I love long weekends. I started on Friday, with a day off, all to myself. I went bargain hunting at some local thrift shops and got a ton of great stuff. The best find of the day: plastic tableware for Walter's kitchen. I found cups, bowls, plates, forks and spoons, all for $3.30. And that got me inspired to finally finish up some of the felt food I had started making for him long, long ago. He's been serving me breakfast all weekend long. He keeps the coffee coming, sometimes two or three cups at a time.
We've had lots of goodies coming out of the garden this weekend. Walter and I pick and eat a few peas every time we pass them. The cherry tomatoes are starting to get nice and red. And, I just picked our first green beans of the season. (No trouble with bunnies this year!)
Please, excuse the weeds. We've been too busy playing to worry about them.
We hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend too!
Walter and I made a 4th of July cake.
EW!
Thanks to the magic of photoshop, this is a little closer to what we were going for.
Yeah, it's still kind of gross, but a bit more patriotic looking. Either way, it tasted good!
Walter loves to help in the kitchen, which is great, but it can a real pain in the neck when you're just trying to get dinner on the table. So the other night, while we were cooking, I found a box of expired Minute Rice in the back of the cupboard. I set Walter up with the rice, plastic bowls and a measuring cup. He could scoop and measure and pour and stir, right along with us. Cheap toy, happy kid, dinner on the table – score!
I used to do quite a bit of sewing for myself, but I rarely, if ever, had the courage to actually wear anything I made. In fact, I have several dresses and skirts hanging in my closet that have yet to see the light of day. But I'm sure to get a ton of use out of this – my new clothespin apron:
I know, it's kind of dorky and old fashioned, but it's so useful when hanging things out to dry. And it was super easy to make. There's a great tutorial here, which I sort of followed. I had to piece a few things together since I was working with some fabric remnants, but it turned out great.
It took us two years to properly install a clothesline in our backyard. Um, yeah. It's a long story filled with several embarrassing incidents in which the whole thing came crashing down on my head. I'm sure I've been keeping the neighbors entertained. I finally went out and got a simple umbrella style clothesline. It holds a ton and there's little chance of anything falling on my head. I love it! Everything feels and smells so fresh after hanging in the sun and breeze.
I found this awesome blog today, A Place Imagined, featuring amazing playhouses for kids. We will soon have a tree house to fix up for Walter, so this is great inspiration. This pirate ship is so cool!
While I'm talking playhouses, here's a little playhouse/tent we made for Walter a few months ago.
The frame is made from pvc pipe and fittings so it's easy to put together and take apart. The fabric cover is made from a set of sheets – much cheaper than buying yards and yards of fabric. And when we want to put it away, it all gets stored in the pillowcase. The window is great for peek-a-boo and there are openings on both ends so Walter can run right through it. He also hides in it, throws balls into and out of it, and even has an occasional snack in there. It's nothing like the fabulous playhouses at A Place Imagined, but Walter seems to like it just fine.
I don't know if it's all the rain we've been getting, or the warm weather, or maybe I've finally found the perfect, sunny spot. My pepper plants are looking fantastic! I usually only get three or four sad looking peppers towards the end of the summer, so I planted a few extra plants this year and put them in pots in a hot spot on the deck – I've heard peppers do well in the heat. These cute little guys are already popping up all over the place. Hooray!
