RusticCo

I'd like to officially introduce RusticCo. 

 

I opened RusticCo last year and I have big plans for it.  There is a link to the shop on the right of this blog.  You can check out RusticCo on the Website, on Etsy, and even on Instagram.  The Facebook site is currently being developed and will be available in the near future.

Here are some painted antlers that are currently for sale.



Jolly

 Website | Etsy

Gear

 Website | Etsy

Modern

Website | Etsy

 

Woodsy

Website | Etsy

Mushroom Journal - Entry II & Weekend Fun

On Saturday afternoon, Matt and Nikki came over dressed in rain boots and hoodies, ready to look for mushrooms in the rain.  We found 15 total.  Here is a picture of Keane and Matt in the woods.  We were completely soaked when we were finished. 

 

On Sunday, Keane and I decided to look for more mushrooms and found a total of 94!  One was a red mushroom and three were peckerheads, or false morels.  In one spot alone we found over 40.  They were everywhere we turned and looked.  We also found a deer shed which will soon be painted and for sale at RusticCo!  Then on Monday, Keane found 1 more -- it was in one of the same spots we looked on Sunday, so it may have been one we overlooked. 

This brings our 2013 total to: 137

On Sunday evening, Matt, Nikki, and Jon came over to fry up some spoonbill that Matt caught, many mushrooms which we ate as soon as they came out of the fryer, and some twice-fried potato slices that were as good as McDonald's fries.

I cannot forget to mention the main topic of conversation that evening -- the mask scene on Django Unchained.  The boys literally quoted that part over, and over, and over.  And then we watched it and laughed the whole time over, and over, and over.

On Saturday evening, Keane and I spent the evening with Jared and Melissa as they were kid-free that evening and out on the "town."  We met them at the bowling alley and then moved to a small, local bar in town and played four games of shuffleboard -- all of which the boys won.  We ended up staying the night with them and had to drag ourselves out of bed in the morning.  I made sure to take an allergy pill so I wouldn't have an allergic reaction to their sweet puppy, who has a broken leg, and who ended up sleeping with me come morning. 

Art Show

We went to an art show for the kids' school, and all the affiliated schools, at the high school.

Kaden made a doll of some sort -- I tried googling "Hibachi dolls" because I thought that is what they were called, but nothing shows up.  However, Kaden did a fine job on his and he made sure we noticed that it had braided hair, as you can see. 

"Hey, do you want to know how this all began?" Kaden asked.
Keane and I anxiously waited to hear how the tradition of these dolls began...
"It all started with an empty roll of toilet paper." 

Kylie recreated Monet's "Water Lilies" painting, yet she couldn't determine which one was hers.  She remembered that she put all of her flowers in the right order (purple, pink, then white).  She said that she did not do a terrible job on hers and made small cuts on her lily pads.  She also knew that hers had a green glob of paint because Scott accidently got it on the top of her paper -- but every glob of green paint we pointed out, she stated was not hers.

Kaden told us this morning on the way to school that he will be sixteen in seven years.  And Kylie figured out that she will be sixteen in nine years.  We'll try not to think about how quickly those seven and nine years are going to go by. 

After December, Kylie will no longer legally need to be in a booster seat.  We'll focus on one small step of growing up at a time!

When we showed up to the art show, a little girl Kylie's aged asked her if her mom was there.  Kylie answered, "No, but my stepmom is here.  This is my stepmom."  I smiled at the little unknown-named girl, and she went on her way, probably still wondering where Kylie's mom was.

It meant a lot to me -- that Kylie quickly introduced me as her stepmom and seemed to welcome it to her friend.  I haven't been introduced that way very often, if at all.  The kids consider me their stepmom in the home, but in public, I'm usually "Kristi."  To know that I'm fully accepted as a family member in Kylie's heart, I'm so very thankful and blessed.  She's right, I am her stepmom.  If she would have introduced me as her dad's girlfriend, I would have felt under-ranked.  I don't have to introduce her as Keane's daughter, but instead, as my stepdaughter, as mine, official or not.

Lenox wants outdoors

 

 

 

 

 

I plan on getting Lenox a harness so he can go for walks outside.  He's naturally so interested in the outdoors, though, that I'm fearful he'll welcome it once he is allowed outside.  If that's the case, we'll have a harder time keeping him from dashing outdoors when the doors open constantly.

 

Sometimes I'll hold him tightly and stand outside or in the garage with him, and I can tell he still has fear of the unknown.  Even though he's a cat, I love his innocence, curiosity, and youthfulness.  

42

Forty-two is not the age of anybody I know, but instead, it's the name of the movie I took Kollin and Kaden to see this past weekend.  It's a movie about Jackie Robinson and his history-making signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.



Source

I forewarned the boys about any language that may be used and we talked about it afterwards, so it didn't become a stressor during the movie.  It was a very inspirational and touching movie.  Kollin is ready to buy it on DVD and watch it again, and even though Kaden asked if it had been two hours yet, if the movie was over before it was, and for popcorn halfway through, he says he wasn't ready for it to be over either.

 

Mushroom Journal - Entry I

Sunday, we found our first mushrooms of the year.  I'll take a little pride and let you know that I found the very first one.

Together, we found a total of 27.   They were small, though.

 

Instead of frying them up and tasting mainly batter as Keane explained, we opted to put them on our homemade pizza which added a special touch. We made a pizza with the same special topping for Keane's parents and they could not believe how small the mushrooms were!

 

Here's to the first number of our 2013 count of morel mushrooms: 27

And to good little helpers.

5K = sore and stiff

Saturday morning I woke up early (for me on a Saturday) and went for a 3.2 mile run in my hometown with my momma and brother.  Mom had pre-warned us that she was going to walk and I was planning on jogging along with my brother...until he took off at the starting line in full speed.  I quickly had to slow down and, needless to say, he left me in the dust.  He never stopped jogging and ran it in 28:18!  I ran and jogged it in about 45 minutes and caught up with a couple friends while doing so.  It was a chilly but sunny day, the perfect weather for a run.

It felt good and even though I'm walking a little stuff-legged, I'm glad we were able to run for a good cause (for the county library) as well as for good health and fresh air. 

 

 

 

 

Kylie's Pet Photography

Kylie took my phone out on the front porch this morning to take photos of the animals and I'm always anxious to see what kids find photo-worthy.

The sunlight was just right and made some neat pictures of the dogs!

Lenox-Scape

 

Lenox, Lenox, What Do You See?

Tournament Champs

Kollin played two games last Saturday and went 2-0.  I went with my parents and him to two more games on Sunday.  It started cold and the wind was blowing strong.  Then the sun came out, that sun we haven't seen in so long, and I got a little burnt.  But it was all worth it because they won the tournament.  "Who did what?" you ask.  Mid-Mo Xtreme was the champion of the tournament!  And Kollin made an awesome dive-and-catch (is that what they call them?) in center field! 

Oh, Tonight

 

I grab your hand and you say, “Wait.”

I say, “No, girl, it’s way too late.”

We’ve been playing games for weeks,

now I’m ready to play for keeps.

 

 

Oh, tonight, we’re gonna set the world on fire.

I’m gonna set aside my pride.

I'm not gonna be the one to say “goodbye,”

Neither am I…Oh, tonight.

 

 

 

Go on kiss me on the mouth.

You know you want to; you should’ve done it by now.

Girl, you don’t know how long I’ve tried,

I've been fighting feelings deep inside.

 

 

 

So tell me what you want me to do.

Oh, it’s too late, baby, I’ve already fallen in love with you.