Teddy Bear Tree.....CHECK

My wife and I have our first tree up.  It is her teddy bear tree that we put up this year in our art studio.  I ended up bringing up three different trees from the basement before I found the right one.  Of course the last tree that I looked at in the box should have been the first one to look in for as I don't have labels on them.  Each tree has something different about it as I peer into the box. I think a handy marker will let me label them before I return them after Christmas.

We are going framing supply shopping tonight and need to stop somewhere to pick up gifts for the boys and their wives.  We have to ship their gifts out soon and we will be relieved when we get it done.  Our weather is warmer that we thought it would be but cold is still cold. It is an early out from school today so we will take off early so we can get home earlier from our tasks.

I switched hats today to being a high school science teacher. I am doing freshman classes as well as some upper classmen courses. It is a nice room to work in and so far the kids have been behaving well.
It is Wednesday and the weeks are going fast before Christmas arrives. The pressure is building but we seem to always get done what we need to get done.

Thanks for stopping in and have a good day.

Another day......

In the movie "Alice", the young man that was courting Alice was a little disgusted with her for being creative and inquisitive.  She was watching the geese flying over instead of concentrating on her dancing and had run into another person.  He advised her that she should be more reserved. He told her "When in doubt, I keep my thoughts to myself." This teddy bear makes me think of the guy who wanted to keep it all tied up inside.

We seem to be more busy than ever in our household and we seem to keep needing to take care of our health first rather than keep up the pace.  Work will get done when the time is free to do it.  I am a yo-yo substitute today.  I am covering for a man who is with his wife who is having medical tests in the morning.  I will be shifting to the physical education position when the Math teacher returns.  The pe high school classes are roller skating so I can handle watching them roll around on the floor either on skates on actually on the floor from falling. The physical ed. teacher has a death in his family and he may be gone for awhile this week.  I was suppose to do tech this week but we have 8 teachers out with the high school and middle school staff combined.

Our oldest son had a birthday yesterday.  Andy was born in 1975 in Hamburg, Iowa.  He is 37 years old now.  He and his wife live in Chicago and we were able to see them over Thanksgiving.  He will be a father in a few months and they both he and his wife are really becoming excited.  Birthday's are good and the other son will have one in January.  The kids just keep growing and up and now are such nice young adults.

Thanks for stopping by today.

That darn positive work ethic.......

I took on this project because the friend that died had a 19 year old son left behind.  I was asked to do this and was paid a little money towards it, even though I said I didn't want to be paid anything.  Many hours later of handwork I am close to being finished.  I put a lot of hours on these two things as I didn't have a pattern nor some of the tools that most people would have used.

I am glad that I worked so hard on it and my labor has paid off as they did become works of art.  An artistic, handmade product was really my goal with the project. I am still looking for special latches that are small and gold or brass.  They will help to keep the back on it.  I need to cut the small triangle of glass and I need to engineer a backing for the small medal holder.  I did get some framing done on Saturday but my major time was spent on this project.

It is 16 degrees F.  this morning and we will warm up to 26 degrees as a high.  The body has to readjust to these temps and it makes you wish for a blanket and a hot cup of coffee.  Instead I crossed the parking lot to be with school children again today.  The Spanish kids are doing worksheets, conjugating the verb Gustar.   I remember the verb and I could figure it out if I had to but I don't.  That is why Yo gusto being a sub.

Birds were flocking to the feeder the day before the snow storm.  I am looking forward to watching the birds at the feeders.  I think we ended up with and inch plus of snow Sunday.  At one time the goose feather  snow was coming down and I really like seeing that.  The roads were not dangerous but in town it was slippery.   One has to relearn about winter driving conditions.

I am saddened today about one of my fellow bloggers who lost her husband yesterday.  My heart is broken for her. I also admire her trust that she has with her bloggers for some of her support.  He had some serious health conditions going on the past few months of the year and the cancer overcame him.

The blogging world is one of the ways we all can express ourselves knowing in most cases that there are caring people at the other end.  Our lives are trying, we work hard, and we have fun too, but being able to share it is an important thing in this busy world of people walking around with texting machines in their faces.  Some of us have families that are not so near so being able to relate to people all over the country and the world is such a unique situation.  Lorraine will be in my thoughts and prayers for quite some time.

Thank you all for stopping in today.

Designing as I go.........

There is a special coin or medal that is given to the family along with the casket flag when a veteran dies.  I made a special display case just for the coin.  It has been difficult to make as I did design it as I progressed through the process.

The base was an afterthought and that too was trial and error to create good design. I switched the end shapes over and over again.  Finally I went downstairs and trimmed them to a vertical.

The wood piece with the circle, that holds the medal, will slide in from behind the frame.  There will be glass in front of the triangular wood shape and then a backing will hold it all into the display.

Triangular pieces do not clamp together well so I use carpenter's tape to hold it in place while the glue dries.

I still need to create the backing but this is the final appearance of the display piece.  I am putting a hand rubbed wax finish on the pieces which I think enhances cedar wood. I don't like the look of finish that shines on this kind of wood and even the satin finish seems too unnatural for it.

It is snowing today so the trip to church will be slippery.  We are going to become very cold tonight with a northwest Canadian wind blowing at us.  Ten degrees F. will be the low so I can't imagine what the windchill will be.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Goals......

I have more goals than time to accomplish all that I have planned for the weekend.  We have two smaller trees that we hope to get up on Saturday.  The reality is that I have a lot of framing to do and Della has lot of commissioned art to get done.  So the tree work may be put to the back burner.  Maybe tonight after school we can get one of the easier to decorate tree up.  The teddy bear tree doesn't take much work as the lights stay on the tree and teddy bears fill up the branches quickly.

We may have snow late tonight or on Sunday.  The weather persons can't make up their minds.  We had sprinkles yesterday which were welcomed.  Anything to bring the moisture back into the soil will be great. Our rivers and lakes are getting low on water to the point that barges are only filling up half way so they won't run aground on the Mississippi.

I am an English teacher today, working with the Junior and Senior classes. I get to read with one class "The Crucible."  I have a test to give to another class and we will see some work on sonnets today.  It should prove to be an interesting day.

I have not been able to take photographs for so long that my goal is to get on it this weekend.  There should be time for me to get some photos shot both outside and inside.  My neighbors all have lights up on their trees already and the one and only Santa is sitting right across the street from me.  He blows over in a high wind, he and all his little reindeer.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Close to being done!!!!!!!

I have been too busy to take the next step pictures of the flag case but it is close to being finished.  I really like how it turned out.  I left blemishes and encourage the knots to show as I wanted it to look like a craftsman piece rather than a perfect work with lots of machinery.  As the person who asked me to do this said, "I could buy one at Hobby Lobby but a personally made one by my  brother's friend would be better."

I had to solve a lot of my engineering problems that develop when one refuses to use a power router.  I need to work on the back piece next then I should be done.

I installed the glass last night and the inserts to hold onto the back door. I will need to buy gold metal pieces to hold the door closed. I put about 5 coats of paste wax on it last night and it really makes it smooth to touch.  I will have more pictures soon.

Thanks for stopping by today.

The Village......

My wife completed the set up of the village in our dining room.  It looks great and now I need to get the rest of the electrical hookups completed.  It seems to be a busy week even when it is only Wednesday.  I am tech guy again today messing with printers and all the ink cartridges that match and don't match to the printers.  Thanks for stopping by today.