Lawn Chairs & Music

Those of you who have been following my blog know that John and I have been trying to find new things to do after he gets home from work on week nights.  So tonight, a Thursday night, we packed up our lawn chairs, picked up some take-out and went to an outdoor concert on the River Walk in Mishawaka.  The city has really made a beautiful area down there and it was nice to actually do something there instead of just driving by like we always do.

 

Good music, great weather and it was free! What more could you ask for?

Friends, Food & Playtime!

Spent today catching up with my friend Ashley and her little boy Jaxon.  We went to lunch downtown and then to the park so Jax could run around and we could talk a little longer. 
 

Other than running into each other a couple of times, it had been awhile since we got to really spend some time together so it was really nice.  Jaxon just had his first birthday and is walking...big changes since I last saw him.

After the park we went for some frozen yogurt...always a great way to end the day!

Ooops.... I Did It Again!

Today I was back at Lisa and Ty's painting their storage building, and I did what I said I wasn't going to do... I picked another splintered piece of wood off and AGAIN it wasn't a splinter, but another leg of a SPIDER!!  At least this time I wasn't on a ladder!  I'm also glad to say I got done painting today.

 

 

 

John and I have decided that we should paint the big 2 car garage at our rental property and now I'm worried that if Lisa and Ty's brand new building can have 2 spiders on it, how many will be on that old garage!?!  I definitely won't be wearing flip flops while painting there!

Paws & Paint

What happens when you use a corner of your guest bedroom as your paint studio and you drip some paint on the floor?

Well, the curious nature of your cat shows up and puts her paw in it and then tracks it on the carpet and then onto the bed!!

Look at her....I could only be mad for a minute cause she is so darn cute!  Anyway, I guess it was my fault for dripping the paint in the first place. :(

Painting and....Screaming?

Lisa and Ty had a new storage building built at their house and they asked me if I would paint it for them.  Since I'm running out of things to paint at home, I thought why not?  It is a good size building, so it will take me all week to complete it I'm sure. 

Yesterday, I started painting the shutters, which I brought home to our house to do.

Today, I decided to start on the trim of the building.  Things started out pretty good...cool breeze and in the shade.  A couple hours in and both the shade and breeze were gone and I was starting to get hot and hungry!  But I kept pushing myself to do one more piece of trim before stopping. (Note to self: Next time just stop). While up on my ladder painting I saw a piece of splintered wood, one of several that I had to pick off, so I grabbed it and guess what?  This time it wasn't a splinter, it was a SPIDER!!!  I screamed and almost fell off my ladder!  (No surprise to anyone who knows me). After a quick look around to make sure no one saw me jumping and shaking, I packed up my stuff and went home.

Sorry Lisa and Ty, but any little splinters I find tomorrow will just get painted over and not removed!

A Wine & Canvas Monday Night

John and I decided that we want to get out of the week night rut. Coming home from work, eating dinner, watching tv and then going to bed. Monday thru Thursday, every week. 

So we've been trying to come up with something a couple nights a week that is different. Tonight, a Monday night, we went to "Wine & Canvas" at Papa Vino's.

It was a painting class....with liquor. They told us that the more you drank, the better your painting would look! LOL!!!  Take a look at all the fun we had...

It was a lot of fun and I think John did a great job on his painting.  Hopefully we will go again sometime.

Chevron Crayon Art

Here's another crayon art design I made for Lisa.  She has really been into the Chevron pattern lately, so I decided to make that design with crayons...

This looks easier than it actually was.  I had to do a lot of measuring and line drawing to figure out the best layout for the size frame I was going to use, but once that was done, it was just a lot of cutting, hot glue....and a burnt finger!

Amazing how you can take something as simple as kids crayons, put it in a frame and all of the sudden it is art.

With all the Back to School specials it's a good time to buy crayons, but I can't wait until it all goes on clearance so I can stock up for future projects!

Crayon Art Owl

I wanted to make something for Lisa for her birthday that she could put in her classroom.  I heard about art made with kids crayons, so this is something I came up with, keeping in mind, her owl themed room.

