Rags by Sock Monkey: t-shirt shag rug tutorial

I have been Pinteresting and I found this awesome rug!  My sister Sheree & I have been struggling with the whole weaving on a hula hoop without really getting anything that looks good.  I think this may be the solution!

I have included the picture from the blog http://ragsbysockmonkey.blogspot.com to show the end result.  Check out the link below to go directly to the page with instructions for the rug. 

The only thing that I will change is the way the “rags” are secured.  Instead of just pulling them through I think I will also add a knot or two.  This should secure the rags so I can wash the rug.

This should be easy peasy (in theory).  My main colors I have now are red, black, navy and white.  I think I can make this 2 t-shirt panels (from a 2XL shirt) and create a good size rug.

This looks like fun so I wanted to make sure I put it on my blog to share with my family and friends!

Rags by Sock Monkey: t-shirt shag rug tutorial

Vindication?

Check out this video that has gone viral.  If things don’t work or don’t look right please go to the bottom of this email and go to my blog via the link.    – I will reserve my comments until after you have watched it…

All I can say is, “WOW!”  I often wonder how to get through to our child and this is inspiring on so many levels.  I can see how many would think that this man is vindictive and childish but I can also see that this man has had ENOUGH! 

It is sure funny that those “things” we provide them with to have access to the internet come back and bite us in the butt.  I would not shoot the laptop just because I can use it and I would hate to shoot all that money.  In my case I can just cut off the child's access to our internet that we also pay for every month.  See, there it is again – we provide those items.  What they don’t think about is that if we provide those items we can also take them away.  This father in the video did just that – he took it away!

I remember being a selfish little teen idiot myself.  I was mean and spiteful to my parents and I thought everything was about me.  I guess it is something all kids go through but it is getting seriously out of hand now days.  I  don’t remember calling my parents names and going out into the public square to announce that they were lazy “bad words”.  I don’t remember wanting to shoot everyone in my school.  I do remember being one of those mean girls at school and now I hate that I was that way; it was my defense mechanism to keep people away and get through school.

Being one of those mean girls has come back to haunt me every now and then since Facebook has come on scene.  People still assume that you are the same person you were in high school because that is what they remember.  Thankfully I am a fairly well adjusted person because my parents raised me well and they loved me enough to be stern and follow through with punishments that were well deserved on my part.  The embarrassment of reliving my “mean girl” status is also deserved but it is also uncomfortable and a sore reminder of the person I was in school.

What are the sore reminders that today’s kids will be reliving in 20 or 30 years?  It won’t just be their actions in public or private that certain people will remember – it will also be documentation that they are piling up everywhere with social media.  I will use Facebook as an example since that is what I am familiar with and what is used on this video.  Time and time again I see people writing things on FB that they would never say to a person’s face.  Venting about your boss or the company you work for are swimming in a deadly area of water.  People assume that no one will hold them accountable for what they write of FB and that is why they don’t use the filter that normally works on the mouth. 

How about the flagrant cursing that family and friends are the audience to.  If you are a nice young lady looking for a job in an office environment and you swear like a longshoreman on FB you might be ruled out before you ever even get in the door for an interview.  I know that I don’t want one of my mother’s sorority friends to say something derogatory about me to her based on my postings – it would be embarrassing to both of us and especially hurtful to my mother.

You also have to realize that everyone knows someone that knows you!  If you are on FB and the person is friends with you on FB they can log in and show that “other” person everything you have done on FB – they can even print it out in living color to be distributed at the office party 2 years from now!  It can even be used in court to prove the person you really are when you think that no one is looking…  Here’s another one for you – your kids can see it and so can their friends and the rest of your family.  Maybe not now but maybe in 2 years when it is very inconvenient for you. 

At some point we move from being a selfish autonomous person to being concerned about other’s thoughts and feelings…at least we hope!  I do see several people that produce an attitude or say things that are less than becoming of them on FB and I know that I think twice about them and wonder why they cannot just be nice.  I had to learn to be nice in order to get along in the world.  Unfortunately, it took more than a couple of hard lessons and embarrassment before I started behaving like I should have been all along.  Looking back I am sure that it affected promotions and relationships at work in a significantly negative way.  In the end, it is just not worth it.  You’ve got to think about what you should be doing differently today instead of wondering what would have happened after you have lost your job or been embarrassed for something that is impossible to change.

