Mum, I'm Bored!

Now that the Easter holidays are over and Term 2 has started, I finally have time to sit down and write about my experiences with Melted Pony Bead Suncatchers.  I actually made these back in February, but we'll pretend it hasn't taken me two months to blog about it, OK?

You know how it is...  You see a post on Facebook or a picture on Pinterest and think to yourself, "That looks pretty/interesting/easy enough, and would be a good boredom buster.  We've certainly got all the supplies to make it.  Why not give it a go?"

Sound familiar?  I know you're nodding your head.  So, here it is - part tutorial, part cautionary tale.  This is NOT one of those Pinterest Fails... for the most part. I'll get to that later.

Step 1. Gather your supplies.  
You will need cheap pony beads in colours of your choice (we already had a heap of these - they seem to be a popular gift for pre-teen girls).  Depending what you are planning on making, use either transparent, with or without glitter (for suncatchers) or solid colours (for coasters, placemats, etc), but don't, on any account, use those iridescent ones.  Their oil-slick colours will lure you in with their attractiveness, but just don't go there.  I'll show you why later.
 
You'll also need some old non-stick pans, shaped foils pans, or egg rings on an old pizza tray (basically use whatever shapes you're aiming for), cooling racks and something to do the melting in.  Don't use your good cookware. You will not want to use it for food after melting plastic in it.  Try thrift store for cheap pans and keep them for craft use. 
Most instructions tell you to use an oven, some have used a heat gun, but I recommend using a hooded bbq. Outdoors. Trust me. Melted plastic fumes are NOT pleasant.  If you have pets or people with sensitive noses, keep them away.  Consider yourself warned.

Step 2. Arrange beads in your chosen moulds 
Preheat your oven/bbq to 200 degrees celsius.
You could go completely random or try to make patterns. Totally up to you, but make sure you only have a single layer of beads or they won't melt properly.

Step 3. Melt beads.
Instructions for ovens says 200 celsius for 20 minutes, but as I'd cranked all the burners on the bbq and shut the hood, it got pretty hot, pretty quickly, so I didn't need 20 minutes.  Just keep checking them and remove when fully melted to a smooth liquid state.

Step 4. Allow to cool.
Place on a cooling rack and wait for the plastic to cool.  Don't freak out at the loud cracking noises it makes as it cools.. As it cools, it will come away from the edges, so that it should just tip out of the pan when completely cooled.

Step 5. Remove from pans and sand rough edges if needed.

These heart shaped ones used glitter beads.

Step 6. Drill holes for hanging, if required.

Step 7. Hang and admire. Wasn't that easy?

And now for that cautionary tale...  I had a bag of iridescent (yet translucent) beads.  The colours were dazzling, like a dragonfly.  Semi transparent, so I thought they'd turn out nicely.  Wrong!  Not sure if it's the iridescent coating or maybe they're made of a different plastic, but they just didn't melt properly.  Even after triple the time in the heat.  The result was a lumpy, oil slicked mess that resembled fake vomit and stained the pan.

BEFORE

(I used solid colours to form the C)

 AFTER

So now you know what to do and what not to do.  Have a go.  It really is easy. I'm very happy with how mine turned out and will definitely make more.

Experiment with colours and patterns, but if you do find yourself falling for the allure of iridescent beads... don't say I didn't warn you!

Still Cruising After All Of These Years

Well, it had to happen. We've hit that 5 year mark that's the upper limit on Steve's boredom threshold. Naturally this means it's time to change cars. Again.  I was blissfully unaware that this also meant I had to change MY car as well.

The clear coat was starting to go on the paintwork on the Cruiser, and there were a few other minor niggles that were starting to get on Steve's nerves (one being that I hated driving it), and the paintwork is shot on my Mazda and it had a few overheating issues, so he decided it was time to sell the Cruiser AND my Mazda.  The plan was to replace them with a 2nd generation Prado (which would be predominantly my daily driver) and a dual cab 4WD ute that could be loaded up with the trail bikes or taken to the boat ramp.

Not one to let the grass grow under his feet, Steve started looking in mid-January, and had found a 2005 Ford Courier in no time at all.  As we hadn't even advertised the Cruiser, we had no intentions of actually buying a replacement just then, but it turned out to be too good of a bargain (they were asking $4500 but we got it for $3500) to pass up.

 Bargain ute

Having 3 cars was not exactly part of the plan, so we had to get a move on selling the Cruiser and Mazda. I didn't want to sell my car until I had a replacement to drive, so the Cruiser had to be first to go.  It took just over a month, but we sold it for $19000, which was only just under what we were hoping for. 

