Idle Wednesday

Hammering out your frustration!

These spoons were all buy themselves in a shoebox, engraved with our last initial, waiting for a reason to exist. Things tend to pile up that way here. I know there will be a use for it someday, it's cool, or some such thing...

I saw some forks that had been hammered and reused as hooks, so I made a bee line for the spoons and got to work hammering all of the week's frustrations out. I used a small chasing hammer, and a vise to shape and bend them, and my drill to make the holes. It was loud but satisfying work.

I have three line up on the wall in my bathroom, and they are the perfect place to hang my ponytail holders and headbands. Now, what am I going to do next week??

Thank you Sarah Hoy, this made my Monday!

Halloween Dance

Laurel's school had their annual Halloween dance. Laurel took the opportunity to dress up rather than wear a costume. We don't celebrate the holiday, but I figure this doesn't count as doing so. Miah was a little jealous, so she raided her dress up trunk and came out dressed as "The Karate Kid" How cute is that??
I have to mention this also: At the dance they have competitions, scariest, ugliest, prettiest...etc. The teachers line the kids up, and judge them. *Sigh* Laurel won prettiest costume, her prize was a free slice of pizza, and a soda. Geeze...all her life I've avoided the people who swear she should be in pageants, and they snuck the very thing I was trying to NOT teach my daughter into a halloween dance. Beauty or attractiveness should never be used to get what you want in life. Thanks teachers for showing her how the world works. Errg!

Indefinite Re-Enlistment, 10 years and 10 months to go.

The Flags representing all 50 states surround the room.

The Unit Motto.

The unit and company flags.
The Sergent Major insisted I get my picture taken...who says no to him?The SGM, me, Jay and the Lt. Colonel.
He held my hand forever while the 1st Sgt tried to figure out my camera. Embarrassing!
We should have quit while we were ahead...But he signed it anyway!

The 1st Sergent

The Major

The Lt. Colonel

Jay: happy, or distressed?

My t-shirt

The mugs we got. The bottom screws off to reveal a hiding place.

The "coin" The colonel slipped me. (It's a long standing tradition.) Complete with the oath on the back.

The front of the coin has the signal flags, and the Am. flag.

The coin the Colonel slipped Jay, and his knife.

Jay's new hat.

Well, it's official. We are in it for the long haul. We didn't have the ability to choose what post we go to next, but instead received a couple of thousand dollars, an acu back pack, a t-shirt, two coffee mugs, a pocket knife, and an acu pen. The re-up SGT was really big on "swag". I find it's funny that we are supposed to get excited about junk, when what the ceremony is really about the fact that we have made the final decision. There is no going back now.

I've been thinking about the last sixteen years. High school, Basic, AIT, a rotation in Kuwait to guard the border (Before the war) a tour in Korea that was absolute hell, three deployments to Iraq, all of the classes, field training exercises, deployment preparation, two kids, football games, school performances, Barn-Lot plays, four dogs, two cats, a million fish and frogs (never again) broken bones, trips to the er, friends I'll never loose, Operation Homefront, Red Cross, FRG Leadership, seven 0r ten moves, five cars, vacations, and all those stolen moments...what a life we've had together. I have no idea if I'd change it if I had the chance. Sometimes you wish for certain things to go away, but in the end we are all the sum of our experiences. I like us as we are. My little family has had it's share of insanity but we love each other. That I'd never change.

Idle Wednesday

Re-Purposing Old Things!!

I found this cute little dress at Goodwill. It's way to short and armless for me to wear, but I loved the huge pockets and the way it was cut. I stared at it for a while, trying to decide what I could do with it. (Read-what is a good excuse for me to buy it)
So, for this, the first week of "Idle Wednesday" I re-purposed this cute little dress into an apron. I cut straight up the back, took the ties off to use later, and used my seam ripper to pull off about an inch of the trim so I could cover the ends of the seam where I would attach the apron strings. A couple of hems and tucks later, and you have a completed project! This is incredibly easy, a great way to reuse old stained dresses you have fond memories of and fun to do!
The pockets are huge, so what I've been doing is wearing the apron like it's a part of my outfit, and as I go about my day I can stuff and store things in the pockets to place in their proper room later. I know I sound like a 1950's wife here, but I love my apron. If I have a huge load of laundry to move, or a stack of books to put away, all I have to do is lift the hem and use it like a basket...it's my new favorite thing.

America The Free (Miah's Play)

The Videos will not load, so I'll have to try again later. She was so cute, my kiddo. Miah really got into the songs, which the facial expressions prove. I laughed my butt off.

Miah's tooth

Sure enough, the poor kid finally lost that tooth that's been hanging on for months. I just don't get it. When I was a kid, if there was even an inkling that I had a loose tooth, I'd be on it like white on rice. If I wasn't wiggling it with my fingers, I'd be pushing it around with my tongue. This kid refuses to touch it until it's practically dangling. Then she comes running up to me and makes me yank it out. Crazy kid!

The Pumpkin Patch

Jay actually got a Saturday off, so we finally got to go to the pumpkin patch. We'd been planning it for weeks, but he always had Army stuff to do. It wasn't as cool as I'd like, as a matter of fact it was 73, rather than the 60 I'd have liked it to be. But the sun was out and it was nice to get one last sunburn in before the cold weather hits. I was surprised that among all the kid's activities there was a few booths for grown-ups. I got a great pair of Sterling silver and malachite earrings, and a turquoise bracelet that matches a necklace and earring set I already have. That made my day!

Bee Hive!

Chain Saw art

Hamster wheel race

The wide view of the beginning of the maze...

I love it when people assure me, "The jewelry is all hand made!" Uh, we can tell :)

Duck Race!

On the way home we drove around town. We'd never been in Louisville (pronounced loo-iss-ville, for my Kentucky friends, not Luovlle) Saw a couple of cool houses...

And a trailer with a horse and hound dog chillin in the front yard together!

And the cotton fields, which we'd never seen before.

Kackleberry Farm...
Corn Maze...
Corn Cannon...
Petting Zoo...
Duck Races...
Hay Rides...
Cotton Picking...

It was a looong day!