Of course there is always KARMA and you know what they say about her!

OK – I guess I can get off my soapbox now.  I am happy to report that all of those lessons have served me well.  If nothing else I am very aware of my actions and even though it is always a “work in progress” I feel positive about the way I treat others.  I try to keep improving – especially in those areas that have become habit.  If I feel better about my actions I feel better about myself and every little bit helps!  I wish this was the solution to all my “ISSUES”…

Now, what to do about the mounds of paper that need to be entered and filed?

photoboother.com - create photobooth strips from your digital pictures

Talk about fun!  Check out this website that turns your photos in to photo strips.  I think I will be using this for some really interesting photos.  Here is the photo strip I just created by grabbing some pics off my computer.

They turned out really good so give it a shot by clicking on this link.
http://photoboother.com/

To font or not?

I always like playing around with fonts.  This particular font is called “Snickles” and it was free.  Of course I found it through Pinterest.This font is simply titled “Kool”.  I really like this font and it is titled “5th Grade Cursive”.

I have always liked fonts as far back as I can remember and I wish I had this “Banff” font when I used to write term papers in college with the Word Perfect program.

“Bleeding Cowboys" is the name of this font and for some reason it always reminds me of Prineville.

This font is called “Biondi” and I also use this one often.

Then we have the “Segoe Print” and the “Segoe Script” which my long time friend Simone turned me onto.  I love using both of these for personal emails.  I plan on using this script in one of my sales flyers soon since I think it gives a friendly feel to the advertisement.  Some fonts like “Ariel” just seem to be over used in print.  Times New Roman” seems to be used for headlines in the newspaper and Franklin Gothic Demi gets used a lot too.

I am now using “Brady Hand ITC” but I aspire to make my own font out of my handwriting.  There are several websites that you can print out a form and put your own handwritten letters into these little boxes and fax or scan it back.  Once you send it in they produce your own font and send you the file to enter into your windows font file.  No more settling for fonts like “Garamond” when you can have your very own handwriting.  There is a caveat to this though (here comes that “hindsight” thing again)… I have completed this form and had my font file returned but I didn’t like it anymore that this “Verdana” font.  It looked all funky like this “Bigtop” font.  Instead of writing smoothly in one motion like creating items on a “to do” list it was cramped and the letters didn’t all line up on the bottom.  It was kind of yucky like I think this “Freestyle” font is .  You have to put each letter in an individual box and make sure that it all lines up perfectly.  Of course I did not do this since my handwriting doesn’t look right when I have to force it.  I like my handwriting whether it is cursive or print.  It just kind of flows like this “College-Black” but it is not near as fancy.

Maybe I will just stick with downloading fonts that I find appealing like this “Book Antiqua” or the most recent find "Franchise”.  FRANCHISE LOOKS GOOD IN ALL CAPS but I also like it with upper & lower case.

I guess “Snickles”wins out for today.+I must get going so I can get some actual work done.  Just one last tip…if you are getting this in an email and you cannot see all of the font changes you may have to actually go to my blog.  Sometimes the email is funny like that and I wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on this messy post .

Tat Tat until next time…

Kinda cute…

Almost every day I drive down Neff Road to take Hunter to school.  On my way I always admire this one property on the north side.  It has a pond and a beautiful selection of trees of in the distance.  The real eye catcher is the red Adirondack chairs that they have sitting out by the pond; the backs face the road and I just love the setting.

Of course I had to stop and take a picture while everything was green.  It is cold here now and all of the chairs are tipped forward.  The leaves have fallen from the trees and the grass is brown.  I keep waiting for the snow to fly so I can get a winter picture but no dice so far.  Until then I will just keep thinking about what the people who sit in the three adult and two child size chairs are doing while it is so cold outside and their chairs are turned over…

Have you seen the funny tree in Bend?

