Giant sidewalk chalk for Manon

 Manon is not the easiest person to shop for, so I like when I can find something to make that cannot be found in the stores.

In this case, it is giant sidewalk chalk that is pretty easy to make.

I bought a bag of plaster of Paris at Preston Hardware and we've actually had about eight bottles of tempera paint in the craft cupboard for more than a decade.

The Instructables calls for using old Pringles containers, but we had a bunch of poster tubes that we were going to discard.

Apparently, the chalk will get used soon if it dries up before we get snow. But I suspect they won't be used up by Canada Day.

Now I am being watched

I might have thought I was safe from being surprised by things looking at me because all the googly eyes are in my pockets.

But on Monday, I noticed the melon was missing his eyes. I wondered where they were gone.

The next morning, when I went to get my coffee, I found out.

This fellow was ready to give me my morning cup of coffee.

Then on Wednesday, this is who greeted me in the bathroom.

More fun with googly eyes - Fruit Friends

Today I was inspired by the gifted Miranda Hart to use the googly eyes to make fruit friends.

Here is a taste of her show that features Fruit Friends:

And it is possible to watch all the episodes on Dailymotion in your browser without paying any extra money. It seems to good to be true, and it may not last long, but it looks like all 20 episodes are currently available at https://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x6t6c7

An attempt to increase comfort with houseplants

Yesterday, Clo Willaerts at Bnox delivered this clip from a Saturday Night Live episode:

In the evening at TV watching time, where I share a carefully curated selection of programs and clips with the lovely Manon, I played the clip. Manon appeared to enjoy it very much.

This morning, I heard a scream from the living room and then Manon came upstairs and slapped my shoulder. Yes. She literally slapped me.

I had almost forgotten that I had been inspired by Christopher Walken to humanize one of the peace lillies. It never occurred to me that it would frighten someone.

p.s. The fact that I had googly eyes on hand illustrates why it can be good to be a hoarder.

p.p.s. Long time readers may recall that peace lillies are my favourite house plant.

I have the best home office

Don't be jealous, but I have a better home office than you do.

You might have two large screens on your monitor. Maybe they're bigger than mine. Your high-speed internet might be faster than mine. And you might have a window view of mountains or a lake and not a house being built across the street.

But you don't have a raygun rack, three lava lamps, two plasma lamps and a marble run.

Like I do.

And here's a video so you can see things in motion:

The new 2-level marble shelf

 

After I made my first hanging marble shelf, I still had two pieces of wood left over and everything else I needed to make more.

For some reason, the idea of making a 2-level shelf with all this became an obsession. 

So I did it.

The new build had three innovations:

1. I added clear skinny lightbulbs to the wider jars to increase light flow through the marbles.
2. I attached the jar lids with two screws so they wouldn't rotate when I attached the jar.
3. I did not move the shelf with jars of marbles attached. Thus avoiding having a jar full of marbles falling off and smashing on the tile floor.

I've updated my Instructable to show both designs and the new methods.

Hydrants with sunglasses

Two nights ago, over on the other side of Bronson, we saw a hydrant wearing sunglasses. So last night on our walk, we paid attention to the hydrants and almost every hydrant we saw is also sporting shades.

By an odd coincidence, I used to have a bag full of old sunglasses that were no good to me (because I wear regular glasses), but now I don't seem to have any sunglasses. So I won't be making a sunglass mobile.

The hydrants in our neighbourhood are all yellow with blue caps, although there are at least two different cap designs. Apparently if a hydrant has a blue cap it means it will deliver at least 15 hundred gallons or more a minute. This seems like a lot of water to me. The yellow body means that it is a public rather than a private hydrant. [source]