A Couple Days at Grandma's...

I know it's been over a week since my last entry, but nothing really interesting happened last week. And I've been gone for the past 2 days. My mom called me on Monday to tell me she was going to visit her mother (my grandmother) and asked if I wanted to come too. Well sure!..packing can wait while I visit Grandma!



My mom works for BOCES with special ed. kids and the cigar box thing was a craft project they did this year. Apparantly it's a project that's been around for awhile. I told my husband about it and he said "Oh yeah, I've done that!" It's really simple...all you do is

1. tear pieces of masking tape and stick them onto a cigar box (making sure they overlap and the edges are pressed down)
2. when the whole box is covered with pieces of masking tape, you dab shoe polish onto it (not the kind in a can, the liquid kind that is kind of like a bingo stamper).
3. wait for the shoe polish to dry and voila!...a faux leather box!
   

On Tuesday afternoon/evening, Grandma had a birthday party to go to for one of her friends, so Mom and I decided to drive up to Inlet to see what was left of "the Camp".

Poor Luna...this was her first time to the Adirondacks. She never even got to spend any time at Camp.

Remember the movie "Carrie"? At the end when the house had burnt down and the girl was coming to set flowers in front of the for sale sign?...then Carrie's hand comes up and grabs her?

Mom had a rubber hand that had been on the dashboard of her car for 5 years or so and was starting to discolor on the back. She had been meaning to get rid of it anyway, so we semi-ceremoniously left it sticking up under the No Trespassing sign! My family usually deals with grief with laughter. We were giggling like teenage girls setting this up and taking pictures.

Then Mom and I went to 7th Lake to take Luna swimming (I'll put the video on my YouTube channel)

Rinsing the sand off out feet and off our sandals...

Beautiful mountains and sunset...

Then we had dinner in Old Forge (about 10-15 minutes away from Inlet). The deer in Old Forge don't mind the cars or civilization...they just mosey along like they were in the woods. I have video of that too.

Kasey's Wedding!

I had a busy weekend!

The big event was Kasey's wedding on Saturday...

...which I was a bridesmaid in! (or I suppose since I'm married, I was technically a "bridesmatron". Ewwww!..."matron" sounds so...matronly!)

It rained all day, but Kasey's mother had suggested a great idea for an indoor location for pictures that she'd seen on a wedding website...a carousel! So after the photographer took some family photos at the church, we went to a local mall and took pictures on the carousel in the food court!

It was so much fun!...even though people in the food court were staring at us and we were holding up the carousel from the kiddies. We had arrangements with the mall to reserve the carousel for about a half hour for $15... a pretty good deal considering how much some other places charge for taking pictures! I can't wait to see how the pictures turned out! I was in the pictures, so I couldn't take a lot. My mom wanted to come with us (she took pictures with my camera earlier since I had other duties), but she was helping to get ready for the reception...which was a BLAST!

Kasey has 4 younger brothers who are dancing maniacs...and they did a choreographed dance that was a scream! It was absolutely hilarious! There are rumors of video of it being uploaded to YouTube...but I'm not sure when or if it will happen. I'll post a link to it if it does end up on there. I should have thought to run and grab my camera and take video of it myself, but I was having too much fun watching it and didn't think of taking video of anything until later. Even then it was very little. I'll post a link to my vlog (video blog) when I get the footage edited.

Purple Wedding Nubbins

I just finished a new set of custom Wedding Nubbins! (I KNEW it was a good idea to offer them in my Etsy shop!)

I wonder how many odd looks I got from people while I was taking pictures of these on the bush in our side yard!

I absolutely love how they turned out! Especially the groom with his little bow tie!

It makes him so much more groom-like than the first set I did.

They'll be getting sent out tomorrow. Enjoy marital bliss in your new home little Nubbins!

Picnic Date

It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day out yesterday, so I called CJ and asked if he wanted to meet me and Luna at the park to have a picnic when he got out of work. (This is something we do on occasion as an excuse to take Luna to the park.) Recently, some friends of ours introduced us to the deliciously simple concept of the cucumber and hummus sandwich (I like to use garlic-flavored hummus), and it has since become our favorite spring/summer meal. It's so simple, yet so delicious! We had the cucumbers, garlic hummus and flatbread on hand, so I packed them up and headed to the park. I also packed a sleeve of Saltine crackers (left over from last week) and some squeezable grape jelly...another simple yummy treat.

And after we ate, we lounged about, talked, enjoyed the outdoors, and took pictures...

