Vol. 3, No. 229, August 17, 2018

3229 - Cat's Game.

Today was my last Nanny day for the Miller Littles, as I go back to school on Monday, and we had a full day planned; Zoomobile at the Library, school lunch, play at the park, watch theater camp 1's play, get gas and go through the carwash, McDonald's for snack, clean out my car, including taking out all 4 carseats, play #2, family dinner, park outing #2 with family friends. All of these activities took until about 8:30 PM at which time my famiy decided it was game time. As we sat down to play, I asked my sister what I should draw. She suggested a cat; this reminded me that it was Black Cat Appreciation Day today. So I drew a black cat sitting on a wall.

Vol. 3, No. 228, August 16, 2018

3228 - You Name It.

Back in February, I enjoyed some Miller Time at Crayola Experience. One of the activities you can do there is working with Model Magic. We decide to take our Model Magic packets home to us on a "rainy day" this summer. Well, on the rainy days we had, I forgot to take it out, so today, on my second to last day of summer, I decided that we would sculpt. Tomorrow Oldest Miller and Middle Miller have their theater camp performance, so I decided I should make them flowers. I made 6 different flowers, so that they can each have three. As the flowers were sitting in a cup drying, Littlest Miller started asking me what the flowers were called. I didn't make any specific kinds of flowers, so I encouraged her to name the flowers herself. She started naming them after characters from Seussical; for example, the red and orange flower is Mayzie.

Vol. 3, No. 227, August 15, 2018

3227 - Professional Awesomeness.

Everyday for the last week and a half, I have had an hour and a half of alone time with Littlest Miller, when Oldest Miller and Middle Miller are at theater camp and Miss N is napping. We spent some of the days just resting in my room (that's a treat, because she only gets to go in my room when invited),  and watching TV. Today I decided to switch it up, I brought her to my room to choose an activity from my craft bin. She chose sidewalk chalk, solely because I had a piece of doughnut shaped chalk.

CC and CAT, having missed hanging out with me everyday, showed up just in time to go outside with us. We all made our own chalk pictures. CAT drew the Peace Sign; CC drew the flower and the beach scene; Littlest Miller added a shark to the beach scene; and I drew my chalk rendition of Starry Night.

Littlest Miller looked at my drawing and was stunned, shouting out, "That's Awesome!" During supper, Mama Miller commented on the "professional" art.

Vol. 3, No. 226, August 14, 2018

3226 - Splish Splash.

Yesterday, I took the Miller Littles to the splash pad in Litchfield. They were having so much fun running through the water, I decided to pull out my phone to snap some pictures. Today, I decided to keep my project simple and I turned three of yesterday's pictures into a collage. The cuteness of these pictures is making me excited for next year's county fair.

Vol. 3, No. 225, August 13, 2018

3225 - Toothless.

Growing up, I liked the movie "Toothless". Tonight, I got to be the toothfiary. Fortunately, I didn't need to almost dot to do so. Middle Miller lost his fourth front tooth the other day, but his parents have been busy and didn't get time to make a toothfiary delivery. So, I volunteered for the job. I took advantage of International Left-handed Day, and wrote the letter with my left hand. Of course, a letter from the tooth fairy wouldn't be complete without some glitter, so I pulled out the glitter glue and spread some on the corners as well as the money. Tooth Fairy payout has really gone up since I was a kid, I only got a quarter per tooth, the Miller Littles get two dollars.

Vol. 3, No. 224, August 12, 2018

3224 - Summer Style.

As I enter into my final week of summer vacation, I decided it was one to finally get my nails painted. I got two shades of green nail polish as prizes at my cousin's bridal shower, which inspired me to paint watermelons. Since my toenails are really small, I only put details on my big toes.

Vol. 3, No. 223, August 11, 2018

3223 - More Magnets.

Today was Twine Ball Day in Darwin. I had a booth set up, mostly selling Thirty-One products. I was also selling the magnets that I had made. While I was sitting at my booth, I made more magnets during the slow times.

