I GIVE UP!

As in true Kate fashion, I have started yet another project that I cannot finish.  I contribute my pathetic attempt at a 365 photo project to the fact that my camera broke.   This is probably 20% of the cause.  The rest is all on me.

I plan on trying again in 2012.  I'm not totally giving up I suppose. I just give up on this particular attempt.

I must have DOZENS of projects started in my house that I plan on finishing... one day.  The majority are craft projects.  Some have not been started, but many have.  Most of them are cross-stitches.  I am STILL working on the one I started for my son last year. Maybe by the time he is school age I will finish it?!

have grand ideas for so many things that never get done.  So maybe in 2012 I will make it all the way through summer? and by 2014 I can finish a full year of photos?

Broken No More! What To Do With Crayon Pieces

I have issues with crayons.  The moment a new box is opened, my son is ripping the paper off and snapping the crayons.  Crayola came out with twist crayons that are awesome, but they didn't solve the problem of what to do with all the broken pieces we've accumulated in the past. 

So, thanks to google, I was able to come up with this solution to our crayon problem and not spend another penny!

1. heat oven to 250F.
2. Get an old baking tin that you don't mind dedicating to your broken crayons or other crafts. Spray with cooking spray and fill each area with crayon bits.  You can either sort by color like I did, or combine all the colors for super wacky crayons.
3. Bake until crayons are melted.

 

4. Place the pan in the freezer for about 30 minutes. 

5. Pop out the crayons and enjoy!

 

Of course my son still figured out how to break them, but at least I can always remelt the pieces into new crayons! 

Other tips: you can melt the crayons in the microwave or another container and pour the melted crayon into candy molds for cool shapes.

365 Project... How to continue from here?

I have not posted a 365 Project post since May 14th.  I'm not sure how to continue from here.  I have been taking photos, I have quite a few.  I just can't remember what day I took them! 

Dear readers, please help me make a decision.  Do I: 1.) spend hours upon hours attempting to figure out which picture goes to which day, or 2.) just post nearly 2 months worth of pictures with captions, and not really label which day they go to?

Cast your votes... NOW!

We Bought WHAT?!

When I was little, I NEVER went to yard sales.  Either my mom wasn't interested, or they just didn't occur where we lived.  I suspect it was the latter reason since I don't remember neighbors ever putting their old junk outside on the lawns!  Because of that, I never understood yard sales.  What was the point? Why not just donate or throw away what you don't use anymore?




When I started having kids, and realized how overpriced pretty much everything in stores is, I discovered Craigslist.  I thought that was the bees knees!  I can buy stuff I want SUPER discounted and still in good condition. How cool!!

Not too long after she was born, I was told about freecycle. HOLY SMOKES the stuff some people just GIVE AWAY!  And it was so easy to give away our old junk.  People will pretty much take anything, plus it made me feel better not throwing away stuff that we didn't need that was still good... I even gave away my unused wedding dress to a charity! (That's a story for another post!). 

Then we moved to the military housing.  What I have experienced makes Freecycle and Craiglist look a little pathetic.  Because families are constantly moving, they are always trying to get rid of stuff that they either can't or won't move with.  Sometimes we drive down the street on trash morning and people have put out perfectly good scooters, kids desks,bikes, this past week we got a sand/water table. Once the temperatures get above 60, you can guarantee at least three or four yard sales in our neighborhood every Friday/Saturday.  As like most yard sales, some stuff really ought to just be donated, or prices are too high, but I am lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it... I say lucky, bank account says unlucky) to find at least one item we could use... Notice I didn't say NEED.  Ha ha!

Well... now going back to the title of this post... this is the item we purchased this past weekend. I swear, I normally only spend between $1 and $5 per weekend at yard sales, but this item was WAY TOO COOL to pass up!  I checked out the yard sale, bought a container of stamps for $2 because my son really wanted them (and we do actually love doing stamps), and I saw the bounce house.  No way would my Hubby EVER agree to this, so when I got home I hesitated to tell him.  Much to my surprise, he asked me to take him back to the yard sale to show him.  He bargained with the seller, and we got it for half the original retail price!

Now we just need to move somewhere like Hawaii where we could use the bounce house all year long!