Saturday DIY Project - Child's Wooden Peg Rack

My grandson has so many little ball caps that we have been looking for a way to organize them in his bedroom.

We went to Hobby Lobby and purchased most of the supplies we needed, we purchased the stain and picture hangers at Wal Mart.

This is the wood peg rack....purchased at Hobby Lobby for $6.99, there was a 30% off sale though so actually it was less :)

Minwax can be found at most all Hardware stores, we bought this at Wal Mart for about $3.50

The little wood cutouts were .67 a piece and the glue was about $3.50, both at Hobby Lobby

The picture hanger brackets and hooks were .97 per pkg at Wal Mart

A close up pic of the glue

We cut up an old T shirt and dipped it into the stain.  We rubbed the t shirt with stain across the surface, which allows the stain to have an even coverage.  If I thought I could make a living staining furniture I would!!  It's one of my most favorite things to do!!  Since it is a stain, I would recommend taking it outside to work on it, as we did.  The fumes can get really strong.  The picture brackets are very easy to attach!  Just flip your rack over and mark where you want them to be.  The brackets come with teeny tiny little nails which are incredibly easy to nail in.  Just attach the picture hangers to the wall and hang your peg rack up!

Gluing on the wood cutouts

The finished product which my 4 yr old grandson LOVES!!  He picked out all of the little cutouts himself, so this way it reflects exactly what he is into at the moment!!  Now to just get it hung up on the wall!!

Total cost of the project was less than $16.00 and took about 30 minutes to finish tops, and we got a completely customized look out of it, by picking the color of the stain we wanted, and by choosing the cutouts...there were literally about 40 to choose from, and you could also use paint instead of stain!!

Now that I have done this one I am just going to have to do one for my little granddaughter as well!  I am thinking, pink, green, and yellow to match her room!  She will be 2 in just a few weeks, and I am sure there is something her momma could hang up in her room :)  Be looking for those pics to be coming up soon!!

Tiffany Bridal Shower

 

My youngest daughter was recently married this last November.  Her wonderful friends (who also let me help)  put together a truly fabulous bridal shower.  I absolutely LOVE to plan parties!!

I thought I would post the pics and ideas in case it feeds some inspiration for anyone else!

This was her beautiful cake!  It was a fondant top and ribbon.  It was a four layer amazingly enough, the two fillings were chocolate fudge and raspberry.  The cake itself was vanilla.  It was soooo yummy!!

My beautiful daughter Jackie!

We rented the napkins, glasses, and silverware and assorted serving trays and chafers from a party rental store.  It is most definitely worth looking into, as the cost is either the same or maybe a little more than purchasing them, and they bring an extra look of elegance to your table.  The tablecloths were purchased at the party store.  We had her shower at the church, and come to find out only afterwards, they had white cloth tablecloths we could have used!!  The boxes are super easy to do!  We bought them at Hobby Lobby, they are made out of some sort of fiberboard and cost about $3.99 a piece!  We bought two colors of paint and blended them together to get as close as we could to the Tiffany color.  We went to the ribbon department and found some large width white see through ribbon to use for the ribbon.  The other centerpieces were also purchased at Hobby Lobby.  The vases are easily found there, and the little white floral picks were in the floral department. 

The food that was served consisted of:  Cheeseburger Sliders, Pigs in a Blanket, A Fruit Tray, A Cheese Tray, and some Gourmet Cookies!!

We had a "non alcohol" shower since we were in a church setting!  One of the glasses had white grape juice, and the other had lemonade!  Everyone really enjoyed both drinks!

Jackie's good friend Taylor found these rings at the party supply store as well!  They make great napkin rings for any bridal shower!!  It's really easy to roll these napkins up and insert them into the rings!

Both of my daughters!  Jessica and Jackie!!  Jessica was of course her Maid of Honor!

The Bridesmaids!  One was not able to be there!

