They grow up SO fast!

It's amazing how fast they grow. Those boys of mine.

I remember when my mom used to say that about us three girls and how it was so sad when we moved out. I used to think that she was just crazy for feeling that way and how I'd be totally ok when my boys grew up, became men and moved out into the world.

Well, let me tell you. When Ty first moved away to Texas, I was just coming back from a scrapbooking retreat with the scrap girlfriends. Ty had waited for me, on my way home, at the AM/PM to say goodbye. My friends saw first-hand how sad I was to see him go. His Jeep packed to the gills with all his earthly belongings. This was worse than when he went off to tech school in Sacramento. Of course, now he is living back home (in his own 5th wheel that he is paying on every month) after experiencing adulthood for the first time. It's a scary world out there!

Then there's Kyle. He's in Idaho. Far, far away!!! I miss him a ton! Granted, he isn't in the basement bedroom running up the electric bill playing video games or surfing the net, but I miss him still! He is taking a "break" from school at the moment and working at Starbucks in the Barnes and Noble. I wish he was home too, but I know he's independent and headstrong enough to make whatever he does in life work for him. Sacrifices and all.

Lastly, there's A.J. He's a Freshman in high school. Still needing prompting to do his homework. The challenge right now is to get and keep a "B" average in order to get his license. He's growing up fast too! The last of my little guys. Where did the time go? He's off doing more and more with friends too. Dates to the movies. Dinners. Lunches. After school activities.

Last weekend, he went off snowboarding in Shasta with his friend, Chris. No mommy. No daddy. He borrowed Ty's board and off he went. I was worried to death! What if....he fell. Hit his head. Broke his leg. His arm. What if.... I was SO relieved when he called from Chris' house ready to be picked up. WHEW! I survived another "son" adventure that I wasn't in control of.



That's A.J. in the CAMO pants!

It's tough being a mom. Tougher than anything else I've ever done. I worry too much sometimes. I'm too over-protective sometimes. I "what-if" the boys to death sometimes. I'm just a mom. Just like my mom!

Hind Sight is 20/20.

****NO PHOTO FOR THIS POST - You'll thank me later!

It's amazing how hind sight is 20/20! We just get too busy sometimes to see the signs!

Today, was the perfect example. SIGNS. CLEAR SIGNS! I just wasn't paying attention!!!

As I was putting my shoes on this morning, I was talking to Wonka. He was laying in front of the fireplace and he seemed really kind of sad. Melancholy, really. He didn't perk up. Just lay there with his head down, barely moving his eyes up to look at me.

So, I decided he should go to work with me. Down the stairs and into the back of the Jeep he went. He wasn't his normal self. Hopefully, getting out would cheer him up.

As we were driving into town, I noticed he didn't smell like his normal self and I thought I'd make him a grooming appointment today.

I pulled into my parking spot and he immediately started whining. Wonka talks, but never whines! I told him to be patient while I gathered my things out of the passenger seat. Then I opened the back and out he bounded. More like himself. I told him to "go potty" before we went in for the day. He went. We went in.

In the building, hardly long enough to put my things down and walk out to say good morning to everyone, I turned to walk back into my office and then I noticed a few little surprises on the warehouse concrete floor! OH NO!!! WONKA! NO!!!! You must not be feeling good, buddy!

THEN, the BIG, SURPRISE!!! Right there on the carpet!!!! NO!!!! AND Eewww! The smell!!!! POOR WONKA!

Fortunately, the concrete cleaned up easily and the carpet squares (what a bonus!) pulled up easily, scrubbed clean, and replaced! Good as new!

Next, I had the only humane, yet gross, duty of cleaning him up and at lunch, Phillip and I took him home.

SIGNS! Phillip and I have been having to get up around 1:30 a.m. over the weekend to let him out. He NEVER needs to be let out after bed til morning. Phillip says he saw him eating some grass this weekend.

SIGNS! Grass Eating Dog. Mopey Dog. Smelly Dog. Whiney Dog.

Hind sight IS 20/20. Unfortunately, sometimes we just don't recognize the signs until they become SIGNS! We'll be keeping an eye on him. Hopefully, it's just a bad rawhide bone or maybe he ate cat food!??? I'm hoping that's all it is. He's up on all his shots and his monthly tick and heart worm meds.

Monopoly Anyone???

***Note: January 3rd, 2010 I'm linking up to Between Naps on the Porch - Metamorphosis Monday
Be sure to go check out all the other "shares".

I didn't take a photo of the Monopoly board before I transformed it, but who hasn't played Monopoly???


So last January. No, the January before that. January 2008. The scrapbooking girls and I went on retreat and this was my project. I was inspired by an article I saw in Somerset Studio. I just took it to another level.

The SCHIEFER family board.

BITS....

PIECES...

Community Chest Cards.

Chance Cards.

As the other girls all scrapped 50 plus pages, road trip books and greeting cards, I spent the entire time working in miniature. Lots of scraps, left-over supplies, assorted embellishments, collected ephemera, mod podge, tissue paper, ink, paint, dice, bingo markers, wooden ruler, Scrabble tiles, old keys, cork, puzzle pieces, etc...even some of the other girls' garbage. Yes, I admit it. I dug some of their scraps out of their trash cans! GARBAGE DIGGER! Just goes to show, one woman's trash is another woman's treasure.

I began with a brand new Monopoly game board. Crisp and clean. Covered it with crinkled up white tissue paper and mod podge. Once dry, I distressed it with yellow paint - later, I distressed it again by dry-brushing it with brown ink.

