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I just saw a recipe on Pinterest that I had totally forgotten about. Most preschools and elementary schools have used this art project because it is simple and fun. I see much potential to expand upon this as it captures the attention of young children. I plan on sharing it with all of my homeschooling friends.

To make the painted toast you will need the following ingredients:

• White bread
• Food coloring
• Milk
• Paintbrushes
• Plastic tablecloth
• Disposable cups

Follow these instructions to make your painted toast:

Step 1:
Cover your table with a new plastic tablecloth. They sell them at the Dollar Store. I always purchase extra because they come in handy during messy craft projects.

Step 2:
Pour ¼ of a cup of milk in each disposable cup. You need one cup for each color that you plan on making. I suggest at least doing red, blue, green, and yellow.

Step 3:
Drip 5 to 8 drops of food coloring in each cup and stir. If you want the color darker, add more food coloring.

Step 4:
Set two pieces of bread in front of each child. Give each child a paintbrush and allow them to paint a masterpiece on the bread.

Step 5:
Place the bread in the toaster long enough to dry up the colored milk, but not long enough to turn the bread brown.

Ideas:

• Give your child a few math problems and ask her to paint the answer on the bread.
• Have your child read a story and paint a scene from the story on the bread.
• Make the painted toast a science project. Leave one piece of painted bread out next to a piece of painted toast. Take notes as to whether the bread or the toast grows bacteria first.

How would you like to get a free Stella Artois Holiday Chalice? Once the free chalice arrives, you can fill it with goodies (like chocolates or a piece of jewelry) and wrap it with colored cellophane and give it as a gift to a friend, family member, or coworker. You can even give it alongside a nice bottle of champagne.

You must be 21 years old in order to request a free Stella Artois Holiday Chalice. When you get to the registration page, you'll need to enter your birth date to confirm that you are indeed old enough to continue. You'll also need to enter your zip code before clicking the red “Submit” button.

Fill out the form that pops up to get the free chalice. The form requires you to enter the code CPPFXHM, and you must type it in by hand. It won't accept anything that has been copied and pasted. This may be just to prevent robots from trying to request the free sample.

Your name, address and daytime phone number are also requested. At the bottom of the form you must check the box that states you agree to the terms and conditions of the offer. The other box, which for permission to contact you with future emails from the company, is optional. Click the red “Submit” button when you finish.

When you are all finished, you'll receive a "Thank You" message. The offer for the free chalice is good until December 31st, 2012 so make sure you take advantage of it before time runs out. Remember, shipping is free as well so there is no cost to you at all.

Apparently I might be in the minority after talking to a few people and reading some reviews, but I really liked the Sam Raimi movies. With the exception of the numerous problems of the third film, I liked the entire package deal of the Raimi trilogy and flipping over to a new production so soon was a choice I couldn’t really get excited over. While I’m not going to say this is a bad movie or the worst reboot, I will say that I don’t think it’s nearly as strong as the first Spider-Man film, and definitely can’t even touch the coattails of the second with Dr. Octopus.

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I could complain (well, I will) about the choice of actors for Peter Parker, Aunt May, and so on, but those are fairly superficial nitpicky details in the long run. Just to be clear though, Sally Field ain’t no Rosemary Harris. While I will flip back to the difference of Garfield VS Maguire, the thing that really trips up the film for me and sets a poor tone is the completely ineffective death of Uncle Ben. That’s sort of the linch pin of the entire origin story, and Cliff Robertson infused the role of Uncle Ben with just enough likability that you could understand the weight of the loss. While Martin Sheen didn’t outright suck, I certainly didn’t care when he died. Plus the gravity of Peter’s douchy decision to not stop the thief was taken away entirely in the way they presented it in this film. The comics and the first film make it quite clear; it is Peter’s fault that this happened, and it was obvious that the burglar was armed or at least dangerous. None of that is present here, so the guilt isn’t the same.  Also, seriously, the overall message I took from the film was that moral obligation was an excuse to not be a douche. That’s generally a weak way to teach ethics, Uncle Ben.  Would have been better to just say With Great Blah Blah Blah and leave it at that.

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Anywho, back to Garfield VS Maguire. This is where I find a particular distinction to be very important; Peter Parker is a not so ugly but certainly not sexy awkward nerd, not an awkwardly handsome yet kinda cool but smart geek. Maguire was perfect to me because in his acting even when Peter was cool (or thought he was cool), he was still a massively awkward little nerd. He was supposed to be the odd kid who gets bullied, the little guy who the young reader can identify. I just don't buy that from Garfield. He’s far to pretty to pull that off, and while he didn’t piss me off I also had trouble really giving a crap.

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I actually really liked Rhys Ifans as Curt Connors, but in the back of my head he was still overshadowed by my disappointment that we never got to see Dylan Baker as the Lizard in the Raimi productions. On top of that there was a complete and utterly unforgivable lack of JK Simmons and Bruce Campbell in this film, so it was kinda never going to measure up for me anyway.

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After the obligatory ‘Peter learns his powers’ montage (which wasn’t nearly as fun as the first Raimi movie), the rest of the film just turns into a videogame for me. While I think the fights were neat, they weren’t awesome cool like the Doc Ock fights in Spider-Man 2. I’m sorry that this is turning into a comparison game, but I think we all knew it was going to be anyway. The coming death of Capt. Stacey was painfully obvious to anyone vaguely familiar with the character, and I didn’t feel there was enough time or development to really feel the impact of it. The one thing I will give the movie (besides the allure of Emma Stone as a casting choice), was that they held back on the usual death of the villain, so kudos to that decision. I’m just not really feeling this revamp though, and while I don’t hate it I certainly can’t comprehend anyone saying it was better than the Raimi films. 

When people think of living their life to the fullest, the mind often settles on thoughts of a bucket list or something similar, focusing on all those things that we want to get done before we finish our time here on Earth. 

But there is more to living than just collecting experiences that are unique or dynamic.  There are thousands of little things going on every day that people often overlook, things that make life what it is in a day-to-day way.  It is these things that we should never forget to pay attention to, for avoiding the simple experiences can be just as bad as putting off the amazing ones.

If you don’t remember to enjoy each tiny piece of life, the forgotten can often return in the form of regrets - all those things you meant to get to but procrastinated until the chance was gone.  I’m talking about such simple experiences as spending time sleeping next to your pet before their time is up, or sleeping next to your son or daughter before they’re old enough to tell you to leave them alone. 

Or staying up all night to watch the sun rise with someone you care about, even though you have to work the next day.  Or listening to your grandparents talk about their lives before they’re no longer around to spin those tales.

There are too many distractions in our life and we are frequently told by those around us to “be responsible.”  Responsibility, however, comes with drawbacks, and those are often the excuses we use to not do those things we know we really want to.  We tell ourselves that we’ll get to it tomorrow, or that we’ll set aside time in the future.  We look at our empty wallets and then push aside having fun in favor of saving up for a bigger television set.  The less important things in life take precedence and we eventually become lost.

If you really want to fill out the best bucket list, there’s no reason to make a list at all.  Just stay aware of what’s gong on around you and remember to not put things off.  Don’t delay, even when responsibility calls you to do other things. 

Each one of us has a finite time on this planet, and we never know when we’re going to go or when someone close to us will no longer be in our lives.  Thus must we always stay conscious of the fact that as each moment passes it is gone forever and that how we experienced that moment was our own choice.