Here are the coolest things to do in Finland, as done, or at least researched, by me. From what to eat, to where to go and what to see: Visit Finland!

For those of you who have watched the show THE ADDAMS FAMILY, you know who cousin ITT is. My sisters and I, my daughter, AND my grandchildren, are all very fami…

Asian Cucumber Salad is made with rice vinegar, sesame, ginger, garlic and soy, cool and refreshing and pairs well with many things. It's vegan and gluten-free and is a nice addition to meals and bowls you are already making. Watch the video!

I had to get this set- the chair die is just so cool- I could think of so many things to do with it. I just think how cool would it be sitting on these chairs drinking some lemonade with a friend? But I realized there was no place to set the glasses. So I cut another chair turned it upside down and cut off the top section to make a matching table and now it feels perfect. Love the blossoms and the wooden deck - wood textures DSP. Used the old scallop punch to make subtle clouds in the sky behind. to make a beautiful day. The little glass with straw is from the same Colorful Seasons set- Diecut with the matching Seasonal Layers Thinlits

You've got to love eggs - healthy and nutritious and they come in their own biodegradable packaging. But rather than sling them out next time you whip up a cake or have a dippy egg, consider some alternative uses for the shells. Add to compost Eggshells give a great boost to soil, so rather than binning them, add them to your compost. The shells can take several years to break down, so give them a helping hand by crushing them up a little first. Garden pest deterrent Smashed egg shells are sharp and make for a difficult path for slugs and snails. Add some shards of egg shell around your delicate seedlings and it will keep them safe from hungry slugs- they hate sharp little bits of shell getting stuck to their undercarriage. Ditto cats. Sharp egg shells are not kind to little paw pads, so prevent the neighbourhood moggy from using your rose bed as a litter tray by scattering broken shells there. Feed to chickens Of course, the main benefit of keeping chickens is wonderful fresh eggs every morning. When we had our beloved chooks, we'd recycle their egg shells by feeding them back to them. To prevent any cross contamination of diseases, wash the shells thoroughly, bake in a low oven for 20 minutes or so and crush up the shells before adding to their feed. The grittiness helps them to digest and the calcium ensures a healthy supply of eggs. Don't do this if your chickens are poorly. Boost your pet's bones An egg shell is 95% calcium, so as well as benefiting chickens, you can feed it to your cat or dog too. Again, make sure they are clean and disease free first. Grind up the shells into a powder with a pestle and mortar, then add to their food. Add to baking This was a popular dietary boost in wartime, but there's no reason why you can't give your baking a little thrifty mineral boost still. Same rules apply about using disease-free, clean shells of course. Grind up your shells using a pestle and mortal into a fine powder. Sieve through a fine tea strainer or sieve, and add a teaspoon of the calcium rich powder to your bread baking. Whiten laundry A few egg shells added to a mesh laundry bag are said to whiten your whites. I've not tried this yet - let me know if you have. Scrub pans Eggshells make good abrasive scourers, so next time you've burnt something to the bottom of your pan and can't find a pan scourer, use some broken egg shells instead. Remember though they will scratch, so don't use on your finest china. Remove stains from cups Next time you notice your mugs have tea and coffee stains, instead of reaching for the bleach, try dropping an egg shell into each cup with some boiling water. The porous nature of the shell will absorb the stain and you can scrub stubborn stains away as above. Clear cloudy wine As a newish home brewer, this one excites me! Apparently broken egg shells can clear cloudy wine, so I'm definitely going to give this a go on my next batch. Start seedlings Surely much more attractive than an old toilet roll tube?! Line up your empty egg shells in an old egg carton, fill with compost and start of your veg seeds. Leave them on the window sill to germinate and when you're ready to plant on there's no need to disturb the root system as they can go straight in, the shells will break down in the soil. Posy vases Display pretty spring flowers, or a handful of daisies your child has picked for you in diminutive and delicate egg shells. Perfect for this time of year. Indoor plants Eggshells make beautiful natural containers, so make an arrangement of bulbs; ferns; mosses and tiny alpines as a centre piece to adorn your table. Free plant pots! Image credit: The Telegraph Cress heads I'm sure as a kid you must have done this? When your boiled egg is done, fill the shell with cotton wool and grow cress seeds. Perfect for children as they grow so quickly. See how Red Ted Art does it here. Seed bombs Because the shells are fragile and break down naturally, they are perfect to make seed bombs with. Scatter wild seed on barren wasteland or hard to reach areas of your garden and engage in a little guerrilla gardening. See my full tutorial for making seed bomb eggs here. Face mask Use the nutrients in an egg to nourish your skin. Grind up some shells and whisk together with an egg white to make a face mask. Leave on to dry, then rinse off to reveal tighter, glowing skin. Candles Melt down old candle stubs to make pretty candles in egg shells. You can reuse old metal retainers from tealights, and buy wick online. Be sure to use wick for a small diameter candle - the smell of burning eggshell is like burnt fingernails or hair: not pleasant! Moulds - candles, chocolate, jellies An alternative way to make a candle in an egg shell, is to use it as a mould like Red Ted Art has done here. You can also use thoroughly clean shells to pour in chocolate or jellies for a fun-shaped treat. Easter decorations Of course, the architypal use for eggshells is for pretty Easter decorations. Blowing your egg and then adding a hanging ribbon makes a beautiful display. You can leave the shells natural; colour them with dyes; paint them; add lace or fabric or let the kids loose on them with sparkles and glue. Add to paint for chalky effect Chalk paint is all the rage at the moment, but it can be terribly expensive. You can get a similar texture to your paint by adding ground egg shells to regular emulsion for a fraction of the price. Try making up a small batch in a tester pot. Use for mosaics Another classic kid's activity. Break up egg shells and use to glue onto card, making mosaic style designs. Use the shells natural or colour them first. Can you think of any more uses for them? I'd love you to share in the comments below.