One problem I encountered was that the stones I was using the other day were bigger than the ones I had today. The problem was that I didn't know they were different and I had already cut papers. So I had to go and trim the papers to fit the smaller stones.

The magnets were a big hit with the youth who stopped at my booth. There are two pictures tonight, because I made magnets in two batches tonight and some from the first batch were sold before I had the next batch made.

Vol. 3, No. 222, August 10, 2018

3222 - Don't Skip A Beet.

Today I took the Miller Littles to Story Hour at the Litchfield Public Library. The topic for the day was One Vegetable One Community; the OVOC for this year is beets. We read a book that talked about how plants grow and it showed what was happening both above and below the ground. For our craft we made collages showing vegetables with both above and below ground views. I chose to make beets and had Miss N help me. While I made the sky and the leaves, Miss N, colored the  paper for the beets. When she was finished, A.K.A she started coloring on herself, I used that paper to cut out the beets. I glued it all together and added roots and ants. Then Littlest Miller looked at the collage and decided it need something more, so she grabbed some markers and added a tree, or piece of grass with a spider, or something; she explained it once, but I don't remember what it was.

Vol. 3, No. 221, August 9, 2018

3221 - Saying Goodbye.

Tonight I said goodbye to a house that has been in my family for approximately 50 years and that I was able to call my home for the last three years. I will admit that some tears were shed, as memories came flooding in as I made my last walks through the house, but it is time for a new chapter. My parents will close on the house tomorrow morning, so as my last work of art on the property, I pulled out my sidewalk chalk and wrote the new owners a note on the driveway. It reads, “From our family to yours...Welcome Home.” Fingers crossed, it doesn’t rain tonight.

Vol. 3, No. 220, August 8, 2018

3220 - Magnetic Attraction.

Last year at Twine Ball Day, I sold picture magnets. They were a pretty big hit, so this year I decided to make more. I cut the pictures out of old Thirty-One catalogs. Then I used Mod Podge to attach the picture to a glass stone. I finished each piece by using the Mod Podge to attach a magnet to the back.

If I have time, I will go and make more magnets, possibly trying out a different size stone.

Vol. 3, No. 219, August 7, 2018

3219 - Forgotten Peaches.

We didn't have enough time last night to make our peach jam, so I headed back to my parents house this afternoon to finish it with my mom.

We prepped the peaches yesterday so today's task was pretty easy. Littlest Miller joined us today. She had a great time stirring the jam and writing the letters of her name with the spoon as she did so.

I was back home before I realized I had forgotten to take a picture of the jam, so I called my mom to ask her to do it.

Vol. 3, No. 218, August 6, 2018

3218 - Peaches.

My mom bought two large boxes of peaches, around 30 lbs, they were ripe, which means today was canning day. With the county fair on the brain, we made a variety of peach products including peach pie filling, canned peaches, and peach butter. The butter was still cooking when I left, so I didn't get a picture.

Vol. 3, No. 217, August 5, 2018

3217 - The Good Kind Of Fat.

My sister Becca came home for a visit this past week and she brought the ingredients to make Avacado Ice Cream. She brought enough for multiple batches. We mixed up o e right away and the rest of the ingredients just sat in the fridge. Since the avacado was already over rule, I decided t ok make a second batch of ice cream today.

The recipe I used has avacado, coconut milk, maple syrup, and lime juice. Because it freezes solid (more than regular ice cream) I decided to pour the finished "batter" I to popsicle molds. After letting g it sit in the freezer for a couple hours, I pulled one out to try, it was really good! I think I will be making this again.

Vol. 3, No. 216, August 4, 2018

3216 - Pretty Box.

I decided to get a jump start on my projects for next year's Meeker County Fair.  One catagory that I registered for this year was Pretty Boxes and Bags. I had intended to make this box in time for this year's fair, but that didn't happen. I had all of the supplies out and ready, so rather than just putting them away, I made the box. It is an old check box covered with magazine cutouts. The pieces were attached with Modge Podge.

