The Cheap Seats

The neighbors were having a yard sale and I refrained from going. But after it was over there was a sign  on four patio chairs that said "free". My favorite word! They started out looking like this:

Not much to look at, but also nothing that a little paint wouldn't fix.

Soon they will also be getting bright new cushions, but for now they provide quite comfortable seating around our fire bowl.

I love it when things are free! The other day I picked up a little side table sitting on a curb with a free sign on it. I whipped a U ey (sp?) and I'll show you what I end up doing with it later, so stay tuned.

Baseball and Birthdays

April has been a busy month with two birthdays and two kids in baseball. Zoey turned 18 on the 16th, and my youngest baby, Eli, turned 10 on the 25th. Max is playing high school baseball at first base, and Riley is playing Little League on the Majors team this year. My youngins are growing up!

Shutter Bug

So here is the problem. A barren front window that takes up a majority of the facade of our half of a semi-detached as the Canadians on HGTV like to say. It needed something.   So I started with a pile of old boards salvaged from a fence at the Grands place in Union. I set up my salvaged sawhorses and set to work cutting and nailing.

When the shutters were together I painted them. The wood was so dry it took a couple of coats. The first coat settled in like a stain and although I liked the effect, it wasn't colorful enough. A note on the color, although purple was not my first choice it looked better than what I had originally wanted, against the already dark teal that is on the house.

 

 

Max and Zoey helped attach them in place, and wa la! The window looks dressed. I also made shutters for the smaller window on the other side of the front door.

 

Speaking of front door, it is my next project. It has an ugly screen door that gets in the way of having a wreath or any kind of door hanging, and it's just plain shabby. Now normally I like shabby things, but its held together with duck tape and not at all shic go go along with the shabby. What to do. Stay tuned.

 

Inertia for Egg Heads

It was science fair time at Central School again. My least favorite activity they have at school mainly because it's difficult to find a science project that hasn't been done a million times and is fairly easy to do.
We searched some sites for kids and eventually came up with this one, (below) which we edited .
We titled it "Inertia for Egg Heads" and Riley did a good job of laying out her process on the poster board. She also had on hand a couple of eggs, one raw and one hard boiled, for people to try and guess which was which based on the principles explained in her Inertia presentation.

The photo above is of the marble roller coaster her class group also put together for the science fair. She spent a few days after school working on it.

Family Ties

Lexy and Ella came to visit for a couple of days while Eric stayed home to study for finals and finish up some school work. Not only was it a nice chance to have all my kids home, it was a good opportunity to get some more projects done!

Lexy helped me hang some burlap curtains I'd been wanting to hang in the kitchen and living room. Max helped as well. He was the lumber jack cutting just the right branches. And by helping I mean they did the work while I bossed them around.

Max also changed several light bulbs that had burned out. He was finally home for more than a few hours so I could capture his tallness for my benefit.

Eli spent most of the time doing what he usually does, playing on the computer or his video games. He came out for snacks every once in awhile and would say hello to Ella on his way through.

Riley had softball practice and tryouts to see what team she will be on. She met a new friend who thought Riley was pretty cool and hoped would be on her team.

Zoey was on her phone as usual, but she also took some time to hold Ella and show her the ropes of iphones. Notice the burlap curtains behind them.

Max worked his charm on the little Ella bug. She thought he was so funny. It was cute. All in all a nice couple of days. Lexy said it reminded her of why she is glad she is grown up and out on her own. Thanks Lexy!

Peeps

Nothing says spring like a bucket of peeps!

We were at D&B checking out the cost of fencing materials to fence in two sections of our yard that are for some reason without fence, while the rest of the yard is surrounded, to keep Tobi (our dog) in.

Our eyes and our feet strayed to the chick area. The chick pens were empty but we picked up a couple of magazines on raising chickens. At the check out there was a lady buying chicken coop supplies and we got to talking. She said the chicks were in at PGG and Riley begged to go look at them. So off we went, just to look! Riley shares my love of hobby farming. Don't know why but wherever I can, I try to have a chicken coop. Had one on Fifth Street, was building one on South Valley, and we're working on one here on Fir.

PGG had several varieties but we walked out without any because we weren't ready for them. We are in the midst of building a little chicken coop but no where near done. The rainy and snowy days have hindered our progress. After some discussion we decided we could put them in a bucket, a smaller version of whaat they were in at the store. So after getting it ready, we went back to the store and picked out six little peeps. We set them up in this bucket, and after a couple of days moved them to a larger container. They are noisy little birds, but cute.

Riley wanted to name them, and Zoey had a few suggestions. She said since there were six we should name them Monday through Saturday and have their last name be 'Dinner'. (i.e. Monday Dinner...) Riley was not amused. I came up with Eggy, Eggbert, and the like, but Riley went more for names like Freddy and Spencer, and Eli named one Bobby. Yes, they are hopefully girls, so lets hope they are secure in their henhood.

Guess we better hope for some sunshine so we can get their coop ready before they are big enough to fly out of their current digs, (or is it 'fly the coop'?)

Easter Idea

You have probably seen the ideas for snow globes made from jars. I made some a few years ago and they were cute. I have been collecting jars to make some more.

But now I don't have to wait until Christmas to use those jars. I came across this idea while cruising on pinterest. So cute! And what a fun, new idea for Easter. I think I'll make some up for the chillies and hide them for them to find. (These are also great ideas for visiting teaching gifts, primary, neighbors, or friends that you want to do a little something for.)

Ya, my kids still look for eggs and baskets. All of them. It's just something you don't want to grow out of.

I remember when my brother and I were home from our missions and living in Utah for a while with the Rents. Mom hid easter eggs and baskets for us, just like when we were kids and we loved it! I think we looked a bit silly to the neighbors, however, some who watched from their yards and yelled out smart remarks over their fences. And we heard about it later that day in church. Oh well, we knew how to have fun.

It's a tradition I continue on with my kids, no matter how old they are getting.