Tackle It Tuesday: Lucas Films Should Hire Me

I mentioned yesterday about my secret project and how I completely made it up off of the top of my head. Normally what I envision and what I attempt never come out how I envision it and I'm usually disappointed. This time I'm pretty darn proud of myself. My only wish is that it actually had some kind of function other than a center piece.

Here's a basic tutorial in case there's someone out there who desperately needs to make a R2D2 for a Star Wars birthday party or just because their bored and are a Star Wars Junkie.

The basic materials needed are:
A large sand bucket with the handle taken off.
A large blown up balloon
2 empty drink pouch boxes.
Paper Mache glue I used the cooked recipe but I think it would have been just as fine to not cook it.
Shredded newspaper and Shredded printer paper
Acrylic Paint and White Spray Paint
A juice lid or any kind of small lid.

Step 1

Blow up the balloon big enough to stick into the bucket with the rounded top part sticking up.
Prepare the Paper Mache glue and shred the newspaper in strips.
I had not paper mache'd since 2nd grade and yet it all came back to me. It is a dive in and get your hands dirty kind of project, I had fun but maybe I'm weird that way. I did a good 2 layers of newspaper. Let it dry or not if your in a hurry.

The nerf gun is not a intricate part of this project; though it could be useful to shoo away nosy onlookers.

Step 2:
Spray paint the over sugared juice boxes. I had to spray it several times and the packaging still showed through a little bit. I really wasn't overly concerned about it to much.

Step 3:

Paper Mache the next layer with the white printer paper. This was the best hint I got when reading about paper mache; it really makes painting a lot smoother and if white is the main area, than painting it white is not necessary. Let it dry over night.

Next wrap 2 full printer sheets around the bucket. I figure this would also make it easier than spray painting the bucket. You could easily do that to I'm sure, but I'm what you call a nincompoop when it comes to painting. If you've read the blog long enough than you know the paint debacle of 09. Let's just say it's best that I paint as little as possible.

At this point, I asked the birthday boy what he thought of R2 and he exclaimed "It looks like the death star!"

Step 4:
Paint the markings on both bucket and balloon. I used one of the boys R2 minature toys as a guide. This was actually easier than I thought.

Step 5 :
Glue on the infamous round light part. I used wood glue, but hot glue is probably best. I was just lazy and didn't want to break it out.

I admit. I had to actually go out and buy R2 and Leia, I needed Leia for the party anyway and it was meant to be since they were packaged together. To bad I had to settle for slave scantily clad Leia.

Step 4 or 6 (depending on your ADD tendencies)

Paint the legs.



Place the bucket/head section between the two legs. Your bucket should have little handle hook thingys that stick out. This sits perfectly balanced on the legs. You could hot glue or tape them to stay if you want. The leg placement is also up to you. I made the flaps of the box face in ward instead of outward as it looked less spaced out between the bucket and the boxes. Though I would have liked the flaps to face forward as it kind of looks like his feet. This really is up to you and your control issues. I has control issues.




Not to shabby if I do say so myself. The first thing the birthday boy said after declaring his love for it was, " Where's CP30?" I'm good but I'm not that good.


Stop by 5MinutesforMom for more tackles.

Just A Couple of Random Things.

First off- I'm already exhausted and I've barely started the party preparation process.

Secondly- My husband is a genius. I explained to him the party situation. He made the obvious statement. "Tell GB to tell his friend that his mother will need to call you(me) so that we can find out the situation for the little girl." Of course I would have thought of something this obvious, but my head is already swimming with birthday lists and what not. Hopefully the message gets relayed and the recipient responds. Crossing my fingers this all works out.

Third- I am just now realizing the awesome bennefit of trading in your old Wii games for a significant discount. I spent 8.95 on a 45.00 used Wii game after trading in 3 games and doing the $3.00 Gamestop membership thingy. I was so stoked that I got 1 game for so cheap, that I instantly grabbed the other game I was trying to decide on. 2 games for pretty much the price of one is a steal in my book. Gameboy is going to flip because we always tell them that they should only ever expect one game per holiday.

Fourth- I made brownies for the party. The directions said a pan for thick brownies use 9X13 pan and stir mixture 50 times. Well, I didn't stir 50 times but eye balled it. My 9X13 pan I believe was a wee bit to big. Now I've got some funky lookin bubbly brownies. Luckily their main intention is for the sundaes. Momma is craving a brownie fudge sundae right now. Oh Braums I wish you weren't so far away.

