Wednesday Wishes & Weekly Photo Challenge

I'm slacking!  Okay, not really.  I've just been really busy is all.  No, really, I have!!! 

Last Thursday night was the NEA Christmas party, which was L-A-M-E.  Maybe the new manager will make it fun next year!  :)  Friday I woke up at 8:00 am with the stomach flu ( I swear it was not the bottle flu)!  It was AWFUL!  Okay, well duh Brooke.  When is the flu ever amazing?  Anyway, I was super sick - both ends sick - until around 3:30 when one of my co-workers brought me some Ginger Ale.  Here's a tip for all of you:  Next time you have the puking flu pour a glass of Ginger Ale and nuke it in the microwave for 45 seconds.  Then stir the bubbles out of it and SIP it.  Don't chug it or take normal gulps...sip it.  It is my life saver when I have an upset tummy.

Saturday I should've stayed home, but I was feeling better.  I was weak and sore from being in bed so much, but I felt fine.  I seriously thought about staying home and I even got on the Internet to Google how long the flu is contagious, but in the end I was too restless so I went to the High School to watch my friend's kid wrestle.  Well, my friends are now sick.  Oops!  I must defend myself though.  When I got there she told me she wasn't worried about getting sick cause she figured she'd get it anyway cause all the wrestlers have been sick.  Okay.  Whew!  Then she told me a kid came up to her at the tournament the day before (yeah, it was a 2 day tourney...LONG) and asked her where the nurse was cause his belly hurt and the smell of the food was making him sick and he didn't know what was wrong.  She had to tell him he had the flu.  Apparently this kid has never been sick before.  Haha!  Sooooooo, maybe that kid or one of the other hundreds of kids passed it on to my friends instead!  Yes, that sounds good to me!  :)

Sunday I worked on Christmas gifts.  I'm doing some homemade things.  After working on stuff for a while I became extremely exhausted, so I sat on the couch and worked on some stuff for a class I had to take at work.  Next thing I know it's bed time.

Monday night was clogging/tap dancing and more working on gifts.  Last night I had a wrestling meeting and I worked, yet again, on gifts.

So, see?  I have been very busy!  This is what the whole next 2 weeks is going to look like!  Tonight a friend is coming to visit and I am going to try to work on gifts.  Tomorrow night is wrestling registration, which will take an hour or so and then I will work on gifts.  I don't think I have anything going on this weekend, except working on gifts.  Next week I start my Christmas vacation on Wednesday, which is also the day of Pacen's school musical.  Thursday is his class Christmas party and sledding and Friday my family and I head to Missouri until the 30th!  Good grief!  I seriously do not like December!  It is way too hectic and just creates a an overwhelmed, stressed-to-the-max Brooke.  I hope I survive!  :)

You know, it's times like these that a tiny little bitty party of me wishes I was married so I had help accomplishing everything.  I imagine things would be simpler if there were two of us to help with Pacen's stuff, two of us to clean the house, two of us to cook, etc.  Maybe not.  Who knows?

So, anyway.  Enough about how busy I feel I am.  Let's get on with this week's Wednesday Wishes...and I'm going to try to sneak in a picture for last week's Photo Challenge theme at A Step in the Journey, which was "from a distance".

Wednesday Wishes!

                                                   Source: marthastewart.com via Brooke on Pinterest

I love this newspaper tree!  First of all it is an awesome way to recycle the paper, and secondly it is just awesome!  I want to fill my mantle with all sizes of these, alas I do not have the time to make a bunch of newspaper trees (this year).  Also, I don't read the newspaper, so I guess when I do find the time to make them I'll have to steal the old papers from work!  :)

                                                Source: coolcraftsites.com via Brooke on Pinterest

This box is made from an old Christmas card!  Another awesome way to recycle!  These would be perfect for little gifts such as jewelry, chap stick, a car key, or even gift cards!  Ooooooo, I'm hoping to make my mom and sisters some wrap bracelets for Christmas and now I totally know how I will package them!  Can't wait to try it!

                                        Source: delightsbydaisy.blogspot.com via Brooke on Pinterest

These little guys are called Christmas Meltaways.  Apparently they are suppose to melt right in your mouth.  They are also suppose to be to die for!  I plan on finding out this weekend!  :)

                                             Source: camillaathome.blogspot.com via Brooke on Pinterest

I'm head-over-heels in love with this mantle!  It's so romantic and awesome!  I wish I could find candles like those in all sizes (that don't cost an arm and a leg).  I'm also totally diggin' the two decorated trees!  With my mantle I'd have to put the trees on the ground due to the stuff hanging on the wall.

