Chelsey - Avert Your Eyes!

All I can say, is this is a step in the right direction. That direction is headed straight to creativity and scrapbooking once again. I always write the date I completed a layout on the back side of the paper, and it turns out it's been since May 17 - that's almost 2 months now! Wow, I really need to get back on track, my ever-running list of pages is getting a bit overwhelming!

Okay, so this past Friday was my stagette, and Saturday was my bridal shower (photos to come in the next few days). I cannot believe how much those three girls (not to mention a couple cousins and aunts) did for me! The planning, time, creativity, money - they blew me away! Immediately after Brittany and Kas left for home late Saturday night, I told Justin I needed to find a nice way to thank them - right away. Tonight I started working on that plan - I made cards for my maid of honor and two bridesmaids. (Tomorrow night I plan on making thank you cards for my shower guests, and I'll do a post about those too!)

Inspiration for these cards came from this card by Cindy Lee. I was snooping through her blog earlier today, and really loved the shape that came by rounding the edges of two opposite corners. I knew exactly how I wanted my cards to look, and they came together perfectly.

Before I started on those cards, I assembled our wedding invitations. Inevitably something will go wrong, when we started working on how we wanted our invitations to look (with a local printing company), we were told once we decided and okay'd the final design, they'd take about 2-3 days to print. Well, turns out it took a day less than two weeks. Our RSVP reply-by-date was July 1st. Well, seeing as how we didn't get the invitations back until June 25, that didn't leave us much time. Justin complained about the problem, and they re-printed the RSVP card for us. Now they say July 15th - making me much happier (and less stressed).

I was very much a little factory tonight. It took me a bit to determine what the best steps were to glue a pocket on the inside of the invitations, but once I figured that out, I was on a roll! Once completed, the invitations were lined up on the table, making them easier to count. After I was all done, it was a little bit eery looking at all of them lined up:

Tomorrow I need to find some clear circle stickers to hold the flap closed, then they can get off the table, get mailed out, and stop creeping me out!

The Last Two Weeks

Let me start with the weekend of the 11, 12, 13 - also known as Justin's stag/camping adventure. Leading up to that weekend, he was the busiest person around, packing this, finding that. I barely saw him that week at all. Him and a friend (Lincoln) had an idea for awhile to make a toilet to go into the reciever of the trailer hitch; Justin decided he needed this invention for his stag, and got at making it (have I mentioned he's a jouneymen welder); aptly named the "Hitch n Shit:"

Then, they (Justin, his cousin/best man, two groomsmen, and Sheldon) were all off to the mountains to enjoy and celebrate manhood, and his freedom. They headed off into the wilderness, packing their guns, bow and arrows, a block of peat moss, a cooler of beer, and some food.

I couldn't believe when I saw this picture, the snow that's still on the mountains is pretty unreal. Justin did say they were up really high though.

I have learned something about the oposite sex with this batch of pictures that came back: picture taking is not a top priority of theres. My stagette is this Friday, and I just know there'll be some pretty crazy pictures, mostly of people (you know the point the camera at arms length and huddle together photos), and the crazy shinanigans that come with being a bride-to-be. Gauranteed I'll have more pictures than Justin came home with of his stag!

So, Sheldon cannot be explained. He is just someone that needs to be experienced to understand him! Seriously! He just bought a brand new lawn chair for that weekend, and he ended up ripping the arm fabric, and then it ended up in the fire.

Then last week happened. Justin and I got a call on Tuesday around noon that his Grandpa had a heart attack, and was in ICU. We both left work, to be with him, and find out what exactly happened. Long story short, it was a bit of a rollercoaster of a week, waiting to find out test results, waiting by the phone - hoping it wouldn't ring with bad news. Then Thursday came. Grandpa Pearse lost his battle. We had family back over to our house after they left the hospital, which was really nice; reminiscing and remembering was exactly what we all needed.

Fast forward to yesterday. My work is participating in the Dragon Boat Festival held this weekend at a local lake. They've practiced a couple times now, and are improving drastically. Because my stagette/bridal shower are happening this weekend also, I'm a drylander (aka cheerleader/photo/video taker). So, last night I sat watching my co-workers practice with my General Managers dog in tow.

So, as you can see, blogging and scrapbooking - not so much a priority right now.

Let Me Explain...

I will not make excuses, I will only tell you facts. Facts from this past weekend, so here we go.

Sunday the weather was beautiful. My future father in law, Brent, has been planning for some time now to get the calves branded. It was the perfect day, maybe even a little bit too hot for being outside, in the burning sunshine. Brent mentioned that he can't ever recall the weather being as nice when he has branded in the past. Normally it's too windy, rainy, or just plain miserable. But, with no wind, no rain, and sunshine galore (not to mention temperatures of at least 20 degrees), we couldn't pass up the day.

