Vacation is only two more work days away.............

and I'm so ready!!!!

We brought our travel trailer home Sunday afternoon and I have washed all the bedding and begun repacking for our upcoming Camping/Hunting trip.  On Thursday evening, after I get off work, we will be leaving for the Kiamichi Mountains for nine days.  We will actually be spending Thanksgiving there with several friends and their families.  If you have never been to this area of Oklahoma/Arkansas it is a great destination to visit.  If you are looking for a beautiful scenic drive you can take the Talimena Drive, which connects Talihina, Oklahoma and Mena, Arkansas.  Breathe taking views!!! 

So a little about a our Camping/Hunting Vacation:  This will actually be my first time to go down and stay for this long.  Last year, my son and I rode down with my dear friend Christi and her kiddos and we spent Thanksgiving Day through the weekend and came home on Sunday, three days is not long enough people!!!  We did not want to come home.   My husband on the other hand he was kinda ready since he had been there for 10 days. 

We will be hunting Whitetail deer (rifle season) and fishing as much as we can.  As well as, riding our Ranger to the top of as many mountains as possible :) and hiking, and reading (see I've downloaded about 18 books to my Kindle app on my iphone) and eating and sitting around the campfire and and............  well you get the point.  

So the last few days I've been packing and making lists of more things to pack.  I like to have everything I "might" possibly need, drives my husband bananas!  Not only will my husband, son, and I be camping, but two of our three dogs will be going on this trip, my son's wiener dog, Boomer and my Great Dane, Ladybug.  This will also be Ladybug's first camping trip, but I think she will be fine. 

Not to worry I will post lots of pictures upon our return!  :)

First Time to Make Homemade Bread............

And I must say I didn't do to bad.  The recipe was called "Herb Batter Bread" and it was really good!  I think next time I will add even more Italian seasonings, maybe a little garlic too.  My husband had his with butter and honey, which I thought was a little odd since it was and "herbed" bread, my son and I on the other hand had ours with some homemade pesto.  We did manage to save half the loaf and it will be part of Wednesday nights dinner :)

I substituted Extra Virgin Olive Oil in place of the shortening and I did not brush with the butter upon removing from the oven.  I baked it in one of the Pampered Chef Loaf stones, which always gives a nice even thick crust.  All in all it turned out really well and I will be trying this again very soon.  

Here is a link to the recipe:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/herb-batter-bread/detail.aspx

Recycling Old t-shirts into Rugs

Well if you are like me you have seen plenty of the "Rag Rugs" and have fallen in love with them.  I have drooled over these for quite some time and decided to finally try my hand at it.  So I twisted my husband's arm and he stopped at Wally World on his way home and bought me a Hula Hoop!  And a light up Hula Hoop at that!!  Yea!!!!  Of course we all had to take a turn at trying to "hula" and the three of us failed miserably. 

So it was off to the garage for me to rummage around in some boxes of clothes that have long since worn our their welcome in our closets and drawers.  I just grabbed whatever I came to and off it went to plop down in the living room floor to start constructing my first hula hoop rug and watch some movies with my fellers.

Here is a link to the instructions that I used. 
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/hula-hoop-rug-995304/

Now let me add now that I have a terrible tendency to rush things.....  and when I say this I mean that I have a tendency to speed read instructions because I just want to get started.  As you can see in this first picture, I didn't even have all the strips cut that were needed to begin. 

So I started out making pretty good time, I thought anyway.  I'd cut several strips and then I'd work on the Hula Hoop itself.  I also had this incredibly cute helper, or so he thought he was helping me, when he look up at me from his comfy bed of old t-shirts and bat his pretty brown eyes.  Let me introduce you to Mr. Mulligan or Mully as we tend to call him.  He is a mini-Australian Shepard.  And a complete mess!

So as you can see it was coming along nicely.  Mully was tremendously impressed as you can tell. 

Rug complete.....but only after I realized that I had completely messed up on the weaving and had to completely pull the rug apart and start over (eyes bulging) just when I thought I was completely finished and ready to start tying the rug off.  You see this is where my earlier comment about "rushing things" comes into play.  You see I read at the instructions, the part about weaving through the spokes, etc....  see steps 7 & 8.  

Needless to say I had to back track to correct my mistake (lol) which is okay by this time I was enjoying watching a movie of my own choosing.  

And in the end Mully enjoyed a new Rug to curl up on as we finished our movie.  

I do plan to make more rugs in the future, more hula rugs and also I'm itching to try my hand at the Shag Rag Rugs, namely the ones made from old towels :) 

OOOOOHHHH I can't wait!!!! 

New Twist on Wedding Reception Glasses

I helped throw together very small wedding reception, pretty much a single table held everything, it's the thought that counts right :)

Anyway, since this "wedding reception" took place in a bar and both participants are beer drinkers I opted for beer mugs.  And to add a personal touch I etched their first initial into each glass. 

What you need: 

2 Beer Mugs ($1.00 each at Dollar Tree)

Contact Paper

Straight Blade

Etching Cream

Cut the Contact paper a little larger than what you would like to etch on to the surface.  I printed out the initials I wanted and then cut them out.  Place the Contact paper on the glass, smooth out so there are no air bubbles.  Next tape your stencil to the contact paper.  

Very carefully cut out the desired area.  I say very carefully becuase I didn't pay attention and had to redo the "B" :-)  so you might want to color in the contact paper you will leave on the glass.

Apply the etch cream per the instructions.  I had to reapply mine a second time to get the desired effect. 

Complete!!!!