Skip to main content

The Big Piece of Plastic

Randy & I had neighbors years ago who lamented that the grandparents considered it their duty to go out and buy the biggest piece of plastic they could find and then bless their grandchildren; i.e., the parents, with it. We remembered those words when we became grandparents and have tried to live by them. :) Our latest achievement was the purchase of a picnic table for Natalie & Layla in Colorado. There's a story of our backyard fountain and Layla falling into it that precedes this purchase, but you'll have to log on to Nikki's blog to get that ugly story. So, to try to make up for the fun, albeit risky fun, that went away with the draining of the fountain, Granny went out and bought the biggest piece of plastic that would fit into Papa's jeep. You can tell how thrilled my son-in-law Casey is with the "some assembly required" process. Twelve or so sturdy pieces of plastic and 500 or so screws and washers later, viola! In the meantime, the girls had way too much fun with the BOX the thing came in...hmm...ancient wisdom playing itself out here...anyway, they--Natalie & Layla-- love it-inside & out of doors! I think it was a hit, which is all that matters to these Grandparent Units :D




Posted by Picasa

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Much Needed New Winter Robe - Vogue 9232

Last spring I chucked my 20-year-old bathrobe, giving me no choice but to replace it come winter.  Granted, I never took it to Mongolia, so it only got worn when I was home in the US.  But still.  For summer I made several light weight robes, but I knew I liked the style of my old RTW one.   When I saw reviews for Vogue 9232--on PR (all 3 of them), I knew I'd found my pattern.  Interestingly enough, the pattern is actually for a caftan-type dress; but all 3 reviews were done up as a robe.       Sham's review   in particular had great tips.   On a trip to Colorado Fabrics  in early summer I spotted a beeeuuutiful pink sweatshirt type fabric.  The outside is more like a thick knit and inside is dreamy soft.  And it's baby pink!  Which is hard to tell in the pics as we in Colorado have had lots of rain and no sunshine. And OK, I'm no photographer.  But seriously, this is like stepping into a pink cloud. ...

Travel Duds

As I've probably whined/stated before, the trip to and from Mongolia involves about 30 hours of travel spread over 3 flights, Incheon Airport, South Korea the long leg being 11-13 hours.   For almost 10 years I've resisted wearing anything closely resembling sweats.  I know, I know.  Call it an anti Ugly American thing.   About 5 years on, I had to ditch jeans with any kind of buttons on the back.  Finally, the knobby seam joint of the back yoke got to me.  Never mind having to unbutton midway through. Sigh.  I finally caved into wearing comfy pants (hereafter referred to as Happy Pants) on the long leg of my international flights last September.  These were made up in my favorite yoga pants pattern, Laura Lounge Trousers  (I'd made 3 pair for Pilates already :)  by Maria of Denmark (her Kimono Tee pattern is another one of my go to's!).  In purple stretch velour.  Still, I couldn't bring myself to hang out in the airpo...

A Stitch Sisters Kimono for Dubai

My husband had meetings come up quick in Dubai and of course I tagged along!  We were going to be there a week and I wanted a lightweight kimono-type pullover for the pool and getting out of the shower.  I had snagged a gorgeous white linen/cotton (guessing on this) here in UB that was perfect.  My inspiration came from Lisa's over at  Lisa's Carolina | Handmade .  I'm not good at pattern drafting and this was a quick FREE measure and cut tutorial of Stitch Sisters--find their Patternless Pattern Link  here .   I'm so happy with this!  It basically took me an afternoon.  The directions are great--and they include 5/8" seam allowances--yay!--as I wanted to turn under and top stitch them since I don't have a serger here.  I left off the ties.  Shapeless worked for this.  I also raised the neckline by about 1.5" The neckline was a little trickier as I didn't have any bias on hand and there is no "running out" anywhe...