Fifth- To try to squelch my stress and anxiety about this party, I am going to try to give live updates on twitter as much as possible. Because I know you guys are just dying to attend my son's happening party. :)

I'm off to wrap the last of the presents, get the boys from school, blow up some balloons, run to the video store, and the store store as I forgot the Easy Whip and bowls for the ice cream. Please hope that I'm not carted off to the looney bin after tonight.

38

*I wrote this letter last year and have decided I'll post it every year on my hubby's birthday-the letter is the same only the title has changed.*


Dear Birth Family,

I wanted to take this time to thank you for making the hardest most unselfish decision a person could possibly make in their life. You chose to give your own precious baby the gift of life and to give that life to someone else whom you felt could take better care.
Had you chosen other alternatives or to even keep your precious little one for your own; the adoptive parents lives, my life, and my children's life would be unknown. You gave the gift of life to a couple who would never be able to create life on their own. You gave them a joy for a life they would have never had nor known. If you could only have seen the happiness that is and was theirs for this precious boy. That they would love and provide for him in a way that maybe you would not have been able to give. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving them the greatest gift of all a gift of life, a gift of love like no other. A gift not many would choose to give.
Your son will be 38 today. He of course is a grown man. He's married, has 3 boys, has a very good job doing what he's very good at and loves to do. He's expressive and driven in everything he does and thinks. He has aspirations and dreams that I could never think of.
I believe you would be so proud not only of him but of the young couple who received your precious gift and raised him to be who he is today. Their gratitude, my gratitude, his kid's gratitude knows no bounds.
I hope you have no worries or regrets and that you know in your heart of hearts it was all for the very best.
Thanks again.
The wife of your son.




Happy Birthday Honey!

Cake Caper

I'm livid at the moment....

I baked Bossyboy a cake for his birthday tomorrow. I painstakingly took most of last night making a figure eight race car track, which looked pretty darn good if I say so myself. I wrapped it up and left it on the kitchen table. A place I assumed would be pretty safe, after all the last 2-3 cakes in the past 2 months have been pretty safe there. Well, not tonight.

We went out to hang out at Big Box electronic store, cause we're a bunch of nerds and have to get our Rock Band fix. We came home to what I believe was some kind of major car crash on the race track. The "track" was literally torn in half and cars strewn every where. Definitely something you might see at Daytona. I believe a red flag was probably in place. (I know nothing of what I speak when it comes to Nascar)

The dog got into the chocolate cake. Grrr. So now we're gonna have to go and get Bossyboy a new cake. Luckily he wasn't to upset but was asking what happened to lightning McQueen and where's his race track? Poor thing.

Normally my tradition is to decorate the dining area in their birthday theme after they go to bed. When they wake up it's like a little surprise party. Now its kind of ruined. I don't even feel like decorating now.

Sadly I don't have before pics as I planned to take them tonight..but here's the demolition derby pic..

Needless to say the dog is outside right now

Fear Is Not A Factor For These Guys

WARNING MORE BIRTHDAY POSTS!
ENTER IF YOU DARE!

Here's The Fear Factor Set Up. I also had caution streamer along the walls which looked like roped off police tape. I streamed straight across the pics hanging on the wall.
Worm Cake Anyone?
First game was busting balloons full of shaving cream to see who goes first.

Time for the feast of sheep brains, pig bile and monkey toes. The boys were really good at guessing what the real food was. The worst tasting was the pig bile (veggie baby food on a cracker). They loved the monkey toes which were vienna sausages and ketchup for the toenails.
Mmmmm Brainz
The boys had a blast. There were some other gemes dealing with slime and dog bones.I didn't get pics of those as I was kind of busy. I hope their parents don't kill me as they were soaking wet when they came to get them. Water balloons of course. The boys all said that it was the best birthday they ever had been to. This was the first year I actually went out with a theme and party games ect. Would you believe I have to party again next week? Sigh!
Here's the pooped out momma. That's my normal blog posting hangout.

Grandma B.

I never was grandmotherly/granddaughterly close to my Grandma B. She was still my grandma none the same and so her memory should also be sustained.

