April Fools Day!

If you need a good trick, you have come to the right place! Just follow these easy steps.

1. Collect as many as alarm clocks as possibly. The more piercing sound, the better.
   
2. Before you go to bed, hide the alarm clocks in your house and set them to a very early time.
3. When your victims wake up, they will be trying to find the alarm clocks.
   

What do You Flip For?

Is it music, or memories with your swim team? Share your story with Flip.com about your favorite cause or organization and get a chance at winning $5,000 towards your education!


Idea From Teen Strings March-May, What Do You Flip For?

Got Cracks on Your Fingertips?

If you have little cracks on your fingertips, I've got the right solution!

• First, you need to soak your hands in warm water for about 10 minutes.
• Then immediately coat them in lotion.
  
• Put gloves on to rehydrate the hands. It also keeps soaps, chemicals, and dust away from the cracks.
  

The heavier the lotion, the better. You can also use Vaseline. Or use a lotion or cream that has alphahydroxy acid.

The lotion may sting a little because of the cracks, but it will go away after a few days. It will take 2-4 weeks to produce noticeable results.

Summary From Teen Strings, March-May 2008, Handy Advice.

Getting Lucky in Vegas

A blonde walks up to a Coke machine in a Las Vegas casino, puts in a few coins, and out pops a Coke. She puts some more coins into the machine, and another can of soda pops out. She keeps putting in coins, and cans of soda keep coming out.

A guy walks up behind her and says, "Can I please use the machine?"

"Buzz off!" she says. "Can't you see I'm winning?"

Braille Lesson #1

	When you first look at something written in braille, all you see (or feel) is a jumble of dots! However, like any other code, braille is based on a logical system. Once you understand it, you'll be able to read and write braille easily. That's because braille is not a language, it's just another way to read and write English (or any other language, such as Japanese).

Every Sunday I will be posting a new lesson. First step to learning is to learn the alphabet, numbers and some punctuation. To make a number a number you need to put a number symbol in front of it (shown below.) You can use puff paint to write braille for now or you can buy a slate. To learn more information about braille visit the Braille Bug.

Braille Alphabet:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ! ' , - . ? Capital Numbers: # 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Riddle

Q. What always uses its hands to pass the time?


A. A Clock!

I learned this riddle from a friend.

Ice Cream Breakfast

In my family every birthday and Fourth of July we have a special breakfast. We make homemade waffles. For Birthdays we put vanilla ice cream on top with lots of topping too! On Fourth or July though, we have every bodies favorite ice cream, plus toppings! You should try this tradition too!

Teach Your Cat/Kitten To Sit and Lie Down!

For Sit: face your cat and hold a treat in front of him/her. Saying "sit" slowly move the treat slightly up and over its nose. As its head follows the treat, its back end will naturally go into a sit. Immediately give it a treat.

For Lie Down: While its in the sit position, take a treat in your fingers and move it slowly to the ground. As you do this say down. As soon as it goes down, give it the treat. Do not push the cat down, but put a little bit of pressure on the shoulders if you have to.

Egg Recipe

Today I learned how to make a new kind of egg. You will need one egg, salt, and pepper.

1. Place egg in a small saucepan, and add enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil. Cook for 3 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, toast bread. Butter, and then cut in half diagonally. Remove egg from saucepan. Briskly tap wider end of egg with the back of a spoon until shell cracks. Remove the cracked top with the spoon. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with the toast.

Blonde Joke

A blonde had just gotten a new sports car and was out for a drive when she accidentally cut off a truck driver. He motioned for her to pull over.

When she did, he got out of his truck and pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket. He drew a circle on the side of the road and gruffly commanded to the blonde, "Stand in that circle and DON'T MOVE!".

He then went to her car and cut up her leather seats. When he turned around she had a slight grin on her face, so he said, "Oh you think that's funny? Watch this!" He gets a baseball bat out of his truck and breaks every window in her car. When he turns and looks at her she has a smile on her face. He is getting really mad. He gets his knife back out and slices all her tires. Now she's laughing. The truck driver is really starting to lose it. He goes back to his truck and gets a can of gas, pours it on her car and sets it on fire. He turns around and she is laughing so hard she is about to fall down.

"What's so funny?" the truck driver asked the blonde.

She replied, "Every time you weren't looking, I stepped outside the circle!"

Teach Your Dog Some New Tricks!

Circle

With your dog facing you, take a treat and lead your dog's nose to the right and around your body. Let him follow the treat all the way around behind your back and around to the front. Give your dog the treat and praise him. He will be making a complete circle around you.

