Our First Geocache

Dustin, Sadie and I went geocaching for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  If you've never heard of geocaching, basically, it's a modern day treasure hunt :)

D told Sadie we were going to a park, technically it is kind of a park :) She grabbed up a stick to clear the pathway and for protection from bears.  Each time we go to our neighborhood park she and her daddy each pick up a stick and go hunting in the bear forest (the bear forest consists of about 10 trees).

Dustin found a geocache destination not too far from where we live so he printed of the coordinates and clues and used the GPS device on his phone. The longitude and latitude had to be converted into the right format.  With no pen or paper, I had to remember the numbers 806 (the top numbers) and Dustin remembered the bottom numbers.  When it was my turn to get us lost I asked him about every 5 minutes what his number was.

As we were walking through the woods I thought of three things:

1. I hear gun shots and remembered, oh yeah, its youth weekend for deer hunting and we are in the woods, and I don't see any purple on any trees or fence posts (meaning no hunting).  Youth, as in, not as experienced with guns as adults.  hmm, added excitement!

2. We are wandering around out in the middle of nowhere, following the directions of a complete stranger, to find a box with something in it that we don't know what it is. Then I remember...

3. My sister and I had a Halloween party one Fall (also a birthday party for my sister, born 2 days after Halloween).  Other than the costume contest, the biggest deal at the party was the scavenger hunt.  The directions led us across the gravel road to our neighbor's farm. No one lived at the small house at the farm so that added an additional amount of eeriness.  As we walked closer to the corner of the empty house, a giant gorilla jumped out, hollering and pounding his chest. 

The gorilla was actually my dad dressed in a gorilla suit and well giant...um... he's about 6 feet tall, not exactly a giant. With all these ideas running through my head, at this point I'm expecting anything scary to happen, but my curiosity won't let me turn around, even though at this point I'm carrying around the little 3 1/2 year old explorer on my hip (who kept asking if my back was hurting, she's so perceptive :) )

Thanks to my directions, we weren't even close, so Dustin took back over.  I knew he was getting close when Sadie refused to go through a little bit of a rougher path.  We had been wandering around for about an hour when D announced that he found it.  He waited for us to catch up and he pulled out the hidden box.

We had planned to just see what was in the box so that we would have a better idea of what to bring on the next geocache, but how do you explain that to a 3 year old who sees a box full of treasures.  She picked out a small flashlight and we were reaching in our pockets to find something to leave. I reached in my right pocket and found my keys.  The only thing I had to leave was my surfboard rainbow bottle opener keychain; this was a very sentimental item that was neat to leave since it was our first geocache but hated to let it go to.

The keychain came with the rainbow sandals Dustin got me for my birthday.  I realized I needed a pair of Rainbow Sandals when my friend Vanessa and I drove to Florida one Spring.  To stay awake while driving I called Dustin (my friend from work), what a great friend to talk to me until well after midnight.  While Vanessa and I were relaxing in the hotel hot tub, two guys started talking to us about working at Lalapolosa and how one of them had found a pair of broken Rainbow Sandals.  Rainbow Sandals are guaranteed for life, so when he sends them back to Rainbow, Rainbow will send him a new pair. That sounded amazing.  Oh, did I mention he was under the influence of LSD?  Yes, he also explained to us that when he pulled his hand out of the water, to us, it just looked like dripping water but to him (on LSD) he saw beautiful colors coming from the water.  I couldn't stop thinking about the Rainbow Sandals and I couldn't stop thinking about Dustin.  Two months later, we were a officially a couple and he got me the Rainbow Sandals for my birthday...that came with the keychain.

1 1/2 years later, we got a new puppy...Rainbow does not guarantee that your new puppy won't chew them up.  So all I had left was the keychain and the memory :)

Sadie was excited to have her new treasure!

I wasn't able to find the cache myself, but  I was able to find a short cut back to the car, even though I know Dustin was hesitant to follow my lead (I'm famous for getting lost).  We quickly got back to the car and I was looking for the keys.  I reached in my left pocket and found a unicorn necklace...

