November 05, 2021

Friday Night Photos

Yay--it's Friday night! Here is what I have as far as pictures this past week...

After seeing all of the pictures you shared of the skeleton displays, we just decided that we had to get a skeleton. Not just for Halloween, but to have fun displaying in random spots all year. We didn't want that skeleton to get lonely, so we actually got two. And then we saw that there were SQUIRREL skeletons! So naturally, we needed two of those as well.

Today, there were SIX squirrels on the back deck at once, so when I went out there to feed them, I decided to grab one of the squirrel skeletons for a photo op. I set the skeleton on the squirrel picnic table along with a few walnuts, and then took some pictures of the squirrels dining together ;)



Then I figured, heck, might as well bring the whole family out for some pictures, too!





Squirrel skeletons aren't nearly as cute as the actual squirrels, hahaha. But it was fun taking pictures!

And speaking of skeletons pictures, here are a couple more. It's funny how you can totally tell whether it was Jerry or I that posed them. When the wife poses the skeleton...


...versus when the husband poses the skeleton:


*eye roll* 

This week, I decided to try and eat breakfast and lunch. Usually, I'll skip breakfast and sometimes lunch (not for trying to lose weight or anything, but because I just hate taking the time/effort to prepare breakfast and lunch; and I'm rarely hungry until mid-afternoon). So I'm trying out spreading my calories throughout the whole day like I did up until a couple of years ago.

Today, I made a dill pickle sandwich for lunch--it's been so long since I made one of these, and I forgot how good it is! (The recipe is on The Noble Pig. And even though there are only four ingredients, it is super important to make sure they are the exact ones listed. Her recipe post explains it well!)



For breakfast, I actually made a batch of steel-cut oats (four servings so that I can just microwave it for a minute each morning rather than cook it daily). This was the perfect way to eat some of the peach preserves that I made! I tried it with peach preserves and banana--the peach preserves were better.



I couldn't find Duck anywhere when it was time to go bed (I still "make a bed" for him on the couch in my bedroom every night, which is where he likes to sleep). And usually when I call his name he makes a chirping noise, so it's easy to find him. I was starting to worry about him when Jerry saw a pair of glowing eyes in the dark hallway. When he turned on the light, there was Duck.



This morning, there was frost on the ground! The first I've seen this season. Fall is going by too fast. It seems like just yesterday I was saying how excited I was that fall is here.


Remember how I was trying to make an extension for my table saw but I got super frustrated while trying to route miter slots? (Probably not.) Well, I'd given up on it because I messed one of the slots up. But then recently, I tried again--I built a table similar to Tamar's from 3x3 Custom (I LOVE her YouTube channel! She's the only YouTuber that I watch faithfully.)

I took my time and I was thrilled that it actually turned out great. The whole purpose for making this was to have enough space to hold larger boards--it's hard to cut a large board on a small table. This photo below is the table before I attempted to route the miter slots. The legs on the out feed table fold under and then the top folds down. (As you can see in the second photo).


This is what it looks like with the out feed table folded down. You can see the miter slots on this picture--I managed to position them perfectly and get the size just right. That was the hardest part about the whole table. The table is on caster wheels, so I can move it around as needed. I love it!


And speaking of saws, I bought something for myself that I've been wanting for a couple of years but have just felt too guilty to spend the money on. I rarely buy anything new for myself, and I even looked on Facebook Marketplace regularly for two years for this miter saw. (Jerry kept telling me to just go ahead and buy it, but it's expensive and I just couldn't justify it in my mind.) It's listed on Marketplace a lot, but the price is usually $350-$450 for a used one on Marketplace. To buy it brand new on Amazon (or at Home Depot) it's $400.

Finally, I decided to save up for it and just buy a new one. I sold a few things and I saved up cash back points on the credit card and finally... I bought it! The Dewalt Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw... when I opened the box, I swear I heard Tim Allen's "Argh argh argh!" man-grunting from Home Improvement, hahahaha.


I've been excited to make the hexagon shelves for the cats, but with the table saw being so small (before building the table around it) and my miter saw being way too small, I just couldn't figure out how I was going to build the shelves. So, my first project with the new miter saw is the hexagon shelves. I spent this morning cutting down the oak boards that I'd milled out of the dining table (bought for $25 on Marketplace!).

I haven't glued or screwed anything together yet; there is still a lot that I have to do before piecing them permanently. But as I was cutting, I set them out on the table to see the size. I'm making one pretty large hexagon and 3-4 smaller ones. (Chick and Duck are huge cats--I'm just hoping these are big enough! Haha)


I'm going to cut large-diameter holes in the sides so that the cats can climb in while the shelves are on the wall. This is a super fun project that will probably last me a few months--I have several ideas for a "jungle gym cat wall", so I'll likely just continue to add to it. The hexagon shelves are first, though.

The cats are spoiled rotten, for sure. After getting the skeletons in the mail from Amazon, we had three huge boxes (each skeleton was in a box and then those two boxes were inside one large Amazon box). When Jerry woke up and came out into the living room, he just shook his head and said how spoiled the cats are. I'd spent a good 45 minutes making a three-story fort for the cats out of the boxes, haha. They loved it! There were little holes and dividers inside to make it more maze-like. 

I only kept it for a couple of days because it was definitely a big eye-sore.

Have a great weekend! xo

5 comments:

  1. You are so handy! I can't even with the power tools. Very impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're so funny, and if I was a cat, I'd want to be yours!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I LOL at Jerry’s pose of the skeleton. It’s such a guy thing! And then again when I saw your cat house out of boxes. You're a gray cat mom. I could never leave all those boxes in my living room!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have seen a ton of different skeletons but never squirrels. Perfect for you. I think buying the new tool was a wise purchase as you will definitely get a ton of use out of it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love to make my steel cut oats in the crock pot - easy and they are ready when we wake up!

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

Featured Posts

Blog Archive