After painting a light teal background on the canvas, I used painters tape to make an owl shape:

Then I picked out the colors of crayons I wanted to use (teals, blues, greens & browns) and started cutting them in half:

Then I hot glued them to the top of the canvas:

Using a heat gun, I melted the crayons until most of the tape was covered.  While the melted crayon was still warm, I used the point of a shape knife to removed the tape.  This is how it turned out:

The crayon bled under the tape, but I think I like it better than if it had came out a clean white line.



25 Years of Lisa

25 years of joy.
25 years of pride.
25 years of fun.
25 years of laughter.
25 years of "Mom".
25 years of sillyness.
25 years of love.
25 years of hugs.
25 years of thankfulness.
25 years of wonderful
25 years of Lisa....Happy Birthday to my daughter. I love you with all my heart!

A Day of Savings & Free Money!

This kind of day doesn't happen to me often, so I needed to tell you about it. Around 10:00 this morning I sold 2 clothes racks that I listed on Craigs List.  I asked $40 each and the woman that came asked if I'd take $70 for both?  We settled on $75.  

That's pretty good right? Well, let me tell you what makes it even better....I got these racks out of a dumpster!  Yes, I dumpster dived, which means I paid nothing for them. Yep, FREE!!  It was when I was working and the clothing store next door was throwing out a bunch of really nice racks and displays, so I helped myself.

So now I have $75 dollars and I'm in need of a Heat Gun for a new project I'm working on.  I jump in my car and go get this bad boy from a local pawn shop for $15. Good deal right? Especially when you are buying it with free money!

Then I head to CVS to get John's prescription filled and where I get this box of hair color FOR FREE with some CVS bucks.

My last stop was the grocery store to pick up a few items....which were also free because I bought them with my FREE MONEY!

I wish I could do this sort of thing every day....but not sure I want to dumpster dive again! 

   PS: Yes, the Maple Buns are for me. :)

Having a Pay Back Day

Have you ever had a Pay Back Day?  You know, after you've had a really great day or maybe even a few good days in a row....you know it is coming.... you can feel it....a Pay Back Day.  A day that evens out the score. A day that makes up for all the good stuff that's been happening. A day that says "Hey, everything can't go your way"....I know you've had those days, you just didn't know what they were called!  

My Pay Back Day started when I finished my shower this morning, reached for my towel and it wasn't there.  Don't you just hate having to walk across the floor dripping wet!?! 

It wasn't until 1:30 today that I realized the shirt I had on was inside out!  Want to know how I noticed it was inside out?  Well, I got something nasty on it while out in the garage, digging through the trash, looking for a $1000 check that I accidently threw away!

My day picked up when I found the check, but it went back down when I saw the condition of the check.

After a long phone call in which I had to tell 3 different people how I accidently threw a $1000 check away and dug it out of the trash, they are re-issuing me another one.

It's only 4 pm so my Pay Back Day isn't over yet, but whatever the rest of the day brings, it's worh all the great days I got to spend with Lisa this summer!   

Judge, Jury & Executioner

Today I had to play Judge: Yes this guy is breaking the garden laws:

Jury: Guilty of eating the leaves of a Bell Pepper plant:

Executioner: Death, buy garden scissors:

Right now I'm feeling a bit......sad, sort of sick to my stomach and a little guilty.  But, I feel justice was served!

Late Night Purchase

Late one night, about a week or so ago, while John was sleeping, I was up flipping channels on the tv.  Tired, but unable to sleep, I flipped from one late night program to another until I landed on one of those home shopping networks where they were demonstrating something that my tired eyes thought looked pretty darn good! 

IT WAS A BOWL WITH A FOOD CHOPPER BUILT INTO THE LID!!  I watched in amazement as they chopped one thing after another. There were all these different blades and it even came with an additional storage lid AND it came in lots of different colors!

The next thing I knew, I was on the phone ordering it....."In red please".

Skip a head a few days later when a package shows up at my door and I wonder what can this be?? 

Of course, after opening it, it all came back to me and I had to try it right away....

This was strawberries and peaches (the only thing I had at that time that could be chopped) and I called it "Fruit Relish".

Note to myself: Read the warnings...they are there for a reason!

Despite the injury, I think I will use this from time to time so it wasn't a total waste of money, plus Luckie got a new box!