Earlier that week:

Me: You should wear this glittery unicorn necklace
Sadie: I don't want to wear it, it doesn't match
Me: Your shirt is blue, the unicorn is blue, what doesn't match?
Sadie: I'm not wearing it
Me: Fine I'll wear it then (reverse psychology, right?)

Sometime around noon, I look at myself in the elevator (at work) and I realize, I'm wearing a glittery unicorn necklace. Oh my gosh, who has seen me today wearing this necklace. 

If only I would have reached in my left pocket instead of my right.  I would still have my keychain and not the unicorn necklace :)

Yellow Cake Mix Cookies

Since we got our "new" cookie jar (bottom of page), I've been on a cookie-kick!
While Aubree, Hailee and Felicity worked on their homework, Sadie and I decided to surprise everyone with cookies.  Hailee mentioned earlier that she wanted peanut butter cookies but Aubree doesn't like peanut butter.

So here's what we did...

Sadie and I each got our own bowls and we put half of a yellow cake mix in each (1 1/2 cups is half)

Sadie added 1/4 cup olive oil to her bowl-I added 1/8 cup olive oil to my bowl

We each added 1 egg into our bowl

Don't let the Crisco confuse you, it doesn't get added

Then Sadie added 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1 Tablespoon of Water to her bowl - I added 1/4 cup of Sugar- and then we each stirred the ingredients together in our separate bowls.

So now we have two different kinds of cookies made at the same time; peanut butter cookies and sugar cookies.

We dusted them all with sugar and criss-crossed them with a fork. You could ice, sprinkle or roll out the sugar cookies, but for a weeknight treat-that's too much work!

We baked them in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes.

Service with a smile :)

Whooo wouldn't love our "new" cookie jar

 

I've wanted the owl cookie jar from Anthropologie, but every time I think I'm going to buy it, I talk myself out of it.  $68-$128 is a lot to spend on a cookie jar especially since I like the look of the white one and the size of the orange. So I spent $10 on this one instead, which is the size of the orange.  I'm considering Anthro-ing it up but I'm haven't completely decided yet.

A Real Hoot Canister-Anthropologie

Wise Ol' Canister-Anthropologie

Thumb Print Cookies

These are so much fun and pretty delicious!

Mix up the following (in order)
1 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar

Felicity and Sadie demostrating :)

1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla (or almond)
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt

(with clean hands) take a teaspoon of dough and roll it into a ball.

They look so serious :)
 

 Press a thumbprint in each cookie.

Fill the thumbprint with jelly/jam or whatever sounds good to you.  The girls and I decided to use our homemade grape jelly.  (It doesn't sound that good-grape jelly on a cookie-but trust me...it's delicious!)

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.  These cookies won't really brown and they stay the same size. You know when they are done because they still look like dough but they are hard (that makes them 

sound awful, but they really are good).

Make a thumbprint in each cookie

Cookie Closeup 

I kept emphasizing "carefully fill the thumbprints
with jelly", but then just decided, "oh well" and let
her fill them in her 3 yr old way :)

You won't see Sadie in this picture, I have her trained...

Me: Sadie, I'm opening the oven

Sadie: *Gasp* I'm going to the frig.

The frig is the safe place from the oven :)

This is what they look like when they're done

Variation

We also took the same dough, 

rolled into balls (except Felicity, 

she made them cube shaped...they

turned out very cool looking!) and

hid a chocolate chip inside.  They

weren't as good as the jelly ones,

but still good!

Pillow from a Hoodie

Jack, our dog, is so "ruff" with our pillows, so when we go to replace them, we don't replace them with anything too fancy. They will just get chewed up by Jack anyway! So the girls had a couple of old hoodies that were in the give away sack.  I drug them out and used the opportunity to teach Hailee how to use the new sewing machine.

So first we cut the arms and the hood off of the hoodie.
Then I had Hailee decide if she wanted the seam on the outside or the inside. She picked the outside.

