Extreme Heat, Lack Of Rain...

Can both lead to short tempers, grumpy attitudes,

irritations, frustrations, etc.

So, I am sharing a quote of the day

that I believe we need to live by every day!

From Emilia Jane Photography



Working On A Few Things!

I have been super busy these past few days.

Mia Madre has been having lots of tests for

her heart and I have been taking her to all

her appointments, and am so very grateful that

I have such a flexible understanding work enviroment

that offers me the opportuity to do it!

I am blessed!

And so far, mia madre is doing favoloso!

I can just tell you are so impressed with my Italian speaking!

On Wednesday after getting home from hosp. tests

and a couple of hours of work, I managed to slip

in a few moments to experiment on something!

I am working on dying a few of my clear glass candle holders!

Cool, I know, that's just how I am.

I saw something like it while cruising the net

and tucked it away in my totally cool brain for later use.

It definatley needs some "tweeking" and I will put

all the instructions up when I get it all correct.

But for now, this is what I have been experimenting with.

 These are the two experimental candle holders before I began. I knew that it was nessesary to have really clean and dry glass for the best results.

 Next, I mixed Mod Podge, water and food coloring on a paper plate (with a white bottom to enable seeing the true color that I was mixing).

This is where further tweeking is needed. I think that I had a bit to runny of a mixture and ended up with drips and that is not what I really wanted!

 I dumped the mixture into the cylinder and swirled it around to coat every part of the inside of the glass.

 Insert here the caution: IT WILL STAIN! I am glad that it was just my finger that was stained, so be careful to protect surfaces from staining.

 Then I baked them in a low temp oven,

these are those before baking.

 And this is after baking! I have to confess, my daughter and I let out a bit of a gasp when we saw the finished product...the clear beauty of this color is sooooooooo amazing!

But, drips there were, so back to the experimentation process!

 I will put water in this to see of vases can be stained and withstand water after!

I will give all instruction when I get an end product that is as I want. And it will not take me long to experiment again, cause I'm cool like that!!!!



SIGH.........

There are few things that make me weak in the knees

apart from my family and well, dishes of course (addiction under control).

Giving parties! Yes, it makes me weak in the knees!

I love the planning, the decorating, the fun, the cooking, I love it all!

And just when think I get my "want thoughts" under control

I see things like THIS!!!!

Lisa Storms

AND THIS!!!

Martha Stewart

I MEAN REALLY!?!?!?!?!

Why, oh why, do I have to be tortured this way?????

Is it really right to have such amazing ideas for summer parties

and then FLAUNT them to such a party addict as me???

I don't think so.

Random Thoughts

I love looking at pictures of Cottages.

I almost talk myself into re-doing a room or two

in our home to look like the pictures I swoon over,

and then I see it....SO MUCH STUFF!

This Beautiful Picture Is From A Beach Cottage

I mean, like pretty things, but pretty things EVERYWHERE

and then I realize why I do not decorate that way....

I would have to dust and clean all that stuff!

And I realize, being a person who really does NOT

like clutter, that I am quite happy with the non-clutter

 in my house. With the exception of the basement, which is currently

under de-clutter construction. (if that is a proper way to say it

and if it's not, I don't think I mind, cause it makes sense to me!!)

Speaking of the basement, I have turned the corner!

I would say that it is 80% done as far as cleaning and de-cluttering

goes. There are things that I have no control over, like the things

that were left behind from our children, and my husband's

recording studio things, but that in which I do have control over

I have been purging, giving away, throwing away, organizing,

and really loving the feeling of getting things out of the house

that should have been gotten rid of long ago!

My bruises are healing very nicely from my run in with

the stump and other "weapons of mass destruction" on

our river bank....I am feeling pretty normal at this point
other than the lump that is there, which I suspect is
on the hip bone itself and will take a while to repair.

I am doing a bit of experimentation with some herbs and vitamins

to help with my fibromyalgia and am hoping to see some

positive results from them. I will keep you posted if I do!

I need to get back to "real" life, nuff said.

My Crazy Hydrangea Bush

I think my Hydrangea bush has a split personality!

I am told that the more acid or alkaline

that the soil is, that it dictates the color of the flowers.

 And your soil is supposed to be

either acid or alkiline not a combo of both!

But, my bush gives 3 different colors!

Blue, Pink & Purple...hhmmmmm.

It is loaded with buds (if that is what you

call the forming flowers on a Hydrangea bush)

I think I counted 45, but, they are

different colors...why?

I am not sure, so I will show you a few

photos that I took on Wednesday,

and if you have an explanation,

I am eager to hear!



Favorite Quote Of The Week

OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY!!!!

I am about to show you something so hideous

so awful, so embarrassing, that you may

have never seen anything like this before!!!!

