painting your thursday thankful

last weeks thankful thursday waxed a bit thoughtful and deep.     i thought this week i'd go with something thin.   this thursday i am thankful for paint!

here's how it started.   i went to get my bike out of the shed so i could go get my son from school.    (seems i often find gratitude on that route.)   the door to the shed is badly peeling, i mean really badly but it is just an old junky door.

 as i was getting my bike out i realized how many things are painted.   the house (inside and out), my bike, my junky door, the car, the railing to the porch, my nails could be (but they aren't).

on the ride to his school i started noticing more paint - signs, lines on the roads, art, fences, poles, a branch stump (to protect the tree).

this got me thinking about what paint is used for.   it's not just color.   paint is generally used for protection.   houses, cars, bikes, porches, poles are all painted to protect from the elements.

 but these are just for fun.

that's kind of humorous if you think about it.   if you smack someone on the head with a piece of metal, they are at least going to say, "ow".














but if you pour paint on someone's head, your going to just get more of an, "ew" and possibly a cleaning bill.

 paint is thin and fakes off after a while.   the only way it's going to kill you is if you drink it, even at that it could just make you sick.

isn't it fascinating that something so thin and flaky could be protective?














some paint doesn't just protect the wood or metal, it protects you.   this train bumper would be harder to see without this warning paint on it.

construction crews kind of need these paint markings.   keeps them from digging up things they shouldn't. . . you know. . .like power lines and gas lines, minor details.

let's not overlook the color though.

   i love all the things that get painted funky colors.  this red phone booth is beautiful with it's gold crown accent painted on.

lots of painted signs are useful for telling you where your going.   in case you don't have enough people telling you where to go every day.   at  least this way, you know when you've arrived.

these street performers painted themselves for their jobs. 

  blue dude is ok.   the lady in white was very sweet.  she had a little squeaker in her mouth and would squeak when she moved and squeaked thank you and good bye to the kids.

the statue on the side of this building in heidelberg wouldn't be nearly so fun without his coloring, not to mention the other decorations painted on the building.

these are few local murals and decorations on houses

this sun dial is seriously cool



houses here are fun colors, orange, bright green, red, blue.   love creativity with house color.

 cars are painted crazy as well.   we've seen snake skin, money, flags, patchwork, murals.    love it!

this is just a fun thing painted on a school sidewalk.

graffiti!   i love graffiti1  i love the amazing artwork in them.   this one is in switzerland.

   when i was a kid, i used to paint my friends nails with all kinds of pictures.   little fish tanks complete with bubbles and treasure chest, skulls, butterflies, flowers, fire, flags, various animals, shapes, letters, yada, yada.   one time i did the whole brides side of the wedding party with ribbons and their names and the wedding date in the wedding colors.

one last quick mention - chalkboard paint, magnetic paint, glow in the dark paint.     that's some cool paint!

look around you and think about how many things are painted.   cool!   right?

lots of fun stuff with paint . . except drinking it, don't do that . . it's un-healthy and it tastes. . . ya know . . . like paint.

stepping into halloween

i just wanted to get a jump on halloween decorating.   of course, in germany, any decor is more than most people do.   halloween isn't a big holiday here.   much to my poor kids chagrin, no trick or treating either.   we get faschings though so it kind of evens out.

i am still gathering supplies so no black or brown paper yet.   we have freakey colored bats.

one foot for the body and two ahnds for wings.

add some fangs and eyes.   some glow in the dark pens would be fun on these.   i added some details with a colored pencil.   

 then i folded along the fingers and rolled the body a bit to add some depth.   we just taped some yarn to the back and i taped a piece of scrap paper on the back and to the yarn to hold it in a certain angle.

 for the spider we just need two hands.   which is a good thing since that's all i have.

 glue them together with the thumbs together for the head.

 add a face to your sweet little spidey and hang him up

 ghosts are even easier.   just one foot.   really, just race a foot, draw a face and tape some string on.   we actually ended up with pink ghosts as well as white ones.   guess who made pink ghosts.

