S'Mores Roasting Stick Bag

I don't know about you, but I always have the worst time finding someplace to store my S'Mores/hot dog roasting sticks.   And you know as well as I do that they are an essential component for any campfire.  So I designed a simple and effective way to keep them contained when I'm not using them - I made a Roasting Stick Bag....

These versatile bags are hand made from recycled denim jeans. Their approximate size is 7" by 28". They are perfect for storing  S'mores/hot dog roasting sticks, tent stakes or tent poles.

The bag comes with a sturdy paracord string so it's easy to hang up. This bag is completely machine washable.   I'm sure to place the sticks in the bag with the sharp edge up. This will prevent them from poking holes in the bottom of the bag.

I decided to make up a bunch and have listed them in my ETSY shop.   They cost $ 18.00 each plus shipping.   If you'd like to order one, please click on the link.     They are perfect to take along on a picnic or a camping trip.   After you have a backyard campfire you can wash your sticks, place them in the bag and hang it up in your garage.  No more scrounging around trying to find the roasting sticks!!  They make nice gifts too.  Each bag is one of a kind.   I use denim jeans for the fabric so they are pretty sturdy and they come various shades of blue, depending on what I have in stock at the time of purchase. S'mores anyone??

Multi Use Picnic Basket

A couple of weeks ago I won a picnic basket in a give-away over at Appalachia and Beyond.  Tim and Robin wasted no time packing this beauty up and mailing it out to me in time to use on our trip to Kentucky Lake. 

As promised, one of the first things we did was head over to our favorite picnic beach, Cousin Hill.  Chablis got busy setting out our picnic supplies and posing for pictures.  We spent a little mother/daughter bonding time while sitting and enjoying the beautiful view.

The basket is made of lightweight aluminum and easy to clean canvas.  It was crammed full of durable picnic supplies like multi colored plates and matching cups, silverware, that adorable checked tablecloth, a frisbee, napkins and 4 extension marshmallow sticks.  Robin even tucked in a jar of her special homemade jelly.  I'd show you a picture of the jelly but I already ate the whole thing!!

One evening we filled the basket with all the goodies needed to make S'mores over a campfire.

Every time we went out on the boat we grabbed the basket and filled it with drinks and snacks.  It fit perfectly underneath the pontoon dashboard.

The zipper top made for easy access.

Another evening we loaded it up with hot dogs and polish sausage, buns and all the fixings and had some friends over for a weenie roast after dark.

The basket also doubled as a handy carry all for my Tervis mug, my camera bag and my wallet.

We even toted it down to the dock when we were sun bathing or kayaking and it easily carried all our drinks and sun tan lotions.

I've never owned a picnic basket, so we had a lot of fun stuffing this one with different things.  We used it every single day of our trip.  There is just something about a picnic basket that screams "old fashioned fun!"   You might want to think about picking one up the next time you see one.  I guarantee you will enjoy it.  You might even find yourself looking for new opportunities to get out just so you can use it.

Thanks again to the folks at Appalachia and Beyond for sending me this great gift.  We really enjoyed it!

All’s Well that Ends Well!

It’s been an aggravating 2 days, but I think hope we are headed back in the right direction.  You know, I try to be an optimistic person and I don’t usually want to bore you with the crap that goes on in my life.  But yesterday and today just got on my last nerve and I need to vent.

When we took the pontoon boat off the trailer last week, one of the main support boards on the trailer snapped in half.  We went and got new boards but we haven’t had time to install them yet.  Yesterday when Chablis and I were out on the boat, it started sputtering and made a funny noise.  I know that’s not a very technical term, but that’s what it did.  It sounded like something blew and it whined and I thought something got caught up in the motor.  We checked the propeller and it looked ok, so we took off, but all the way home it kept trying to stall. 

Later in the afternoon Tony wanted to try skiing, so we went out and the boat immediately started acting up again.  We sputtered over to the marina and got fresh gas, put some gas treatment in, added oil, checked the gas vent and took off.  It was worse.  We chugged back to our dock and Louie pulled the cover off the motor and water was spewing from 2 of the sparks plugs.  Even I knew that wasn’t a good sign.

Before we could do anything, the guys had to install the new boards on the trailer because we couldn’t even pull the boat out of the water until the trailer was fixed.  So Darryl whipped out his tape measure and they got down to work...

Once we got the boat out, they started looking at the motor and it appeared that the head gasket was blown.  Does that sound right?  I don’t know anything about motors.  They did as much work to the motor as they could, but since it was 4^th of July we had to wait until this morning to drive in to Paducah to pick up a part.

In the meantime, as if that was not enough to trip my triggers, a piece of the ceiling in Chablis’ room fell down for no good reason.  Just fell – huge crack down the ceiling.  Nice.  Not!

Then a pipe broke underneath the sink in the kids’ bathroom and flooded the entire cabinet.  I cleaned it all up and patched the pipe, but it still needs to be properly fixed. 

Am I done yet?  No, I have more good news.  The faucet in my bathroom just started dripping about 3 gallons of water a day.  We took the whole faucet apart and can’t get the frickin’ leak to stop.  The on/off valves under the sink are so old and rusty that they are frozen in place and we can’t shut the water off.  So now I have a cup under the faucet and I am collecting the water to re-use elsewhere because the thought of water drip, drip, dripping for no good reason down the stinking drain is driving me crazy.  

This morning the guys got up and drove into Paducah and we were extremely lucky that the marina supply store had this part.  Within an hour they had the new gasket installed, the boat back in the water and the kids were out skiing.  Tony has never been able to get up on skis and that was the one thing he wanted to accomplish this summer and he did it on his FIRST try.  Got up and STAYED up!  He was just grinning from ear to ear and I am so proud of him. 

Tonight we did a little fishing for white bass….

Abby caught her very first white bass all by herself....

Watched the sun set on the day….

Had a campfire and made s’mores…

And took a late night swim in our neighbors pool. 

So except for a couple of leaky pipes and faucets, all is right with the world in our little universe at the end of the day.  I thank God for small favors, for friends who are there when we need them and I'm thrilled that I was finally able to teach my son to water ski!