She chose a scribble stitch.

She filled the pillow with poly-fill.

Oh a closer look!  The fun of making something yourself. It says, "HAILEEHAILEE"
We haven't figured out how to stop it after it sews out the word.  I can just hear it now, Hailee is taking the pillow from one of her sisters who can't reply with, "...well it doesn't have your name on it" :) Brilliant :)

and now, we shove the poly-fill to the other side so that she can sew it closed

Now she is fluffing the pillow to spread the poly-fill back out.

Here it is, along with the other hoodie pillow we made. I had to take the picture quick, Jack wanted to test Hailee's sewing skills...will it survive being grabbed with teeth and slung from side to side...yes it will...or has so far!

Possum Belly Bakers Cabinet

If were at a garage sale and you saw a "work bench" that looked like this...

Would you buy it for $1?

My mom did, but she also realized that it wasn't really meant to be a work bench; in fact, it is a possum belly bakers cabinet. The drawers are out of it here so it is difficult to see that the two bottom drawers (on top of the top drawers in the picture) are deep rounded tin (on the inside, to keep rodents out) drawers that they used to store flour.

Since I don't know anything about these cabinets and my mom is the one that performed this marvelous transformation, I asked her to write about the process that she went through:

"The time on my table I don't know about. I just worked on it when I had a few hours to spare before I got too hot outside. The paint was that old lead paint so I had to drag all the pieces outside to work on it. I finished it within 2 weeks. Mostly working 2 or 3 hours a night. The paint stripper I started with I didn't have very good results with and went thru a whole can of it. I got a paint and epoxy stripper and that seem to go a little faster. I think someone had applied some kind of antiquing varnish over the top of the old green paint which made it really hard to get off. I did some sanding with a palm sander plus sanding some by hand also. The grooves on the legs were the hardest to get the paint out of. The boards on the top we had to remove because it was being used as a work bench and had oil and grease on it. I found the enamel top at a flea market for $25.00. Which was really lucky because it is bigger than the usual size. It was 48 inches long. The top is a little worn but just adds to the charm of it. What I think is really neat about the cabinet was apparently the person that used it (most likely the housewife) was definitely right handed because the top of the right top drawer where she opened it without using the handle was worn down considerably! I wish I could know who owned the table, if she was like my Grandma and made biscuits everyday on the breadboard and covered them after the meal with a tablecloth and Grandpa would grab one or two out  with a piece of sausage when he came in for a break from the fields. A funny story : When my Grandma sent 2 of my aunts to the house to make biscuits for supper and they messed up the ingredients and was scared to tell Grandma what they did because they had wasted the lard and flour which was hard to come by in those days. They were afraid they was gonna get a whipping so they went out and dug a hole under a bush and buried it! They made a new batch and never did tell anyone even as adults till after Grandma died!!! How things have changed over the years! Anyway, that's my deal about the possum belly cabinet".

Notice the rounded "possum belly" drawers.  This looks amazing!  Mom was amused by my mentioning her table-thing and said, "Yes I guess I do have a table-thing. I consider it my rescue effort for them instead of them going to the trash or wherever. How's that for an excuse!??"  I love it! Save the Plant, Save the Whales, and Save the Tables :)  

These cabinets (on ebay) are listed  in the amounts of $300 to $1500!  

DIY Table Transformation

While Brandi was up, we also picked up my mom and went to my favorite antique store.  While we were there my mom found this table that she thought I needed (either she forgot that she is the one with the table-thing or she has run out of table room...probably the later).  I was unsure but I did like the curved legs...and I needed something for my diagonal wall.  Brandi told me later that she kind of liked it, but didn't really like the curved legs, ha! Mom said, put it under the girls picture on the diagonal wall (hmm...same place I was thinking), and if you have any of the paint left from the picture "frame", paint the table the same color. I start to visualize it...

me: mmm, how much is it

Mom: $10

me: Sold!

