Motorcycle Mickey and Our Disney Front Porch

About a week ago I found out that Kmart had an exclusive line of Disney outdoor products.  The motorcycle Mickey really caught my eye because of the HOA warning I got last year for having my scooter on the front porch.  They said it was because motorcycles are not allowed to be parked there, so I figured I might as well put an actual motorcycle on the front porch this year even though it is a miniature.

I also could not pass up on the solar powered Mickey lighthouse.  I was able to resist the Mickey and Minnie fountain, though I would not mind getting that eventually when we do get a condo if we do not already have too many things for our porch, which we might because we already had two Grumpy statues, a Mickey statue (I'm not attached to this, though), and the Grumpy planter that Mik choose online and also arrived today.

Turning a broken bowl into a work of art

Months ago Dad dropped one of the small plastic bowls and it broke exactly in half.  He brought it to show to me and I immediately decided to hold on to it to make something with it.  Around the same time we put in extra cabinets in the kitchen and I saved the leftover scrap from the counter top for the project.

Yesterday I finally got around to doing something with the bowl and counter top pieces.  I painted the edges of the counter scrap so it was all black using leftover paint from the penguin army project.  I then used a hot glue gun to attach the bowl pieces to the counter top scrap.

When Dad got home I asked him if he thought it would stay attached because when looking at some edges were clearly not touching the counter top.  He proceeded to grab one of the pieces and pull it off.  That clearly illustrated that it would not hold up to anything in the bowl, but that was already quite obvious and I merely was wondering if it was attached enough for its own weight, which they seem to be as long as someone doesn't pull on it!

After reattaching the piece Dad pulled off, I remembered I had some colored stones from an abandoned stepping stone project.  I glued those on to make it look like a flower is growing out of the bottom bowl.  At that point I was kind of wishing I had only put one half of the bowl on because the top bowl did not have enough counter top area above it to do a flower with the stones.

In searching around for other things to use to make something coming out of the top bowl, I found some wine corks and a bottle cap with an apple that got me thinking I could make an apple tree coming out of that bowl.  At first I was going to attach the bottle cap directly to one of the wine corks, but then I found the stash of used up tape rolls that I keep saving thinking I will make fun napkin rings some day.  I painted four of them green and glued them together to be the tree top and then glued the bottle cap in the middle.

The final decision came down to which of the two wine corks to use for the trunk.  One was a Kendall Jackson one, so it says KJ on one side.  The one I decided on, though, was the Black Opal one glued on with the Opal words facing out.  I mainly choose it because it was more porous and thus easier to stick on.  Also, the KJ would have been side ways whereas the Opal lettering is upright when the tree trunk.

My Round Bed

I was looking something up on Facebook this morning and found this photo of when we first bought my round bed at IKEA back in 2007.  It was pretty much the only piece of furniture I had when I lived in DC.  Over the years we have moved it several times including around Tucson, which usually meant taking two trips.  Last month we moved it from our main house to the lake house we rented for this year and it was much easier to move in the truck.  Thought it was interesting to compare the first move with the latest move picture.

Mickey Gnome Rain Gauge Collage

Tonight we have more snow.  Yesterday's melted by evening, but now we already have the same if not more.  I decided to take some more photos. I took one of the Mickey rain gauge yesterday morning and when taking another tonight I was reminded of the frozen one I took of it back on Thanksgiving.  I thought it made an interesting collage combining those with one of just rain I took of it the first week we had it last March.  Kind of a look back at how precipitation has gone from something we didn't see much when we lived in AZ just over a year ago and the abundance of it we get now in AL to the point I have been totally over it (the rain, the snow is still a novelty!).

One Year Later & Snow

Today marks one year since our stuff was delivered to our new home in Alabama.  I thought it would be interesting to compare my room now to the panorama I took of it the night our stuff was moved in.  My room certainly has changed a lot and actually for the most part is new clutter.

I wish I had one of Dad's office to compare one year later because it's more still in boxes than unpacked.  I guess the MAY part of my prediction last April was a NOT going to be unpacked after a year in the house, but actually we did sort out the attic or at least we do know what's up there and it all makes sense to be there.

Today also marks the first time we have a decent covering of snow.  I thought it was funny to see our Kokopelli yard ornament reminders of Arizona covered in snow.

Here's to hoping that in one more year we'll have everything unpacked/sorted out as any longer than that than maybe it doesn't need to be unpacked. This has never been what we would consider a long term home.  It certainly has been the right place for the past year, but after seriously thinking that on the river in Alabama could be our long term home we've come back around to DC is where at least Mik and I will always want to be and we're saving and planning for 2016.