Vol. 3, No. 215, August 3, 2018

3215 - Living Edge Forest.

Tonight I celebrated my Birthday with my Cousin B, who took me to my first painting class at The Paint Factory in Hutchinson. We had lots of fun. Our class was the first Living Wood class and we learned, step by step, how to paint a forest. One of the hardest parts of the night was choosing the perfect piece of wood.

At the end of class, I worn a certificate for a free class so I will be back again soon!

Vol. 3, No. 214, August 2, 2018

3214 - Color Collaboration.

Today we celebrate National Coloring Book Day.  I was going to spend some time coloring in coloring books with the Miller Littles this afternoon, but I decided to take it a step further. I created my own coloring book with help from Oldest Miller and Littlest Miller. Oldest Miller gave me a suggestion for the first picture, a portrait of her; she even struck a pose for me to work from. Next it was Littlest Miller’s turn to pose. She then suggested the name heart and the flowers, which she actually helped draw. Other suggestions that they gave were the planet and an anchor. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to color the pictures, but it will make for a great travel coloring book as it is small.

Vol. 3, No. 213, August 1, 2018

3213 - Vegimal.

Today was entry day for the Meeker County Fair. I entered 49 projects in Open Class. I had a variety of plants, food, arts and crafts, and photography. This year I entered in one new catagory, that was ‘Vegimal Group’. In this catagory, you create a animal or person using 3 or more vegetables. I went to the garden and found a cucumber, a green bean, tomatoes that were still green, and carrots that I had weeded to make room for other carrots to grow larger.

I started by cutting the cucumber diagonally and hollowing it out. Then I cut an opening for the mouth and carved out the teeth. Next I made the eyes by carving a hole, inserting the tomatoes and lifting the skin flap for an eyelid. I used skin from the other half of the cucumber to create fins. Finished the shark by I poking holes along the top the of cucumber, inserting carrots to create a Mohawk like design. I decided to make it more creative by adding a smaller fish in the sharks mouth. This fish was made with a green bean body, cucumber skin fins and cucumber seed eyes. I placed the completed sculpture on a blue plate.

This project is scored on Creativity (30), Workmanship (20), and Appearance (50). I will have to wait until tomorrow to see how it scored, but regardless of how well I do, it was fun to make.

Vol. 3, No. 212, July 31, 2018

3212 - Beet It.

This year's One Community, One Vegetable chose to focus on beets. To incorporate OCOV, the Meeker County Fair included special categories for beets. Tomorrow is entry day, so today I was preparing my projects tonight. Two of my projects included baking with beets. I made Chocolate Beet Cake and Fudgy Vhocolate Beet Brownies. I hate beets, but when baked with chocolate, beets aren't too bad.

Vol. 3, No. 211, July 30, 2018

3211 - Family Ball.

Tonight my entire family minus Margo joined me for CSB/SJU Night at the Twins Game. I was going to do a drawing at the game, but wasn't liking anything that was showing up on my page, so I decided to keep it simple and switch to photography. I started with a picture of my new hat, then turned it into a collage with some selfies with my mom, a fellow Bennie, and with Rebecca. I also included a sweet skyline picture. Photo credits for the selfies goes to Becca.

Vol. 3, No. 210, July 29, 2018

3210 - All Done.

Today we had our last performance of Seussical. To celebrate the end, I decided to make a mini clover for each person in the cast. This was a great idea in theory; the problem fell in the execution. I need to make 60 clovers, however, I didn’t start making them until I got to the theater. During the show, I was also watching Miss N and Baby R, so I had my hands full. I got about 20 clovers fully completed. The other 40 flowers were assembled, but not fluffed and therefore didn’t look as nice. I distributed the flowers in the reception line after the show, and let those with the unfluffed flowers that they could finish the flowers themselves.

With the show over, I am going to have to start figuring out new things to make.

Vol. 3, No. 209, July 28, 2018

3209 - Floating Flowers.

