Slithery un-friends

When we got home yesterday (Saturday), we were lounging on the couch and catching up on DVR'ed shows. The cat (Boy) was outside and I'd just let little Zoe outside. Both were hanging around in the same place near the deck and the back of the house. This is rather unusual. I thought I'd better go check out what they could be looking at/messing with. When I went out there, something smelled a little off, but little Zoe had rolled in something over at Grammy's while there during our fishing trip this weekend, (I call that "putting on perfume") so I didn't REALLY think much of it, other than "gosh, that's REALLY pungent if I can STILL smell it and I'm not even that close to you - you MAY need a bath." Then I see Boy kinda lunge forward again, ears perked, so I looked up and sure enough, BIG snake. Copperhead. I ran in the house and told Trey so he could get his pistol (.22 with ratshot). He came back out and I grabbed the animals. He shot it. He said it definitely smelled like snake around there. I guess I didn't realize that snakes had a smell. But now I know to "sniff" for that as well.

I'm normally intrigued by snakes, but I hafta admit, this time when I saw that one, my heart skipped a beat. I guess the fact that my babies were so close by, staring it in the eyes and within striking distance, kinda had me on edge.

Fishin' in Looooosiana!

My father in law, Bill, took us fishin' this past weekend in Louisiana. It was a AND Saturday, but there was so much rain that it made the water cloudy so the fish couldn't see the bait. We just came home on Saturday morning and will end up going back sometime later this summer or early fall most likely. Nonetheless, we had a good time and caught a lot of fish.

Apparently I'm not a great fisher-woman, or don't have the patience or something (imagine that) because I just don't catch a whole lot of fish (all speckled trout), but I did catch the biggest fish!!

Here are some pictures.

We really ARE wading several miles out in the bay. There were porpoises everywhere!

I Think His Tractor's Sexy

Trey welds. It started as a hobby. Then it became a must-do because he was ripping people's fences out to build their putting green's and he needed to put them back in. Now, he's added it to his business as another service. He's working on making it his primary company.

A few weeks ago he ordered another tool, called a pipe bender. It does just that: bends pipe and tubing to a desired angle up to 180 degrees. His first attempt to build something using it was a brush guard for his riding lawn mower. It's ok to be jealous.

Aubrey turns 2

Trey and I went to Danielle and Matt's house in Tyler last weekend for Aubrey's 2nd birthday. It was very relaxed - just 2 of Danielle's friends came over for the party (only one had a little boy Aubrey's age) and then some family was there. It was small, which was nice, but enough to make Aubrey feel special. And she celebrated for at least a week long. She got a TON of loot. (See the 4th picture) She started unwrapping as soon as she saw the presents and just unwrapped one whenever she felt like it. It was a great time!





Cohen had just pulled her ponytail and was apologizing. Sweet, sweet boy!!


She was LOVING her sparkly Sketcher's and her Kathy van Zeeland sparkly purse! Mama even put a Coach wallet in it from the purse market in Bali :) If she only knew how lucky she was with all her designer duds.

As soon as she put the oven mitt on, she punched Danielle. She thought it was a boxing glove!!! This little chef's outfit was adorable!

Mr. & Mrs. Early

Trey and I went to the wedding of our friend's, Cliff and Julie, a couple of weeks ago. It was beautiful! I totally didn't get a picture of Cliff and Julie...so I've substituted one of them..but here are some from their wedding.




me and Sandra (miss this girl!!):

Fru-Fru clipboard "how to"

I was making this clipboard for a friend and decided I'd take a few pictures to make it a how-to:

What you'll need: a clipboard (the kind with the clip pictured below), Mod-Podge, a sponge brush, 4 or more pieces of scrapbook paper, and small (decorative) ribbon {I like to use about 5 different colors that compliment the colors of papers I'm using - some wacky ribbons and some normal ribbons}, and scissors.
First: tear the paper to fit on the board. Width-wise, you may need to trim it if you have the square paper. Height-wise, I like to tear it. The rough edges look "neater". Round the corners with scissors to match the corners of the clipboard. You'll also need to cut out the area where the clip is on the front section. In the back, I just glue the paper on top of the brads.


Second: pour a puddle of mod-podge on the clipboard. You can do either side first. It will take about 24 hours to dry. After you get the bottom layer glued down, just lay the next layer over it, and glue. Be sure not to use TOO much mod-podge or you will get bubbles.







Third: Let dry and do the same with the next side in 24 hours or so.

Fourth: After both sides are dry, cut ribbons into 3 inch strips and tie into knots around the clip. I have to get creative on finding something laying around to hold the clip open. Just rotate your colors and tie away!


And TA-DA!!

This is one that I did a little differently at one time, more of a scrap appeal:



I hope this wasn't too confusing. I probably won't be posting anymore how-to's as it was definitely not as easy as I thought it would be.

Operation: Mike's cube

A couple of weeks ago, my co-worker Mike went on a cruise. Another co-worker, Paul said to me: "Courtney, I've got to save boxes so that I can build a 'club house' for Mike's cube. I want to cover the front of it and cut a door out of it that he has to open to get in his cubicle. And make a sign that says 'No girls allowed!! (This means you Mike!)" I said that what he needed to do was get a crap ton of ping pong balls and load up the overhead cabinet with them so that when he opened it, they would pour out everywhere. He said I was genius, we researched doing this and long story short, the shipping wouldn't work. They just wouldn't get there in time. :( SO, instead, we used packing peanuts! In both overhead cabinets and EVERY single desk/filing drawer. Paul EVEN rigged a webcam to video it (set to start recording off of motion) in case we couldn't be there to see it when Mike arrived.
See the chaos:





The Kracken:

Mike was HACKED!!! Paul bought his lunch out of guilt. :) We couldn't stop laughing.
We ALMOST did it again (on a smaller scale) for April Fool's but refrained.