Born on 8-8-1912 the second youngest of 5 kids to immigrant farmers from Germany at a time when Germany and Prussia were at war. The family escaped by boat to a better life in America. At the age of 3 her mother passed away, she was raised by her older sister Ameila and brother Joe.
She lived a hard farmer's wife life and did the best she could for all of her boys and her two daughters.

There are lots of things I remember about my grandmother and her modest home in small farm town mid America. As a young child, visits to grandma's required good "sit still quietly" manners. There really wasn't much to do at grandma's as my sister and I were pretty much the youngest of the immediate grand kids, every one else was pretty much grown adults.

I remember her house reminded of a modest museum with funky lamps and candy dishes. It always seemed to have a faint sent of mothballs. Grandma's old chair that she always sat perched in, next to the large front windows to be able to watch for Bus to come home from the shop, or an unexpected visitor. She was always anxious for Bus to come home as it was always so lonely being at home.

When I would get to restless sitting quietly listening to Grandma and mom talk about the goings on of the town and what was going on with one cousin or another, I would be allowed to play on the front porch. Grandma had a rather large platform like porch that was raised a bit from the rest of the porch, almost like a stage. I would dance or put on little shows on that porch or sometimes jump off as if I was Wonder Woman. Grandma did have old coloring books left over from past cousins. Most of the coloring books were already colored in so I would normally end up flipping through the pages.

One strange thing that stands out in my head was my fascination with her phone. Even in the early eighties my parents had a push button phone, but grandma's phone was a rotary phone. I always wanted to dial numbers just to see the little wheel turn around. The other thing that stands out was the porcelain pink elephant pencil holder next to the phone. I always wanted that pink elephant and often wonder what happened to it.

On 8/8/88 we had a big birthday/family reunion for Grandma. All the cousins and kids were there. I always thought it would be so cool to have a birthday with a date like that. If grandma were still living 8/8/08 she would have been 96. She lived her final years in the nursing home, where she was probably pampered more there than ever in her life. God Bless Ya Grandma!

Game Boys Story

This is my Game Boy my "April Fool", and this is his birth story.

Most moms are none to proud to tell their horror birth story, as each subsequent child comes along the stories almost always seem to be more horrid than the last. I'm here to admit I have my horror story and they do seem to be worse as each child was born.

3 substantial things I must mention about this first birth as it is important to the story...sorta.

1. My husband was very specific to me a few days before he was born. DO NOT HAVE THIS BABY ON APRIL FOOLS DAY! He made sure to repeat this every day before April 1st. Needless to say the gods must have been laughing at him the whole time cause Mr. son came right on time.

2. March 31st 1999 was a new moon blue moon full moon..whatever that's called..a new moon? This meant that every other woman in the continental United States was in labor as well. Which somewhat put a damper on trying to get a room. Yes there was no room at the inn for this young mom in great pain. Luckily the night nurse in charge was clueless of the local area and thought we must live far far away and let us stay in the teeny tiny holding room for the rest of night. This was a good thing, cause this momma was NOT going to leave. That morning I was a good 4 a sure clincher that I was "in" and would not be leaving anytime soon.

3. Remember I mentioned April Fools day? Well number 3 leads back to number 1. That particular day (the day before..March 31) was a great day. I was feeling great. I felt like I could clean like a machine. I cleaned and mopped and scrubbed all day with no ails. As I cleaned and felt great a friend of ours was kicked out of the house by his girl friend for no real reason. So he came to stay with us for the day/evening. That night the hubs and friend decided to go to the store to get a few things. As they were gone the pains started coming. Isn't that always the way? The husband leaves the minute a crises is occurring. I lay down worrying. No I wasn't truly worrying about the pains just when the heck my husband would get home. I was also worried about our friend. Where would he go when I have this baby which will be sometime tomorrow? I know my priorities were a little off kilter. Some how it all worked out. As soon as they got back and knew the stuff was about to hit the fan. The girlfriend all of a sudden changed her story and said it was just an April fool. Imagine the relief I had. Now I could have this baby. That's honestly how my thought process worked.

