Parade 2010

What? Doesn't every one keep a stack of 5 gallon buckets on their porch?

Well, after the stack sat there for about a week, my husband started getting a little cranky with "the mess in the way," so I knew I had to move forward with my bucket stack.

I added support posts which gave me the right shape and something to staple my chicken wire to. I wrapped the top in some cardboard that a friend had on hand for various projects, and papier mached the bottom portion (Boy, if my husband hadn't liked the mess before, he sure hated it now!) to create...

a giant sized beaker! Actually, it's an Erlenmeyer Flask, but when you say that, people scratch their heads and say, "Huh?" If you say beaker, they know just what you are talking about.

This became the float for the parade in our small town. As the publicity coordinator for our MOPs group, it was my job to see to the parade float. MOPs International has given us the theme "Momology: The Art and Science of Mothering" which, frankly, I don't love, but I wanted to work with the theme.

Here we are all lined up for our parade on a grey and foggy Saturday morning.

We walked as a group with all the other MOPs groups in our area. There are now actually 4 groups in our town and neighboring areas. The newest group is MOMSNext, for moms whose kids have gone into elementary school.

We didn't have quite the turn out I wanted. The parade is always the first weekend in August, but a funny thing happened this year with Sunday being August 1st. I think people assumed the parade was going to be on the 31st of July, but it was actually on the first Saturday of August. Sadly, a lot of people already had other plans by the time they figured that out.

Any way, we got rained on, so I am sure a lot of people were glad to not be there.

And then my camera batteries died....

The Wall

What's so special about this wall?

Nothing much.

If Mama Ain't Happy

I made it. And it was mostly free. I like mostly free.

Yes, I see that it is not straight. I'm not taking any orders just yet.

This is the only red wall in the kitchen. It is what you see when you come into my kitchen. Now, you will see my new sign, too.

So, Why Would You Need A Green Body Suit?

I'm so glad you asked.

Because now I can show you my fabulous 8 year old fairy!

Because, after all, every Tinker Bell birthday party must have a Tinker Bell.

And that Tinker Bell should get a lot of presents. Especially from her equally Darling brothers and sister.

And she should have a cake made in her likeness by her doting mother.

And just one cupcake to spit on.


Happy Birthday, Little Bit. I love you.

And thank you, Mom, for your help with the Tink skirt!





I must go collapse now....

Help! I've Fallen Into A Vat Of Rit Dye And I Can't Get Out!

It started innocently enough. I needed this body suit to be green for my daughter.

I'll tell you why later.

The green body suit needed green ballet slippers.

Then I had this huge stock pot full of green dye. What now? It would be such a waste to dump it down the drain. Isn't there anything else I could dye?

Ooh! I got it! I grabbed a few rubber bands and made two of these little cuties. They are a little lopsided, but you get the idea.

Still a lot of dye in there... Hmm... Oh, one of the kids has a white, long sleeved t-shirt. He also has a penchant for green.

Now, there's still a lot of dye. I wonder if there is a white cat around here anywhere. No? I guess I'll just have to dump the rest of it down the drain.