My husband is quite musical, like with instruments. 

I am not.

His music makes him happy. 

So does mine.

I just like to make a different kind of "music". 

That is the philosophy I used to convince my husband to help me with my latest creative project.

My bathroom has the blahs.

A new and different kind of ceiling. 

A close up of my hubby's handiwork.

First we went to the store and got the wood. 

Then we hauled it home in the Durango.

I should have taken a picture of that because it was quite the funny sight.

So anyway, we got it home. 

I stained all the wood as it lay out in the freezing cold garage. 

It was very cold.

Fortunately my husband does the precision cutting and I only had to go back out to the way too cold garage long enough to hold the tape measure.

Next we brought the pieces into the house one by one and put it on the ceiling. 

Nice and Easy.

Not!

But we got it done.

Well almost.

I still have to do a little touch up and add a coat or two of polyurethane.

If you want a more complete description of this process, check out the blog I found through Pinterest. It's where I got my motivation.

Ceiling makeover inspiration

Since we used nails on the trim, we didn't need to do any taping. I also don't need to fill as many gaps because my hubby is as big of a perfectionist as I am, so his boards are more likely to be too long vs too short.  However, we often end up either forcing the board in or he takes it back out to the freezing cold garage and trims it ever so slightly.

Hubby says I can't look at

anymore.

He's joking....I hope.


Update: 
You know those small gaps I mentioned? Sigh....Well, I found this stuff at the hardware store that is like drywall spackel but it is for exposed wood and it is stainable. I applied it to the ceiling just like I would drywall mud, blending the two boards together so that if someone was to touch them it would appear to be one continuous  flowing board. 
Then I looked at my work and wondered how it would look once it was stained, Would the stain show as beautifully as it did on the wood grain? That lovely grain that is now covered up in the corners. Hummmm...
So this morning I did a test patch and yep it is stainable, however; because there is no grain it is lighter and less interesting. 
The result is that I have spent my morning sanding off all the excess wood spackel. Off the ceiling! My arms are not so happy with me today.
What have I learned:
This stuff is not drywall mud. There is no need to blend. Just fill the gaps. Oh! and wipe off the excess while it is wet.

I absolutely love banana bread, so when I saw this recipe I decided that I was going to make these. I started reading through the recipe and that little "wah wah" sound went off in my head. The idea of flour of any sort and baking powder being accurately measured in my kitchen the first thing in the morning was....well, laughable.

Here is the link to the real recipe. I am sure that it probably tasted even better then mine. After all, she took the time to make it from scratch. From scratch always seems to be better...always.

Banana Bread Pancakes complete recipe

Didn't she have a lovely presentation. Now for my sleepy head version:

I started off with this....

3 cups    Krusteaz Wheat & Honey Pancake Mix
Add water until reaches your favorite consistency
1/4 cup  brown sugar
1    tsp   cinnamon
1/4 tsp   nutmeg
1    Tbs  vanilla extract
3    lrg ripe bananas, smashed

Mix it all together in one bowl. (I didn't really measure my cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. I just sprinkled some in until it looked "good".)

I made the syrup exactly like her recipe, with one exception. I heated it up in the microwave because my maple syrup is cold and thick and didn't want to blend with the powdered sugar.  It didn't turn into a glaze like hers did.

Here's what I got...               

Tasty Pancakes

  There are a couple of things that I would change the next time I make them:

1.   Make sure my bananas are overripe just like I do with banana bread, you know when the skin gets all black. It just adds so much more banana flavor.

2. Since I absolutely do not like the taste of powdered sugar, I will simply not make the glaze again. Maybe since I heated it in the microwave it didn't "glaze".  Anyway,  I couldn't see a reason to add more sugar to a completely sugary base, especially when that ingredient doesn't really have a pleasing taste.

These pancakes are a nice change to the same ole' pancakes. I will definitely be making them again. 

It's almost the new year. Time to make those resolutions that one always intends to follow through with, but more often then not, don't. For that reason, I have rarely made New Year Resolutions.

I have often heard people say that resolutions are just a way to set yourself up for failure. Oh, I see....so shall we just give up then? Don't even try?

Have we become so complacent that we are simply satisfied with our short comings? Maybe we are so fearful of failure because it might hurt our self esteem, that we fail to even try.

Have we forgotten how to strive for a goal? How to dig deep, sweat, sacrifice, and actually work to achieve our objective?

This year we must decide: go with the idea of preserving our precious self esteem or set some goals and try.

My goals: 


1.   Read from my bible everyday. I will do my best to understand what I am reading and not only read the words.


2.  In my attempt to get closer to God, I am going to try remember to spend some time in prayer every day. 


3.   Get more organized. I can not believe how fast life can get disorganized. One little slip leads to another and another until before you know it you are overwhelmed with clutter and disorganization. I function so much better within an organized life.

4.   Finish the family room. This one is almost cheating because it is nearly finished. Just some wainscotting, paint, and a few finishing touches and it's finished. Except for the carpet. That will be on my goal list for another year I suppose. 

5.   Learn how to make file cabinets. In order to finish the office, I need file cabinets. I can not seem to find affordable ones that fit my need. Plus I like the idea of making my own to be just what I want. This would be a really nice accomplishment since it would help me to live in that organized life that I mentioned. 


6.   Plant and harvest a successful garden this year.


7.   Learn more about living naturally and implementing what I learn.


8.   I hope that my company "The Cleansing Creek" actually makes money this year. I know what you are thinking. You didn't even know I had a company. That is only one of many problems I must overcome. 


