Angie's Not So Exciting Life

Bathroom

2011-08-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

We updated the main bathroom along with the kitchen and laundry room. With the rest of the house, the bathroom stuck in a time warp. Yellow sink, toilet and tub, old fixtures. Yuck!
This is the only pic I could find of the old bathroom before we tore it apart. UGLY isn't it?

We acquired this old buffet some years ago. It has been used for a number of different things over the years. We knew we wanted/needed a new vanity for the bathroom and this buffet just happened to be the exact right size. Which really made me happy!

We had to modify it just a bit to fit the plumbing in and added the new counter top. I LOVE how it turned out. It is one of my favorite things we've done so far.

The new tile in the shower.
I can't get this pic to rotate, so just imaging this upright. :)

Don't you love the counter top and the fixtures? I do!

This is the new towel rack. The knobs are the legs off the buffet. We had to cut them off the buffet to make the vanity the right height, so we reused them by making a towel rack. We also tiled the floor and got a new white tub and white toilet. I need to get a few accents, new towels and rugs and some art work.

Aha! Feels so refreshing. I love my new bathroom!

Shelves and Bench

2011-08-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

The last week or so I've been working in this project. A bench and shelves for my laundry room. My laundry room is also connected to the garage and we needed a place to hang our keys, hats and jackets.
I am proud of this project because I did it all by myself! Yes, I feel like I'm a big girl now! ha ha
I had zero help from anyone and I only spent $12 for paint, screws and hooks.

So here are some details and pics.

First, you should know that the wood came from pallets. I got them for free from the hardware store that I used to work for. They let people take the ones that have a bad board or are not in great shape. It took almost 4 pallets to complete all of this.

Second, pallets are not the easiest things to take apart. The pallet building people put them together with some really heavy duty nails. They are ring shanked and have blunt ends. It took me longer to take the pallets apart than to build the bench.

I used hinges from an old door that I had. They are heavy duty and have a little style. I spray painted them brass, then scuffed them up a little.

Here is the bench, unfinished. I debated whether I should paint it or just clear coat it. I like the colors in the wood.

I made a into a storage bin to hold dog food. The bin we have been using is to small to hold a large bag of dog food. That is the basic reason for this bench/storage bin, I wanted a better way to store the dog food.

I over lapped the lid a little bit for ease of lifting the lid.

I just love the rough look of the pallet wood. That is a good thing about working with this wood and style of project. Nothing has to be that perfect. If there is a crack in the wood, it's all right. If the pieces don't fit together just right, it's ok, adds character.

The shelf, one of two.
I decided to paint everything to add some color to my laundry room. Even though I like the look of the raw wood, I wanted more color. I was trying to decide what color to use and I thought of my Aunt Melanie and some of the work she's done.

WAALAA!!!! Turquoise!
The shelf on the left is just painted. The one on the right is painted and stained with some black stain. It really made a difference, I like it!

Here is the bench and the shelves in my laundry room. The bench fits just right so that the water dish fits in the corner.

The hooks are old spoons I got from the thrift store. I hammered in some of those nasty nails in the side to hang the keys on.

One shelf for jackets and one for Mike's hats.

I really like how they turned out. It took me a little longer than I would of liked. I am kind of challenged when it comes to using tools and measuring. But in the end, I think I did pretty good for my first time building something.

My thrift store end table

2011-07-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

Since we have been doing some remodeling, I have been looking for some new furnishings for the house. Upstairs is fairly traditional, but downstairs is going to be kind of rustic and ecclectic.

We have been using the same end tables that Mike's parents got when they moved into the house. Though they are in good condition, I want something different. Let me show you how different!

I found two wooden boxes at the Thrift store. They were $5 each. I wanted a crate type of box, but I think these are better. I think only I can appreciate the beauty of these boxes, Oh wait! I know one other person, Michael Grider. I friend of ours that took a look at them. He finds them very cool!

So the story of these very cool wooden boxes is.......They are old military artillery crates. Michael was a military explosives expert many years ago. He is a very smart man about many, many things. A walking encyclopedia would be an understatement. Anyway, he said this type of artillery crate hasn't been used for years. He was impressed first, that I found them, second that there were $5.

Here are some pics, now don't be too dissappointed, they are just wooden boxes.

Originally, there were two boxes. The smaller box, is on top, had a lift off lid. The larger box, on the bottom, has a hinged lid.

I turned the smaller box on its side and put it on top of the larger box. I lined it with burlap, which still needs some finishing.

My idea for the small box turned sideways with the opening is to put the extra remotes, tissue, and other misc. things that always end up on the end tables. Leaves more room on top for the real remote, Pepsi and snacks.

I know, it looks all dirty, but I have cleaned it and put some poly on it. That dark stain is who knows what? Looks like Hersheys chocolate syrup.

This was the lid to the smaller box. It says, Supplementary Charges (Explosives) Handle Carefully.

This is the lid of the larger box, which is now the back side of the smaller box, on the top. When I was cleaning the box I could see where someone wrote 'BEWARE EVIL" on the lid. I sanded it off, but you can still see a little bit of it. I was imagining the movie Jumanji. I opened the box and have handled it quite a bit. So far, nothing too strange has happened. But ya never know, I could've opened up evil. I'll let you know if anything happens.

The side of the big box. I really like this little explosive symbol. I know, I'm weird. Where it says LOT, it gives the size and grain of the explosives.

Mike came up with a neat idea, we used the hinges and attached the small box to the lid of the larger box. Using the hinges to make a sort of another lid. Now we can tilt the small box back and reveal a secret hiding place. Pretty smart, I think.

However, I do not know what we will put in the secret hiding place. Maybe our important documents, weapons, toenail clippings, belly button lint? Only time will tell. I really think it will remain empty. But it is there.....just in case we do need a secret hiding place for something.

I know, it probably is not for everyone. I like it though, it is original, a conversation piece and it only cost me $12, with the burlap. And if I get sick of it in 2 years, I won't feel bad about blowing it up!

Tod-O-WA!!!!

2011-05-26T19:25:00.001-07:00

Tod-o-wa is Sandra's way of saying Ta-Da! I love it when she says that, its so cute!

My tod-o-wa is my new kitchen. My house was build in 1981 and hasn't had many updates done to it. Oh, it's had some new carpet and paint here and there, but the major things have been left untouched.

After getting Mike hooked on HGTV and DIY TV, he finally agreed with me that the house needed some updating. Also, the fact the our oven door was completely wore out and would fall down if you didn't hold it just right and the countertop was showing some wear and tear.

So here are a bunch of pictures. Not the best before pics, but I think you'll get the idea. Melanie came for a week and helped us destruct and re-construct. She hurried and took some pics before we brought out the sledge hammers.

Mel, tiling the backsplash. She is an expert tiler now.
If you need some tile work done, give her a call. I can give you here phone # !!!!

Before..................and .................................. After

This is the main counter in my kitchen. If you use your imagination, you can tell its the same counter just at a different angle. I didn't get a close up of my new sink and faucet. Mike talked me into this huge faucet. I didn't think I'd like it but I really do! I even told him he made a good choice. I had to make him feel like he actually had a part in the decision making. Boost his ego a bit :)

The 3 major things we did was; got new granite countertops, new appliances; overhead microwave, flat cooktop, and new oven. Our cabinets were in good condition, so we just stripped, sanded and painted them. I was ready for something different. You'll see better pics further down.

Unfortunately, I fell out of love with the Harvest Gold cooktop a long time ago. My new love, black glass "smooooth" cooktop. The overhead microwave is new. I love it!

