple is a part of Product Red. Portions of all (Product)RED special edition iPod Nanos and iTune cards are given to Global Fund to help fund AIDS programs in Africa.  For more information on this part of Apple giving click here.

So, Steve Jobs did give.
So, back to my question of "Would he be pleased with people buying his products in honor of him?"

I'm not convinced that he would. From reading articles about him, I've gathered that he would love for you to buy the products to help you in your work and life, but not to honor him.
So, I'm challenging you with this: Wouldn't it be better to buy an i(fill in the blank) for someone that really needs it? Maybe a low income school could use a few iPads in the special ed department. Or maybe a community center could use some to help draw kids off of the streets. These are seriously at the top of my head and may seem lame, but think outside the box. Who could use one? If you don't have any ideas, there is an organization called Computers with Causes. Yes, you can donate a used or new iPad to them.

My point? Why honor someone by buying for yourself? Why not honor someone buy buying for someone that maybe wouldn't be able to buy it in the first place. (and I'm not talking about your 1-year old child, either. *grinning*)

RIP Steve Jobs!
Thanks for giving to the workplace, to entertainment, to the family, and to schools!

Book Review: A Single Shard

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

I read this book for Fill in the Gaps, so you will need to click here for a full review of it.