Back to My Childhood

Every once in a while I will do something that reminds me of my childhood.  Often times I find it helps calm my nerves and lowers my stress level.  At times it has helped me to think through difficult tasks.  For some reason it helps me organize my thoughts so I can get to the fundamental issues at hand.

This is a project I put together as something I could work on during breaks at work.  I wanted to do a craft project that was simple, quick, and didn't require large amounts of supplies to be carried around.  As I was walking through the store I ran across this, and it fit my requirements perfectly.  If I had a key ring this would be on it, but I don't have one at the moment.  I will pick one up later.  :)

My parents were Boy Scout troupe leaders while my brother was a Boy Scout, so I grew up calling this boondoggle.  I've found that in craft stores they actually refer to this as plastic lace, and it is often used for beading projects.  This may have something to do with the definition of boondoggle.  I picked it up from Merriam-Webster.  I like to think of it as more the former rather than the latter, but what can I say?

Definition of BOONDOGGLE

1: a braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief slide, hatband, or ornament

2: a wasteful or impractical project or activity often involving graft

I've also found that not many people know how to do this any more.  At least not in my generation or those after it.  I thought it was a great little project for kids to do.  It makes me sad to think there are people out there that don't have memories of sitting down with there families and taking a few hours to work on these, but they will have other memories to take their place.  My dad would get them started for us, and we would do the rest of the weaving.  I was really young at the time.  I don't think I was much more than 5 or 6 years old.  I like to think that everyone has happy childhood memories like these.  I cherish the ones that I have.