Skating

Hi!

Something happened with my Friday post.  It didn't get posted, so I just put it up today.

We had a nice weekend.  DD had her Canskate Element Event and Exhibition on Saturday.  She got to skate by herself on the ice and show the skills she's mastered so far!  Here she is showing off her fancy skating dress at home.

And here she is, waiting to skate.  They got to wear their coats on the ice until their turn, so she's just about to skate.

Not much planned for the week.  It's turned a bit colder and we got some snow yesterday. I think I'll try the cross country skis this morning!

Have a great week! :-)

Friday Re-cap

Hi!

It's been another slow week for projects.  I guess it's just the wintertime!  Although, it has felt like spring this week, so I'm not sure what the problem is!

Thursdays are usually my favorite day of the week.  I get to putter around and do whatever...  So, what did I do yesterday?  I cleaned DS's room!  I should've taken some before pics, but of course I didn't think I'd get that into it. 

Here are some current pics.

Before, there were lego/toy cardboard boxes beside the chair along with other toys and a Boston Bruin light that all got moved.  I made the airplane hook holder by attaching the airplane hooks to a scrap piece of 3/4"plywood.  This way I only had to put 2 screws into the wall instead of 6!  I also took down an Ikea sconce that was up high by the window from when the bunkbed used to be there.

The shelf above the dresser is also leftover from when the bunkbed used to be there.  It's hard to hang, so I've never moved it.

DS wanted a shelf for his new collection of Archie Comics.  So, I took the old metal shelving that used to be above the old chore chart and put it on some Ikea shelf brackets.  I moved the star hooks to go under the shelf and I helped DS put up the Boston Bruin light.

I know these pictures don't look all styled, but it looks so much better than before, if you can believe it!

I went for a walk with the walking group this morning. It was nice to get out!

Have a wonderful weekend! :-)

Orange And

Mornin!

As I've said before, I started making home-made Christmas gifts for my family last year.  I made The Owlies for DD and StacRobots for DS.  Well, I even made something for HH.  An Ampersand!

I found it somewhere online (I think Etsy, but when I searched I couldn't find it- most of them are more curly.)  Anyway, here's a picture of my inspiration.

Once I printed the picture, I pretty much measured it and figured out how long each piece needed to be from that.  Then I just made my measurements bigger for the 2x4s. Here are the measurements I wrote down.

I used scrap boards.  Some from the back screened/trellised room we'd torn down. There it is in the back left-hand side painted blue, yellow and green.

I used the miter saw and cut all those angles which are my least favorite to cut. But it worked out and I only had to re-cut a few!  I used wood glue and screws in a couple places where the screws would be hidden by another board.  And I just used wood glue on the rest.  Because I don't have good clamps, I laid out the pieces and put a bunch of books on top to weight it down. Kinda like I did for the Wooden Flower Box!

Since some boards had paint on them, I couldn't leave it natural like the inspiration pic.  Therefore, I painted it.  Orange which is HH's fav color!

HH has it hanging on his office wall.  It sits nicely by itself and I hadn't meant for it to be hung up, but I think it looks nice there!

Here's a pretty picture of the light shining on the back room wall.  It's so nice to be back there in the day when it's sunny! 

Have a great day! :-)

Tasty Tuesday

Hi!

Our meal plan for this week:

• Mon- Frozen Cheese Ravioli, Sauce, Krispy Kale, Sauteed Kale stems with red pepper flakes & garlic
• Tues- Cod Soup
• Wed- Beans for me, Hamburger for rest, to wrap in lettuce with cheese, salsa, carrot
• Thurs- Crispy Baked Chicken (How to cut up Chicken)
• Fri- Pizza
• Sat- Leftovers
• Sun-?

Last year's meals.

• Mon- Frozen Kidney Bean Enchiladas
• Tues- Sushi
• Wed- Cauliflower Pasta Bake
• Thurs- Baked Chicken, 2 veggies
• Fri- Border Bean Burritoes
• Sat- Pizza
• Sun- Slow Cooker Chili

See you later! :-)

Monday Musings

Hi!

How was your weekend?  Ours was nice.  We had a big rise in the temps and a rain on Saturday, so a lot of the snow has melted!  This week is supposed to be above normal temps (above or right around freezing) so it's like Spring!

We watched "The Phantom Menace" Saturday night and will have to wait till next weekend to continue with the next movie. 

I got a little project done in the master bedroom.  I put up the full length mirror.

It used to look like this.

Not much different really!

  

I also made some temporary shelves for HH's sweaters to go in the closet.