My Family Room in the basement!

Now, my disclaimer is: our son, daughter in law

and their 3 munchkins moved back in with us last year for 3 months, which included all their

worldly belongings...and they all

landed in our basement family room.

BUT, there is a bunch of stuff that is ours too.

From Trash To Treasure!!

This picnic table was set out for the garbage man

by our next door neighbor.

 My husband quickly brought it home, he is like his

father that way!

I thought it needed an awful lot of work,

and was not sure that I wanted to take it on.

He convinced me.

We intend on giving it to our daughter and her husband

who may take it to to a friend who has no

outdoor tables or chairs at all.

That will be their choice, and to tell you the truth,

we love that they think of others over themselves!

After 1 over sized can of white spray paint

for use on metal, the legs were white again.

After 4 cans of mocha "fusion" paint, made for

plastic (which is what the top and seats are)

the re-do was complete!

Amazing what spray paint can do!!!

from the garbage....

to a proud back yard!

From trash to amazing in one afternoon!!

I need to get all my ducks in a row,

I noticed as I was working in my kitchen on Saturday

that I have ALOT to do to get to the place of

making it easy (you know, the "with 5 minutes notice

I can have my house clutter free" kinda easy)

to not feel burdened over so much to do

in our home.

But, here is my quandary:

How little is little enough?

Like, if I have 5 baking dishes of various sizes

all glass, can I cut that down to 3 and have enough

for times when I feed 20 people in our home?

And as I type this, I find it kinda silly!

Really? Is THAT all this woman has to worry about?

No. And I am not worried about it, just wanting to

make one area of my life abit easier.

When life is full, and ours is, having one less

area to be frustrated over is a blessing!

I LOVE blessings! I love being a blessing

and I love getting a blessing!

So, for now, I will be a blessing to myself

and get some of my ducks in a row!



Father's Day

It is nearly here!

Father's Day, 2012

This Sunday, June 17th

Sadly, I have had to say good-bye to my Daddy,

September 12th, 1990.

I did not have a great childhood.

My Dad was an alcoholic. He quit drinking when I was 18.

He walked me down the isle SOBER!!!

I became best buds with my Dad, after I was Married

which was when I was 18 years of age.

I love that I was able to have a great relationship with my Dad.

I love that the Lord healed my heart, saved my soul

and impressed upon me to completely forgive

my earthly Father for the completely dysfunctional childhood

that my brother and I had.

I am blessed.

Loving unconditionally is hard, easy, not natural in our human form,

completely wonderful and hard. Yes, I used hard twice.

I have rather strange memories from my childhood.

Strange in comparison to the childhood memories that our children have.

BUT, the memories that I have of my Dad, after he choose

to leave alcohol alone, are so sweet.

I choose to camp on those memories.

Would I choose to have had a childhood like our children had,

honestly, yes.

Would I be a different person if I did have that fantasy childhood?

Hard to tell. Possibly. But, I will never know that.

God allowed for me to have the childhood that I did have,

So that HE could work on my heart to be where I am today.

God is so big and loving in my life, that I would never even

dream to ask Him to change any part of my life.

Would I accept that change? Yes. I am human after all.

But I would not ask for it.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, Nope.

I hope that you all have an amazing Father's Day!

I pray that you will love on your Daddy, no matter your

circumstances, as you are where you are because God IS good.

Just A Few Things That I Am Loving Today!

Craftberry Bush

I love that this is nothing but scraps, painted in such amazing shades of blue, green & white....becoming a beautiful piece of art.

Three of the most beautiful children God ever created.

Martha Stewart

Being able to take something so simple (chips, nuts, dip & olives) and make them so very elegant by the way you present them!

Again, something so very simple (mason jars & tea lights, jute & that's it!) makes something so romantic and beautiful!

Still Wondering??????

What to give Dad for Father's Day?

This is a great, nearly as inexpensive as they come,

idea for Dad!!!

Whether Dad is a work shop kinda fella

or a writer, reader kinda guy,

this will work for either!

Making this is super easy and all you need is...

a scrap piece of 1x6 or 1x8 wood, about a foot long

4 foot of 2 inch pvc pipe, cut and a 45 degree angle

on one side (one cut will give you TWO tubes with the correct angle)

drill a hole in the pvc pipe at the long and short end

of the angle cut on the pvc, and screw it into the wood!

Super simple!!!

It can be used for a multitude of purposes for Dad.

Children can paint the wood, draw on it, sign it,

add the date and voile`!

Super cool!

A friend of mine put this picture up on her facebook,

I know it came from "Creative Recycling" but I was un-able to find a link or even the picture on their facebook page. I also could not find a web or blog site for them, but do want to give credit where credit is due.

