Friday DIY

I'm thinking that my husband should just probably start avoiding coming home on Fridays.  It seems to be the day that I tend to get the diy bug the most often.  It certainly is the day he is becoming to dread the most.

Picture this:
Me: (calling his work)  Um, where do you keep your (insert tool of your choice here)?
Him: What are you doing and why do you need (the tool inserted above)?

This is the point where you can hear the uneasiness in his voice begin.

Me: Oh, no reason.
Him: No, really, what are you doing now and what are you doing it too?


This is what's been bugging me lately:

This is a prime example of why some people stuff cats and rocks in burlap bags and toss them into the nearest body of water.  I love my cats dearly, but look what they've done to my stairs!  Two cats in cahoots tore humongous holes into the carpet on the stairs.  It was a slow process and it took five years, but by golly, they finally did it.

I did some investigation and there's some good news.  The first four steps where the damage is, look like the pic above and are all hard wood and are quite beautiful.

So here's the plan.  I'm going to rip off all the carpet on the bottom four steps and toss it.  Then I'm going to carefully pull up the next step and see how the steps look there.  If they look like the pic above, it's going to be rip city.  If not, I'll carefully tack it down and ignore it for a while and just refinish the bottom four steps.

So here's where I stand right now:



I have a buddy helping me.  I'm dog sitting my folks' dog while they're out of town.  Boy, let me tell ya, she sure is a lot of help.  I can't tell you how many times I tripped over her while doing my investigations.

Have a great weekend!

I Can See The Finish Line

It's getting so close now.  I can see the finish line.  10 more rows of the center section need to be completed and then the end section to be done.   I can't tell you how glad I will be to finally finish this project.  If it wasn't for all the gorgeous Noro color, I would have abandoned this stole long ago.

But I think my photographs of it are getting better! 

Particle Man Vs. Triangle Man

Know how to keep an imaginative four year old occupied for several hours?  Make Popsicle stick puppets!

If you're a They Might Be Giants fan, you'll probably be able to pick out the Particle Man and Triangle Man (yes, I'm showing my age again) puppets below:

An orange alien with three heads and wearing overalls also made an appearance:

We were subjected to many, many puppet shows in various venues over the weekend.  There were six puppets in all, but his favorites were the ones shown.

If you've never made one, it's a piece of cake to make.  Draw a silly face and cut it out then tape a popsicle stick to the back.  Easy peasy and the kids will love it!

Which Gadget Should I Get?

I've been considering getting an e-reader lately.  I'm a self-confessed book-aholic.  Having kids, I'm frequently waiting around in car pool lines or waiting for various lessons to be over and it would be really nice to have this kind of toy.  I'm saving up all my $5 Amazon gift cards that I'm getting from Swagbucks until I have enough to finally get the reading gadget that I want. 

Here's the three things that I'm looking at, all of which can be purchased new or used (for cheaper than what the links below reflect) from Amazon:

Kindle - from Amazon.Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6" Display, White, 3G Works Globally - Latest Generation  I'm not real thrilled about not being able to recharge the battery or the fact that it doesn't have expandable memory.  The next version is coming out in the fall though and hopefully they will have fixed both of these issues.  You must go through Amazon to buy books.  That is not a plus for me.

Nook - from Barnes & Noble - Barnes & Noble NOOK ebook reader (WiFi + 3G) has a rechargeable battery and memory card slots.  Also has two games.  Also has a new version coming out soon.  Can read books for free from their stores.  Also, you can share books.  Another plus for me is that you can buy books from other sources as long as they are in the epub format.  Now if they would just let me respond to emails I would be all over it.

Ipod Touch - from Apple - Apple iPod touch 32 GB (3rd Generation) NEWEST MODEL you can get an app for book reading, but you can also browse the net, play games, check email, etc.  I'm not sure that I really need all that, but if I get more bang for my buck, that's the way I'll go. 

I'm not sure which of the three I should choose.  Of the two readers, I'm leaning towards the Nook.  The battery and memory cards slots alone would make it worthwhile in comparison to the Kindle I think.  I'm looking forward to the next generation of both the Kindle and the Nook to see what other goodies they'll be adding.

I'm afraid it's going to take a lot more research to decide which way I should leap.  Does anyone have any of the above and can you tell me the pros/cons of them?