Another view of the ovens, before....................... and .............after

The tile backsplash behind the sink and the main counter.

I LOVE, LOVE,LOVE the stainless steel tile backsplash behind my cooktop.

The cabinets; stripped, sanded, painted, distressed and stained. A lot of work, but well worth it. I love them!

I love my new kitchen. Mike says he expects a lot of good food coming out of there. Like Mel said,"for the next couple of months its all going to be burned or undercooked until you get used to the new oven and cooktop." I totally agree, it is a little different cooking with these new fangled things.

A HUGE thank you to Melanie for leaving her family for a week to come and help me. We were able to do all of this in 4 days. She is a workaholic. If I had to do it myself, who knows how long it would of taken, plus, I probably wouldn't have a husband or my hair left. And, I kinda like my hair......

Open your Eyes!

2011-05-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

Before we left Sammi's house in WA we tried to get a few more pictures.

For some reason, I have a hard time keeping my eyes open for the photographer. I think I am keeping them open, I try really hard. But when we take look at the picture, my eyes are somewhere between completely closed to looking like I've added some 'good stuff' to my Pepsi.

Here are a few of them. If I had any pride I wouldn't be sharing these, but they are just stupidly funny to me. Everyone gets so frustrated with me, so I laugh, then I really have a hard time keeping them open.

This is one of the first ones. See, even the kids are cooperating better than I am.

Try again.................

There were several more attempts, probably like 10. By this time, Sandra was done with pictures, so she hopped down. Leroy was being good, so we tried a few more.

Bad grandma, bad grandma!!!!

Finally!!!! A good picture!!
I think Leroy is trying to see if I have my eyes open.

After this one, we were done. All the adults were done with me for prolonging the picture taking process.

I'm sorry, I don't know why I can't keep my eyes open.

But dang! Look how cute Leroy is. It was worth it!

I LOVE BABIES!!!

2011-05-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

Isn't he cute? Sammi had this cute little boy on April 7, 2011. He weighed 8lbs. 12 oz and was 20 inches long. His name is Leroy Dean Minigell. Leroy is Mark's grandpa's name and Dean in Mike's middle name. I think its really neat that they are naming their kids after people that meant alot to them.

I was lucky enough to be able to go to WA to be with Sammi when she had Leroy. It is so amazing to witness a birth, especially when its your grandbaby.

Sammi did an amazing job during the delivery. So well, I think she should have 4 or 5 more babies. Ha ha...... I'm sure she will argue with me about that one.

I had a great time while I was in Washington. I played with Sandra a lot and then held Leroy a lot. Of course, we had a little arguing over who held him longer and who's turn it was next.

This little boy is so sweet and cute. We said that like every ten minutes. "He's so cute!"
Then we grin at each other and say it again.

Leroy is very healthy and growing like a weed already. He will be 4 weeks old this week and he has already gained over 3 lbs.

Sandra loves him a lot too. She sings to Leroy and when he cries she runs to him and says, "It's ok Leroy, Sandra is coming!" She is a good big sister and she love being called big sister, too.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures that we took.

Sandra loves to hold Leroy.

Oh how I love babies! Especially, these two babies.

Grammie loves to hold Leroy too, and we both love to kiss his fuzzy little head.

I'm very grateful I got to spend a month in WA with Sammi and her cute family. I'm glad to be home but very sad that we are so far apart.

Storage Room

2011-02-25T12:01:00.000-08:00

We have a huge list of things we want to do to our house. Lots of remodeling, redecorating and organizing.

We started with our storage/junk room. I didn't take a before picture but believe me, it needed a redo. I thought it just needed cleaned and organized. Mike thought it needed paint and a new floor. Shock! I didn't think it needed paint. But I was all too happy to do some painting.

I took a lot of time picking out the color for the junk room because as you all know, the color of your junk room is vital in making your house feel like a home. I learned that on HGTV. Ha ha...not really, that's a bunch of BS.

I picked the color by shaking all the leftover cans of paint that I have and finding the one that had the most in it. So by this scientific method, I chose a blue/gray color that I had used in my bedroom.

Mike really wanted the floor painted with the epoxy concrete paint, which happened to come in gray or tan. Either would of worked well, but we picked gray.

The floor had vinyl tile on it that we had put down about 3 years ago. Shea and I worked on taking the tile up, which left a nice sticky residue. Finally, after 2 days of scraping and using all sorts of goo gone stuff I said, enough is enough, I'm ready to paint.

This is a pic of the wall and the floor newly painted. You can see the flecks that we added to the concrete paint. I think it looks nice, very color coordinated.

Picture of the whole room.

Here are our shelves put back in the room. I am taking a while to re-stock the shelves. I am sorting and throwing away stuff as I put it back. I am almost done, whew! That's a lot of work.

So now we have a very nicely painted junk room. I'm sure it will create more 'homey' feel. I haven't felt it yet, but I'm sure that it will come.

Oh My Goodness!

2011-02-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

There is so much to update.....I will try to get all the details in from Christmas and the month of January. There is a lot to cover, so let's get started.

Mike, Justin, Shea and I went to Yuma, AZ for Christmas with Mark, Sammi and Sandra. We had such a fun time with them! I'm so glad we went, I didn't realize how much I missed them until we got there. Ugh! Makes me want to cry just thinking about it. sniff sniff........ Ok, get on with it.

We had lots of good food and fun times just being together and sitting in their hot tub everynight. The boys swam in the pool a little bit, but it was too cold for us girls. We prefer the warm water.

We went to San Diego on Dec. 27. First, we went to Mission Beach. I was freezing most of the time. I'm a huge wimp. Once again the boys all got in the freezing ocean, Sammi and I stayed on the beach. Sandra got her feet wet but mostly, liked to play in the sand. I guess, I did get my feet wet on accident, so yes, I did get in the ocean in Dec.

Then on Tues, we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a lot warmer that day, much more enjoyable for me. We had a nice day at the zoo, but it was very busy and crowded. Wednesday, we left Az in the 60's and came home to a blizzard. A big THANK YOU to Uncle Mathew and Chris for taking us to and picking us up from the airport. That was such a huge help!

OH OH!! The best part was that we brought Sandra home with us. It was so much fun to have her here with us. How great it is to have a 2 1/2 yr old around? Both Mike and I loved it so much. Can you believe we actually fight over her? "It's my turn to cuddle!" "You've had her all day, it's my turn!" ha ha

On Jan. 7 we loaded up a U-Haul truck with Mark and Sammi's things we have been storing for them and headed to Ogden. They had traveled to Ogden from Yuma the day before. We were all headed to their new home in Oroville, WA. We used Ogden as a pit stop to rest and spend a day with the Utah family.

Oh boy! Talk about some fun. We had 12 people in my dad's little house, not too bad if they're all adults, or atleast can sit still for more than 30 seconds. But we had an 8, 6, 3 and 2 1/2 yr old all running around playing, singing, dancing and just being kids. I think some people may have been irritated, but I LOVED every second of it. sniff sniff........I could cry again.......I wish we all lived closer so we could get together every week.

From Ogden we went to Boise, Id. and made another pit stop at Mike's Aunt Alice's house. We haven't seen her for six years, so it was time. We had a nice visit with her and her family.

Monday the 10th, we were off for WA. That was a long day in the U-Haul. Thank goodness we had a DVD player with us. Oh yeah, Sandra rode with us the whole way in the U-Haul truck. She was so good! Only during the last hour of the trip did she start getting anxious and fussy, but so was I.

