Crafts and Projects

December is always a fun time for crafts and cooking and projects, so here are a few that didn't get their own post. 

I posted the front side of Emily's hat in this post, but not the tricky/scary part of adding the zipper!  It's not super impressive, but it took me about an hour and a half and came out okay.  She has a functional pocket in her hat, which is at least a partial success.

The Helterbrands sent Alice a slew of Pusheen stickers for her Christmas gift.  They are so cute!  I decided to fancy it up just a bit, and sewed some paper pockets on a stiff backing so that they would stay separated a bit, and be easier for her to find.

Alice was invited to Willow's 13th birthday party.  Sadly, the squishimal she picked out online would not arrive on time, so we ended up going to Walmart one day after school (and the first cooking club day) very late, and they only had a few options.  She picked her favorite from their selection.  Since she was a bit disappointed, I offered to make up a fancy box for the stuffie she selected.

The school glue did not work very well with the fancy tissue paper, so I ended up using quite a bit of tape to hold the edges in place.

I think she ended up covering the stuffie with a layer of tissue paper in the end, to make it a bit of a surprise.

Emily chose a butterfly theme for her upcoming birthday party, so we were practicing origami butterflies for her invitations.

Once we mastered it, it was just a matter of folding the printed invitations!  The netting below the butterflies here came out of the free bin at the MSU thrift store.  I thought they looked like butterfly nets, and they were free. ; )

One night I made burgers for dinner.  The little girls thought that was fun, and decided to make up "mutti-donalds."  We didn't have many fries, so everyone was 'forced' to eat apple slices as a side as well.  (In my defense, Aldi was out of fries, and so I was just going to serve chips.)

For MLK day, I decided to try something new and spent about 4 hours making some Biryani.  It was pretty good, but spicey.  The Basmati rice was amazing though.

Emily and Grace came with me to the thrift store and Aldi, since they had the day off of school.  Grace picked out a home popsicle making kit.  We bought some orange juice for her to fill them.  Emily wanted some mini-cupcakes, but she was able to make more full-sized ones from a mix, than it would have cost to buy the little ones.  And Juliet got some pudding mix, because they didn't have cups, so she had to fill our ramekins, but it came out tasty!

My current project is to make Valentine's for my crew out of cutouts from Billy's coke zero boxes.  I don't know quite how they'll look just yet, I'm sure it will depend upon how many I am able to make before Valentine's day arrives.  But I like them so far.

 later days

Summer Chores

The final month or so of school I started to make a "to do" list for the summer.  I'm not overly ambitious, so I set a goal of one task a week.  We are only 3 weeks in, but so far I've met my goal.

First was to clean the freezer.  It is not overly impressive, but it is now void of crumbs and 'unknown' substances for the time being. = )  I think I only tossed two things.

Week 2 was manual organization.  I keep all of our user manuals in a central location, but when I needed something it always took much longer than it should have to find it. I opted for a baggie sorting system by room or use.

Tossed more than I thought I would!

Still full, but now easier to find.

Task 3 was not anticipated.  The day that finally broke me to turn on the air here (it was 87°F in our house) I'd sent William, Grace and Juliet down to the basement to cool off.  We have what the natives call a "Michigan basement." This means has unfinished walls and ceilings and is not used as a living space, only a storage space.

I sent them down to "cool off" since it stays 65-70°F year round.  I heard them playing, but didn't worry too much, until I couldn't hear them and made them come up.  I did finally turn on the air, becaue 87° is a bit warm indoors, even for me.

When I went down the next morning I found rice everywhere.  I was not happy.  William and the twins were 'banished' to the basement until they finished sweeping it up. Emily and I did go down to help too.

I used the opportunity to knock off another to do item: Sweep the basement.  I don't have any before pictures because I was not happy. at.all.  But they all worked hard and got the job done without much complaint.

I guess in the future they will just have to 'suffer through the heat.' Because they will not be allowed to just chill in the basement*.

Week 3 was supposed to be the painting of the bathroom, and since I had already started prep work on it, I did paint it today!  But I still have touch up and clean up to do, so the pictures will have to wait for another day.  And I may "save" it for a week when I fail to meet my goal.

later days

*winning at puns today!