On Coffees

For much of the hot summer my drinks of choice at Brewed Awakenings have included iced vanilla lattes and the cappacino smoothie (so delicious...really closer to desert than anything!).

This morning there was a breeze, a slight chill and the feeling that fall creeping in. I ordered a skim white chocolate mocha; not even my hot coffee regular! But the first drink, feeling the warm coffee and milk slide down my throat was like a warm welcoming hug from an old friend.

Just the idea of hot lattes and mochas makes ending summer seem not quite so bad.

Countdown

The countdown to school is on. Here are the things that will occupy us until the week of August 22:

1. Soccer Conditioning Camp: four intense nights of cconditioning for Willa.
2. Prepping for new faculty orientation and prepping for podcasting workshops at Coe
3. One more long weekend of fun with the Bickels at Treampealeou, WI

Summer Project No. 2

This is our newest seat for the front deck. I'm so bummed I didn't get a before picture! I'll try to describe it:

This was a freebie: neighbors Joe & Sylvia moved into a condo and randomly gave away little pieces of furniture and knick knacks. This particular piece was covered in approximately 20 coats of random paint splatters. Obviously a painting stool for perhaps all of the 32 years Joe & Sylvia have lived on A Avenue.

I contemplated leaving it as is and just applying a coat of poly. Paint splatters ranged from 1970s avocado and grunge gold to brick red, multiple shades of whites and a bit of brown. Instead, I spent a few hours with a sander trying to sand off enough layers to make the seat smooth.

After painting a base of chocolate brown, I gave red, orange, yellow and turquoise paint and free reign on design. A neighbor girl helped, and this is their creation. I love it! It works perfectly for an extra seat on the front deck.

Cost breakdown:

• stool: FREE
• paints: $4.99 for brown based, polyurethane and the other colors were already on hand

First Summer Project

I have a long list of projects for the summer. It usually carries over from one summer to the next; I think I've got items on this list that originated four or five years ago.

This is a bedside table project for Cam's room. I finished it in early June (but am late getting it posted!).

BEFORE:

 

Materials:

• Night stand: $10 on Craigslist
• Paint: free (found leftovers from other home projects)
• Hardware: re-used original hardware with a fresh coat of hammered nickel spray paint (also on hand from another project)
  

AFTER:

Cam is very happy with his new table. He stores lots of things in the drawer: marbles, stickers and various little cars. Every night, after we turn out the light, he reaches over in the dark and grabs a car out of the drawer.

Around the World

Willa and I are starting a new adventure: ePals. First, we're hooking up with a couple of families to exchange postcards. Our goals is to get postcards from all over the world (from all of the developed countries) and perhaps a later goal will be to exchange postcards with someone in all 50 states.

Today we mailed Iowa postcards to a family in Australia, a 10-year old named Jordan in the U.K. and a girl named Susana in Italy. The Lonsdale family in Australia indicated they'd mailed out a postcard to us already. Willa is anxiously waiting and predicting how long it would take a post card to travel around the world. I read Willa's postcards before she sent them out; her note to Jordan said "You know, I'm the artistic tipe, I like art. What tipe are you? From Willa". There's not enough room to go into too many other types.

Our second ePals endeavor is an online penpal. Last night Willa sent her first email to Julia, an eight-year-old in Wooster, OH.  Through the ePals system, I set Willa's account up under my own (so I can monitor her emails and forum postings).

Our intention is to put up a big bulletin board in the basement; with a map of the world where we can track our correspondences, and a place to post our postcards.

If anyone wants to join our postcard exchange, post a comment!

Testing Animation 3

Devolver...not sure if I like this one because of the lack of narration.

Testing Animation 2

Testing Xtranormal