Ski Trip And Birthday Bash

I mentioned a few weeks ago, we were preparing for a fiftieth birthday party for my good friend.

And that it involved travel.
We didn't leave our beautiful state, we just headed northwest.

We headed for the hills.  Winter Park, Colorado...here we come!

Stunning-isn't it?

We had rented a mountain home, a big one.  There was seventeen of us!


Wranglers and I enjoyed a ride on the gondola to get into the village.

Once in the village, we met up with the rest of our group in a little tavern.

Wranglers, my brother, and my bff's hubby are discussing some serious bull.

Here I am with the girls.  The one in the black hat and white jacket, is the birthday girl!
She and I have been best friends since we were five years old.  My sister-in-law is in the green, and my soul sister is on the end.  Two of these chicks are grandmas!

I have lived in Colorado all my life, and never been tubing.  I was always too busy skiing.
On this day, we all decided to go the tubing route.

I wasn't sure.  Not sure at all.

But, my dear friend helped me along.

Wranglers has the camera, and he's yelling, "push her! hurry, before she jumps!"
I was terrified! 

And, after I made it to the bottom, I realized there was a good reason for the terror.
The speed of that tube, on that snow, on that mountain  hill, is just too much for words.

I couldn't even scream.

Or breathe.

I loved it.  And hated it.

And kept going, and going.  Tubing is addictive.

It was a huge blast!

Someone got the great idea to hook our tubes together and then go.

Oh, man.

Here we are at the bottom.  Making sure all of our body parts are still attached.

How do you get back to the top, you ask?

My beautiful niece will demonstrate.

The strap on her tube is hooked on to a pulley system thingy, and it pulls you and your tube all the way to the top.  Pretty cool.

Here's the house we rented.

The view from every room was just beautiful.

I wouldn't mind doing dishes with a view like this.

One night we made a million pizzas.

They were perfect for the whole crew.

Wranglers just hanging out.

Girls Gone Wild.


We had such a great time.  All seventeen of us.

Wranglers And His FFA Annual Nut Fry

Last week was a busy, busy week. 

It was National FFA Week. 

And if you happen to be married to a FFA Advisor, then you know what I mean.
(If you are not familiar with FFA, it originally started out as Future Farmers Of America, but has grown to so much more.)

Okay, so it wasn't busy for me, cause all I had to do was show up.  Wranglers and his kids do a great job of promoting their program with activities like...

a petting zoo

games for the entire school

a coloring contest for the elementary and preschool children

drive a tractor to school day

a Rocky Mountain Oyster Dinner for the community

and on the last day, a breakfast for teachers, administrators, and supporters


The Rocky Mountain Oyster Dinner, is more commonly called the Nut Fry.

It has nothing to do with oysters, trust me.

People come from all over the area for this dinner. The beauty of it...the kids do it all!

We estimated around three hundred people...that's a lot of nuts.

After the dinner, some of the FFA members are "auctioned off" for a day of work.




This year our son, stood at the helm with his dad, as the President of the organization...gush...

In the background you see a "brand" quilt.  Area ranchers buy a space on the quilt for their livestock brand.

At the end of the evening, a drawing is held to give the quilt to one of the brand owners.

This gal is one of his program's most devoted supporters.  She brought the quilt idea to Wranglers, AND, she and her helpers put the whole thing together.  I have to add that she lost her home last summer to a fire during our extreme drought.  But, that didn't stop her.  Thanks Deb-you are so very appreciated!

The money raised from this quilt is used for scholarships for our local FFA members.

By the end of the evening, over twelve thousand dollars was raised from the hired hand sale.  Now, that is amazing for a community this small, considering our ranchers and farmers have suffered so much, due to the drought in our area.

I want to add, this organization does so much for our community.  Anytime someone needs a project completed or "muscle power", they call on Wranglers and his group of dedicated FFA Members.  This is truely an organization to be proud of!


Needless too say, I am one proud mom and wife :)

Birthday Quote Jar

My bff is turning 50 very soon. 

And for the record...she is older than me.

In honor of the occasion, her dear friends and family are planning a super cool celebration.  I will share those details with you later.  I will tell you this...it involves travel.