 Bye-bye 100 Series

Steve already had a firm idea of what model Prado he was after, so we knew we'd have to extend our home loan a little to get the extra money we'd need.  We test drove several, both manual and automatic, before finding the right one.  It's a 2003 model, manual, 3 litre inter-cooled turbo diesel with 107000 on the clock.  It's a little older than the 05-06 models we'd been looking at, but those low kms and the immaculate condition really sold us on it, and Steve got the car yard down to the price of $24000, drive away.

Our new Landcruiser Prado

It is an absolute dream to drive AND I get to park in the garage, lol.  What could be better than that?  Well, selling my Mazda would help.  We just have to get a road worthy and give it a good wash and polish - not that doing that will help all that much, lol.  Let's face it. Anyone buying it will not be buying it for looks.  The clear coat is so stuffed that it's gone white and flaky (OMG my car has dandruff!), it's covered in hail dents and scratches from supermarket trolley run-ins, but it IS reliable and economical. It would make a great second car for someone who just uses it for daily running to and from the train station or the local shops.  I will NOT be telling potential buyers that it is an imaginary car, though. After all, nobody warned me!

Edit 10 April:
Sold my Mazda!  Our mobile mechanic has bought it as he has a friend who wants it but doesn't have the money right now.  After subtracting the cost of the things that needed to be addressed to pass the roadworthy from the potential sale price of $1000, we have come out of it with $750, which has been spent on having a flash new Alpine stereo (or Mobile Media Station, as it says on the box) installed in the Prado.  All touch screen controls and capable of playing movies, and we've also had a reversing camera hooked up to the screen.  Not sure that all that swanky tech is completely necessary, but somebody had his heart set on it.

Musically Inclined

At the end of last year, the Grade 4 students were invited to apply for this year's Instrumental Music Program.  They each nominated their top 3 choices of instrument (from those available at the school), then were tested for physical suitability and potential ability.  Cheyenne was apparently better suited to flute than to clarinet. Luckily, flute had been her first choice all along.

There were a few pitfalls of course.  There are not enough school flutes to go around, so we had to decide whether to hire or purchase our own.  After adding up costs associated with hiring, and reviewing prices for brand new flutes (yikes!), we decided to buy a secondhand flute from a local music store, for a reasonable price.

Last week, Cheyenne and four other flute students from her school attended a full day Kickstart Music Workshop at another local school, along with students from several other surrounding schools.  Here they learned the basics from flute assembly and cleaning, correct hand positions for playing, and correct posture, through to learning their first few notes (B, A and G) and playing some simple tunes.

Cheyenne was very excited to be able to come home and play Hot Cross Buns.

I'm glad, not only that she chose to learn an instrument, but that she has the opportunity to do so - something I unfortunately missed out on in primary school, as my school was too small to have a music teacher.

Today she has her first flute lesson with the school Instrumental Music teacher, Mr James, so I'm sure she will come home with new things to practice.  I hope she retains her love of music, even in the face of seemingly endless practice.

Remembering Birthdays

1989

Today would have been my Dad's 90th birthday, had cancer not taken him from us nearly twenty years ago.

It's not hard to imagine what he'd have been like at 90.  Probably not so much different from how he was at 70.  Just older.  He would have been proud to see me happily married and he would have loved having a granddaughter, I'm sure.  He would have been secretly pleased that like me, she also shares his love of camping, and of cats.

I will always miss him, but often it's the smallest things that bring that home to me...  Like stargazing with Cheyenne and remembering how my Dad would set up his telescope and point out constellations for my brother and I (most of which I have forgotten and need to look up).  Or counting how many seconds between the flash of lightning and the rumble of thunder to see how far off a storm is.  Do you think I can remember the formula for that?  My Dad knew.  If only I could still ask him.  Yes, I'm sure the answer is out there for me to Google, but it's just not the same.

Happy Birthday Dad.  I love you ♥

July 1976

Life begins...?

Apparently, if you believe what the popular adage says, "Life begins at 40."  Wait, what?  What exactly have the last 39 years been?  Not life?  Perhaps a mere existence then.

Well, three and a bit months in and I'm still waiting for this "new beginning".  Come at me Life. I'm ready.

...No ?

Thought as much.

Nothing has changed.  Inside, I don't feel any older (or wiser, lol).  I'm still married to a wonderful (if sometimes exasperating) man, still have a daughter with attitude, still have a mortgage, still looking for work, still enjoying the company of my friends...

So, I'm fairly sure this "life begins" business is just BS to bolster the spirits of those who are depressed because turning 40 apparently means they are now OLD.  But you know what?  I'm ok with it being BS because I'm ok with being 40.  Age is not a number, it's a state of mind.

Being 40 does not make me feel old.  The fact that Cheyenne is now 10 and started Grade 5 this year?  That makes me feel old.

Photoboard of my first 40 years.