Sorry For The Hiatis

I have taken a few days off from blogging

and pretty much everything else in life

due to an injury. There was this tree stump on

our river bank, that apparently needed to meet my

hip in an up close and personal way....my hip

was not the willing recipient of this date with fate,

none the less, it happened, and my hip has never,

ever been uglier, or more swollen or ummmm,

really yucky. Yep. Really yucky.

My knee, elbow and a few other locations found

themselves getting to know the various sticks,

vines and other "weapons of mass destruction" on the hill,

but not nearly as fully as my hip.

Sooooooo, now that I am moving again,

here is something I had begun working on before

my "ahem" lovely date.

I have another garden bench.

A larger one that we use exclusively as a grilling bench.

We have quite a few back yard parties and use this bench alot during the spring - fall months.

It has lived through years of rain, snow and sun

causing it to age greatly.

And you know me, color is not far behind!

This is the bench before,

 And after adding some black and green to the paint that I previously used, I changed it enough to see the difference, but not be too far from the other,

so that the back yard will coordinate.

Dun, Da, Da Dun!!! This is what it looks like now!!

Now that's better!

For those of you who have a Dad or Granddad

who does not have a sweet tooth,

This one is for you!!!!

My thanks to Lizzie Jane Baby for this great, easy

and affordable Father's day gift idea!!

You can go to her blog for the printables and instruction!

http://lizziejanebaby.blogspot.com/2012/05/super-easy-fathers-day-treat.html

Father's Day Gift Link!

I want to thank "My Sister's Suitcase"

for this adorable AND affordable Father's day

gift idea!!

Go to their blog and you can download for free

the label for the the jar!

http://www.sisterssuitcaseblog.com/2012/05/fathers-day-gift-treat-jar-printable.html

A Few Things

A few things that you may not know about me,

and I am willing to admit them!

1. I am almost always cold, in fact I keep a heater going most of the time under my desk at work.
2. I am the baby of my family.
3. I only eat vegetables raw. Raw asparagus, raw broccoli, raw turnips, you know, everything raw, other than corn and the occasional french fry.
4. I HATE to have anyone mess with my feet. I had a few birth defects in my legs, and did not walk until I was over 2 1/2 (My Mother is greatful I was a very small child, no growth spurt until after 3rd grade!). To many times at the Shriner's Clinic, makes me not want my feet ever messed with.
5. I rarely eat meat, not because I am opposed, but because I just don't like it all that much.
6. I am allergic to raw tomatoes.
7. I am not a pintrest junky. As a matter of fact, I have been there 3 times total. True story.
8. I have double jointed thumbs.
9. I wear a size 4 ring. Why do jewelers find that so strange?
10. I have a real thing for dishes...like, I could buy new dishes every 6 months kind of thing. Is that weird? Didn't think so.
 
 

I Had The Pleasure Of

Doing a small photo shoot for a dear friend today.

She wanted some "Like Father, Like Daughter" photos

for her Dad for a Father's Day Gift.

Super Cool Idea!!!

He rides a big motorcycle,

she rides a cute little scooter!

Just a cool idea!! Yes, I said that twice!

So, here are a few of the photo's I took for her!

Did I mention she loves pink?

Yes, she does!

She is such a photogenic woman...

makes me quite jealous.

I think the pics are fun and funky, and

I think her Daddy will love them!!!



Simple Joy & Random Thoughts

I love this time of year,

it is not my most, bestest favorite (fall is)

but, all the fun of summer coming and

the colors that show up are just plain fun!

This is an example of the fun of summer

that would not be a part of fall or winter

and I would probably not even expect it to be around

any other time of the year.

But what a simple joy!

I took this picture last month in a small town north of New Orleans

Funny thing about this time of the year,

5 days ago, it was 98* and roasting,

tonight (Thursday), I sit in front of the fireplace with a

beautiful fire going keeping me from being chilly!

weird, yah, weird!

You know, tags on the side seam of tank tops are not

really less annoying than when they used to

put them on the back of the neck....who

told them there needed to be tags sewn into the shirt

in the first place??? They did NOT ask me!

I am excited today (Friday), I am going to leisurely walk through the local antique store

and look for something to become a desk.

A sompun, sompun that I can remake into something smashing!

I will, of course, have before and after for you,

provided I find the perfect something to become

our desk for the living room.

I think I need a chandelier,

I don't know where I need it....I would love

some bling in the kitchen, I think it would be amazing!

who needs to know WHERE to put something

pretty, since, as I see it,

when you know you have to have it

the spot will be revealed after it comes home.

Maybe the bathroom? hmmmmm.

Yah, that's why I DON'T have a chandelier.

I hope that you all will have a great weekend,

I plan to have a "smashing" one!

Yep, that's my new favorite word!