The younger ladies who attended the shower!  Us "older ladies" did not get in the pics :)

Her bridesmaids decided to surprise her with a bracelet from Tiffany's. They each chipped in about $20/person so it was a feasable thing to do.   It was Taylor's idea, and she ended up calling the Tiffany store in the Dallas Galleria, and they shipped it to her, without even charging shipping charges!!  She wrapped it in about six boxes, large to small!!  It was hilarious watching her open all of them!

Something else her Maid of Honor did while the Bride To Be was opening gifts was write down everything the Bride to Be said.  When she was done, it was read back to her as "What she would say on her wedding night".  This has got to be one of the funniest things to do EVER!!  Everyone young to old thought it was sooo funny!  The Bride will almost always say things like "ohh that's so cute", or "what do you do with this"...so to change the context into what she would say it just a hoot!!



One of the funny games we played was called "Toss the Bouquet".  One of her bridesmaids purchased a cheap bouquet from Wal Mart.  You will also need a CD player of some sort.  We were lucky that we had a whole sound system because we were at a church!  We played Big and Rich's "Lost In This Moment". 
Have your guests pull their chairs into a circle.  The bride starts out holding the bouquet, and someone starts the music playing.  The bride tosses the bouquet to the person seated next to her on the right.  The bouquet keeps being tossed to the next person until the music is randomly stopped.  (Much like musical chairs).  The person holding the bouquet when the music stops is OUT!!  It was hysterical and everyone young and old enjoyed it!  (It is great if you have  good friend who will volunteer to do the music and not play the game)  Let me tell you, these ladies get really competitive and start just "chunking" the bouquet at each other as hard and fast as they can...it is so funny to watch!!



Jessica and Sarah manned the music....they did a great job!

The last two!!  Elaine on the right ended up being the winner!!  She is the mom of one of the bridesmaids :)



Some have heard of this game, and some haven't.  It's called....Make a wedding dress out of toilet paper.  You break your guests into teams and have them choose who they want to be their model!  We chose two teams and two models.  This requires a jumbo pkg of rolls of toilet paper!  The guests get pretty creative while trying to make "stunning" wedding gowns!!  The Bride to Be then has to choose a winner!  That is probably the most difficult part!!

Lots of fun was had by all! 

Here is the link to the blog I posted with her wedding pics!!  She used brown, fuschia and avocado green for her colors!! 

http://flamingtacoshells.blogspot.com/2011/01/jackies-wedding.html

Preschoolers are Funny!!

I just have to share these two stories, they made me laugh so hard!!

Payton, my 4 year old grandson, made several people a Valentine card on Valentine's day.  One of those people is our next door neighbor, Jesse.  Jesse owns one of our local Mexican restaurants.  He is a truly awesome neighbor, and we all get along great.  I have no idea why Payton wanted to make him a card, but he did. 

I will also preface this with the fact that for some reason, known only to four year old little boys, he loves aliens now.  When we were in the exam room at the ER, we had to pretend with him that the Dr's and nurses were aliens. 

On Jesse's card, Payton drew a giant bird.  He also drew a big heart and it was really cute.   He colored the bird black.  It looks very much like a giant Ostrich.  He insists that it is an "Eagle".  However, he also insists that it is also an "Alien". 

My neighbor is Hispanic. We are a family who gets along with every race, creed, color etc....so don't even think that we would judge anyone by what their background is!!   He (my wonderful neighbor) may think it's really funny, but I just can't bring myself to take Payton over there and hand him a card and then have him say, I drew you an "Eagle Alien"....it just sounds too much like he's saying "illegal alien".....I think I will hide the card and tell him we gave it to him and he just loved it.  I will bring it back out when he is about 16 and try to explain why we  just couldn't give him that card.  Ohhhh the funny situations we find ourselves in. 

Today we took the kids out to lunch.  There was a TV playing in the restaurant dining room.  A commercial came on for ProActiv.  Payton blurted out  "Look Mimi, that's for when people have polka dots, they put that on their skin and they go away".  Then he looked at my face at a mole and said "Mimi you have polka dots"...hahaha...Fun Times!! 

