Summer 2011 Checklist

With Seth gone at Academy for most of the summer, I need to keep myself busy! And since I can't possibly have a Pampered Chef show every day this summer, I'm turning my attention to some things around the house. My mom always had a summer to-do list of all the big projects, so I might as well, too! Let's see how many of them I actually get through.

• Paint the outside doors
• Build a flowerbed
• Plant hanging baskets
• Plant new flowerbed
• Plant shrubs in front of the house
• Put up a hose keeper in the back yard
• Do some form of landscaping in the back yard
• Power wash the house
• Repaint the window trim
• Build a compost bin
• Help my Father-in-Law build a chicken coop
• Help build a chicken tractor

And so far that's what I have. I'm sure the list will morph and grow, or edit itself down. There's a lot of planting involved, but our house has absolutely no landscaping around it and we wanted to show it some TLC because we like our landlords and we can't stand looking at such a boring house.

River Romp!

I should preface this by stating that I've been neglecting the blog because my husband is leaving for police academy on Monday and we've been trying to spend as much quality time together as possible. Because of that, we decided to go do one of our favorite couples activities - fish.

Yeah, it's kind of weird that we love to go fishing together, but it makes him giddy that I go and it reminds me of my dad, who used to make me fish with him. And I like the quality time.

We're lucky enough to live in an area where there are a lot of wooded areas, parks, nature reserves, ect. so finding a place to go fishing within a reasonable distance is pretty easy. We started out at a lake, but soon decided river fishing was where it was at.

We trekked through the woods for about a quarter of a mile, through a creek, over and around fallen trees, and risked life and limb on steep banks, but we got here. And despite all the brown still, it was rather pretty!

And we had much better luck at the river! I caught that beast and three others just as gigantic as him! They nearly pulled me in, I tell you. Seth caught the same tree twice, so technically I do have bragging rights.

We also brought Chester. He had a lot of fun showing off his new life jacket my parents got for him (and proving that camo does work by running off into the woods when I wasn't looking). He loved pretending to be a wild dog running through the woods and was so well behaved until a storm threatened to roll in and he felt it his duty to warn us to get the heck out of dodge.

Look at those paws! Filthy! All three of us got a really thorough scrub down when we got home since we were all covered in mud. And then all of us promptly tried to pass out, with only Chester succeeding because you don't ever have to do dishes if you don't have thumbs.

Contest over on Ourcouponhome!

I am so in love with this website, it isn't even funny! I'm always on there chatting about gardening, grocery deals, and how to "play the CVS game." They're holding a contest now through 3/31 to win a free dress from Shabby Apple! http://www.ourcouponhome.com/showthread.php?35538

How to Upcycle Old Jeans

I really suck at this whole blog thing, which is funny because I spend a lot of time reading blogs. And I'm a housewife. You'd think I'd be able to keep up! But I haven't finished a book or even been on World of Warcraft for weeks. Okay, I lie. I log in to chat, but I don't get a chance to do anything. But I have been spending a lot of time with my new love. I got a sewing machine for my birthday and have been crafting since! I was so excited last night when I found this project because I HATE it when I have jeans that fit great, are worn in, but they're damaged to the point where I won't wear them. My jeans always wear through on the inner thighs, so I thought turning them into a skirt would help give them some life! And it worked out great. I'll have to take some pictures later! Right now I'm really regretting not having a full length mirror.