It will be a fun project for Brandi and me, so I'll risk the $10.

Here is the table, put in the exact place I want it to go.

Our paint clothes are on and we're ready for the table transformation

First we sanded it all over, so that the paint would stick!

Next we spray painted the table with a darker blue

We let it dry over night and then brush-painted on the Tiffany color (left over from Aubree's party).  Once it was dry, I used the palm sander again and distressed it. I thought at this point I might ruin it but I kept reminding myself that it's a $10 table :) It's impossible to ruin a $10 table :) It's difficult to see the distressness of the table...it's a little more obvious in the picture above.  Notice the edges and the worn lines on the flat surfaces.

Here is the finished product.  The picture is a $10 poster and the frame was repurposed from Sadie and Aubree's parties, which was repurposed from an old window frame and chicken wire.  I flipped it to the "wrong" side so that the picture would fit better (clipped on with mini clothespins) and it looked a little rougher.  The book is On Oregon Trail, I had purchased it in elementary from the used book sale (wow, guess I've always been thrifty :) ) I tied the book with jute and topped it with a flower hair clip that Brandi had made. 

When Dustin got home, I got to play my favorite game, "How much do you think this cost?" :)

Bird Tea Towels

This weekend my best friend Brandi came to visit.

We met in college during Summer session.  There were three of us that usually sat together and visited but one day the other girl wore a weird sweater and an ugly long skirt and we realized that she wasn't as close a friend as we thought.

Now before you jump to any conclusions you should understand where this understanding came from.  It wasn't the other girl's bad taste...it was the fact that neither Brandi or I could tell her!  If either Brandi or I had worn the skirt, the other of us would say, "What were you thinking...?"

Here's the other difference, it doesn't even matter what the skirt wearer (Brandi or I)'s reply would be, (e.i. "I'm going through a weird skirt phase, I'm trying to protect my skin from the sun"...) it wouldn't even matter, it's just about being close enough to a person to tell them your opinion, and about having a strong enough sense of self to listen, but still do whatever you want! It would've made the other girl cry :(

Brandi and I at graduation

Brandi and I had most of our classes together and worked on multiple projects together; so when I found out she was coming up to visit I immediately began looking up classes that we could take together, cooking, crafting, basket weaving...anything I could find, but after not really finding anything that jumped out at me, I decided we could just make up our own projects!

Also, I had just bought a new sewing machine and had a sewing class the week before so I was "sew" excited about her and I playing with my new machine!  Brandi and I have a lot in common; we have an eye for what looks good, we're thrifty, we love the hunt of a good bargain, and a coincidence that we both were Accounting majors?...I don't think so! 

So when Brandi complimented me on my tea towel from Anthropologie, I said, "Thanks, it was $12, don't use it". It was settled, we would make our own applique tea towels for a fraction of the price, that could be used. 

We found a cute  but simple pic:

Traced it and chose our material (still the same $3 box of garage sale material).

Brandi's bird

my 3 birds (symbolizing, Brandi, me, and the girl with the weird skirt, j/k!)

When taking my sewing class, my sewing instructor said, "Do you sew-on any appliques?"  (I sat there thinking through the context clues with a blank stare)  I finally gulped and said, "Is that the thing where you take a thing and sew it on other thing, like...letters and stuff?"  I felt like an idiot, but she said, "yep, that is sewing on appliques!" Yeah, I got it right, I didn't know there was going to be a quiz, lol!

Brandi, sewing her bird on.

We used the standard foot (B) and a blanket stitch to move around the applique and around the edge of the muslin fabric.

The look of the stitch from the back

My 3 birds, two outside birds sewn on.

The finished project!  It's hard to tell the exact cost, probably should be less than $1 a piece, but I used up half the spool of thread because I put the bobbin in backwards.  It kept clumping up and I thought the machine was broke until I replaced the empty thread and re-threaded the bobbin!  If only the machine would've come with an instruction manual...that wasn't so completely boring that I could've read it, and known what the problem was!