Goat Fest 2011

My socks have been rocked.
So a little background info for those that have no clue why the hubs and I host a party called Goat Fest.  Three years back we attended a series of services through Willow Creek Community Church entitled "Celebration of Hope."  At one of the services we were given a book;  Hole in the Gospel, by Rich Stearns. If you want to be challenged, read it.  We had no idea what we were getting into by opening those pages, but we are grateful we did.  After reading the book and deciding that we wanted to give in some way, and my husband came up with this idea about raising money to buy goats for families in developing countries through World Vision.  To read and to see what a goat can do for a family, click here.  What better way to raise money than throwing a party.  So, Goat Fest was born.  We have had so many learns along the way
Year one we learned you shouldn't let people pick their own shirt color, or you will run to 8 Hobby Lobby's to find a large teal shirt.
Year two we learned that no one likes to stand by a grill.  So don't buy burgers unless you are hiring a chef.  We also learned  how deep a folding chair can sink into the ground if it was muddy out.  Whoops.
This year we learned to not switch screen printing ink when the cheaper brand worked so well last year.
We were so blessed to escape the 40% chance of rain and have a beautiful fall day.  Crisp air with the "apple orchard" woodwick candle burning strong in the living room. I pretty much get giddy over fall scents making my house feel like fall.  My husband says it's fake fall.  I'm right he's wrong, end of story.  Candle stays.
We think about 70 people passed through our garage and I tried to soak in as many moments as possible. We sold over 50 T-shirts. There was mingling, crazy children, adults using the craft table, and collapsing moon walks.  And it was all good.  I did not spend nearly enough time behind my camera, but I did manage to get some shots throughout the day.

Opening Shop:

 Want to learn how to screen print?  First take a long time cutting out a stencil with an exacto knife.  Try not to scream too many bad words as it feels like your first finger will surely fall off.  Then place it on a shirt.

 Then smoosh the ink through the screen (very technical).  And presto...you have a shirt.

 Except for when it doesn't work precisely and then you break out the itty-bitty paint brush and go at with my perfectionist's heart.

 After cleaning my house I was frustrated that I still do not yet have a closet door.

 So I honed in on my inner Bender and found a staple gun and some curtains.

 Problem solved.  (The brown and grey might not be a perfect match, but it looks wayyyyy better.)

 The tables along the left of the garage are a combination of our broken closet doors and our 30 gallon containers filled with crap.  Up-cycling at it's finest friends.

 Our moon walk village prior to the collapse of the house on the left.  Luckily no children were injured in the process.

 Big kids + Small Bounce House = Fallen Castle

 So many friends and family came.  It was glorious.

 Family all around.

 We ended up ordering 8, 18 inch pizzas.  That is a total of 2035 square inches of pizza in case you were wondering.

 Eventually we brought the campfire to this circle.  Some idiot forgot to find sticks/skewers for marshmallow roasting.  So there were no s'mores.  Another lesson learned.

 Not sure who enjoyed the craft table more, the kids or the adults.

 My hubs likes putting his finger in his ear.  Not really, I just didn't take very good pictures.

 I call it "bags."  Some call is "CornHole."  Call it what you may, it was played.

 My dad pretty much owned my sister.

 I felt it necessary to sugar the kids up prior to sending them home.  Your welcome parents.  Do come again.

 And nothing like a campfire to end the night.  Jon is catching flies and Mark is sleeping. You would have no clue that there is a rip-roaring game of catch phrase going on here.

 At least the girls were thinking hard and bringing their "A" game.

And so concludes another Goat Fest. We raised over $2,000, which is 27 plus goats.  A rocking party for a great cause.  You should come next year.  We are also thinking about having a 5K with a post party to mix it up :)  Happy weekend, I have a house to re-clean.  

House Progress

Can I scream my love for craigslist on a mountaintop?  Because I would.  We once again bought furniture off of  C-List and painted/stained it to make it more of what I wanted.  I honestly have never met a rude person when I have sold or picked up furniture.  This time they were a little interesting, but extremely nice none the less.  So the mission was to find a sideboard/credenza/buffet to create into a place for storage and to put our TV on.  The coffee table the TV was currently resting on looked way to small in the room.  So for forty dollars we ended up with this (Please excuse the picture quality it the photos to follow, the point and shoot just isn't the same):

I always forget to take before pictures...so this is mid sanding...and there is plenty of sawdust in the air.

 After sanding the top, I stained it darker.  Thanks to neighbor Bob, I didn't even need to buy stain!

