Laura's Rebel Journey

  The chickens weren't keen on pumpkin, unfortunately.  So this pumpkin was a bit of a fail! So we went in a different direction and decided to get them to carve something they enjoy eating. Chickens carving a watermelon!  They loved this.

 Carve a Pumpkin. Hmm.  Very brief instructions there.  I had planned that this year I wouldn't carve a pumpkin, instead I would do one of those non-carving decorations and follow up with use your pumpkin scraps in a recipe .  But then I went on Instagram and found an even better way to carve a pumpkin. Get your hens to do it! The instructions don't say that I have to carve the pumpkin with regular carving tools. 😉 You have to start the pumpkin off for them as they find the skin too tough, so a brief paring of the skin and it's into the chicken run. Go on ladies, snack away! This may take a few days and it will need a good clean afterwards.

  Do some Halloween related baking.   I made 30 of these for the Halloween Disco and forgot to take a photo of them.  However, having to redo the bake to take a photo, I realised that this also counts as a batch bake of 12 identical items for the Baker badge. They're not completely identical, but for me it's quite impressive.  Besides, I always bake with my daughter and I'd rather she enjoyed the process than taking over from her and being obsessive about the accuracy.

 Here's the thing.  Our house has reflected light on the window all day .  It starts with the sunrise, and even after the sun has moved, there are no houses opposite to block the light.  Then the night time arrives, and we are flooded by street light.  I can never take photos of our window at Halloween or at Christmas.  I have decorated the window as I do every year because Halloween is awesome and rocks so much harder than Christmas. Then, when it comes to posting online, it's really hard to get the street name out of the picture as it reflects no matter where you stand. 💀 Instead of our house, I give you a house on the nearby street.  They are American and they know how to do this properly.

This is "Read a Gothic Novel and review it" .  I didn't think was a clause I'd complete, but I ended up in Waterstones on the first day of our holiday and decided to buy Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia purely to tick off this clause.  💀There will now be Spoilers.💀 It was a really quick read, which was unexpected.  I don't read that much horror, I went through a phase of reading all of Anne Rice's books, but I doubt I'd have picked this up without the Rebel Badge Club encouraging me to read a gothic novel.  I enjoyed the spooky premise of a house that won't let you leave, but I wasn't as creeped out as some people who have reviewed it on Goodreads.  The heroine, Noemi, was also a character that I was happy to support, a badly drawn main character juts ruins a good book. The worst part of it for me wasn't where Noemi's dreams were being taken over by the house, but the very human support for eugenics by the patriarch of the family....

 Use Autumn leaves for a beautiful photo or craft. Oh, how badly this one went wrong! I saw some lovely autumn leaves on holiday, and was particularly drawn to the ones that had fallen in the rain and were being reflected so beautifully in the puddles between the cobbles.  I took loads of pictures of them, and with my daughter walking through them. My phone's camera, however, failed to capture what I was seeing. I didn't even manage to include the rather lovely bench either, so this is the best of a really bad bunch. Not to worry, I thought, I plan to visit the Botanical Garden and that's bound to have some lovely autumn leaves. No. It decided to pour with rain instead, so that didn't work out either.  I am claiming this one because I tried my best, even if it wasn't successful.

 The eighth choice on the Halloween Challenge is " Take a group of children trick or treating, or host a Halloween party ".  Now, I was going to wait until the 31st to claim this clause after I'd taken my daughter and her friends out to go begging candy from strangers, but then I realised what I'd just done - organised the school's Halloween Disco!  If organising three discos for over 320 children doesn't count as " Host a Halloween Party " I don't know what does. 👻💀  Everyone loves the Halloween Disco and this was the first one we've had since 2019.  Each session sold out in a week and there were some rather annoyed parents who weren't quick enough to buy tickets and ended up getting grief from their parents.  The lucky children had a fabulous time.  Foam, cakes, candy, and even some glowsticks.  That won't happen again, I don't agree with single use plastics!

 This is my attempt at following a banana bread recipe that has been created as gluten and diary free.  Usually I take a regular recipe and swap out the ingredients.  I wish I'd stuck with that for this banana bread.  For some reason the cinnamon sunk to a thick band half way through the bread.  I assumed this would be fine, who doesn't love a cinnamon swirl? Well, me.  I no longer like a cinnamon swirl.  It was bitter and ruined the bread.  Still, it's a type of bread, I baked it and it counts towards the three breads required for this part of the Badge. They don't need to be successful, they just need to be attempted. I expect breads number 2 and 3 will be one of those shop bought mixes and fed to the rest of the family.

