gak

Gak: a putty toy and a modeling compound of variable colors that has been sold for distribution to children. Useful for making fart noises, grossing out friends.

It sounded intriguing. A good project to help fill a long, lonely Saturday with two well rested girls and one tired me and a daddy off at work.

Our day began at 6 a.m. when a curly topped girl bounced into our bedroom and announced herself. "I'm awake!" she said and filled our room with stories and songs. "Get up," she ordered, pleading with us. So we did, slowly. Evie and I made our way to the kitchen to start breakfast while daddy got ready for work. In a matter of minutes Joyce announced herself and our day had begun.

After we had fancied ourselves for the day and filled our tummies with breakfast, I wrote up a brief shopping list using the gak recipe from ehow as my guide. Shoes and coats on, we piled into the black Toyota and drove through the cold drizzle to our local Walmart. Our list was small, 2 bottles of glue, which was good because poor Evie seemed to be experiencing some bladder issues which required frequent visits to the bathroom. Walmart bathrooms are not real bathrooms in my book. We opt for the mobile potty and it works well for us, though I'm sure people have wondered about my stops near the end of a parking lot to dump the content of the chair into snowbanks. "What is that lady doing?" I can imagine them thinking, just as I might think observing such a situation.

Home again. We unpacked our bags, set out the ingredients for our recipe and decorated the table and the girls in gak-proof decor. These things can get messy and we were prepared. Let the fun begin!

Step #1-

Empty bottle of glue into mixing bowl:

 

 

Step#2-

Add water to glue and stir until well mixed:

 

Well mixed glue/water mixture should look like this:

 

 

Step #3-

Add food coloring to create desired color: Green for Evie- Yellow for Joyce.

Step #

(This is where things start to get tricky)

Add 1T Borax to 1c. hot water and stir until dissolved.

Add an additional ½ teaspoon of borax to the solution and stir until the powder dissolves. Repeat this step until the water won't absorb any more borax. This solution is now saturated.

 



Step #5:

(Look out- mess ahead!)

Pour two tablespoons of borax mixture into the bowl with the water and the glue. Quickly whip the borax into the glue, stirring until you create a slimy ball of goop. If your gak is too sticky, add a bit more borax and blend it in, kneading the slime with your hands if necessary.

(note: This is much easier said than done. Adding the borax does not instantly create a ball. It can create lots of smallish gloppy pieces that do not want to stick to anything and simply swim in a lake of food-colored water. Lots and lots of kneading required.)

Repeat the procedure for each child present. Alternatively, children can mix the glue and water at their individual stations and you can distribute the borax solution, allowing them to mix it.

(note: Clothing may begin to be removed at this point as some individuals get too hot from kneading and others as their wild mixing makes a food-color splosion)

Product may be mixed exactly the same but turn out completely different in texture!

 

 

The resulting gak globs can be stored in plastic zipper bag  indefinitely. If properly stored, the slime will not dry out for several weeks. If the goop does dry slightly, it can be restored by adding a slight amount of water. Eventually, even with the most diligent efforts, the goop will dry up completely and it will have to be discarded.

 

 



snow day

From my cozy place in front of the fire I watch the snow fall. They are small flakes, difficult to see against the backdrop of naked tree tops and a great white sky. Small as they be, they fall together, each flake joining hands with another to cover the world.

The landscape is decorated in a frosty white. Every still object wears a top hat, proud and tall. Pine boughs dip low under the weight. Tree branches shed their covering as the wind gusts through, snow falling to the ground in a blast of icy smoke.

I do not feel the chill from here. It is warm and inviting beside the golden, dancing flames and I find myself repeatedly drawn back to this spot as the day goes on. As I type, my charges are otherwise occupied and I relish the sweetness of the moments that I can call my own.

In the stillness, I hear the swell of a bird song. Cheery, warbly notes sung back at the small flakes which land on a world that longs for spring. Though I could not see the bird in song, I well imagined his breast puffed out in defiance at the blast of winter, his head high, his little heart overflowing in praise. I smile at his courage his strength, though he is small.

Small flakes gather on the driveway that I helped to shovel at 5:30 a.m., making invisible the tracks that tell the story of the early morning. Cars and people, each on their separate paths, in the snowy dark hours of the early day. I watched them go, feeling a twinge of sorrow to be left behind. Yet, for the two sleepers who dreamed away under cozy blankets, I was needed.

Just one me, small yet needed. Just one in the millions who walk this earth. Insignificant? Not if I learn from the smallish snowflakes who do not seem to demand much, yet fulfill their purpose alongside their neighbor. I can hardly imagine a snowflake using their journey to compare themselves. "Maybe if I was shaped like that flake, I would enjoy this trip down." "Maybe if I was over there, instead of over here, things would be different." "What good can I do? Just one little flake with fears and flaws?" Their journey is not long, not worth wasting. Neither is mine.