Baby Steps in 25mm are Very Very Small

This summer for gaming has absolutely sucked. 

Okay, perhaps absolutely is a bit too strong.  There was the gaming glut for three weeks around the fouth of July.  Four Call of Cthulhu games, Hoyce's bachelor party, which was a gaming-palooza (and one of the CoC games), plus I did have a fun and memorable Father's Day game.  Real life has thwarted any desire to accomplish anything, or even invite people over for some one-on-one gaming trying out Ice Warz, or some much-needed games of Contemptable Little Armies.

It's been so long since I put the base coats on my US Marines and Samoan Riflemen that I'll probably need to redo everything.  It's just that when the kids are finally wrangled for bed, I either (A) pass out immediately or (B) stumble to the living room to watch the four weeks I'm behind on grown-up TV, and then pass out. 

Yesterday, I attempted some baby steps.  With my wife at work and me playing the role of single Dad again, I loaded the kids in the car and we hit the local hardware store for a few items, followed my a trip to Michael's. 

When I visited Gamer's Edge in Stroudsburg back during the flurry of Cthulhu activity last month, I had snagged up set "B" of the Pegasus Palm Trees:

All I need is a drink in my hand....

Five palm trees with simply palm frond after palm frond to put together.   I actually found a nice tutorial for the set "A" trees here, and figured I'd try to follow it to jump start my painting and modelling.  

The only place worse than Toys R Us with two little girls, ages 2 and 4, is a craft store.  If I were my wife with them, I could have easily spent $30 on multiple dollar craft projects.  With me, a $2 treasure chest for each of them, pink felt square at 29 cents apiece, and Americana glitter paint on clearance for 29 cents a bottle should keep them happy for our next long-anticipated craft day.

For me, it was just a few large wooden bases, some modelling clay, and a mixture of sale and clearance priced bottles of paint. 

Last night, I actually had a half hour to sit at the dining room table without interuption and simply cut away the massive ammounts of flash on the palm leaves.  Unlike the claims on the tutorial, set "B" has no numbers to help determine the order of the leaves, so it wasn't until they were cleaned up for me to determine size.    Bad news, I sliced up my finger pretty good cleaning the flash on the tree trunks.  Good news, the blood cover flash will make great rocks for the base, so I don't have to dig out some old plastic sprues in the garage for that effect. 

If I can get the bases on the trees tonight, I will be predicting snow.  It would be appropriate, as Maja was preparing for it this morning:

Perhaps there's a rave at pre-school?