All eight Clauses have to be completed to gain this Badge.  Seven of them are totally doable, the eighth? Not so much.  Visit a Planetarium, Observatory or Science Centre.   I've done all these things in the past and more than once, theoretically I could just back date it and be done with it. I will be visiting a science centre (if all goes to plan) at Easter, so perhaps I will just not let myself buy the badge until then.  Either way, I won't be completing Clause 8 during the three months that I'm going to be doing this Badge, time and finances mean this isn't an option.  I'm still Consciously Consumering until the end of December, and beyond at this rate! Clause 1 - create a two month log book and observe the night sky twice a week .  I'm going to put the log book in my planner so everything is together.  As I'll be starting from November I will make this after I've made my November journalling spreads. Clause 2 - research any astronomical events ...

 I have made a small start on the Baker badge this week.  Clause 2 - At least three types of cake Rock Cakes Carrot Cake   Everything I make will have to be both Gluten Free and Dairy Free, which will make some of these clauses a little tricky.  Also, I have to make things that will be eaten by the family and not wasted, so I may need to adapt some of the clauses to make them fit our situation. I also made a Classic Pudding (Clause 4), an apple crumble, but I forgot to take a photo. I can make another. Clause 1 is three different types of bread.  I personally hadn't considered banana bread as an option, but I've seem other people on the forum including banana bread. The plan is to make one next week, bananas are ripening as we speak!

 Right, this is the Badge from the Wellness section that I have chosen to do for the 1st Birthday quarterly challenge.  You have to pick four of the things on the list and do them regularly over a four-month period.  These are the four that I have chosen. Clause 2 - Sleep - work out the optimum amount of nightly sleep and aim to get it at least 5 times a week .  For me this has to be eight hours at least.  On a school day I wake up at 6:45am, ideally, I need to be asleep by 10:45.  During weekends and holidays I might wake up a little later, so the bedtime is movable. Clause 3 - Bedtime - experiment with your bedtime routine - scents, white noise, temperature, lighting, screentime etc.   I hate white noise, so I'm not experimenting with that.  I already have lowered lighting and I need to have a window open at least a crack otherwise I wake up with a headache and it pisses off my eczema.  Scents don't really work, although I have a lavender...

 Saturday 8th October 2022 Nerina Pallot at Storey's Field, Cambridge I'm not sure how to start this.  How do I critically review Nerina except to say that it was wonderful?  I can't recall the last time I went to a gig, it was certainly the first time that A & B have had a babysitter that wasn't a grandparent, so it was already a memorable day. She had chosen her own support act, which she told the audience doesn't always happen, and she had chosen well.  They were a wife and husband band that started during the first Lockdown.  They apologised that this had caused more sober songs than upbeat songs, but let's face it, Lockdown was a sober time.  THe band is called T.I.G.Y. which stands for ' Thoughts I Give You'. I enjoyed them hnd bought their C.D.  Supporting a small business and being a Conscious Consumer! 😉 Nerina's set started at 9pm.  She came on stage, picked up a guitar and... there was no mic!  She chatted away while the sound...

 Time for a new quarterly mission! Complete one badge from every section of the book Make a birthday cake and eat a slice Learn to sing or sign Happy Birthday in another language Make a Rebel birthday card and share it on the group! The badges I'm choosing are -  Creative - I'm counting Critic as this is ongoing in this time period Global - I'm counting Conscious Consumer as this is ongoing in this time period Grown Up - Baker .  Happy to use this challenge as a reason to complete baker. Self Aware - My Collection .  I really need to sort this out and not just keep adding things to the collection! Wellness - Self Care .  I feel most of these Clauses are doable. Wild - Stargazer .  I'd planned to start this in the Autumn anyway. Making a birthday cake and eating a slice will be easy, this is my birthday month! I'm going to get my friend to teach me the song in Welsh. I'm sure I can come up with something!

 Holding myself accountable with a Badge Work update to head into October. CRAFT - over three months try five activities. I'm working on this badge through August, September and October. I have completed projects in felting, weaving, origami and block printing. So many ginger cats! The block printing was a Craft Along raising money for the Cats Protection League - Craft for Cats .  It was brilliant!  I immediately went and bought some more kits from The Arty Crafty Place to make Christmas presents. I'm still working on my Desert Escape cross stitch kit , but I'm loving this as well.  Even bought myself a subscription to the Cross Stitch magazine.  When this piece is finished, I will have completed the required five Clauses.  However, I do still have candles to make, so I'll end up with six new crafts. Stitchy progress! CRITIC - over six months write a review of five things I'm working on this badge between July and December. I've written reviews for two e...