Halloween Pumpkins the easy way

The kids were pestering me like crazy to do the Halloween pumpkin carving, but there is no way that is going to happen this year. I told them to grab some permanent markers and have fun! I think they turned out great. But why am I so lazy and not carving them?

This summer, we demolished a rotten deck and replaced the deck with some temporary stairs to get us through the fall and winter. We plan on moving the door to a different wall and lowering the entrance to ground level next summer.


We did fine with these stairs for a month, but then Guess who tripped on her own purse strap and fell down the new stairs?!


So, no pumpkin carving for me. My kids are too small to do the carving still and having them clean out the insides is a nasty sticky mess that I'm always regretting for days after.

And hey, there is are perks-  the doctor told me no snow shoveling this winter! And I get to wear this totally awesomely decorated cast for a while!

Have you ever broken a bone? What kinds of things did you miss out on and did you find any "perks" to the situation?

[Spring update: The kids ACTUALLY did shovel all winter and they did a good job with out whining! May I never have to shovel again!]

Garbage Stand Attempt

Every winter, our neighbor takes his bobcat and clears the alley of snow by piling it high against our fence. I would have to dig a place to put the garbage each week. This fall, I quickly scrabbled together this garbage stand out of scrap pieces of wood and cinderblocks for a base. I put the tall vertical pieces so that the neighbor can see where it is even when there is tons of snow.

I still need to put something around the base, preferably not wood that will just rot in the snow. Maybe metal flashing? I haven't decided yet. Next year I hope to actually grow grass back there... or something.

Tree Table

Last year, a truck slid off the icy road into one of our trees. I thought the tree was going to be okay, but the first big wind of spring blew the top of the tree right over. After levelling off the top, I sat there wondering, do I dig up the stump? What do I do with this?

While I was distracted in mommy daydreams, my oldest son comes running to report the three of them had completely smashed their wooden toy box while pretending it was a bus. The only piece remaining intact was the blue sturdy wooden lid. Thus a silly table was born. The chairs were ones that the cushions wore off and I was saving them to make new cushions. They work way better as plant stands! And I plan on adding a few more birdhouses to the table!

Note: The We Go Bagless sign is from the City of Edmonton program to promote grass-cycling and reduce the amount of trash for the waste collectors. It is a great program and a lot less work than bagging up grass!

Pretty in Pink Polish

Not only do I like to save money, but I like the idea of recycling old things and saving them from the landfill. Why buy new when there are so many unique things you can do to reuse?!

I found an interesting wooden shelf in a thrift shop. At home, I sprayed it pink and now it holds my daughter's nail polishes. 

I  liked it the nail polish shelf so much and I remembered that the thrift shop had two so I went back for the other one. The other one I left natural for my son's toys.

After School Snack place

After school, this is where I hang out with the kids and have a snack. We chat about their day away from books, backpacks, chores and distractions.

Flexible Furniture

As our family grows older, our needs change. I try to buy very sturdy furniture that I can imagine multiple uses for and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This white bookcase from Ikea has been moved three times and as you can see, it is no small piece.

On the left, you can see how it was originally used to fill a great multipurpose need in my kitchen/livingroom/diningroom/daycare space.

A couple years later, my home daycare closed and we rearranged the house and moved hubby's office out of the basement. The basement became the kids' primary domain. We turned his former office into a play space.

I was desperate for toy storage.  I took apart the giant shelf and brought it down stairs to our play room and its primary purpose was toy storage.

Now we have moved to a completely new house. Some of my kids are still into small toys, so bins on the bottom work great for all those legos, cars, trains and dollies! My older child is into gaming consoles and so now it the bookshelf sports all the games, cords, gadgets and related gaming paraphernalia.