Hat making with Adriane

A came over and showed me how to make Mini Top Hats for the party.  I let Eliz pick out a couple of Fat Quarters to use.  We got two or three kind of done before she had to go, so, alas, she'll have to come again.  We tried to watch some Firefly, but the kids were around to much for it.  Maybe next time?

They are finished!

I bet you were wondering if I was talking about the floors or the invites.  The floors.  I'll be tackling the invites this weekend, since we can hand most of them out at church or at my parents house. Bry-D still had to do the trim, so we just put their mattresses on the floor.  It's so wonderful!

 We got all the flooring in,then the floorboards, and then took a cople days break.

 When he was putting the floorboards back, he had this little, teenie, tiny piece he had to work his butt off to get back where it was supposed to be. I guess floorboards are different from other projects in that you can't really have extra pieces when you put it back together.

And here it is, all put back together!  He's amazing, he's awesome, and he's mine!

I have decor plans, but it will take some time, since most of them are DIY.  But I'll keep you posted.

My mother's toaster oven hates me

I told my Mom my plans to makes things for Eliz's invites, and she gave me a large box of polymer clay & tools.  She also gave me a toaster oven, so the polymer clay wouldn't stink up my oven, or permeate it with toxic fumes.  So, here are my polymer clay figures, all Alice in Wonderland inspired, of course.

 AND, here they are after 45 seconds - not kidding, 45 seconds! - in my Mom's toaster oven.

I tried a second time at a lower temperature, and it happened again!  Something is wrong with the thermometer.  So, I'll be using my oven.  And I'll probably have to wait a few days until I'm not so angry before I can do it.  I'm an emotional artist.  I can't wait that long, we've only got 3 weeks until the party.  Luckily, I sent unofficial email invitations a week ago, and these are the official invites.

More flooring!

We went to Lumber Liquidators for the flooring.  We got 12mm with a pad attached, but Bry-D decided to lay down additional padding.

Yep, she's working hard.

Hhm, seems like a normal work crew; one guys works, the rest watch.

It got really exciting at this point, but the day wass over to quick & we had to leave it. 

We'll finish it sometime this week, probably.

Hurray for power tools!!

Thanks to Pinterest, I've kept busy.  It's also helped me re-organise and clean.  Our play area desperately needed a make-over.  So, guess what I did?  I followed Pinterest to Ana White's website, and using her instructions, made these!!!!

 I am giddy with excitement over this!  I had Bry-D help me with the dress-up cabinet-it's impossible for one person to do on their own.  He liked it because he got to use power tools and I cleaned it up.

They don't look professionally made, but they are very sturdy.  I made another leaning shelf set for the kids room.  I really need to pick a color to paint them, I think that will help.  And, Bry-D is so sweet he went out and got me my very own Jigsaw!  He's so wunnerful!  (Can't wait for spell check to try and correct that word!)  I rounded all the corners myself, and I'm looking forward to my next power tool adventure- a play kitchen! 

Tomorrow night, I'm taking out the trim.

That's what he said.  That's what I thought he would be doing.   But then this happened.

 That doesn't look like trim to me.  That's a toilet.  In my foyer.  Yeah, sure, c'mon over, sit on the potty and take your shoes off.  G'head, make yourself at home!

We've been together 13 years, almost 14.  You'd think I would have known that this is what "taking out the trim" would be.  The beginning of the bathroom remodel I thought we were starting next week.  I'm not upset, mostly because there isn't much point in being upset.  He can't put the toilet back in until he puts in flooring, so...yeah.  When I was in high school my parents fixed up the bathroom.  The toilet sat in front of the big picture window for weeks.  Weeks, not days, or "a" week, WEEKS.  I don't remember why, and I don't think that matters.  What matters is that the toilet sat in front of the picture window for WEEKS.  Did I mention that I was in high school?  Yes, it's possible that I'm remembering it wrong, but that event has scarred me for life.  A toilet in the picture window for WEEKS, people.  WEEKS.  And now I have one in my foyer. 