And then if you skip ahead through all the painting, we ended up with this:

 Not too shabby for $40!  Correction $44.  I did buy spray paint to change the knobs and pulls.  Would highly recommend it!  Everything else I used was stuff we already had or things that neighbor Bob let me barrow.

 The flash made the top look more yellow than it is.

I love it and think it turned out great!  It inspired me to potentially never buy new furniture.  My husband helped me paint and it inspired him to let me buy something new next time.  Interesting how that happens.

We also finished painting the chalk board wall in the laundry room.  So needless to say we spent a good amount of time trying it out.

 Because every wall needs a dinosaur and robot.  Oh, and don't shove your fingers in that outlet.

I wonder why drawing is more fun when you can do it on your wall.  

Ebb and Flow

I was talking with my cousin lately about how excited we are to put away the shorts.  We hate shorts.  Our genetically engineered thighs look like crap in shorts.  Beyond my thighs, there is this whole sensation that comes over me in the fall, and I love it.

 I would also love to have a nice camera to go document all of the things about fall that I love, but alas my birthday is not until November.

 I get ecstatic about the sweatshirts and jeans.  The boots and knits. The pumpkin spice lattes and the Yankee candles that scream "take me to the pumpkin patch."  I even love all the school supplies that are now on sale, and I am holding back my desire for my own back to school shopping spree.  Maybe I could have a back to work again shopping spree in honor of fall.  Just a thought.

 I have a whole different demeanor when we turn this corner into fall weather.  65 and sunny just brightens my day.    I was once commenting on how much I loved the changing colors of the leaves to a friend, to which she responded, "I"m glad you like to watch things die."  Apparently fall does not surround her in the same type of ambiance.

So this fall I want to do  my best to take in the small things.  To savor the pumpkin spice lattes (I talk about them like I buy them daily, I will probably treat myself to one or two the whole season.  So I will savor every freaking sip).  I will enjoy an after-family-dinner-walk outside in the brisk air, and take any extra snuggles I can get from the Gav.  I'm going to make some stupid fall craft and love every second of it.  Fall comes and goes so quickly, and I don't want to miss it this year.

And because I only like to post with pictures, here are some original Goat Fest pictures.  We will host our 3rd  Goat Fest this year, and I'm stoked...and scared that it won't be as awesome as last year.  Later this weekend I want to write a post about how Goat Fest came to fruition and the highlights of the parties over the years.

I am off to buy screen printing ink to commence the shirt making.  Wish us luck.

Cold Showers, Baptism, and The Hour Exchange

My house is hot.  And sticky.  And I want to move to Antarctica.  Maybe I can help Eskimos deliver their babies.   Everyone who has lived with me has learned my love of hot water.  The perfect shower temperature is just below the point where it actually burns your skin.  I come out of the shower red as a lobster and I have found the best part of apartment living is having a much larger hot water tank than would ever be installed in a house.  (I admit I am a hot water hog and will wipe out the whole tank in one shower killing many fishies in the process.  No shame.)

I think tonight was one of the few cold showers I have ever taken in my life.  I usually hate them, but tonight in my house that is currently running around 88 degrees, it was nice.  Refreshing even.

This past weekend our church hosted a baptism service outdoors in a lake.  As cheesebally as it sounds, my cool shower reminded me of this past weekend, and my prior baptism.  It made me remember how it felt to come out clean.  Washed of the sweat of my own failures.  God is good.

My super generous friend let me borrow her nice camera to see if I really wanted to invest in one (I do by the way if you want to chip into my fund).  So I took pictures of the baptism.  I had so much fun experimenting with the camera and am sold on buying one.  Trying to sell my husband.  I am sure an old Polaroid could have captured the beauty of this day, because you just couldn't escape it.

Story Boards

Studly Husband

God must have thought Jeff was in need of a good cleansing given the wave that came at him.

Yes there is an old flubby woman walking in her bikini by the cross.  She walked by 3 times.  I'm glad she is confident and I found it hilarious.  

On a totally different note, we watched yet another documentary that rocked my world.  It talked about Portland's Hour Exchange program.  Apparently there is one in Chicago but I don't know how well it is established.  The whole concept is you give an hour of your time and can then cash in that hour for something on the website.  Frickin brilliant.  I love that it treats all time as equal.  The example from the documentary was a handy man working on an old lady's basement for an hour, and then he cashed in his hour for a sailing lesson.  How awesome would that be?  I would spend an hour doing anything is someone could repay me in an hour of water skiing!!  I want this idea to grow and spread, and I want to be on a boat right now.

Time to enjoy labor day weekend and sweet time with family and friends.