this is my towering teens invention.   not yet finished because we are waiting for daddy prints.   the concept is a foot pumpkin.   we have towering teens feet in the center, then mom and the princess on the outside.   the blonde curls foot is the stem and his hand for the leaf.   i haven't totally worked it out yet.   i'm wishing i had my orange inkpad to brush a bit on the edges.   i did fold and roll a bit to give it some depth.   i'll post the finished product when we get it done.

sock cord sack

nothing major.   i just have too many cords . . .and too many single and too small socks.   they are happy that they have found each other.

peek-a-boo braids.

this is the first attempt at peek a boo braids.   first of all , i did those lop-sided braids.   the ones that are one large and two small pieces.   i just wanted to try them out.   i sectioned off the whole front and sides like a frame.   the i sectioned, sort of, the center down the center and 3 across on each side.   i braided the 6 center.   i braided the outside bringing in from both sides across the center braids.   as i got to a center braid, i just flipped it up and over to the front of her head so it was out of the way.   then they peek out of the pieces being brought into the main braid.   it turned out more tribal then i imagined but tribal is good too.   i'll attempt it again when i decide what i want different.   isn't experimenting fun?

snaking underbraid

nothing fancy this time, but still cute and not the same thing as yesterday.   now that the kids are back in school i'm getting back into the swing of new and improved braids every day.

 you can see where i sectioned off the front and braided across to capture the ever present little whispies.  

 braided down to almost the center of the nape of the neck and continued the braid to the end.
 then, i started at the same side i started the first one and snaked the braid across to the other side.

i just added the smaller braid in and had i been a little less pressed for time, i could have pulled it to the top so it showed in the larger braid.   maybe next time.

 that's my towering teen helping with pictures.   he's a handy little gadget sometimes.    thanks son.

snaking braid from the back.   it was really easy and stayed put really well.   this one is actually after school, (i think).   she was trying to ride her scooter but the towering brother was "helping" and stopped her so i could take a picture.   he was giving her bunny ears at first, but the decided to give her head his t-shirt wings instead.   with this kind of help, i should be able to conquer the world.

riesenrutcschbahn (big friggin' slide)

this last spring we went to the riesen rutschbahn in poppeltal.   it's really just a great big slide, as in, you get hauled up a hill then slide for a few to several minutes down, depending on how fast you want to go.  since we went before the tourist season, we never had to wait very long.   it did sprinkle a bit so we had to wait until it had stopped and was dried off before we could go back on.

it's 3€ for a ride, 4.50€ for an adult with a child, a little less if you buy several at a time.   it sounded like a lot to me too for just a big slide.   it's totally fun though.   there are several smaller rides, bumper boats, mounted air guns that shoot foam balls, just little stuff.   they are all more expensive than i think they need to be as well.   the boats were 2€ i think.   it's a tourist spot so it is a little more.   but, it's so much fun, we're probably going to go back.

first you get your little sled, they have singles or doubles if your taking a little one with you.   our little blonde curls was able to ride with me, daddy, and our towering teen.   you go sit on the track up the mountain and they hook you up to a cable that hauls you up the hill backwards.   it's a long ride up because it's slow.   your riding up through forest though so enjoy the scenery.   there are some pretty steep places, if you see a sign, it means it's going to be steep, don't lean back and don't tip forward.

then you land on a flat spot at the top and dismount.   someone will probably grab your sled for you but we just took them ourselves and set it on the top of the slide.   they push you to start and you are off!

you have a brake, use it.   some of these turns are really tight and if you hit them at full speed, you'll go up and over the edge.   wheeeeeeeeeee!

i went with the curly boy mostly and didn't really speed down with him.

then, i went with my daughter.   she wanted to do one with daddy because she thought he'd go faster.   really?   she hasn't been paying attention.   we flew!   still had to brake a bit on the curves, i'd like to stay on the track, thank you.   we di go sideways on some  of the curves though.   she laughed all the way, ok, so did i.

overall, you see some beautiful scenery and feel the wind blowing through your hair.   except my husband, he doesn't have hair.   still fun. 

it's not a cheap family outing but not horribly expensive either.   it's worth it to buy a bulk package.   we got 6 singles for the bigger kids and 6 doubles.   that keep us busy for half the day.   we brought lunch and ate before we went in.   we did get an ice cream there before we went home though.

ok, we're at the end of the track . . . i wanna go again!