Friday, December 6, 2013

Mischief and Mayhem for the Office

I would say Altoids Tins but I'm using several different candy tins.

I have someone who is difficult to buy gifts for.  Or even make gifts for.  So this year I had the brainstorm to make him some office distractions that are hidden in Altoids Tins.  I went searching online.  After filtering out the thousands of survival tins, I only found a couple of good ideas.  Then my brother loaned me this book.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Weapons-Mass-Destruction-Implements/dp/1556529538/ref=la_B001IQZK50_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386356830&sr=1-1

After reading it avidly, I went and raided the Dollar Tree which provided even more ideas.  And because I had a few ideas for ammo and building supplies.

These tins fall into either the mischief or the mayhem category.  I'll leave it up to you to decide.  And I'm quite sure that there are several industrious folks out there that can come up with more ideas.

BTW, I still not done.  I'm working on a crossbow, make your own darts, dissection set, and catapult next.  And a certain brother is getting the 2nd book in the series for Christmas.


This is the blow dart set in a Godiva Chocolate Pearls tin.  The blow tubes are reusable plastic straws cut down to fit the tin.  And the small plastic sections can join two of the tubes together to make a longer blow tube.  The main ammo is toothpicks with the cellophane flags.  There are also a few plastic darts that I added.  Honestly, the toothpicks fly better and farther.


This is a pure silly version of darts.  The tips are made of some really sticky tacky material that sticks to most things.  I had to cut them down so that they are short enough to fit into the tin.  And I'll be adding pieces of plastic so that he can cut new fins when the cheap ones fall off.


Tower Blocks for those moments when you need to keep your hands busy, and quiet.  Or to just bust the boredom for 15 minutes or so.


Bubble Wars.  An ump may be needed.  The one who gets hit with the least bubbles wins.  Or is it the one who gets hit with the most?  (I'm thinking about doing a version with no pop bubbles as well.)


Water Balloon Slingshot.  That is a carabiner, rubber band and a piece of scrap hose.  The ammo is the water beads sold for use in flower vases.  While I'm not a good shot anymore, I am enough of one to verify that those beads will splat and explode just like water balloons.  That vase on your desk would make a great disguise for a ton of readily available ammo.  Just fill it with fake flowers.  Or perhaps blow darts with fake flowers attached.

So, any additional ideas?  And suggestions for the ones I'm already working on?


Sunday, December 1, 2013

Desserts

I used the first batch of the pie crust to make a sweet potato sonker.  It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either.  It was good enough that I was willing to eat a piece.  Well, half pieces once I realized just how much was in a piece.  But Munchkin didn't like the texture or flavor combination for some reason.  So I divvied up the last of it between a friend's family and my parents.  They all tried it and it again rated an "okay".  They would eat it if it was offered but weren't interested in making it.  Oh well.

So I'm going to try another recipe today.  And this one will actually be simpler for me to prepare.  Months ago I altered an apple mincemeat recipe so that it used pears.  Apples are a food allergy in this house.  The only thing I didn't add to the recipe was the nuts.  Then I canned it.

So this evening the crust will get used again to see what Munchkin thinks of the pear mincemeat.

I don't know that I will succeed in finding a pie dessert that Munchkin will eat but I'll try a few more recipes this year.

At Thanksgiving I brought some of his pumpkin doughnuts for his dessert.  We were all greatly amused when the first thing he did was take a bite out of each doughnut.  It's his way of ensuring that no one will take one, yet none of us have ever taken his food.  He was just being completely silly which was confirmed by the big grin that he gave us.

Munchkin was perfectly thrilled to get extra pumpkin doughnuts and cheerfully sat with the rest of us through dessert.  Maybe I'll just have to stick with cake like dessert for him.