One of the things we are doing is a Birthday Quote Jar.  Or  maybe I should say... it turned into a "things you should know" jar. 

Either way, for a "milestone" birthday, it is a great idea, brought to me by my partner in crime sister-in-law.

She also found some hilarious quotes and very important "things" one should know.  These are really funny and helpful...you know...for older people, like my dear friend.


I found this cute jar at Dollar General.  Then I printed "Things You Should Know By The Time You Turn 50", on parchment paper, and cut to fit inside the jar.

I also printed the quotes my sister-in-law found, and placed each quote in the jar.
To add a little more fun, we made up some of our own "things you should know", and put them in the jar also.  heehee ;)

Then I just topped it off with a piece of jute.

A Rescued Mirror

Last weekend I went digging through our shack.  What?  You didn't know we have a shack?

It's actually a pretty cool out-building on the ranch.  We were told it was  the school house for the family who originally homesteaded here.

This is The Shack.

Anyway,  we use it for storage, and a place to keep one of our extra freezers.

And it has some orphaned items stored in there, which I like to dig through once in a while.

We were gonna throw out this mirror, cause it looked like it was in pretty bad shape.

And it had bird poop all over it.


And spider webs. 

I can deal with bird poop.  I can wrangle a snake with the best of 'em.  And I can deal with an occasional mouse-although, I have been known to throw away the mouse AND the trap.  It's really the best way to dispose of the little critter.  However, spiders are another matter. 

But, I decided maybe, just maybe I could muster up the courage to deal with the webs, clean it up and do something with it.

I used a stick to remove the spider webs from all the nooks and crannys.

A very long stick.

Removed the mirror.


Sprayed on a primer.  Then a coat of flat black.

Then, sprayed two coats of white.  I let it dry overnight, then took some
fine sandpaper to distress it a little.

I haven't decided if it's gonna be a mirror or a chalkboard.

I sprayed the back board with chalkboard paint.  Guess it will be a
multi-purpose frame, cause it's super easy to change out.

I'm so glad this mirror and frame didn't make it into the trash.  I just love the detail.

What do you guys think...mirror or chalkboard?

Linking up with Funky Junk Interiors
                           Craft-O-Maniac
                           Cindy Adkins' Whimsical Musings
                            Uncommon Designs

Blogging Tips And Inspiration

Recently I discovered my blog had "word verification" enabled.  I'm not sure how that happened, as I precisely remember disabling that feature.

At least I think I remember doing that!  Please tell me...has my blog ALWAYS had that feature on?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I certainly understand when someone wants to have the word verification feature, but I personally like to keep it simple.  There may come a time, when I change my mind about this.

I've been known to do that a time or two...hundred.

Donna, over at Funky Junk Interiors has a TON of great advice in this post

Making Your Blog More Visitor Friendly

Not to mention her blog is full of fantastic DIY projects, as well as, a very inspirational story on her "About Me" page.

Another beautiful blog with great blogging tips and lots of pretties (with tutorials) is

Cindy Adkins' Whimsical Musings

My little blog has a long way to go, but I am always looking for ways to make it better.  In fact, right now, my blog is all over the place.

Kinda like me!

Here is the mix....

 Country life.

 A few projects.

A recipe or two.

More than one snake incident.

Dogs.  Horses.  Goats.  And various other critters.

Wranglers ;)

Yep, that's me.  All over the place.

I think it's the hot flashes...yea that's it. 



I have found some really great tips out there, now....I have to find the time to make the changes.

So much to do, sooooo little time....


Until next time,

                                                                        THE END

Re-Purposed Burlap Gift Bags

During the holidays, our business receives numerous gifts from vendors and customers.

We received several burlap bags with peanuts.  Well, with our employees, the peanuts didn't last long, but the leftover bags were just too cute to toss.

Sooooo, I took the bags, grabbed some mason jars, and stenciled on some numbers with black paint.

Added some candles, stuck them on my mantel....and there ya go!

I keep lots of candles on hand, and of course, mason jars for my famous dill pickles.  Not bad for...well...um...FREE!

Linking up with Craft-O-Maniac
                            Rasing Oranges
                            Homemaker On A Dime

Small Town Snowstorm

Last month we had a snowstorm.  A big one.

