What did you do today?

[Coop]

That is so cool! 

[legenddc]

Had someone come by yesterday to pick up our sectional from the basement. My wife and I carried it up which was difficult as it barely fit up the steps. We're picking up a new (used) one on Friday from some friends who are moving overseas. I'll be renting a Uhaul truck and I'm scared to think of what else we're going to drag home.

On 8/1/2023 at 10:23 PM, JohnG said:

That’s what our parents say about our kids, yet they are the ones always showing up with more toys. “Too bad they don’t have any toys to play with” they say facetiously. 

My sister can never get over the fact we're constantly getting rid of things. She's in trouble if they ever have kids because it's all going to her house.

I counted the other day and our kids have over 600 books between the two of them. My mom called yesterday asking if they had two books because she wanted to buy them for the kids.  Should be getting a new bookshelf for my son this weekend and we'll sort through all the ones he's grown out of.

[Tpt life]

Mad props to my wife, who got each of our kids a storage bin, then made them decide what they were giving away when new toys overflowed the bin. Started them young making valuations of relative importance. Also meant their rooms did not get buried. 

[JohnG]

On 8/2/2023 at 7:25 AM, Tpt life said:

Mad props to my wife, who got each of our kids a storage bin, then made them decide what they were giving away when new toys overflowed the bin. Started them young making valuations of relative importance. Also meant their rooms did not get buried. 

We’re planning to implement that soon. We periodically have them help us fill a bag or box of clothes and toys that are no longer used and take them to Goodwill.

On 8/2/2023 at 6:37 AM, legenddc said:

I counted the other day and our kids have over 600 books between the two of them. My mom called yesterday asking if they had two books because she wanted to buy them for the kids.  Should be getting a new bookshelf for my son this weekend and we'll sort through all the ones he's grown out of.

We have well over 50’ of bookshelf space dedicated to kids books, plus a bunch spread between the grandparents’ houses. I’m afraid of trying to count them all. A lot of reading time every day here. Earlier on, the relatives were good at following our request for limited toys and more books, but they seem to have tired of that in the past couple years. Plus it’s harder for them to come up with book ideas that we don’t already have. Majority of our books came from yard sales, thrift stores, and from my wife’s and my childhoods.

[legenddc]

We do have our kids go through things to get rid of and they will pick up things on their own and tell us they want to give it away to another kid.

I'm okay with the books. I think it's around 18-20' of shelf space at the moment. We'll be giving my brother most of the infant cardboard type books soon. Our books really have exploded in the last year from "Friends of the Library" sales. If you go the last day you can fill up a paper grocery bag for $5 or pretty large box for $10. It's very easy to grab 50 books and the box still has loads of room.

[Chestnut]

13 hours ago, JohnG said:

That’s what our parents say about our kids, yet they are the ones always showing up with more toys. “Too bad they don’t have any toys to play with” they say facetiously. 

Amen! I think we've bought hazel like 2-3 toys total but yet our house is quite full. I'm so glad i was adamant on no toys with batteries as that has at least limited what is available for people to buy. It's kinda obvious in development why they aren't suggested. When she's seen a toy that flashes lights and makes noise at the press of a button all she does is sit and press the button instead of interact with something and learn cause and effect. My family took me seriously when i said if they came in the house they'd be getting donated unopened. I got so many comments when Hazel got a music set for her birthday. It's like they thought I didn't want the noise? Not the case i gave her the cymbals and showed her how to make the loudest crash.

Luckily she got bored with it quickly and then continued to climb on the stairs, furniture, tables, other people.The little girl likes to climb.

[BillyJack]

I think we packed up 8 boxes of Barbie’s, dolls, etc. if it’s on TV kids gotta have it. I’m going to leave the boxes filled till I build the cabinet, then we will separate and eliminate..

[JohnG]

We didn’t totally ban the electronic toys but we have noticed (and pointed out to relatives) that those are by far the quickest to be abandoned and forgotten. The simpler toys that can be used in many ways (wooden blocks, magnetic tiles, figurines, cars/tractors) stay popular far longer.