We were on our way to a football game at Cascade Middle School a few months ago and I come through the traffic circle at Century Drive and Mt. Washington Drive and there it was.  It (the tree)is just up off to the right as you squirt out onto Mt.Washington Drive. If you are turning left towards the middle school you may miss it.It is a curious thing since I have never seen a Ponderosa Pine with such straight branches.  It is also TALL like a GIANT tree; especially when you compare it to the pine trees around it. Of course I did not take these pictures while driving but I did want some pictures of this oddity so I took these before a basketball game when we were over on the west side again.

I was kind of wondering how many people outside of Bend, Oregon have these sort of trees in their area…?

I’m sure that you may have guessed by now but I want to share anyway .  Take a look at this next picture…

It is a cell phone tower!

After realizing what it was I recall a bunch of articles in The Bulletin some time back when cell phones were becoming the thing to have.  There was something to the effect of Bend not approving another cell tower unless in blended in with the esthetics of the area.  I lived in Prineville and didn’t really give it much thought and I am sure that I never read a follow up article showing the outcome.I think I would have remembered seeing this giant tree before . 

I don’t get over that way much so I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing this tree.  I did want to blog about it though while I was thinking of it once again.

Buttermilk Caramel Syrup | Creations by Kara

Buttermilk Caramel Syrup | Creations by Kara

I just found this recipe for a buttermilk syrup and I think this will be good with pancakes this Sunday morning.  It is worth giving a try…

The Get More Out of Google Infographic Summarizes Online Research Tricks for Students

Here is an interesting link for anyone who would like to search more proficiently on the web.  I learned a lot and even bookmarked this site for later when I cannot remember .

The Get More Out of Google Infographic Summarizes Online Research Tricks for Students

Frugally Sustainable: Instant Oatmeal: A Less-Waste, Frugal, Homemade Alternative

We tend to love the instant oatmeal.  It is also a quick filling meal for hunting morning when you need something before you leave camp to beat the daylight into the hunting spot.  It is definitely expensive though!

I think we will give this recipe a whirl.  I would love to have a lower calorie alternative for breakfast on these cold mornings.  I also think I will see if there is anything else interesting on this “Frugally Sustainable” blog.

Frugally Sustainable: Instant Oatmeal: A Less-Waste, Frugal, Homemade Alternative

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Cupcakes | Annie's Eats

While I was cruising Pinterest.com I stumbled upon this wonderful cheesecake recipe.  I need to make a treat for the end of the month for Warren’s crew so I think this will fit the bill!  I look forward to trying this out in the next week .  I may just change it up a bit and use raspberry coffee flavoring instead of pricey raspberries though – then I will have flavoring left over for my coffee too – BONUS!

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Cupcakes | Annie's Eats

60 Small Ways to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 Days

60 Small Ways to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 Days

This is a pretty interesting article full of items to improve your life. I can't imagine having enough time to do all of this everyday for 100 days but I wouldn't mind trying a few out.

One of the things I love to do is take pictures.  I try to put my camera to use everyday even if I am just taking pictures of the animals.  Here is one picture I took while we went on the “Fruit Loop” tour in August.  Beautiful flowers everywhere up there

Creating From What You Have

Ucreate: Creative Guest: Nike from Choose to THRIVE wall pocket idea

http://choosetothrive.blogspot.com/ Nike's blog This is a really great website for using the stuff you have.

I am going to try this wall pocket idea because I need one and I think I can make it :-}

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty…

I took Hunter out to shoot his 12 gauge yesterday.  We went out to a patch of BLM directly across from the Pronghorn entrance about 9:15 AM.  I noticed the large cougar track when we drove in but I didn't want to alarm Hunter.  The hair on the back of my neck stood up and that was enough to make me more aware of my surroundings.

I ran the trap thrower and he did all the shooting.  He is practicing for a big pheasant hunt he has coming up on the 17th.  I have to admit, the kid is damn good with a shotgun.  He hit about 90% of the clays and burned through 3 boxes of shells.  Here he is packing up the left overs and the pigeon launcher.

On the way out I stopped to see the tracks.  I thought that maybe I was imagining how large the prints were so I wanted to get out and check them.  They were actually a little larger than I had thought on the first pass.  Here is Hunter putting his hand next to one for reference.

