Wednesday, February 06, 2013

The Chore Chart



I have had the good intentions of creating a chore chart for my kids for oh, a couple of years now.  Even when pinterest took over the internet, and I sat for hours gathering “inspiration” to help me, it just wasn’t getting done.  No idea was just right for me.

So one day, I sat down and started sketching.  I have three kids, a small budget and very picky taste.  I didn’t want some big colorful, kid friendly poster board hanging on my wall. 

My requirements were:
Pretty
Magnetic
Easy to understand
Pretty

So my sketch turned into this pile of goodies.  And this is how my chore chart was finally born.


I knew I wanted it to be magnetic so that I didn’t have to create pockets for anything.  I was perusing Office Max one day and I found these really cool, industrial looking magnet boards.  They were stainless steel looking and cool.  Only problem was, they were sold out of all but one that was long and narrow and way too small for my needs.

I considered looking elsewhere or revamping my idea a little and going to the hardware store and finding a piece of metal to frame or finding something online but the fact is, I wouldn’t ever get around to it.  It was now or it wasn’t ever.

So, instead I bought a regular old cheap framed magnetic white board.  I hated that it was white, but it was already framed and it was already magnetic.


And then I was perusing Target one day (I love to peruse).  And I found peel and stick contact paper (like, for shelves?) and they had some really cute patterns.  And I thought perhaps I could cover my ugly whiteboard with this freakin’ cute contact paper.  And so I did.


I’ve recently become obsessed with Washi Tape.  It’s cute tape.  That’s really all it is.  Super cute tape.  I ordered a couple of rolls off of Sassy Steals quite awhile ago and never used it.  Until now.  Hello Chore Chart grid!  By the way, I used a ruler to measure out my grid. Until I stopped using the ruler and started eyeballing things. 


Once upon a time I was a scrapbooker.  We are talking totally obsessed, traveling to conventions, crops every week, buying every supply known to man....until I wasn’t.  So now I have a room full of crap I don’t use, including these black letter Thickers from American Crafts.  I used them to make the “done” and “to do” as well as my kids initials up at the top.  I was out of the letter “e” so I had to get my crafty on, but it worked out.


Remember my requirement about wanting this thing magnetic?  This is why.  I found, at Office Max, a canister of round, acrylic magnets in assorted sizes and colors. Upon which, I wrote out our chores with a handy dandy sharpy.  There are daily chores (the big ones), and not so daily chores (the small ones) and I have some even smaller ones left over that I might utilize for even more random chores.  I’m still thinking that one through.


Chore chart complete in less than an hour!  Now I have a wall to paint so that I can hang that mess!

Supply List

A framed, magnetic white board - found at any office supply store

Peel and stick contact paper - Mine is from Target, but you can find them at Walmart and other places

Decorative Tape - I used Washi Tape which is now widely available at craft stores, or you could use grid tape which is available at office supply stores. Or a pen, but I wanted mine to be changeable, you know, in case I wanted to change it.

Letter stickers - I used black Thickers from American Crafts but you could use anything, even a sharpie.

Acrylic Magnets that you can write on - I found a tin at the office supply store

A permanent marker - I used a sharpie

Kids - to utilize the chore chart.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Photo A Day Challenge February

Okay, so as usual, I failed miserably at something I started.  I think I took completed half of the challenges in January?  Probably less actually.  

But that’s not going to stop me from trying for February - it’s a really short month!

I will be blogging them here when I get around to it, especially if I use a real camera.  Instagram photos will be found at @rachesak.  Don’t forget to use hashtag #powersalaska so I can follow on instragram or twitter.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Our Cub Scout

We’ve allowed our son to become a Cub Scout.  And to say that this is so up his alley is an incredible understatement.  This boy was born for this.  

The highlight of his week is wearing his Scout uniform to school on Mondays.

This week is a big pack meeting, which is different than the usual smaller den meetings.  The boys were assigned the monumental task of designing and creating box cars to race.

It was incredibly difficult for me not to completely take over all design and construction aspects but I reined myself in and let dad do it all.  

Okay, he  didn’t do it all either.  He did the basic design and construction and the boy did the grunt work.

This is our masterpiece.


 The front view.

 The side view.  He chose #9 because that’s how old he is. Also, the flames were my idea. :)

 The spoiler with hand drawn flames because he just decided to do that, without my permission.  Turd.

 Hand drawn, cardboard reinforced wheels.

 Hand scribbled windshield complete with windshield wipers.

 Dual exhaust and I finally managed to make him stop scribbling all over the darn thing.

 License plate, JHP for his initials and 316 for his pack number.

My sweet brake lights made from cream cheese boxes wrapped in construction paper.

It turned out to be a sort of fun family project that we spent most of the afternoon/evening last Saturday working on.  We ended up being very grateful for our shirt business, which provided all the cardboard and my former scrapbooking obsession which provided all the cardstock and assorted adhesives.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Photo A Day - 27

Pattern

Instagram photo of my lovely black paisley curtains.  Currently found on four windows in my house.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Photo A Day - 26

Fashion

Instagram photo of my baby girl all dolled up for Cirque Mechanic.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Happy Birthday to My Friend

Today is her birthday.

Because she is so special, I spent the ENTIRE day going through years worth of pictures.

At a wrestling tournament in 2008.  This is the season that we became friends.  In October of this year, we would start our adventure together as PS Photography.

Here begins a photo collage of 4 years of a friendship that means the world to me.  

Love you Boo!




visiting with our favorite Costco employee
 The day that Target opened in Anchorage.  AKA, the best day of our lives.

Our first trip to CK Seattle for a scrapbooking convention.  But mostly for shopping.







 (Summer 2009, somewhere on the side of the road near Turnagin Arm at our first photo excursion without clients. I remember a crap-load of flies.)
 
scrapping the night away at our local scrapbook store

In 2009, MMMMMM was born.  Still going strong here in the beginning of 2013!

2009 (February) also saw the creation of the Glitterati.  Super duper crafty ninjas.



Adventures in 2009 with kids.  Like the zoo.





school activities

photo session shenanigans

 2010, another year with the Glitteratti




Year two of Creating Keepsakes Convention trips!

The start of 2011, probably revamping our blog.  Haven’t done it since!

Movie night continues!


That one time I took her picture during a kids’ choir concert and she didn’t know it.


AAAnnnnd 2012
When she picked me up from the airport even though I went off to Hawaii without her.

Off to photograph a wedding!

 We discovered Bingo.  And it was brilliant.

Another wedding.  Yay us!

Big hair and big laughs (and big tears) at a friend’s going away party


The following are random outtakes from several years of photos shoots we have done together.
There was this one time, at a wedding, when Tracy lit her hair on fire.

When clients are late, and we are bored...

At a wedding, hiding a snide comment behind Maximus.

Check that light girl!

This became a tradition at every wedding and it still takes us a long time to get it right.

Who doesn’t love a good photo-bomb?

Pretending to light her hair on fire...




Baby whisperer...












Another bomb!


And again!


Some last minute instructions on how to make a marriage last forever.


According to my calculations we have done about 228 photo sessions together over the last three years. That doesn’t count the few that we have each done separately.  That’s a lot photos!




The day we spent awkwardly taking photos of each other.  Can’t wait to do this again!

Happy birthday gorgeous girl! Thanks for always pulling up my pants.