Another to do list: Babcia birthday. Thanks Pinterest

Just like when my younger son turned 4 years old, my grandmother turned 80 just before him. We took family photos at a professional photo studio. Can wrangling and twisting the arm of my family
Members was not fun. They didn't want to take formal pics. Not even formal, just fun family pictures at a studio. But after the fact they raved and loved the idea.

I put a color scheme together for the photos. After looking at AWESOME pinterest ideas, and then applying the reality of us, the ladies were asked to wear cream and the gents either blue or grey. OF COURSE my mom appeared in grey with a pink scarf. But that's okay because at the end of the day the pics turned out great, everyone was happy, and Grandmas pic hangs in her home - with all 15+ of her descendants. And that's pretty cool!

• Don't shoot for perfect.
• DO have color guidelines. But know that the shades will vary person to person.
• Smile, breathe, relax.
• Arrive early
• Be extra sweet to the photographer, even if they are cranky!

Her shopping list was shorter, but still a list none the less. And my idea, ... became my shopping.

• 80 candles
• Sparklers
• Crown
• 1933 cd
• Balloons
• Hawaiian lais
• # 80 pictures
• Silver frame pic
• Photo List for Photographer:
• 1st pic as child w new 80 YO pic framed
• Pic w each GRANDkIDS framed
• # 80 collage
• Price list 1933
• Flowers for table
• Reserve rest.
• Sparklers on cake
• Brooch or 80YO cup/mug

Make Mistakes, breathe, reflect and Laugh.Out.Loud

DIY Junior Bunk Bed Ladder, Under $8 for our Crib Conversion

Recently I converted our crib into a Junior bunk bed (here's how) for my younger son. He wanted a bunk bed for his birthday. As I browsed ideas online, I was troubled with the thought of spending money for two new beds (older son was going to get one too). Why spend $100 for a new metal bunk bed when we had a perfectly good solution at home. Now I just needed a ladder. He had been climbing in strenuously for a few weeks. Partially because bunk bed ladders and 3 or 4 step ladder cost $50 on amazon. I didn't save all this cash to spend it on a ladder! I did find a $20 rope ladder for indoor outdoor use, however I soon realized we had a resource right at home.

The boys have this wood building set, similar to Lincoln logs, however larger stronger solid pieces. When I was taking one of the sticks away from the boys, telling them these are NOT swords, quidditch brooms, (or insert you weapon of choice here) you realized how strong and solid these pieces were.

The rope ladder that I had ordered was made of slim pieces of wood for the steps. These pieces I had at home would definitely suffice. I knew I could attached them to the thick slats of the bed if I pre-drilled holes for the nuts and bolts (pre-drill so the wood doesn't crack). However I didn't want to drill holes in the "steps" because they wouldn't be as sound or stable to support my sons, and daughters, weight. So I decided to attached them using a bracket. We had to be creative, and the guy at the hardware store was helpful. He suggested copper pipe fittings to brace down the slats. they worked great.


DIY Junior Bunk Bed $6 Ladder for our Crib Conversion, a photo by areyousureaboutthatblog on Flickr.

So once I was inspired there was no stopping me....onto making our crib I mean Junior Bunk Bed Ladder.

What I needed:

- 2 wood slats for the ladder (from our Lincoln log-like set at home)
- electric drill for screws and to pre drill holes.
- electric hand saw to cut away unnecessary bed slats so my son could walk up the ladder comfortably.
- nuts and bolts to attach brace to slats ($1.50 for 6)
- brace / pipe fitting to attach the steps. I took a piece of my wood step with me to make sure the brace would fit around the wood and be able to sit flush against the slats where it would be bolted. ($3.50 for 5) Ironically when looking for the flat square like brace which I had in mind, it didn't exist at the big box hardware store. I asked an employee in his orange apron for help and he advised these copper or steel pipe fittings that plumbers use.

Total $3.50 for the brackets and $3.00 for the nuts and bolts. $7.50

The rope ladder is being returned. I am sure it's great. But I like my low cost homemade option instead.

Steps to installing my Easy Crib Ladder:

Guesstimating Spacing
I held up the wood pieces and eye balled there fit. I was playing moving them up and down guesstimating there spacing. Looking for problems. First, I wanted to be sure they would be long enough from the left side leg to a slat near the middle. Second, I also eye-balled spacing of the pieces as steps.

Cutting
I marked my wood pieces. Cut them with the saw (on the saw stand). After I sawed down the wood pieces I marked again where I'd like the pipe fittings, this time measuring for space between steps.

More Guesstimating
I didn't want my young son stepping to high or too short between steps - I wanted him to have a natural feel climbing up and down this ladder. My steps worked our to be about 9 1/2 inches apart. Allowing for the natural crib top rail (now on the bottom) to serve as the first short step off the ground.

You will also notice when I installed the most top rung, its slightly under 9 1/2 inches because I didn't want him to bump into the top of the crib mattress peeking through under the most top rail - see the light green sheet and the gap just above it.

After the Install, Troubleshooting
Even tho the pipefittings seemed to fit snug when I tested them with the wood pieces set against the Bunk Bed Rail and just before final bolt and nut installation, once I screwed and tightened everything there was still a "little wiggle" to the steps. I didn't want ANY MOVEMENT incase my sons cute little tow or skin of his foot was near the bracing he could get pinched. I realized I needed something like a little "shim," to help secure a snug fit. Similar to how construction installation works on a new door, or any wood working.