Hunter’s hands are good size.  This boy wears a size 12 shoe!  I think someone needs to take care of this big kitty.  I don’t think I would want to be out on the golf course at Pronghorn with this big tom watching me.  Gives me the hibee gibees!  Big cats creep me out a little.  I know how calculating the common house cat can be.  Multiply that by 10 and you got a big nasty ball of fur with large claws & teeth,

Warren & Hunter have cougar tags…maybe I need to invest in one since we need to get a little more practice in before the 17th.

I wonder if a big kitty like that would like a big pile of catnip…hummmmm….

New School Year and a New School

Out of all the changes we have had this year the hardest one will become real this week.  Hunter will be starting a new school.  He finished 6th grade at Crook County Middle School.  The last month of school was a blur between moving, 6th Grade Camp and Hunter staying at Mom & Dad’s the last week.

We did manage to register at the new school the very last day they were in session.  This allowed Hunter to put in for electives ahead of any “new” kids registering this fall.  It seems that this did help because he got the elective he listed first.

Drum roll please….

And the new school is…

We went in and paid fees, signed up for football, received his locker number & combo and got his class schedule on the morning of the 24th.  That evening they had an open house so we were able to take Warren with us to meet the teachers and tour the school.  We also loaded up the majority of his school supplies and took them to his locker.  That will sure cut the load down on the first day of school.  Here he is at his locker…

And this is his science classroom…

The night after open house we had to go back to the school for football equipment to be issued.  Since he is in sports he got his PE locker issued and it is a big locker.  I don’t have any pictures but I am sure you will see some coming soon.

Change is always supposed to be for the good.  In this case I think that this change will be great.  Everyone we met at the school was extremely friendly and respectful.  The coaches are really down to earth but strict at the same time.  On the whole everything was very organized and the campus is beautiful.  I was pleasantly surprised with everything and I think this is a step in the right direction.  Hunter is excited and that is good because school starts on 9/7/11 – tomorrow.

The Best Invention in My Kitchen

OMG!  This is one of the most awesome things I have used in a long time.  This is called a “NINJA” and it eats everything!  It has a large and a small pitcher and comes with a blade for each pitcher, a whipping blade and a dough hook. We received this as a housewarming gift from my parents and we cannot thank them too much.  It has altered our lifestyle a lot.  We use it almost everyday and I cannot buy enough fruit to kept it satisfied .  There is no fruit going bad at our house anymore.  We make smoothies like they are going out of style.  The only reason I have to cut the fruit up is to get the pits out.  If they don’t have a seed that needs removed they go in whole.  This bad boy can take it!  I even fed it whole cooked chicken breasts and it just burped a little when I opened the top and said, “give me more!”.

This little concoction is strawberries, bananas, vanilla yogurt, peanut butter, honey and a little ice.  This one tasted a bit like a peanut butter & jelly sandwich – gee, whoda thought?   Of course I usually put twice as much in but the picture looked a lot better with just half of the ingredients.

Lately I have been mixing bananas, black plums, peaches & nectarines with a little plain yogurt and ice.  I add a little Sweet-N-Low because this mix tends to bite back since the yogurt is plain.

Bananas are a great base and we always have a bunch sitting around that are ready to go in.  It is kind of fun to grab fruit and just grind it up into this sweet yummy drink.  I can make 72 ounces of yum in about 5 minutes.  I think I will start experimenting with a little mocha next.

This baby also does dough and it will crumb a pack of Oreo cookies in a split second.  I am looking forward to doing this with Nilla Wafers an graham crackers for desert layers or as pie crusts for pudding pies.  I let a couple Oreos fall in the smoothies a few nights ago and it was pretty good.

Oh the possibilities…

Thank you once again Mom & Dad!

16th Anniversary

We celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on Friday, August 26th.  I came home from my class in Prineville on Thursday night and I found these little beauties waiting for me!  They are so pretty.  I just had to take some pictures of them.

It is now more than a week later and they are still going strong and I have 2 more left that need to open up.  Unbelievable!

