The Weekly Smile…Some Creative Fun

This week I had a blast getting creative!

A friend asked if I would make some decorative alphabet letters for her son, who will be turning three next week and loves Disney. She purchased the 9 inch wooden letters that spelled out his name and gave me a list of his seven favorite Disney characters. I knew most of them but, I admit, I had to look up one or two. Hey, my kids are in college! I’ve been out of the Disney loop for a while! 😊

Just for fun, let’s see if you all can guess the character each letter was based on.

[Updated 2/22/17…Each letter is now pictured next to the Disney character who inspired it.]

Jake from “The Neverland Pirates”

Mater from “Cars”

Dory from “Finding Nemo”

Buzz Lightyear from “Toy Story”

Sulley from “Monsters Inc.”

Mickey of course!

Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh”

And the finished product:

 

Ta-da! I found painting the letters to be very relaxing, kind of like coloring. I highly recommend it to anyone who just wants to do something fun and creative.

The Weekly Smile is brought to you by Trent’s World. Stop by and check out the rest of the smiles or, better yet, leave one of your own.😊

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The 2016 Summer Bucket List

It’s that time again….

For the past ten years I have worked at a job that allows me to have the summers off. This is a treat, of course, but it can also seem daunting to someone like me, who thrives on routine. I found that instead of being productive with my time, I was wandering around half-doing a lot of stuff with no direction or plan. Last year I decided to try a little experiment and I called it my “Summer Bucket List” and you know what? It really worked! I wasn’t able to finish everything on the list but it did keep me motivated and focused and when September rolled around, I was able to see exactly what I did with my time off.

Naturally, I was ready to make another handy dandy bucket list this summer!*  Several of the items on my 2016 list are repeats from last summer, either because they were not accomplished last year or, they were so much fun, I wanted to do them again! Anything marked with a (c) is something that makes me a bit nervous or is something I tend to procrastinate about and will therefore be more of a challenge to accomplish. My last day of school this year is June 16th. This is also the date of Miss Dee’s graduation ceremony so that day is pretty much a wash but on June 17th I’ll be off and running! Wish me luck!

BEHOLD THE 2016 SUMMER BUCKET LIST!!

1. Take at least six day trips (parks, beach, etc)
2. Drive over a bridge. (c)
3. Repaint the living room walls
4. Travel some where by train
5. Ride a train into the city (c)
6. Create at least six art projects
7. Visit at least 2 museums
8. Take care of some “self maintenance” by catching up on yearly physicals and dentist visits (c)
9. Go camping
10. Go canoeing or kayaking
11. Have at least six lunch dates with friends or family
12. Go zip-lining (c)
13. Walk on the beach
14. Have a picnic somewhere next to the water
15. Have a romantic weekend away with my Hubby
16. Clean out and reorganize the laundry room
17. Maintain my newly planted herb garden and use the herbs often (c)
18. Attend the theater at least three times (films or plays)
19. Reorganize the upstairs closet
20. Touch up the paint on the kitchen cabinets
21. Finish organizing and labeling our family tree and photos
22. Visit a local winery and enjoy a wine tasting.
23. Listen to some live music, preferably outdoors
24. Go dancing with my Hubby
25. Have a “”Lord of the Rings” / “Hobbit” marathon with Miss D

*BTW It would be super awesome to have some company on this adventure so feel free to make your own list if you’re so inclined.

We can compare notes and cheer each other on! 😊

Quick, Catch the Summer! It’s Getting Away!

How could it possibly be the middle of August already! I feel like I was just posting my Summer Bucket List yesterday! Now, according to the Audrey Hepburn calendar hanging in my kitchen, I only have about three weeks to finish it.  I can tell you, it ain’t happening. Still, I feel like I’ve made a pretty good dent in it and there are several new things in the works…

• Even though we were not able to make our annual camping trip up to Worlds End we are planning on spending Labor Day weekend at my brother-in-law’s vacation house in the mountains. The resort has a lake so I’m sure we will be doing some kayaking. (#1,#10)
• The weekend before Labor Day a dear old friend and her husband will be coming from Virginia to visit. Even though we keep in touch through e-mail and phone calls, this will be the first time we have been face to face since my wedding 21 years ago! Needless to say, we have A LOT of catching up to do! I’m really excited.(#11)
• Tonight, Hubby and I are meeting some friends at a local winery for a night of wine tasting and music. It will be outdoors near the vineyards. A very pretty area.(#22,#23)

Okay, so that will be four or five more things to check off the list. As far as what is left…the drive-in movie is out because the place we were going to go has, apparently, really gone down hill. Several friends have told me about the poor condition of the theater and how out of control the crowds sometimes are so I think I will pass on that. The rest we will see about. Pretty sure the whole zip lining thing isn’t going to happen, at least not this summer. Maybe I can trade it for a trip to the trampoline park. Miss Dee said its a lot of fun. What do you think?

So Audrey says I still have 25 days/9 hours to put this baby to rest.  The final count will be posted on September 8th. Wish me luck! 😊

Summer Bucket List

So here it is summer break. I usually start out every June with a sackful of good intentions, things I want to accomplish or challenges I want to undertake. Sadly, September arrives and I find that all my good intentions have fallen short! Mostly I can’t figure out what the heck I did with my time! So here is the plan for this summer. I’m making a “to do” list and I am putting it here so you all can see whether or not I am staying motivated. The items marked (c) are things that make me anxious or take more motivation to accomplish and thus will be a bigger challenge. There are 10 full weeks in my summer break so the “per week” items need 10 stars to accomplish.

Let’s see how far I get! READY, SET, GO!!!!

1. Take one day trip per week (beach, park, museum, etc)⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. Drive over a bridge. (c)
3. Volunteer for a cause (c)⭐️
4. Travel somewhere by train.
5. Take a train into the city (c)
6. Create one art project per week.⭐️⭐️⭐️
7. Visit at least 2 museums⭐️
8. Paint the living room and the upstairs bedroom.
9. Go camping
10. Go canoeing or kayaking
11. Reconnect with 2 friends with whom I’ve lost touch (c)⭐️
12. Go zip-lining (c)
13. repair the kitchen floor (it seems to be coming apart)
14. Have a picnic somewhere next to the water
15. Finish the trim in the kitchen and upstairs hall (I have completion issues)
16. Try one new food per week.
17. Maintain my newly planted herb garden and use the herbs often (c)
18. Try drying some of the herbs for future use (c)
19. Reorganize the upstairs closet
20. Go to a drive-in movie (we actually still have one in the area)
21. Finish organizing our family photos.
22. Visit a local winery and enjoy a wine tasting.
23. Listen to some live music, preferably outdoors
24. Go dancing with my hubby
25. Have a “Lord of the Rings”/”Hobbit” film marathon (this is Miss Dee’s request) 😊

Yikes! I can feel the pressure to be productive starting already! Wish me luck!

What are you hoping to accomplish or experience this summer?