November 25th 2015 - Christmas Crafts

 I was at the school for family learning today and we were doing Christmas Crafts and making things that could be given as gifts.

There was loads of options for them to do.  They had the option of making tree decorations from sewing kits, making christmas pictures, and many more.

Lil man made a reindeer from brown paper and added magic reindeer food to it and needs to sprinkle it on christmas eve.

The middle one made a christmas bauble but as this was still very wet it got left at school to dry and 1 of the teachers will give them out later.

Lil man decorated a mini treasure chest and said that him and Daddy are going shopping for a diamond ring me to go in it.

They both  made snowman countdowns to christmas.  This confused lil man as he thought it was from today and didnt realise it was from dec 1st, but we explained he was fine.

The boys also decorated cakes as melted snowmen but these got eaten.

We also made candy cane star decorations which involved a hot glue gun to fix them together and to fix the decorations onto them.

november 24th 2015 - jazzing up xmas jumpers

A couple of weeks ago I bought the kids xmas jumpers and although they have designs on them they are very plain and boring!  So I asked the kids if they wanted them made better and they did.  So today has been spent jazzing up the jumpers

Here are the 2 original jumpers:

 

To modify the 1st 1 lil man asked for a santa hat to be added, so I took 1 small santa hat, stitched it together and then to his jumper.

Lil man thinks his jumper looks good and is now ready for xmas jumper day.

The middle ones jumper wasn't such an easy task, well it was but it just took longer to do as I had to wait for bits to dry.  He wanted the baubles on the reindeer to look more 3d, I did think pompoms but it didn't look right so I decided on bells!  

I only had gold effect bells and they didn't look right so I set about painting them with blue nail varnish:

They had to have 2 coats and I was only able to paint the tops and then the bottoms each time because of placing them down to dry.  Once both coats and all of the bells were done I set about attaching them to his jumper with black thread in the same place as the sewn on ones are on his jumper.

so now when he moves he jingles.  He did ask about them going on the back as well as it's the back of the reindeer but we decided not to as they may dig into his back when he's sat on a chair at school.  Again he is happy with his jumper.

November 23rd 2015 - technical difficulties

This picture is  very true for today - i've done some walking to do the weekly shopping and I am now expiriencing "technical difficulties with my knees.  Both of them are hurting like mad, pain killers are not helping, rest is not helping, heat is not working.  It's going to be a long afternoon and evening if it continues.

November 22nd 2015 - toilet roll yule log

 I'm sure by now you are aware that my lil man loves making things, and especially likes using toilet rolls.  Today he came downstairs with 2 toilet rolls and asked what he could make.  He was told to wait 5mins as I was helping his older brother with something but I had an idea for a Christmas craft with them.

5mins later, we are working on making pages to print out and collecting our supplies to make the toilet roll yule log.  To make it you will need the following things:

toilet roll tube
double sided tape
pictures of holly (or plastic holly)
birchwood effect printed paper (if you do the whole of an A4 sheet it will cover 2 tubes)
fake snow (optional)
glue (optional but needed for snow)
robin
paper plate
stapler
scissors

supplies and printed birchwood paper and holly.











Cut the paper in half so you have 2 pieces.  place a line of tape from 1 end to the other on the tube.  put 1 piece of the paper over the tape and wrap all the way round (you may need to cut it slightly smaller).  Make sure both ends are fixed with tape on the tube, you shouldn't be able to see anyvof the brown tube now.  If your paper is longer than the tube you can tuck the excess into the open ends of the tubes.

Take the stapler, the wrapped tube and the paper plate, fix the tube to the plate with the stapler on the middle of the tube so they are no visible from the top.

You next to cut to out the holly.  we flipped our picture b4 printing so that we could double side it but you dont have to.  As ours is double sided I taped them together before we cut them out so only cut once.   Lil man folded our leaves slightly so they had shape rather than looking flat.  We then putt a small piece of tape on the underside of the berries and stuck to the middle of the tube.  This was then stapled as they kept falling off with tape.

Sadly this was as far as we got as we realised we didn't have any robins to fix  into the middle and we cant add fake snow until we have the robbins in place.  I have ordered some robins and they should be here in the next few days.

November 21st 2015 - Space saving

There is so much on this blog about space saving in a shared bedroom, some of which I have already done.  My 2 older boys share the smaller of the 2 big rooms (I have the biggest).  They are always moaning that they have no space to do anything (they would have more IF they tidied it!)

Anyway we already have bunk beds in there and use the space under them as storage with plastic boxes - shoes, lego drawing/colouring stuff etc.  The bunk beds are in a corner of the room so not to waste any space.  However, I would prefer a straight ladder rather than the angled stick out one, I think we may have a play at some point and see if we can make its straight and fixed to the bed.