After finally getting a room that April fool morning and getting my first dose of good drugs. Which by the way don't ever just get a dose of good drugs. Just go for the gusto and get the epidural. Drugs and epidurals don't mix well after several hours of labor.
I progressed fairly slowly through the day...epidurals tend to do that. Friends and family all hung out at the hospital anxiously waiting for the big shebang. We started to get kind of bored and was making bets on when this kid was going to arrive and just how much he was going to weigh. None of us got it even close.
Around 6 that evening I was a good ten and ready to push and push and push some more. After about an hour of pushing nothing was going, so they reduced my epi so I could start feeling things. By hour 2 the chief doc was called in as the resident was giving up but didn't want to cave yet for a C-section. I continued to push in every position known to man for birthing. I tried getting on my knees, I tried using the bar thing, I tried everything. No go.
When the resident finally showed up he took one look and said, "Homey don't that play that, your getting a C-Section, this babies head is not getting through that pelvis."
I felt defeated and exhausted. When you work that hard for something, you really want a happy result. I knew it had to be done though.
Since the epidural was pretty much non existent by this point, the pain was brutal and the urge to push was the only thing to give me minor relief. They explicitly told me not to push since he was so wedged in. They replenished the epi and it could not have come soon enough.
The kid was so wedged in my pelvis that they had to use the forceps to pull him back out through the other way. Talk about a tight squeeze. He even had a little bump on his head from where he was wedged.
He was born around 7:30 pm and healthy as a horse.
They gave him to me as quickly as possible for me to try to nurse. Somehow I was having some major trippy reaction from all the drugs and was shaking like a wet dog. It's really quite challenging to get a latch on and hold a newborn baby when your body is convulsing.
I think I scared all my visitors away at that point or wore them out from the brutal wait.

That night sleep was not going to come for me no matter what. The hubs on the other hand could sleep through a tornado. Since I was still recovering from the c-section and the numbness of the epi, moving was next to impossible. Little Game Boy was snug in his warmer bed sound asleep when the alarm went off. I couldn't reach it to save my life. Since I'm not one to bother people, like say the nurse, I tried waking up the hubs instead. I should have known there would be no waking him. Since the only thing I could do was yell for him to wake up or throw my ice at him, I did both. Both didn't even budge him. The nurse did finally come in and turned it off though. Poor hubs went through such a grueling labor and delivery it was no wonder he was exhausted...as if.

We brought home our little bundle on Easter Sunday and the rest they say is history.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. I believe he's 70 as he always tells me he was 40 when I was born.

He has always been pretty much a laid back kind of guy, not to much ever really bothers him. As long as he has his T.V. and food he's a pretty happy go lucky kind of guy.

My dad has been a pretty hard worker all up until he retired several years ago and he would say " I don't try to work any more than I have to." Which is fine he deserves the relaxation.

He always has a story for everything and anything. It doesn't matter what you say or do he can think of something that has happened to him or someone he worked with related to it (or sometimes not really). I think it was just always a reason to tell a story. I've heard most of these stories atleast a half a dozen times or fifty. Each time he throws in an extra something in thats either a bit of an exaggeration or not quite the same as he told it the last fifty dozen times. My dad never claimed to be a great fisherman but has those great kind of fisherman stories. When I married my husband he was delighted to re tell his stories to a new live willing body. He continues to tell him his stories cause he has to catch up to all the fifty dozen times he's told them to me and the rest of the family. Sadly my poor dear has a ways to go.

I mentioned dad's a pretty easy going laid back guy right? Well I forgot to mention this laid back stuff goes away when OU football is on. Dad was a regular season ticket holder from the 70's through the 80's when OU was in their hay day. When he wasn't at the game he was at home parked in front of the game watching the game on T.V. and listening to the play by play on the radio. Around football season it's best not to come visit unless you have your ear plugs with you. For some reason Dad thinks that the boys out on the football field can hear him screaming at the top of his lungs "COME ON DEFENSE!!" or if they make a touchdown "ALL RIGHT!" Dad's voice is rather booming loud. I mean when I yell all right at the top of my lungs, walls and windows don't tend to shutter around me. Somehow dad's voice is just about at that octave. Needless to say if it gets really bad on the OU side it's best just to leave the house. If it gets really really bad dad throws the t.v. off or changes it to golf or something more calming until he's settled down enough to flip back over. He's pretty passionate about his OU football, and thats ok with me cause I'm pretty passionate about it to.

Happy Birthday Dad! Not that he's ever gonna read this cause well as he says him and technology just don't get along. Keep those stories coming for another 30 years and I'll keep listening or pretend to be listening. Cause some day the stories will no longer be told atleast not the right way, and the quiet during football season just wont be the same.