I'm one of THOSE Moms, but you still love me, no?

The second major project of the year for L arrived at home with a little less fanfare than the first. This one was a silent, insidious one that hung around for a weekend and then had to gather speed because the due date snuck up on us within the week.

Remember for the first project how I maintained that I was going to do my best not to actually DO the project for my son? This time I thought I should leave well enough alone. The topic was "Create an Invention" using two simple machines (ie. pulley, wheel and axle, lever etc.). Ugh. Physics was never my strong suit. Dad would have to do his share this time.

I was impressed with L, though. He had to come up with a problem. It's amazing that sheer laziness is sometimes the mother of invention. Here's his problem:

"My problem is that when I get into bed I forget my book is on the ground. My invention is great for bunk beds."

His invention: A Bunk Bed Book Lift.

Basically, if you're on the top bunk, and you forget your book, you get your little sister/slave girl to attach your book onto the binder clip, and then you can turn the crank and the book comes up to you. It looks like this:

It uses a pulley, wheel, axle and lever. Ian loves this stuff.

I went to the dollar store to pick up some better string for the pulley. While I was perusing the aisles (amazing the stuff you can get there), I noticed some bristol board. I knew L had to write plan, so I thought it might be easy enough to draw it out on the larger board so he could talk to the pictures, as opposed to reading from his page.

Here's where the high-achieving mother got involved. Can you tell that L's Mom has worked in a field that requires proper labelling and clearly defined process? Check out the colour coded labels:




Should have given him a laser pointer to go with it. He aced his talk; I think the schematic made it easier to discuss his plan. That's our story and we're sticking to it. Well, at least we didn't do a full blown Powerpoint presentation with flying bullets...we'll leave that for the next project.

I still think it's his unique way of telling us he wants a bunk bed.

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Well, it's awards season and I've been a bit remiss in acknowledging some lovely honours bestowed upon me from some of my uber bloggy friends. Sandy at Momisodes passed this Treasure award to me. I am truly honoured, she's a friend I made during NaBlo 07, she's got a great blog herself that you should check out. She's hilarious, has a gorgeous little girl, and I just love following her daily posts as she rocks Blog 365. (I wimped out). Others certainly have been as she's getting quite a following.

I'd like to bestow this award to the following blog treasures:

Don Mills Diva - she blows me away with her posts; they are exquisite in every way, from the hilarious to the poignant. A wonderful writer, mother, and hip mama. Replace the boar head with this treasure Kelly!

Ohmommy at Classy Chaos - she's an amazingly down-to-earth beauty with three adorable kids, such an interesting background, I love catching up on her observations on her busy life.

Rimarama- laugh, is what Rima makes me do. Often to the point of tears. But every so often she'll throw you a doozy and make you really think. And cry for another reason. I loves her blog.

Badness Jones - another fave blogger of mine. A talented artist, wife, mother, she tells it like it is. I love her honesty, her openness.

And one of my first blogger friends, now a friend in real life as well, C from Manitoulin Island, has named me as one of her daily doses. She is such a sweet lady, I love her blog about her life on Manitoulin after being a city chick. Stop by for a lovely slice of island life.


I read so many of your blogs on a daily basis I would run out of room here giving this out one by one. So if you're reading this, have a sweetheart on me. This drug's good for you.