9.   I hope to overcome my fear of people....or maybe not. Maybe just improve my social skills a little to start with.


10.  And finally.....that famous....lose weight. I hope to lose more then I put on. 

We all have heard that sleep is necessary for us to be healthy. The debate still continues as to how much sleep that is. So what happens when you don't get enough?

I first start to notice that I am lacking in the peaceful bliss of sleep when I start hurting myself. It starts off with little things like smashing my finger in the drawer or burning my head with a curling iron. Then instead of simply following with an "ouch", I whine.

As "enough" sleep continues to decrease my ability to be a klutz increases. This is where I do things like...let's just say for instance...while sitting on the arm on the couch my sock gets stuck on the door of the dog crate. I only notice when I begin to stand up that I can't seem to get my foot unstuck. Ultimately falling on the floor and ripping my sock, that's still clinging to the dog crate door.

Then as the day lingers on, I might do something like walk across the floor, step down to a lower level and step on some unlevel flooring, causing me to fall once more.  As I loose control of the contents in my hands and it spills all over, I roll my ankle and break my toe. Shock shivers would probably follow a incident like that.

As the rapid pace of life perseveres, "enough" sleep remains elusive. Soon the ability to reason becomes incomprehensible. I don't even know where to begin with this one.

So husbands, if your wife does something like smashes her finger in the cupboard, it is probably a good idea for her to take a nice relaxing nap. It is so much better then to have to face the "inability to reason" stage.

Just for instance   ;)

 Today started off as a typical day at work. With my back to the window, a violation of my normal self security precautions, I was sitting there reading a book to my patient. All of the sudden I heard this thud thud behind me. With a couple of cats, a dog and a flock of chickens running around, there are always little noises here and there. So I casually turned around to see what was outside the window. Imagine my surprise when I saw a couple of pairs of rump roast parked immediately outside the window.

 

With no one else around, it was up to me to get those walking sirloins behind the gate again. Cows are notorious for escaping their enclosures. Know the phrase, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence? Cows invented it. 

 I hate cows, unless they are served for dinner. Anyway,  I waved my arms and hoot n' hollered just like a real cow wrangler. One by one I got 5 of the 7 escapees locked up again. I was gaining some confidence with these creatures. I had it all figured out. Chase all the cows that are still behind the gate away from the gate, then just get the escapees up in this corner, then open the gate and use the parked truck as a road block and then I can block the other exit. Ha! As long as they didn't retreat around the front of my durango I had it made. Yeah! I can do this! Then came number 6. He was a squirrelly rebellious young'un. As he was squirming around me and eventually out and down the road this big monster was sneaking around behind me.

This guy headed straight for the garden. Still feeling somewhat confident I circled around to get in front of him to head him off. So I started waving my arms and hoot n' hollerin' again. Well....all the other cows turn around and try to escape this craziness. Not this one. He just stood his ground and stared at me. Did I mention that I hate cows. This guy was not going to be intimidated by me. So I hid behind a little plum tree. And the big monster cow did whatever he wanted as I waved a stick at him from behind a tree.

(And just in case you were wondering. Yes, I have been around cows before. The field right next to my parents house is full of those fly attracting things. I used to live at my parent's house.)

I was driving home from work today talking to my hubby on the cell, when I saw something move off in the trees. It was a BIG *** moose. I about hung up on my hubby because I needed to use my cell phone as a camera and I had to be quick just in case he bolted. So I stopped the Durango, rolled down the passenger window, stretched my arm out while holding the cell phone and "click". In my attempts to miss the vehicle in my shot, I also missed the moose. 

It would have been such a good picture too. He had noticed me and squared up to the vehicle, giving it a good stare down and showing off the impressive rack upon his head. At that point I was thinking ummm....fight or flight. Gambling that the moose would notice that the durango was bigger and with my foot ready on the gas pedal I decided to stand my ground.

After getting the one quick and missed shot, the moose must have decided he wasn't going to tangle with the Durango so he started on his way. Away from me. 

My cell phone makes it seem so far away but, it's not as far away as it seems. 

 Yeah....well let's see if you could do better using a cell phone camera with your arm all the way stretched out. Oh yeah, and your foot on the gas...just in case. 


This isn't the first moose I have seen. One has crossed the road right in front of me up near Lolo Hot-springs in Montana. There was a mama and her baby in a creek in Yellowstone. They were quite a distance away and not threatening in any way. Then of course, the infamous Moose Lake incident. Finally there is this one. Kirk says there is one more where this young moose ran out in front of the car. Just kept running out there in front of us going the same direction. Now that he tells me the story it sounds kind of familiar but, I don't really remember. 

My dear son has put in his application for graduation. He will be done with college by Christmas. It is exciting and scarey all in one. What does a college graduate have to look forward to these days? 

This year he is a senator at the college. It is a shame that he has to give that up half way through the year because he is getting such good experience from it. He has shown so much personal growth so far this year and I credit student government for that. Well hopefully it will help his resume' anyway.

I ask him about his plans for his future. They include: get a job, take a trip, start his own business. I think about the get a job part. Will this job take him away from home? Will he be able to afford all his dreams? Then I remember that Washington keeps raising it's minimum wage. He can just get a job at McDonalds  and make as much as those guys who work those hard physical labor jobs. 


Guess he didn't need that college degree after all. 


Just kidding, I hope he does a little better then that. I just couldn't resist putting my little jab in there about the minimum wage increase. I could go on about why that was a bad idea for everybody but, this blog isn't about that.