Rainbow Rice

This post is long overdue!  I can tell from the photo that I did this last summer, sometime after the Worst Haircut Ever (see story at bottom of this post).  This photo is so cute to me because she is wearing an old T-shirt that I owned as a child (when I was about 6 or 7).  She looks a lot like me at the same age.

There are many pins on Pinterest on making Rainbow Rice.  Some involve using rubbing alcohol and food coloring.  Others involve using Koolaid.  The best method for me was using the rubbing alcohol and food coloring.  The Koolaid one didn't work as well, and it smelled funny.

First you pour a little bit of rubbing alcohol (helpful hint: don't use the wintergreen flavored rubbing alcohol.  It has a funny smell.) in a bowl and drop at least 20 drops of your food coloring in (I did 30 drops).  The more food coloring you use, the brighter the colors will be.  Pour in your rice (and/or pasta) and mix well.  Pour the colored rice onto wax paper (which I put on baking sheets) and let dry.  You can stir the rice around until it dries completely.

As you can see, I used an old tablecloth on the floor just in case Gracie spilled any.  She had fun mixing and pouring.  To store, I poured it into two Tide Pods containers.

I recently got the rainbow rice out again for her to play with, this time I let her play on the kitchen table.  I bought an oil drip pan (a large round container that is fairly deep) at Dollar Tree to use for manipulative activities such as this.  It has a spout which makes for a little bit easier cleanup and is easy to wash up.

One of the best places to get cups and funnels, spoons and colanders, and other fun things to use for rainbow rice or sand and water play is Dollar Tree.  They are fun to use and not a lot out of pocket if they get lost or damaged.

"Worst Haircut Ever" Story
Gracie was born with hair, but not a lot of hair.  I have been patiently waiting throughout her short little life for her hair to grow out long.  I have been taking her to get trims since she was about 1-1/2 years old so that her hair can look nice and neat while it is growing out.  My favorite hairdresser got married and moved to Georgia about four years ago and it has been difficult to find a replacement at a price I don't mind paying.  (I'm cheap when it comes to paying for haircuts!)  One place I like is Fantastic Sams down past the mall towards Lakeland.  They have nice people and it is a very relaxing atmosphere.

Last summer, I discovered that there was a Fantastic Sams closer to us (Germantown Parkway and Dexter Road, next door to Kroger).  I decided to use them since they were closer.  The owner cut both my hair and Gracie's hair.  I told him, very specifically, that I wanted her bangs cut (out of her eyes) and the back of her hair only trimmed a little bit because I wanted to grow out her hair.  So what did he do?  He cut most of the back off of her hair, then combed her hair forward from the crown of her head covering her forehead and trimmed her bangs -- the exact opposite of what I told him to do.  Not only that, but who cuts hair like that?

He cut my hair fine, but he set back Operation Grow Long Hair back by a year!  Needless to say, I have not been back there.  They took my phone number, and I've always said that if they call me, I will tell them I will NEVER go back to them again!  Gracie's hair looks much better now.  The back is slowly growing.  She has bangs and the sides are cut at an angle while they've been growing out properly.