Judging our neighborhood's Christmas lights

This evening Mom and I decided to drive around our neighborhood to see if anyone else decorated.  1st Place - There were not many lights and we really thought we would end up being confirmed as the best.  However, the last possible street we could check out revealed the above as the best decorated.  They even had a Santa and some penguins on the porch.

2nd Place - Our house with icicle lights, red & green lightbulbs, and my Penguin Army.

3rd Place - Right next door to first place, this house placed with its reindeer and driveway lighting.

Honorable Mention - This house did not have any holiday lights, but it was funny with Santa splatted on it and saying Peace on Earth.

Honorable Mention - With a lighted dog in the front yard, this house gets an honorable mention since it was the only other house besides above with decorations beyond just the porch and on the house or bushes.

Christmas Eve 2013

Christmas Eve 2013 started with Mom & I heading grocery shopping around 8 a.m.  We then stopped at the storage unit to load up one of the tables we wanted to take to the lake house. Back at the house we loaded up the rest of the stuff for taking to the lake house (mainly my round red).  The truck certainly has come in handy for situations like this, especially with the lift gate that actually is a powered lift.

Mom & I then headed to the lake.  We gave Mik the option to come then or when Dad came after work.  First thing he said was why do I have to go to the lake?  Apparently, he thought we did the presents on Christmas, so he did not think he had to be there until Christmas Day.  I guess we have not done actual Christmas Eve on Christmas Eve for so many years that he did not realize that our family tradition has always been opening them on Christmas Eve.  Once he knew there were presents he was good with going to the lake house, just not any earlier than necessary, so he choose to come with Dad.

Mom & I had to go up by noon, though, as we had scheduled for the internet to be installed.  The install guy was actually there at the beginning of the install window.  Unfortunately, he quickly discovered the house was too far from the relay point and they have to have a survey team and construction team come out to upgrade to the current requirements, so no internet for at least another couple weeks.

We spent the early afternoon putting away the random stuff we had brought up to the lake house.  We also "wrapped" the last of the presents and filled the stockings.  We meant to bring the whole wrapping paper container, but ended up forgetting it.  We had to get creative with wrapping and used an organizer box, a drawstring bag, and a Santa hat.

By 4 p.m., we expected Dad & Mik to at least be on the way to the lake house and we were totally out of things to do to get ready.  Not only did we have the cheese tray and stuffed mushrooms ready, but we even baked the pie that needed hours to cool.

At 4:30 p.m. when we realized they still had not even left Huntsville, Mom & I decided to go for a drive.  We called it The Grant Expedition because Mom wanted to see the "town" of Grant.  There really is not anything there, but they do in fact have an Ace, which we love because we used to go there all the time for things in Tucson and miss not having one in Huntsville.  After also driving out towards Scottsboro, we stopped at the boat house on the way back so I could take a late sunset picture of the lake.

To warm up when we got back I made some Viking Coffee.  We could not get the Bailey's open, so I ended up substituting some Peppermint Mocha coffee creamer.  We also did not have any sugar or Truvia at the lake house, but we had all the baking decoration stuff and used some green sprinkles instead.

Mik & Dad were still not there, so we started playing Scrabble on the iPad.  I was watching out the window for cars coming across the bridge while Mom was taking her turns.  The last time she told me it was my turn I said wait I am going to watch this car come across the bridge first.  Halfway across the car put its turn signal on and at that point I was pretty sure it was them because there is a decent amount of traffic on the bridge, but very little coming onto our road.  It ended up being them and after unloading Billy, Mik, and the stuff they brought up to the lake house we were finally able to celebrate Christmas Eve around 7 p.m.  Of course, as usual as getting unload and putting some stuff away, it was Mom that was the most impatient to get to the present opening with Mik a close second.

Mik's first present was a stack of Reese's candy.  He quickly held it tight to hide it because he did not want anyone to even know to steal it from him.  He then had it hidden hopefully safely in his room, which turned into his lake house candy stash after he got his stocking on Christmas morning.

He was also pretty excited about the Tom Clancy audiobooks Mom & Dad got him.  He had been hoping for some iTunes cards to get some, but this was better, although the next day he realized not quite so as some ended up being abridged versions and he sent us a group text to us saying in the future make sure you only get unabridged.

We made Dad open wait until everyone opened all their presents to open his last present because it was the ultimate present, which sort of a present for all of us since we all wanted it.  Dad was just the one person that did not know about it.  For years Mik has been wanting to get all the JAG seasons and we already own some of them, but until I saw the JAG Complete Collection on Amazon as a lightning deal last week I did not realize they had a collector's set.  I quickly texted Mik and asked if we could split the cost to give it to Dad as a gift, since we had not got him anything, yet.  Mik said yes and recruited Mom to be in on it.