You will need: 5mm circular needles (16inches) 5mm dpn 1 skein of Bernat Giggles Tickled Pink Tapestry needle Gauge: 24 rows x 20st = 4 inches Pattern: Cast on 76 stitches Join in round being car…

24 Knock Off Costume Titles That Are Just Too Good - We share because we care. A resource for sharing the latest memes, jokes and real stuff about parenting, relationships, food, and recipes

Hey guys! It's Erin from I'm Lovin' Lit and I'm so happy to be a part of this wonderful new blog! Today I'm going to talk about my feelings about the first day of middle school. Whether you're a new teacher, new to middle school, or just pressing the reset button for the year, I hope you find some new and different things to think about because, well, I'm somewhat opinionated! :) What to Do (and What Not to Do) on the First Day of Middle School Let's start with what NOT to do, shall we? Do NOT: 1. Spend the entire 50 minute period discussing your rules, expectations, and telling kids about what they'll be doing this year. *YAWN* 2. Do that "elementary thang" and have your class (community of learners) collaboratively come up with a list of rules and expectations and discuss the meaning and need for rules, blah blah blah. DON'T. You really don't need to do that. Third grade? SURE! Middle school? NOT. 3. Spend over half of your time doing some really complicated and/or awkward ICE BREAKER type activity where the students are forced to completely leave their comfort zone by speaking in front of the entire class or even making a fool of themselves in front of a hand full of not-familiar classmates. Seriously. Have you NOT been a middle schooler before?! 4. Ask students GENERICALLY to a) write a paragraph about or b) tell the class (EVEN WORSE) about "what they did" or "where they went" on summer vacation. RESIST THE TEMPTATION. DON'T DO IT. Now that you're not doing those things above (you're not still thinking about it, are you?) here are *MY* suggestions on what to do the first day of school. These numbers will coordinate with and complement the numbers above. DO: 1. Spend a reasonable portion (definitely half) of the class time introducing yourself (briefly, you can tell more later) and laying out the expectations that are most important to you. Keep it simple for the first day. The students need to know especially these things: a) How to enter and leave my room. (Wait at the door/line up in hall until invited in; leave only after *I* dismiss, not the bell.)b) What to do when you walk in the door every day. (bell ringer, DOL, sponge, daily, whatever you like to call it - you should have SOMETHING but keep it SIMPLE and SHORT)c) What supplies you'll need to buy (if a list was not provided) or which supplies should be labeled for your class and any instructions on using supplies or storing any of them in locker for later use.As far as I am concerned, most of the other stuff can wait. These kids are being bombarded today by 7 or 8 different teachers. Take it easy. Give them the most important information ONLY. 2.TELL THEM your expectations. They don't need to formulate them with you. These kids know why there are rules, and they don't need to come up with 8 different "community" rules for each class. Can that stuff and just tell the kids what you want/expect from them. Consequences/rewards/etc. You know, just the most important stuff for now. 3. Do something ACADEMIC. Teach a little bitty mini lesson. Give students a PREVIEW of how you teach. Isn't that better than just telling them about it? Just a little tiny lesson. Ten minute quickie. This is important because it SETS THE TONE for the rest of the year. You know I'm all about hidden messages, right? Doing something academic on that first day carries the message "We are here to learn about literature (insert your subject) and we are not wasting any time getting there!" And save those group activities for another day. These middle schoolers are overly-concerned about whether or not their hair is still "just right" or how their shirt looks from the back or WHATEVER. Give them a break and save the "in front of the class" stuff for later. Those ice breakers are totally lame. Yes, even that one you found on Pinterest. If you can SOMEHOW mesh that icebreaker with something academic, I *might* approve. But be careful. Pointless ice breakers are.. well.. pointless. 