We started out rounding up all the cattle; making them all gather in the corral. Some of them, at the very far other end of the property had quite the hike. This cow and calf in particular made my heart ache.

The poor mothers full utter was wagging back and forth with each exhausting step she took, she just wanted to rest the poor thing. Her calf looked a little worse for wear as well. I eventually decided he couldn't hack it any longer, and he got put in the box of the truck.

For awhile I sat there in the box with the calf and Dalton drove. Then the misquitos were attacking me too badly, and I got to drive. Mak (the border collie) was my passenger for awhile.

Once all the cattle (all except that calfs mother) were in the corral, the "cutting" began. Justin, Brent, Dalton and Brian were in the corral, sorting out cattle; looking at the tags and shuffling them around.

Eventually it got so there were only the calves in the one corral, all in the shoot that lead up the the branding table.

Now, this was my first experince branding, and let me tell you, oh my, what noise! The cattle all in one area like that - wow, what a commotion! Every once in a while they'd all stop bellyaching; all at once, for no reason - then one would start mooing again, and they'd all join in. I do not know how Salt (the cat) was able to sleep with all the noise, but I saw him curled up a few times, dozing off.

I really have a soft spot for the little calves. Especially when they're just days old! This is the same little guy that we lugged around in the box for awhile.

This is seriously my favorite picture I think I've ever taken. Think I'm going to enlarge it, print it off and frame it for Brent soon. Maybe a good Christmas present; maybe a just because "slurpee" (just what Justin and I call out of the blue cheap gifts - it's a long story!).

Getting things all heated up. At this point I remember thinking "too many irons in the fire" - I'm telling you, the sun affects my head!

I felt so bad for my little friend. He was so exhuasted, and hungry. I requested that he be one of the first to get branded, so he could go find his mumma and get some nurishment!

Once the little babe was out of the branding table, I walked with him for a bit, helping him get going again. I returned back to the action, only to look out into the field and find him all by his lonesome in the completely opposite direction as his mumma was. I went back out again to help him (did I tell you he wrapped his hoof around my heart?). When I got him headed in the right direction once again, I headed back. When I lifted my foot up on one stride I realized there was a board attached to by foot, by a nail that had entered my shoe. Oh, then the pain set in - I stepped on a rusty nail. Yes, wonderful. I shook off the board with the nail and slowly limped back. I sat in one of the trucks, and investigated my injury. All I could think was about the last time I got a tetanus shot back in Junior High (I had a big bulge in my arm where the needle went in, and it hurt really badly, feeling like the skin would burst at any second. When I went to the doctor, he said some people don't need the shot as often; the vaccine stays with some longer than others. He said next time I needed a tetanus shot to first be tested to see if I actually required it; you guessed it, I'm not a fan of needles.). I decided I was just going to make my trip to the hospital later on, and I'd just sit in the truck cab until the branding had finished.

The next thing I knew, Brent's friend, Bill, who was the one administering the vaccine to the calves, got jabbed in the finger with the needle. Apparently the calf jerked his head, and he poked himself. I heard Brent saying he'd heard of people having bad reactions to the calf medication, and suggested Bill head to the hospital. Well, we could kill two birds with one stone I figured, so the two of us took off together to the Emergency room.

I thought Bill was the one in the worse shape, but it turned out to not be a big deal; the doctor was just concerned that none of the vaccine made it's way into him (no more than a few drops anyways). I on the other hand got X-rays to make sure no parts of the nail were in my big toe, and to make sure it wasn't broken; and I got a couple pills to dull the pain. I told the doctor about my last tetanus shot, the reaction I had, and how I should first be tested to see if I needed it. She did some research and discovered the test had to be sent away and could take as long as 7-10 days to get results back - and she reasoned I could be dead in that amount of time; if I was okay with it, she was okay with giving me the shot - needless to say I got the shot! They bandaged up my toe, and sent Bill and I on our way.

After spending two hours in Emergency, and a long day out in the sun, I was wiped by the time Bill and I got back to the farm. We all enjoyed a yummy supper, and Justin and I headed home shortly after. My tetanus arm feels exactly the same as last time I got the shot; sore is an undestatement. Last night I took half of a Tylonal 4 just to help dull the pain so I could get a decent nights sleep. I was pretty groggy this morning, but it did help. I find the morning and nights are the worst for my arm; I put ice on it at night, and rest my hand on my head a lot during the day to elevate my arm. Seriously, since turning 25, I've spent a lot of time at the doctors, and now in the Emergency room. I would like to stop getting hurt and not be in pain!

And there you have it, facts as to why there was no Monday Challenge this week. (And I was just too wiped last night to write this post).