Goings on!

At this point most of you know that our cat Charlie is missing.  She got out almost two weeks ago, and I just have kept hoping that she would return and I would have good news to report.  However, we have not seen any sign of her, and I am slowly losing hope that she will return.  I have pretty much worn out the neighborhood about her.  I have posted signs, gone in stranger's backyards (ran into a snake...I did not stick around to see what kind), looked under decks, left out food in random places and have tried to trap her.  I have also sent out pictures and e-mails to everyone and posted signs.  I have walked the streets until 1am calling for her.  I am guessing everyone knows it is me at this point because no one has shot me or called the cops. My last ditch effort to search for her was a couple of days ago.  There is a small creek that runs behind the houses at the end of our street.  It is very overgrown and scary back there, but I was pretty desperate.  I, of course did not find her, but I did come across a beautiful deer.  I am not sure who was more freaked out! I have been trying to do anything to keep my mind off of the fact that she is not home, so I have jumped into some projects I had been putting off.  Sadly, they have mostly been a huge source of frustration because I am a bit unfocused.

I reframed my diploma.  The sad, little frame it was in before was way too small.

I guess I was on a framing kick, and I framed some of the boys' artwork and pics from our zoo visit.

I also framed some pics I took on our visit to St. Thomas and hung them in the boys' room.  I decided they needed some decor.

I helped Logan out with his Earth Day project.  This is a milk carton made into a lovely vase.  I spray painted it and put on the ribbon, but then I decided that the ribbon was a bit much considering it needed to be HIS project.  We removed it, and he carved some designs in the dried paint.  I thought it was cute.  Just so you know, the carton into a vase was his idea.  But, I certainly could not hand him the knife to cut the top or let him have the spray paint.  I think in the future, I am going to have to let him come up with something that he can do all by himself...maybe!

And, because Logan took flowers to his teacher, Luke insisted that his teachers get flowers too.  We stayed with the Earth Day theme and reused some jelly jars!

And, while we are on the topic of flowers, all of my boys sent these beautiful tulips to me to cheer me up!  It worked! Thanks again to my sweet husband for being so very thoughtful!

We also cleaned out the garage and the attic!  Believe it or not, I really did have intentions of holding a garage sale; however, I decided I really do not care!  The idea of trying to put something like that together just seems overwhelming.  

The boys found this in the attic. It was mine when I was little.  It is a Weeble circus set that my mom actually kept.  I should have wrapped this up and given it to them for Christmas because they have played with it constantly!

I also attended Logan's quarterly ribbon ceremony where they congratulate the children and hand out ribbons for attending school, doing their homework and getting exercise...seriously? Isn't that their job?  Sadly, all it is for the kids is a competition to see how many ribbons they can collect.  Logan got really upset with me the other day because I had to pull him out of school early to have his nose cauterized for multiple nose bleeds.  He was furious because he will now miss out of the "tardy free" ribbon at the end of the 4th quarter.  Never mind that he has had to miss out on stuff in class and be sent to the nurse multiple times in the last three weeks for nasty nose bleeds.  Never mind that he has woken up several times in the middle of the night bleeding, and never mind that he has lost out on play time because there have been a couple we couldn't stop.  No, he will not get that ribbon, so the world must come to an end.

And, last but not least!!

 I have been determined to make the boys an A-frame tent.  Let me start off by telling you that this was a huge pain in my a$$!  I saw some pics online of some very similar to this, but the tutorials were kind of lacking.  So, I winged it. I really thought I could do it on my own, but Lyndon ended up having to basically do the building.  And, I finally found the right fabric after almost three weeks of searching.  So, here is the tutorial if you are interested!

I used 10 boards measuring 2 1/2" X 3/4" X 8'

I also have one 8 foot rod across the top.  I used something they handed me at Lowe's, but a thick, wooden curtain rod would be great also. It just needs to be sturdy enough that it won't bow when you add the fabric. The one I have is 3/4 all around (it is square which is hard to see in the pic).

I let Luke pick out the spray paint color which in hindsight was not too smart because then I was really limited on fabric color. 

To build the frame:

I crossed two of the 8 foot boards and used some bolts at the top just for extra sturdiness.

  Then, Lyndon screwed in the other boards, three on each side as seen in the picture.  He had to saw off the ends of each so they would not stick out (about 2 inches ended up being cut off of each board on each end).  The biggest challenge here is to have enough people to help hold it steady.  It took me and Logan holding it and Lyndon doing the assembly.  Honestly, we winged the measurements to get them even on both sides.  I am sure there is some fabulous scientific way to do this or some architectural plans, but I don't have the patience for that.  The piece across the top is simply laying there.  Lyndon did add some screws to each end to keep it from sliding off and hitting someone inside the tent.

 I will go back and wrap some twine around the ends just so it looks prettier!

 

The fabric:

I finally decided that oblong table clothes measuring 60" X 102" was the best option.  There are two on each side sewn together at the top and simply laid across the top wooden bar (four table clothes in all). 

(Here is a pic of the first two panels)

After I sewed them at the top, I wrapped the remaining fabric at the bottom around the bottom piece of wood.  This was tricky because I wanted to make sure it was even on both sides.  I placed the sewn seam in the middle of the cross bar (you can secure it to hold in place or ask someone to hold it) so I could pull the the bottom tight enough around the bottom piece of wood to measure. I then took off the fabric and attached the adhesive Velcro. When you are finished, the Velcro should be on the inside of the tent. 

  

 I did it this way so I can remove the fabric and wash it or store it if need be; otherwise, you can sew it together and slide the bottom piece of wood into the sleeve you created.  You will just have to do this before you nail it into the frame. If you get something that is 60" or more in width, you will have a little fabric to work with, and it will create a "gathered" look. 

 Just for information, I did not sew the panels together on the sides of the frame. I ONLY sewed two panels together at the top.  You certainly can.  I was just being lazy!

I was pretty happy with the end result.  Of course, the boys saw it and asked if I was going to put fabric on the front and back...they are just never satisfied!