In the Doghouse

We built a dog house... for our cats.

It has been so bitter cold here for the past little bit, and I felt bad for our poor kitties.  We have two cats who lived quite comfortably in the house - in our last house.  When we moved in with my dad, they were relegated to be outdoor cats because of my dad's allergies.  They coped just fine with that, only occasionally sneaking in the house (and regularly sneaking in the garage).  But when the snow and the cold came, they had no shelter.  Poor kitties.

So David and Eddie and I went over to a kind neighbor (the greatest scout leader ever!) who helped us cut and assemble this dog house.  It was pretty easy, as the directions were all nice and clear at the Lowes website.  

Just one sheet of 4x8 plywood, cuts, some 2x4s, a bunch of screws, and we were done in a morning.

We brought it home and painted it green in the kitchen.  Because I could only find green paint and pink paint, and because the kitchen is the only place to paint when it's below freezing outside.

Trent cut up some carpet scraps to insulate and make it all cozy for our kitties. In the spring, we will put on shingles and make it pretty, but for now, with a tarp thrown over to keep off the snow, they are warm and toasty.  Every time I look on the back porch, I see a tail or two or some whiskers through the door.  Glad they can be warm!

The Christmas Decorations

We've finally got the Christmas decorations taken down.  It has been a trial this year, since I have my own decorations, as well of those of my mother.  She loved to decorate for Christmas!  She loved the lights and the mistletoe and the pictures on the windows.  She had Christmas tablecloths and garlands and doorknob jingles and even a Santa toilet lid cover.  At one time, she had a Christmas tree in ever room of the house!  One had pictures of  us kids growing up, one was decorated all in white and angels, one had bubbling water lights, one had golden balls and red apples...  it was fun to see.  Fortunately for me, she started downsizing before she passed away, so I had a bit less to go through.  

Going through it all, sorting out which things to keep and getting ready to set things up

We set up the angel tree in my dad's room and our Christmas tree in the front room.  That's about all the space we had.  I put up a bunch more decorations than I usually do (remember Mom=happy Christmas decorator, me=minimalist) just because it was there.  But after Christmas, it was sure nice to put everything away and have a bit of visual breathing space.

All packed up and ready to stash in the storage space in the garage.  This is what we ended up with - minus four(!) trees and the outside inflatables.

Ah.  Much better.

The Police Car

We recently had a police car pull up in front of our house.  The door opened and... out jumped my husband?  He had a discontinued police car down at the dealership and wanted to drive it around a bit.  My happened to come over just then, and he got to drive it, too.  Evidently the thing has some get-up-and-go to it!  While they were talking, the kids turned on the lights, and then siren.  That thing is LOUD!

Of course, all the kids wanted to have a ride in it, too.  I got a kick out of seeing them through the bars in the window.  You be good now, you hear?

They had a great time going for rides.  It was all fun until a neighbor boy locked his own hands in the handcuffs, and we had no key.  They had to drive back to the dealership and fortunately someone there could free him.  See what happens when you mess around with the law?

24 Days of Giving

Every year, our big extended family on Trent's side likes to do a service project.   The past few years, we've purchased fleece and tied blankets for the Linus Project.  When all of us work together, we get quite a pile of blankets!  It's great to be part of something helpful like that.

This year, instead of doing an all-together service project, each family was asked to do their own projects.  We hunted for a while, wanting at first to do something epic.  But epic projects require epic amounts of money...  Then we wanted to do something for folks in South Africa or Madagascar.  For some reason, we have an affinity for those two places!  But we don't have enough knowledge or time to find something there.  And I'd really love to do something where the kids can be directly involved and see what good things happen when we serve.

So we finally settled on a smaller project that requires a bit of service every day.  Instead of one big project, we will be doing lots of little ones.  This way, we can help others around us and get that giving spirit all month long.

So here is the plan.  We went to multiplygoodness.com to print off their free pdf file of the day cards.  They print off four to a page so it's easy to cut them apart.  There are 24 cards - one for each day until Christmas.  Each card has an idea for a bit of service to do: leave a treat for the mail person, give change to the bell ringer, send a cheerful text, put a nice note on someone's car, give chocolate...  