Hope everyone had a great Monday! 

Quitman Tx FFA

One of our local FFA Chapters a few counties away has been struck by an unimaginable accident. 

Yesterday evening the Quitman FFA show team was on their way to the San Antonio Livestock show when their suburban ran off the road.  When the driver tried to get back on the road she over-corrected which caused the Suburban the students were riding in to roll several times, ejecting a student who was killed, and seriously injuring the other six passengers. 

It breaks our hearts, as we are a family who has been actively involved in FFA in some fashion for the last 33 years.  We know how hard these kids worked to get their projects together to go to a major show, and how excited they must have all been.  We know how hard their teacher worked and was probably super excited to get to carry them down to the show.  Their young friend who lost her life will leave a void in all of their lives and their lives will all be changed in ways they could have never imagined. :(  This is a very small close knit community and this loss will have of course leave a giant hole on their campus. 

Their teacher is going to need lots of prayers because she was doing what almost all small schools do, letting them ride in her suburban instead of a school bus, which will be met with lots of criticism.  Bless her heart. 

Please keep them in your prayers.

Quitman Tx FFA, you are in our thoughts and prayers, sincerely,

The Dison's

The Jacksonville, Tx FFA

and the

Plano, Tx FFA

Falling Down

This is a repost "sort of" of a blog I wrote several years ago......I just happened to think of it while we were in Waco this last weekend....so...if you have ever "fallen down" this is for you!!


I just have to retell all the stories of the times I have "fallen"....in a literal way.....they still make me laugh today.......and so this is for all of us who weren't born with coordination.....

I will start with the time my dad took me shopping for tennis shoes. I was in high school, and I was soooo excited!! We went to this brand new shoe store, and it was just he and I. I was really enjoying the father/daughter time we were spending together. We walked around in the store and I picked up about 15 pairs and finally found a pair that I wanted to try on.

My dad and I went and sat down on one of those little benches, and I put a shoe on one foot, and then I put on the other, and then I stood up. I started walking and it NEVER occurred to me that the shoes were attached to one another via the little stringy thing and so therefore after about three steps my feet got tangled up and I fell down face first right in the middle of the store flat on the ground. I am pretty sure my dad had never been more embarassed by his daughter!! I laugh every time I think about that.

Billy wants me to add the time he and I were washing his mothers truck when we were teenagers to this story!! We washed her whole pickup and we were both standing in the bed of the truck. He jumped out, and I thought I would jump out too. I stood on the fender well and jumped, and slipped and fell head first right into their gravel driveway. I saw stars and black for about 30 minutes!! Hahahaha that might explain a lot about why I am the way I am today......(Wow...to give you a timeline of how long Billy and I have known each other....he said I was about 13 when this happened and he was 14)....today we are 44 and 45!!

And then when I went to the local community college in Richardson I had a major "falling" event. One of the classrooms had "levels" in it....each level had a row of desks, and then it would go up another level, and another row of desks etc. These were the old timey kind, the kind you slid in and sat by yourself!! i was sitting there one day minding my own business and my pen rolled off the end of my desk and I tried to catch it and flipped me and the whole desk off onto the lower level. It was before class started haha so there were no injuries to anyone sitting below me......::sigh::

And then, there is the time that a boy Jessica was dating came over to the house for the first time. She was about 17 and he was going to take her out to eat. So they were walking out to his truck, and going down the steps of our porch. I walked out behind them.....and I'll be darned if they hadn't made it out to the yard and I tripped and "front rolled" down the steps and out into the yard right behind them.....hahaha I'm sure he thought I had been drinking.....

haha and to finish up the story....a few months ago I was walking through the house in the dark and ran into the vacuum and tripped and rolled and bumped down the hallway until I hit the recliner in the living room...(which is at the beginning of the hallway)hahaha so now every night Jessica checks to make sure there are no obstacles in case her momma might want to get up and wander around in the dark :o)

ahhhhhh so there is no real moral to this story except that we all fall down sometimes.......some of us fall harder than others!! But we just get up and dust ourselves off again!!

