April Fun Days

If you are a follower of my blog you might remember a couple of years ago I posted the silly, quirky ‘holidays’ through out the year.  I think this is a time to bring some back.  We need some fun things to celebrate with all the bad news going on in the world.

So today is Pigs in a Blanket day.  Not cute little pigs in warm coverlets, no, I am talking about hotdogs baked in pastry.  Not a bad idea for supper tonight.

Tomorrow is National Telephone day.  So you might want to call a family member and wish them a Happy Telephone day and see what they are doing.

Sunday, April 26^th is Pretzel day.  Big pretzels, little pretzel, pretzel sticks or curved pretzels any pretzels you want.  I like my pretzel covered in cheese or chocolate (but not both).

National Superhero Day is Tuesday, April 28^th.  This is a good time to try out a new costume for Halloween and the best thing to do is dress up with your kids.  They will definitely think you are a superhero.   If nothing else have a superhero movie marathon.

If you are like me and are snacking a lot, then Wednesday, April 29^th is a day to work it off.  It is International Dance Day.  So put on some music and dance the day away.

April 30^th is International Jazz Day and National Raisin Day.  So turn on some music and jazz the day away (you could continue your Dance Day into today too) and munch on some nice sweet raisins as you listen.

If you like a general theme for the rest of April, it is National Humor Month, National Pet Month, National Pecan Month, as well as National Garden Month.  

So add some excitement to these stay at home days and celebrate.  Happy April.

©2020 Cheryl Fillion

Create a Puppet Show with Stick Puppets

With all these stay at home orders, I am hearing about a lot of people reading stories to children on Facebook and other venues.  What if we let the kids tell stories to adults and other stories?  Think of how Grandma would feel to have a story told to her from her grandchildren.  And what if they told their stories with puppets.

I am thinking about what I call stick puppets.  These are cardstock figures glued to a craft stick which allows the kids to move the figures around while telling a story. They are fun and easy and I bet you have everything needed right there in your home.

The first thing you need is a story. You could take a well known story or let the child create their own story. The fun part comes in creating your puppet.  The child can draw their puppet or do what I did and trace a cookie cutter figure and color that. 

To make the puppet you need some cardstock paper.  Don’t have any and the craft stores are closed?  How about some construction paper or copy paper?   The puppet can be drawn on that and then glued on some thin cardboard like the backside of an empty cereal box or tissue box.  In fact you can even use the outside of the box as the design for your puppet as I did in the picture below.  This way you are being creative and environmentally friendly. 





cardstock



paper and cardboard

tissue box


Now to hold and move your puppet, you need a handle.  A craft stick or clean, dry popsicle stick works great but so does a stick from the yard (one way to get the kids running outside) or a plastic straw or even a plastic knife, spoon or fork.  I taped the spoon and fork with the handle against the puppet because when I put the spoon or prongs of the fork against the puppet, it tended to lean backward. 



craft stick







twig stick

drinking straw

fork handle

Once you have all the puppets made to tell your story,, you are ready to entertain.  The child or who ever is doing the story might want to practice a few times before the performance.  Then it is time for opening night (or day).  Have the puppet show in person or video tape it on a phone or camera and send it by email or Facebook, whatever way you want it so those not living with you can enjoy it.

 

I hope everyone has fun making these puppets and being able to use your imagination.  I now need to figure out a story with 3 bunnies.  Have fun.

©2020 – Cheryl Fillion





And Here Come the UFOs

No, we are not being invaded by extra-terrestrials, I mean the Un-Finished Objects.   You know those projects you started and for some reason never finished.  If you are like me, you are under some type of stay at home (or shelter at home) order.  You go out for groceries or medicine and that is about it. 

I bet all of you have projects you started but hadn’t finished for some reason.  Or you have projects you bought all the supplies for but never got around to starting.  Well now is the time to work on them. 

Now I am sure some of you are like me and are working from home.  Or maybe you are helping the kids with their school work.  And that is enough to keep you occupied.  But please don’t do it all day.  It is good to add a little variety in your life right now.  Staying at home can become a bit monotonous.