Using our family as the subject matter, I just began to create space upon space. To keep the nuance of the "game", not all the spaces are covered fully. They are left lightly exposed. Look close. You can still see Monopoly, Income Tax, Water Works, Jail bird, the Go arrow, the Parking (free parking) and Electric Company.

I began the GO space with the date I created the piece - January 2008. Next space, celebrates our FIRST DATE - November 1983.

INCOME TAX space reminds us to TREASURE Today and Tomorrow.


The first CHANCE space represents Phillip asking me to marry him and our wedding in 1985. I've been asked several times how I got my pictures SO small. They are the index prints from the photo developer!

The JAIL space is an inside joke of the boys being in TIME OUT and always insisting it "wasn't me". Yet, somehow, somewhere, there was always EVIDENCE to the contrary!

The "Hold Your Breath" phrase with the Narrow Bridge photo is something Phillip started saying to me everytime we drove over a narrow bridge. We had to suck in and hold our breath until we were across. He joked at the time that we'd have to do that everytime with our "future" kids....and we do!

Well, you get the picture. I had a blast doing this project. It is my family's favorite and will surely become a family heirloom.

Phillip and I plan to build a 1" deep shadow box with clear, glare resistant acrylic to protect it. The back side will be weighted at the bottom corner point and have a lazy-susan-like fastener to allow it to hang on the wall with SCHIEFER reading level, but allowed to be turned by viewers.

So, go get yourself a board and start creating. AND be sure to send me photos!



The houses represent all the places we have lived since we got married.

Yeah, CHEVROLET parking only! Gotta love the classics.

Three chances? Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl??? BOY 1, BOY 2, BOY 3. DONE!

Unconditional Love. Tears of Laughter. Tears of Joy. Tears of Happiness. WATER WORKS!

GO TO JAIL space. Go to Disneyland (like we don't get enough of Disney?!!) But this is actually a tag from an old sweatshirt covered with Glossy Accents. AND 3 black buttons to make a Mickey head! Kyle, my most SERIOUS TEEN - NOT!!!

Those three boys of mine! At ages - 20, 17, and 14. They grow up so fast!

Hope you enjoyed the game!

Going Through a Heavy Metal Phase.....

Yup, I love Rock 'n Roll.

Nope, I'm not talking about Rock 'n Roll.

I'm talking about: The Look - The Feel - The Weight of REAL STEEL.

I love art and sculptures made of rusty metal or a variety of textured metal. I think vintage, real steel automobiles kick butt!!! I think old, corrugated buildings are really cool. I really like the look of old factories with all those stacks, pipes, chutes, etc.... Pretty much any old metal object gets my thumbs up! They just don't make them like they used to.

On that note, here is the Heavy Metal treasure Phillip and I picked up yesterday after work.

It's a full-size bed frame for the "Red, White and Blue" guest room. I plan to sand blast it down and either powder coat it white or paint it white. I'd almost clear coat it and leave it the original color with the rusty spots, but someone has already painted milk chocolate brown over the original white. So, I'll go clean and start over. It has the original heavy steel rails too! And I just saw a JC Penney ad in the May 2009 Country Living magazine with a really cute red, white & blue paisley AND blue and white checkerboard reversible coverlet. (I checked with our JCP here in Grants Pass, and they don't carry it! So, I'm on the hunt.)

This bed will be perfect in the guest room. I have a ton of ideas for in there. (one of which was the vintage RED scooter! SIGH!!!) The room isn't too big and won't have a closet anymore, as we'll be commandeering its closet for the kitchen, but I have a few other ideas up my sleeve about storage. A long dresser that will get re-done in white with new knobs and, here's the fun part, a galvanized top! The matching 2-drawer night stand will get the same treatment.

BUT, first....The floor needs to get oak'd. The closet needs to be framed in and covered in horizontal planks and painted white (can you say cottage guest room?) and the old 1970's aluminum window replaced. Just some more on the to do list. But, hey, I got THE bed I wanted for in there!

Last night, as I was pointing out to the guy at the S.Army which bed I had bought and was there to pick up, he made the comment "Oh, that old bed. When it came in, I told them we should just put it outside by the dumpster!" WHAT!!!! I love this BED! It totally reminds me of those old beds at Grandma's or you see at camp. They were always cold to the touch and squeaky! I just LOVE that!!!!

Here are a couple of other HEAVY METAL goodies I've collected....

This is obviously an old wheel barrow that I found for free somewhere in my travels. Someday, it'll get a planter box, but until then, I just love the skeleton with its wheel!

I found this little tricycle, with only two wheels (one of the back wheels is missing), in a field up in Washington. They were clearing land to build a new housing tract and had a pile of "junk", rocks, and sod. I spyed this from the road one day while driving home. This little bike has been in my yard ever since. In Washington. In California. AND now here in Oregon. Even with the missing wheel, I love it!

Neither of these are in their permanent homes, but be sure they will have a place of honor once the yard is landscaped!

Lastly, and these really aren't "treasures", but I kinda like the composition.

SEVERAL months ago, I cleaned these OLD (owned by the previous owner of the house) paint cans out of the garage and set them outside with the intention of dumping them at the next local recycle fair, but here they sit. The rusty lids are fun though. These WILL NOT be included in the eventual landscape, I promise!

Oh and one little final note of HEAVY METAL excitement....

My 1963 Chevy Nova Convertible got picked up on Monday and is getting soda blasted and then getting re-painted its original red. Oooooh. Gotta love VINTAGE REAL STEEL! (gotta love barter too!!! Boy, can my hubby deal!)

Rock on!