Day 87

"Mahhh--omm" I knew I was in trouble as soon as I heard him calling and coming up the stairs.

You see, since daddy is living it up in Morocco, I have become the designated "parent who can do anything and everything". Usually that's daddy's esteemed position, and I am more than happy to allow him to bask in all of the glory that the position affords. Daddy is the one who glues and fixes and builds and creates and makes everything okay. Mommy just cooks, cleans, and launders. And, incidentally, this week Mommy takes out the trash and waters the trees/plants. Jobs I have decided I definitely DO NOT enjoy. But anyway........

As I was folding laundry, Payton called, and I knew he was going to ask me to do something that would normally fall under daddy's job description, and I was right.

"Mom, can you help me make a shuriken?"

"A what?"

"You know a shuriken. It's a throwing star."

"Oh, a SHURIKEN. Of course!" (What in the world is a shuriken?)

Those of you who know Payton will not be surprised to hear that he had already visited www.wikihow.com and found directions for making a shuriken (throwing star) out of paper. He came into the room armed with Jeff's laptop, scissors, and graph paper. Clearly, he thought this was something I could accomplish.

Evidently, Payton has missed all the blog posts where I state rather clearly that I am LESS crafty than a big rock. I didn't even know what a shuriken/throwing star was. Nor did I realize that it required a graduate degree in origami!!

But, lest I "shirk" my shuriken-making duty and since daddy's not here, I'm it. And so, armed with step by step directions from wikihow, Payton and I cut and folded and folded and measured. Then we folded some more and finally we finished folding. Have I mentioned that a paper throwing star requires quite a bit of FOLDING???

I had no idea that folding involved much more than merely..............folding. Like what the heck is a valley fold or a mountain fold?? I must have missed the "Fundamentals of Folding" class while I was at Cedarville!!

But I am happy to say that Payton and I stuck with it, and I am pleased to present............


Our teeny, tiny shuriken/throwing star! We had no idea it was going to be this small, but I am quite certain it could put the eyes out of some really slow mice or perhaps a cricket from the backyard.

I think Jeff will be proud!