                                                         Source: littlebitfunky.com via Brooke on Pinterest

These are the ornaments that Pacen and I are making for my parents and sisters.  I bought some big green and red ball ornaments at Wal-Mart and plan on using them.  I hope they turn out just as cute.

Weekly Photo Challenge!

Okay, so to be honest I didn't get time to take a "from a distance" picture this past week.  Read the first few paragraphs and you will understand why.  :)  So, here is the only picture I took the past week.  I think it's pretty funny and instead of it being "from a distance" it is of my sisters trying to distance themselves from my flu germs.  They insisted on driving the 32 miles from Harrison to Lusk to nurse me somewhat back to health after Raine got off work on Friday.  They stayed long enough to make sure I drank some nasty TheraFlu in 10 minutes or less and some chicken soup.  Haha!

Here's an actual "from a distance" picture that I took this August when I was in Colorado.  If you look real close there is an awesome little lake at the base of the mountains in the background.  I want to hike there.  I want to hike there and do something crazy, like jump in the freezing cold mountain lake!  Not in the winter, mind you, but in the middle of the summer.  :)  Okay, it just hit me that it probably wouldn't really be much warmer in the summer, cause this picture was taken in August and look at all the snow!  Haha!

Well, sorry for such a long post and sorry that I killed two birds with one stone today and sorry for complaining about how busy I am and how I don't like it.  I know I'm not the only one running around like a chicken with my head cut off this month.  Let's all take a nice deep relaxing breath, look at the beautiful lights on the Christmas tree, ignore the mess of wrapping paper and/or not finished gifts, and have a shot of tequila!  Cheers everyone!!!

Oh, and don't forget to head over to A Step in the Journey to check out last week's pictures!  As always, everyone did a great job!



If you can't read this week's quote (due to over-fancy font) it says:  "Christmas waves a magic wand over this world and behold everything is softer and more beautiful."

Source: Uploaded by user via Susan on Pinterest

Weekly Photo Challenge: Childhood Memory

Once again I am behind.  Imagine that.  :)  As usual I have been super busy, with Pacen activities, Rawhide Wrestling things, holiday stuff, etc.  When will things slow down?  Probably when I'm 6 feet under, which I'm in no hurry to be, so bring on the hectic-ness.  (As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I like to make up my own words.  Deal with it.)  :)

Okay, so on with the show.  The theme for last week's photo challenge at A Step in the Journey was "a childhood memory".  It just so happens that when I was at my parent's over Thanksgiving break I was standing by the back door and I noticed something in the backyard.  Of course, this was before I remembered that we would be doing a childhood memory themed challenge in the coming weeks, and I am so glad that something told me to grab my camera and take a shot.  This picture definitely fits the "childhood memory" theme.

It's mine and my sister's old yellow wagon!  So many memories with this thing!  My Grandpa used to pull us around in it and when we got older we pulled each other and random toys around.  Obviously it is now used to pull around Pacen's trucks.  Haha!  I'm so glad it's still being used though.  It sure is a tough wagon!  :)

 I like this black and white version too.  There is just something serene about this picture.

Well, what are you waiting for.  Head on over to last week's photo challenge and show people some love!  :)

"What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen."  ~Cynthia Ozick

Weekly Photo Challenge: Someone You Love

I had no problem deciding what I would photograph for last week's photo challenge at A Step in the Journey.  The challenge was to shoot someone you love.  Okay, I just re-read that sentence and it sounds so morbid!  Haha!  Anyway,  you all know what I'm talking about.  :)

If you haven't yet guessed who I photographed then you are obviously new here...and you haven't read the title of my blog.  :)  Yup, I decided to snap Pacen!  Well, I had a hard time getting this done.  I wanted to get a shot of Pacen doing something he loves.  He loves to hunt and this past weekend was the last couple days of deer season (in Nebraska) and he was busy hunting.  So I drove on over to Harrison and spent the weekend with my family.  Well, Pacen and Gimpy were always gone by 5:30 in the morning so I had to wait til they came back for church to get a picture.  Pacen was in a silly mood so here is what I got.  Not great photos, but definitely Pacen.  :)

 

He looks pretty good in hunter orange, doesn't he?  Okay, okay, maybe I'm slightly biased.  :)  Here is a shot of Pacen and my dad aka Gimpy just before they headed back out after church:

It's amazing how quiet the house is when Pacen isn't around.  :)  Mom and I watched a movie and visited with my sisters and next thing we knew it was dark and almost 5:30.  Pacen had a science project due on Monday and hadn't even started it yet so we were beginning to get antsy.  About 6:00 some headlights started coming up the drive.  It was Pacen and Gimpy and that is when chaos broke loose!

