Lovely Power Tools

Yesterday Barb and I went to the hardware store, and $50 later I'm pretty sure I have enough trim for my new closet.

Last night in-town family met at Joe's. Midway through an evening of talking and time-spending in advance of Barb's departure, Joe and I went to play with one of his new power tools. Here's what I tried out for the first time.


That nice rounded edge was made by a router, and that was the first time I had used it. Super. Here's the router (upside down on the table saw) with another view of the board I was working on.


It was pretty easy to use, not too noisy or dusty (but maybe that's got more to do with the wood than the router). I'm not sure if this is the right bit for the little curve I'd like to have on the trim for my closet, but if it isn't right it sure is close.

Today I'm going to try out my dad's table saw. All that lovely wood is at his house waiting for me . . . and if I get that done and the cut-to-size wood back to my house today, I might (just maybe) be ready to use the Mitre saw Joe loaned me a week ago to make the final cuts.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Dandelion Hunting

Websudoku

So what's your best time for an evil puzzle?

At Powell

I'm a little bit in love with the Saint Louis Symphony and Powell Hall. I mean, how could you not fall for this?


Or this?


Currently on display in the entry hall are the artworks of children from around the St. Louis area. The Symphony sponsors an annual competition in which children are asked to listen to a recording of the orchestra and then make a picture in response to it.

Earlier today we went to the final performance in the Symphony's 08/09 family concert series. It wasn't long ago that I first read about these especially-for-kids concerts, and we attend our first last fall. It featured Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, complete with live actors to narrate the story and portray each of the characters. The kids enjoyed it and we've gone ever since.

Each concert features several pieces that center on a theme that children would enjoy. The conductor talks to the children in an engaging way about the instruments and the music so that they know what to listen for throughout each piece. These concerts are a lot of fun. Usually the whole thing is over in an hour; not a moment too soon for an audience filled with youngsters.

I almost forgot to mention what we saw this time: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago was there and they were extraordinary. I can't help loving any kind of artistry that makes the highest level of technical skill accessible, enjoyable and even entertaining for kids ages 3-10. Their dancing combined with the exceptional music of the Symphony was memorable even in a series we have liked so much.

I'm a little sad that the season has already ended, and I can hardly wait for the series to start up again in the fall.

Unearthed

The guys who cut down our tulip tree last year drove a HUGE truck with a cherry picker into our backyard to get at our tree. They barely made it back there. The truck was one of those with the hydraulic supports that jut out from the sides when they need to stabilize the truck against the forces exerted upon it by the arm that holds the basket. The truck looked a lot like the one in the line drawing at the right. The picture shows it's general form, but it doesn't how how heavy it is. It was really heavy. They parked it on one of beds of day lilies in the back, and the ruts they left in our lawn are still there.

When they drove off I realized that the weight of the truck had crushed the side of a tree stump that had been hiding in the foliage of the day lilies. Oh the things that hide in my day lilies . . .

It really was a heavy truck, but heavy enough to crush a tree stump? Well, it turns out that a rotten tree stump is a lot easier to crush than a not rotten one. I was easily able to chip big chunks off the tree stump with our garden shovel last fall. I tried leveraging it out, but I couldn't. There was still too much of the root system holding on underground.

What with the lovely weather, I thought I'd give it another try. For the past few days I have chipped bits away here and there. Every so often I'd try to leverage the stump out of the ground, and as I worked it became easier and more of it appeared free. Today only one root remained; a solitary tether. I got out my hacksaw and made quick work of it.


All of that except the top two inches came up out of the ground.

Brunch

We (everyone!) met at my parents house for brunch this morning.


My sister (the one who lives outside Kansas City) came with her family, my sister who lives in Columbia, MO came. The rest of us (me & mine, another sister and a brother, & parents) live here. We've been spread much further in the past, but even living semi-close it is a rarity to get all of us around one table. It might happen twice a year (on a good year). Getting everyone together is special occasion stuff. What's the occasion?

Very soon Barb (the sister who lives in town) will head off to the coast. She'll be in Carlsbad for what seems like forever. No doubt it will be an adventure and I can't wait to hear the tales from her new life out there.

At Karate School

Star and Dandelion have Karate school on Saturdays. Today they took their first test.


You can see their backs--they're the ones with short hair and wearing street clothes. They've recently completed one month of classes, and there are two more to go before we'll know if Karate is a keeper. I like that this class is teaching them confidence, self control, and focus.

At Star's School

I volunteered in Star's class today.


Because it was so nice they spent more time outside than usual.

Call me Frugalein

Frugalein. Rhymes with Madeline, or Coraline.

Before we replaced them last year, most of our windows were broken, crazy drafty, or the equivalent of greenhouse glass. There were only three in the house that worked just fine, but even they ended up on the chopping block. They wouldn't have matched the new ones so that was pretty much that. As the installation date for the new windows neared, the prospect of sending the three good windows to the dump began to bother me more and more. And then I realized I could keep them. When install day rolled around, I asked the folks doing the work to save the three good ones for me and they did.

So, I bet you are dying (just dying!) to know why I wanted to keep those windows. This time it wasn't the packrat in me. I swear it wasn't. It was Frugalein. She's the queen of being frugal (duh). Frugalein had figured out how to squeeze a bit more use out of them.

She thought of our garage window:

It was like this when we bought the house even though broken glass is a code violation. Normally when you buy a house, an inspection can turn up stuff like this, sometimes lots of stuff like this. You (the buyer) take the results of the inspection back to the seller and either renegotiate the sale price or maybe the seller will agree to fix the problems for you.

I wouldn't know. When a bank is the seller (as it was in our case) they sometimes won't do either, and that's how the bank that held our house was. When our inspection turned up problems we knew they were our problems to deal with.

