I Used A Table Saw Ya'll!

This was the perfect kind of weekend in every way. We started Saturday out with a family project to complete something I've wanted for a very long time, a compost bin for my backyard. We bought the following supplies:
8 1X6X96 boards
2 2X2X96 boards
1 box of 50 - 2" wood screws.

 

 

Thank goodness my brother and his girlfriend left their pick-up truck (hiccup truck according to Sam) for us while they traveled for the holiday. There is NO WAY we could have brought this home in my Cruiser! And thank goodness too that my Father-in-Law doesn't use his table saw so much anymore so cutting the boards to the sizes we needed was an absolute breeze.

 

 

This was the first time I got to use the table saw and I LOVE it! You'll notice that Sam is on his Regalo Toddler Travel Bed mentioned in an earlier post. It's been pretty rainy around here and the ground was "too wet on it" for Sam. Toddler Bed saves the day again! Here's another pic just because he's so darned cute. Happy, dry boy = easier projecting for mommy and daddy.

 

 

We cut 20 - 32" pieces from the 1X6X96 boards and 4 - 36" pieces from the 2X2X96 boards. Then screwed the  32 " pieces of 1X6 to the 2X2 with a little space in between for air circulation. We had a couple 34-ish" pieces left over that we attached to the bottom for some stability.

 

 

We had 2 pieces of 2X2 left over, about 30 inches each. I haven't figured out yet how to use them but oh, I will :). Total project cost = about $70. Total time invested = 2 hours. Total family project time value = priceless!

 

If you're like me, you know composting is a super great way to reduce waste while helping out your garden but you're not 100% sure what can and can't go into the bin. Here's a handy-dandy chart to help you out.

 

 

On Sunday, a colleague of Jeff's was having a birthday party for his daughter. At a little past 2 1/2, Sam is still mostly a parallel player but there were awesome activities including a scavenger hunt, fairy garden, bounce house AND a piñata.

 

 

Sam didn't care much for the fairy garden but I thought it was awesome. Inspiration! The bounce house on the other hand was hard to tear him away from until the piñata. I think he was like "wait, you WANT me to hit this with a bat....on purpose?". I'm definitely keeping a piñata in mind for Sam's birthday!

 

After Sam was in bed Sunday night, we had a surprise visit from my friend Steve. He had a birthday in early April and we just now had a chance to get together to have a drink and a celebration. It turned into a bottle per person/OMG, it's after midnight/friend sleeping on couch because there's no way he can drive home, kind of night. Rare these days, but always a blast! I had been holding on to a killer gift I picked up for him in Mexico in April. Behold the magnificence.......

 

Luchador Mask

And this was early in the night too.

 Memorial Day is a fun day for us to both remember, and celebrate. Check out my Sous Chef helping me make shortcake to go with the strawberries. Yep, that's raw flour on his face. He said it was "YUMMMMMM". What a kook.

Sous Chef

A little tip, I discovered well into the baking process that I didn't have any milk for the shortcake. I took a chance that instead of 2/3 cup milk, 1/3 cup cream and 1/3 cup half cream, half water would work and it was brilliant. I'll never make it with milk again!

 

I found this sweet margarita party ball at Sams Club. It reminded me of the Coors Light party balls that were really popular when I was in college so of course we had to have it!

 

Party Ball

And, my friend Erica joined us with her daughters. Her girls were so great with Sam. I am really lucky to have such great people in my life! Lucy, who's going to be a sixth grader, even got knee deep into the Duplos with Sam and very patiently made too many towers for him to knock over to count.

 

 

 One of the best parts of the day? The rain held off until the burgers and brats were done AND the kids had exhausted themselves on the trampoline!