Channeling our inner punk rockers

Our friends, the Groves', costume party was Saturday night.   We Brian came up with the idea of being a punk rock band.  Brian was the drummer, B-rad played guitar & Shauna & I looked pretty were the singers.  Brian made ALL OF OUR PROPS!   His drum set, B-rad's guitar & our microphones.  A couple of cool features that the still pics don't do justice:  he made these bracket thingies for his hands that allowed his drum sticks to spin.  And he made a thingie (don't you LOVE my technical terms?) for B-rad to hook to his belt & the guitar so the guitar would spin.  Yea, he's not playing around, people...

The accessories for a punk rock band were pretty easy to think of!  We bought some fake tattoos & I had one on my shoulder & one on my wrist.  I borrowed the blingy skull bracelet from a gal I know.

 Shauna put a tattoo around her arm & had a spiked choker collar along with a bracelet.  

Brian had a wig & tattoo sleeves... & of course the drums complete w/ lights.  We never could agree on a name for the band, so he put 'the band' on the drums.  I did hear him say a couple of times, 'Yea, I'm with the band' so I thought the name was fitting.

 I love B-rad's shirt.

 

 B-rad had a mo-hawk & fake piercings.  I also had a headband that had like studded thingies on it & I wore a piece of lace as a choker.

 B-rad also had tattoo sleeves & studded gloves.  

 Let me tell you about this guy.  This is Trevor.  He's married to Brian's sister & if you remember, last year he saved me from a fiery death.   If you DON'T remember - shame on you.  It's one of the funniest stories of my life & I LOVE to tell it.  You MUST click here & scroll down to the bottom to laugh at me read it again.  (& if you do remember, read it again because it's THAT funny.)  
Its become a big joke when we're all together.  When Trevor came in Saturday night he said, "Hey, I have a bucket of coals for you!"  I can't begin to tell you all the funny stuff that was said about what happened last year, but it kept me laughing all night long.  My favorite was when he said, "Yea, it's a good thing I was here.  Ya know -  all those people that had been here - they would've been thinking, 'Man, we were just talking to her.  We can't believe she burned up.'"  

 Thanks to the Groves' for having us & to Brian for working so hard on all the stuff for the band!  (It's crazy how creative he is.)  We always a fun time!  

And finally - for your viewing pleasure... my husband & his friend pretending to be rock stars.   
God help us...

Owl trio painting

So Shauna & I did another painting class at Uptown Art last week.  I know, I know...I need a wing at home to display my masterpieces.  But seriously - it's just a really fun girls night out.  Eat dinner, drink wine, paint, laugh at other people paintings yourself & spend time with the girls.  What's not to love about that?!  

(When you get on their mailing list they email you coupons.  I got one for 20% off a class to celebrate Harvest Homecoming.  Shauna & I speak discount like a second language...) 

This time we chose the 'Owl Trio'.  They had the owls & branch already drawn on.  (THANK GOD.)  This painting was by far the most difficult I've done.  It had SO much detail & the instructor shamed encouraged us to make the owls 'any color you want'.  Typically I stick w/ what they do, but I didn't want a turquoise owl like the original called for so I made a PINK one!

We added the little swirly thingies & painted the branch...

There was a lot of mixing colors this time too.   

Again, the instructor was very adamant about making our owls how we wanted them to look.  I liked that but it also stressed me out.  I just wanted her to TELL me what to paint, where & what color!  I stuck w/ the original design of the first ones eyes closed, 2nd looking up & 3rd half asleep.  I did vary from the original in my detailing of the owls.  

 If you look closely, you can see one of Shauna's owl has hair & a bow.  Yea, I wasn't that brave...

Current events

'Tis the season that I can hang stuff on my wall at work I secretly wish I could keep up all.year.long...

It's funny to hear customer reactions to it.   Some say nothing (because I think they're scared too... & I like that...) & some say, 'Oh I like your sign' (because they're scared not to say that...I like that too...)  

My co-workers say my absolute favorite: "Ya know - you should really change that to a 'B'..."  

To which I reply, "Yea, like I've never heard THAT before..."