Shake

Start by having your dog sit. Say, "Shake hands," and take his paw with your hand. Hold his paw and say, "Good dog!" Let go of his paw. Do this a few times every day.

Wave

Your dog should know how to shake hands before learning this trick. Face your dog and hold out your hand as if you are going to shake. When your dog lifts her paw to shake, don't grab it, just pull back your hand, and say "Wave". Then give your dog a treat.

Make Butter

For this recipe you will need heavy whipping cream and salt. There are two ways you can make it. If you want it to be quick, use a hand mixer until the cream hardens and you see buttermilk. Pour the buttermilk out unit theres none left. You can also pour the cream in a jar and shake for about thirty minutes. then pour out the buttermilk. To top it or add some salt.

10 Things

1. I want to run a half marathon by my 16th birthday.
2. I want to be a engineer.
3. I want to take a trip to Hawaii.
4. I want to make into the youth symphony.
   
5. I plan on writing one post a day.
   
6. I want a summer job in Disneyland.
7. I want Dwarf Hamsters.
8. I want to design an outfit.
9. I have no desire to ride a horse.
10. I love to do track and jump the hurdles.
    

15 things about me

1. I love to play the violin.
2.My favorite color is red.
3. Collecting stamps is my hobby.
4. I love the Harry Potter books!
5. My favorite movie is Batman Begins
6. My favorite food is pepperoni pizza.
7. My favorite dessert is frozen yogurt.
8. I like to play volleyball, but I’m not on a team.
9. I also would like to learn how to fence (Sabre, Epee, Foil.)
10. I love to walk along the beach. It is so peaceful.
11. My favorite subject in school is science because of the experiments we do.
12. I want to grow a garden with fruits and veggies.
13. My favorite game is Master Mind.
14. My favorite fast food place at the moment is In-and Out.
15. Someday I want to run a marathon.

Umbrella

For this game you need 2 or more people, but the more people the more fun. Start out by saying something you would bring to the beach, but you are only aloud to bring it unless you say “ummm”. For example, “Ummm, a shirt.” When explaining the game don’t tell them they have to say “ummm.” Let them find it out on their own. Have fun!

Sugar Crystals

What you will need:

1. powdered sugar (dissolves easier than plain sugar)
2. boiling water
3. clear glass
4. cotton yarn
5. pencil
6. paper clip

Pour 1/4 cup hot water into a small mixing bowl and add enough sugar until absolutely no more will dissolve, approximately 1 cup. To form your crystals tie one piece of yarn to your pencil and a paper clip on the other end of the yarn. Pour the solution into the glass, and place the pencil on the rim of the glass with the weighted yarn in the solution. Several day later, as the water evaporates, you will see the crystal formations on the string. When the solution has evaporated completely they are done.

Brown Suger Brownies

Ingredients
2/3 cup butter
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 2/3 cup all-purpose
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Line it with parchment paper or dust it with flour.

1. Melt the butter in the microwave. Stir in the brown sugar and salt.
2. Add the vanilla and eggs to the brown sugar mixture. Stir until combined.
3. Add the flour and baking powder. Stir until combined again. Beat for two minutes.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until the brownies test done by sticking a toothpick or knife into the center of the pan. The brownies will be done when moist crumbs cling to the toothpick or knife. Let cool completely before cutting.

Fantasy Fudge

Prep: 10 min. plus cooling

cook : 15 min.

What you will need:

1. 3 cups of sugar
2. 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
3. 5 oz. can evaporated milk
4. 12 squares Baker’s Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, chopped
5. 7 oz. jar Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Cream
6. 1 cup chopped walnuts
7. 1 tsp. vanilla

Heat sugar, butter and evaporated milk to full rolling boil in 3-quart heavy saucepan on medium heat,stirring constantly. Boil on medium heat until candy thermometer reaches 234 F, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in chocolate and marshmallow cream until melted; stir in vanilla and walnuts.

Spread immediately in foil-lined 9-inch square pan. Cool at room temperature at least 4 hours; cut into 1 inch squares. Store in airlight container. Enjoy!

Slap

Playing the game
Shuffle the deck and deal out all cards. It’s okay if one person gets an extra card, just make sure you shift dealers every game. Do not look at the cards. Organize them in a pile and shuffle them. The player left of the dealer goes first (the non-dealer in a 2 player game). Each player take turns flipping the top card off their stock and placing them in the center (waste). The way to receive all the cards is to slap on a special combo of cards. Here is what you can slap on:

Same Suits: You may slap on the face up pile if the top card played is the same suit of the previous card.
Slap Jacks: You may slap on the face up pile if the top card played is a Jack.
Plus One:You may slap on the face up pile if the top card played is one card value higher than the previous card.
Even: You may slap on the face up pile if the top card played is equal value to the previous card.
Minus one: You may slap on the face up pile if the top card played is one card value lower than the previous card.
Sandwich: You may slap on the face up pile if the top card played is the same as the card below the one that was previously set. (So in a sandwich, say you lay down a 10 on a 5. If another 10 was below that 5, it is a legal slap)

If a player makes an illegal slap, they must place the top 2 cards off their stock on the bottom of the waste (face up).

