Study? Nah, Craft!

So this was my first weekend of the school year.  It was boring in the things to study department.  I had nothing to do in terms of school work.  I really only spent a handful of hours doing anything school related this weekend. 

I went out with some girlfriends Friday night.  It was so much fun to catch up with them and go to the bar for a drink.  Everyone is finally 21!  We absolutely loved hanging out together and are looking forward to getting together again.  For us, its our senior year and we want to hangout as much as possible before May comes and we head off in new directions.

It has been a super fun first weekend with the new roomies, too!  We have laughed, played Yahtzee, laughed, cooked, baked, cleaned, and laughed some more.  We all get along great!  Tonight we might paint the living room!

Today, I told myself I would study.  Well, I read for a couple hours and that was it.  None of my professors have posted any new material online this weekend so there was nothing else to look over.  So I decided to craft!

I made this cute little "C" for my bedroom door.  I have been wanting to make something like this but never had the proper use for it.  It was so easy!  I cut out a "C" from card board and wrapped it with twine.  (The same twine from all those candle holders I made this summer).  To keep the twine in place I used hot glue.  It went really well because I started in the middle of the "C" and worked out.  Once I got to one end, I went back to the middle and wrapped out the other direction.   I wanted to embellish it with cute flowers, but it just was not looking right.  So I messed around with my ribbons, beads, and buttons and came up with this cute little bow!  I really like my "C"! 

This coming school week I am going to have to get into school mode.  At least, that is what I keep telling myself.  I need to start studying and stop playing constantly!  We will see how that goes since this week is looking boring, too!

A Good Grant County Fair

I was only in 4h for two years and I only ever went to fair with an animal twice. 

This was the first enjoyable year and best fair ever for me!  No I wasn't there with an animal showing but I was their watching my sister show my horse, her horse, and her lamb.  She did great!  It was a long, hot week, but the absolute best to me! 

It's the best to me because of how well Erin and Daisy did.  Erin and Daisy only started really working well together in June.  Erin has never spent much time on Daisy because she is mine and she had HotRod.  But then things happened.  Since Erin's new horse, Chuck, is so young, Erin decided using Daisy for fair would her best and most successful option.  

At first, Daisy wasn't too sure about Erin working with her so much, and she certainly wasn't too sure about being ridden twice a day!  She was having to work so hard.  All the hard work each Erin and I put into training Daisy this summer and belief in her paid off!  Miss Daisy performed so well and worked so hard at fair.  She and Erin did well enough to make it to State in Performance and Games.  On top of 4h events at fair, Erin ran sponsor flags with Daisy at the rodeo all three nights.  Both were tired girls at the end of the week!  Erin also showed Chuck in one 4h event and at the Open Show Saturday.  Erin also did well with her lamb making it to a couple Championship Rounds!

I'd say the best thing about last week, though, was watching a horse who had lived an easy life in the pasture step up to the plate and clean up in ribbons.  Daisy did well because she had an experienced rider, Erin guiding through everything new to her!

Here are pictures from last week.  They show that the week was good but they don't show that the week was actually really GREAT!

 Erin at the camper trailer on the night before fair started.  My mom, sister, and I enjoyed having Bell to stay it but it was always toasty and cozy.

 Daisy managed to flip her hay bag up, over, and out of her stall on the first night.  She was a little nervous in her stall.

 

Daisy looking so pretty!

Erin riding Daisy with the Ameristay sponsor flag!

What I wish I looked like and was doing Saturday afternoon of fair.  This little boy fell asleep in line before he even got to order his ice cream!  It was so cute.  I had to take a pic of him.

 Erin, Daisy, and I after the rodeo Saturday night!

 Daisy in her stall Saturday night waiting for Sunday morning to come so she could go home.  Look at all those Reserve ribbons and State Qualifier ribbons!

 Saturday morning I wondered over to the rodeo grounds to take a look at the bucking stock.  The bulls were rude and just stared at me and walked away when I tried to take a picture.

I was really surprised to see the bulls and mares with babies hanging out in the same pin. 

Erin and Daisy made it in the Columbia Basin Herald!

The horses back home Sunday morning.  They are happy to be back in their open space and out of the confinement of stalls.  My mom, sister, and I are also happy to be out of the confinement of Bell. :)

The week of fair was a good, fun, and busy one!

3 days ago...Wait, 3 years ago!

Holy cow!  Where has the time gone??

Tomorrow morning at ten I start my senior year and, most likely, my last full year of undergrad studies at WSU.  It feels like three days ago my parents moved me to Pullman for the first time and left me at my dorm.  I just can't believe that I have actually been living in Pullman and going to school for three years now.  I remember how hard I cried as my parents left me at the dorm that Friday evening.  I didn't have any idea how soon I'd see them again.  It turned out being only two weeks, but that was twice as along as I'd ever gone without seeing them.  It was hard. 

However, nothing has changed expect that I leave them instead of them leaving me.  I cried hard as I loaded my car this morning and drove away waving to my dad in the drive way.  This going back to school thing never gets easier for me...or my family.  Summers riding horses, enjoying hot days, boating, being with family, and hanging out are just too much fun.  Thank goodness for vivid memories, though. 

