Weekly Update 11/5/21 Home repairs and clearing out the school room

 We are looking to possibly sell our home next year.  Now that the kids are fully grown and I am done with homeschooling the house is too big and we wish to downsize and possibly move out of the area.  I want to move closer to my Mother and my Husband is seriously thinking of retiring.  So we have been looking around the house and getting a few repairs done that we have been putting off

We replaced the deck boards --  we wanted to do this 2  years ago but lumbar was hard to come by.  But luckily we found someone who had a stash of cedar wood and was able to tightening up the railings and make sure the deck was up to code. 

We have been meaning to paint the porch porch for awhile but never had the time. So we finally hired someone to do it for us.  

They did a good job and also painted the railings, the columns and the door .

I have been clearing out the school room and getting rid of so much stuff.  I have held on to things the kids made when they were in elementary grades.  Oh and the books, I have so many books.   

I cleared off my 31/2 book shelves and did everything I could to give them away to other homeschoolers or even public school teachers.  I only had three people come by to sort through the books they took boxes of books away but we still ended up with loads to take the the recycling center.  It broke my heart that I couldn't find someone to take them especially since I was GIVING them away.  

This is all I kept. trust me when I say these book shelves were completely full. Some books I just can't let go of.  I even got rid of all the kids school projects that I have been saving for years.

My husband did think it was a bit ironic that we spent all day clearing out the school room and then this was delivered to the door.  In my defense it is for my Human Geography class that I am teaching :)

My art/science shelf was cleared out and I donated it all to our local co-op art and science teachers.  We literally filled up their car 

Now to schedule painters to come in and paint and fix the many holes in the walls that we have made.  While I am sad to see all my and the kids work gone it does feel good knowing that this phrase of the life is almost over and I am excited to see what comes next, even if we are in the planning stages.  

Weekly Wrap UP 12/11/20. Christmas ornaments

 Every year since the kids were born they have gotten a special ornament that somehow represents what has happened to them during the year!  When they were younger my husband or I would chose the ornament based on their interests or accomplishments, but now that the kids are older they are choosing their own special ornament.  

MarioFan chose this ornament for his collection 

I guess it sums up his year

Firedrake chose these ornaments which we got at her college bookstore (last year but have been saving them for this Christmas as it is her first year at college

I also bought her the ornament that MarioFan picked out because I thought it was important and sort of funny 

In addition we lost our Bearded Dragon last month so I wanted to have something small to remember him by.  I found a site that could turn pictures into Christmas ornaments so I order one 

I also had one designed for my Hedgehog that I lost a couple of years ago because I still remember him and really enjoyed having him as a pet.

We are now working on getting additional ornaments made for all the other animals in the house: the dog, cat, leopard gecko and two guinea pigs.  They haven't arrived yet but hopefully will get here before Christmas. 

Lastly, my mother started sending me the White House Christmas ornament every year since I got married in 1999.  This year's ornament is to honor JFK.  

We always decorate the house the weekend after Thanksgiving 

                                             

Most of these Christmas ornaments were given to my Husband and I as a wedding gift.  We honeymooned in Germany and someone gifted us with a box of ornaments from Germany that our given to the Bride for their first Christmas which is suppose to bring good luck.  I love them

Next I decorate stair -- Deck the halls -- as they sing:)

The felt Christmas tree here I purchased when the kids were very young and they still insist it goes up and love to fill it in every day till Christmas

Our 7 foot tree.  Discovered yet another strand of light that are out.  One I can hide by placing it towards the window.  The second strand that is out we didn't discover until the tree was up and now I can't rearrange it.  I have the worst luck trying to correct lights that our out.  I am dreaming of one day owning an LED Christmas tree!

My Mantle of Scottish Christmas Santa's.  They go up every single year!  

Making a book

My daughter and her friend get together once a week to play and have been working on a story together.  I am told they discuss the plot and the various scenes while together and then my daughter's friend has been typing the stories up to make a book.  Just recently my daughter's friend and her mother created a bound book to put all their stories in so we can take them with us back to the states, so sweet.  Of course once I saw that I had to know how to make bound books of my own.  I got a quick tutorial from a dear friend:)  She is so crafty and I am going to miss all her great ideas when we move:'(.

