A Princess Builds a Castle

One of the greatest things about being a stay-at-home-granny is being able to see the world through a child's eyes, and creating with their imagination.  We have slain dragons, saved baby dolls from falling off a cliff, and cooked a five course meal.  But on Friday, Izzy decided to build a castle for her pappy.  With nearly 40 inches of snow and a gravel driveway, using a snow thrower isn't a good idea.  So Rod decided to buy a flame thrower -- it's just a little one.  Nothing like GI Joe would have used.  Izzy couldn't have cared less about the contents, she just loved the box.  And so, armed with that box and a brand new box of Snoopy band-aids, Izzy proceeded to build a castle for Pappy.

Here you can see how the castle building began.  First she had to take all the wrappers off the band aids, and I do mean all the band-aids.  And where would you have put them?  Certainly not in the trash!  Oh no!

Here's another view of the band-aid wrappers, combined with the Rite-Aid ad.  Castle Building requires some pretty complicated supplies, and this castle could not have been completed without the assistance of the Rite-Aid ad.  On the box, you can see the first few band-aids in place.  It was not an easy task.  Many of the band-aids just didn't want to cooperate, and had to be placed over and over again.

And here are more of the strategically placed band-aids.  Each one required more than one attempt at placing in just the right position.  There was some screaming, some foot stomping, and finally she was satisfied with where they were resting.  And in the end, she stood up and proudly announced that Pappy's Castle was finished.  And to think, I was afraid she was just making a mess!

And here's the final product -- Izzy's castle for her Pappy.  It required only 1 box of band-aids ($1.19 at Giant Eagle), one box from a flame thrower (free with the flame thrower), and two hours of a little girl's time.    And you end up with a castle for a Pappy built by a princess . . .  and believe me it's priceless.  So tell me again, why do we buy expensive toys at Christmas?