Chamber Pot Blues

Two weeks ago I bought a tent from this guy at a reenactment. Its a huge panther tent, 2 doors, ties on the inside and outside. He sold it to me for $250 because there are 2 small holes in the roof where a mouse feasted. I'm in seventh heaven; There's enough room to fit all of us comfortably!

I hate port-a-potties. I hate and despise port-a-potties and I do have a really kick-ass chamber pot that I never had room for in the tent we were borrowing. (Thank you Jack!) It looks like an end table but when you lift the hinged lid there's a wooden toilet seat also on hinges; lift the toilet seat and there's a bucket with a lid. Pretty awesome huh? I've had it for like 20 years, it was just another item in my unusual furniture collection, sitting next to my camel saddle "foot stool."

At our last event, my friends and I were discussing the merit of chamber pots and how to make one conducive to one's personal camp lifestyle, including using kitty litter to control the odor. After buying the tent, I gushed on to my children about how we now could have a chamber pot and not have to use the those stinky urine soaked large plastic medieval torture devices any more!

OMG! You would have thought I told them that we were going to use their cots instead! They totally freaked! I'm sitting here like, Hello? You'd rather park yourself where a billion other people have gone before? You want the hem of your skirt touch a floor more bacteria infected than a Victorian surgeon's knife? They can't fathom being in a room with something you poop in! Hello? We do have 3 toilets in our house! Who are you and what have you done with my children?? They're totally not backing down and neither am I!

Well, we are still battling over it and my final word is you can sleep in, or out of the tent. Its your choice. Mother has spoken!

Project #2 - The Washboard

So, I saw this washboard online and thought for some reason, I have no idea why, that I'd just die if I couldn't have one like it. Well, odds were pretty good that death loomed, so to cheat death, I decided to try and make one! Pretty ambitious for someone who hasn't yet got the hang of Play-dough. I'd never made anything so labor intensive before, but still I convinced myself that it didn't look like it would be too hard to copy...and surprisingly, I was right.

I use a lot of wooden boards in my impression so I grabbed a small one and took file to wood trying to re-create it!

I started off using the dremmel for both the handle and the grooves, but found out that doing the grooves with a metal file, by hand, produced a nicer finished product. There's still a bit of tweaking to do on it but I've used it in the past couple of events. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of it.

Project #1 The Washing Dolly

Ok...so its not a drill, its a dremmel but I bet I could find a drill in the garage if I looked!

I wanted a washing dolly and it didn't look so very difficult to make. So, I went to a craft store, bought a little milking stool and dowels. It really didn't take much to put it together and it worked great! Well, until I had a multitude of clothing in my boiling kettle and the dumb handle broke through the large dowel! Not a happy laundress. Anyway I was told to get harder wood, go out and get a broom handle and it should work. So that I'll do before our living history gig in July. Film at 11.

Set up on suds row

It will be 2 years in August that I set up on Suds Row.  I'd always wanted to reenact, and just as luck would have it, unbeknownst to me, friends of my husband  (Pam and Kevin) had been reenacting for 20 years and encouraged me and the kids to join the unit!   My son joined the infantry, and my daughter and I became laundresses. 

Mind you, I knew nothing about my new position, lucky for me I love research.  I dove right in. So here I sit, 2 years later. My husband complaining about having to dedicate 1/4 of the garage to my hobby, and my kids making fun of me. "Yes Mom, we know, we know...you found 3 pronged forks."
I love the time I spend with Lily, we two, side by side the whole weekend long! There she is in action! lol, to be fair, she was exhausted. The event was a mudbath and it rained like nobody's business. It's been 2 years and finally I feel comfortable. I have a decent impression. I got stuff. I'm not so bad at public speaking and gosh darn it.....I got my own fire this year! Woo hoo! And even greater than that is that Lily is growing in her presentation and public speaking skills.