hello

Is it August already?!?  I keep seeing commercials for pre-season football, wasn't the Super Bowl just a few weeks ago?  Wow.

Well, let me catch you up.

July 5th, we went junkin'.  Here are some of my scores:

For those of you that don't live in the Midwest or even the USA, junkin' is where you shop at "junk" stores (flea markets, thrift stores, yard sales, antique malls) to find treasures.  This is the hubbs and my favorite past time! 

We used our left over sparklers.

I am knitting a few gifts.

I finally finished knitting my cowl.  I bought 5 balls of this Louisa Harding yarn at Tuesday Morning for $6.30 total!  It is 90% cotton 10% cashmere and it feels so soft! I still have one ball left  :-)

We saw a Yoda cloud.

I went to visit this girl...

In this city...

 and had a lot of fun, ate a lot of good food:

I bought some yarn in Chicago and decided to make some handwarmers. They are almost done.

Took the kids to visit the in-laws. Saw a fox the minute we got there in the middle of their yard.  This pic is taken with my iPhone through binoculars.  I think it turned out pretty decent, considering.

Took the kids to the zoo and was greeted be this feller:

Saw an elephant getting a bath.

And fed a giraffe.

We went to this fun place

And did some more junkin'.

 We got home and built an in-ground fire pit:

And it is fantastic!

Pinterest gave me this idea to make "Firestarters" Click here to find out how.  

And they worked like a charm:

Oh and I was given this stash of knitting goodies from a friend of mine that didn't want it any more.

I have started on Christmas projects already.  Which is probably a good idea since the last 7 months have flown by.

This pic doesn't look like much but I have started getting ready to possibly put an art exhibit together.  This will be the first one that I have done in 10 years! So fingers crossed that I can have the focus to get this done and accomplished.

I am also hoping to post more often so until next time, Happy End of the Summer!

The Coop

We have chickens!!!  My BFF, Brad, and I decided to raise a few chickens this year to see if we could get a nice "crop" of eggs and it was only this week that we were able to determine which of them were hens and which were roosters.  Turns out that we have 2 of each!  Today we were able to settle on names!

This will be our full size rooster, we decided to call him Liza (the drag queen). However, I keep wanting to call him, Cher.

This is the Bantam rooster whom we decided to call Clay Aiken.

This is the Bantam hen and although I was tempted to call her Kathy Griffin, we all decided on Reba instead.

And this will be our full size hen, we went round and round with what we should call her... she is a bit of a diva.... the name had to fit.  So we decided on Martha Stewart, who keeps trying to escape from jail, the coop.  :-)

The chickens have been growing like weeds so this week was crunch time to get the coop built.  The hubbs (who happens to be the handiest person I know) just happened to be out of town this week for work so Brad and I were left to our own devices.  Brad is handy, but he's not my hubbs (no offense Brad), and me...  well, I am definitely a danger to myself and others when in the company of sharp objects or power tools.  So I thought, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we would never be able to pull this off.  Well, guess who was wrong!!!!  WOOHOO!  We finished it last night and the chickens are all cozy in their new house.   Now, keep in mind that our goal was to make a functional chicken coop and pen that cost us little to no money.  Which means that it isn't the prettiest coop ever made, but it is in fact functional!!!  Equipped with 2 large access doors and 3 nest doors to access the eggs.  We reused a dresser hutch, old tree branches and all of the wood that we could accumulate between the 2 of us.

Needless to say, we are feeling pretty tough today!!! And here is a "snapshot" of how the pictures turn out when a 6 year old is behind the camera :-)

This one happens to be my favorite from the bunch.

Until next time, happy coop building!!!

Lady Bird

I happened onto this pattern while on Ravelry recently.

So I made it.  I intend to keep her on my couch or bed as decoration.  Love her!

Happy Knitting!

Hunting Season

With the holidays right around the corner, I am working on tons of things...  simultaneously.  I have one down and many to go so I am going to try and share as I go.

I have lived in the Midwest for 15 years and although I have acclimated to the Midwest lifestyle, I still don't embrace the "hunting" culture.  I don't like guns, I don't like the idea of slaying animals for any purpose and I couldn't imagine hanging a dead animal on my wall.  I don't eat much meat but I do eat meat and I know that is slightly hypocritical and a definite contradiction, but I guess the only way I can justify it is because I am not staring in the eyes of the food I just ate.  Luckily, my husband isn't a hunter like his dad, brother and most of his extended family but I think he still experiences a bit of nostalgia and comfort associated with hunting and alike.  So, when I showed him what I wanted to hang on the wall in our living room, he was psyched!!!  Here is the original item that I saw on Etsy and HAD TO HAVE IT....

The Etsy Store name is Banana Tree Studios and her stuff is amazing!!!  I love her innovative designs and I highly recommend everyone checking out the store.  I wanted to buy this guy on the spot but when I saw the price, I figured I might be able to make my own even cheaper.

When I showed my father in law what I wanted to do, he went straight to work looking for a plastic mounted deer head just like the above for less money and whaaaalaaaa, he found on ebay for a fraction of the price!  So I bought it, bought some spray paint and now I have a guy just like the one above hanging on the wall in my living room... and I LOVE IT!!!!!  I think it is safe to say that I have officially embraced the hunting culture that is so popular here in the Midwest without harming any animals!!  :-)  Here is my process:

This is what it looked like when it arrived, it is heavy plastic with lots of detail, painted with natural colors. (excuse the box, I know it is distracting)

1st coat, primer.  I recommend it when painting anything that you don't think would accept the paint.  It looks awesome white too!!!  But I like color too much to leave it this way.

 Here is the final product!!!   To explain where it is mounted a little better; I have a vaulted ceiling in my living room as you can see at the top of the picture.  The ceiling in my kitchen is not vaulted so this is the section of wall that drops down to meet the kitchen ceiling.

The colors are bad in this next photo, but I gave you enough to see the ceiling in my kitchen to get a better idea of where it is in the house. (the wall color in my living room is a light green apple green, so it is a bit less 'electric' than in the above pictures and it is much more colorful than in the below picture...  I think I need a better camera!)

I was peer pressured into making my Christmas cards this year :-)  even though I tried so hard to talk myself out of it!  So I am back to work on those...   :-)  hopefully I will have a post on those within the week!