Rhubarb Pie & Gardening

I said I'd make a rhubarb pie next, and I did! My neighbor gave me some fresh rhubarb and I knew Misti, I've mentioned her before, claimed to have the best ever rhubarb pie recipe.  We had everything in the pantry already, so I got to work.  Turns out she was right!  Del-ici-ous!

 I definitely got the stamp of approval from Lex, tho Eliz said it was too sweet.

 That's okay, more for me!  Although Bry-D liked it enough to have two pieces before dinner.  I didn't catch him, just saw that the pie was noticeably smaller.

 This morning we planted seeds, since the fence is supposed to be finished by this weekend.  I meant to plant these a long time ago, but well, yeah.  So we put dirt in cups,

 Made sure to write what we were planting on the cups,

 Put the corresponding seeds into cups,

 Watered,

 And placed them in a sunny spot where the dogs can't trample them.

We're going to paint the fence and plant a cut flower garden along it too, then I'll buy some tomato plants to go along with these.  I'm so excited!  Yay! 

Memorial Day

I told you that Memorial Day weekend is all about the Indianapolis 500.  So what did we do on Memorial Day?  Remember that old lawnmower?  Well, it died Monday morning.  Not surprisingly, either.  So Bry-D went to Sears(insert grunting noises)  and got a new one.  This picture was taken after it's first run.  Wanna know why it's not dirty?

 'Cause he rinsed it off afterwards.  Let's see how many times that happens again.

 He also got another new toy.  (Insert more grunting noises)

He wasn't nearly as gentle getting this one out of the box as he was the PS3.

 He immediately handed me the instructions.  Not so I could read them to him, but so that I could put them away.

 Lex knew exactly what the box was really meant for!

 He picked up that handle thingy and asked, "This for banging?"  I told him no, it was for...something with the new thingy.

 Look Daddy, I can work it!  (Don't worry, it wasn't plugged in) 

 Bry-D plugged it in and gave a 10 second vrroom.  Lex thought that sounded funny.

 Then Bry-D really let it loose.  Lex did not find that noise at all funny.

Oh, I forgot to mention why Bry-D got this new toy.  I demanded he get fence to keep the dogs out of my veggie garden.  So he measured and estimated, and decided he needed a miter saw and lots of wood.  Lotta lotta lotta wood.

 It was so blistering hot and not a cloud in the sky, he didn't get very much done, but he plans on working on it a bit each day.

He also promised to show me how to use it.  I think I'm going to like this toy!

Going with the flow of mud

You all know how much Lex loves mud.  And if you've watched the national weather, you know that Indiana has had LOTS of rain, and that translates into MUD.  Which isn't forcasted to end anytime soon(praying the 500 doesn't get rained out).  Anytime we go outside to play, we end up muddy.  I could fight this, insisting on staying indoors, or only playing in the front yard(less mud there)  Instead, I've been trying to think of a way to embrace the mud.  Lex particularly enjoys getting his vehicles dirty, then washing them, so I'm trying to come up with a carwashing area.  Of course, I then saw something I just had to do on Meg's blog. 

Mud Pie Kitchen

Our backyard has "the best spot" corner area, where the kids have dug holes that they use for all sorts of things, from fixing soup to washing toys.

 This is where we keep our firewood in the winter.  Seems to me this is the perfect spot for our new kitchen.

I did a Goodwill run, and got a bunch of supplies, with the intention of keeping half aside in case things got broken.

Eliz was big help setting up-we used the plastic bins for water and storage, and LEx immediately adopted one to be used for washing cars.

This was how Lex helped set up.

Soup's on!  I don't know how much we'll add/subtract/change this.  I suppose as the summer goes on, it can change quite a bit.  I was weeding in the veggie garden while they cooked up a storm, and was served several delicous dishes.  We have a family project planned this weekend for the veggie garden, can't wait to show you!

I followed the links on Meg's post, which led to extreme excitement, then I did a yahoo search on mud pie kitchens and found my dream-come-true-backyard here.  Seriously you need to look around this blog!  I need to stop before I gush all over you about how much I love this woman's ideas!  I spent for-ev-er looking and reading and getting all jumpy and silly with desire to try and make and do.  'Nuff said, happy Towel Day everyone!

