A Hunting he will go...

My Strong Silent Mysterious Man left this morning at 4:45am to go hunting again. The first trip out I made him a big bag of food, and a thermos filled with hot cocoa... my vision was of him hunkerd down in the woods wet and cold watching for critters.

As it turned out, he came home with the same thermos still filled to the brim... he had climbed up and down so many mountains, that he was plenty warm and did not need hot cocoa.

So that got me off the hook from making hot cocoa this morning at 4am... and it takes away the "he might be freezing in the cold" worry element out of the picture for at least this trip for me.

Now I almost want him to get a critter, contrary to my wishes on the 1st trip out... just so he will be done and not need to go out again. But I suppose that is a very selfish wish, since he seems to really enjoy it! Apparently there is some kind of adrenaline rush from going out and trekking through the woods searching to kill the parents of some innocent unsuspecting critter. I have some practice being the wife of a hunter.

Boys will be boys...

My boys are "at it" all the time, joking, wrestling, fighting, teasing....

2J's almost always brings it on himself....

But I think only because my "Man" just doesn't ever get caught starting it....

It is a MAJOR source of contention at my house...

I've seen it all to often... it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt...

It stresses me out... and they never listen to me to stop, so this time I tried a new tactic. I got out my camera, and decided to join in on the fun and see just what kind of goofy pictures I could get out of it. It did help... I was even laughing by the end of the bout. But only because nobody broke my favorite lamp... this time!

The ultimate object of the game is whoever can hold the other one down long enough and convince the dog to lick them in the face wins. Poor 2J's takes allot of face likins'...

Creative SIL ~ Idea for Camera Strap...

A few years ago, my in-laws gave all their children new digital cameras... it was such an awesome gift. And we have loved ours so much!

When any of us are together... these things are identical, so I tied a ribbon onto my strap so I would know which one was mine. It was ugly, but served the purpose.

My creative SIL gave me the idea to sew a ribbon on the strap... they come in the same width, and if you use the right color thread on the top, and black on the bobbin... hers looked like she bought it that way.

So after about 7 trips through various stores looking for just the right ribbon... you know it couldn't be too girlie for when my man takes the camera to camp. But it had to fit our personalities... not to trendy, but a pallet of colors that fit our family, and definitely not frumpy. There were sooooo many ribbons out there, it has taken me months to find the right one. Then a few more months, to actually get around to the project.

This is the old "ID"... the ragged ribbon tied around the strap.

I am not a sewer... so this is what I really wanted to use to attach the new ribbon....

Or even this...

I knew those wouldn't provide the same results, so I pulled out this bad boy...

It was hard to take a picture of it... but it turned out great!
Thanks for the super great idea Sis!!

How not to embarrass your teenager...

I try not to embarrass my teenager, but it seems like my efforts are basically wasted(unless he is acting spoiled in public... then I can get loud and obnoxious and knock him down a few pegs into humility with just my voice and the "evil eye"... my mother was a great teacher of example). I remember being a teenager all to well, and I am oh so familiar with the "want to crawl in a hole" feeling. But honestly, I try not to make it too awful miserable for my kid.

Well last week I filled the "cup of embarrassment" for the entire year. We are walking into the front of the school for parent teacher conferences and I walked up towards the wheelchair ramp to the sidewalk... and I wasn't looking straight down, but mostly using my peripheral vision, when suddenly I was face down on the sidewalk. Why would they put a curb in the middle of the ramp... it was ramped on the left, and ramped on the right, but only in the middle where I was walking, was a 10 inch curb sticking up.

I won't lie, it hurt. I scuffed up my knee and both hands trying to catch myself. I was embarrassed, but I knew my kid, once he knew I was okay, would never talk to me again. I got up and hobbled inside to wait in painful lines to talk to each and every one of his teachers. He didn't say much at the time, but later joked with his Dad about having to spend the day with "Miss Congeniality"... until I put a stop to the jokes. At least he hasn't disowned me. However, I wasn't through with dumb moves for the week.

We got an invitation to a reception of the older brother to 2J's good friend.

I couldn't find just the right card, so even though I am not "scrappy" yet, just a wannabe,... I made a card with some vellum and white ribbon and lace I had in the sewing kit. I thought it looked wedding-ish.

But, again 2J's was not impressed by my homemade efforts, even though I tried to convince him that hand made was much better than store bought.

I bought what I thought was pretty silver wrapping paper for the gift... only to get it home and opened to discover it was clear! My husbands first question was "didn't you read the label". Mr. label reader himself!!

I had nothing else to use outside of Christmas wrap, and no time to go back to the store, so I wrapped it in foil and covered it with the clear celophane to make it look like it was on purpose. 2J's was horrified at my mistake, but I managed to stay upright during the reception and not dribble food down my front.