Saturday, June 30, 2012

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Bachelor Camping Day One

David, Thomas and Michael took off for a long-weekend camping excursion with some homeschool friends. Since we've been having record heat, the lake was much used.

Here is Michael testing the pontoon boat he built for the trip.



Could probably use some more boyancy..



Wild monkeys swimming...


Sunday, June 24, 2012

Home Made Pontoon Boat


Friday, June 22, 2012

Bead Love

I got a bee in my bonnet recently, and have decided that the blinds in the windows have to go.  Not all at once, and not necessarily now, but they need to be phased out.  It started with the dining room being painted; we took down the blinds before the sanding, and I'm determined not to put them back up (the windows are still bare, until after the painting is done).

Next came the bathroom.  We've got mermaids and shells in there, with a nice, soft, mossy-ish green, and I wanted to kind of keep with the water theme.

This is what I found.



It's hard to see in the photo how the sunlight is being captured by the beads, but it really add a nice light to the bathroom.  I really like the "sheet of rain" pattern.







Yeah, bead curtains are hokey.  Maybe even a little bit tacky.  But they make a really cool sound when you move them.  And these ones in particular make me smile every time I go pee.

I found them here, by the way, and they were pretty reasonably priced.  They came door-length, so I trimmed them to fit the window.  The pattern accommodated perfectly.


Monday, June 18, 2012

Bread Love

This was baked in the crock pot.  Really.  Not as crispy as when it's baked in the oven, but wonderfully soft, much easier, and way less mess.  And it doesn't heat up the kitchen like the oven does.  Too cool.


A friend of mine Pinned this idea on Pinterest (If you haven't been there yet, don't go.  Really.  You'll thank me later when you start hearing from all of your friends how much time they're wasting on the site).  The authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day blogged enthusiastically about the method.

Waiting for the heat
If you haven't tried the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day because it seemed complicated and you didn't have all the stuff you need to bake it with, then this is the way to do it.  Even though I have all the stuff and the technique, I'm not sure I'll be baking our bread in the oven ever again.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Birthday Cake


For his birthday, William wanted a chocolate cake with vanilla icing and strawberry decorations.  He got it...



...though the "day" didn't quite fit.





Friday, June 8, 2012

Kids Recycled Shorts Camping Apron

I'd been messing around with this idea of making an apron from a pair (or more) of the kids' outgrown shorts.  I've been collecting pre-loved denim from cut-offs for quite a while (which are currently going into the Camping Patch Quilt), and somehow once you're collecting and reusing denim legs from cut-off jeans, you kind of feel wrong about just getting rid of the shorts once they're outgrown.  Weird, I know.

Anyway, I needed a camp apron.  I didn't want to take my only kitchen apron camping with me, because, well, camping cooking is just messier and more industrial than cooking in your kitchen at home.  And, I was thinking all those pockets and belt loops and hammer loops, and how handy those would be on an apron, and how sturdy denim would be, and how the  material would already be broken in if I used shorts.  Kind of rambly, huh?

Well, somehow, I ended up trying out this idea on an apron for a kid, instead of one for me.  Not sure how that happened, but this is what I did.

A pair of shorts and scissors.


These were once one of Thomas' favorite shorts.  You can tell by the paint.

I cut up the front of the shorts, on the right and left of the zipper, a few inches from the front pockets, and opened it out.


The back-side of the crotch seam made it pook out funny, so I pinned a straight-ish line from the inside, sewed it and trimmed it so the front would lay flat.



And, by the way, what clever person rolled up my tape measure backwards?


Did a simple double-turned seam up both sides, and it was done.  No need for a tie; since there are already beltloops, you can just use your belt to keep it on.  Lazy, I know.


Ready for chow duty on our next camping trip.


No, somehow, I don't have a camping apron yet.  But, I'm thinking about using a full-length jean for mine, so it will be longer.  Whatcha think?