Wednesday, November 20, 2013

DIY Decor for Katherine

I've been wanting to buy/make some things for Katherine's room. She really doesn't have much, except for some colorful paper lanterns I hung from the ceiling.  We recently watched Tangled and I was a bit inspired by Rapunzel's tower room.  So I searched Pinterest and found all kinds of murals and paintings.  There was one I really liked, and thought maybe I could recreate.  I believe it is a much like a painting that is featured in Rapunzel's room.  I didn't want to go full out Disney in her room, but I love the subtle things you can find around the internet.

I grabbed a piece of cardboard I had on hand, and some acrylic pants.  I used primary colors, plus white, black, and green.  I had so much fun mixing the paints to find the different hues.  It really turned out better than I thought it would.  I want to find/make a frame for it yet.  And really if I were to do it over, I would definitely have put it on something other than cardboard, but I think it's good for now.

I have another project for her room, but I'm not sure how that one will go.  I'll share when I have it finished.


Friday, May 31, 2013

A Harvey Korman Double Feature

Last night I suddenly remembered two movies from my childhood.

My parents were VHS kings.  We had scads of tapes filled with movies recorded off the television.  (Funny that they sometimes are thrown off by their DVR)  There was one that was filled with Christmas specials.  There was the one with Top Gun that we watched repeatedly one summer.  But there are two that I, for whatever reason, recalled last night.

The Longshot (1986) and a made for TV movie Crash Course (1988)

While I was looking up info for them, I realized that Harvey Korman is in both.  I knew he was in The Longshot, but had forgotten about his role in Crash Course.

The Longshot is a comedy starring Tim Conway and Harvey Korman.  It is currently available to watch on Netflix (which I may do soon).  The movie is about 4 guys down on their luck, that get an inside tip on a horse, and go to bet on said horse.  Much slapstick humor happens along the way, and some drama, of course. 
As a bonus, the opening credits roll to a rap by Tim Conway and Ice T.  Thank you You Tube!





Crash Course stars Alyssa Milano and Tina Yothers (the younger sister on Family Ties).  The story revolves around a group of students in driver's ed and their teacher and of course, the cranky vice principal (played by Harvey Korman)  There are the stereotypical characters, jock, nerd, spoiled rich girl, girl next door, tomboy.  And a rapping exchange student from Japan. (obviously) 
This one isn't on Netflix, but someone did upload it on YouTube.



I have to admit.  I have no idea if anyone would consider these good movies.  They are just a part of my childhood and bring back some fun summer memories of being at home with my brother, with not much to do.  Ah, the good old days before the internet.  We didn't have video games either.  So it was either outside, reading, watch what was on, or search through the tapes.  These may not be cinema gold, but they will always hold a special place in my heart.

Has anyone else seen these?

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Telling Tales and Cake

 Sunday we celebrated Noah's 4th birthday.  We had a little lunch party with just us.  One of the gifts we gave him is a game called Tell Tale.  It is from blue orange, the same company that makes Spot-It, another favorite of our older boys.  The game comes in this great tin, with 60 two sided cards.  Each card has a picture.  An island, a monster, a toilet (a favorite of the boys... go figure), a ghost, etc.  There aren't any hard and fast rules, but they do give you several different varieties of ways to play.  So far we have just done the simple version.  Each person gets four cards.  Someone starts by flipping over their first card and making up a story including what ever is pictured on their card.  The next person flips their top card and adds to the story including what ever picture they have just flipped up. This continues until everyone is out of cards.  The boys are loving this game!!   I love that they are telling stories and stretching their imagination. 


Another part of his birthday celebration was his cake.  One of my favorite parts of my kids' birthdays is making them a cake, decorated as/with something they are into at the moment.  (Last year Noah's was a Where's My Water cake. )  He asked for chocolate cake, so that's what is under the frosting.  The frosting is a simple buttercream.  (Butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a little milk)  For the blue I pureed some blueberries and mixed that with the frosting, but it was more purple than blue, so I added some food coloring.  It still had a hint of blueberry flavor to it, which was wonderful. 



I know all parents say this, but I really can't believe he is 4 already.  Time seems to slip by so fast.

Vanquished by baby William