Since finishing the coral, I had planned on making some flowers with the extra pool noodles. Of course, I didn’t plan ahead enough to do this project at home. Instead, I started it after intermission tonight. I was able to get two large flowers and one small flower made during the second act. I gave the flowers to three of my favorite small actors in the show. They loved them!

Vol. 3, No. 208, July 27, 2018

3208 - Flower Fingers.

Today, while Grandma took the Miller Littles to baseball, I stayed home with Miss N. When she was finished with breakfast and had jumped on the trampoline for a while, I decided it was craft time. I pulled out the paint and had her help me make handprint flowers with finger painted stems and leaves. The assembly took some time, so I was still working on it when everyone else got home. Fortunately I was able to keep I a secret from Oldest Miller. I gave it to her after tonight’s performance.

Vol. 3, No. 207, July 26, 2018

3207 - Seussical Opening Night.

Last night, while sitting at preview night for Litchfield Community Theatre's production of Seussical, I realized that I hadn't prepared any flowers for Oldest Miller. Seussical is her first show, therefore she needed some handmade flowers. So today, I dug through my craft bag to see what I had on hand to use for flowers. I found some canvas squares and fabric crayons...perfect. I got to work coloring the canvas, then cut out the flowers and glued them together on sticks. I finished them off with the only green tape I had on hand, painters tape. The tape wasn't very sticky, but I think they will hold up for a while, and I can always fix them with better tape later.

Vol. 3, No. 206, July 25, 2018

3206 - Chasing The Whos.

On Monday, Tuesday and today, I  spent nearly the entire performance of Seussical with a camera in my face. I was asked to take pictures of the entire show so that's what i've done. The first night in just under 3 hours, I took over 2000 pictures. I took another 520 on Tuesday and 470 today. Now, I get to upload all of the pictures to a photo sharing site so that all cast members can have access.

This is a collage of just a few of my favorite pictures.

Vol. 3, No. 205, July 24, 2018

3205 - Biggest Blame Fool.

Tonight, I went above and beyond, designing a drink in a coconut shell, complete with a hand rolled paper straw and an umbrella that can open and close. Creating the drink and it’s details were easy. The hard part came after. I got the drink finished about halfway through the first act of the show. During intermission, I placed it on the tray, disposing of the bowl like shel we had been using. I took a picture and returned to my seat for the second act. I cringed when the Cat in the Hat brought the drink in on a tray and the shell rocked back and forth nearly tipping off of the tray multiple times in the short scene. I knew immediately that it would need some support. I didn’t want to go out and buy magnets; Velcro would be too loud; and it gets taken off the tray to be drank by Mayzie, so glue wasn’t an option. I decided I would try using hot glue to create a bowl of sorts to support the drink; that didn’t work. Next, I found a shallow dish, spray painted it silver and glued that to the tray. While it doesn’t look super professional, it seems to work. The real test will come tomorrow, in front of our families.

Vol. 3, No. 204, July 23, 2018

3204 - Chain Reaction.

We needed a rabbit for Seussical, so when I saw a pin on Pinterest for a finger-knitted bunny I saved it. Then when I was cleaning yesterday I found some gray yarn. So, today I watched the tutorial and made a bunny. I used little hair bands for the eyes and nose. It wasn't big enough to use for the play, so I am hoping the Miller Littles will like it.

Vol. 3, No. 203, July 22, 2018

3203 - Happy Birthday Margo.

It's hard to believe that my baby sister is celebrating her 21st Birthday today! When I was cleaning my house prior to putting it on the market, I came across the card that Margo gave to me, nine years ago, for my 21st Birthday. She would have been 11 years old at the time. The card was hand written with some block stamps for decoration. The card read " Happy 21st B-day Rosanne !! Time to drink!! (more than you did when u were 20)...but don't get too drunk!! Things might get wild. XOXO your littlest sis Margo"

I decided to get creative and cut the card apart, rearranging it to say  "Happy 21st B-day littlest Margo. Time to drink!! (more than you did when u were 20) but don't get too drunk!!... Things might get wild. XOXO your sis Rosanne"

While I didn't get to see her today, I sent her pictures of every part of the card. She recognized it immediately. I will giver her the card when we celebrate both of our birthdays next weekend.

