Fiesta!

There is a school fundraiser this weekend, a Fiesta no less, and guess who signed up to head decorations?  It will be parents only, read, margaritas, so everyone will be able to chat it up without anyone pulling on their appendages.

The words public school fundraiser = no budget.  Can I make the place look fun, yet tasteful, for $150?  Yes, $150 for a party hosting hundreds.  Challenge accepted!

Our awesome Spanish teacher had the kids make tissue flowers to help out and I was delivered 2 big garbage bags full. Now to make it work for our event…hmmmm…..

That’s a LOT of little flowers.  I had no idea what I was going to get, so now that it’s all here…how do I make it work?  I decided to group them by color to make pom-poms that I can hang with invisible fishing line from the tent beams.

I think I like these.  This is only about a third of what I finally ended up with…..I will intersperse them with these white ones below I’ve been making at home….the simple tissue Peony everyone always makes…a classic, and so easy and inexpensive.  Tutorial here.

 

Now, how am I going to cover 62 tables for under $150?  The cheapest linen rental was going to be $850, so that’s out.  BTW, what a racket!  You can buy them from a restaurant supply for the same cost as some of the rental rates….I’m missing a business opportunity for sure.

So this is what I think we can afford, that will look nice….

Photo via escarabajos bichos & mariposas, which is a seriously cute party post.

All the colored burlap in town has sold out, so I can use kraft paper to cover the tables instead of resorting to icky roll plastic naffness.  I can then layer on some colored paper I got from the teaching store for bulletin boards, and hopefully, it will look good.  My plans for the centerpieces are mini terrariums/tablescapes (?)  that will be for sale-hopefully parents will want to bring one home to surprise their kiddos…

Wish me luck, I’m a wee bit nervous about how it will all look, but I’ll remain optimistic that we can pull it off.

I’ll try and take snaps when it’s all set up….

Posts in…Ugh.

It took an entire weekend to sink the four framing posts for the treehouse.  Yes, there were birthday parties and soccer games to slow us down, but still…one entire weekend to sink four 4′ x 6′ x 12′ posts? SHAMEFUL.

Not really our fault….never is, is it?  Ha!  It’s always SOMETHING beyond your control that crops up…or, in our case, seeps in, that really makes everything just go all to hell.

Meet our hole full of water.

The ground water runs pretty close to the surface on this hill…BUT, the good news is, we can have a well here one day and be able to dig it ourselves!  Might be a nice thing to tap into for landscaping down here where hoses won’t reach.

The CC assures me this is all going to be OK from a going forward perspective…we don’t have to change sites, it’s just going to make things a much bigger pain in the ass.  Being the clever boy that he is, he devised some quick home made water bailing devices.  Below was the workhorse…

The posts were painted with roofing cement for an extra punch of protection against water and rot.

What would we do without levels?  Working on a slope for the first time was really a challenge…nothing that was level, LOOKED level….trees all bend slightly toward the sunlight and distort your sense of plumb.

Here is the portable workstation….

…that is shared by Thing Two.  There will be VERY IMPORTANT WORK done here.

We decided given the lack of large trees in the area we wanted to build, the persimmon tree was our best bet, but we decided against using it as a support post.   We are building the house so that the Persimmon is adjacent to the front “porch area” to be used for hijinks, like alternate transportation?  Not sure yet.

The view from the front of the treehouse will be this, but higher.  It will face the State Natural Area so they will feel like they are really in the wilderness…just 100 yards from the back door of home…

So what’s this place going to look like?  My previous ideas were restructured.  We decided that if we were going to make the effort, it needed to be something we could enjoy together.  Translation=adult height ceilings, and when the Things are off in college, maybe we can convert it to a pottery studio…SURELY I’ll have mastered the wheel by then!

I can only preface these images with a profuse apology.  I tried to learn Sketch Up over the holidays and got annoyed and walked away.  I tried again last night with the tree house and this was the best I could pull off so far.

 

I need to spend days on those tutorials to learn what I’m supposed to be doing rather than trying to wing it by instinct.  So, there is no grade of the hill here, or windows/ventilation yet, but I will try and work on it…there’s just not time right now, and our crazy drawings on graph paper are getting us through.  Our cost cutting inspiration was Stephen Atkinson‘s approach to designing his parents’ cabin…all standard lengths/widths to minimize waste and cutting.

We’ll see how we go…but, IT HAS BEGUN.

Baby Eagles

Here’s a quick peek at some bald eagle chicks being born. They are expecting another one to hatch today, so you can check back here for updates…

The video can be a little slow, but it’s worth it if you’re into that kinda thing. Skip to minute 8 to see the little fluffball.

 

 

Treehouse update for you tomorrow…..

Ye Olde England-Finale

This is it..I swear.

Soooo….we’d had enough countryside…we had some urban needs.  London calling and we had 2 days to hit the highlights…strap on your comfy shoes.

Pretty buildings, and uniformed people in funny hats……

Speaking of those in uniform…security is so much more apparent.  Remember the old joke about the bobby chasing the criminal?  “Stop!… or I’ll say stop again!”  I don’t think that’s a problem anymore.  Check out the size of that gun. He also had one strapped to his upper leg.  Granted, this was in front of 10 Downing Street.

Oh, and while we’re taking about the size of guns….I think Henry VIII was quite proud of his….

….and the Crown Jewels, (obvs not THESE) no snaps for you…no cameras allowed near the shiny diamonds…boo.

Moving on to the final stretch…ART!

We had just enough time to hit the 5th floor and part of the 3rd floor of the Tate Modern.

The way the Things lingered over the Do Ho Suh Staircase, I thought maybe it was their favorite.  Video of the artist interview and this piece’s installation are here and here.

Nope…in typical young boy fashion, they both liked Lichtenstein’s Whaam! best….

photo via wiki – I didn’t snap this one…of course mom forgets the fave.

Since it had only been installed 2 days before…we felt obligated to go check out the new Picasso, heralded as the most expensive piece ever sold at auction. $106 million and change in case you were wondering.

Warm beverages on the top floor of the museum with the killer view and we were DONE.

 

Our feet hurt, and it was time to go home.  Back to school on Monday in the land of the 2 syllable monosyllabic word.

Ye Olde England-Part 2

So we decided to be road warriors again and drove down to Bath….

The weather was back to being predictably gloomy……

 

I’ve always loved this town for the architecture, but time was short, so we went strictly to get our Roman on…..

Oh, oops..not that….how about this?

So very much to see…but travel photos are BORING.  I’m trying to minimize your pain.  Let’s finish up with a little druid action…driving from Bath, we arrived 10 minutes before closing, so it was a hectic, yet hilarious end to a jam packed day.

We were kinda punchy at this point, running madly around the rocks, as the uniformed guides were attempting to herd us out.  “Closing time!” = Could you tiresome Yanks just please GO AWAY.

Next time I”m bringing my hooded cape….showtime!  They have no idea.

Bargain Alert

Just a quickie…I get a lot of e-mails from people asking about my Marais dining room chairs.  I just saw a version of them on Home Decorator’s…yes, you read that right, for $99.  Link here.  They have colors as well as the raw aluminum.

 

 

Mine were Pottery Barn knock-offs scored at their outlet years ago.  Like mine, these are still way cheaper than vintage Tolix, or reproductions at DWR.  Anyway..thought I’d pass it along.  Happy Spring!