Lemonade Day 2011

National Lemonade Day.  You might have heard of it, it's a day for, well, lemonade stands.  When you sign up, you get a lot of helpful material.  It's a program designed to help children learn to start, operate and own a business.  There's a "Caring Adult Guide" & a "Young Entrepreneur Guide".  They take you through steps to running a lemonade stand, and they cover just about everything.  We signed up and I didn't expect alot from my 6 1/2 year old, but she surprised me with her business sense.  She knew what she wanted and had good reasons to back up her choices, there was very little silly girl stuff. 

Starting to mix the lemonade-she chose making strawberry lemonade and pink lemonade with lemon slices.  From the get-go she wanted to serve cookies, chocolate chip, until I pointed out that if we made them with M&M's they would be rainbow cookies. 

I gave her the measurements, and she fixed it. 

She helps me cook alot, so I didn't have much to do with it-other than slicing the fruit.

Daddy got the first taste of her lemonade.  Upon being chastised for drinking more than a cup, he proclaimed himself the sole shareholder of this endeavor, and drank some more.

It was a terrible day for a lemonade stand-it rained all morning long, the sun never came out, and it really wasn't that warm.  But family and kind people stopped, bought, and tipped well.  Though she didn't reach her goal, she did much better than I had expected.  We have enough supplies to do it again, and I think that's her plan.  She did a great job working her stand, smiling and waving @ everyone, asking those with windows open if they wanted lemonade, greeting and thanking.  She watched me with the first few customers, and then took over.  I am very impressed with her, and very proud.  This will probably be a summer of lemonade stands for us. 

A few people commented that they had heard of Lemonade Day on the news, here's our local website for it.

Freeze Mob!

A reason to love Facebook-a friend from highschool heard from another friend from highschool about a group from IUPUI called The Dead Unicorn Society that was going to do a Freeze Mob at the Indianapolis International Airport.  We don't have any batteries, so I had to use my phone for pictures. 

Here's the Story Morning Glory.

Adrian, aka A, a travelling buddy and partner in crime from the good ol' days, posted the link.  I told her I'd be there!  Bry-D had to work forced overtime(yuck).  But I got a babysitter anyway, and all was ready.  I tried calling Misti, another part of the travelling group(Mandy, the 4th member of the travelling group, lives out of state)however, Misti chose to be a responsible grown up, and not go.  I've decided to hold a grudge against her for that.  Anyways.  Bry-D told me on Friday morning that the front end of the car was in too bad condition for me to drive myself.  After I tried to drive it, I had to agree, it just wasn't trustworthy for more than a few miles, if that.  I tried to get a hold of Adrian, and ended up leaving her a Facebook message then chewing my nails.  She called Saturday morning and picked me up.  We met a group of people at a Kmart near the airport, as well as Lisa the friend that had told A about the event.   We had room for one more, and were joined by a man named Aaron.  He's a fan of Firefly, which immediately makes him cool.  We followed the group tot he airport, gave our parking tickets to a girl who then got them paid for-the reason why we met so early.  Then we waited for the rest of the people to arrive.

Everyone was to meet in the baggage claim area, see the clever sign?  Sorry about the blurry picture!  Probably camera error, not user error.

Once we had our instructions and had synced our cell phones, we went to the food court and began our plans.  I knew I wanted to be kneeling, and I had decided I would drop my purse and be in the process of picking everything up.  As it neared 12, we moved to a more concpicous area, and as my phone vibrated 12, I tossed my purse.  Not sure how I got it on the ground, how I got on the ground, but I froze a little eaarlier than I planned.  My hair was over my eyes, which drives me batty, and I think I my have blinked and moved my face without realising it.  I'm pretty sure I was mostly frozen, though, I honestly couldn't tell you.  I heard people walking by talking about the frozen people.  They were saying things like,

"What happened?"

"Why did everyone stop moving?"