[legenddc]

Outside of couple things given to us we mostly avoid electronic toys. We've also managed to avoid our kids having video games or tablets so far. Their entertainment on car trips is looking out the window, listening to music/kid's stories podcasts, or reading/drawing.

We don't buy them much, it's all the relatives but they've even slowed down. My mom's friend keeps giving us clothes so we've barely had to buy them anything besides shoes.

[BillyJack]

Kali got a lot of drawing kits.

 

[Chestnut]

@JohnG@legenddc This is new to me but have you seen the LCD drawing tablets? Recently some friends of ours showed us it and i think they are super cool. Never knew such a simple but effective device existed.

[BillyJack]

She needed help getting control of her letters. Following lines should help her get tye control she needs.

[JohnG]

We occasionally set up an ipad to watch 1 movie on long road trips (ipad mounted to back of front seat headrest, not held by kids. 

My oldest is almost 7 and we just got a Nintendo Switch about a month ago. We play Mario Kart as a family occasionally (not every day).

@Chestnut those drawing tablets are great, and are surprisingly durable. Don’t have that exact one but have a few others. 

[BillyJack]

She also got one of thrse that light up behind what she draws..

 

[BillyJack]

I’ve raised Kali since she was 1 year old , she is now 6. I have her all summer while the wife works. 

 

I've already raised these two.Now I'm doing it again.

 

[legenddc]

We did get something similar to that. At one point we may have had a couple but I think we gave one away.

Another cool thing I just saw was re-useable water balloons that kids can fill up themselves.

@BillyJack - That's incredible you're able to raise your granddaughter. I'm sure it wasn't your first choice but you're giving her a great childhood.

[BillyJack]

I’d be in the shop 7 days a week and bored. I didn’t even ge5 the boat out this year,

[pkinneb]

First coat of black

[Coop]

How did you apply it? 

[pkinneb]

On 8/3/2023 at 10:50 PM, Coop said:

How did you apply it? 

With a latex paint brush but smaller (1 1/2") than the one laying there. You have to keep moving though becuase you want just a thin black coat, if you aren't careful you can lift the red paint and start mixing the colors which you do not want. I haven't had that issue on the black over red but I did notice it on the black over tan of my shavehorse seat it was almost instant on that. Kind of weird how the different colors reacted differently to the same black top coat

[Mark J]

52 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

Kind of weird how the different colors reacted differently to the same black top coat

Might the difference be due to how the paints were mixed?  Cure time?  Surface prep?  Just guessing here.

[BillyJack]

On 8/3/2023 at 9:15 PM, pkinneb said:

First coat of black

You didn’t want to spray it?

[pkinneb]

On 8/4/2023 at 8:20 AM, Mark J said:

Might the difference be due to how the paints were mixed?  Cure time?  Surface prep?  Just guessing here.

Possible but I used the same process procedure on both. 

 

On 8/4/2023 at 9:48 AM, BillyJack said:

You didn’t want to spray it?

Never considered it but certainly might be something to think about. My concern would be the pigment has a tendency to separate in the cup and you are constantly mixing it as you paint. In a spray cup you really don't have the ability to do that but would be interesting to try it.

[BillyJack]

On 8/3/2023 at 9:15 PM, pkinneb said:

First coat of black

You didn’t want to spray it?

 

On 8/4/2023 at 10:38 AM, pkinneb said:

Possible but I used the same process procedure on both. 

 

Never considered it but certainly might be something to think about. My concern would be the pigment has a tendency to separate in the cup and you are constantly mixing it as you paint. In a spray cup you really don't have the ability to do that but would be interesting to try it.

Hvlp’s are constantly moving.

 

To be clear. Are you trying to ebonize?

[legenddc]

Got the new couch and bookshelf moved in today. Also avoided taking anything else from our friends. The great sorting of books is happening upstairs as I type.

Tomorrow I'll be posting a bunch of stuff on Facebook to get rid of or packing up books for my brother's 3 month old. Either way we'll have a lot less clutter here soon.