We stayed in Oroville until Friday, the 14th. We helped Sammi and Mark get settled in their house and took a couple of drives around the town and mountains. Oroville is a cute little town, pop. 1600, settle in a valley. There are orchards lining the roads and on the sides of the hills. I can only imagine how beautiful it is going to be in the Spring. Oh and a lake, right by their house. They can walk to it in less than five minutes.

Friday, we drove to Spokane, Wa. to do some shopping and stay overnight so we could make our flight on Saturday. The drive from Oroville to Spokane was very beautiful. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive, but it seemed to go faster than that with all the excitement we had on the trip. Sandra got car sick and threw up all over her and Papa. He didn't mind as much as she did. Then Mark got pulled over for speeding, but he just got a warning. The officer was being nice to him since he just moved there. lol

Oh WAIT!!! I forgot the best thing about Oroville...... there was no WIND!!! It was only 25-30 degrees the whole time we were there, but it was so peaceful and calm. Ahhhh, it was nice. Sammi told me that when the sun came out and melted the snow and the whole valley changed colors. The trees are green and you can see moss on the rocks. I have to say, it was very depressing coming back to Wheatland. We have had very strong winds here and everything is brown and dirty looking. Ok...... I could cry again..... but I won't. I'll just dream of a warm beach somewhere or more like going back to Oroville in April when little Leroy arrives. Yippee!

That is about it for our exciting holiday and vacation.

Ok, I've looked and looked, I have no pictures! I guess Sammi and Grandma Kathy have them all. There are pics on FB of our adventures.......

Lil' slippers

2010-12-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

I found a pattern on the internet for these cute little slippers. They were pretty easy to make. Only took me 2 hours.......the first one is always harder. The second one took about 15 min. They are supposed to have rubber stuff on the bottom, like treads, but I didn't put it on these ones since they will fit a 6 mos. old baby.

So this was definitely the practice pair. I'm going to try a few more for all my cute little grandkids and friends.

My bedroom window

2010-11-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

Here is another Thrift store find. So I already mentioned how cheap I am. Here is the story on the window frame......

I have been looking for a window frame for months. One that I could use for a headboard or some type of wall decoration. I went to the local Thrift store, my favorite, but as previously mentioned, high priced. Not really, I'm just so cheap.

Anyway, I was browsing around the store one day and I heard a lady say, "Look there is a window frame, that is strange" My ears perked right up.

I went over and looked at it, Perfect!!! But the price tag, a piece of masking tape, said $7.50. "What?, (I'm having a conversation with myself in the store) $7.50 for this window frame, that is a little high.

I actually left it, looked around some more, found my $1.00 stool, that I was so happy to find. Again, $1.00!!!!

I went back to the window frame and argued with myself, "If it was $5.00 I would buy it.... I wonder if I could negotiate with the clerk....Oh come on, it's $7.50......I'll probably never find another one.......I have all the supplies at home to spruce it up......a wall decoration for $7.50.......ok, I'll buy it!! "

This picture isn't very good, I'm definitely not a a photographer. It was painted white, chipped and peeling paint and even had duct tape on one side of it.

So I fixed it all up. Sanded, scraped, cleaned..... primed, painted, distressed, stained and sealed.

The hardest part of all was explaining to my husband that I wanted to hang it on the bedroom wall. I guess I should say, the hardest part was getting him to understand that it would be OK, it will look good and "No, its not stupid!"

Here it is... above is vinyl lettering..."Always Kiss Me Goodnight". In the window frame are some vinyl hearts and some pictures of me and Mike that we had taken several years ago. I have two more to put in the blank spots, I just have to find them. The quilt is hanging on a curtain rod that it got at the Thrift store for $5, it was gold, I spray painted it black.

I like the final look, but still think it is missing something, maybe. What do you think? Does the wall need something else, or is it good the way it is??

Fun stuff......

2010-10-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Some Thrift store finds.....

I wanted to make some pillows, but here in little old Wheatland there is no place to buy pillow forms. I went to the thrift store and found some pillows, $1 each. I am really cheap, I thought they should of been 50 cents each. But I bought them at the the ridiculous price of $1 each, anyway. Pretty, huh?

I covered them with some fabric I had.......

The red fabric is from a curtain panel from my bedroom.
They go on my bed, and match my curtains.

I got this stool at the Thrift store for $1. I was happy to pay $1 for this. It is solid wood, oak I think. The top had been covered, but was all torn up. It was very easy to re-finish.

I covered it with this green, brown striped fabric. Which is the same fabric that I did the other two pillows in. I don't really have a use for the stool, I just like it.

I have a couple of other projects I'm working on. I'll be done with them soon, I hope.

Aha!!!

2010-10-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow!! It's been a long time since I've posted anything. I have been busy, busy, busy. Ha ha! Just enjoying the beautiful fall weather, working on a few projects and enjoying my life.

Here are a few pics of some things we've done. We spent three weekends getting firewood for the winter. This pic is a little hard to see, but we had three trailers full of wood. The first two truck loads are for our friends. The last truck is ours, that makes three loads just for us.

This load was our second load. My brother Andrew and his friend, Mark, came along to help us. I'm pretty sure they will never come to visit us again, after all the work we did that weekend. We really appreciated their help though and had a fun visit. Heather, Andrew's wife, was here too, just not in the getting wood part.

This was our first load. Shea, Mike and I did this one all by ourselves. The picture doesn't show it, but there are some really big logs on there. They were HEAVY!!

Ok, since I'm no good at arranging pictures on the this blogger thing, I'll do another post with a few of my projects. I'm still waiting for someone to come to my house and show me how to work these pictures. hint hint...... anybody??

Our little Family Reunion

2010-08-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

We had a little reunion on the last weekend of July. It was so much fun. There weren't many here, but we had fun! I'm posting a lot of pics. I hope I can get the captions on them in the correct places. I have trouble with that sometimes.
Ellie and Sandra, new BFF's. They are four months apart in age, but are second cousins. I so wish they lived closer. They had so much fun together.

Andrew was the King of the game we were playing, for about 5 minutes. Then we de-throned him. We played a game called "The game of Things". If you have not ever played it, you should. It was really fun! Although, the game got a little out of control at times. We all got to know each other on a whole different level. Very fun!

The girls decided we needed a hair day. Mom got some highlights to cover her gray. Heather got some low lights, and then re-did her do and did an all over color. Sammi dyed her hair red. She also ended up re-doing her do in order to keep the peace with her hubby.

This is our hotty, Melanie. She dyed her hair black, which was just a touch up. She looked a little 'goth' for a bit. She is beautiful as usual. See the spoon hanging on the calendar behind Mel. I warned the kids that was the spanking spoon. We couldn't have any whining or fighting or I'd have to us the spanking spoon. Jon says to me, "That looks like a vegetable spoon not a spanking spoon." What a smarty! I'm happy to say, we never had to use the spanking spoon. We had a little fun with it, but never had to seriously spank anyone. Thanks goodness, it wouldv'e broken my heart.

I only got one decent picture of our 'Kick the can' ice cream making. We put the the ice cream in the can and were supposed to kick it around or roll it or something for 15 minutes so it would freeze. That is a really long time when your a kid! The adults had to take over and finish the kicking. The ice cream was good though! Oh for dinner we had a cream can or milk can dinner. No pics of that either, put it turned out really good. I think everyone liked it? I did!!

Later that night, we had a campfire and made s'mores and other yummy treats. This is Emma eating her marshmallow. We also lit some sparklers we had left from the 4th of July. The kids loved that!