When you make a legal slap, put all the cards from the waste on the bottom of your pile (face down).

Remember, the goal is to get all the cards.

Slap will have you and your opponents on the edge of your seats. It’s just that addictive!

Enjoy!

Spoons

Objective
To get four of a kind and take a spoon. Once one spoon is taken, everybody attempts to get the remaining spoons.
Play
From 3 to 8 players use a deck of 52 ordinary playing cards and a number of spoons totaling one fewer than the number of players. The spoons are placed in the center of the table with handles pointing outward so that they may be easily grabbed by any of the players. One person is designated first dealer and deals four cards to each player. Remaining cards are placed in a pile in front of the dealer to form the draw pile. The person to the left of the dealer is known as the trash can. Deal passes to the right each round, so that one round’s dealer becomes the next round’s trash can. Dealer starts the round by drawing a card from the draw pile and adding it in his hand so that he now has five cards. Dealer chooses one of these cards and discards it, passing it face down to the player at his right. That player will pick up the single card discarded by the dealer and discard one card to the player at his right, while dealer draws a new card from the draw pile and discards another card to his right. Gameplay continues thusly with cards being picked up, discarded, and passed counterclockwise around the table until a card is passed to the trash player. The trash picks up the card passed by the player at his left, but discards it to a discard pile instead of to the dealer. If the draw pile is depleted, the trash shuffles the discard pile and passes it to the dealer who uses it as the new draw pile.Each player is trying to make their four cards into a set of four of a kind (four queens, four twos, etc.) by drawing new cards and discarding unused ones. A player should keep the four cards that are most likely to produce a matching set. No player may have more than 5 cards or fewer than 4 cards at any given moment.As soon as any player has a set of four cards and has discarded to the player on her right, he or she is allowed to take a spoon from the pile in the middle of the table. As soon as any player grabs a spoon from the pile of spoons, any other player is allowed to take a spoon as well. This usually causes a mad grab for spoons leaving one player empty handed. The player who ends the round without a spoon loses that round, and is eliminated. When only two players remain, the first person to get four of a kind is declared the winner. A player losing a round for the first time earns the letter, then at the next loss the letter P, and so on gradually spelling out “S-P-O-O-N-S”. When a player has accumulated all six letters in “spoons”, they drop out of the game. At that time, the number of spoons used in game play is reduced by one. The game continues until only one person remains. That person is the winner.

Must Have Peanut Butter Cookies

What you will need:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup refrigerated Kirkland Organic Creamy Peanut Butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Beat butter, peanut butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in eggs. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir into batter until blended. Refrigerate 1 hour . Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in preheated 375 degrees Fahrenheit oven about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over bake.

Tip: the type of peanut butter and its temperature matters a lot

Makes 4 dozen cookies

Chocolate Clouds

What you will need:

3 egg whites, at room temperature

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp HERSHEY’S Cocoa

2 cups (12-ounce package) HERSHEY’S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit . Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl at high speed of electric mixer until sort peaks form. Gradually add sugar vanilla, beating well after each addition until stiff peaks hold, sugar is dissolved and mixture is glossy. Sift cocoa onto egg white mixture; gently fold just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or just until dry. Cool slightly; peel paper from cookies. Store, covered, at room temperature.

Makes 30 cookies

Exploratorium

One of my favorite hands on museums is the Exploratorium. This place is great for kids who are at least four. If you go, just outside the museum there is a perfect park with lots of grass, plenty of shade, and a pond for you to have lunch. Inside there is a snack bar and a fun gift shop. From Sacramento it is about 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive to get there. To learn more you can go to http://www.exploratorium.edu.

My two favorite exhibits are when you get to drink out of a toilet and watch a cow’s eye be dissected. I also thought being able to shock yourself was exciting. When I was there I learned a lot of interesting things, and at the same time I had tons of fun.

Here’ s what some other people think:

I liked trying to walk across the rocks in the special room without making any noise.

- Kachooo

I liked how everything was hands on!

- JJ

I liked having a picture of my shadow on the wall.

- Math Teacher

I liked how I was able to learn about lots of new things by touching.

- Chip

Hope you like the museum!!