Vol. 3, No. 202, July 21, 2018

3202 - Old Fish.

Today at rehearsal, it was discovered that we need 9 fish rather than the 8 that we were planning on, which meant that I had to make one more. I decided on an old orange fish as we didn’t have any that color yet. I used blue for the details and made sure that add in a scraggly beard, just like in the book. I think this is one of my favorite fish, except for the fact that my marker was drying out so the lines aren’t very dark in some places.

Vol. 3, No. 201, July 20, 2018

3201 - Bartleby.

Today the Miller Littles and I finally made it to Story Hour at the Library. The story this week was  The Very Very Very Long Dog by Julia Patton. It is a about an extreamly long Weiner Dog. For the craft, the kids colored the head and tail of the dog and then used an accordion fold on a long piece of paper to creat the middle of the dog. Being to young to cut, I helped Miss N with her dog, honestly I did most of the coloring too. The marker selection was limited, so we have a very crazy colored dog.

Vol. 3, No. 200, July 19, 2018

3200 - Mayzie In Palm Beach.

I thought about doing a real art project, but decided to skip it on account of it being my birthday. So, I volunteered to make the postcard prop for the play. The postcard is a letter from Mayzie; I think it is supposed to be to. Gertrude so that is who I wrote it to. I felt like Mayzie would have written in cursive using a pink pen. While Mayzie is actually sending the card from Palm Beach, the director, thought it would be funny to use a Twine Ball Postcard. I took a postcard that I had made for the Twine Ball a while ago, took off the Twine Ball information and added “Wish you were here”, the classic postcard catch phrase.

I mounted the printed picture on to cardboard, to give it some support and hopefully keep it from getting destroyed before the show opens next week. I even created a palm tree postage stamp.

Vol. 3, No. 199, July 18, 2018

3199 - Format Frustrations.

I've been working on the program for Seussical. The input of the information is easy, but the formatting in giving me a run for my money. The program is still a work in progress, but the cover is done enough that I am using it as my project today.

Vol. 3, No. 198, July 17, 2018

3198 - How Lucky You Are.

It takes a village, that’s what they say about raising kids, but it is also true about theatre. There is no way I could be successful as a prop-artist if I didn’t have so many people supporting me. Tonight, with some help, I finished the coral sculptures and jellyfish by adding twinkle lights. Thing 1 was kind enough to model one of the jellyfish for me.

Litchfield Community Theatre’s production of Seussical opens last week. If you want to get tickets visit www.litchfieldcommunitytheatre.com

Vol. 3, No. 187, July 16, 2018

3187 - Amazing Mayzie.

Today's project was amazing. I, along with a handful of helpers, created two coral bouquets. We had enough coral pieces left over to make at least one more bouquet. The bouquets turned out pretty well, and my group and I received lots of compliments. All that is left is to add handles on the bottom and then hope that they hold up on stage.

Vol. 3, No. 196, July 15, 2018

3196 - Notice Me, Horton.

I didn't use my time super wisely today, which meant I was just starting my project at 11:20 tonight. I knew it would be time consuming, but at least I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to do. I made my fourth and final fish, the blue fish. I added a star to it's belly to make it more fun.

Vol. 3, No. 195, July 14, 2018

3195 - How To Raise A Child.

My mom had been asked to make the brochure prop for Seussical. The brochure is for a Military Academy. She kept asking for help, so this evening I just sat down and made it quick. It is a tri-fold brochure that is lacking color and pictures. It didn’t turn out as nicely as I had hoped, but it will work for the show.

Vol. 3, No. 194, July 13, 2018

3194 - Flat Stanley.