I hit the toolbox back in the basement and found little electric tube caps used in wiring. These would be too big, however that sparked the idea to use the plastic anchors (sold in picture hanging sets) to slip into the brace. I ended up pushing them in - one on each side of the brace - with my fingers first and (when the fit was still loose) hammering them in further. They went in nearly all the way with the hammer. And everything was snug. No pinched toes or feet :-)

I am happy to report that since this post my darling baby girl climbs up the bunk bed to join her brother for a book in the morning. I hear them often in my light sleep. Gosh I love those kids letting mommy rest a few more minutes....


Make Mistakes. Breath, Reflect. and Laugh.Out.Loud

Our 8th Birthday Experience and the Blunders and Hurdles to get there.

There's two parts of the story your going to read here:

Part I - My Sons 8th Birthday Experience and His Treasure Map Adventure that went off without a hitch

Part II - You can see all the blunders of the day and where mom made plenty of mistakes. (Go ahead, skip to part II). I have a little "sub-title" to this post called "Moms shouldn't be perfect because were Ruining our sons chances of picking a Normal Girl as a wife!"

I'm preparing for my sons 8th birthday. We're visiting my mom in Indiana. The visit is always fun, and we knew he'd love celebrating his "birthday experience" here. (More on no party birthdays in a separate post.) He chose pancakes for breakfast, so we whipped some up in the pan with the blueberries that grandma picked up at the blueberry farm earlier in the week. The pancakes are my special ones made from my "air batter" which I whip the egg whites first, incorporating air, this helps my pancakes be extra light - and not the hard bricks they used to be (read more on things I do differently here at the Old Mom meet New Mom post).

Meanwhile, inspiration struck, so I've ripped up a paper bag for 'an authentic look' to draw my sons birthday present treasure map. He wanted to "hunt" for his gift like Indiana Jones.

So I thought through a path and then started drawing his map.. Grandmas house is in the middle. 

areyousureaboutthatblog Birthday Treasure Map

Yes this was a "whipped" up map, complete with 6 post-its "Clues" like: "Your gift rhymes with words like tramp, stamp, lamp, and mean, bean, lean." (He's practicing reading and doesn't even know it!) Another clue was "your presents under something Big, Tall, and is spelled with 4 letters: _ _ _ _ ." So after their cartoon time I set up our pancake breakfast, and the boys served themselves. That's our new thing, self serving portions at mealtime. I made clear I need to check on his present, and he can't follow me because he'll ruin his own adventure, and that's no fun. So he 'sent me out' around the house to make sure everything was set, and I put out the clues.

He enjoyed the hunt. And this was the part of the story of that went well.

The Blunders of the Day

So I'm not the perfect mom. There were some my real blunders today. I was cranky on his birthday morning but I still kissed him when he came to my bed, but his cough would've woken baby girl who still sleeps in my bed, so I asked him to go watch tv, as I snoozed a little longer. This birthday morning I forgot he wanted a blueberry smile pancake, so I scraped down the bowl for a teeny tiny bit of batter to make the pancake, last, and put the blueberry eyes and smiley face in to which the blueberry fell out as it was plated.

Then I put a wet spoon on the map I had just made, cringing that it'd bleed thru the markers and clues. I also realized that I had no gift from my young son to his brother. We didn't scrape some time together for even a card. (At dinner I whispered, "give your brother a small plate of your fries and tell him 'Happy Birthday!" Birthday boy was happy with that.) And as for our gift I hadn't even bought anything until "accidentally" seeing that trampoline the day before at our Salvation Army Galux. (Galux is family 'code' for thrift store. In Poland Galux was the Nordstrom's or What was the Woolworths of department stores. So appropo.) It was new and $9.98 btw. On the flip side I'm pretty good at coming up with little clever ideas so I had a backup gift plan.

But then I was thinking, it's a good that I screw up. Not such a terrible screw up, but its not the perfection that the Facebook pictures make it seem to be. Because one day my sons will want to find a partner in life, and if boys look for girls similar to their moms, I can't be "perfect" because then he will never get married!?! What things will she need to perfectly do for him? Never burn his food? Never miss buying a gift? Who's perfect? And do I want a perfect Daughter in Law? No thank you. I do not want Barbie figure, Martha Stewart cookin, Nanny Jo at my house! I want her to be normal. Not high maintenance perfection. To laugh at her mistakes and learn from them. Laugh.Out.Loud. I want her to be honest to herself and him when things go crazy.... And things will go wrong,... they have to, because that's Life, forks in the road are everywhere, she will have some coping skills to deal with it. Hopefully the partner t-he-y marries stays calm at a dilemma seeing an adventure, an opportunity for trying something new, and not a pitch fork!

And I admit that I mess up to my kids for partially this reason. Life doesn't always go the way we want. Then they see how mom handles that dilemma. And hopefully pick a girl who adjust easily too. (And I'm being honest with the boys 1. because that helps build their character, 2. they won't say I lied to them while they were growing up, 3. and I'm praying my honesty will lead to less "mom you screwed me up because..." ). 

So ladies, (and dads striving at perfection, this applies to us all) don't be the perfect mom. Daughter-in-Law's thank me later. 

The days are long the years are short. Make mistakes, breath, reflect, and don't forget to laugh.out.loud.