Get out those projects you put away for some reason and work on them.  It will help occupy your time, give you a little variety in your activities and will –hopefully – bring back memories of happier less stressful times (like when you first started the project or bought the supplies.  Just think you can remember back to when you were able to go to a fabric, craft or art store.  I am teasing here, we will be able to do that again when this pandemic runs it course.)

Until then work on some project that will make you happy.  Remember last week’s blog talked about gratitude and I mentioned how having positive thoughts and emotions can help boost your immune system so this will help keep you happy and healthy. It will also make the time go by faster.  If nothing else concentrating on a project will keep you from thinking about this virus.

Now I do want to say this:  If you are having trouble concentrating right now, that is understandable.  I am now just getting into my sewing again.  It has been hard to focus.  What I did was I tried to do one little thing at a time.  I have been planning to do another red heart yoyo mat for my etsy shop.  So the first thing I did was get out the red and white yoyos and laid them out in the design I wanted.  The next day I started sewing the yoyos together.  And then after that I completed a couple of rows and sewed them together.  Every day I did a little bit more.  And eventually I completed it.

Once you get in the habit of doing a little bit, I bet you will start to want to do more and more.  As so many of my friends keep saying, this is a crazy time we are in.  And we have to be patient with ourselves and others.   One way to do that is work on something you enjoy and maybe finish a project you started a while ago.  Who knows by doing this, you might have a gift for someone or maybe even an entry in the next quilt show or art exhibit.

Oh, and by the way, I finished my yoyo heart mat.

 

©2020  Cheryl Fillion

 

 

Gratitude for your Health

Since all this social distancing has started I have been trying to find ways to keep me healthy physically and mostly emotionally.  One way to keep your spirits up and keep thinking happy positive thoughts is to look for the things in which you are grateful.

I have mentioned before in this blog that I teach at a local college.  For many years I gave an assignment called the Gratitude Inventory (I still use it occasionally when someone needs some extra credit).  The assignment was to “Make a list of 20 things for which you are grateful.  Think about your family, friends, and talents as topics of gratitude.  Look at your life.  Respond to something in the news that you are grateful happened or didn’t happen to you.  Gratitude does not have to be something dramatic and life changing.  You might just be grateful that it is Friday”.

 

Good idea, right?  But how does this help your health?  For one thing studies show that if you are consistently grateful for the things in your life, you see your life as something to take care of and so you develop habits which provide good health.  Studies also show that feeling thankful helps us cope with stress better.  All the positive feelings that gratitude brings boosts our immune system so we are less likely to get sick.

 

In situations like Covid 19 or any other tragedy, expressing gratitude develops a sense of community and belonging and that also helps when experiencing stress. Gratitude also gives a sense of empathy toward others.  You know what other people are going through so you are more likely to connect with other people.  This lessons your loneliness.

 

It is also hard to be unhappy when thinking of positive thoughts.  Positivity and optimism has also been shown to enhance your health.  People who express positive thoughts about a surgery for example tend to have a speedier recovery than those expressing negative thoughts or no thought at all about the surgery.

And have you ever noticed how when you are happy time seems to fly by.  That is definitely needed now when we face days or maybe weeks of social distancing. 

 

What is great about expressing gratitude is you don’t need any special time or tool to do it.  You can express gratitude in your mind or sharing it with others.  I post a daily gratitude list of 5 things each day on my personal Facebook page.   It makes me look for the good that happened that day and I am told it helps my Facebook Friends be reminded of what they are grateful for.

 

So if you haven’t already, start thinking of the things that you are thankful is happening to you or just in your life.   And especially do it when you begin to feel sad or that the situation feels hopeless.  It won’t fix everything but it will help you feel better.

 

(PS- Just so you know I wrote this as much a reminder to me to keep doing my gratitude lists as to tell you about gratitude.)

©2020 Cheryl Fillion