I had been putting my project on hold all day, not really sure what I wanted to do, and then Oldest Miller came up with a great idea. She sat down after supper and started tracing her hands and feet to make a flat version of herself. She was using small pieces of paper, so there was no way her head or body was going to fit. So with Momma Miller’s help, we found a roll of wrapping paper and used that to trace her body. We then glued the parts she had cut out on to the body. Of course when Middle Miller and Littlest Miller saw the project, they wanted to make their own. About an hour later, we were finished. The biggest challenge was figuring out how to pose the Flat Miller Littles so that we could see them in the picture.

Vol. 3, No. 193, July 12, 2018

3193 - Havin’ A Hunch.

Tonight was picture night at Seussical Rehearsal, this meant that my work time was cut short, but I also had a few volunteers to help me out. Two jellyfish were made, as was more coral. Unfortunately I didn’t actually do any of the work, just provided the instruction, so I didn’t feel that I could take credit for it. This meant that when I got home tonight I had to still do my project. I decided to get one of my last two fish finished. Today’s fish is based off of “One Fish”.

Vol. 3, No. 192, July 11, 2018

3192 - Monkey Around.

Tonight at rehearsal, I was hoping to get the seaweed finished, but I ended up spending the entire time taking head shots for each of the actors and talking with some of the parents. So for today's project I was going to compile the head shots into a Seuss stripped collage, but I ran out of time and patience for that. Instead, I chose my favorite picture, the Cat in the Hat with a big goofy grin. He thought it was too over the top and we retook the picture, but I kept this one because it was so fun and Cat in the Hat like.

Vol. 3, No. 191, July 10, 2018

3191 - In Palm Beach.

Today I got to have some more fun with pool noodles. I used scraps from other pool noodle projects to create seaweed and coral to use during the fish scene. I got a lot made, but didn't have time to assemble the bouquets. Also, the hot glue gun that I had was too hot and melted the foam more than held it together, so I will finish making pieces and start assembly later this week. I am excited for the finished project! With only 2 weeks until the show opens, I need to move quickly.

Vol. 3, No. 190, July 9, 2018

3190 - Here On Who.

Tonight while at Seussical Rehearsal, I made my last three instruments. I can’t wait until tomorrow when I get to see them with the Who Marching Band, all lined up in a row. My willing models today were Chloe, Molly, and Oldest Miller.

Vol. 3, No. 189, July 8, 2018

3189 - One Fish, Two Fish.

I began my third task for Seussical today, that is making fish. The Lead Painter and I are both making fish which means we each only need to make four. I am making my fish out of card stock and using the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss as inspiration. The green fish is modeled after the Two Fish, and the red fish is modeled after the Red Fish. I was going to photograph the fish outside, but it was too windy so I did the next best thing, a bathtub. During Seussical, JoJo is taking a bath when the fish appear on the scene. I have to give my mom credit for designing the eyes on the red fish, by designing I mean pulling out the book and then cutting out the white part to match the Red Fish’s eyes.

Vol. 3, No. 188, July 7, 2018

3188 - Alone In The Universe.

I honestly didn’t think I would attend a Setwork Saturday this summer, but the other night at rehearsal, I asked the Lead Painter how she was feeling about how much work was left to do. She was stressing a little because it was mostly detail work left to do, which meant it was hard to trust others to do it right. I knew exactly how she was feeling, as I had been in her shoes many times, so I volunteered to come in today and help out. I planned on going in this morning and helping for a couple hours; I ended up staying for 7 hours. It was only the two of us painting, but we got a lot done.  This picture shows the part of the set that I spent the most time on. The base colors were all done except for the tops of the trees. I added the circles on the door, painted the tree tops, added texture in the grass, and outlined everything in black giving it a storybook feel.

Vol. 3, No. 187, July 6, 2018

3178 - It’s Possible.

It’s possible to get three instruments finished in one rehearsal. Now that I think of it I still averaged one instrument per hour, I just had more time to work. It’s amazing what you can do with pool noodles, duct tape and a few other odds and ends. Today I added shower curtain rings, Dixie bowls, craft foam, and wire mesh ribbon to my supply list.

