Beautiful

Meet Caleb.

Just like any 2 year old, he wasn't holding still. Nor would he look into the camera. BUT I did capture him in his natural coyness and curiosity. "I'm not sure of your contraption Jess, but I guess looking up like this will give you what you want." Yes his little mind DID think that.

Oh, how he glows with life. The sunlight is your friend Mr. Cawthon. Your eyes are as wide as the world and as pretty as Christmas morning. I just love your little lips and the string of slobber that follows you around everywhere you go.

Good thing for photoshop in this case you cant see it)

Your parents are amazing. You are such a smart little boy with a family that loves you. You will be oh so intelligent just like your mommy. And big, strong and compassionate just like your dad.

"When you teach your son, you teach your son's son." The Talmud

I'll tell you what, this kid is going to be a good man.

The everyday dealings with a working man

Seems normal right? Just a medicine cabinet with the basic bathroom doodads.

But wait! To the NAKED eye this looks normal. To me, it is an unnecessary collection of dental decor.

Ah! Ill start by spilling a little known secret. Bobby is oddly obsessed with his teeth. He brushes for 2 and half minutes every morning and night. Not kidding, 2 and a half. Then flosses, twice a day. THEN he MUST have mouth wash. In fact, he uses mouth was so much, his dentist told him his teeth were turning blue and should slow down on the washing of the mouth. That lasted for a month.

After Bobby returned home from his hospital stay he was not worried about his broken face. Oh no! He was PISSED, incredibly IRATE at the fact that he had a chipped tooth from this accident and had developed odd food sensitivities and new crevices. You can only imagine the reaction when he got a crown.... Yes my friends- he's got a fake one.

Now I shouldn't complain. Some men have horrible teeth and could care less what happens to them and probably havn't seen a dentist in years. But this kid cares more about his teeth than he does about wearing clean underwear. Okay okay, it's not that bad.

But this is what brings me to blog. Let's start in the top left corner. The Bleach Trays. The Bleach Trays came to us 2 months ago when Mr.Bobby Bicuspid decided he would like to whiten his smile. And of course he not dare be caught with Crest White Strips in his pie eater. NOOOO. He had to get professional ones. Ones that require impressions, and waiting a week for them to be ready. Much like any man, he didn't bother to ask the cost on such thing that didn't have a motor in it, and he seems to think since he has insurance- its free. Let's just say there will be no Mexico vacation this summer.

Moving on to the top middle. The Flossers. I will admit these lil suckers are convenient. I hate floss really because you have to wrap it around your finger, so these little spinach grabbers are cool. Except when they are on every surface in your house. The dresser, the sink, the desk, the night-stand, the arm of the chair, in the lunch box, in the pants pocket, hanging on the loofah hanger in the shower. Why doesn't he throw them away? God, he does have a weird obsession... and now he has to SAVE everything that touches his mouth.

Third top arrow. More floss. Back-up, in-case-of-emergency floss.

Bottom left arrow. The insanely expensive tooth brush. It times him. (2.5 minutes) Can you find my tooth brush? Yep, the normal one in the fish cup.

Ah, and lastly- The Water Bottle. This is the opposite of a tooth obsession.

This my friends...is a spitter.

Enough said.

The Ten Pin Hens

Us three hens and this little chick went bowling for the weekend to raise money for the SPCA. I raised $200! Thanks to all of my wonderful coworkers at Mary Lake Thompson for their generous donations. You guys have helped helpless animals survive.

For those of you who know me well, know that I have a soft spot the size of Jupiter for animals. So to know that I was spending my time and money for them was warming. I am anxious for my next opportunity for animal philanthropy.

I want to suggest that if you have never donated you TIME for a good cause, you should. No money has to be involved. Simply showing selfless acts of kindness and support for something you believe in can have powering effects. Perhaps you feel down or depressed? Missing something? Giving can never be the wrong answer. In fact I want to do a run/walk- maybe for Susan G. Komen, March of Dimes? Anyone want to participate with me?

Thank you to my sponsors:

Richard and Mary Lake Thompson

Kristina Silva

Jennifer Lopez

Sara Thompson

Bobby Anthony

And lastly to my friends Tara (for the opportunity) Heather for getting the highest score without even trying and Mason... well for being the cutest little bowler I've ever seen.

He won a trophy for best effort!

Way to go Mason and The Ten Pin Hens!

It looked WAY easier in my head...

I acquired some free frames. They were painted yellow and white and in good condition. I have so many ideas for them! I could do a mirror, a cork board, a chalk board, a decorated frame! Oh my! I decided on a cut picture board with ribbon. You know? The ones you see at Target all the time. Oh so simple! I just need cute fabric, cute ribbon and some paint right?!?.... WRONG.

Goodness! I needed way more than that.

First off, if I wanted a smooth paint finish, I would need to strip the current color off. This required:

a paint brush

paint stripper

a troul (for scraping)

chemical gloves

(paint stipping on skin HURTS so I found)

My work station:

I have no pictures of me painting. But how fun is that anyways? I used:

Brown acrylic paint

a sponge brush

Moving on.... Next I needed to make the middle. So I found a 2x2 piece 1/4 inch plywood and cut it to fit. For this particular project I used cork board pieces as the next layer. Then used spray adhesive to adhere 1 layer of batting. Lastly, I adhered a layer of cute pink fabric.

Supplies:

2x2 1/4 in plywood

fabric

batting

cork spray

adhesive

scissors

ribbon

measuring tape

Krazy glue

There were several hours where I didnt take pictures because Bobby and I were having trouble getting the backboard to stay flat. And we needed to figure out how we would get it to stay.

So the next picture is this:
Making my flimbsy bead wire strong enough to support this heavy frame on a wall. This was not my idea. But Bobby insisted that if Im going to make the frame I have to make it right. In his words: "You can't make someone a shirt and hand them the needle and thread to sew the sleeves on themselves." :)

More tools needed:

hanging eye thing (Haha, I cant think of the name right now)

wire

Clamps (yes clamps)

wood glue

Beads

thumb tacks

wood letters

And finally the finished project! A cute personalized bulleton board!
As you can tell, this was a lot more work than I originally anticipated. But I think it was totally worth it! It was hand made and personalized and although it would have been soo much easier to go to Target, I am glad that I made this.

Bobby was so helpful too. Without his manly knowledge this would not be as solid as it is. Thanks babe! I didnt even have to ask for your help!

So, I have three more frames that I get to decorate. I have plans to do the same project so that I can perfect it. For example, I will use a top coat on the frame for a better finish. And no beads.

Okay, that is all. Im off the strip some more paint!

It's the hillbilly way

Warning!

The following images are not for the sqeemish or easily grossed out.....

Luckily non of my readers will be offended :)

FREE DINNER!! For those of who can catch it :) Here is my lesson on preparation:

1. Slice open the belly of your decent Coho Salmon you caught from the river.

2. Slice the bottom of the jaw about one inch.

3. Stick your right thumb in it's mouth and hold the head with your left. Pull down with your right hand and carefully remove the guts of the fish.

(Luckily for you the camera did not arrive until after the de-gutting)

*Important* Use hose water to rinse. It's the true hillbilly way. Also, make sure you do all of this outside, preferably on the sidewalk.

4.Remove head.

5. Remove tail. Do not remove too much meat.

6. Remove "poop shoot" Yeah we are real technical 'round here.

See all that black stuff? Poop.

7. Stick the fish in your pocket and clean up the guts. Make sure to spray the sidewalk so the dogs don't bring fish blood in with them.

8.Once you toss the guts, wrap the fish in plastic wrap and foil and put in freezer unitl really to use.

I will post my experience with cooking when the time comes!