Sunday, August 8, 2010

Making Scents


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Does anything smell better than roasted garlic? Cooking up a storm!  Some days I wake up feeling like cooking all day*.  It's not really about eating it, but the comfort of creating and the joy of immediate results.  I love to awaken my senses: sights, textures, sounds and scents of the experience.  My sensory-loving G LOVES to cook.  Cooking is where he started communicating early on.  Just my G and me - relaxed, laughing and taking it all in.  Exploring, creating, so much to talk about!  All 3 of my kids are comfortable in the kitchen. I've involved them in the process since they could sit up and watch.  I'd ask their opinions, give them tastes, then moved into pouring, measuring, gathering ingredients, reading recipes, chopping with a butter knife, etc. Their favorite tasks are smashing crackers in a baggie for crumb topping on casseroles, using the mixer and cracking eggs (carefully shell-checked by mom).  And tasting, of course.  We take periodic breaks to dance.  Gotta have music and movment therapy!
2 years ago - love G's choco-brow!
*Funny, but I never wake up feeling like CLEANING all day...  ;p

My DH is at work, my allergies are holding me prisoner indoors, so I sent the kids outside fly to their new kites.  Yup, after sharing G's Barbie kite all week, I was lucky enough to find a few on clearance at Meijer.  AND some swim goggles.  After weeks of listening to the kids fight over 2 pairs, I found some quality goggles for $5, not $20 like most of them seem to be.  Yippee!  We're happy until one gets lost again.  I find that no matter how many pool toys I have, we still seem to end up with 2, leaving 1 kid out.  Murphy's Law of Motherhood.

But, I digress.  Back to making scents, and senses.

Top food cooking scents IMO:
  • Roasting Garlic in Olive Oil   
  • http://www.celinabean.com/  Foodie site extraordinaire!
  • Brownies baking 
  • Coffee, strong enough to grow chest hair
  • Garlic Bread
  • Italian food
  • Garlicky New Dill Pickles 
  • Sauerkraut (yup, I'm Polish AND German)
  • Irish Beef Stew (and Irish)
  • Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Coconut
  • Any kind of Pie 
  • Roasting Turkey
  • Anything with Rosemary, Cilantro, Lemon, Butter or Cinnamon

Top scents, non-food:
  • Babies
  • Lavender - I love Johnson's for creating Lavender Bedtime baby shampoo. Combine babies + lavender = sweet!  What could be better?  AND, it calms and soothes them.
  • Lilacs
  • Campfires
  • BBQ Grill - does that belong in the food category?
  • Word burning craft sets - remember those fun, dangerous little gadgets?
  • //www.downrightcurious.com/


    Caps - remember cap guns?   
  • Burnt wooden matches 
  • Spring mornings
  • Autumn in Michigan
  • Burning leaves
  • Pine Christmas trees
  • Fresh-cut grass
  • Gasoline - yeah weird, I know
  • Aveda Products - I use a knock-off brand sold by Sally's - Aura
  • Pantene Hair products - my daughter's brand of choice
  • Neutrogena original scent
  • www.colgate.com/MurphyOilSoap
  • Murphy's Oil Soap
  • Men  ;}
  • Swimming pools
  • Fresh laundered towels
  • Sears (High School/College job.  It still takes me back when I walk through the doors of a Sears - a delightful mix of clothing, towels, furniture, major appliances, tires, paint, hardware, frozen cokes and hot pretzels)
  • New tennis shoes in a box
  • Hot-off-the-press printed materials (I miss press checks!)
  • Crayons
  • Pencil Shavings
  • Rubber Cement
  • Art Gum erasers    
  • http://www.carpediem.com/
  • Elmer's glue
  • Toxic, solvent-based markers - takes me back to art school.  Imagine a classroom with 20+ students, each drawing up a frenzied cloud with 100+ markers each...can you say BUZZ?  Yippee!  That's how creativity happens.  And you thought artists were born with talent.  :}
Studies show that our sense of smell is our strongest memory.  Use your imagination, chill and drift back in time...what do you smell?  What scents do you love?  Give your sensory child some new scents to explore.  They'll remember.

Sanford® ARTGUM Non-Abrasive Eraser, Two Per Pack
Award-winning
Michigan 4 Berry Pie 

http://www.michigan.org/


G, getting choco-sensory input - so much fun!

http://www.pantene.com/