The wardrobe that they had in their was old and not very safe and the drawers were broken.  So we decided to dismantle it and move the clothes into the fixed cupboard in the wall, we did have to buy a new set of drawers to hold the clothes that don't hang like pjs, undies and jumpers.  We also kept the fabric hanging rack so that they had some shelving as well.  This has worked really well and reduced 1 item that needed to be in the room.

Next came the old computer table (still with computer on it) that hasn't been used in over a year by the eldest as he has a mobile phone and uses my laptop if he needs on the net for homework etc.  This has been removed from the room as well, again giving a little bit more space.  The younger ones computer is on his chest of drawers that hold his clothes so the drawers have a duel purpose, they are also tucked up in a corner out of the way.

The eldest son had a small square unit that he had when he had the small room on his own.  It had small plastic trays in the square shelves which he has random things in - deodrants n bits in one, mini figures in another, odds and ends in another and so on.  I wasn't sure where I was going to put this and then noticed that there was a spce at the end of the bed on the wall and it was as though it was made for the unit.  So he has still has his shelves and baskets of odds n ends and they are out of the way.

They both have a 6ft high bookcase, which houses their tv and books.  The younger of the 2 boys also had his games n bits on his bookcase and no room for more books.  So hubby went to argos and bought and upright shelf unit (bathroom storage one) and this is now stood beside the head of the beds with the games and all other toys n stuff off the floor. 

We are now pretty much sorted in their room and they had a big space down one side of the room.  Me and hubby said about getting them a sofa bed as it would help if family/friends come to stay as well as their friends.  Plus it would give them somewhere to sit and play rather than on their beds.  We have bought a 3-in-1 sofa bed thingy - it can be stacked as cubes, opened to make a sofa or laid flat as a bed.  I wouldn't say it will be great for daily use as a bed but for the odd night here and there it will be ok.  This hasn't arrived yet but i'm sure I will do a post about it when it does arrive.

The boys are happier about their space, not so happy that they still have to share (but unless I win the lottery I can't convert the loft or build an extension.)

November 20th 2015 - Vinly lino flooring

A few days ago me and hubby had gone to a shop to return a product and whilst we were there we said may as well have a look around "just encase there is anything we need". Well as you do on these impromptu shopping trips a few randoms bits went in the trolley - bottle of champagne for Christmas Day, candy canes for family learning at school etc.

Then we went round to the DIY section and looked the vinyl lino flooring.  They had very little of it and a sign that said "reduced to 33.99 per square meter".  Sadly they didn't have any of the black and grey "mis-matched tile" pattern that I had seen in there and wanted over 6months ago.  But they did have a couple of blacks that I could live with.  I turned round and nearly tripped over a roll of lino on the floor - it was black and grey tiles (not what I wanted but similar) and had a size of 3m by 2m and a price of £49.95.  This was more than I really wanted to spend but the right size.  I said to hubby that has got to be the price before it was reduced and I think it would be about £30 now.  He went to find a member of staff.

Him and 2 members of staff came back and we asked them if that was the correct price on the roll, he said it was but as its all now reduced would be about £25.  YEP i'll take it - hubby then asks IF it is the correct size we need - yes!  SO the 2 members of staff carried it to the till for us and when it went through it came up at £19.95!  BONUS! I can cope with that sort of price for a new floor.

We left it rolled up and then today cleared the existing floor (pile of laundry to be washed, the rack that holds crisps and a perching stool), hubby removed the kick boards, swept all the crumbs that had managed to get under them and lifted the old lino and re-swept the floor.  All ready to fit the new lino down. 

I helped hubby a couple of times but left him to do most of it  as I would have got stuck on the floor with my knee.  Once hubby had cut it all to fit he put the kick boards back on the cupboards and then taped the floor on the door edges as we don't have any of the grippers at the moment.

It looks really  nice and fresh in the kitchen, the only snag is the grey in the floor is different to the grey on the walls which now look more blue.  The wood work still needs finishing from when we moved in 2years ago!

I have to say I personally prefer the Lino to the slate tiles that we have laid by both the front and back doors.  Lino is warmer for 1 thing.  It is easier to clean with a steamer, the grout doesnt flake as there isnt any, it doesnt chip if things are dropped on it (yes it splits if knives get dropped), it is easier to fit and you dont have to wait hours before you can walk on it and it was much cheaper than the tiles were as well.

November 19th 2015 - Spayed

Today my poor lil kitten went on a trip to the vets to be spayed.  As much as I love kittens and as cute as she is I couldn't risk her getting pregnant (there are loads of tom cats around here) and many people with kittens who cant find homes for them.

This does mean that once her inscison site has healed and her fur has grown back she will finally be allowed to go outside, that is assuming we dont get too much bad weather/snow etc.

Everything went really well with her operation, she came home a few hours later and was begging for food.  She has been climbing and jumping like she normally would, she doesn't seem to realise she has had an operation.  I just hope she doesn't do herself any harm.