Paper Beads

 YOU'RE WONDERING? What part does a cricket play when it comes to paper beads? In this instance none at all. I happened to have seen it sitting on the fence and was able to get a shot of ONE of the chorus of crickets that have kept me awake at night.  
At first it reminded me of camping in the woods by a lake, communing with nature and all that.

BUT!

Hearing this every night ALL night is disturbing. Even during the day I thought I heard them because the sound had become embedded in my brain much like a favorite song gets stuck and you sing it over and over and ...  I'm not familiar with the life cycle and habits of crickets but I'm hoping they've about run their course.

National Geographic has beautiful color pictures. The articles are interesting also. I torn these 4 pages out of an old issue  to use as colorful paper beads. I have become fascinated by the ones I've seen on You Tube.



These are fish not well known to man. The red item is a plastic drinking straw.



These are photos of unusual fish. I suppose I should elaborate but I don't remember what I read about them.

The You Tube videos showed more than one way to roll a bead. Two of my favorites are:

Hectanooga 1 and BeyondBracelets.

It's not good to watch too many methods of doing something because then you get confused. I had planned to place glue on the entire sheet and then use the straw to roll it into one tube. Then I would cut it while it was still wet into tube beads. As you can see, I didn't do that. No Problem.

Fold down a small edge of one strip and begin rolling it around the straw. Once you are past the fold apply school glue down the entire strip and roll until you get to the end making sure to keep the paper straight and tight.

Since there was no glue placed on the fold where you began it will be easy to slide the bead off of the straw and lay it aside to dry.

I know I've left out some pictures of steps you should take, so I'll just put the You Tube version from Hectanooga1 right here.

These aren't the best photos in the world but here is the finished product.

THAT'S IT***

TORTILLA DESSERT CUPS

 This is supposed to be a low calorie dessert. Not that I was counting calories but simply wanted a sweet treat.
Here's the recipe:
3TBS sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
10 flour tortillas
1 pkg (8 oz.) reduced-fat cream cheese softened
1cup fat-free milk
1 pkg. (1 oz) sugar-free instant pudding mix (white chocolate or vanilla)
2 cups reduced-fat whipped topping
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips melted

In a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon.  Coat one side of each tortilla with nonstick cooking spray; sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar. Turn tortillas over; repeat on the other side. Cut each tortilla into four wedges.  For each dessert cup, place round eadge of one tortilla wedge in bottom of muffin cup, shaping sides to fit. Place a secong tortilla wedge in muffin cup allowing bottom and sides to overlap. Bake @ 350 degrees for 10 min. or until crisp and lightly browned.  Cool completely in pan.

For filling, beat cream cheese in a mixing bowl until smooth.  In another mixing bowl, beat milk and pudding mix on a low speed for 2 min.  Beat in cream cheese on low until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.  Cover and refrigerate for one hour.  Carefully remove cups from pan.  Pipe or spoon about 3 TBS filling into each cup.  Drizzle or pipe with melted chocolate.  Refrigerate for 5 minutes or until chocolate is set. Store in refrigerator.
Yield: 20 servings
Calories: 130
Fat: 4 gm
Carbs:19 gm

How I Did It

• I used a muffin pan instead of paper cupcake liners.
• I used less than 10 tortillas as specified in the recipe.
• After cuting each tortilla into wedges I had to cut each wedge again to fit it into the muffin cup.
• I used Almond milk instead of fat-free milk.
• There was no chocolate in the house so I skipped that step.

The dessert shells were tasty and satisfied my sweet tooth but not so great that I'd prepare it again. For all the time and effort spent it wasn't worth it.

THAT'S IT***

Seniors Line Dancing Competition

There were no judges but everyone was a winner. That had been predetermined at an earlier time. The event was held this past Wednesday, August 29th  at the Trussville Civic Center. Four groups from different senior centers were there to show off their line dancing skills.

Among them were the Fairfield Swinging Seniors. They took the stage clad in red long sleeved tee shirts, white slacks, white shoes and white gloves.  They danced to Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. Not sure if they planned it that way but August 29th  is the birth date of The King of Pop.


Representing Fairfield ,Alabama



Shepherd's Center East, Movers and Shakers

 Dressed in sleeveless sequined shells and draped with $ earrings and $ medallions the Movers and the Shakers didn't disappoint  dancing to Johnny Kemp's, Friday Night, Just Got Paid. Wearing jackets, positioned with their backs to the audience, two of the dancers threw off their jackets when the music began turned and threw money out into the audience. They were quite a hit with the audience as they performed their synchronization to the beat of the song.


Trussville's Best



Trussville's Best was right at home at their own civic center,  Their performance was precise as they danced to an upbeat arrangement  of  The Tennessee Waltz by Ireen Sheer. To this same music they were performing the Tennessee Waltz line dance. You can see an example of it by clicking the link above. After reviewing the dance I see now why one of the ladies was counting to herself the entire time. It wasn't out loud but I could see her mouth moving.   As most of these groups go there are usually very few men . This group had only one. He held his own and was a credit to the men.



Time Travelers

Men In Black was what came to mind when Time Travelers took to the stage. Outfitted in black slacks, vests,white shirts, ties and sunglasses their dance routine was elaborate and well timed. Dancing to Pit Bull's rap of , Back In Time the dancer's kept their grave expressions in keeping with the Men In Black III theme. Pit Bull mentions in his rap the very outfits the dancers are wearing. Like most rappers his beats are  samples from other artists. I recognized the background music immediately as Peaches and Herb singing Love Is Strange done to a disco beat. The song has been done by other artists  but the one done by Peaches and Herb's  is most memorable to me.

After all of the presentations the audience was to vote on who they thought was best. As mentioned before the MC stated that all groups would be part of the Master's Games that will take place in October . As the votes were tallied dancers and audience were invited to line dance to a variety of music.

Here's my first attempt at uploading a video. It's 59 seconds long.

THAT'S IT***