Of course I got some other goodies too!  These little babies are to make pearls!!!!  Applause!!!!!  You just squeeze these and make whatever size pearl you want.  And, I can make them in all of these colors – YAY!  I also received a couple of Copic markers and a video on learning to use the Copic Sketch markers.

My wonderful hubby received camo.  Here he is kind of avoiding the camera in his new beanie and long sleeve shirt.  Not pictured is his hard camo phone case.

My picture seems to be a bit blurry – GRRRRR!  I guess you get the idea though…

My sweetie also took me to the Saturday Markets in Bend.  That was a lot of fun and really nice of him.  Here is the kicker…

Saturday was opening day of bow season.  Anyone who knows my husbands knows that we are usually in camp on the eve of opening day.  I had completely expected him or all of us to be in the woods but he stayed home with me this year!  I guess I must finally be growing on him – poor guy!

Silver Lake Continued…

The continuation of the trip to Silver Lake is finally getting completed!  I have been just a bit distracted with school registration, school supplies, school clothes, school shoes and football equipment.  Gee, does anyone see a pattern here?  Yes, school is about to start but more about that later.

I think the last time I posted I went over or dinner at the Dinner Tree.  I do not think I mentioned the white butterflies that appeared everywhere when we arrived in Silver Lake.  There were swarms, flocks, groups, or whatever you call them everywhere.  They were all just floating around.  We woke up fairly early on Sunday and I was able to catch them resting in the pine trees.

Kim made us a wonderful sourdough pancake & egg breakfast.  Totally yummy – I need to get the sourdough recipe .   Here she is cooking away and Hunter enjoying his plate full of goodness.

After breakfast Al, Kim & I got down to business and created the artwork for “Al’s Welding Works” to be used on business cards and a vehicle magnet.  Here is the finished product.

That “retired” father-in-law of mine will be drumming up more business than he wants now   It was a really enjoyable work period for me.

We were able to visit a bit more on the back porch before we left.  We played ball with Shady and enjoyed the weather.

And then it was time to head back home.  I took a few parting pictures of the dragon flies and we said our goodbyes…

I especially enjoyed chatting and laughing with KIM.  We had a very wonderful visit and it will be nice to go back soon.

Weekend in Silver Lake

We traveled to Silver Lake over the past weekend to visit with my in-laws, Al & Kim Espinola.  We had a wonderful time visiting and I wish we could have stayed longer.  Funny that I wanted to stay longer b\c I am really a home body.

We got a late start Saturday morning and we only had about 85 miles to go.  We stopped in Lapine to pick up a craigslist item I had been begging a man to hold for me .  We also stopped at Subway to grab some breakfast which was totally yummy!

We eventually arrived and visited most of the day; only stopping to eat some fruit salad and cheese with crackers.

Saturday night we went to dinner at Cowboy Dinner Tree.  

Ariel Pic of Cowboy Dinner Tree

http://cowboydinnertree.net/  We got a nice salad, melt in your mouth dinner rolls, beans or soup, baked potato, a 26 oz. steak or a whole chicken and a berry cake desert.  Of course it was too much food to process so we had to take it home in a baggy.

Kim & Al know everyone that works there so we met all sorts of interesting people.  Al was just filling everyone in on Triple E Promotions too – thanks for all of the advertising!  You just never know when you will land a job

Here are some pictures I took while we were out to dinner.

This is the gift shop.  The actual restaurant is off to the left but I didn’t get a picture of it; the building is similar to this one.

Here is Warren & Hunter Standing in front of the cook shack.  All the meat smelled sooooo good!

Factoid:  Al built the chicken cooker a long time ago and they are still cooking away on it.

Here is Kim!  She is usually a blur in photos b\c she is always in a state of movement!  This time I got her and the only thing blurry is her earring that is still moving.  She is visiting with a longtime friend in the gift shop.

And here is a picture of the boys in the gift shop.  3 generations of Espinolas standing there.  I think Hunter is just about the same height as Papa Al !

We went into have our dinner after all the visiting and it was dark by the time we came out.  I did get one picture of an outside wall that had a bunch of neat antique implements on it.  It looks like old tack and maybe a bed warmer there in the middle.

That’s all for now – more on our visit with Kim & Al tomorrow.