The Zorro Club

School starting= apples for the teacher= this blog!
From ages 5-10 we lived across the street from a large Irish-Catholic family that had 8 kids. It was a very loosely run household. I remember the mom, Rosalie, had bright red hair and spent  all of her time sitting in an easy chair working crossword puzzles. Unless someone was dying she never stirred. My brother and I loved to go over because there were no rules! When my mother was at her wits' end with us- which was often- she let us go over.
We all started a club called the Zorro Club. We met in the cellar of their house. Our mascot was a black widow spider that they had found in the cellar, no less. It was dead and was stored in a small baby food jar of alcohol. It was produced at each meeting so we could all go "Ewwww!" The oldest sister was president and got to sit in the coveted old beat up easy chair and hold the macabre jar.
I must say as a group we rated right up there with "The Little Rascals!!"
Among many activities ( most of which we - my brother and I- got in trouble for) was one I remember vividly. It was the beginning of the school year and apples for the teacher were produced, along with poison ivy leaves. I wasn't in school yet but it was my job to rub the poison ivy leaves over the apples for the teachers as I was the only one who did not get poison ivy. So I am ashamed to say I did most of the dastardly deed. To this day I never eat apples given to me by students!!

Experiments

Cleaning out the fridge today made me think about various experiments I conducted in my younger years. I've always had a keen interest in science. When I was in grade school my BF at the time and I were the last two stops on the school bus route. So to fill the time we would bring little cups and foil wrapped packets of things we found interesting and would sit in the back of the bus,  mixing up crazy concoctions. They usually involved some vinegar and baking soda for excitement. The bus driver had no idea.
Then there was the mold experiment. I had a few dozen baby food jars with various colorful moldy foods. They lived under my bed (until my Mom found them!) I think she sniffed them out.
At another point I experimented burning various foods to see how much carbon was in them. Those also stayed under my bed until my Mom found them. She wondered where the cookie sheets had gone!
Cooking has always been viewed by me as a science experiment rather than an art. I tend to substitute weird things just to see what will happen.( It's usually not a good thing.)
Experimentation led me to become quite adept at drawing bruises using eye shadow. The only time in my life I ever called off work when I wasn't really sick I used this subterfuge. It was one of the worst ideas I ever had!! It was winter time and I said I had fallen on some ice. Then I created " bruises". For the whole next week I had to create eye shadow bruises that gradually changed color and then faded. Everyone was so concerned about me and I felt guilty as hell! It was terrible, terrible, terrible! Being deceitful is a lot of work! Lesson learned the hard way!
Then there was the "mind over matter" episodes. My sister and I were attempting to walk thru walls etc., by using our minds to become one with solid matter so we could ooze thru it. There were a few bruises  involved with that- for Becky especially. I can remember hearing the loud thuds from upstairs. She certainly gave it 100% effort!
I attempted to develop a love of science and independence in my daughters. At Christmas from age 12 on- I got them each a tool of some type. The idea was that they would learn to use them and become mechanically adept. When Elaine first found a hammer in her stocking, she cried. A few years later when she had the DVD player laying in a million pieces on the family room floor it all paid off. (She had taken it apart with her tools) She got it all back together with only one screw left over and it worked!
Leslie has repaired her own toilet, taken a microwave apart, and repaired her dryer among other things so I think it was a successful venture.
Still like experimenting!