The Massage

Tomorrow, I am scheduled to get a massage at a spa.  It sounds so awesome :)  Here is the description:



Lemon Balm Pick-Me-Up -
This uplifting massage energizes and cools the senses, promotes circulation, and restores a depleted, exhausted system. Lemon balm is a powerful remedy for those who are over-extended, anxious or unable to sleep due to prolonged periods of mental or emotional “selflessness.” This energetic massage is not only great for a “pick-me-up” but for those dealing with high stress.

Haha, now here is where the problem comes in.  That's kind of scary to me.  I've never had a massage before!  It's one of those situations you walk in to wondering what exactly you are supposed to do!!

Believe it or not, I've always been kind of a modest sort of person, so walking into a room with a total stranger and laying there half naked on a table just makes you feel weird before you even get there!!

You wonder, will they tell me how far I am supposed to undress and what to leave covered and uncovered?? Don't want to flash the masseuse unnecessarily :) Then of course at my age you become a little more self conscious about all of the extra "rolls" everywhere!! 

LOLOL this is very similar to feeling like you need to clean your house before the maid comes or fix your hair before going to the hairdresser haha...except in this case there is NOTHING I can do to get ready!! :) I will just have to lay on that table in all my glory!! 

 Both of my girls have had massages and this is why they are sending me to get one tomorrow.  They have informed me that it is not stressful (which is obviously the point)  and that the person will cover me up with a blanket and massage just one spot at a time! 

I think it's just my type A personality showing through!  If I am not in total control of a situation by knowing exactly what is going to happen, and having four different solutions for anything that may happen when I am there, then I am going to be uncomfortable doing it.  That is also funny in itself, because I love trying new things, but generally, THEY DON'T INVOLVE STRIPPING!!

I will let y'all know tomorrow how the massage day turns out!  I definitely need some "mom and de-stressing time"

HAPPY TUESDAY!!

Ally Bank | "Interview" Commercial

This has GOT to be one of my most favorite commercials ever!! HAHA just thought I would share it....something that makes "Carol, Carol"...Have a great day everyone....

This Week!!

Hi friends!

It's only Tuesday and I can already see this week is shaping up to be unordinarily crazy! 


When I picked up my granddaughter from her mom yesterday, I knew she was not feeling well so I made her an appointment with her pedi for yesterday afternoon. 


 I broke down and bought one of those really awesome forehead thermometers over the weekend, and went ahead and paid the premium price of $39.00 for it too!  They work great, and of course the kids wanted to carry it all around yesterday, so today obviously it is nowhere to be found.  I am starting to wonder if one of them didn't drop it in the trash can!

Back to the sick story, well Adleigh progressively felt worse as the day went on and her temp shot up to over 102.  By the time we got to the pedi she was just laying in my arms like a little rag doll and with a raging fever.  They checked her lungs and ears, and thankfully both were fine.  They had to do a flu swab, which involved sticking a giant Q tip like thing up her nose, (which obviously she hated...with a passion), and that came back negative.  Just when she had dozed off again they sent a blood tech in to take a cbc blood count.  Her white blood cell count was down and they assume that she just has a virus.  Just in case you already don't know this, pricking the finger of a sleeping baby is never a good idea...she woke up screaming and absolutely hated me....for a while lol...

While getting all of that done, Adleigh threw up all over me.  Literally from my head to my toes, soaking my blue jeans.  Ohhhhh the days of my life :)  It was a really LONG ride back home smelling like vomit. 

Today she is much better, and we are gearing up for another huge ice/snow storm here in East Texas. It's supposed to hit tonight and all day tomorrow.   Thankfully Jackie already has off on Wednesdays and was able to plan ahead and take scheduled time off of work on Thursday just in case the ice/snow hasn't melted yet.