10 Weird and Wacky Facts

1. If you yelled for eight years, seven months and six days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. That is a lot of yelling!
2. If you fart consistently for six years and nine months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. My dog could probably do that.
3. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories per hour!
4. Right handed people live, on average , nine years longer than left handed people.
5. Believe it or not, the only place sharks will not eat other sea animals, is what I call the ocean hospital. Small fish will eat diseases right off the sharks, even in their gills and mouth!! So if I was a sea animal, I would be one of those fish.
6. The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds.
7. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class. Think of what two olives would do!
8. Most toothpaste you brush your teeth with has seaweed in it. Yuck!!
9. It’s physically impossible for you to lick your elbow!
10. Last of all, In a traditional Greek restaurant it is impolite to not dance on the tables and not break the plates!! Now I really want to go to a Greek restaurant.

Hope you were amazed!

Pier 39

Pier 39 is my favorite place to go in San Francisco. They have over 100 cute shops that I like to go into. I remember one time I was in a toy store and little toy pigs were running all over the floor! They also have the best restaurants with beautiful views of the bay! My personal favorite restaurant is the Hard Rock Cafe because of all the music. My sister’s favorite part about Pier 39 was the street performers. One of my sisters got to go up and help one of the street performers! My other sister likes to watch the sea lions, but I like to spend time in the aquarium. My parents like how beautiful it is and the cool breeze you get down there.

Also there are a couple of Turbo Rides where you sit in a special seat that moves while you watch a movie. So it’s like you are in the movie! Or you could take a tour out to Alacataz- an inactive prison on a small island. If it gets to chilly outside you could always go into the Riptide Arcade or if the weather is nice, take a magic carpet adventure and then watch a video of your family on the adventure! But whatever you do make sure you bring a camera. Rain or shine Pier 39 has the right event for you!

What I Learned

I just learned that I am Really Dumb.I think you will to.

California Orange Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup butter, melted(really, I'm not lying)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
4 tablespoons grated orange
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Dash ground cinnamon
1 cup dark chocolate chips
yellow die(10 drops)
red die(2 drops)


1 C. Confectioners sugar
1 1/2 T. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla


Preheat oven to 350. Stir butter with sugar(large bowl.) Add juice, grated orange, and egg. Don't worry if it has lots of white specks in it(its supposed to have that.) Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. Pour in the powder mix into the other stuff. After its mixed in completely, add the chocolate chips. Plop cookies onto a buttered pan. They will not grow much, so you can put them pretty close together. Cook for about 10 minutes. After cooked immediately put them onto a cooling rack for about 10-15 minutes. While they are cooling you can make the drizzle. Mix all of those ingredients together and then when the cookies are completely cooled, drizzle on the glaze. Enjoy!

These are first place, state fair, award winning cookies I made from scratch!

Pendragon

When I finished the Harry Potter books, I was not reading any more because I missed it sooooo much. If your in this situation or just need an amazing book, read Pendragon. I believe this writer will be writing the Pendragon books for a long time. So you won't have to worry about running out of his books! Even though I just started them, I think there going to be better than Harry Potter!! Its about this 14 year old boy, who has a great life. Then all of a sudden, he's taken away from all of it, and has to go on a dangerous mission to save the world from falling into Halla (you find out what "Halla" is when you read the books.)

16 Track Training Procedures

I recently started track and I have learned a few things. Read on if you want to find out!

Track Training Procedures:

1. Stretch out
2. Run/jog a mile
3. 100 yards 50%-60% (how fast you go) sprint
   
4. 100 yards back peddle (jogging backwards)
5. 100 yards sideways jumping jacks
6. 100 yards high knees
7. 100 yards 60%-70% (how fast you go) sprint
   
8. 100 yards butt kicker
9. 50 yards lunges
10. Stretch out legs for 2 minutes
11. 50 yards lunges
12. 100 yards high skip
13. 100 yards 70%-80% (how fast you go) sprint
14. Run half a mile
15. Stretch out
16. High five random people because you are done!

I was really tired at first. Now I feel good and it's a piece of cake.

mr. picassohead

I thought making one of these picassohead thingys was fun. You should try it! These are mine: Good Friend and Green Bean! Go here to make you own! In the comments, make sure to put a link so I can see your's!

Zen or I-pod

I just got a Zen (mp3 player) because my I-pod was not working with our computer. Also, it was not functioning right. The Zen can be a lot cheaper (depends how much GB you ask for), and can have a lot more space then an I-pod. So if you do not like the I-pods or just don't have enough money, Zen might be the right thing for you! If you decide to get one, Comment on how it works.