(Sorry, I love taking macro pictures of my rings!)

...and started trying to take pictures of Luna...who is a lovely looking dog, but she just doesn't ever seem to want to cooperate. But we got some cute pictures nonetheless.

House Progress...

CJ's progress today at the new house...
(yay for camera phones and Facebook mobile uploads!)

He built the railing last week and painted it (and the steps) today. The front gutters were done this week...we passed the electric inspection today (which is seperate from the house inspection)...and CJ's working there today and thinks all the work that needs to be done in order to get it re-inspected may be done after today! Yaaaaay! I may get my birthday wish of having a closing date after all!

I would be there working too, but CJ didn't want me to overdo it after being sick, so I'm at home packing and doing laundry.

Barnyard and Sock Monkey Nubbins

Here are the full pics I promised of the first of the barnyard animal Nubbins and the Sock Monkey Nubbin...

I've already gotten questions regarding if I'm making more of the Sock Monkey Nubbin...and YES I AM! I'll be sure to announce it when I get some made and listed in the shop...whenever I get time in between custom orders and house work and packing and moving and weddings...whew! This summer is going to be a doozy! I hope we'll have time to go to the Rennaisance Faire in Ohio this year! Summer just isn't summer without a trip to the Rennaisance Faire!

3 Years Together...

Arg! It's been a week since I've blogged! Well, life has been busy with getting the new house ready and packing and everything. And then I was going to write a blog post yesterday celebrating 3 years of marital bliss...and I got sick...

And I mean really ickily sick. I had a yucky feeling tummy for most of the day, and had no desire to eat anything. Just when I thought I had been getting better when CJ got home from work, it got worse...I found out I had a fever...and I threw up. Granted, my stomach felt better afterwards...but I so HATE throwing up! (I don't know how bulimics can stand doing it intentionally!) I haven't thrown up in over 3 years...why did it have to happen on my anniversary?! (well...at least it happened now instead of next weekend when I'll be in Kasey's wedding...that would have sucked!)

I was so disappointed that all our plans for going out to dinner and a movie for our anniversary were ruined, but CJ was wonderful through it all and reassured me that it was alright and that we could do it another day. He also took good care of me...coming home from work with ginger ale, saltines, and roses...going out to the store later and getting me popcicles and NyQuil...taking my glasses off when I'd fallen asleep with them on...feeling my forehead this morning (when I was still asleep) to see if I still had a fever (I didn't).

I really do have a wonderful husband. And I hope I never forget it. God really blessed both of us by bringing us together 3 years ago...

"In sickness and in health..."

Works in Progress

New special edition Nubbins in progress...

Duck & Pig Nubbins. Part of the Barnyard Animal series of Nubbins.

And I got the sudden inspiration today to make a Sock Monkey Nubbin! I have a feeling these are going to be popular and I'll need to make some more...maybe a lot more.

Full pics coming soon!

Tricia's Blog

ARG! For some reason Blogger is not letting me add a new blog to my Friends & Family sidebar blog list! Is it because it's a Wordpress blog? I don't know. Fine. I'll just have to do an old fashioned blog promo shout-out...

I recently discovered that my friend Tricia has her own blog (http://pmumau.wordpress.com/). Now Tricia is one of my artsiest friends. I have friends who are crafty...but Tricia is on the more artsy side of crafty...so I love that I can relate to her on that front. She painted that adorable little duck in her blog header...(I love that lemonade drinking duck!). It's such a cute little character and reminds me of an illustration in a children's book. It makes me want to do little paintings of my monsters!

Another thing I love over at her blog is her family's Idea Bowl...then the good ideas' progression to The Percolator. Her family is so creatively brilliant...even in brainstorming! No wonder I love hanging out with them! (and soon, after the move to the new house, will be able ot hang out with them more often!) I'm excited to see her reveal the next step in the Idea Bowl process!

More House Work

Awwww! Luna looks like she wants to help us stir the paint...

Um...

I guess not. She just wanted to chew the stick.

She loves going to the new house. There's lots of space for her to chase her ball. That's her favorite thing to do when we go there. Unfortunately, I can't play with her the whole time...I have work to get done!

A sign of squirrel...

Can you make out the little pawprint? This was on one of the upstairs windowsills. The little bugger left black marks like this everywhere!

CJ and our friend Brian ended up determining that the squirrel got in through the chimney and into where there used to be a coal-burning furnace (hence all the little black tracks). So after also determining the squirrel was gone for good (nothing in the traps), CJ fixed that by screwing a cheap cake pan over the hole. So...no more squirrel! Yay!

