Ta-da!!!

Get it? We were still under construction yesterday… toldja to read carefully :)

Our train table has become a somewhat temporary jobsite.  I made this reasonably easy to store away when not in use.

The gravel yard: coffee grounds and sawdust

Construction work is serious business.

And no, the blue painters tape is not an accent piece…our train table actually has very small holes all the way around the outside for add on toys that we don’t have.  I’m a little bit crazy, but not plain stupid.  I covered up all those already dust filled holes.

We’re planning to go and collect some small rocks to add to our site, we just haven’t gotten to it yet.

I can’t take credit for this awesome idea though, you can read more about it here.  I borrowed the general idea, and then kind of went a different direction toward the end.  This guy made more of a rock quarry.  My patience with the project was wavering by the time it came to painting, so I gooped sand, brown paint and glue together and smeared it everywhere!  It definitely achieved the textured, yet not too messy appeal I was going for.  I do recommend his cutting technique for the styrofoam.  You know, unless an indoor snowstorm just appeals to you.  In that case, stabbing a bean bag chair will render approximately the same result.

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Project X, as it has been nicknamed is nearly complete.  So these will probably be your final hints.  I curious to see if anyone can figure it out while it is still under construction.

Guess this sort of blows the iceberg theory out of the water ;)

Yes, we did this on purpose.

Final hint: Read carefully.

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…there’s a warning somewhere on this thing that says “Not for use by children” and perhaps a “Use with care” notice. Maybe Black and Decker should have issued a special attention notice  for our family: “Dustbuster not intended as a substitute for bathing.  Please refrain from vacuuming child after meals and allowing child to vacuum his own hair while unattended.”

For those of you who, instead of laughing, are thinking to yourselves, hmmm maybe I should let my kid try that, I leave you with this.  He entertained himself for a full 12 blissful minutes.  I’m unsure of whether an extended life battery can be purchased, but I can look into it for you.

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I cleaned up a small mess before taking this picture.

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Who’s up for a good mystery?  Any guesses what in the world we are up to this week?

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This past week, our backyard turned into grand central.  Several of the neighborhood kids, who seemingly are free to roam the neighborhood, took up residence on our deck.  We are glad to have the company, but our neat and tidy sandbox turned to chaos.  And it quickly became apparent that the biggest (and most expensive) hit, the moon sand, was being dispersed through the cracks in the deck at an alarming rate.

The sandbox

The whole area around the table with the moon sand box looks like this:

After a little research online, I stopped by Walmart last night and for the grand total of $1.75 for two boxes of cornstarch, I made my own moon sand.  It is a bit messier than the real stuff I think, but for a small fraction of the price.  You combine water, cornstarch and play sand.  The only difference is this sand does dry out.  You have to add a little water each time.

The darker models are moon sand, the lighter is my homemade sand

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Would you believe me if I told you, I’m really not that indecisive about clothes.  More like, throw on a sweat shirt, hair in a pony tail, I really just don’t care.  This is my fairytale.  I’m the princess.  And the princess wears enchanted sweatpants and glass sneakers.  Only, down here in the South, we call them tennis shoes.  Beam me up What Not To Wear.

Instead I choose to spend all the time I could be working on my atrocious tinkering with my website’s dress code.  But I think I really like this current scheme.  I got all snazzy with some rounded corners, and then gave up quickly on figuring out how to round the corners of the white background space.  I’m trying to simplify.  Websites get cluttered just like every other corner of our lives.  Even made myself some buttons for all of my three adoring fans who likely have no interest in having a button on their website for my blog.  But it is cute, right?!  I’m have been thinking about some type of weekly events to liven things up around here.  So look forward to….something!  I’m feeling a bit vague tonight, stringing thoughts together out of left field.

I did my grocery shopping at 10:30pm alone.  It was quite strange to be out…after dark or without child, take your pick.  Caleb has been sick this weekend.  First time since last January (as in 2008), so I can’t complain too much.  He had a fever Friday night and a weak stomach for the last 24 hours.  Let’s just say I spent the entire day cleaning the carseat.  Handwashing the cover, wiping off straps without submerging them, had to breakout the dustbuster as there were enough crumbs in that thing to build a sandwich.  Who am I kidding, crumbs rule my life.

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In no particular order

If you don’t hear from me for a week, send in a search party.

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…our biggest mess yet.  I’m not sure, it might be a toss up between this and the moon sand.  Thank God for lack of carpet and as I always say “on the 8th day, God created the dustbuster.”

By the way, it took the entire charge of the dustbuster’s battery to clean up most of this mess.

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I wanted to do a gingerbread house this year.  But (A) I didn’t want to bake the gingerbread and hunt down decorations myself and (B) I didn’t want to pay $10 for a kit.  So I waited until after Christmas hoping they’d go on sale.  A family member picked up one of the kits at an after Christmas sale and gave it to us the day after Christmas.  Finally Walmart marked theirs 75% off a few days ago, so I picked up three for $2.50 a piece!  I was thinking he could do one and I’d do one this year, then we’d have two for next year.  I wanted my own to try to replicate one of the beautiful examples on the box.  Now I’m not so sure, it would be kind of boring if it weren’t insanely messy and Caleb wasn’t helping!

A big thanks to the folks over at Wilton for putting this together like the leaning tower of gingerbread just perfectly

Concentration = open mouth

Taste testing as usual

Ugh, he needs another haircut

I have no idea what this face is about

A -thus far- progress picture…when looking at these, take note of the roof and the tabletop.

Bring on the sprinkles.  We have been known to let the sprinkles get out of hand a here and there.  And a little here.  Maybe here too.

The table is getting worse…

…and worse…

…and worse.

Scott is holding his hand under the sprinkles container.

Just a tad too much

Lean in close, I have a secret to tell you.  You know what your kid turns into when you get on the phone?  Right, Satan’s spawn.  Anyway.  Well I have the secret.  Here’s whatcha do.  You sit them at the table (or better yet, outside if the weather is nice…close to the neighbor’s house that you don’t like, that way the ants flock away from your house) and you give them a bowl, spoons, cups, and…sprinkles.  Colored sugar.  That’s it.  You would be amazed.  I mean, we are going on an hour and a half of playtime over here folks.

I decided the $0.94 a container for sprinkles was worth it since he seemed to be enjoying himself so much.

Yikes at the background, I was quickly losing the daylight so the colors in the next few are all whack.

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