Clean your dryer

Today is Earth Day.
Have you cleaned your dryer out lately? It will run better and you will help prevent a house fire. Pull it from the wall, remove the lint duct, and clean-clean-clean! Remove that lint monster!

Also, if you use dryer sheets, using liquid dish detergent gently wash your lint screen. The softener tends to build up over time on that screen and reduces the effectiveness of the machine, therefore using more energy. That adds up to money savings!
Run home now! Don't wait! I(Take the day off, you deserve it. So does your dryer. The boss will understand.) Save the Earth! Save your wallet! Save your tumble-tumble-tumble dry!

Cat door done!

We have been project central around here for the past few weeks. You name it, we have been doing it or thinking about doing it.

One such project that has loomed on the To Do List is the installation of a cat door. The bathroom off of the kitchen shares an outer wall with the garage. This location was where the litter box was housed, along with a cat bowl for water. I hated it there! Horrible location in a house for a cat potty, but it was a bathroom. We finally finished that project and now I wish we would have done it before we even moved in.

All of the food bowls are in there now. No more kicking a cat bowl and food scattering everywhere because our big feet didn't realize a cat had scooted it all over trying to get that last crumb out.

This is the garage side of the door. Mike made some little cat steps for ease. These cats are so spoiled! The nice thing is that we were able to use steel shelves we bought a Costco for the enclosure. Some 1X2" wood for frames, some 1x1" metal mesh screen and a few bolts and we were good to go. We had a pretty detailed idea of how the screws would fit into the holes on the shelving unit for access. Those plans weren't needed as the threads on the bolts functioned perfectly to keep the frame in place and swing out to remove the litter box.

One aspect that I am pleased as punch about it that we can go on vacation, remove the front panel, and close the bathroom door. Friends can come and check on them, but we won't have roving cats all over the house being mad for being left alone. If you have had cats, you know what vicious things they do when you leave.

Ring mobile

Renée now has a ring mobile. This is so cool because we can change out the toys that hang down for her to grab. The ribbon hanging down has hook tape and the felt toys have loop tape. They attach at the bottom of the ribbon, or attach directly on the ring.

The ring is black felt stuffed with left over stuffing and poly stuff used for a quilt. I machine sewed the tube and whipped stitched the ends together to form the ring. I then embroidered it with green thread and silk ribbon flowers. That part was easy and fun.
The whole thing attaches to hemp string hanging from the ceiling with some hooks. I love this contraption because I can remove the ring mobile and hang one toy or add other mobiles.

Montessori space

I loved Montessori school in my little days of yore. Now, being a renewed parent and wanting to enrich Renée's life, I have been reading more and more about Dr. Montessori's theory. She was an anthropologist and gosh, I wish I would have known that during my undergrad anthro classes ! I could have meshed my educational ideas with my anthro stuff. Ahh, I could have written some great papers! Hey, pregnancy goddess statues and Southeastern Indian basketry are interesting, too. Let's face it, I am not going to write those papers now, and truly, might not have even written them then.
The main book that hooked me was Tim Seldin's How to Raise an Amazing Child. It is very cool and showed fantastic pictures. From that, I implemented what I could. A mirror for Renée and I made a paper plate mobile with colored ribbons. That was the beginning and I continue to rearrange shelves and clear clutter to make her area safe and accessible. 2 shelves ready, one basket, and homemade toys galore.
I am a list maker and organizer. I loved having snacks set up in the fridge when Phoebe was young so she could grab from the fridge or sit and color without me having to get it for her. I like prep work as I see it pays off, if that makes sense. I am excited making toys and setups with which Renée will learn and play. Lima beans, little scoops, bowls and trays: great stuff! I have an old guitar and am excited to let her be a toddler and play with it.

This video shows her favorite friend while Phoebe is at school!

Oh man! I want one!

There are wind farms around us and we see them whenever we head west. At night, the little red lights on the top of them blink in and out because of the spinning arms. It is cool, very Quixote-esque.
It is weird to see the pieces to build them on trucks. They are huge! Absolutely gargantuan! A traffic light is the size of a person, but you wouldn't think it to see them at every intersection. Perspective throws the real size off. Same with business signs. When you see one being erected next to the interstate and it is larger than a 18-wheeler, you know that is one bad boy. The arms for wind turbines are massive. It warms my heart to see them being trucked down the interstate. "That is one cool truck driver," is what I think when I see them.
Currently, I pay a nominal fee to our electric company encouraging wind generated electricity. What would be better? The actual turbine on my property.
See, I have this dream of one day having a Tiny House. What I would implement into my house would be:
solar chimney
grey water system
handwash toilet top
half flush
solar array/wind turbine
premier tub

Granted, some of these items are probably not be needed for a tiny house, but they are cool. That Premier Tub is awesome. I don't think I need a broken hip to use that in my house. It is the bomb! I could be like the captain of the ship in Hitchhikers that stays in his tub and commands. That tub would be in the center of the house and I would command my minions (at least, the ones I think are there).
Add to all of this a biodiesel rig. Awesome! Imagine the fun!

Soap making

Here is the soap I made all cut up. The plastic tube I used didn't work out too well. I ended up cutting it open to release the soap. The rectangles are a bit uneven, but they are going to be usable.
I asked Mike if we can make a wooden box and he said it should be easy. Easy is one thing. Completion is another. We've got so many projects around here!

Egg dyeing

We now have an egg dying tradition of getting out masking tape and small blades to create resist designs on our Easter eggs. We each need a very special egg with which to pacque. Phoebe and I worked on our special eggs. She chose a female Pokemon Pikachu for her design and I went with my tried and true Crawfish/Hot Sauce.


This next photo shows our eggs with the masking tape applied prior to dyeing.

After some serious bath time, my egg is sporting nice, tight outlines and a rather close color resemblence to Tabasco:

The opposite side of my egg had the bottle design. Some brush strokes with green and we're ready to hit some eggs!

I can't say enough about vinyl gloves for this activity. Too many years have seen me with nasty nails and dyed dry skin for days. As for our two champion eggs, they remain in the fridge. We still can't bring ourselves to mess them up just quite yet.