Fun in the Country~Movie Making: Props, Costumes, and a Recipe for Fake Blood (Not for the faint of heart!)

 These deadly looking fellows may someday have to protect your country..or maybe they will just produce the next generation of great action movies.  :o)  Jacob and Christian's friends spent several days out on our property working on a movie for Cody's movie making class. They had a great time and my boys even enlisted their 19 yr.old sister and their dad as 'extras'.  Too bad I didn't get photos of their friend Tim. He was there the first for the first filming but not the second one. I didn't get the camera out the first time.  You have to admit that it's a great way for teens to have fun in the country!

Really, these guys are quite harmless.  They spent a good week or two growing their five o'clock shadows for film-making purposes. The growth did make them look rather dangerous, but it was all strictly for effect. I was so glad when the whole process was finally over! I was beginning to get just a 'wee bit' afraid of my 18 yr.old!

I certainly wasn't afraid of Sean and Christian. They had a pretty hard time maintaining their characters in the bright lights of the camera. Tee-hee! Christian is the baby of our family, but don't tell him I told you so. He just turned 16 yesterday. Happy 16th Christian!!

You have seen these guys before..but clean shaven and dressed in suits. Believe it or not, they do most of their 'combat' with well placed arguments on the debate floor.   

One of the fringe benefits of living out in the country, is that your children's movie-making friends will covet your woods, barn, pasture, guns, cammo suits, flight suits, dirt roads and old blue pickup.  That means a fun overnight stay with all your buddies!  Could anyone ask for a better setting for a teenage produced 'action movie'?

But be forewarned that the mother of the house...(meaning me, of course), may be enlisted for some work in the kitchen. Cody, an expert in the art of fake blood production, requisitioned my cornstarch, cocoa powder, and lots of red food dye.

 Add cornstarch.

 

He got the perfect color but wasn't happy with the texture. I was glad to lend my cooking experience to the problem of how to get thicker 'blood'. 

 Then cocoa powder and red dye.

Stir in the water to make a smooth paste.

He had a great set of recipes to choose from, but it didn't take me long to realize  that what we were really  making was red-tinted cornstarch gravy.  

 Stir constantly while heating until thick and bubbly. Then cool.

What we needed was heat.  It cracked me up listening to Cody express his delight as the red slimy mixture thickened, while stirring over medium heat, to the perfect texture of blood. ( "Oh...SweeeeEET!!" )

I'm afraid the  pink Gerber daisy in the background could spoil the effect here. Oops...

I have to say that once he had finished applying his 'war paint', he had a face only a mother could love. (And I'm NOT his mother!)  But you have to admit that he looked pretty authentic for movie-making purposes.  I do believe he cleaned up before he and his buddies headed home.  After all, he does want to come back again next time.  :o)   

Looking forward to Cody's first action movie! Vive La Revolucion!

Here's the recipe we used...

Realistic Recipe

• 2/3 c. Corn Syrup
• 1/3 c. Warm Water
• 5 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 4 tsp red food coloring
• 1 Tbsp Powdered Cocoa
• 2 drops of green or yellow food coloring

Mix the corn starch with the water in a large mixing bowl using a whisk. Stir in the corn syrup. Add the food coloring slowly, checking for color.  

I added this step:  Heat the mixture over medium heat stirring constantly until thick.  Here is the link to other variations.  If your kids are in drama or acting, I hope this recipe will help you out. 

Do your kids like to dress up or act?

Happy Homemaking!

Decorating Grandma's Sugar Cookies..with recipe

You know...you just can't go to Grandma's and NOT make cookies although I was afraid we wouldn't quite make it that far with all the other things we did this week.

Is this play dough Grandma??

I think we need a little help!

Push real hard Brenan!

Colin, You're doing so good!!

Colin and Brenan had a great time rolling out, cutting, baking and decorating their sugar cookies.

The best part was putting chocolate chips all over the cookies.  I accidentally left the bag in front of Brenan for a minute. He had quite a few in his mouth when I got back to him. I must say they had a an even funner time eating them!

  Of course, their mommy had the thrilling task of cleaning up the boys...while I played with the baby...Tee!Hee!