Sandra and Ellie loved Shea. They were buddies. Notice our redneck lawn furniture. Its an old seat out of a pick up. Shea and his friends love sitting on it. It is pretty comfy, I must say.

We went to our friends ranch one day. The kids rode horses and played in the river. They have a zip line that goes across the river. Here are a few pics of the kids on the horses and playing in the water.

Shea took Emma on the zip line, the ended up getting wet on the way back. Somebody couldn"t hold on. I'm really not sure if it was Shea or Emma.

Jon on the horse and our friends little boy, George, leading the horse. George is 2 1/2 yrs. old and is so comfortable around the horses, its amazing.

Ellie's turn. All the kids did such a good job taking turns. I was really proud of them.

Ellie riding and George leading.

Sammi and Heather took a little longer ride by themselves. They both reported to have had a grand time.

Emma, what a beauty. The guy in the orange shirt is a pretty nice guy, too. Maybe not a beauty, but a good guy anyways. lol

Sandra and Ellie feeding each other chips. They had such a good time together.

We also went to the lake one afternoon. What cute girls!!!!

Here is the gang on Saturday of our reunion.
Audrey, Megan, Andrew, Sammi and Ethan,

Susan, Heather, Sandra, me, Ellie, Melanie, Mathew and Loralee.

We missed a few, Tyler, Emma, Jon and Shea were off doing something.
Mike was taking the pic.

We truly did miss the rest of the the Carnahan family that couldn't make it. We had a lot of fun, and it would of been even better if the rest of you were here. Maybe next year??????

Sometimes, I amaze myself

2010-07-26T13:41:00.001-07:00

I went to our local Pamida (a micro Walmart) store to look around for a few things. I was so AMAZED when I found these comforters on clearance. The pictures tell the reason why.

Can you see the WAS: price? Yes, that says $64.99 and $54.99. I looked at both the tags several times to make sure I was reading the clearance price correctly. I thought for sure it must be a mistake. So I took them to the register and Yippee-Skippee!! The clearance price is correct. Can you believe it? A king size comforter for $6.50 and a queen for $5.50! I think this is the deal of the century for me!

I have been driving Shea's truck for the past week. Well, those of you that know me well, know that I like to drink Pepsi. A lot of Pepsi, BIG containers of Pepsi.

This is an old truck, it doesn't have cup holders and its kind of hard to hold a cup between your legs when you have to shift gears.

So I invented my own cup holder ......... another great use for duct tape!

The duct tape holds my 44oz Pepsi perfectly. I haven't spilled it once.
Think what you want about my redneck solution. I'm happy!

The latest project.......

2010-07-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

This table was given to Sammi when she moved into her house in Cheyenne. Since she moved to AZ, she didn't want it anymore. I was going to take it to the dump and then I realized it fit in front of my living room window perfectly.

I was looking at it one day and thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it was painted. I consulted with our furniture refinishing queen, Aunt Melanie, she confirmed it could be done. So away I went, shopping for paint.

Of course, I am not very courageous at all, so I went with classic black. I've been thinking of repainting my living room, not exactly sure what color I will do, but black goes with everything, right?

So you'll see in the pics, the before, peeled finish and fake marble inlays. I think it may have had glass in it origionally.

After, all black! I like it!
Really, the edges are painted black, there is a glare that makes it look like I didn't paint the edges of the inlays.

If front of my window, bad pic with the glare. But I wanted to show how good it looks there.

A friend gave my some spider plant starts. Now I have three plants, anybody want one?

I've got a few more things in the works, but it may be awhile before I get them done. Stay tuned........ I know your sitting on the edge of your seat.

One project down, so many more to go......

2010-07-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

I just looked at the date of my last post, wow, that was a long time ago!
But I have been busy. I made this quilt for one of my very bestest friends in the whole wide world. Why, I just wanted to. I felt like I needed to do something for her to show her how much I love and appreciate her. Kinda weird, I know, just something I wanted to do.

This quilt pattern I've had for awhile, so I decided it was time to give it a try. The pattern is called, The Weekend Quilt. Your suppose to be able to get all made in a weekend. Oh, so not true! It took me several months.

I chose purple because it is her favorite color, but she also like red and black a lot. She wears red and black all the time, they are 'her colors.' So I decided to make the quilt reversable, that way she can enjoy all the colors. That is one reason it took me longer, but it was worth it.

I am not the greatest quilt maker. I always get these great ideas, I think I'm better than I am. Then I get frustrated when things don't work our like I think they should. Anyway, it turned out ok. I wish it would've turned out a little better, but the important thing is, she loves it. That's what she says anyway, I hope she isn't lying to me.

The purple side.......

The red and black side.........

This is one of my many projects for this summer. Well, this was suppose to be a Spring project, but it went into the summer.

I'm working on a couple of repurposing/ painting furniture pieces. Thanks Aunt Melanie for your help and inspiration. My husband thinks I'm crazy.

I will post them when I get done. They shouldn't take as long as the quilt, hopefully!

etc...

2010-06-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here is Shea riding his little red tractor, mowing the weeds.
Mike, instructing Shea on the mini -excavator.
They are making a new flower garden for me.

The new flower garden. It is just gettting started, it will look beautiful in a couple of weeks.

Here is the re-constructed patio garden. Green peppers, onions and cucumbers.

Tomatoes in the top row and I re-fashioned the strawberry patch. I need to plant a few more things. I'll get there, give me some time.

This is one of my many summer projects. Thankfully, this one only took a couple of days to finish. Took longer to put the pictures on the computer and do this blog. lol

Side note:

********If your related to me, on the Carnahan side, I hope your making plans to come to the reunion at the end of July!

Happy Summer!

One project down.....oh so many more to go!

2010-06-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

We built this little patio garden about 4 years ago. Over time the bricks are starting to sag and when I watered the dirt would wash out. So I decided it was time to fix it. I advertised on the radio for concrete blocks and got a call within an hour. I conned Shea into helping me go pick up the bricks. Poor boy, he is my slave this summer. He is a good helper. I just have to feed him and he is happy. :)
I had to disassemble the bricks and dig out the dirt. Then, set the concrete blocks, level them all and shovel the dirt back in. Then plant! I did a lot of the work by myself, Mike helped some, well quite a bit.

These pictures are the before with the sagging bricks. There are strawberries in the bottom of the second one.

All the bricks removed and starting to dig out the dirt.

The dirt dug out and new bricks set in.

And for some reason I can't add any more pictures so I'll have to put the finished product in another post.

Hold on..........

I'm Free!

2010-05-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

I'm starting my summer off with a BANG!!!!

I quit my job. I'm free to do whatever I want, whenever I want. Oh that is a nice feeling!

Shea says I'm retiring before I'm even 40 yrs. old. I might not be working outside the home anymore, but I am definetly not ready for the rocking chair. Although, I might do some grandma things, like sewing and gardening. But that's ok, that's what I want to do.

I won't go into the nasty details of the big split ............. there aren't any, really. Just ready to do something else with my life.

So here is to a new chapter of my life!

See what I made

2010-05-07T16:07:00.001-07:00

I found this pattern the other day and decided I should make a dress for Sandra. Sammi said she is in a dress wearing stage right now, so even better. I'm not a great seamstress, but I can get the job done. With only slight frustration. They turned out pretty cute, I thought. I hope Sandra will think so.

What did you do this weekend?

2010-05-02T18:55:00.001-07:00

Well, we had a productive Saturday. We planted a whole lot of trees in our back yard.

