Sharpie tie-dye

Day 19  Some fun with some Sharpies!

Ever since I saw this idea, I knew it would be so clever to do with the kiddos.  I picked up a pack of white shirts from K-Mart, and an 8 pack of Sharpie-Wannabees at the dollar store (8 of them for $1  - someone reported they spread better than genuine Sharpies... and they were GREAT!)

So with Kaleb, Jemma and McKenzie, we were ready to create!   You stretch whatever portion of your shirt you want to decorate over a plastic cup and secure with a rubber band.  Or just put a piece of cardboard inside the shirt.  You then draw on the taut fabric with a permanent marker - dots, shapes... even an initial.   Then you drop alcohol in the center - one lady said 20 drops or so, but I added more after a second or two, working further out.  Then we watched as it slowly spread, even over the lip of the cup. Lots of ink and lots of alcohol meant some really colorful designs.  But really, you can't go wrong. (we practiced a little first on a cotton dish towel.)

Within a few minutes it was dry enough to take out the cups.   We threw the shirts into the dryer to really set the ink, and so they shouldn't run when they are washed. 

 Jemma's LARGE initials came out, but her G and D were only about an inch high, and became unreadable blobs. 
Just google Sharpies TieDye and you'll see page after page of how others have done this, it's all very inspiring!

What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Okay, so my husband used to say, if he came upon a really dusty shelf - which RARELY happened in our house (ha ha ha , don't we wish,)  he would say, "You could grow a garden in here!"  

 

  Well, I've managed to keep weird things from growing on bookshelves and other odd places over the years, and most of the time it's a real challenge to get many things to grow, especially in the summer here in AZ. I always love when there's a surprise, a volunteer, a random plant (like a squash plant I recently found growing in our garden behind some onions.) 

 

   But this one takes the cake. I was up early and went to wash my hands, but hadn't turned on the bathroom light. In the dimness I could see something in the sink and sort of swept my palm over it as I turned on the water - and THIS was pulled up out of the drain! 

That, my friends, is a Morning Glory trying to find some daylight.  It is not my great knowledge or flowers that told me what it was, but rather the fact that  a friend had given me some seeds and I remembered dropping one down the drain

 

Which brings us to the next topic, the reason a seed could even take root in a bathroom sink.  Well, this sink was quite clogged, and I'd been wanting to clean it out. I knew it was all my hair plugging it up . . . that's been a given in this house forever, with all the girls.  I'd cleaned out the bathtub drain more times than I care to remember, a really yucky job I call pulling up the rat. It usually required a pair of needle-nose pliers and a strong stomach.

  

But the sink was different, I couldn't get the plug up , it wouldn't just pop out.  I was stymied.

SO, off to the internet I ran, and easily found a wonderful tutorial  (And doesn't it always crack you up how even the most random search you start to type into the bar, the internet offers up the exact same search? Someone else had already gone looking!  I bet you could type in Angelina Jolie nose hairs and Google or Yahoo would complete the phrase - somebody else had already been curious before you!)

 

But I digress -  here's the youtube link if you ever feel the need to unclog your bathroom sink.

 

And here is the treasure I found down in my bathroom sink's 'garden'.   Lovely little rat, all black and slimy.  That is the first of two such clogs I fished out with a straightened hanger. (and don't you just love the myriad ways wire coat hangers have served us?  I bet that's a blog entry all on its own.)

 

 

 

Leaping Lizards!

Day 5      Whenever there are stairs and children, there has to be jumping. Nana has an extra added ingredient, the Mini Trampoline, like those used by gymnasts and acrobats the world over.  The kiddos have made great games with it over the years, but this is a particular favorite.  I don't think it has a name... but it should.  
   
 It's pretty simple - one just jumps onto the trampoline off one of the steps - most likely the highest one you have the nerve to leap from.

 Catching big air is a particular goal... this is Jonah being goofy (I really wish you could see the slo-mo of him, but it's on Aub's camera.)

Jamie can really fly.  

Jemma is having fun - and lest you think their moms would be horrified that
they're all leaping dangerously over the tile... Well you can see they're chatting
in the backround, nonplussed over it all

Addie prefers watching the action from the landing zone...
a pile of couch cushions and blankets.