Our friends, the Groves', annual costume party is this Saturday.  And ya'll know I hate dressing up.  HATE IT.  But I try to go along for the good of the group (I'm a giver...)  The last few years all four of us have gone as an ensemble & me being a brat not participating just doesn't work .  Part of my hatred is coming up with an idea of what to dress up as.  I am not creative.  UGH.  This year we all had dinner about a month ago & brainstormed about what we could be.  

I won't tell you what Brian (he's the creative one!) we came up with but I'll give you some hints & ya'll can guess...

This is my costume sans accessories...

 And this is part of B-rad's costume...

Harvest is...well - going. It has not been going GOOD.  Our combine is 13 years old & like anything else it's getting worn out.  We've already spent $15,000 in repairs to it & something broke again yesterday.  When it's broken it puts them behind.  Add to that the rain we keep getting & they are starting to fall behind.  HOWEVER, I never curse the rain so it is what it is.  B-rad's pretty good about keeping his cool but I think even he's starting to get annoyed that they keep starting & then have to stop.  Usually they're done around Thanksgiving...but not this year...

'Tis the season at home where I have weird combine electronics laying on my counter.... 

 & corn in my dryer...

 

I still have my cell phone case obsession & decided to try my hand at making a personalized case.  I did this one on Zazzle.com but I wasn't happy with it.   There were SO many choices that I got overwhelmed.  I usually don't have any trouble making decisions, but this was a daunting task to me.  

THEN another blogger, Katherine at Grass Stains (she's in my reading list on the right side), blogged about her new phone case.  She found hers on Swanky Press & they were nice enough to give her readers a $5 off coupon.  SO, I typed my happy butt over to Swanky Press & proceeded to find a super cute case.  

Here's what I loved about them:  they email you a proof at NO charge.  For the design I picked I was able to change the background color AND the initial bar color.  (My 'J' would be white no matter what color I chose.)  They will email you as many proofs as you need to get your case just right.  I probably chose 5 different colors for my initial bar before I settled on the gray. They were SUPER friendly to deal with & I would highly recommend them if you are in the market for a personalized case.  They are kinda pricey ($40-$45), but to me-my phone case is almost as important as my phone.  It's an extension of ME & it needs to represent ME & MY awesome personality!  And...it's purple...duh...

Adventures with Reese

Our friends, the other McAfee's, are spending fall break in Florida at Disney.  And honestly, I think half the people I know are at Disney this week.  I've seen so many pics on Facebook & Instagram that it makes me wonder if I missed the memo that it was 'go to Disney' week?  

They were planning to board their dog somewhere while they were gone, but Alicia really hated to do that to her since they're going to be gone for an extended amount of time.  She also knows I like animals more than kids & asked if I would mind 'dog sitting' their puppy, Reese.  (Pronounced like REE-SEE - as in the best candy ever - Reese peanut butter cup...) 

I've been around Reese a handful of times.  I would say she 'knows' me & she always plays with me when I'm at their house.  I said, 'sure!  I'll  dog sit!' & Daniel & Nora dropped her off last Friday night.  After a crash course in Reese 101 they were gone & it was just us.  

Me & Reese Cup.  

Alone.  

Wherever I went - she went.  If I was on the couch - she was laying on the floor beside me...

I was all cocky that she would never want to leave because my house is quiet unlike the other McAfee's house where there are three small but very loud children.  But I think the quiet has backfired on me.  She can hear EVERYTHING & growls & barks at nothingness.  It's normally VERY quiet where I live so when there are noises - you can hear them.  It's not like a subdivision where cars go by non stop or there are kids or people in the neighborhood making white noise.  No kids.  No people.  Nothing.  A semi went by one day & she barked her head off.  When I ran the washer & dryer over the weekend she barked when they kicked on.  If she hears a door bell on tv she freaks. (She's a great watch dog.  Luckily I'm not in my 'there's someone outside waiting to kill me' mode or I would freak when she barks...) I'm guessing she can't hear much over those aforementioned loud kids at her house & her senses are in overload...

I asked B-rad if he minded if Reese came to stay with us & of course he didn't.  I also had to make him promise not to want an inside dog after we dog sit.  (Ya'll know how he is...)  B-rad has never met Reese & honestly he's not home that much this time of year so I never dreamed there would be a problem.  

Well - Houston, we had a problem....