We may be able to get all the work done by the end of June! YAY!

Sorry there hasn't been a whole lot of "crafty" lately. There's been a whole lot of "life" with working on the house and everything. Hopefully soon I will be able to bring you some crafty.

Kasey's "Bachelorette Party"

On Friday I picked up my dress for Kasey's wedding...

That night was also the "bachelorette party". Now, we're pretty conservative, Christian girls, and I was the only one over 21...so this was not what most people picture when they think of a bachelorette party. No drinking, no strippers (DEFINITELY no strippers!)...this was just good, clean fun. We went and got manicures/pedicures, then went to the hotel. The mother of one of the other bridesmaids paid for a hotel suite for the five of us for the night (this was her bridal shower gift to Kasey). She also made us dinner and grilled steak, chicken, and shrimp out on the common area patio at the hotel. There were tables and chairs up on the patio, but we all decided we wanted to eat by the water and watch the ducks.

I looked down at my plate when I was finished eating and asked "Does this look like a tree to you?" What can I say?...I see art everywhere!

There are actually five bridesmaids, but one of them, Kasey's fiance's sister in law, has a baby who is only a couple months old, so she didn't stay the night. But she did come for a bit to hang out with us. At the hotel we also swam, played a game called Things (a really fun game, one of my favorite party games, second to Apples to Apples), and watched The Notebook. I went to bed before the movie was over, since it was pretty late, and CJ was picking me up in the morning at 9:00 to go work on the new house.

We also had a wax skin softening treatment that one of the girls brought where you dip your hands into hot wax, let it cool, then take it off to reveal soft skin. The wax was still pliable when we took it off, so I sculpted mine into a little dog. One of the other girls had coiled hers up, then set it next to the dog...so it looks like...

We had a fun time and laughed a lot.

See? Bachelorette parties don't have to be dirty!

Sanding and Squirrels

So, I made my weekly Thursday pilgrimage to Lyndonville to work on the new house. Usually, I'll drive up on Thursday, work on the house all day, spend Thursday night at our friends' house (since I'm not allowed to sleep at the house before we close), then work more on Friday, then go home Friday afternoon. But today was just a one-day thing since CJ and I worked there on Monday, we're going back on Saturday, and I have a prior commitment on Friday.

Some friends of mine were requesting to see some pictures of me workin' the safety goggles...

Today I worked on sanding/painting the door and windows in the bathroom. I was going to move on to the second floor windows after that, but I had an inturruption.

While I was moving my sanding/painting supplies upstairs I heard a SQUIRREL in our WALLS! AHHHHH!!! SQUIRREL!!!

I banged on the wall with a pole, and just heard more skittering. I didn't know how to flush it out, and I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I called CJ, and he said to just pack up and come home early and he'd drive up when he got out of work to set a trap. It was mostly for Luna's sake that he wanted me to come home early. Although I'm confident that Luna could probably take a squirrel (dachshunds were originally bred to hunt badgers! "Dachshund" actually means "badger-hound" in German), we didn't want her to get hurt or bitten on the off chance the squirrel has rabies or something.

We're pretty sure it's the squirrel we saw when we walked in the house on Monday. We thought it got scared off and made it out of the house...but I think we were wrong. The going theory is that it never did get out of the house, but simply found refuge in the walls. We're hoping that when we go back on Saturday, there will be a trapped squirrel.

I'm kind of bummed that I didn't get to stay as long as I was planning today. I as planning on getting a lot more done. Stupid squirrel.

Missie's Wedding

I went to my high school best friend's wedding yesterday!

She looked absolutely gorgeous and the wedding was simple and beautiful. And it was a beautiful day to have an outside wedding! The only thing that happened that wasn't according to plan was that one of the groomsmen fainted! I felt kind of bad that I was really quite amused when everyone else was so concerned, but one of my bridesmaids fainted at my wedding...so I just kind of thought it was funny that it actually happened at someone else's wedding. Fainting during a wedding is one of those things that you hear about and you get warnings about not locking your knees (eating breakfast/lunch helps too), but you never really expect to happen. So when it does happen, I'm just amused!

CJ and I were at the same table as this couple, Katie and Michael. I met them once at Missie's bridal shower/birthday party. CJ and I got along great with them. And I guess they live in our neighborhood! They were fun people to hang out with. Michael is a ballroom dance instructor and gave me a mini-lesson on swing dancing.

Congratulations Missie! God bless you and your new husband!