King me!

Every now and then an idea so simple smacks me in the side of the head. Usually the result of fighting kids, this one is no exception.

Last week I bought a chess/checkers set after the girls showed renewed interest.

Who knows where our old one(s) have gone to.

Needless to say, the boys want to play chess and the girls want to play checkers. At.the.same.time.

So..... with these few supplies, I made one of my best things EVER.

Acrylic paint in red and black

Yardstick

Sharpie

Brushes (foam worked really well)

Screwdriver

And most importantly:

A wooden picnic table

I measured the "board" and marked off the spaces with the sharpie.

Mine were 3 inches square.

Use the screwdriver to 'etch' the lines in. It will help with the painting.

Not something you *have to do, but it made it a bit easier.
I put 3 or 4 coats of paint on. It dried quickly, and I stopped once I had the coverage I wanted.

Add the black squares.

I wanted this (obviously) to be weatherproof.

It is our crab eating table also, so it has to take a bit of wear and tear.

I used this sealer. Why? Because I had it already.

Used newspaper and tape to cover the parts I didn't want sealed.

Had to use packing tape, since duct tape disappears faster than candy in this house.

Again, one of those things I have no answer to.

Couple of coats later...voila!! How awesome is this??

Now all they need is some checkers.

Sun In

Finally was brave enough to let Janey swim in the deep end.

She perfected her underwater moves called "give mom a heart attack".

She can hold her breath for something close to 46 minutes. Or so it feels.

Summer: Blonde hair for the kid.

Gray hair for the mama.

Not for the timid

Always looking for some fun (free) crafts to do at home. Preferably ones that we can get a lot of use out of. After discovering the rock hard, dried up finger paint I went in search of a recipe for make your own. I found a few recipes, and they all looked pretty simple.

Simple I can do.

3 ingredients simple I can really do.

You know, 3 ingredients. Can't be that bad.

Things you may not know:

Cornstarch is messy. Really messy.

It is not the same consistency as flour, and if you are dumb enough to make the mistake of trying to pour it into a measuring cup, well....you will be making a big mistake.

Cornstarch and water, brought to a boil to thicken WILL bubble.

If it gets on your skin, especially on the soft, unprotected flesh of your fingers, you WILL scream.

You might even scream "F*CK!!!"

You will not, however, feel too bad about it because you will be in stunning disbelief as to how much it burns, and how cornstarch+boiling water= molten hot GLUE.

The mixing of the colors was the best part in the opinion of the paint makers.

I would love to be able to tell you how it actually works, but apparetnly they only wanted to make the fingerpaint. Not use it.

Probably for the best right now. I am sure it would irritate my blistered, burned flesh.

Summer So Far

swimming

swimming

and more swimming

janey's day spa

sparklers

picnic lunches

radishes from the garden. mysteriously planted, but enjoyed none the less.

crabs. I like them steamed. stella prefers live.

red, white, blue, and peace on earth

baby horses and the beach

so far so good!