Call it luck. The three windows that were removed from my house are just the right size to replace the windows in the garage. The one in the picture was broken. Another was boarded up, and the third won't open (probably something to do with those ancient weights on the inside).

This is one of my favorite kinds of projects. I get to be outside on a gorgeous day working in the shade of our garage (I'm no good in direct sunlight), the work itself is a mental and physical diversion from my daily life, the project costs nothing so Frugalein loves it and I love making Frugalein happy, it recycles something that would have been difficult to dispose of, it upgrades my property (code compliance!), and doing it reminds me that I am capable of this and so much more.

I'll post another picture when I've actually gotten the window in. We're getting there . . .

Star's Island

Like all siblings, Star and Dandelion don't always get along. Some of that is just life. Having friction with the ones closest to you is pretty common. Then there's the premeditated stuff. If we give our kids two options, you can bet that they'll take whatever the other doesn't want. Should we make waffles or crepes this morning? Star will choose waffles and Dandelion will choose crepes just to be difficult. BUT, there are a few things you can count on both our kids to always want to do even if the other one wants to too.

1. Watch Kung-fu Panda
2. Play with Matthew
3. Eat ice cream
4. Go to the play land at the gym
5. Go to Uncle Joe's
6. Go to the Island (to play games at pbskids.org)


Here they are, happy as larks. And here's the Island full of rides Star earned.


For all you parents out there, this is a resource that I recommend. It introduces children to a variety of reading and pre-reading concepts through games. As they complete tasks they earn tickets that they can spend at the prize booth for things to decorate their tree house (Star has a popcorn machine, a gold fish, a rainbow dragon, and a bunch of other things too). And once they've mastered (or completed--not sure if they differentiate) a certain number of games, they advance to a harder level that builds on what they did before. The child's reward for advancing is a new ride on the island.

Matthew told me that this same model of task completion, rewards, spending fake money and acquiring fake things is at the heart of World of Warcraft and I'd imagine a host of other games for older folks. So the Island is a gateway game, and you can make what you will of that.

Is there something like the Island out there for early math skills? I'd like to get the kiddos into something like that. Anyone? Please send me your recommendations.

I make things

. . . all kinds of things actually. A few years ago I made some books, I recently made the curtains that hang in my house (you've seen them in a number of my posts and there they are in the picture below!) and my kids' Halloween costumes. Last month I also made Valentines for the kids to take to school.


They loved their valentines.

A little while ago Dandelion's school newspaper published a request for help with an upholstery project. I noticed that the contact person was Dandelion's teacher, so I asked about it. They needed one of their child-sized foam couches slip-covered. The vinyl cover had some rips in it and needed to be replaced, but the replacement cost was almost as much as a new couch and they didn't want to trash the couch's foam guts, which were just fine. I don't have a picture of the original, but here's what I did with it.


Because the old cover was falling apart I took out all the stitches and used it as a pattern for the new cover. I also opted to reuse the old zipper since it was still in good shape (that's the blue line running parallel to the floor). I think it turned out well, and I was glad to do something to save money and improve my kid's school.

Behind the baseboards

Before the demolition in the bedroom I carefully removed all the woodwork from the wall in question. Behind one closet baseboard I found these:


Money-wise, they're worthless, or at least I'm pretty sure they are. The baseball card was easy enough to look up and is worth about $5. I wouldn't know where to begin with the other pictures. But even without monetary value these cards are a great find. They are a little reminder of the physical legacy of this house. As I've said elsewhere, most of that remains (for me) an endlessly intriguing mystery.

Oh, and Dandelion just challenged Star to an Agni Kai.

Even better with Peanut Butter

That's what Matthew says . . . about this recipe that is a work in progress. I'll let you know if I make any changes. This is MY recipe. I invented it . . . and love it even if it does taste better with peanut butter.

Lemon Cardamom Cookies

half a lemon zested and juiced
3 beaten eggs
1 c sugar
half c splenda
1 c shortening
2 c flour
half t salt
half t baking soda
1 t cardamom

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a small bowl beat eggs and lemon zest and juice. Set aside. In a different bowl, use a mixer to cream the sugar, splenda, and shortening. Beat in the egg/lemon and continue with mixer on high speed until it is ridiculously fluffy. In a third bowl (phew!) sift together the remaining ingredients; flour, salt, baking soda, and cardamom. gently mix into the shortening/egg mixture until completely combined. Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Leave about 2" between spoonfuls (dough will spread). Bake about ten minutes for a soft cookie; longer if you want a crisper cookie. Yield 3 dozen.

Even better with Dandelion art

I took this picture today, a premeditated 'before' picture. When you blog, you tend to do things like this.


What you're looking at there is a fairly awkward space between two windows. There's just a little bit of wall. It's too small for most of the framed and unframed art that has accumulated around us over the last decade. And although the space is quiet and unobtrusive, it is clearly visible from the front door. Sometimes quiet and unobtrusive is fine, perfectly ok, but I wanted there to be more to this bit of wall. Quiet, yes, but hopefully not boring.

I gathered the things that I thought would look right in this space and then I made a template, because that is what Martha would do and you know she is right about this.


After arranging them on the paper I traced each one and marked where the hanging hardware would be. Then I took the picture.

Fun.

When I taped the template on the wall I decided that the really smart thing to do would be to get out my level to make sure that the guide holes were in a perfectly vertical line. Then I got out my drill and put perfect little holes into my perfect plaster walls.

Perfect.


Well, that depends on who you ask. Dandelion knew it wasn't quite finished. She loves to hang pictures on the wall. Just before going to bed, she taped (and taped and taped!) one more thing up there.


And now its perfect.