Let me tell you a little story about our trees in our back yard. I'll try to keep it short.
Mike's parents originally bought this land (1 acre) and house in 1981. They planted a lot of trees for a wind break. They hand watered them for years, until they were able to put a drip system on them. The trees grew tall and were very beautiful. Then along came the drought of 2000- 2008, approximate dates.
Some of the larger trees could not survive with the drought conditions and got sick. When Sandra was still alive, we had to take out 10 or so very tall trees. It was very sad for her. Those trees were like her children. She had cared for them since they were little twigs.
We replanted some then and every year we tried to plant one or two more trees. Then last summer for some weird reason, eleven of our largest trees, some over 30 ft tall, got the plague of the pine beetle. The extension agency said there were several 'flights of beetles' last summer. They aren't sure why the beetles migrated to town as they usually stay in the mountains, but they did. So there went more trees that had to be cut down. The backyard looked naked. Its the worst it has ever looked since I've lived here, 21 years. It made me really sad to look out my kitchen window and see so much bare space.

Yesterday, we planted more trees. We planted 6 Blue spruce, 6 Austrian pine, 10 Quaken Aspen, 2 Maples, 3 peach, 3 apple, 3 cherry, 3 smaller Austrian pines. Then just to extend out our lilacs and chokecherries we planted a few more of them.

Here are some pics of the tree planting brigade which was Mike, Shea, me and the mini excavator. We could not have done it without the mini-ex.

Shea, under Mike's supervision, digging me a new flower garden.
Because I needed one, that's why.

My work horses, Mike and Shea planting a weeping willow in the front yard. I know it will probably die. I just wanted to try.

The empty row of trees Same row with Quaken Aspens

The roots of the beetle killed trees. It is really a huge pile. There will be a bon fire in the future.

Mike running the mini-ex. He dug the holes and Shea and I planted the trees.

These are the trees in the drive way before we got started.

I'm glad we were able to get them planted yesterday. It was kind of cool and windy, but still a nice enough day to work outside. I'm also thankful for the God of Overtime, so that we could pay for these trees and the mini-ex. Just kidding, I really don't pray to false God's, but I am thankful for the overtime pay that paid for the trees.

Now we will be forever praying for the health and strength of our trees. If your ever in need of praying for something, remember the Goddard's and their trees. I will be eternally grateful.

Lazy Bones

2010-05-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I know it has been a long, long time since I have posted anything. But I have been busy........ yeah right, more like lazy.

Actually, in April we made a trip to Arizona for several reasons.

First, April 10th, my baby brother Andrew, or Drew as he is known in Arizona, got married.
This was really nice to see the family. We haven't all been together for so many years. And we got to play dress up, that was interesting for some of us. The wedding was beautiful!

Second, we were able to visit with one of my bestest friends ever, Jodi Price. We stayed with Jodi one night and got to visit and catch up on everything old and new. It was so wonderful to see her and her beautiful and talented kids, and grandkids. We could of spent a whole month there and never fully gotten caught up, we haven't seen each other for 6 years.

Third, we went to Yuma. We helped Sammi and Mark move their suitcases into the motel that they are staying in until May 7th. Then they will get to move into their rental house. Let me tell you, they had a lot of stuff to move, too. Not really, they just had a few boxes for now. We will be making another trip in a couple of weeks to take more things when they get into their house. We were able to drive around Yuma a little bit and kind of get to know the town and such before we left. Its' a nice enough place, but I'm glad they're only going to be there for 9 more months.

And by now you might be thinking, it sure would be nice to see some pictures. Isn't that what blogging is about, showing everyone your fun pictures, especially of your family and friends and the good times you share????

Well not this time!!! No way- now how!! Why? you might be wondering. Let me tell you how cool we are. We took two cameras with us to Arizona, ours and Sammi's. We made sure they were all charged up and ready to go.

When were at Jodi's we never got the cameras out of the car. Can you say, "Loser"?

On the way to the wedding, Sammi says, "Oh, I think we left our camera in the motel." I said, "That's ok, ours is in that black bag in the back seat." So we look and look, cannot find the black bag with the camera.
I was getting a little worried that we lost our camera. Thankfully, we found it the next day in the other vehicle, BUT we had no camera at any of these camera worthy events.

DANG IT-DANG IT-DANG IT!!!!!!!!

There are some photos posted on Facebook by other people so maybe you'll be able to see some there.

It was a really great trip. I'm so glad we were able to go. You don't realize how much you miss someone until you see them again. Then your reminded how much you love them and wish you didn't live so dang far away.

Crazy Lady with the camera

2010-03-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Not a lot to say today. I just wanted to share some pictures. I had the camera out yesterday and Shea told me I was going crazy taking picutres. I replied, "Only when the pictures are of Sandra Mae." I also told him when he has a cute baby I will go crazy taking pictures of him/her too, so don't feel left out. I don't think he cares.
Look at the fish!

I see a deer! Oh a racoon!

I love you racoon! kiss kiss hug hug

Ugh!!! I can't work this thing very well. How come I can't ge the pictures to move where I want them? I need help, someone!!!! Tell me what to do.

Update

2010-03-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd give you an update on my Skecher shoes. I know your all so interested to hear about them.

I have figured out two things that the shoes are good for. First, you can walk through puddles in a parking lot and not get your toes wet. Remember, how thick the soles are? I felt like I was walking on water! Ha Ha

Second, your feet don't get cold walking in snow either. Pretty cool. Better than any snow boots I've ever owned.

But seriously, I do think my legs have toned up a little. My pants are fitting a little different. Some of my pants that were a little tight in the thighs, are looser. Not a huge difference, but enough that I can tell.

I put on my old shoes over the weekend and they were so hard. It felt like I was walking on cement. I couldn't wear them for long before my feet were really hurting.

Before the Skecher shoes.............

After the wearing the Skechers for 3 months........

ha ha ha!!! I wish I could transform my back side from chubby to skinny like that!! Minus the knobby knees and extra set of legs of course.

Have a great day!

A New Calling

2010-02-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

This picture has nothing to do with this blog. Just a cute picture of Emma and Jon, Melanie's kiddos. Notice the newly painted wall behind us. We went to visit my dad in January, and he put me to work, painting his kitchen. What a slave driver!!!

Last week, I received a new calling, 1st Counselor in the Relief Society.

I had been a counselor in the Primary. I had it so easy. The Primary pres has a control problem. She likes to do everything herself. I had to argue with her to convince her to let me do something. So my responsibilities in the Primary were playing the piano and Sharing time once a month. So easy......

Now! Oh boy! I've been in the Relief Society before, its not new to me. Its just been about five or more years and I remember how hard it was. Good thing is we have a full presidency and will have enough teachers. Before, it wasn't so.

Anyway, we had a Presidency meeting and decided to reorganize our teachers, so for the next month we, the presidency, will have to cover a lesson or two until the new teachers are ready to go. You all know how it goes. So I will be teaching the March 28th, TFOT lesson. The topic our Bishop chose, way back in November for the March lesson, is on 'pornography'. Ok, how come I get the hard ones?

Sammi reminded me that the first Sunday I had to teach when I was put in the Young Women's, was The Power of Procreation. Sammi was 14 or 15, she was the oldest at the time. UGH!!!! One little 12 year old said, "Shouldn't this lesson be for Sammi and not the rest of us?" (Oh I guess I should explain, our ward is small so our YW are combined, we do not separate for each class.) But YES!!!! I think we should have split up that day. PLUS, our Bishop decided to drop in for a visit, just to see how things were going. Uh, very uncomfortable. So, I'm a little worried about how my lesson on pornography is going to go. What can go wrong? How many times will I put my foot in my mouth? What will happen to make it even more uncomfortable than it already is?