One woman must have walked by everyone pushing a stroller and using her phone to film it, b/c I saw her from the corner of my eye at least twice, and several of my fellow mobsters were talking about her.  I heard another woman walk by and ask her companion,

"Are they supposed to be human statues?" 

I had mild panic attack when I realised my phone screen had gone blank which meant my super effective task killer had turned off my 5 minute timer, and therefore I wouldn't know when to unfreeze, since I couldn't see anything.  I tried to look to the side, but knew my head was going to move, so stopped.  I could see a group in front of me and it looked like some of the people were frozen and some people were hopping like rabbits around them.  I also noticed that things had actually spilled out of my purse, which made me really happy.  I was holding my phone in my hand, sort of out and away from my body; to my it looked as though it was jumping around in my hand, though most likely, I was the only one that could tell it was even moving.  Then my phone made me jump, b/c the alarm started going off, luckily at 12:05, so I just had to recover and get the blasted thing turned off ASAP!  Everything was on vibrate, so I don't know why the sound was on for it.  I got my things back into my purse and walked away from the food court, wandering a bit, since I was trying to figure ou why the alarm had sound when it shouldn't have.  I met up with Lisa, A, and Aaron, and as we left we found the DUS people looking at large sketch pads they had been using to sketch the frozen people.  That's what I had taken for rabbit hopping.  We all discussed the even on the way back to Kmart, A and I continually thinking of how Misti and Mandy would have behaved had they been there.  A drove me back, and we parted.  Then there was the letdown after you get yourself all hyped up.   I wanted to know had been still?  Or had been sort of half frozen?  Then it occured to me that I was wearing lowrise pants.  Had I been flashing people?   Some of that nervousness comes from Bry-D's love of dropping cold things down the back of my pants.  Once the video was released, that fear was aleviated, only to be replaced by the worry of how frozen was I?  Dspite my concerns, it looked like everyone did a great job, even the little kids. 

I really look forward to doing more things with DUS.  Need to keep doing this kind of stuff so my kids never look at me and say, "You were never that cool!"

Toy switch

I first heard about toy switching when I was a teen visiting my Uncle and Aunt in Georgia.  I happened to be there for a toy switch, and once they explained it to me, I was pretty sure they were geniuses.  If you've ever thought or said out loud, "We have too many toys" try this.  We don't have alot of toys, but the playroom is a 5X7 area, so space to play disappears quickly if we have more than two or three things out.  I will also admit to being a bit anal.  I love to organize; having a place for everything and everything in it's place is very satisfying for me.  

Doing something like this takes more planning time than work time.  The actual switching of the toys takes an hour, maybe less.  It starts with a list of all the toys you have.  Get rid of some of them.  Goodwill or trash, but just get some toys out of the house.  Every time we switch, I find things that are broken or missing something that can't be replaced-get rid of them!  After you've written down what you have, group toys together.  Whatever toys you think should be out at the same time, and you have room for, group together.  The only advice I have on this part is that more than a few studies have shown that when people have more than three choices, they choose nothing.  This may explain the "They have tons of toys but they're playing with a paper bag!" phenomina.  You can apply that theory to toys by keeping the options down to 3 types of toys.  Example-we currently have out baby dolls and their blankets, bottles, etc; a basket of trains, and some matchbox cars with a semi truck.  We have puzzles and board games, but I try to make sure that there's only three of them out at a time.  We switch toys every two months-this works well for the kids, about the time they seem to be getting bored with what's out, we switch.  The toys are stored together in tubs, and come out twice a year.

 I have a "Toy schedule" document that has what toys come out together, as well as when.  We have some toys that end up staying out all the time-art supplies and dress up.  We have far more books than we really need, but we rotate those as well-that way I can always justify buying more books!   A tip that I only follow with toys, not books, is 1 in, 1 out.  If you get a new toy, get rid of another, this is a big anti-clutter rule.  I'm also not rigid with this rule, either. 

If you take the old stuff out to another room, then bring in the new stuff, the kids will unpack them for you, and you can put away the other toys without anyone noticing or even caring.