My freshman year was tough, but I think this year might be the toughest.  As each year goes by, my family and I go a little longer without seeing each other.  Classes also get more demanding in terms of studying and time.  However, the toughest part of this coming year is knowing in May I have to start  a very grown up life.  I'll have a degree and minor that I'll need to put to use.  I just wish I could know what that use will be.  I hate uncertainty!

In the next year I've got decisions to make...do I want to apply to grad school or a masters program?  Do I apply for a job?  Where do I want to live?  These questions are on my mind along with so much more!

Before I know it, though, I'll have my answers because I know senior year will have gone by in the blink of an eye!  After all, it seems like yesterday that I attended my first day of college classes. 

Bell's Debut

Bell took off for her first appearance yesterday afternoon.  We dropped her off at the fair grounds at about 4pm.  It was strangely weird not having her home to work on last night or today because working on her has been my life the last couple weeks. 

She looks a little small among the other camp trailers and mega motor homes but she is small and sweet and her little stature kind of makes her stand out.  Eventually, when we get her painted on the outside she'll stand out even more! 

Here is a look inside...Bell's "After" pictures!

Dinette...Erin has it ready to sleep on. 

Comfy couch! Where I'll be next week!

Kitchen area.

If you're at the fair next week and want to check Bell out, come on by!  Just look for the smallest camp trailer you've ever seen behind the horse barns.  Also, look back at Bell's "Before" pictures to see how far she's come!

Sneak Peak of Bell

I have done a lot of work on my little camp trailer this last week.  My mom and sister have been a huge help because not only were we getting the trailer usable for fair but we were also making hay.  Over half of our hay farm was cut and being made.  We were busy and the busyness is not about to stop with fair coming up!

We got the whole inside painted this last week, laid and fitted the linoleum, painted trim, put trim in, put the couch fame back together, wrestled new wood paneling in, finished sewing curtains, hung curtains, and shoved a futon mattress in. Just today included getting the futon in, putting in trim, hanging cupboard doors, and putting up decorations. When three of us are in there working, which has been most of the time, it gets way hot, sweaty, and stinky. We joke that the trailer is a sweat shop. Erin probably thinks that because I give her tons of jobs to do while she is out helping. 

It was crazy at times in the trailer.  I think it was Tuesday and super hot out when Erin and I wrestled the new wood paneling in.  It was tough!  We were pushing, hitting, hammering, and saying things to this piece of paneling and it would just not cooperate.  After a bit, I sent Erin away to paint trim so that I could just go after the paneling alone.  In the end, I just started hammering nails in and calling it good.  I also cut about five feet of the paneling with a box cutter knife trying to get it to fit around the window.  I am still baffled that it was a pill to get in because I measure everything several times before cutting!




Curtains up and looking so cute!  They really brought the purples together.  Thank goodness because they looked scary when we first started painting.  I was questioning my ability to choose colors properly.

Also, this is where the futon mattress got squeezed into today.  It is a really comfy couch area with soft and fuzzy pillows...I'll post pics later...

This is showing the linoleum and the paint colors.  You're probably thinking "eww gross green oven!"  But you're wrong...it's cute and the green paisleys in the curtains matches the oven so perfectly.  Everything really has been coming together well this week.  :)








My big moments of the week were putting the couch frame back in place, running the jig saw, installing a new door knob, and using the electric drill on every screw I could use it on; these were things I did mostly on my own. That drill really makes things a breeze!

So this is just a little peak of Bell's inside.  As of tonight, Friday, at 10, the inside was done.  It just needs to be swept out before we take it to the fair grounds.  The table won't be set up, though, because we don't have the hardware to do so.  Tomorrow when the lighting is better and I can stage things I'll take pictures and share them as soon as I can!!

One Week of Work, One Week 'til Fair

CRUNCH TIME!

This past week we made a lot of progress on Bell. My mom, uncles, and I got so much done.  Things are coming together nicely and its been tons of fun working on Bell! 

 Take a look!

I started and finished painting the cupboards.  I really like the color!  The area where the cupboards are will be this same color.  The rest of the trailer will be a lavender color.  Should be pretty! 

My Uncle Chuck running the drill while Uncle Steve and my mom watch.  My uncles came for a little visit last week and were very helpful to my mom, Bell, and I.

When I got home from boating, the futon had been delivered.  It's nice and should be comfortable enough to sleep and sit on.  Muscling it through the little trailer door is going to be a chore, though.

Uncle Chuck and I measuring to cut the linoleum.  We were so nervous to make the first cut.  Neither of us have ever measured and cut linoleum before.  I'm fairly certain every measurement was measured a hundred times.  We even got big paper out and cut that first as a test trail for the actual cuts.  It took us a long time to get this done.

 The first set of cuts are on the left.  Thankfully, it fits!  Tight in places but will be easy enough to smooth out when we put it back in after painting.  In the right picture, is the reframed front end of Bell that Chuck and I worked on last week.  Now we just need to put new paneling in and paint!  It looks pretty good. After all, we put in long days working. Chuck and I stayed out until 10 both nights he was here working. 

My mom sawing metal to build screens.  We made two new ones and replaced screen and spline on the frame for the door window.  Making new screens is so easy!  I tell ya...I'm learning lots of home repair type things while working on this big project!

With one week until fair, we have just enough time to finish her up...well kind of.  We will paint the inside, move the futon in, put up the curtains and decorations, and stock her for fair.  After fair, Bell will get painted on the outside and reframed in some areas.