B-rad came home that first night (at 11:45 PM) & opened the garage door so Reese barked.  He came stomping up the steps so Reese barked & came into the house so Reese barked.  She would not go near him.  She made it her life's mission to be as far away from him as humanly possible.  I didn't worry about it too much because it was time for her to go to bed & we would worry about that tomorrow.  I put her in her crate & we all went to bed.  

The next morning before B-rad left he tried to talk to her & pet her & she wanted no part of it.  The only time she'd go near him was when I went near him & coaxed her over.  He was home more this weekend than normal because of the rain but she never did warm up to him.

B-rad gets home from work before I do so I asked him to let her out of her crate on Monday so she could potty.  I thought maybe if I wasn't there she would be ok because she didn't have another choice.  UHM, no it was not ok.  He let her out & she freaked.  She growled at him & had an accident on the floor.  Then she went to hide in our bedroom on my side of the bed between the bed & the wall.  B-rad feels really bad that Reese doesn't like him.  He's an animal lover, but he decided that him & Reese are oil & water & he would steer clear of her.   We've tried everything - giving her bones, petting her, getting down on her level but she's still leery of him.  The only thing I can come up with is that it scared her when he came home that night because of all the noise that three loud kids weren't around to cover up.  

On a brighter note, when he came home last night, she didn't growl or bark at him.  (Probably because I say, "No Reese" 9,732 times...)  She was laying beside the bed & I wanted her to go out but she wouldn't come because B-rad was in the house ear shot.  He said, "I know how to get her out" so he crawled over the bed to get near her thinking she would run away.  And the most amazing thing happened - she didn't move.  She continued to sit where she was.  B-rad took that opportunity to pet her & talk to her.  You can see from the look on her face she is less than thrilled, but there was no growling or barking.  She even managed to wag her tail a little.  Progress, people...

On Monday I took Reese for a walk down the road.  You may be thinking, 'why walk down that ginormous hill when you will have to walk back up it?'  Good question.  The field on the right is ours.  We live at the top of that hill so I had 2 choices:  #1-turn right & go down the big ass hill or #2-turn left & go past houses with people & dogs that may try to kill us.   I went with the big ass hill.  

Reese just turned a year old so she has a LOT of energy.  My plan was to wear her out so she slept good that night.  Her dragging me down that hill had me feeling that my plot was working.

And when it was time to turn around & go back up - I was re-thinking my brilliant plan... & so was Reese.  Her poor tongue was hanging out of her mouth.

But finally - we crested the top of the hill & I saw my oasis...

Ok-so when I take care of other peoples 'stuff' (whether it be dogs or kids), I try to always do what the parents do.  If the parents don't allow it - I try not to allow it.  I went over all kinds of stuff w/ Daniel about how to feed her and Alicia & I had been texting too.  I wanted to be sure she'd be ok in her crate for 10 hours a day while I was at work.  She also sleeps in her crate at night.   I started thinking about it & 10 hours a day in a crate is HALF THE DAY...then if she slept in it too that's like another 7-8 hours.  The poor dog would only be out of her crate for only 6-7 hours a day.  I can't do it.  I'm a sucker.  I put her bed beside my bed on the floor & she slept there Monday night.  I wanted to try it to see how she did.  I don't think she moved the whole night.  We got up at 4:30 when B-rad got up & she went out.  She came back in & we both laid back down.

I texted Alicia & told her I left her out & said, "Don't be mad!" & explained the whole thing to her.  I thought she'd be fine with it (& she was)- however, Daniel may want to kill me when this is all over...

Tuesday evening we cleaned out my car.

We played a little & made some videos of her running around the yard to send to her kids.   See how the end of her tail is a blur?  She wags it like crazy!

She really is a sweet dog even though she has issues w/ B-rad.   It took a couple of days, but I finally broke her of chasing the cat whenever he walks around the house.  Sonny is NOT happy about this whole arrangement. He spent the weekend hiding under our bed.  He's happy when B-rad gets home & sticks close to him because I think he's figured out Reese will go nowhere near him.  

She goes out when I tell her but getting her in the crate when I leave for work is a challenge.  I have to tell her several times, 'Reese - crate' & she lowers her head & looks at me.  She knows I'm a sucker - she can sense it.  I'm sure she's hoping I'll crack eventually...