I'm begging you, people! If you have any ideas on how to make this lesson go smoothly, let me know. I know lots of prayer, but if you have any good insights please share them with me. We have some older ladies in our ward, it will be interesting.

Also, have you done any fun or interesting activities in Relief Society recently? Please, share your ideas. We, me, could use all the help we can get.

Oh, and just kidding dad! I know I volunteered to paint your kitchen, and had fun doing it. Love ya

He's on the Mark!

2010-02-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

Mark graduated from the first part of his Border Patrol training on Feb. 9. He has been in Artesia, New Mexico since Nov. 16 at the training center. Its basically like a police academy for the Border Patrol.
Sammi was able to drive down to New Mexico for his graduation. We stayed home with Sandra. Mark has done very well during his training. He has high 'marks' on his tests and he is at the top of his class.

Mark was awarded the Director's Award. This award is voted on by the rest of the class. There are 26 in the class, I think. They started out with close to 50 and only 26 graduated. The others dropped out for one reason or another. Anyway, the award is top notch for this training. Only one is given out each session and the info is forwarded on to the big guys at Homeland Security.

I don't know if you'll be able to read the award but this is what it says.
"For exemplifying the highest standards and core values of a Federal Law Enforcement Officer, including respect, honesty, fairness, courage, compassion and integrity as determined by the students of this class....."

Sammi and Mark after the graduation and Mark receiving his award.

Mark is still in New Mexico, he is doing the second part of the training, which is Spanish. He will finish this part on April 7th.

Then they, Mark, Sammi and Sandra, will be moving to Yuma, Az for the next ten months. This is the third part of the training. When that is completed they will move to Oroville, WA, north of Spokane. This is where they will be permanently stationed.

Way to go Mark!! We love you and are very proud of you.

Just had to share this.

2010-02-10T18:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner. Sandra was so funny. She kept calling them "boys". She would say, "Eat boys","watch boys", when she wanted them to look at her playing. "C'mon boys", when she wanted them to come in the living room to watch Scooby Doo. Then it was "thank you, boys and ga-bye, boys".

So cute!

To Whack or Not to Whack

2010-02-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

I have had this thought for a couple of days now. I figured I'd better just write it down, or blog it so I can get it off my chest (ha ha) and hopefully get a few of your opinions.

First, most of you may know that my mom has had breast cancer twice. Thankfully, it was caught early and she is doing great. It has been close to 6 years cancer free for her. YIPEE!
She was able to have lumpectomies and radiation. That was bad enough, but thankfully no chemo. She is the first in the family, as far as the direct blood line of females, so no family history of breast cancer.

I have thought about what I would do if I were diagnosed with breast cancer. I would have a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery right away. No messing around.

It seems that there is a lot of breast cancer in Wheatland. There are several ladies that I know of that have breast cancer and have had double mastectomies. Plus, one lady that had the surgery done as a preventative measure. She has the BRCA gene with a strong family history of breast cancer. This all makes me feel a little better, because now I know I'm not the only one who thinks this way.

However, I was visiting with someone the other day and they told me that they have a family member with breast cancer and their Dr. told them it was no use to jump right in and have a mastectomy without signs of cancer. Say if you had cancer in the right breast, there is no reason to remove the left breast also.
The reasoning is, if you have cancer cells in your body they will find a place to live. Whether they are breast cancer cells or not, they will show up somewhere.

Has anyone heard this before? I'm not sure I believe it. I mean there are definetly different types of cancer. If you have breast cancer cells and you have a mastectomy, is the cancer going to mutate and turn into bone cancer or lung cancer? Maybe? I don't know. I guess I need to do some more research.

So my questions to all of you is.....

#1)If you were diagnosed with breast cancer, would you have a double mastectomy in order to prevent it from recurring again.

#2) If you have a family history of breast cancer, but have not been diagnosed with cancer yet, would you have the surgery as a preventative measure?

I think I would still do it. That would be the only way I'd ever get a 'boob job'. If it were medically necessary. I'm too big of a wimp to have surgery for no good reason. And I would do it earlier, as a preventative, if my insurance would pay for it.

Leave a comment. I'm really interested in hearing what other women think about this.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

2010-01-26T16:04:00.001-08:00

Today is my birthday, man am I getting old?!

For my birthday I got some Skecher Shape-Ups. These weren't my first choice. I reallly wanted to get the Reebok Tone-Up shoes.

I needed new shoes. My other ones are over a year old and were starting to hurt my feet. I'm not a huge shoe person, I really don't own that many pairs, just enough to be functional.

We went to the mall and checked out the Reeboks, well we tried to check them out. The guy at the Finishline said they were all sold out. So I said, "Ok I guess I can wait on getting shoes for awhile." But him and another sales guy said that the Skechers were better than the Reeboks. People didn't like the Skechers because of the HUGE sole. DUH!!! Thats why I wanted the Reeboks, cuz they actually look like regular shoes, not some orthopedic shoe that old people wear. Wait! I am getting old, maybe thats what I need. Anyway, he kept going on. He said the technology in the Skecher's are better than the Reebok and people were seeing faster results with the Skecher. I bit, I thought I'd atleast try them on and then say, "No thank you."

Guess what? The Skecher's are pretty darn comfy. It does look huge but it has this big foam sort of sole that makes you feel like your walking on, well, foam. Its suppose to simulate walking on sand, I guess it could be something like that. I am on my feet all day at work and my feet are usually sore at the end of the day, so I thought these might actually be helpful. Plus, I am a few inches taller with them on, so thats a good thing.

They are definetly different feeling than your typical running/walking shoe. Obviously, I fell for the sales pitch. Mike said, "Of course they are going to say all those things about the Skecher, thats all they have left to sell."

I guess I'm gullible, but I did need shoes anyway, right? I've only worn them to work 2 days, so I don't know if they are working as far as the "shape-up" part. They are comfortable and I like the color, so I guess if they don't shape me up, I'm still good. But I'll let you know if I notice any toning in my glutes. Want pics?

Dang it!

2010-01-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

Poor little Sandra Mae is sick, sick, sick! Dang it! She has a fever and stuffy nose. I took her in to see the NP yesterday. She swabbed her throat for strep, it was negative. Her ears are fine, also. So she thinks it is a viral infection of some sort. So we just have to wait it out.
I took this pic last night after her bath. Her eyes were so red and watery. So sad. We took her temp a little while later and it was 103.6, but she had been sitting on my lap wrapped in a blanketso I think that increased it.
She doesn't want to eat at all, will drink very little and spits out the Tylenol and Motrin. Its a real fight to get any down. The little smarty tells us, "NO! Stop it! Go Away!" when she sees us coming with the Tylenol or the thermometer.
We hope it will only be another day or so that she is sick. Dang it! I hate it when little ones are sick.

Happy New Years

2010-01-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

Does anybody know who John Edward is? Not the John Edwards that was a senator from North Carolina, that was involved in a infidelity scandal.
I'm talking John Edward the physic. He talks to dead people. I know a lot of people thinks this kind of thing is voodoo or phony. But I love listening to him. My family thinks I'm crazy, which is probably true, but not for this reason.

Ok, whether you believe in physics doesn't really matter. I don't need a physic to tell me my loved ones are in a better place and that they are happy where they are. I guess through my faith in the gospel I have a fairly good idea about the afterlife.

What I really like is his message of "Communicate, Validate and Appreciate." He stresses the point that we should do these things while our loved ones are alive, so we don't need to have a physic to tell us how they are doing after they have passed. If we do these things, we will have good relationships with them and we won't be worried about our relationships after they're gone. Understand??

