Napkin Conversations

I got some napkins (I think at Walmart) that had conversation questions/topics on them. Lia and I would use these napkins at meal time and have a nice little chat. I would also bring them with me when eating at Thea’s house when her grandsons were there and do the same. Here are the questions and some of the answers I had or suggestions for talking with a kid.

You woke up as a 30 foot giant. What do you see today?

Pretty much the top of everything. Good way to get some specific descriptions going.

Share a mind blowing fact

Can be something you learned or the fact that you can touch your nose with your tongue…

Share your best joke

Mine has always been: If buttercups are yellow, what color are hiccups? Burple!

Tell me about your day and what made it OK

Real good one for dinner time conversations

What part of your day made waves, and what part was a total wipeout

This kind of goes along with the one above

What did you do to change the world today?

Could also be used to prompt what small ways a child can make a difference

What’s the most outrageous thing you saw today?

This might be a good one for after a trip to Walmart…

Swap Day! Who would you switch with and why?

I would usually say Queen Elizabeth, but it doesn’t have to be a celebrity. The why can be very interesting.

Growing up, we ALWAYS ate at the table for every meal, but I don’t remember any conversation. Ever. I find that kind of sad to look back on.

Multisyllabic Mumbo-Jumbo

I have always loved words. At one point in my life, words were my only close friends. I enjoyed taking a word and rearranging the letters to see how many other words I could make. I could only use the words given and only the numbers of the letters. If there was only one E in the words, I couldn’t make a word using more than one E. Same with the consonants. I couldn’t spell ‘yellow’ if there was only one L. Riding the school bus every day, I would see various signs and make words from the letters on the sign.

I don’t know when I started reading labels on food and other products just to see the weird ingredients. Food was pretty easy with only a few added things in the ingredients that needed explanation. Lotions and make-up had some very interesting words. I will list some things with ingredients I found interesting. When you actually look them up, they make sense sometimes.

Pickles:

Calcium chloride – anti-caking agent, stabilizer, thickening. I knew calcium meant milk, but the other thing confused me.

Sodium benzoate – a preservative. I knew sodium had to do with salt, so that made sense. Polysorbate 80 – a surfactant (?) and emulsifier (?) that helps other ingredients dissolve. Mainly used in cosmetic and beauty products! Why pickles?!?

Natural flavors – that doesn’t tell me anything! If it’s so natural, say what it is!!

Yellow 5 – these color things always amused me. Basically food coloring. I guess natural looking pickles aren’t appealing. Remember the big flap about Red Dye 5????

Equate body lotion: some of the ingredients sound scary but really aren’t.

Stearic acid, cetyl alcohol (thickening agents). Benzyl alcohol (preservative). Usually, something with the words ‘acid’ and ‘alcohol’ you don’t want to have on your skin.

Tapioca starch – I LOVE tapioca pudding! Here it’s a thickener. Don’t eat it!

Acrylates/C10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer – what a mouthful. It’s an aromatic thickener.

Aloe barbadensis leaf juice powder – another mouthful. Skin conditioning. Why powder and not juice?

Fragrance – another one that doesn’t tell you anything. Fragrance from what?

Most of the other body and face products have a lot of the same ingredients. It’s always good to know some of the stuff you are putting on and in your body.

Stayin’ Alive

I’m still recovering from surgery. Fully intend to do a real post next week. Stay tuned…