I got a few questions yesterday and thought I'd answer them here, in case anyone else has the same questions.

Calina wrote:
Where do you get all these ideas? Is there a website for the instructions for the dehydrator? I never thought of doing projects like these myself. I would usually leave things like this up to my husband. Can you include more of how and what you dehydrate, along with recipes?

Whenever an opportunity comes along, I do a search on the internet and find many great ideas that way. I don't know what I'd do without the internet (I'd probably go to the library a lot more often! lol)
When my mom gave me a bag of figs, I did a search on the internet, asking "How to preserve figs".   I found links about canning them, making jelly from them, and dehydrating them.  I was interested in dehydrating them, so I did another google search, saying, "Dehydrating figs", and came up with links which said how to do that.  I didn't ever find a pattern for a dehydrator, but from the directions on how to dry figs, I got the idea.  The links usually say that you need to have the fruit laying on top of a screen, with a cheesecloth or screen over the top of them, but not touching.   I figured it couldn't be too hard to make something that would work for this, especially since I happened to have leftover lumber from the playhouse venture.  I just took 4 boards, cut them down to about 3 feet each, and then nailed them together at the ends.   Then I stapled some screen on the top and bottom, leaving one side open on the top so I can stick stuff in, and presto, it was done. 

I will be sure to include what I dehydrate and how, along with any recipes that I use. 

In fact, this morning, I chopped up about 10 cups of apples, into very tiny bits:



Then I put them in the tray:



With these apple bits, I'm planning to use these to make oatmeal packets, like the Quaker oatmeal breakfast packets you find at the store.   I'll just add the apple bits in each bag.   I don't know how many bags I'll be able to make with this many apple bits, but I'm sure it'll be a lot.     When I have them dehydrated and I'm making the bags, I'll be posting the recipe and pictures along with it.

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Tera wrote:

1. Can you please send detailed instructions/material list for the playhouse. I'm thinking about having the 14 year-old son and myself build a bicycle shed using your design.

Tera, I'll be happy to try, although my design isn't all that great, and I'm not sure I can do a great job explaining what I've done...!   

The materials that I used so far for the playhouse (I still have a lot more to go) are:

24  1 x 2 x 8 furring strips - (I had all of these cut in half, so I actually had 48 1 x 2 x 4 strips).
I bought about 6 extra 1 x 2 x 8 strips, just in case I needed them- and they did come in handy, as furring strips that small are really flimsy and split easy.
3  2 x 4 x 8 boards, one cut in half.
3  4 x 8 lattice screens - Lowes won't cut these in half, but they aren't too difficult to cut yourself with a handsaw. You'll need to cut one in half. 

I would recommend that you ask the people at the hardware store that you go to about which nails would be best for the job.  The nails I used were probably not the best ones for the job, but they worked.   If I had the book, I would tell you what the book said for the nail sizes, but unfortunately, I still haven't been able to find it.  I bet it will mysteriously pop up when the playhouse is finished. That would figure! haha

(I will add to this list as I have more done)

Materials that I'm about to use...

My mom will be bringing over 1 4 x 8 piece of siding which will serve as the floor (she has plywood but we decided to use the siding instead).  

I have a leftover piece of linoleum from when we did our floor last year.   I will be using a 4 x 8 piece stapled to the siding for the floor.

I had some blue paint mixed yesterday which I will be using to paint the outside of the house with.

My mother in law gave me some yellow paint for the inside.

My mom gave me a tarp for the roof.

I will be using 2  2 x 2 x 8 furring strips for the roof, along with a piece of rope (I'll take pictures).


As for how to build it, I first built the wall segments...there were 6 of them in all, using about 8 boards each.    You are supposed to nail the boards about 8 inches apart.   You can see I didn't really measure mine out...



This was the EASY part.  These segments took all of 10 minutes to put together.

The hard part was nailing the segments together in a rectangular pattern.  I hated it.  If I had used tougher boards, it would have been a cinch.  I would recommend, if you can afford it, to NOT use the 1 x 2 x 8 furring strips, and instead maybe use the 2 x 2 x 8 strips instead.  They would be more stable and much easier to hammer on.

Once I had the segments nailed together, I got the 2 x 4's and nailed them together, in a rectangle...this was the base which I nailed the wall segments on top of.



To make the door hole (which I know I could have placed better), I just cut out one board with a saw, to the length I wanted, and then put another board up to hold it up...then nailed it in.  Hope this picture illustrates what I'm talking about:



Then we just nailed the lattice up on the boards. It's heavy, so you probably will need someone to help you hold it straight while you nail it in.

Anyway, that's as far as I've gotten, but I'll try to explain more as I go along. 

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Tera asked:

2. How do you do your blog to where the messages automatically go to people's email addys. I have several folks locally who e-mail me the same ? over and over regarding my expertise (homeschooling in CA & medical transcription from home). I'd love to be able to blog and have my musings show up in subscriber's inboxes. Will you point me in the right direction?

Tera, it comes along with the blog that I have.  People just subscribe to the blog, and as a result, get the emails whenever I make a new blog post.  I love it!   I use Godaddy.com, which is an excellent hosting site, with great customer service.   I have 3 sites which are hosted through Godaddy.com, and with your sites, they also offer free blog hosting accounts.   You can also get better plans which cost just about 3-4 dollars a month, which offer more bandwidth and extra services. 

I believe that you can also get this service at the Homeschoolblogger.com, which is completely free.. you just type in the email addresses of the people you want to get a notification email whenever you post, and they'll get it.


I hope this helps answer all of the questions!