I continue to adore Pseudonymous Kid

Poor PK has been quite neglected since we returned from our President's Weekend snow vacation, because Mr. B and I are both sick-sicky-sick-sick. Yesterday he made his own dinner (salami sandwich).

Today he asked if he could distill essential oils from tangerine leaves.

Me, from a prone position on the couch: Yeah, sure.
PK: Let me tell you how it's done before you say yes.*
Me: okay.
PK: (long overly-complicated explanation, the upshot of which is that it involves boiling water)
Me: Sure.
PK: But I'm not allowed to use fire.
Me: You can use the stove if I'm home.
....
Later he showed me his setup and I suggested using the alcohol burner from his chemistry set instead. Did I mention that he got the idea from a novel he's reading, _The Sweetness At The Bottom of the Pie_, and inferred how to build the apparatus?

He wanted to do it because a character distills something to add to someone's lipstick in order to make them get pimples on their lips.**








*What kind of kid says this?!? I heart him.
**I wish his teachers could realize how good he is at distinguishing between fun naughtiness and real danger. Sigh.