Birthdays and other things

Last week, we celebrated the birthdays of my dad and sister. Their birthdays are one day apart, so we had a dinner for both of them at my parent's house. At this point in both of their lives, the gifts have become more practical, which explains the gift I gave my dad. His hip has been giving him problems for the past several years, so what better gift could there be than one of these:

One of those picker upper thingys on a stick!

This item soon became the highlight of the evening and we were amazed at the number of uses it has to offer.

Here, my dad demonstrates how to lure in a grandchild



Here, Sarah puts together a puzzle sans hands

A toy for an infant....
Controlling wild animals.....

Picking up wrapping paper from the floor....


Hitting Grampeggy on the tushie...

Yikes! Careful with that thing, Danny. We finally had to put the tool away for the night as things were getting out of hand.

Casey uses their gift, a snazzy knife sharpener, to sharpen every single knife in my parent's house...it was that amazing!

On to another topic:

Now that I am unemployed for a bit, I am getting around to doing so many thaings that I have been putting off. My house is kinda sorta clean, and I am clearing out the "rat nests" as I call them- the piles of clutter that I move from place to place. I also have a little ime to work on a project I have been wanting to get around to for quite some time now - a mural for Danny's room.

Here is the inspiration for my project:

I loved my Richard Scarry books growing up, especially Dingo Dog in his speedy little red sports car. This project is going to take a while, but it is already under way.

First, I bought 3 sheets of plywood to paint the masterpiece on. I want this mural to be portable in case we move and also to be able to remove it if and when (gasp) Danny outgrows it and wants to replace it with say, posters of bikini clad women.

Here is my progress to date

First, I mapped out my design..kinda hard to see

Then I primered the three boards in the back yard, so happy this unusually warm January weather allows such speedy paint drying!

Then I sketched out the areas for the sky, street, and grass and painted in the grassy area.

I later used a projector, with the help of Sarah and Casey, to pencil in the images onto the plywood. My pictures of this did not turn out so swell.

With Danny at preschool, I hope to get thisthing churned out in the next month or so.



As for Danny, he has been doing a bit of riding lately and is actually signed up to ride in a Gymkhana next month.

This guy's name is Bo. Isn't he handsome? An old friend from my horse riding days has offered to let Danny ride him in a couple of events. I really hope it sticks as I would love to be back in the horse world again.

Well, off to do some puttering, just a lady of leisure these days!