Fitness Friday: The Saturday Version

I need another day!!!! Have you ever been there?

Oh wait. I think I already know the answer to that. :)

Please forgive me. If your post is ready to go, Mr. Linky will be ready to go late today or early tomorrow. I've got to take care of this house and family and school and I'm just not ready with this assignment right now.

Thanks for all your patience.

Also, since we've dwindled down to 4-6 entries per week....do you think we should take a break until after Spring Break is over?

Thanks Ladies! See you soon.

Around Here...

• I have a self-imposed assignment to get something around here in order for Fitness Friday. That needs to happen today, obviously.
• I have jumped on board to participate in JulieMom's challenge too. Hey, anything to get my house in order is good.
• We are picking up hermit crabs today for the girls. Their first pet (besides fish). They are beyond excited. We were going to go buy some on Saturday, and then one of the mamas from our homeschool group posted an e-mail about how they wanted to get rid of some in exchange for some sewing. Perfect! Thank you Lord.
• We are thinking about putting the girls in one room again. Little Bit is having trouble sleeping and they would do better sharing a room again for a few reasons. THIS time S wants to build them loft beds. That would give each girl her own space, give tons more square footage to the room, and I think they would really love them. Since they both want to be on top "next time we get bunk beds." And that is not possible--so, loft beds.
• That thought of putting them in one room is stressing me out because I feel like I JUST finished decorating both of their rooms. In reality, we've been here almost 2 1/2 years but also in reality, I JUST finished the quilt for Little Bit. Of course she can still use the quilt, but....it won't match anything and that's killing me.
• I want them to have a matching "sister room" where they have similar but different comforters on their beds. I want to make them a really cool room. But then, what do I do with their current comforters? And I have to take down the curtains and make new ones. And re-do the lamps. And re-paint the mirrors.
• And I LOVE doing that stuff---I guess it just seems a shame to undo their current decor. So I'm trying to put off the room change as long as I can. Why does stuff like this stress me out?
• And it would be so cool....because we could turn Sweetheart's old room into a toy room/reading room/art room very-cool-space.
• Maybe I just need to spend some time dreaming and planning all this. I think the idea is growing on me the more I type.
• Hmmmm.
• And I have a thought....which is more important, being a keeper at home or doing ministry outside of the home? What about when you have to choose? For example, our church has had several ministry opportunities lately in which you sign up for a 2-4 hour time slot and go serve. When these activities are not appropriate for the kiddos, I stay home with them. I have a problem with getting childcare for the kids, so I can go serve. I'm supposed to be the keeper of this home, watching over the home...and how can I do that if I'm not at the home or with the children? If it's something we can do together, GREAT! But what about when you have to choose?

Completing Dinosaur World

Here is the first post on Dinosaur World.

Well, it's finally finished. I set everything up and took pictures while Little Bit slept in our bed so when she wakes up in the morning, it will be a nice surprise for her.

A few things I did that I did not take pictures of were, I sprayed clear shiny stuff on the shoe boxes to keep the paint from getting all scratched off. I believe my spray can was actually ceramic sealer, but it worked just fine. Also, I used a steak knife to cut a cave in one of the boxes.

Now, I got the other half of my butcher paper out and painted a blob of water where the waterfall would be. I lined the boxes up on the paper to see exactly where that was first.

Then I painted grass and flowers on one side of the paper....

and across the way, I painted brown to look like dirt or sand. Oh, and some hot lava flowing is always a good thing. I got tired of painting so I just wadded up a paper towel and "sponge painted" the rest. It's, uh....sand. Yeah.

And tonight we watched the original Land Before Time movie, so I had to add some black sticky tar also, since they get stuck in that in the movie.

So here is everything set up to play with. Little Bit had already gathered the rocks and we already had the toy dinosaurs, trees, and volcanoes from a set she got for Christmas.

Want to stop and have a drink?
Watch out! Don't step in that hot lava!

See? You can hardly tell the difference!!!!

