Projects and Failures, Halloween, Election

One of my best projects so far was closing off the area behind our storage shed. Before, we were using pallets leaning sideways, but they were annoying to move, and the little kids could still escape pretty easily. I put hinges on half of a pallet and attached it securely into the corner of the shed (into the studs, too). It closes snugly against the house so little kids can't open it, but the older ones can. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I also made a box from some leftover squares of OSB for outdoor toys. It's heavy enough that it can't be moved and destroyed like the plastic one was. I also set up a few pallets as a bike rack of sorts (no real work required, but it keeps the bikes from falling over.) I tried making a cube organizer into something better, but I was working with too many subpar materials to actually make any improvement. I messed it up enough that it's going in the garbage. 

The kids and I really cleaned up the woodpile last Friday. All that remains are a few scraps that will probably get used in the spring. There isn't enough to make more than 2-3 small projects that I don't have ideas for yet. :) Today, I'm adding knobs to Samantha's dresser, building a shelf in my room, and installing a hook to hang up James's headphones near the computer. Our good weather is ending (at least temporarily) this weekend, so I'm glad to have the outdoor stuff pretty much done. It's been a lot of fun to learn a little bit of woodworking, especially since I have nothing to lose by using scraps.

Halloween was really fun. We had the Boyles over to catapult candy in the morning. I ran some errands after lunch and got home in time to make dinner. We just set out a bowl of candy for neighbors while we enjoyed the first Harry Potter movie. Some kids were showing up at 4 P.M., which I think was pretty rude of them. We had to put up a sign to come back at 6 (which is the real time to get started) so we'd have a chance to eat dinner. Not many came, but that's typical.

I want the election results to be final, as I'm sure everyone does. It's causing me quite a bit of stress right now since it's taking longer than I thought it would. I think I'll minimize social media for a while, though, because the political climate is really awful sometimes. My kids have even come home asking me questions about if Democrats are actually evil and want to kill all the babies. I'll never make political statements on social media, but I'll say here that I think the whole system is somewhat corrupt and needs change. Also, I've never voted for the same party twice in a presidential election. There is good and evil in every political party.