Week of Board-om

I am blogging from Mike's apartment today because I am a broke college kid who's trying to put off having to pay for internet until the last possible second.  I haven't been blogging on the weekends as of late, but I currently happen to be waiting for Kyle to call me on Skype.  No time like the present, or whatever.

First off, well okay, second off, I don't think that I ever posted pictures of the bench that I refinished right before school was out.    

This old picnic bench was looking pretty rough when I got my hands on it, but I replaced a few screws, sanded it down and painted it up, and now it hangs out on the porch--perfect for cool summer evenings. 


I tried out a few different projects this weekend.  It started with these old boards that I, uh, shall we say scavenged from a nearby neighbor.

Inspired by an earlier project with crayons, I decided to experiment with the littlest board. 

I started by chopping up crayons...

Then I arranged them in an orderly fashion...

I made sure to take proper safety precautions, because I didn't know if the piece of wood would catch on fire in the oven...

I baked the sign for about ten minutes, just long enough for the wax to melt.  (Sorry Morgan, I used your pizza pan, but I covered it in foil to keep it safe!)  

I smeared the wax with a knife, something I wouldn't recommend.  It turned out less than satisfactory, but hey, that's what experiments are for, right? 


With the larger boards, I wanted to make weathered signs. 

Since I was going for the worn and torn look, I started with half a coat of primer, being sure to leave a few bare spots.  

I followed that with a lovely sea foam...

Then painted on this verse from 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  To finish, I roughed up the edges of the board with some sandpaper.  

Oh, and I made one for you too, Mom.  :)

Weak of Boredom

I never understood why all of the scary stories from my childhood involved, at some point or another, kids being afraid of the noise made by trees scratching at their windows at night.  If my memory serves me correctly, this noise was supposed to have scared even the brave Huck Finn and grown men like Lockwood.  The reference always seemed, to me, to be a cop-out; I just couldn't understand how such a menial noise could be so terrifying--until last night, that is. 

As it turns out, when you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night and your brain is skewed by the darkness, a tree scratching on the window and the meager outer-wall of your cheap trailer-home actually sounds like someone frantically trying to break into your room by any means possible.  

My apologies to Mark Twain and Emily Bronte. 


If you recall a few weeks ago, I complained about how busy I felt all the time, and how I couldn't wait for this week when I would have next to nothing to do.  Well, I was wrong.  (I know, I know, I was just as shocked as you are that I could be wrong about anything.  We're all just trying to take it in stride.)  Now, I wasn't wrong about how little I would have to do, I was just wrong about liking it.  I AM SO BORED.  I've read, drawn, written, cleaned, tried to keep busy with a million different arts and crafts, but the bottom line in that I need a project, a big project, and preferably one with a deadline.  I need to be challenged, or at the very least, threatened, so that maybe I could stay interested in something for more than twenty-two and a half minutes.  I can't even pick a blogging topic to stay on.

Speaking of which, I had an awesome time (as always) in Sheridan with Kyle and his fam.  Kyle and I didn't do too much, but there is a big difference between doing nothing with your best friend all day, anywhere and doing nothing by yourself for most of the day, in Chadron.  (Don't get me wrong, I still have plenty of friends in Chadron, but Jacy and Morgan never want to cuddle with me.)  I am so proud of Kyle for how hard he worked for his new job (he gets officially sworn in as an officer in less than an hour!) but it is discouraging to think about how long we will have to be apart.  Everything seems just a little bit harder when your heart is in another state.  Okay, now I am done feeling sorry for myself and subjecting you to mushy stuff.  Much worse things than just being a few hours apart could happen, Ky and I have it pretty good. 


(Oh, P.S., thanks Papa and Grandma for sneaking that Keurig up to Chadron for me, Kyle loved it!)   

Kyle's Birthday

Sew... I'm not really blogging right meow because I am in Sheridan, spending the week with Kyle before he starts his new job as an officer for Sheridan Police Department on Monday.  Also, today is his 23rd birthday!  I will blog about all of our adventures probably sometime next week when I am bored at work. 

Happy Birthday Chacho, you're my best-est friend and I love you with all my heart! 

Final Touches

Well, I missed this week's blendsday due to moving/finals-induced laziness.  But, my finals are all finished as of 9am this morning, and I only have a few more odds and ends to move to my new place before I can claim to be officially done living in the dorms.  Hip-hip-hooray! 

What I learned this week is that moving is time-consuming, expensive, and complicated.  From the beginning, everything that has gone into finding a space to call home has been trial and error--especially error.  Things have been messy, both literally and figuratively, but I guess most of life is messy.  I feel like I have a lot more knowledge about moving for the next go-round (which hopefully won't be for about two years). 

I expect this summer to be nice--albeit probably boring.  After the way these last two weeks have been, I am looking forward to slowing things down and stretching myself out like the long summer days.  You can bet that I'll be putting in my time basking in the sunshine on my days off.   

End of Semester Crazies

So, due to a lack of effort to study this semester, I now have to learn four month's worth of art history images in a week.  Uh-oh.  Despite the best efforts of my eighth grade "Study Skills" teacher, I have always had poor study habits.  I can't just sit down and stare at the same information for an extended period of time.  Hopefully the final for Art History isn't weighted and the bad grade won't totally devastate my otherwise respectable grade in that class. 

In other news, I finally loaded my big fish into the kiln today--in several pieces...  If he makes it out in a somewhat decent condition, I will paste his clay appendages back together and paint him up.  I haven't named the poor schmuck yet, because I feel like if I name him and he doesn't survive then I will have to mourn his passing.  

Most of my other projects for the semester are finished, but I can't post any pictures for you because I already packed my camera, along with half of my room.  The girls and I get the keys for our new place tomorrow at noon!  Moving for us is going to be a process, a car-load of things at a time between taking finals and wrapping up the last bit of this school year.  It is definitely going to feel weird when Ben and Kyle aren't in Chadron anymore, but I am excited for both of them to start a new chapter of their lives. 

I feel like I have developed a case of the "end of semester crazies." Between end of semester projects and tests, the anniversary party in Denver this weekend, packing and moving, the foam party and Kyle's Justice Studies dinner tomorrow, and graduation next weekend, I am having a hard time keeping everything straight!  Thank goodness for giant lists, my mind would absolutely explode if I couldn't organize my ToDo's on paper.  


I can't wait to see the fam in Denver this weekend!  Happy 50 years of marriage Papa and Grandma Ferrero!