I love it. It's worth it too because she will have so much fun with it. When it all gets torn up, and she's done...it can all be recycled.

And it's a heck of a lot cheaper than Playmobil.

Making Dinosaur World

I believe I've mentioned about how Little Bit, age 5, is very into dinosaurs right now. MOST people who would be interested in making "Dinosaur World" for their child would probably be the mother of boys. But not me. I'll be installing Dinosaur World right across from the sweet pink and white baby bed and play food.

Dinosaur World came to me while I was reading this book to Little Bit the other day.

She found the book at the library and this picture just captured my imagination.

I could make that, I began to think. And since no one was there to talk me out of it...I proceeded to do just that.

Do you have a dinosaur loving little one at your house? Perhaps you would like to make a dinosaur play world too! First, we painted two shoe boxes brown.

These will be the rocky mountainy type things. They will also work for storage of all the plastic dinosaurs. Don't even bother with the bottom of the boxes because they won't show.

Now, we will start on the backdrop. I bought plain old ordinary brown paper at the teacher supply store and cut it in half lengthwise. Half will go on the wall and half will go on the floor.

I sketched some mountains across the paper with a pencil. (Read: I drew triangles) Then I started to paint the sky. The first strip across the top I painted plain old red. Then, for the rest of the sky I just dipped my brush into the red, then the yellow and brushed it on. It turned out....guess what? Yes! Orange!

And the yellow is streaked in there sometimes. There is no magic to this. I didn't mix the paint at all--just keep dipping in both colors and slap it on there.

Here is a better look at my mixing method. For the mountains, I used a blob of black and a blob of white. Am I using too many artist's terms for you? First, get some black.

Then get some white.

Then dab your brush in the middle and...

paint those mountains. Are they looking a little too black? Dab more white. A little too white? Dab some more black. Really....you can't mess this up. It's for a 5 year old.

OK. Now the book shows one mountain is a volcano. So, paint some lava on there with your red. Oh, and I forgot to mention it, but I was using plain cheapo poster paint from WalMart.

Now your volcano needs smoke in the sky. I grabbed this napkin I had used to wipe my paintbrush on and wadded it up. I then dipped it into my grey paint from earlier and blotted it on. Didn't that come out cool? I didn't even plan that!

Then I just painted everything under the mountains with brown tempera paint.

Had to add a sun.

Now, when your boxes are dry you will need to add a waterfall. I let my 9 year old do this. Then I went back over her lines with really thick blue paint on the brush and let it run down a bit and dry that way. So that it looks like water running down the mountainy thing.

And here is where I made my first mistake. I started to touch up an area of the box with the brown paint. What I forgot was...I had mixed the brown with white when we did the first coat, so now this touch up was WAY too dark. So, I just started dabbing dark brown everywhere and wiping it around with a napkin.

Eh. It's not too bad. Rocks aren't one shade anyway. It's for a 5 year old.

There you go. Tomorrow we'll finish this up. There isn't much left to do. Now get crackin'! Your sons (or daughters...ahem) will love it!

Fitness Friday Assignment--Spring Cleaning

Since it's nearly springtime, we should be thinking about getting organized! It's more fun if we do it together.

Your assignment this week (you can post about it on Friday and sign up on the Mr. Linky) is to organize something in your home related to your fitness goals. Here are some examples:

1. Clean out your pantry or refrigerator. Stock up on healthy snacks or organize things in such a way that you can eat healthier. Or cook more. Whatever. Oh, and chunk some junk food.

2. Organize your bedroom so you can have a restful place to sleep at night. Add a candle, soft light, new curtains, soft pillows. Something. Shop your house and see what you come up with.

3. Go through your dresser drawers and get all your work out clothes together and easily accessible. Throw out scruffy clothes.

4. Create a workout space in your home that you will use. Get rid of the couch potato area! :)

You can probably come up with better ideas. Take before and after pictures if you are able. If not, be prepared to share with us what all you did to arrange your life to aid your fitness goals.

See you Friday!