It's only Tuesday and that is where we stand on the week so far.  I had volunteered also to watch a friends little boy, but have a feeling they are going to be iced/snowed in for the rest of the week as well!!


I've been writing my stories as they come to me on here, if you enjoy reading them please leave comments as I love to know that people read them.  :)

There are a lot of fun events coming up in March, Adleigh's 2nd Birthday and Jessica's 24th birthday that we are gearing up for!!  You know I will have to write about all the creative stuff we come up with for those!! 

Hope everyone is having a more peaceful week than me!!  Lots of hugs to you all.....

Me

On the Subject of Speaking Clearly

I thought it would be fun to write in larger letters... :) So much easier to read for us older folks!!

I have decided that I speak the way I think.  We all know that is not like everyone else!!

Yesterday Jessica and I took a trip to Tyler, which is one of our neighboring towns.  We had little baby Adleigh with us.  I had to run back into the house to get her little jacket, and it took me a while to find it.  I told Jessica I had found it on the "twirly chair".  If you are a member of my family, you would know what I meant.  If you were not, you would be wondering, what is a "twirly chair".  We have two barstools at our kitchen "island/bar".  They twirl.  I call them the twirly chairs, always have.  Why I can't be a grown up and call them barstools, I don't know, but I don't.  Maybe "twirly chair" just sounds more fun!!

All while the kids were growing up and of course still we call hair "ponytail holders"....TWISTIES.....to us that's what they are.  There is not another person around here anywhere that calls them that.  If my girls were to ask a friend if they had a twistie they would stare and say a what??  Ohhhh you mean a ponytail or a scrunchie......

Apparently we make up lots of our own words in the Dison household.

Jessica and I were discussing this phenomenon yesterday on our trip, which brought up several stories where someone didn't understand either me or someone else because of how they spoke.

We had a dear couple who were great friends and we enjoyed going to their house and playing cards.  The husband was an avid fisherman, and at that time we lived in a log cabin on Lake Jacksonville.  He asked us where we lived.  I tried to tell him.  I finally drew him a map of how to get there.  I said..."see, you go around here, and we live at the bottom of Lake Jacksonville".  He started laughing, and I had no idea why, because to me it made perfect sense.  You drive around and around the lake road, and you would reach the far side from where he was.  He asked me again where we lived, and I said...."the bottom of Lake Jacksonville"....he was laughing hysterically and after asking me and finally repeating what I had told him very slowly....I realized how something that makes perfect sense to me because I know what I meant, does not necessarily translate the same way  to another person.  :) We did NOT live at the BOTTOM of Lake Jacksonville....however if you are holding the map up and down to me we did live on the bottom side.....HA!! 

This predicament also came up with one of our employees on one of the ranches we worked on.  We were all pretty much in our early to mid twenties on this ranch.  The guys seemed to find all sorts of things to get into weekly!!  There was one time where one of them could not get the dump truck to start.  He had the bright idea to "jump it off" with our bulldozer.  Apparently something went awry, and the bulldozers battery exploded, and the employee had some battery acid hit him in the face and a got a little in his eyes.  To make sure every precaution was taken, he was taken to the ER, treated, and was fine.  It came time to call the workers comp people.  He thought he would call from our house.  I was listening as he talked to the lady.  He called her and when she asked him what happened...this is what he said....."I was trying to jump the dump truck with the bulldozer and I got hurt".  She on the other end, I'm sure, was picturing an Evil Kneivel sort of event and was like whaaatt??  You did whaaaat??  It took a while to explain what he meant.  Once again, what makes perfect sense to you may not make sense to anyone else but you!! 

I've always loved this little story as well, so as I sign off for the day , I will leave it with you. 

Woman without her man is nothing

October 12, 2004

in Laugh often...

An English professor wrote the words, “Woman without her man is nothing” on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly.
The men wrote: “Woman, without her man, is nothing.”
The women wrote: “Woman: Without her, man is nothing.”

The Funeral Mixup

Ohhhhh the funny things that have happened to me!


