My Favoirte Gift Ever and More! (Writer's Workshop)

My dad's favorite thing to do was work with wood. Here is a list of a few of the the neat things he made:

My all-time favorite gift is the secretary that my dad made for me when I was only around 3 years old. I still use it today, 53 years later! One of the games I played was with my secretary and toy phone. Once my dad was sick and stayed home from work that day (which was very rare). I heard him call in sick so I went to my phone and did the same: "Hello Boss, I am sick so won't be in to work today. Good-bye." He was not happy with the secretary because he measured the desk top part wrong and it doesn't come up quite as far as it should when it's closed. I still love it! Later, after the foster kids came to live with us, he even put a lock on it for me although I usually didn't bother locking it.  I don't even know where the key is now.

Among many things dad made for us kids was a jeep, which I mention in my book. It was really, really great! Four kids could sit in it at once. My dad, being the ever cautious, safety first kind of guy did not put any motor on it. Thus, it was self-propelled by pushing it along. We had a blast with it, even though we just used it in our own yard. Here's a very short video clip of it and my brother playing with our dog so you can see for yourself:



(This video was taken off a DVD I had made through CVS from one of our old movies my dad had taken.)
My parents always liked it better when our friends would come to our house and this certainly brought them over. Having four kids all within just two years apart meant that our house was the place to be. Especially with our unusual "toys."

Another kid attraction we got one year to compliment our swing set which included a glider was a little backyard roller coaster! It had one big hill and a bunch of little ones. Only one could ride at a time though but it was a lot of fun too and drew a crowd!

Harry used to work at a box company. One of the best things he made for us was out of cardboard! He made us a robot with only three sides so we could go inside and make its head and arms move! We had a lot of fun with that!

I love the things my mom and dad made for me but these are the most unusual. There are so many I won't list them all here.

What was your favorite gift or the best gift you gave or received? Have you made something cool for your kids?

This is my response to the prompt to tell about your favorite gift that you received. To find more interesting posts or participate yourself, head of to Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.


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See-Through Door Is Nice For Cats

Harry modified his wooden doors upstairs by taking out the bottom panel and replacing it with Plexiglas, both the door at the top of the stairs and also the bedroom door of Sylvester's room. He did this so that when he'd come upstairs, he could see where the cats were. If they were by that door, then he'd go in through the kitchen door instead. For Sylvester's room, it allowed Sweet Thing and Sylvester to see each other without actual contact. They were always arch enemies though and never became friends. They were both in tact male cats and very territorial! It was very helpful though to see where Sylvester was before entering his room. Sylvester had feline aids so was kept separate from all of dad's other cats. He loved to be pet though and was usually "Mr. Nice Nice." Of all the cats I had contact with, he was the only real "lap cat."

The modified doors worked very well but had to be changed back when it came time to sell the house. Most people, after all, would want privacy in their bedroom so a door with a window in it wouldn't be a good thing.


When I asked my dad if he could make a door for us that we could use to close off the basement so the cats wouldn't go down there when we didn't want them down there, he designed this special door for us. He used Plexiglas in it so that the light could still shine through and also so we can see if someone or something is on the other side of the door. It works well and I'm very happy with it. So is my cat, Spunky Doodle. The other day she followed me down there but didn't come up when I did. My husband didn't know she was down there and closed the door! When I was going to bed at 10:00, I saw her on the other side looking in patiently waiting for someone to open the door for her. Poor Spunky Doodle! (She wrote about this episode on her cat blog on http://karen.pnn.com (Cat Corner-MEOW) section.