I posted some of the pictures from around the ranch, but here are some I took in our small town.


This is a shot in front of our business.

This snow allowed me to have a snow day at home.  Cause the roads were closed.

And our vehicles were stuck.

I love a snow day.


And here is the view down our Main Street.

And here's what Main Street looked like when they finally opened up the highway.

This, my friends, is the preferred method of transportation for the locals.  He came in our store for tow ropes, then headed directly to our one and only grocery store with his wife's list.

And here are a few more shots around the ranch.

And this, folks, really is the Middle Of Nowhere!

Vintage Believe Sign

Over the weekend, I went out to the barn and rummaged through some of our scrap lumber. 

I came out with an almost perfect 1x4.  Using a router made the edges have a little more character, but it's not totally necessary. It's just my preference.

I know there are many ways to make a vintage looking sign, but for me, it's all about keeping it simple, man.

A base coat of black paint.  Then a coat of ivory paint.  A little sandpaper action around all the edges, and bada-bing, it's all done but the cryin inspirational word.  I chose Believe, because for me it's a pretty powerful word.

Because I pretty much prefer "easy", I just used stencils and sponged on the black craft paint.

The last thing, which I almost forgot, was intalling a hanger on the back.

BOOM!  I have a new sign.

Linking up at Funky Junk
                       Homemaker On A Dime
                        Craft-O-Maniac

About Me

Once in awhile, I think it's fun to find out facts about other bloggers.  You know, stuff we don't always type on the screen.

Here are some things you may, or may not know about me.

1.  In 1995, I rented a small space, and opened a children's clothing boutique.  I had never worked in
     retail, or been to "market", and had ZERO experience in this type of business.  Yea, I'm weird like
     that.
     This little business was not only successful, it was a blast!  I would still be there, but in 2000, I  
      took  my place in our 50 yr. old family business, along with my dad and two older brothers.

2.  I had been a single mom (divorced) for ten years, when Wranglers and I got hitched.

3.  Said hitching came only after knowing/dating for three months.  Yea, I'm weird like that-are
     we seeing a pattern here?

4.  When I try to lose weight....I gain weight.

5.  I buy and sell unwanted gold  jewelry.  I started this little business mostly for family and close
     friends, but it has grown into something more, as people in our small community know and trust 
     me.
     This is a lot of fun for me-it's like a treasure hunt!

6. I may have mentioned this before, ....I have the one and only tuxedo rental business in our little
    town.

7. I love making chocolate chip cookies, but....somehow, I manage to eat the bag of chips before I
   ever  have time to bake the cookies.  This happens one handful at a time.

8.  My twenty-two year old daughter is the exact opposite of me.  You can see that here....
     

Well now, wasn't that fun?

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Small Bathroom Remodel

When I used "Small" in this title, I meant...it's a small bathroom.

And it's a small remodel.

But, none the less, it looks totally different, and that's what I was going for.

And it was cheap.  Like only $40.00.

Here's the before...

This plaid wallpaper was not horrible.  In fact, I thought it was pretty cute and fit in quite well with our house out here in the boonies.

But, it was just a tad busy for me.  Of our three bathrooms, this was the only one with wallpaper, and man, I was ready to take it down.

Until we actually started taking it down.

Then, I was ready to quit.  Good gosh, that stuff is a pain in the hiney to remove.

Thankfully, once again, Wranglers swoops in and takes over.

He has way more "staying power" than me.

I found spraying a mixture of vinegar and water on the wallpaper glue or backing, or whatever that stuff is, worked really well.

Okay, actually he did most of it, but from where I was standing, I could tell it really worked.

Without the vinegar mixture, it would only come off in tiny little bits.

I have ZERO patience for this kind of stuff-I am working on that now.  You know, with Resolutions and stuff.

So now, for the big reveal....

My lighting wasn't all that great, but the color is kind of greenish brownish-I really don't know what it is, but I like it.  It's a calming color.  And I can use all the calming I can get.

At a later date, we plan to change out the counter top, and the tile.  For now, we are pleased with this cheap and effective remodel.

Do you have any projects you are working on, or planning?