None of them are hard, but all the little acts of goodness will add up.  Some require money (pass out candy canes), some need some advance planning (leave goodies on someone's porch), and some you can just do whenever  (encourage a young person).

I made open envelopes out of a half sheet of paper, then decorated them and numbered them all to 24.  I tucked a card in each envelope and paper-clipped them to tibbons I had strung up between nails.  No sheetrock was harmed during this project - the holes were already there.  Honest!

We'll open a new envelope each night - or maybe the first thing in the morning if (when) we forget (just keeping it real).  I hope we can remember and that the kids will get the feeling of giving through this Christmas season.

The Formal Dance

Isn't this boy cute adorable handsome?  Psh.  They get older and we have to quit using the adjectives that are the most descriptive. 

He got asked to the girl's choice formal dance - by a girl he knew he was supposed to know but he didn't know who she was.  It was a bit embarrassing and tense for a bit, but he figured it all out and now has a friend out of this cute girl.  So glad my kids have good friends to hang out with!

He wanted to make her corsage, and in finding out what color her dress was, he came up with a new, unfamiliar word: burgundy.  What the heck was that? I had to pull up a color chart so he could learn that burgundy was just a deep, rich, not-purply red.  

No, this was not the chart I pulled up for him.  But it does describe his expression when I started going over the finer nuances of different colors.  Eventually we got it all figured out and bought the stuff.  He helped me to make the corsage, and I think he is ready to do the next one by himself.  Awesome that my boys can take learn how to do of these kinds of things.

What a stud!

The Musical!

David has been taking a musical theater class this year, and really enjoys it.  One of his requirements is to participate in the school musical.  

He auditioned, and got the part of a Wickersham in the school's production of "Seussical."  We had to put an advertising poster in our yard, or a vinyl ad on our car.  We got the vinyl, and managed to smooth it out and pick all the letters back together after Georgie played with it and smashed them all up.  

He loves being on the stage, and performing in front of people.  I don't know where he got those genes, as that thought terrifies me.  I've only acted on stage once or twice, and it was terrible.  I'll happily leave that to those who enjoy it.  Like David.  And like Trent!  He was in the the drama club in high school and very much enjoyed his time performing in various plays and musicals.  Good for them.  Every play needs an audience, and applause is one part I can handle!

Good Morning, Good Morning!

I remember hearing my mother's voice as she walked through the house.  She would sometimes sing a little song in the mornings, as a cheerful way to wake us up, I suppose.

Way up in the sky
Is where the little birds fly.
And down in the valley
The little birds rest.

With a wing on the left
And a wind on the right,
The little birds sleep
All through the night.

Then up comes the sun
And the dew goes away.
"Good morning, good morning!"
The little birds say.

I walked through our neighborhood this morning, listening to all of the voices singing.  The voices were of the feathered variety, and there were sure a lot of them!  It seems that every tree had birds tucked among the branches.  There were chirpers and tweeters, squawkers and even a few warblers.  I wish I knew enough about birds to be able to identify their songs, but I love listening to them.  Our street sounded like Saturday morning at the Tweedlebug market, Good morning to you, too!

The weather has turned cold, and the summer birds are gone.  I've just started seeing a few of our winter birds, but in the middle are the migrating birds that stop in for a few nights.  Our street is lined with trees, a good 30 to 40 years old.  They aren't anything like the trees we had in our neighborhood in Washington State - those were enormous and stately.  No, here they are much shorter, suburban trees, but that means the birds are closer to the ground.

I grinned as I walked home, pulling my thin jacket closer around me.  The weather forecast said it would snow today.  I was glad that all my birdie friends were wearing down coats.  I ducked my head under the branches of one tree, half its golden leaves still shivering on the branches.  As I did, the tree came to life and a whole flock of little birds whooshed out.  The chilly breeze seemed to pick them up and whisk them right away.  I was impressed with how much noise their tiny wings made.

I guess if we work together, we can do amazing things.  Or just be more noisy.  My twins have that one down.