Vol. 3, No. 186, July 5, 2018

3186 - Egg, Nest and Tree.

Tonight at rehearsal for Seussical, I completed two more Whosaphones in under two hours. Let me tell you, people were impressed at the speed in which I was able to complete them. My models today were Oldest Miller and Young Kangaroo. I am excited for new duct tape colors arriving tomorrow.

Vol. 3, No. 185, July 4, 2018

3185 - Independent Banana.

Delicious caramel rolls at Grandm’s for breakfast. Kayaking with Cousin B and D after the storm passed. Dinner of steak, baked potatoes, and creamy cucumbers made by Dad. Followed by game night with half of the family. To end the night, we had dessert of banana bars that I made and decorated. I dyed sugar red and blue so that I could make an American flag to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Vol. 3, No. 184, July 3, 2018

3184 - Sparkle Tuesday.

Today’s project was a mega collaboration. It began during a pontoon ride with some of my aunts, uncles and cousins. As we were cruising Lake Stella, we noticed a large piece of driftwood and decided to pick it up to protect all everyone enjoying water sports on the lake. We continued with our ride and I mentioned that I needed to do my project, someone suggested using the driftwood and then started giving me suggestions as to what I should make. Once we had reached shore, I discussed it more with Cousin D. We concluded that sparklers would be the best option as we were out celebrating the Fourth of July.

After dinner, I brought the drift wood back to the water, I tested it to see which side would face up when floating and then started inserting sparklers in all of the crevices of the log. I had about 24 sparklers in the log when I decided to let it go in the water, it began to tip over. Luckily I was able to catch it before the sparklers got wet. Cousin N offered to light the sparklers for me and ended up trying to do so while holding the top-heavy log. The lighting process wasn’t going very well, so we retreated to figure out plan B. Cousin S jumped in to help; he is an engineer and was able to rig up a table for the log to sit on in the water, helping it to stay more stable.

Cousin N also decided we needed some sort of lighter fluid to help the sparklers get started; the sparklers were old so they weren’t lighting very well. He found Tiki Torch Oil and proceeded to dip the tips of all the sparklers. Then we were ready to try lighting them again. This time Aunt R offered to help light. We did get the majority of the sparklers lit at the same time, but the sparking was sporadic. The boat also decided to return to dock at the same time, thus it ended up in my shots. Of all of the pictures I took, this one is one of my favorites, largely in part to the heart in the middle formed by the flames.

Vol. 3, No. 183, July 2, 2018

3183 - One Man’s Trash.

Tonight at play practice, the costume designer told me she had something in her car for me. Her neighbor had been throwing something out and when she saw it, she knew it was too cool to go to waste. Then when she saw my Whosaphone post last week she immediately thought to give her new treasure to me. The treasure was foam disks that were used as packing material. I was pretty excited to put these disks to work and started creating my next instrument. A pool noodle base, foam disk keys, appliance tubing and plastic mouthpiece, PVC pipe end, and metal ribbon decor; all held together with duct tape. 2 done only 8 more to go. I got a Who to be my model tonight.

Vol. 3, No. 182, July 1, 2018

3182 - Bittersweet Memories.

It was a bittersweet day as I spent the majority of my day moving the last of my things out of my old house. When I got home, I wanted a quick and easy project, so I pulled out some fabric squares and fabric markers. I decided that a good comforter is a handmade quilt, so I decided to design a mini quilt. Momma Miller and Miller Friend were siting on the couch with me, so I invited them to complete some squares as well. When we were finished creating, I laid out the squares in the quilt design. If I had a sewing machine I would have actually sewn them together.

Vol. 3, No. 181, June 30, 2018

3181 - Forgotten Berries.

My raspberries have been productions like crazy, which means lots of yummy black raspberries to eat. Tonight, when I realized I hadn’t done my project yet, I reached for the dish of raspberries left from dessert and and asked my family for a suggestion as to what I should make. My mom suggested a turtle. Here is my turtle with a raspberry shell and strawberry legs, head and tail.