a hunting we will go!

My FIL has a few hundred acres or so just about an hour and a half away from us that my family men like to hunt and camp on.  Well, this weekend, Lil' Sis thought that she had to go hunting like the men.  I had to stay back because I had toddler duty at church.  It seems like I missed out on some pretty good family bonding time.  Although, it is good for the kids to spend some time with daddy without momma around.

Just had to share a few pics from their weekend of hunting.

CX driving daddy's four wheeler all by himself.  (Yes, I know!  No helmet!  Sorry mom!)

CX's target practice.  Thought he did pretty good.  He's really only been shooting for about a year.

(Yep, we are those hillbilly people who teach our young to use a weapon.)

Getting ready to leave for the big hunt!  No, CX did not drive his sister.  She got to ride with daddy.

Getting ready for bed from a long day of hunting.

And last, but not least, well maybe least.  I can't help myself.  My little one will kill me one of these days, but I love the pic and just had to share.

Lil' Sis on the pot!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Burn, Baby, Burn

Those of you that have been following my blog know that we are adding on to our casa and then, once that addition is done, we will move into that part and start remodeling the old part.  I'm totally excited.

Anyway, now you are up to speed.

Sooo, I have this foyer that I am currently wanting to decorate.  Here she is with my pretty renovated chest.

Kind of blah....needs more color and of course, gotta finish those 5 tiles to the left.  Man, we are awful!

So, I want to stencil the wall and I went onto picnic and found a few designs that I liked, but finally narrowed it down to one. 

Now that I have my design, I have to make the stencil.

Here we go....I used these, just because I already had them.

You can use any kind of plastic sheeting.  I just was tight and didn't want to spend the 10 bucks for stencil material.


And you also need one of these.  They make this process soooo much easier.

What I did next was this.

I taped 4 of the sheets together so that it was large enough to cover my pattern.

Then, I sat down on the floor with a huge mirror on my lap, the pattern on top of that, and then the blank plastic sheet.  I used painters tape and taped the plastic to the pattern.  Then I traced the pattern onto the plastic.  I don't really know if this is necessary or not, but I did it anyway.  Sorry, no pic of this step. 

Now, I got the privilege of sitting on the floor with this mirror in my lap for 1 and 1/2 hours cutting out this stencil.  And receiving a few burns along the way.

Ignore the bad manicure and dry hands....I've been slaving on this puppy.

So, here is my stencil.

Now, I just have to decide which color for the stencil.  Too many decisions, but I think I have the hard part done. 

Maybe.

Jinkies!

Just had to share these pics with you all.

The fam and I are going as the "Mystery Gang" from Scooby-Doo for Halloween.  I've been perusing flea markets and good-wills trying to find our costumes.

I ran into these beauts today and the kiddos love them! 

Lil' Sis is actually thinking that she wants to be Velma Dinky instead of Daphne Blake.  Hmm...



Gasp!  My kitchen is a mess....don't look!



And CX looks like he is straight out of "Revenge of the Nerds".  Gotta love my boy!



Seriously!  Stop looking at my mess and check out my handsome boy!



One Meel-e-on Dollars

Sorry, I am not giving money away.  Inside joke from family game night.

Anyway, I found something that I have to share with you and if you are related to me in anyway, (which is pretty much everyone that follows me.) don't be surprised if you get one of these for Christmas.

Or, I may just make it for me and myself alone!

So, without further ado....I give you the most adorable thing I have seen in blogland today!

Cheri over at I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar has the most adorable little guys that she crafts for and is very talented to say the least.  She shared this tutorial over at A Lemon Squeezy Home.  Check out Cheri here.  And check out the tut here.

Seriously, you have to act surprised if you get it!



I can give you what you want

But you have to come home with me...

Anywho.  As I was fleasie shopping, I brought home this super duper pimped out ottoman for only six buckaroos!  Yes, I am tight!  So tight you can insert a piece of coal in my *** and six weeks later you will have a diamond.  Not really.

But if you got the joke, then you understand what I'm saying!

So, here is the beaut!

Oh my gosh!  Pay no attention to the dirty tile this thing is sitting on!!!

And here is the underneath view that I told you about the other day.  Seriously, that's a nice job!



You can really get a feel for the material as well with this pic.  Now, if that's your thing that's great and all, but it is sooooooo not me.

Next, I had to remove the fabric to see what is underneath this material....I can only think that it is something much worse than what is on the outside.  Plus, what the heck keeps rattling around inside of this thing?!?!?  I'm gonna have to take this thing apart!  Dang git!!

WOW!!

It doesn't have a scratch on it and it doesn't even have a strange aroma coming off of it.  What the chiz?  I'm confused...why would you cover this up?

It's still rattling!!!  Thought it might of had a secret compartment or something, but NOOOO!

Okay, lets remove that underneath!

Not bad...the leather or pleather or vinyl or whatever is stapled pretty well....hmm.

Oh, did I mention....this ottoman was made in the U.S.A. 

I'm so proud to have bought someones trash to recycle that is American made. Just shows that we can make things in this country that can withstand a few years. (Sorry, getting down from my soap box.)

Yep, it is blue too. 

Removal of first layer.  Forgot to take picture....sorry.

Remove next layer.

That's like a plastic bag from a trash can or something.  Probably helps with the friction caused with the foam.

Next layer....cardboard?

Okay, one more.  This is getting to be a bigger adventure than I had anticipated.  I hope this is the last one.  Who knows?!?

Ah ha!  Gotta fix me some support beams.  No prob....gonna grab the drill and some screws and ta da!  Good as new, or maybe even better!

Where the heck is that darn drill?!?!?!?

No, I'm not just using wood glue...but thought it couldn't hurt to have a little extra hold.

I am woman!  I screw screw by myself!  No need for power tools!

Yep, there are three screws.  Every time I got one in, the end of another leg would pop off.  GREAT!

Okay, I think that is going to do it.  Next layer back on.  Sorry, no pic, again.  I'm slacking, I know!

Next, the lovely foam....yum!  If it hadn't been in such good condition I would have replaced it.

Next, the trash bag.  Is this really necessary?!  I better do it.  May regret it later.

Yes, that is duct tape.  I know, I know!  I'm a hypocrite!  It is going to get covered anyway....not like it's going to be on the outside or something.

Don't judge me!!

And, voila!!  Back to normal.

Now, do I leave it like that or do I do what I had planned on all along?

Hmm....decisions, decisions.