Pacen had shot a doe literally three minutes before his time was up.  We had to hustle around to get pictures and call the check in point that was located 30 minutes away to make sure the guys had time to drive down and check the doe in that evening.

Meanwhile, Pacen somehow managed to get blood ALL OVER himself (except his face).  It almost looked like he had rolled in the darn thing!  He came in the house and Gammy aka my mom, about freaked.  Being a boy he always had to touch everything and she absolutely did not want blood all over her house.  I totally don't blame her.

Well, we finally got Pacen and Gimpy sent to Crawford to check in the deer and we sat down to experiment with Pacen's science project...NOT do it, just make sure his idea would work.  Then it happened.  Raine noticed that Jackson, mom and dad's Jack Russel Terrier, had blood on his head.  Well, Pacen had tossed a piece of gut onto the driveway and Jackson got into it and then he smeared blood all over the carpet!  What a mess!  So, needless to say, this could be Pacen's first AND last deer.  Haha!

Head over to A Step in the Journey and check out some of the other entries.  I highly doubt you see as much blood in other posts as you saw in this one, so go look at all the nice pictures and get this nasty bloody sight out of your minds!  :)

"This is a part of the country and a state where it's unusual if a child doesn't grow up going out with dad and granddad to hunt deer, using a very powerful weapon. It's unusual sometimes not to see kids out in a group that might be wearing camouflage." ~ Bill Sadler

Weekly Photo Challenge: Something You Made

Whew! I finally get to sit down and take a deep breath and relax! It's been a busy few days.

On Saturday night I went to Deadwood, South Dakota with some friends to help my "soulmate", who is one of my best friends, celebrate her birthday, which is actually today. I got entirely way too drunk, which I slightly regretted the next day, but I had a blast! It was high time I went out and tied one on and danced my ass off with friends. (I tried on Halloween weekend, but I only accomplished the dancing my ass off part.)

Now I'm in St. Louis. The whole week. On a business trip. Those are two things I rarely get to say. 1.) I'm in St. Louis and 2.) I'm on a business trip. If I get the Manager's position at the NEA (I had my interview last Tuesday) then I'll get to say that second thing a lot more. :) That was another reason I needed to go on the Deadwood trip. The interview. I freaked out for days before the interview. I cried. A lot. Pathetic. I was a nervous wreck, but I went into that interview with my head high and they had no idea was a mess on the inside. I kept myself together. Whew!

Okay, I suppose I better get on with the reason for this post. Last week's photo challenge over at A Step in the Journey! The theme was "Something you made". I decided to photograph the bracelet I made last weekend. It was my first jewelry attempt. It is a wrap bracelet. I have been seeing them all over the place and I am in love! I have worn mine a lot this past week.

I got the tutorial here, at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar.

Here it is up close.  It was actually pretty easy to make once I got started and figured out how to control the length of the thread.

If you have a chance head on over to last week's photo challenge and check out all the awesome things people have made (and their cool photos)! 

"Art can't deny craft, but refuses to acknowledge it.  In the end they are still brothers." ~ Christian Barr

"Art vs. craft - eye candy vs. hand and eye candy with purpose." ~ Marlene Fitzgerald-Moore

Weekly Photo Challenge: Shoes

Last week the theme for the weekly photo challenge at A Step in the Journey was "shoes".  Since I'm a girl there is always the assumption that I am obsessed with shoes.  Well, fine.  It may be partially true, but I'm not crazily obsessed.  I do love me a cute pair of heels or some super comfy flats and I definitely love flip-flops, but I don't have an insane number of shoes piled in my closet or under my bed.

My littlest sister, on the other hand, owns way too many shoes.  Way too many sneakers, to be more precise.  She doesn't even run or play basketball.  She just loves sneakers.  One time when we were shopping she saw a pair of expensive white sneakers and was instantly in love with them.  I just looked at her and said, "Raine!  You already own four pairs of white sneakers!"  That didn't sway her.  Like always she came up with some reason why these were different.  To me they looked the same. 

Even though I don't own tons of shoes I still had a hard time trying to decide which shoes to photograph for the challenge.  I have a couple of favorite pairs of heels and a favorite pair of pretty wore out flats.  I finally decided to photograph the pair of shoes that have carried me many miles.  Literally.  They are my running shoes that I purchased last spring.  They got me through a summer of training, a few small races, and my first half-marathon. 

Here they are in action!  :)  When I was taking this picture Pacen walked in, looked at the camera, looked at me on the treadmill, and asked what I was doing.  The whole time he had the "you-are-crazy-mom" look on his face.  :)

Head on over to A Step in the Journey and check out all the shoe photography!!

"I don't know who invented the high heel, but all men owe him a lot." ~ Marilyn Monroe