Finishes

I'm proud to say I have 4 of my finishes done. This was such a great incentive for me to get long awaited projects underway. The first "finish" I did was to clean the fish tank. Let me tell you Karma was at work the day I decided to clean it. My husband and son slept in the camper overnight and Rayna was asleep in her room upstairs, so I was left to my own devices to turn on the water and off, as I have the Python Syphon system. This enables you to hook a hose up to the tap and turn it on, walk over to the tank and turn the valve and water comes out (or gets sucked up the hose, depending on which stage of cleaning you're at.) Previous years, this has worked fantastic for me. Keep in mind also, that I haven't cleaned the tank since I got pregnant with Rayna, so at least a year has passed since my fish tank has been cleaned. Water has evaporated and I have added more to it, but nothing has been properly scrubbed and syphoned out. I had a large shark and a fairly large sucker fish left in the tank. So I began by syphoning the water out. (I had already pulled out the plants and scraped the algae off the glass with a blade, as no amount of scrubbing gets it off, I think the tank gets too much sun.) Halfway through syphoning my sucker fish goes belly up on the bottom and is sucking at the ceiling. Not good. By morning he is dead. Then I stop the suction and run to the sink to drain the yucky water from the hose to get it cleared out so I can run clean water back into the tank. I run the water for several minutes into a cup with the fish tank thermometer to make sure it is the right temperature before starting it into the hose. When it is just right, I twist the adaptor on the tap to start the water into the hose... soaking #1. The plastic ring that fits into the tap to connect the hose blows off the tap and the water is spraying full blast into the sink, and onto me. I turn the water off, take the rubber ring out of the adaptor to secure it into the tap farther (the threads are stripped on the lower half of the plastic ring) and reattach the hose to the tap. I re-do the water temp check, and again, the hose blows off the tap. Soaking #2. I go through this whole process one more time, and finally success. Water starts to flow through the long hose towards the living room where the fish tank sits. I rush over to the tank, and I grab the siphon end of the hose where the water will come out, and as I start to turn the valve to allow the water to come out, the whole plastic casing around the valve cracks in half, and water is gushing out and spraying full blast (go hard or go home) all over me, the wall, the carpet and the fish tank. I slam the broken end of the hose spurting water into the fish tank, {swear} and look around for a towel to wipe down the wall. I don't bother to try to sop up the carpet as my socks seem to be fairly absorbent. This can be referred to as soaking #3. I am now soaked (at least with clean water and not poopy fish water) from the boobs down. So now I wait for the tank to refill, the sucker is still belly up in the corner, sucking at nothing. I realize that since the valve is cracked in half that I'm going to have to sprint to the kitchen to turn off the tap. The tank fills, and this is it!! I dash for the kitchen...and wipe out on the lino as my wet socks have zero grip. I flail and thrash and make it back to a standing position to finish my race to the tap. Thankfully I beat the hose, and the tank didn't overflow before I got there. This will teach me for leaving the tank so long! Then to add insult to injury the shark that I had left died the next morning as well. I think it was too much of a shock to their system to have clean water! The shark I had in the tank for almost 10 years, he was about 6" long, so I was sad he didn't make it, but I've started over with 6 little tiny fish and a new sucker and a resolve to clean the tank at least every three months. Also, just a note, I don't think there was anything wrong with my Python cleaner, I think it just got brittle from sitting too long not being used, as I've had it for several years. I am able to order parts to repair my kit online (thank goodness! They're $99 to replace the whole thing!)

My second finish was Rayna's pregnancy journal. I had a hard time with it as I was trying to write it as if I had kept it up while I was actually pregnant, but gave up and wrote it in the past tense as I am finishing it 8 months after the fact. I am glad to have it done though, and now need to get started on her baby book so I don't forget all the facts for that!!

I also finished my new slippers, my Mary Jane Skimmers.

I love them they are so comfy, the bottoms are super thick and cushy so I love wearing them, and I can make them any color. You can buy the pattern for them from Sylver Designs. Please don't look at how white my feet are between the luscious purple...it's been a long winter.

I also finished my niece E's tutu in time for her birthday. You can find a great tutu-tutorial on the Make it And Love It blog. She's totally in "princess" mode, so it was totally appropriate and she loved it! Rayna modeled it first of course...

Mmmmm, tasty!! Lol. Rayna eats everything, and the tutu was no exception. She had a bit of fun with all the fluff!

The birthday girl wore it for the rest of the party, and the rest of the evening too I was told!
I love how the sunlight hit the pom-pom on her wand, looks so magical! What a sweetheart. Isn't she beautiful? She just turned three. I hope those curls never go away.

I have a few more things on the list to take care of, I'm hoping to for sure get the basement cleaned out (I have a due date for that as well as the garage sale is coming up fast!) and I now have enough of the Moda Oh Cherry Oh material to make the apron I want. Hope you are all getting things finished up if you need to! Click on the Spring To Finish button on the sidebar to join in the challenge!