Silliness

My dad isn't the worlds biggest Monty Python fan or anything, but he does enjoy it, and I know we've giggled together specifically over their "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch.  It's so ridiculous, it makes me laugh every time.

Well one day when I was perusing Pinterest I came across a Ministry of Silly Walks clock tutorial and immediately thought that would be a great gift for my dad, and it looked pretty simple to make, too.  I simplified mine a little bit as well, no decoupage required.

After a quick trip to Michaels, here's what I gathered for supplies:

- 8in x 8in Circle Pine Plaque
- Clock Movement Kit
- White glue
- White card stock
- Hole punch
- Black Sharpie or felt marker (which I forgot to include in the photo)

I made a clock face template on my computer and printed it onto regular paper and cut around the circle.

If you're on a Mac, simply drag image to your desktop and print.

I made a page of the body parts and printed it onto white card stock so they would be sturdy, and cut them out as well.  I also printed a black area to punch holes out of to use instead of numbers.  I used the black marker along the edges to black them out, I found it looked nicer against the wood to not see a white edge.

Next I lay the clock face template over my piece of wood and pressed in the centre of all the dots (starting with the centre) to make an indent so I know where everything should go.  (I folded my paper in half after indenting the centre dot so I could line it up with the wood grain, but if you decide to paint your wood or don't care if the grain is straight horizontal or vertical this step won't matter).

I had my husband drill the proper sized hole in the centre of the wood for the clock movement to poke through (mine required a 7mm hole), and then I glued my black dots into their indented spots around the board.  After sliding the back of the clock through the back of the wood and securing into place, I punched a hole in my man, slid him over the clock piece and glued him in place.

I punched holes through the tops of the legs, attached the hour hand to the back of one leg and the minute hand to the back of the other.

(If you're wondering why my man's legs are backed with dark paper it's because I'd backed them with brown card stock to make them even sturdier but it's not really necessary)

I then assembled the rest of the clock according to the directions on the package.  The "second" hand didn't fit into my vision so I just bent it back and forth until it detached from the very front piece.

Feel free to use your marker and colour any metal bits black.  I didn't bother colouring anything I couldn't see from directly from the front.

Now enjoy watching your silly clock do it's silly walk!

All packaged and ready to wrap for my Dad

She Sleeps

My darling 2.75 year old daughter has a very good grasp on the English language.  Her ever-growing vocabulary surprises me every day, and most of the time she can pronounce the words so that most people can understand her (if she talks loudly enough for them to hear her).  There are, however, a few that she does not pronounce quite right yet that make me giggle every time, here are a few:

Delicious = 'Licious
Drawing = Drawling (her brother said the same thing for a long time)
Scrumptious = Scrumpish
Tomato = 'Mato
Computer = 'Puter-game (although she doesn't play games on the computer)
Volcano = 'Cano (you'd be surprised how much volcano's come up in conversation in our house)
Piano = Playno
Grandpa = Kappa (she does know how to say "Grandpa" almost perfectly but chooses to call her grandpa Kappa instead)
Strawberry = Strawbstrawbry (this one makes me laugh, and she loves Strawberry Shortcake so she says this one a lot)
The Man in the Yellow Hat (from Curious George): Lellow Hat (like that's his name)
Macaroni and Cheese = 'Roni
Medicine = Ledison
Lemonade = Lemelade
Yogurt = Yergret

I love these pronunciations so much I don't correct her, she'll figure it out in time.

For the last year or so she's been skipping her naps, sometimes she'll have one nap in her bed at nap time during the week, sometimes three, sometimes none.  On the days when she doesn't nap, by the time 4:30pm rolls around she'll sometimes nod off wherever she may be at the time.
Here are the pictures I've taken of her having naps in strange situations over the last year:

A Year Of Naps

Corn Chowder Nap

Bending Over Couch Nap

Sleeping on Mommy & Daddy's Bed Nap

Half On Half Off Couch Nap

Mid-colouring Nap

Nap on Mommy

Stylish Nap

Technology Nap

Airplane Nap #1

Hawaiian Holiday Nap #1

Hawaiian Holiday Nap #2

Airplane Nap #2

Christmas Tree Nap

Toys On Brother's Floor Nap

Barbie Nap

Grandma's Car Nap

And she isn't the only one:

Mid-Snack Nap