One Sick Pup/Making Soap

Well, my eldest is under the weather. On Wednesday afternoon, I had to pick him up from school early, because he was starting to run a fever. He had to stay home from school Thursday and today. He is running a fever of 101.2. That's it, no vomiting, no stuffy nose, just a fever. Of course, when he is running a fever his head hurts and joints ache, but isn't that normal for anyone running a fever over 101?

Because he is sick, and this is my week to work, I haven't been able to do much on the bathroom. I did however buy the new shower base, faucet, and plumbing supplies. I had to order the base and it will be in on Tuesday November 25. That should give me just enough time to put in the rough plumbing (re-run the supply lines-since I had to remove the old because they were falling apart), place sub-flooring plywood over the existing sub-floor (just for added support, as well as filling in a huge gaping hole from where they cut out the old sub-floor for the old tub drain), as possibly lay down the new vinyl floor. If I don't get the rough plumbing done, it is not that big of a deal, because I can still do it after the tub is in place, but it is easier to access without the base in place. I can't wait to go back to Lowe's and buy the tile. I am really getting excited. It is fun to watch it all come together.

Next week my oldest 3 have no school. They have Thanksgiving break. They will need to help me in the bathroom for sure. One day next week, I plan to have a soap making day. Me and my girls will make soap. I plan on giving soap and fizzy bath bombs to the teachers as Christmas presents. I've made soap in the past, and it is fun to watch the fats and lye transform into soap. In school the girls have been studying matter and how you can change matter from liquids to solids by adding heat or other chemical reactions. I thought that it would be fun for them to see the chemical reaction take place by stirring. (Yea, I'm a science geek). My mom always says that I live at Little House on the Prairie.

More Bathroom

As you can see, the bathroom remodel is still coming along. In order to get the tub out, I had to remove the toilet and sink. Tomorrow the tub will finally be gone! Hooray!!! As soon as the tub is gone, I can really get down to business. Out will come the rest of the walls around the tub, will be able to order the new shower base, install the new plumbing, install the new shower base, then the new walls. After the new walls go up, then it will take a little to get the new tile up. After the tile goes up, then the new walls in the rest of the bathroom. I plan on doing wainscoting, using bead board panelling. The nice thing about the wainscoting bead board is that it will cover where the old tile was removed (hides things and looks good). Then on to painting, flooring, and finally installing the sink and toilet, and maybe a new mirror and lights. It's called bathroom remodel on a budget of $2000 or less....can it be done? So far I have estimated the cost of supplies to be $1100. Yes, I think I can do it. Amazing how much money one saves by doing things themselves.....DIY Network does pay off.

Odds and Ends

This first picture is of a flower that I saw while on a field trip with my twin girls. We went to a nature center. At the center they were talking about how seeds travel, and the different types of seeds. I really loved the trip, except that I would have loved to have more time to actually look. Kinda hard to do while watching 5 8yr olds that only wanted to run around the labyrinth.

Any one tell me what kind of flower this is?

This picture is of my littlest helping to tear down my bathroom walls. Yes, all that wall is now down with this little ones help. Every day that little guy comes home from school, he begs me to bang more in the bathroom. He has done a great job ripping out walls, tearing up tile floors, cutting out plumbing. Is it wrong to let a 5 yr old do these types of times??? Then again, I did let this little one cut down a 20-30ft tree with an axe all by himself.

I like to save money where I can, even if that means letting the little ones do the labor, but is it wrong if they want to do it?