Wisdom Wears Neon Pyjamas

Here’s a really easy and fun project I recently did with my kiddies. It’s so quick and painless, you’ll still have these diyas ready in time for Diwali!

You will need:

1. Different colors of play dough or plasticine (strips are easier than tubs)
2. Tea lights
3. Plastic flowers and buttons for decoration
4. A rolling board or similar flat surface
5. Your hands
6. The willingness to get them messy

Here’s how:

1. Tear a strip of plasticine and roll into a thickness roughly half the width of the tea light. Recommended approximate length is 5 inches. Ensure it is equally thick at every point. If a 3-year-old squeals that it reminds her of a snake, you’re on the right track.
2. Wrap the “snake” around the tea light so that it winds twice and covers the exterior entirely. If you have plasticine left over, snip it off e-x-t-e-r-m-i-n-a-t-e.
3. Press plastic flowers and buttons into the plasticine to decorate. About 3 of each work well.
4. Repeat with other tea lights
5. Light up!
6. Happy Diwali

[Credits: OJ and her Canon PowerShot SX120 IS]
P.S. The tea lights in the picture above were decorated by children, hence they aren’t technically perfect. If you’re the anal sort, you may want to do it all yourself. Lookin’ good, Ebenezer?

P.P.S. I’m adding this to the Diwali Dhamaka carnival over at The Keybunch, where all these Supernovas of Creativity conspire to make me feel like a bumbling lowlife. Yeaaah, take that, Supernovas! I can be all craftsy too! 😎

P.P.P.S. :cool:<—Notice my Tom Fords?

The first book, they say, is at least somewhat autobiographical. Only once that’s out of the way can a writer look outward for inspiration. So, after the release of Bringing Up Vasu: That First Year, Parul Sharma, fellow blogger, India Helps colleague and general fun person, offers us her second book, quite unrelated to baby talk. And lucky you, By the Water Cooler, the book, is preceded by By the Water Cooler, the contest!

Here’s what you do to win an autographed copy of the book:

• Write a post, telling a story or an anecdote based in an office. It could be about you, your spouse, kids, neighbor, whoever – it just needs to be based in an office. It can be funny, serious, somewhere in between, but it needs to be based in an office. It can feature a single protagonist or multiple characters, but it…yes, I know, you got it.
• Link to Parul’s post in the body of yours
• Put By The Water Cooler in the title of your post
• Leave Parul a link to your post in the comments section of hers
• If you don’t have a blog, leave your entry in her comments section and it will be counted

PRIZES – Five autographed copies of By The Water Cooler are up for grabs. The five best entries will be decided by our author’s spouse, “the esteemed M”, so she reminds you to please pick your grouses with him.

LAST DATE FOR ENTRIES – October 31st, 2010. So get on it, will ya?

Okay then, Madame P, fork one over with that promised bribe of Leonidas pralines. 😛

Make her rich, people. I needs them pralines. Thank you muchly.

(Piece-o’-shit.)

…who landed here by asking this:

Did you get an answer?

Just curious.

***

And to the one who thinks

It may help to know that we are many things (including clever at avoiding proper posts), but tacky is not one of ’em.

Nylon *shudder*

Thank you and good night. 🙂

Yup, we’re pretty inclusive around here.

~~~~~~~

Now excuse me while I crawl back under the covers and wallow in unspecific stomach bug misery.

P.S. 😦

So confess, how many of you actually glance over at the sidebar on this page?

For those who don’t, read this:

India Helps is now also on Twitter. We’re at https://twitter.com/IndiaHelps. If you’re a fellow Twitterer, follow us for updates and ways to learn how you can help. We’re likely to be most active during and immediately after a disaster, but do keep yourself in the loop because we’ll have regular updates too. Already, we’re looking for a physiotherapist in the Vikhroli, Mumbai, area for a 26/11 victim and a monsoon shelter for our pavement school children. Please spread the word, retweet and help us help India.

Many thanks to Chandni, who’s already twittered about us and puts up so many of our causes on her Fund-a-Cause page.

Thank you for your time, people. Regular programming resumes tomorrow.

It’s happened. The much-dreaded death of a laptop battery.  She went peacefully, I’d say. Lingered some, let out three rasping breaths, and then turned her lights off forever.

As with most passings-on, I am slightly numb. Disoriented. And, of course, right about when I have so much to say, bereft of a laptop and sanity.

I hope to return in a while. On my own computer. Because hammering at keys on my family PC in a room smelling of the sibling’s old clothes at the height of summer is more than I can take. Of course I love you. But not that much.

Back in a bit. I hope. And even if I bounce back in a jiffy, this will, in ways unclear even to me, have been the end of an era.

Now pass me the darn tissue, will ya? 😥

……..if this is what people use to find it.

And again:

I’m sure there’s someone out there saying poops oops right this minute.