I know, a little "dorm-room-ish", but I had the crates in the storage room just sitting there empty so I decided to use them to see if this is a good use of space.  We used to have the hamper in there, but I've moved it in front of the mirror.  The sweaters had no home. Once I got them out of their summer storage duffel bag under the bed, they stayed on top of HH's dresser.  So, this is definitely a better spot for them!  There's now some space behind the shelves.  I'm not sure what I'll put there.

In other news, remember when the kids were sitting on top of the breezeway to slide down the big pile of snow?

Well, look what's happened! 

 It's fallen! :-(  It's down about 3-4 inches. That vertical 2x4 is bracing the top.  And you can kinda see a metal brace with holes in it which is attached to the outside wall to keep it from spreading!

Well, at least we don't have any basement flooding with all the rain and melting.  (Since we don't have a basement!)  Our plan was to re-do the breezeway this spring.  So, it definitely need to be re-done now! It is a big mess.

Have a great week! :-)

Responsiblity/Chore Chart

Hi!

I went for a walk this morning with the walking group.  It's supposed to be for ages 55 and up, but I was invited and they said anyone is welcome.  It was a nice group of about 8 ladies who walk from 9:00-10:00 on Mon, Wed, & Fridays.  The pace was a bit slow though so I never really warmed up much.  I am trying to do so now with my coffee!

So, what did I do this week?  Well, not much really.  Except on Sunday the kids helped me with their new Chore Charts.

I'm trying to give the kids more responsibilities and thought this would be a good way to keep track. I remember seeing this 

on Under the Sycamore and I thought it might be a nice craft for the kids to do.  We got rid of the magnet chore chart we had such good luck with 2 summers ago since it didn't really work for during the school year.  I replaced it with some hooks so the kids can hang their coats and snow suits there. This is temporary until the front room is done. It works for now because it's over the heater and keeps their stuff warm!  If they have to leave stuff in the front room (which is unheated), things get really cold!

  So, here's what we did.  After I explained the concept and DD stopped crying and DS stopped complaining,  they painted their boards and clothes pins and we made labels on the label maker for their "responsibilities".    Each day they have to do 3- Breakfast, Homework, & Plate (taking plate to dishwasher after dinner).  For this, they get to use the computer the next day for around 45 min.

Then there are daily chores which they get paid $.50 to do.  Such as (Taking out the)Trash; (Folding) Clothes; (Unloading) Dishwasher; (Helping with or Fixing) Dinner or Lunch; (Cleaning) Bath(room sink and mirror); Sweep(ing); and (Setting or Clearing the) Table.  When they do a chore, they move the clip to the top.  Or in DS's case, the side. 

The bigger white pins are weekly chores- Vacuum(ing); (Helping with or Doing the) Laundry; Dust(ing): (Cleaning the whole) Bathroom; and a Bonus for whatever.

Probably about a year ago, I tried another system where they had to do chores to watch tv.  I felt they were watching too much and thought this would be a good way to limit it.  Well, it turns out that it did limit their tv, because they just didn't do any chores!  I hope this turns out better!  They know how to do all these things, it's just getting them motivated to help...

Also, they do have other responsibilities when they get home from school.  They have to put away backpack; take out lunch can and put on counter; hang coat and snowpants to dry; put mittens in basket to dry; and put boots on boot dryer.  These are pretty automatic by now so I didn't include them in their chores.  And whenever they go somewhere they are responsible for packing their own stuff.  Usually it's for an overnight trip to Grammy and Grampie's and they don't need help with that, but they even pack for longer trips.  They usually need a list of clothes to take, but they get it done and even pack a little bag of stuff to do on the way! This is something they've been doing for a while and I'm glad not to have to do it as I still have to pack for myself and HH! ;-)

Have a great weekend! :-)

StacRobots

Mornin!

As I've said before, last year I started making home-made gifts for my family.  I already told you about The Owlies for DD.  Well, here's what I made for DS- StacRobots!  

I had them wrapped with a card-stock label I'd printed and when DS opened them, he thought they were from the store!  High praise, indeed ;-)!

Here is how they "stack".

 When I was looking for something to make out of wood, I found this link, which made the stacrobots from skateboards!

I tried a few different cuts from 1x3 pine,

 but these smaller ones didn't quite stack the right way.

So, I made them bigger using 1x4 pine.  The silver ones are the size of my hand. 

I used the miter saw to cut the length, then the jig saw to cut the rest. I also used the dremel tool to sand the round part between the legs.  Then I sanded the whole thing with sandpaper and painted with some silver                                                                 paint I'd bought at the Restore.

                                                                   Happy Stacking!

:-)