Several years ago I got the devastating news that one of my Aunt's had passed away.  I just loved her, and she had been such a fixture in our family, always hosting family Thanksgiving celebrations and was just always so sweet to my children.

Her funeral was going to be held in a town that is just about 50 mile from where we live.

The girls and I left and headed that direction on the day of the funeral.  We got to the funeral home, and there were lots and lots of cars in the parking lot.  We parked, got out and walked in.  There were lots and lots of people milling around, none of whom I really recognized, but that didn't phase me any, we always have tons of extended family.

I asked around to where Ruthie's family was, and they pointed me to a tiny room where her body was available for "viewing".  I walked in, and there were three little old ladies sitting in chairs, a casket which I didn't look at, and a guest book up against the wall.  I walked over to the guest book and started to sign my name.  I spoke with the ladies and said...I am Carol Dison, I am Selma Cate's granddaughter.  They just stared at me.  I kept talking, and my girls started saying, MOM, MOM....and of course I was thinking they were being INCREDIBLY rude for interrupting me and I kept shushing them...and they kept pulling one me saying MOM...MOM!!!!  I kept speaking to the little old ladies telling them who else I was related to hoping that they would show some glimmer of recognition that I knew Ruthie. 

They kept staring at me.

I finally just decided to go back out of the room and I turned around and the girls said MOM again, and they pointed at the casket and it was only then that I realized I WAS IN THE WRONG ROOM!! 

The person in the casket WAS NOT my Aunt Ruthie!!  It was a very momentarily awkward situation and I just walked out of the room with what dignity I had left and once I got out I started laughing. 

It turns out that there were not one, but TWO RUTHIES having funerals there that day.  So when I asked where Ruthie was, that particular group of people did point me in the right direction.....just the wrong Ruthie!!

The girls and I eventually found the other rooms on the other side of the funeral home.  I couldn't help but giggle all through my poor Aunt Ruthies funeral.  I know she was looking down and laughing too!! 

The Pig Story

I for some reason had the bright idea that the girls needed a piglet.  Don't ask me why, I have no idea to this day.  We lived here on our 7 acres at the time, I may have possibly thought it would be a great addition to our little menagerie!

The girls were about 7 and 9 at the time.  I told them we were going to the pig sale to pick out a piglet.  Livestock sales were nothing new for us, we had been to many cattle sales and understood how the whole process worked.  You go to the desk and get a bidder number, go into the livestock sale arena stands, and when an animal comes through that you are interested in, you raise your number and bid on the animal. 

We got there, got our number, and sat down to watch.  There were lots of pigs coming through, and we were waiting until they started selling baby piglets.  I should also say at this time, I knew NOTHING about pigs.  I had been in FFA in high school, and raised steers, and my husband had been a Ranch Manger on several large ranches, but we had never ever had pigs. 

Finally, the cutest little piglet that you have ever seen came running through. I waved my hand in the air and amazingly was the highest bidder.  I think I bid $25 for the little piglet.

I also, for some really silly reason, thought that since it was a piglet it would be small enough for the girls to hold on the way home.

I drove my car, with the girls in the backseat around to the "livestock loading area" to pick up our piglet. 

The guys just stared at me.  I'm sure they were like....ummmm...you want' to put a pig in your car?  Are you crazy??

They put the piglet in the floor for me and we drove away.  The piglet was a lot bigger in person than what it looked like from sitting up in the stands.

The piglet DID NOT like being in the car.

The piglet commenced to running all over the backseat and across the girls feet and on their laps and they started screaming.  It was so funny.  Ok, it was funny to me.  :o)

I ended up having to drive BACK to the livestock sale and BACK to the loading area and telling them to just take the pig and put it back in the sale because I did not want it.

I never even went and picked up my money back....Turns out this was a wild piglet...not a domesticated piglet....I didn't know the difference. 

Ohhhh the things I have put my children though in their lifetimes!! 

They each ended up raising pigs for 4H projects later and we had lots of piglets to play with!!