Wednesday, October 30, 2013

bubble suits - Zoltan!

For Halloween parties we made costumes again. This year went as followers of Zoltan from Dude, Where’s My Car?  A version of this was available at Spirit of Hallowen but there are a few differences from the movie – the biggest being a top and pants instead of a jumpsuit as well as Velcro closures compared to snaps.
Ours are a bit incorrect as well – we grabbed the small bubbles instead of the more accurate larger bubbles. The other concern was the sizing – making our bubble suits allowed us to make sure the fit our various sizes. There still is a bit of tailoring to make them fit a bit closer, but easy to fix.

We laid out the bubble wrap over a pair of pants to measure them for size.  The seams were joined with medium weight packing tape.  A double layer of packing tape along the middle seam gave enough of a solid material to allow the pop snaps to grab without pulling through the plastic.  We measured the top part against a long sleeve shirt

We wore a black tshirt instead of the muscle shirt as well as the black shorts.  The plastic doesn't really breath so it keeps warm enough for inside wear.  I brought along some extra packing tape for seam repair but didn't need it.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Been Busy - part 5

October has been a very busy month - mostly with chores and renovations though.

We finished painting the outside of the house, including the trim.  The kids were very helpful with painting.  I also managed to paint the exposed platform of the new shed - which  should help it last a bit longer through the weather.

We replaced the fascia on the back of the house - which included painting the boards before putting them up.  Changing the lower fascia involved removing the eavestrough and putting it back.  I was concerned that this would very difficult but it went quite easily.

My brother came over and replaced the outside lights with motion sensor versions.  He also replaced some of the loose switches inside.  Being a electrician, he swaps them out without pulling the breakers which always makes me a bit nervous.

I was able to get to the storage locker and spend about two hours sifting the contents.  I pulled out a bunch of the boxes and restacked the plastic tubs together and put a bunch of the cardboard boxes on a skid.  I was also able to move some of the more needed boxes to more handy locations to make them easier to get as needed.  This should allow even more boxes to be stored.

It stayed warm enough for my dad to come over and help replace some of the trim which had rotted with flashing and new boards.  If the weather holds later this week, I hope to get a layer of paint on it before the snow comes.  While he had his table saw here we also cut the wood to put together a bench for the shed. This should let me stack things better and move more stuff out of the old shed before the squirrel settles in for the winter.
Sifted storage locker.