Start of Summer

It's going to be a busy, busy summer. I'm going to stay busy and not let the days fade away with regrets of unfinished projects. I have one I can cross off my list. Although-  it did take the sacrificing of an entire morning/afternoon. Mostly what took so long was my printer, which needed new ink, head cleaning, etc.   And yes, I got distracted by looking at "Stars without Makeup" and ended up watching a few things on Funny or Die while waiting for my printer to fix itself. Also, add to that the fact that 2 little people totally destroyed the house around me, because I was too busy to monitor them.

Here it is- I made a task chart for the girls. I decided to call it "tasks" instead of "chores" or "jobs"- it just sounded friendlier. I remembered seeing one in one of the Martha Stewart publications a while back and looked it up.  I found this one (she has many versions, of course) and remembered I had magnet sheets that I had purchased many years ago when Hazel was in Preschool. (This is my usual M.O. buy things, plan projects, never do them.)

The actual process was very easy in Pages on my iMac. (Surely, there is something similar in the PC realm.) I simply made shapes, filled in colors, pictures, or text. And, yes, I did copy the color scheme from Martha, she does have a good eye for color. The task board was printed on a separate sheet from the tasks. The tasks are on their own magnets and can be changed each day.  When the girls are finished they move the task to the "tasks completed" list.  I was pleased with how it turned out and it sticks beautifully to my blackboard/magnet door in the kitchen. The girls are so inspired they ran off and did two tasks and are working on their third.  We'll see how long that lasts. Maybe I should make one for the husband too?

Refurbished Glider

Refurbished Glider, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Did this over the weekend. Have had this glider since Hazel was born. It was looking worn out. I decided to recover, not completely done- the footstool is just pinned on the bottom. I was trying to find something neutral, but modern. Mark promptly said it looked like the back of playing cards- but what else did I expect from him? Does it look less baby like? Less leftover furniture-ish? Another view.

Teevee machine cover

Teevee machine cover, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Yesterday-- made this to cover the metal shelf. Had a previous cover, was old, faded, torn, useless. This one has handy Velcro around top, easy access to Teevee machines! Remote works through fabric, yay! Clean and simple lines, need that in this clutter fest.

The Day After

Tablecloth, originally uploaded by bossamama.

The girls were supposed to let me sleep in. I guess they did by an hour. Finally rambled out of bed then was surprised by the ring of the doorbell. We all forgot about the life insurance nurse arriving to give an exam. Embarrassing pajama/bird's nest hair door-answering ensued. Of course I had also boycotted kitchen cleaning yesterday and the house was a bit of a mess.

Last night went out to eat very late. Decided to make it a tradition the last day of school to take the children out to dinner embarrassingly late- 9pm to be exact. We closed the restaurant down along with another family with a young child- embarrassment erased (we left before they did!) Out in the parking lot had an interesting experience. H. was dutifully waiting near the car-standing very still while I loaded up Little L. It took a while so I told H. to go around to the other side of the car with Daddy so the lady who was parked right next to us could back out. I motioned for the lady that it was clear. She then rolled down her window and yelled at me with a very mean voice "Maybe you should keep an eye on your kid!" Apparently the irate lady had had a bad date- I had heard her walking to her car and turning to her date sarcastically saying "Thanks for the great dinner!" Gee whiz.

Yesterday had the sewing bug still, made this tablecloth and a toss pillow cover from fabric I've had for years. I've simply been throwing the unsewn fabric on the table as a cloth. Which was okay except it had to be folded to fit and it was all frayed at the edges from multiple washings. Now maybe I'll go around and hem up all the raw edges in the house!

A gift

A gift, originally uploaded by bossamama.

Finally got the two tote bags done for H.'s teachers. The only trouble I had was with my sewing machine and dropped thread. I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong, scheming how I could get a new fancy machine if this one was broken. I finally realized that the thread had dropped out at the top. I was relieved as I was only halfway done with the first one. It took me a few hours to put together the first one. The second one took about an hour of assembly and sewing. I'm going to make some more and see if I can sell them! I hope the teacher's like them.

Fabric After

Fabric After, originally uploaded by bossamama.