For this book there were 84 total pages so we needed to print out  7 mini books of 12 pages each.  Remember that you need to sequence the pages to fit when the pages are folded in half i.e. page 1 match up with page 12, page 2 matches up with page 11 for the first mini book set, then do the same for each of the other mini books.  I hope that makes sense to you:) 

We used a large cereal box to make the cover

Measure 1/4 inch all around the 1/2 booklet.  

For the center of the two mini booklets add 6/8 inch, this may need to increase depending on the number of mini booklets you have and the overall thickness of your book:)

Fold the cardboard over

Open your mini booklets and measure 7 equal points to make holes starting approx. 1 cm from the edge.

Begin sewing the mini books.

tied off the booklet securely

Close up of the end results

Next take all the booklets and sew them together.  I should have used brighter thread to make it easer to see.  Basically you stitch under the thread in a weave (don't stitch the paper) Once that is done set the paper aside

Now cover the cereal box using card stock.  Glue the card stock on to the cereal box leaving the binding edge free of paper (we will cover it later)

Glue down all the edges

Next add a thin strip (of a different color)  of card stock to cover the binding edge (middle) of the cover

Take a plain piece of paper to cover all the mini booklets only glue the center (where the threads are) and about 1/2 past.

Firmly place the white paper over your min booklets--remember not to glue the  entire area down or you will cover you print pages

now glue down the white paper to the cover of book do not glue the center part as that needs to be free in order  to open the book

The finish project!

What it looks like from the side:)

Now I can turn my daughter's writings into books and they will always have a place of honor on our book shelves:)!  I can tell you the book given to my daughter has been read a thousand times and one one is allowed to touch it.  Such a thoughtful gift!

Make Over!!

My dining room chairs were in need of a drastic make over.  This dining room set is over 30 years old and belong to my parents before I inherited it when I got married.  The fabric is the original fabric so it was pretty threadbare.  However moving the table and chairs into the conservatory of our home in England the sun had basically damaged the fabric and the chairs cushions completely.  My friend offered to help me re upholster the fabric recently and spent an entire day helping me, while our children played.

Ok concentrate on the chair and not the messy floor in the background:).  See the sun damaged top panel and the kids have picked at or ripped the seat cushions beyond repair

First thing we had to do was take the chairs apart and remove the fabric and cushions, and with any project you run into some problems like finding out the top panel was practically super glued on to the wood was our first huddle.  But with team work we manage to remove the fabric panel without breaking the chair, WHEW!

The original seat cushion was beyond repair so I bought new seat cushions and we used the wooden seat panel as our pattern to cut new cushions.

I used my electric knife to cut thru the foam.

Next we had to measure out how much fabric we needed and cut out chair patterns.  I relied very heavily on my friend for this as I am not a seamstress by any means.  I think I bought enough fabric to recover all the chairs but we wanted to be sure to be fugal in our cutting of the fabric.

The back cushion was bit trickier as it was glue on and I couldn't find foam suitable to use to replace it with so we decided to just work with what we have as it wasn't in quite as bad of condition as the seat panel.

My finished chair, doesn't it look so much better.  We were able to get 3 chairs done that day!!!

I am so happy with my "New" chairs.  I am busily working on getting the other 5 chairs stripped down so they too can be redone!  I have to say having never done anything like this before and I found this project easier than I thought it would be.  Instead of needing to buy a whole new dining room set when we return to the states, which is what I told my husband we would have to do, we will be able to continue to use this one and I will no longer be embarrassed by the condition of the cushions.:)

Pantomime Season in the UK

It is Pantomime season in the UK, also known as "Panto".  This is not to be confused with "Mime."  Panto in the UK is a form of musical comedy which includes songs, slapstick, dancing, audience participation and is usually geared towards families (but there is adult humor).  Most importantly it  combines local humor with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale.  Many local amateur drama clubs put on a show usually starting in November and it lasts until the end of January.   This year I took the kids to see "Snow White and the Seven Blokes" at the village Church.

It is very common for male actors to take on female roles:)

Very cute kids singing and dancing

The seven (actually only six) blokes.  One actor played the part of the seventh bloke.

light saber sword fight--kids loved the star wars humor in the play

lots of humor

audience participation of the song

the seven (six) blokes dancing

Must have a pie in the face near the end!!!

the entire cast!

We had lots of fun and it was a very nice evening out.  Kids are still remembering some of the humor of the play a week later:)