For this New Year, I have decided I should work on these things. Communicate better with my family and friends. Validate their importance in my life and let them know I appreciate them and all they do for me. I think I have been very neglectful of this for the past, um 30+ years?

This is one of my so called New Years resolutions. Another one is to stop whining, complaining and murmurring. Whatever you want to call it. I have been doing that a lot lately and I need to stop! I might not have any hair left or only have a stump of a tongue by the end of the year but I'm going to give it my best.

Anybody else have any resolutions this year? Or have we all given up on them?

It's the little things.......

2009-12-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

This is truly the season of miracles. For the first time in 21 years of our marriage, I have finally made some yummy cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I have tried and tried to make good cinnamon rolls for years. I'm just not a great bread baker. I don't know what I do wrong, but it never comes out right. Either it doesn't rise or it just tastes bad. I have even ruined Rhodes frozen rolls. I have tried all different recipes, "never fail" recipes, old family recipes, you name it. But God was watching over me this year. I finally did it!! I'm so proud of myself. Mike and Shea even commented on how yummy they were.
Here is a picture, they may not look special, but they tasted very special.

And, I have no idea what I did different this time. I'm not betting on them every coming out this good again. Just my luck, its a once in a lifetime thing.

Here is our prime rib that we had for Christmas dinner. It was very good also. Yes, its pink. I hope your not squeemish. We like it that way.

Ahh!! We had some good food this year.

It's the little things that make me happy. I don't need lavish gifts, just give me some good food and a sense of accomplishment and I'm set.

December Is Almost Over

2009-12-23T17:44:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I posted anything. I really haven't been up to anything that exciting, so not much to talk about.

We had a fun Christmas party at church. We were asked to dress up as like during the time of Jesus birth. We hadn't really thought about it until 15 minutes before the party. Sammi and I went rummaging through the closet and came up with some costumes.

We are wearing, table cloths and sheets. I have a shawl on my head. All the way to the church, we were saying, "Other people better be dressing up, or we're out of there." And yes, there were quite a few that dressed up. It was fun.

Sammi really looked good. With her dark complexion, she really looked authentic. I just looked like a cancer patient who lost their hair and has a scarf wrapped around them. Not so nice.

I also had a little fender bender. I was stopped at a stop sign, the roads were icy and a girl slid into me trying to make the corner. Nobody was hurt and my truck has a small 'blemish'. But it will cost $1120 to fix. Great thing is, the girl doesn't have insurance. We will have to pay our deductible to get it fixed and our insurance will pay the rest. Not fun this time of year, but thankfully nobody was hurt.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Oops! I forgot something.....

2009-11-28T18:00:00.001-08:00

A little birdie reminded me that I forgot to list a couple of things that I'm thankful for.

My two BFF's.

Listed in the order I knew them first, but not necessarily in the order of importance. I love them both very much, but differently. You'll figure out why.

#1 My sister, Melanie.

She is beautiful, funny, dorky, sassy, a little naughty, sometimes a little "blonde" and wonderful. We are 9 years apart. There were a lot of years we didn't know each other very well. Besides the years between us, there were a lot of miles between us. Since Melanie was the age of 8, we have lived 450 miles apart.

About a year or so before Melanie got married, we started talking more and getting to know each other better. Then after she got married and started a family, we grew closer and closer. Thanks to Verizon Wireless' unlimited calling plan.

She is the person I call to complain to on my 'not so good days', she is my cheerleader. She listens to me and understands me and picks me up when I need it.

I really wish we lived closer to each other, especially now with her cute little kids. I would love to be more a part of their lives.

I love you, Smelly! Thanks for being a great sister. Isn't she beautiful?

#2 My daughter, Sammi.

I've already posted about my wonderful daughter, Sammi. She is a great daughter, but she is also a great friend. We have a fun time together, we make each other laugh. The good kind of laugh, laugh until you cry and your stomach hurts laugh. We are opposites in a lot of ways, but we are alike, too. We talk a lot, Sammi is a good listener. We whine to each other about daily irritations and we laugh with each other over our daily irritations. You make me laugh and that makes me happy. I'm really going to miss you when you move. I love you, Sammi. Thanks for being my friend and daughter.

I'm so blessed to have you both in my life. I love you both and I'm grateful for you. Thanks for putting up with me.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T18:28:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2009

I guess I'll take my turn at listing things I'm thankful for.

First of all my family.
My husband, who loves me so much. Even when I'm grouchy and fed up with the world. When I say, "I'm sorry I've been so grouchy." He'll say, "You were grouchy? I didn't notice" and give me a hug. So Sweet.
My kids, who always make me laugh. Also, they make fun of me and laugh at me. But I know there is love in all those jokes.

Sandra Mae, what a blessing for our family. We have so much fun with her. She is really smart and is talking a lot. She is really sweet too. She loves to give hug and kisses and always says please and thank you.

I'm thankful for my job. I complain about having to go to work, especially after spending 4 days off with Sandra. But I do enjoy the people I work with and the customers who have become friends. I'm also thankful for my husband's job because he makes a lot more money than I do and he is the one who pays the bills. Thanks to him, we have a roof over our head. Which I'm very thankful for.

I'm grateful for my church family. They love me so much that when I mess up playing the piano in sacrament, they don't even flinch anymore, there so used to it.

I'm thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for me, for the oppourtunity to repent and to be forgiven. God knows, I need it.

I'm thankful for my computer and the power of the internet. I love being able to keep in touch with family, pay bills online, research weird diseases that I'm certain I have, and read everyones blogs!

I'm thankful for hot water, long showers, my comfy bed, our vehicles, the wood stove and a shed full of firewood. Many, many other things to make my life comfortable.

Giving Shea a birthday kiss. He is 19 today.

Nephew Robert and wife Amanda and Alana. Our Thanksgiving table. Notice two different sets of plates. Goal for next year, matching dinnerware.

Random Thoughts

2009-11-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

Shea and Sandra reading a book before he left for college.

Just a cute picture of Sandra.

Justin, Sammi and Shea, they were playing in a softball tournament.
Another cute picture of Sandra. This was in Maine this Spring.

Here are a couple of cute things Sandra has said in the last couple of days.

"Dramma (grandma) sippy, pwease, pespi" Oh it was so cute, but sad. She isn't even 2 and she knows what Pepsi is and she wants it in her sippy. Of course, I gave it to her. Bad dramma.

I just got home from work and had to use the bathroom really bad. Of course, she found her way into the bathroom and says "Dramma potty?" I said yes, "tinkle, tinkle." She immediately starts singing, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and turns around and does her little dance.

Sandra likes to watch The Fox and the Hound. She says fox, like fok, but it sounds like another "F" word. Its kind of dangerous to bring up that movie title.

Ok, thats all for now.

Where did she come from?

2009-11-19T18:07:00.000-08:00

This is my beautiful daughter Sammi. Hold on for a minute, I'm going to brag.

Of course, being her mother, I have thought she was beautiful since the day she was born. And the older she got, the more beautiful she got. Sammi is beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside. I have had several of her teachers from high school tell me this, and trying to be gracious, I would just say thank you. But I was really thinking, I know she is, you don't have to tell me that. ha ha

Sammi is an interesting girl. More than once in her lifetime I have asked myself, "Where did this child come from?" I know biologically where she came from and spiritually where she came from but I still have to ask myself this question.

Here are some examples why:

*Sammi is really smart. She can read something and remember it for a really long time. I can't do that. She is good at math, I hate math.

