Gone Fishing!

Hello - I am home for a day to relax, cool down, and regroup before I take the kids camping once they get home tonight.

Hubby and I spent the week camping and fishing and having a great time.  He really is such a wonderful husband!

Here I am with our catch last evening!

Take Care all !  Hope to be back and crafting soon - but for now I am soaking up the sun!

Changing my blog

Ok - Im CRAZY!  On the eve of a week long camping trip - what do I do?

Redesign my whole blog!  Am I the only one who has to change it around because it gets old?  I seem to change my whole blog look every couple of months.  This time I was dying to switch it over to the look of my private journal block.  Maybe Im just feeling a darker background?

Anyhow, everyone have a great Summer and I will be back next week!  The Honeymoon Suite (our camper) is ready to go!

My silly purchase!

Ok, I did it!  I bought my chihuahua Sarah a life vest!

I know, my hubby laughed and hopefully doesnt think Im too crazy.  We want to take her camping with us and I want to be able to take her on the dock and the boat and know she is safe.  I think she did like it because she is a bit of a diva.  She is all ready to go now!

Going to suck up all the dirt around here!

Yep - It's hopefully going to suck all day long! In a good way tho!  And not in a dirty way either!  I finally decided yesterday that I really couldnt get around not having a little vacuum for the camper.  I need to get it ready for camping and all cleaned out from fireworks but I hated having to borrow one from the neighbors - again.

So, we ended up heading to Costco and buying this nifty little vac!

Stanely Stainless Steel wet/dry vac

Im hoping it turns out to be a good one.  I was thinking last night of all the places I need to vacuum today...

The camper
My craft area
All the crevisis in the garage
around the hot tub
the closets

So now ya know what I will be doing.  I need to get back into the crafting swing of things, well, right after we go camping!  But then I want to start off with a clean slate!

Happy vacuuming all!

Taking my son fishing!

I wanted to post something about my favorite Summer activity! FISHING!  I had been wanting to get my son Andrew to go out with us and fish, spend sometime in the sun and bond a bit.  I mentioned to hubby that if we did it would be a good idea to go get him a new rod and reel when I picked up his license and he agreed.  Son and I then jumped in the car and headed on over to Sportsmans wearhouse!  The guy was awesome and very helpful and we finally picked a rod and reel that son liked. 

The reel is so pretty! Andrew was quiet so while the guy was putting line on it for us we checked out power baits and grabbed some worms and chicken livers.  He decided he needed to try some crappie bait so we threw that in the cart.  After we got the rod and were heading to the front to check out Andrew mumbled that maybe he would like to see the fishing vests.  I said ok and we went over and checked one out and I ended up throwing one of those in the cart.  He then spotted the hat and after trying it on and having me tell him it was a perfect fit and looked like it was made for him- we threw that in as well.  It was a spurge but money well spent!  I kept thinking of the line " Sometimes ya gotta give alittle to get alittle"

We then headed down to Swan Falls for some light fishing.  We decided to fish off the dock for a while and he was hooked more than the fish when he started getting bites.  The fish and game guys came by and checked us and aside from being glad I had gotten him his license they were friendly and chatted a bit and left.  Hubby then got interested and grabbed his pole and the two of them joked about who was catching more.  It was fun.  The next day we took our little boat to CJ strike and fished the narrows.  Not much bitting, but Andrew managed to catch a small mouth bass.  He was so excited and we put it in the fish well.

When we were done that night, Andrew realized the fish was still alive so we gave him the option of cooking it up or throwing it back.  he decided to let it live so after taking a photo we took him back and after some fish CPR (holding the fish in the water and moving him back and forth - NOT mouth to mouth) the fish took off and swam away.  Andrew then joked and said he felt like fishy Jesus cause he brought the fish back to life.  He then remarked that if we came back it would be the second coming of Fishy Jesus!  He is just too funny!

Lund boat (click on photo for link)

Here is a stock photo of what our boat looks like somewhat.   I realized I dont have any photos of our boat so I will have to take one.

I think my husband would love it if Andrew entered the pro fishing circut and they travel around pulling a tournament boat.

I will say that the fish competition we caught I was really, ok REALLY, suprised to see all these grown men pull up in sparkly, shinny fishing boats so bright you almost have to wear sunglasses to look at them.    Even my daughter and step grand daughter were suprised and offered to put sparkly nail polish on our boat so we would match - hubby declined.  I just dont get that part of it but oh well,  I would rather have a boat more like this one....

Duckworth boat (click on photo for link)

Or this one - that looks like fun! 

Crestwood pontoon boat (click on photo for link)

I hope everyone is having a great summer and is able to get out and do what they love best under the sun! 

Take care,

Annie

Anthony painting!

I thought I would pass this info along.  Nothing huge, but if you go to your local newpaper, most times you can buy the large end rolls of paper for just a few bucks- they used to give them away but not anymore!

My son loves to draw on them and paint!

He takes his painting very seriously! :)

The paper is also great for other purposes!

A Carved Gourd

I have been busy trying to put my house and get over a sinus infection.  When I say busy, I mean barely moving and trying to motivate myself to move!  Ugh I hate it when you clean alittle bit and then want to just take a nap!

Anyhow I wanted to post some photos of my gourd carving.  Here is one I did a while ago that I think came out ok! :)

I havent done any in a while due to the business of life, but hope to work on some more soon!

End of the Fireworks selling Season!

Well, the Fireworks season is over for us.  Mr. Sweetheart and I did pretty well as far as selling our butts off!  Literally I think because we both lost several pounds over the 10 days.  Even my Dad who helped a ton lost weight.  Seriously its one of the best parts of the job!

It got to where I actually woke up a few times in the night because I thought I was supposed to ring up a sale but in truth Im actually really going to miss it.  No, not the long hours, the achy body, or some the stress, but getting to meet new people, see them happy to buy fireworks and enjoy a job I love will be missed.  Am I a freak that Im kinda looking forward to selling Christmas trees?

Here is a video of my daughter Libby.  She was getting very creative with Torpedo Tubes - They are like poppers (those white things that pop on the ground when you throw them).  The tube pop alittle easier and louder in my opinion.  The neighbor kids and my kids all love them.

I do want to thank Fat City Fireworks, Rick, Crystal, and Laura for giving Otis and I the opportunity to work with them, Miss Megan and Todd for being the best workers EVER! and my kids who didnt burn the house down or completely trash the place while I worked long hours!  I know we are all a bit frazzeled but seriously it is the funnest job I have ever had.  I wish I could fit more Fireworks Holidays in during the year!

Now I need to go lay down and sleep for a few days, oh and cuddle with my husband!