Sunday, September 13, 2009

When the Cat's Away...

Sarah’s Thoughts: I’m going to reveal some secrets because I don’t think my grandma reads my blog. If you do, Grandma, take this opportunity to do the right thing and skip this week’s entry. So, for everyone else, my grandma is turning 90 in 3 weeks so we are going to throw a surprise birthday party for her in North Dakota. We have all kinds of games and activities planned and I thought it would be fun to have t-shirts. I had the intention of having them professionally made, but the steep sticker price combined with the lack of a good design, prompted me to make them myself. I called my friend, Rachel for some pointers, visited Joanne’s for supplies and haven’t stopped cutting and painting since. I have to admit, I’ve been having a lot of fun. This was just the project I was needing to keep me busy while Luke is gone and the weather is rapidly deteriorating. I’ve posted a couple samples below.


P.S. Luke has our camera on his hunting trip, so I’ll be scrounging for pictures to post the next few weeks.


Low- First cold of the season


High- All the progress on my t-shirt project


Luke Update: After Luke got checked in at the airport, we went out for dinner and I asked him to describe the typical day while guiding a moose hunter. He said the alarm goes off before light. The tent is cold, but luckily he’s already prepped the coffee and positioned the stove in such a way that he can turn it on from the comfort of his sleeping bag. After getting dressed, making breakfast for his hunter and getting things ready for the day, he and his hunter head out to a find a look-out spot. They set up moose attracting tools and high-powered optics. As the sun rises, they scour the landscape for 50+ antler racks and simulate moose sounds with the hopes of drawing in a trophy bull. This activity goes on all day. When the light begins to fade, they head back to camp for supper and sleep. Some days, they find the bush plane made a stop and left a package of cookies or jar of peanut butter. After dinner, Luke preps the coffee for the next day and makes sure the stove is just in arms reach before turning in for the night. Now I can’t be sure, but this just might be what Luke has been up to.


Owen Update: The very second Luke left town, Owen came down with a cold. No fever, he only seems to be a runny nose, but its left the poor kid feeling very sensitive. He can’t handle the word, “no” or anything that might be contradictory to his plans. Any hint of mutiny and he dissolves into a blubbering heap of snotty weeping. Example: We went to visit my brother at his new house. When it was time to go, I was trying to get everyone back into car. The problem was that whenever Dolly hopped into the car, so did Chachi (Christian’s dog) and when Chachi hopped out, Dolly was right behind him. The very thought of leaving Chachi behind was too much for Owen, and with a red, wet face, he led a loud protest. After several unsuccessful attempts at separating the dogs and at trying to explain to Owen that we couldn’t bring Chachi home, Chachi spent the rest of the day at our house. Luke wasn't there to help, and so I decided that sometimes, giving in is O.K.



Owen and our next door neighbor, baby Jordan




"Mr. Bump" belongs to Christian
for his constant stream of injuries

Little Miss Sunshine belongs to my Aunt Sandy
always encouraging and positive

3 comments:

Lela Paden said...

Wow!!! Sarah the shirts look great. what does yours say? I am wanting to start my painting project where should I start?

Woodruffs said...

Thanks Lela! I've really been having fun with them! I'm little miss naughty, mostly because I thought someone should be that one, although I really like little miss sunshine! ;) I'm so excited about your painting project! I think you should start by either finding stencils or printing out the words on paper in a font you want to use, making sure that all the letters are the same size. Then you could use an xacto knife to cut out the letters, to create a stencil and a laser level to draw a straight base line around the kitchen. I'd love to come help this weekend if you're not busy?

Rachel said...

Your shirts look great! Wow, that's a lot of time involved.
I liked your recount of Luke's daily activities. As unexciting as it might sound (to me at least) our hubbies just LOVE that stuff.
Had a great time with you today on our walk. We'll have to do it again sometime. Who knows with the weather though. But after we get snow maybe we could snowshoe.