While perfect is the enemy of the good...

Sometimes you have to know when to call it a day.

Squashed tomato house. It sits by the train tracks, but so does everything else. 

Spring up ahead- let's go!

Until today, I'd been itching to get out of town to a sunnier climate, and I'd found a list of kid-friendly towns that included San Antonio. I've been to San Antonio on a quick work-related trip, but I got to see the Riverwalk and the outside of the Alamo. I'd love to go there, or just anywhere warmer than thirty-two degrees, which thankfully now includes Nashville for the next couple of days.

http://www.parents.com/fun/vacation/10-best-cities-for-families-to-visit/?page=1

Oddly, this list doesn't include Flemington, New Jersey. What's there? Only the newest fascination at our house: Northlandz, the world's largest model railroad! My husband found a link to a video there, and we've watched it at least seven times in three days.

http://www.fastcocreate.com/3026454/see-sonys-amazing-pov-of-the-worlds-largest-model-railroad

When the photographer of miniatures guesses that you'll be "quite eccentric," odds are good he'll be right.

And there's an organ.

Since seeing the video, I've watched several others and read reviews; consensus seems to be that it's a fun place that's just this side of creepy. It's only a thirteen hour trip. It's also an hour from the Liberty Bell, so we could go there, too, if we had time.

Winding thru Winter: Love and salt dough

Bitty and I played in the snow one evening during January's crazy polar vortex weather. I'm not about to go outside in freezing temperatures, so I got around a half cup of flour, poured it on a baking sheet, and put the baking sheet on a towel in the floor.

He had fun running his trains and his snowmobile through the flour. The snowmobile was in its element and saving the trains, since they all hate their snowplows. Eventually Little Bit looked like he was breaded and about to be fried, with even his forehead covered in flour.

After his bath, I took the flour that remained on the sheet, added a bit more, and made an easy salt dough. I found a recipe from Rainy Day Mum that uses the microwave to dry- and it works! 

http://rainydaymum.co.uk/the-quickest-ever-salt-dough-recipe

I made some rustic heart ornaments, using a butter knife to cut and shape the edges. A pencil made the holes at the top; one got a little smaller in the microwave. 

I would have allowed the ornaments an additional twenty-four hours to dry, but they got a much longer drying period in my craft room with our busy schedule. When I had a chance to get back to them, I gave each piece a coat of red paint, then had some fun with different techniques and finishes. 

The hearts got a blue print with painted bubble wrap, grey in the "inset" heart, some mod podge, and a polyurethane spray finish to add shine and remove the mod podge tackiness. 

The snail shell got some grey and gold splotches before I gave it a thin coat of blue. I really like how the colors show through for a mottled look.