Big pat on my back..

yes, I deserve it! I finally decided to conquer, tackle, getagrip, deal with........ the craft room!! That has been a splinter in my side for a very long time, well 2 years actually. We've been in the new house that long already and I had boxes of STUFF just everywhere. If you had been to my house and seen that room, you would have not even known the carpet color, yes it was that bad. I would temporarily move things from here to there when I needed to find something. I needed some motivation and I finally found it.

We are having company this weekend, our nephew and his wife, Rick & Kristen who will be sleeping in our spare bedroom but then cousin Shana is staying over Friday night as well to help with our upcoming horse club Prize Ride, so I wanted her to have an option of either airmattress in living room or in craft room And then next month we are hosting Taco Night South of the Border social with the horse club and I know some may want to see the house, so it was just time. :) Whew was that a chore! I was secretly happy that Derek had to work both Saturday & Sunday for his employer because I hate just sitting around the house when he is gone and find I am most motivated when I am alone actually.. when he is home I am much more content to just sit around.. hmmm, does that mean I'd be skinny if I was single?? :)

It took me all of Sunday (about 6 hours) and then I finished it up last night. It looks AMAZING! I mean it's not like super awesome, but there is nothing out of place... Everything is in a bin or on a shelf and my craft table is 100% cleared off, I can get into and close the closet doors! I even was so refreshed and excited about my new room, that this morning I did not stick with my usual morning ritual of getting ready then watching a recorded show for 45 minutes before leaving for work.. no I went in that craft room and started working on a project! Yes that time of year is here, projects are starting to come into my head for the holidays and Derek has me committed to a project. He decided this past weekend that he wants me to make him an apron for this coming Saturday.. see he is cooking at our prize ride and he wants his very own custom apron.. so I now have what 2 days to get an apron made, finish spotless cleaning the house (due to company coming Thursday) finish all the laundry, go to a mtg tonight.. doesnt sound like a lot but basically I have just a couple hours tonight and then all of Wed after work.. thats it! But I am Superwoman this week, so I will find a way to get it done.. Oh and I'm fairly certain I will also have to find time to cook dinner Wed as well since Derek spends a few hours every night working out in the shop on a sidejob that he has to get done.. :)

and since Derek had to work this past weekend, we didnt progress much further on the fencing.. well nothing you can see anyways. Saturday dad spent a few hours at the house with me drawing the line and marking all the posts where we will nail in the 2x4's and 2x6's.. so now we just need to get those top rails nailed in and we will be another step closer to bringing the boys home.. looks like we are still a couple weeks out on that since time keeps filling up with other shit to do! :) I do love the busy life though, I just wish I didnt have to work fulltime so I can get a lot more side projects accomplished.

Oh and I did buy new batteries for the camera, so lets hope they work so I can start taking some pics. :)

Funny story.. we have been planning to cut down the very beautiful Black Walnut Tree that hangs over our yard, the unspeakable! I try not to talk about it infront of my parents because I know they dont like/agree with the decision. Well on Sunday, we had them over for dinner (mmm, Derek cooked up another round of smoked ribs!).. anyways, the guy calls me that plans to take down the tree. We are giving him the wood if he does all the work. So I'm on the porch chatting with him and dad was out there so when I get off the phone, he says "Let me know when the guy is coming out" I said "Oh cool.. so you want to be here then?" he says "Yeah so I can hold him off with a shotgun!!!" LOLOLOL I got a good laugh on that one.. quick thinkin there pops.. it was hilarious. I do feel a tinge of guilt, but dad did say he would like to be there, probably just to watch the guy and ensure he doesnt destroy our shed or anything else. The guy is taking it in small pieces and most likely will come by when we are not home. I did notice yesterday that Marc has started coming out and cutting up the trees downed in the pasture.. which is great! It will look a lot different once all the fallen trees are taken out and we can get a true visual on our new pasture.

I am sitting here thinking about that darn apron and how I just want to get home, turn on my tunes in the craft room and sew that thing together!! :) So if I dont show up at the horse club meeting tonight, you'll know why.. lol

I do have another project I need to start on ASAP. A gift for a friend.. should take me about a week, I will start on that after this week is over. I will be riding on Friday (most likely in the pouring rain) to help for our prize ride and then working all day Saturday in registration while Derek cooks up some tastey burgers and then Sunday was planning to take Kristen riding while the guys go golfing.. so either we will be riding most likely in the rain or I'll be chillin in the house on Sunday.. thats up to Kristen. :) I have a christmas project already in my head for our gift exchange, need to find the pattern online for what I plan to make. I will try really hard not to overwhelm myself with projects this year, we actually are quite excited for the holiday season this year and already looking forward to getting a tree up! I know.. it's only flippin September but we didnt do a tree last year because I was just too bogged down. And when we cut down all those trees 10 days ago, well the smell was so refreshing of the downed trees, it reminded me of Christmas and I am excited.. and we will have another puppy so Derek is excited for his christmas gifts because he has a whole list of things he wants for his new dog! lol

Speaking of which.. Cooper should be born in about 2 weeks!! Well, please keep your fingers crossed that there is atleast one male pup born.. and the othe pup of ours Ellie, well she is doing pretty good too! She was put on a leash yesterday for the first time, yeah she didnt like it! She went for a car ride too, she was a bit stressed about the situation but she'll get used to it. Every once in a while she realizes she has a voice and uses it, very cute because it scares her about as much as it startles us! Still struggle with "come" but now that I have the leash, I can use that to my advantage to help teach her. She's a hair taller than Russell, but he defiantely outweighs her, I think he always will no matter how tall she gets. We've started integrating the doggy door into her life now, when she is outside and we are inside, I shut the door and force her to figure out how to come in the house through it.. a slow process that will take her a little time to get used to. Within a couple weeks, we'll put up the baby gate so they will have access to the entryway when we are gone.

Oh another funny story! Saturday morning when Derek got up at about 6am, the smoke detector out in the hallway by the kitchen was beeping about every 90 seconds, obviously letting us know the battery had died. I didnt think much of it, Derek let the dogs come in the bed and I went back to sleep. Well I got up about 7 to potty and Russel got out of bed and followed me into the bathroom and then followed me back into bed.. very odd! He NEVER gets out of bed on his own, he could usually care less about where I go.. nothing interupts his sleepy time! So I get up about an hour later and he seems to be stuck to my side like glue, just wouldnt leave me. I took the kids out to potty and back into the bedroom. He followed me into the bathroom again and as I turned the shower on, he was right there. I stepped in to the shower and he followed me in! WTHeck.. poor guy, it was starting to click that the beeping was really upsetting him.. He would not get out of the shower.. LOL it was rather sad but hilarious. He showered with me and followed me back to the bed when I was done, I had to now dry him off too. After I got dressed I immediately went in search of the ladder (the damn thing is on the highest peak of the vaulted ceiling) to turn the beeping off, pour guy was panting he was so stressed out. One of the children piddled under the ladder, I am not 100% convinced it was Ellie.. Russell was so upset I think it is possible it was him.

I did finally get the thing turned off and later that day we bought a new battery and bought some backups so we dont have to put him through that again. Derek wondered if maybe there is a dog vibe or something that comes through the detector that would purposely stir up a dogs senses so a dog might awaken quicker than the human.. good thought?