Here's the recipe we used. We made one change. We substituted 1 tsp. cream of tarter and 1/2 baking soda for each teaspoon of baking powder called for because Brenan is allergic to corn starch. Frankly, my kids didn't care for the taste...but for the little guys...it was no problem. (I tasted a teeny bit of dough..by accident--Really! And it tasted fine to me. :o)

Grandma's Rolled Sugar Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
6 T. butter or margarine
1/3 c. shortening
3/4 c. shortening
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 T.Milk
1 t. vanilla

(Decorations are up to you. :o)

• Stir together flour, baking powder, and 1/4 t. salt.
• Beat butter and shortening for 30 seconds; add sugar and beat till fluffy. 
• Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well.
• Add dry ingredients to beaten mixture, beating till well combined.
• Cover and chill at least 3 hours. (We put our dough in a gallon zip bag, flattened it, and stuck it in the freezer. We took it out 30 minutes later and it worked just fine!)
• Working with 1/2 of the dough at a time, on a lightly floured surface roll to 1/8" thickness. (Ours was more like 1/4"..easier for little hands to pull off the extra dough and pick up to put on the cookie sheet.
• Cut into desired shapes.  Add decorations as desired.
• Place on an ungreased cookies sheet.
• Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 minutes or till done.
  

 Happy Homemaking!

Ten Fun and Frugal Summer Activities We did with the Grandkids!

 

Our fun thing to do where we live is feed the horse of course.

And you can always take a little drive into the country to feed one a little roadside grass...even if he isn't yours. :o)

The library is our very favorite spot though. Nice and cool. They have a million activities for every age from babies to adults!  Don't just go to your favorite library. Check our your county's calendar!  This picture is of the park behind the library. Parks are always a great frugal place to go too!

 

We drove about 30 minutes to Montgomery to their library to hear a great band called The Non-toxic Band. They were fabulous and write music just for kids! The kids laughed, sang, cheered and danced to every style of music imaginable!

 

Of course we also checked out books and played with the stuffed animals. :o)

Feed the Ducks--  Thank goodness..we live near the lake..but do you have a pond nearby? I don't think we've ever lived somewhere where you couldn't feed ducks.

Amanda with the boys...

 Grandma (me!) with my three grandsons, Colin, Brennan, and Nikolai Rodgers

Swimming is a great option whether you do it in a tub, a wading pool, or your local rec center!

Nikolai, my newest grandson (born on my birthday--Feb. 2nd!), swam in the tummy tub. I took him in the big pool too. He seems to like water an awful lot. :o)

Lena, my granddaughter, is a beach bum just like her mom and dad. We had such a great time Saturday swimming with all four grandkids and their parents. :o)


Lena in her bathing suit.



 How about some art? Drawing, Coloring, and Stamping are good for at least 15 minutes...

You can color, draw, or play with stamp sets.

How about a puppet show! Check out the internet for easy patterns for homemade puppets.

You can have a puppet show!  I bought this whole set with 15 puppets for $30.00 off of Craig's list!

 Playdough never gets old!

Refrigerator Magnets are fun even if you can't spell yet...

Or you can play with puzzles, magnet letters or playdough!

 

Or..you can try my most favorite summer activity of all...playing with the grandchildren!

Jacob Wins Debate Tournament!

 

I wish I had pictures from the tournament in Dallas to post, but Jacob is with Rebekah at the Reynolds' home getting ready for tomorrow's Mock Trial competition and he has the camera with all the pictures.

Ah well, for now you will have to settle for the trophies and a picture of us from last year.  I was home about five days and then had to leave to take Jacob to the DFW qualifier tournament.  He and Jasmine had a perfect record all the way up until finals. Of 58 teams, they were the only ones to have a perfect preliminary record of 6 wins and 0 losses!  They were the top rated team of the tournament! 

They didn't lose any rounds or judges in the outrounds...not even one until the semi-finals.  They will have to work on a few things in their case, but considering that Jasmine had a 104 fever the last day, I think they did fantastic!  I can't wait to post the sweet pictures of them with their trophies and of our whole club who all did really wonderful!

Even though they won 3rd place as a debate team out of 58 teams (which is great of course) it was a really special treat that Jacob won FIRST PLACE Speaker Award for Team Policy!! Since this was a Texas State Championship tournament, he automatically received a free invitation to the Texas Home School Coalition Banquet to whom former president George W. Bush has been invited.  They believe he will attend.  Jacob is thrilled.  He was given a standing ovation for his win and I was just about to burst!  Usually the 1st place speaker is one of the members of the winning team.  

Of course, he is already busily working at home to prepare for the next tournament.  He and his good friend, Cody Stevens, are working on a duo and he and Jasmine will be working very hard to make their case even better.  We finally got home on Tuesday night (my birthday), but that's for another post.  It's great to be home!