4. OK - Let's review. Now that you've outlined your most important procedures and expectations and done something ACADEMIC, you really, really want to do something summer related? OK. Fine. You can - just be careful how you word this. Some of your students toured Europe over the summer. Some of your students spent the entire summer walking two miles a day in the heat to participate in the free lunch summer program. Some of your students didn't leave the neighborhood. Some of your students went to Disney World AND Schlitterbahn. Get my drift? Let's not outline these differences on the first day. If you want to do something about SUMMER, word it in a better way. Here are some suggestions: Who did you enjoy spending time with the most over the summer? or What did you do on the FIRST day of summer (or the LAST day) - {more likely to NOT be one of the things mentioned above} or If you had one extra week of summer, what would be the perfect way to spend it? All of these are, of course, my own opinions, and we all know what opinions are like.. everyone has one, right? I honestly hope I've at least given you some things to consider before you start your year, whether it's your first or your tenth. Some of my opinions might not mesh with your style, and that's okay. Some of yours might not mesh with mine. Thanks for reading, and get to planning that PERFECT first day!

The kids can create their own labels

Live Life Happy – Choose people who choose you. – Unknown The post Choose People Who Choose appeared first on Live Life Happy.

Yes, there are times when I think that it just sucks being an above-the-knee amputee. Obviously. And often this feeling creeps up on me when I am around my kids (three lovely kids, the youngest one is almost five, the other two are eleven and fourteen). When I want to do things with them and have the feeling that my amputation sets unwanted limits. When the fact that I have an artificial leg seems to dictate what I can and cannot do with them.

How to Make a Case for Your DS Lite Games: I wanted a case for all my games to keep in the house, so I could store their plastic boxes out-of-sight, but all the cases I found online would only hold 8. This isn't meant for travel, since it holds so many games. However, you can alter everythin…

Supplies needed: Acrylic dabbers, photocopy of an image, water spritzer bottle, paintbrush, card stock, craft sheet and heat tool (optional) Take the lid off the dabbers and brush the paint onto the card stock, ensure you get a good coverage Take your photocopied image ( remember that you will get a reverse of the image, so don't use bold words), flip it over and place it in the acrylic. Lightly press it down making sure it's smooth and not wrinkled Leave to air dry for at least 15 minutes and then if you wish give it a blast with the heat tool Only move onto this step when you are sure your paint is completely dry Take your water filled spritzer bottle, spray the back of the paper no more than two squirts, you don't want it too wet Next start to rub the paper very gently with your finger Keep rubbing and extra spritzing if you need too Eventually you will get rid of all the paper, but it does take a bit of patience as you have to be careful not to wet it too much and rub the image away You can do exactly the same on a canvas Apparently the paint in the acrylic dabbers is slightly different to other acrylics as it is more chalky and that's why the transfers work best with these paints. But you can use other mediums. I tried it with Jo Sonia's background paints but didn't get such a good effect