*Sammi has always liked to be outside in the shop with her dad. Working on cars or building something. Not me

*Sammi loves animals. She has always had a cat or dog, sometimes they sleep with her. We have several pictures to prove this. I don't really care for animals and especially NOT in my bed. Yuck!

*Sammi likes to go hunting and kill things. When she was 12 she shot an antelope with one shot. She gutted it and skinned it all by herself. Double Yuck!!

She also likes to kill small rodents with her bare hands. Yesterday at work, (she works at a vet clinic), there was a mouse in the dog food bin. She asked the Dr. what he wanted to do with it. He was busy with surgery, he said he would take care of it when he was through. Sammi says, "Oh, I can take care of it." So she grabbed a towel, caught the mouse, and rung its neck. Just like she did it everyday of her life. Just like brushing her teeth or getting dressed. No big deal.

The Dr. looked at her and said, "Well, ok then." Another Dr. walked in and Sammi showed her the mouse, it was still breathing slightly, so Sammi put the towel back on the mouse and really twisted its neck, all the way around. It was really dead this time.

Triple and quadruple YUCK!!!

Now I ask you, "WHO DOES THIS?" Did you see the pictures above? Did you see how beautiful this girl is? Why in the world would someone like this do such a thing? Oh, I am not sad that the mouse is dead. I hate mice! I'm glad there is one less little rodent in the world. I just can't even think about catching a mouse and twisting its neck with my own two hands.

Now you know why I wonder, "Where did she come from?" She didn't get this behavior from me. I don't think her dad would even do this. Its a mystery.

I love you, Sammi!!! You are beautiful and smart and a little strange. I will always love you, and please don't hurt me for posting this.

Facebook experiment and my accidental husband

2009-11-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

I have a pet peeve with Facebook. Not actually Facebook, but the way people post things on FB. Have you ever read somebodies status report that said, "Just got back from vacation, had a blast!" But they don't say, where they went or give any other details of their vacation. Or how about, "I'm home from the hospital now, thanks for your prayers." There are no other posts or details given about it. Your just left hanging about why they were in the hospital or who was in the hospital.

Maybe I'm just too nosey, I like to know the details. I know that we shouldn't put ALL the details of our lives out there for the whole universe to see. But if your going to update your 'status' atleast give us a real update.

I decided to play a little trick and post a misleading update just to see who would respond and how. I know it is kind of mean. Ashley said I was naughty. I think the word is facetious.

So now you know that, I will tell you that if you did read my post on FB, there is a little bit of truth to it.

My sweet husband, as macho as he is, is accident prone. Since he was 2 yrs. old he has been a magnet for accidents. He can go for months with out a paper cut, then he'll have a spell where he has two or three incidents in a short amount of time.

I will list just a few of the more interesting ones.

1- When he was in grade school a kid hit him with a chain and cut his head open. His mom took him to the ER and they said his skull was cracked and they could see his brain.

2- His family went camping, drove 2 hours to the camp site. The kids all got out and ran to the creek. Calvin, Mike's older brother was swinging a stick around and hit Mike in the mouth and knocked out his front teeth. Everyone loaded up and drove 2 hours back to town to the ER. No camping that weekend.

3- In 2001, he cut his finger at work, had to have 8 surgeries from January - November on his finger and hand. He had one more surgery to make #9, this one was to amputate the finger in December. That was a long year!!

4- In 2006, we were cutting firewood and he cut his leg with the chain saw. Had to drive and hour and a half to town on mountain roads to the ER. He had a bunch of stitches, but everything was fine. Funny thing, the nurse says, "Iknow you, you're the one that had your finger amputated." Blessings of a small town.

5- About 3 weeks ago, Mike was fixing the window in our bedroom. He was on a ladder caulking around the window, when 'the ladder feel out from under him'. He was about 10 feet high, and fell on the ladder, on the bricks. Luckily, he just bruised his elbow pretty bad. But that was it.

6- Last Sunday, we were eating our Sunday roast and potatoes, when he got a piece of meat stuck in his throat. This has happened before, it just feels like something won't go down. It usually goes away with in a couple of minutes. But this time it wouldn't go away, just kept hanging there. So we went to the ER on Monday, he had to have a scope put down his throat to push the meat on through to his stomach. The Dr. did say his esophagus is small and he has an appt to see another Dr. to see what needs to be done.

So you see, I really am thankful for the ER, Dr.'s, nurses and modern technology. For several different accidental reasons.

Some of you might say, I've never heard about these 'accidents' before. That is because Mike gets really embarrassed about his 'accidents'. He doesn't like anyone to know. So don't be telling him I put this on the blog. He will be angry with me.

Sorry, this is like a novel. Just wanted to update my update. Sorry, if i made anyone worry.

Much love

Sandra and the snow

2009-11-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

We had a snow storm about a week ago. Sandra loved playing in the snow. She liked making snow balls and trying to catch them. She wasn't good at it, but she liked to try.

Mark's Going Away Party

2009-11-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

Sammi had a great idea of having a suprise going away party for Mark. He leaves this Sunday to start his training for the Border Patrol. We actually did it! We suprised him and we only had to tell a few lies to get him there.
The funniest thing was Shea didn't know what was going on. He came home from college for the party, but he didn't know any details. So we had Justin fake order a pizza, then Justin and Shea were going to pick up the pizza, but instead they came to the church for the party. This is how we were able to get them to the church without Mark getting suspicious. When they go there, Shea says, "Where is the pizza?" We didn't inform him we were having the party at the church, or what we were eating or anything. So all night he kept saying, "I really wanted pizza."

Here are a few pictures of the party. We are going to miss Mark. But most of all Sandra is going to miss her daddy. Since August he has been home with her while we are all working. They are really close. Mark is a wonderful Daddy. Thank goodness we both have webcams and he can have his computer with him.

Hope Squared

2009-11-02T18:12:00.000-08:00

First of all I have to say, I love my Aunt Melanie. For several reasons, she is beautiful, talented, funny, sweet, and I think the light of Christ shines through her. I think her family would probably agree with this. I don't live close to Aunt Mel, but I know that she is compassionate and uses her talents to help others.

On her blog, she suggested a service project call Hoped Squared. I decided I would like to help out with this little project of making quilts for those in need.
I need a new project to work on, since it's too cold to work outside and I've got nothing else to do.
Now, I'm no quilt making expert, but I have made a few in the past.
So here is a picture of the material I picked out. I have three sets, cut and ready to be sewn together. I can't wait to begin. I just have to convince my sweet husband that this IS what I want to do on my day off.

I'm a greenie, be patient.

2009-10-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, Ok.... I must admit that I am a blog stalker. I have a list of blogs that I check everyday, mostly relatives. I love reading about your cute kids and all the fun things you do with your families. I love being able to 'keep in touch' this way. Its a little creepy in a way, don't you think.

I decided that I should jump in and try it myself. Although, I don't know how much I will have to post. I'm pretty boring. My beautiful but witty daughter calls me a troll, because I never do anything but sit at home. But actually, I think I do a lot. I work 3-4 days a week, I go to church, I go to Safeway several times a week. About once a month, I go to Cheyenne to Sam's Club and Walmart. Monday and Wednesdays I go to kick boxing classes, when I feel like it. Oh and lets not forget the daily trips to Maverick for my 44 oz. Pepsi. See I'm not so boring. Wait! Maybe I am?

Well, whatever, I like my life. I have a feeling a lot of my posts will be about my sweet little grand daughter, Sandra Mae. I have to keep up with all of you and your cute posts of your adorbale kids. I hope you don't mind.

Ok, here we go........