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Watermelon Ice Cubes

You can't make this stuff up, ya'll.

After church, my daddy tells me to go to the freezer, see what's in there and use it in water. Hm. So, what do I find but watermelon chunks on a cookie sheet!? <As a note, he had surgery a few weeks ago and has been on serious house rest.. the rest of the story could have been weird if you didn't know that.> Apparently he saw on Rachael Ray one day that you could chop up watermelon and use as ice to flavor water. And, he followed her directions and made his own watermelon ice. 

When I was fixin' drinks for lunch, I used the 'Melon Cubes to cool my water. I knew he wanted his customary unsweet tea so I told him I was putting the 'Melon Cubes in it. After no argument, I really did it.

My water was pretty good. I swiped a swig of his tea and it was pretty good too. We ate the watermelon after we downed our drinks... and man, was it cooooold!

-get loh

Glitter & Ol' Glory

While on Pinterest one evening I found a super easy project - glitter-izing glass. It just so happened that I had a Coke bottle that I could use after I washed it. And, lo and behold, I had glitter. I was missing a key material - the floor finisher. No worries. Wal-Mart is just half a mile away. So E and I finally find the floor cleaning asle and are blown away at how many options we have. So, we spend ten minutes googleing the exact kind needed. Good thing we did. 

To Glitter-ize your glass material, here's what you need:

-Glitter (the amount depends on the size of your glass, but you will certainly need enough to cover the inside of the glass)

-Glass Bottle / Jar / etc

-Pledge Floor Care Finish

Once you've prepped your glass (i.e.: it is clean), pour in the Floor Finish and coat the inside of the glass. This will require swishing and swooshing actions. If any bubbles happen, wait until they fizzle out. There can't be any bubbles when you pour in the glitter. 

In the Finished, bubble-free glass, pour in the glitter. (I choose gold because I had more of it than any other color and really didn't know how much I would need.) 

The pouring may require a funnel. I just rolled up a sheet of paper.

 Again, use those swishing and swooshing actions. It is much easier to see if you are doing it "right" since you can see the glitter through the glass!

And, ta-da! 

A glitter-y bottle.

 Now what to do with it?

 Use it to salute Ol' Glory! 

Happy Independence Day, Ya'll!

I am sure this technique can be used for a myriad of projects. I foresee using it with the clear plastic Christmas ornaments. Any other ideas for glitter-izing glass??


-get loh

Memo Jar

I love memo boards and all things reminder-ish. I was on a mission to create a memo board for my kitchen area. I was halted by the available space on my walls (minimal) and the fact that my landlord might not be impressed with just one more nail hole. Soooooo. I found a Pinterest pin explaining how to clean out candle jars. As we know, I love Woodwick candles and had an empty jar sitting around (destined for the trash- but I knew it could produce a treasure!). I decided to give it a whirl and with some luck and elbow grease, I got the jar clean. Now what to do with it?? Ahhhh, how about a moving, decorative memo jar?!?! Has it ever been done?! Who knows. We're off to new territorites...........

Start with an empty candle jar (this one just happens to be the sister of the one I actually used!).

Clean it out. Try here to see the steps I took.

I bought a bottle of Chalkboard paint awhile back (thanks to Pinterest, of course) but never had any reason to use it. Until now. I followed the directions on the bottle closely: Two coats (done at least an hour apart) and after 24 hours, cure the paint by rubbing chalk it then wash with soapy water. I painted about 4/5ths of the jar. I stuffed plastic down in the jar and then threw in the chalk.

 

And, ta-da! A moveable and decorative memo jar. ;-)

 

 

-get loh

New Roomie = Motivation to Clean

I live in a two bedroom, two bath duplex. It is a great size for me. (Who wants to clean a big house?!?) Once upon a time, my brother lived with me but moved out last year. His (somewhat) empty room gave me room to store my junk. These are fairly calm pictures below. I thought I had pictures of when it was really ridiculous but I can't find them. Anyway, I have a roommate coming in for a couple of months (she is taking summer classes). I knew she wouldn't bring a bed or really anything but clothes and books, so this became my chance to make the room into somewhat of a guest room. I am a hoarder (yes, it's true. Cleaning out is an Olympic event.) so I had almost everything I needed to decorate the room. I bought the fishy-es last night and had to order the futon. New drawer pulls for the dresser were necessary since my brother had some very country boy/camo-esque pulls on there. (Also, when you rent with me, you get fitness perks- trampoline, jump rope, roller thingy, and shake weight! Ha.) I hope I've left her enough room to bring in her stuff, but we won't know until Monday!

The Before:

And, I am just so tickled that this has been transformed (in my eyes, anyway!)..... The After:

WHOO HOO!! 

-get loh

Dreamin' of Disney

We are going to DISNEYLAND!! :-D For a gal who hasn't been to a Disney park (everrrrr), this is quite exciting. I have no idea what to expect. I hear rumors of three days in the park(s?) and breakfast with Goofy. (And just what does Mickey have going on? I can't imagine where the lil mouse will be....)

In anticipation of the excursion, my house is reflecting a few shades of Disney-influence........

Here's Mickey. My gift from E for Easter (remember!?). If you look on the back, you can see a slot for change. When you put in coins (quarters, preferably) Mickey says,"OH BOY!" or "HOT DOG!" It's basically a form of (somewhat) cheap entertainment.

 Fairies at Work

How cute, right?! I stumbled across this at Dollar General, of all places. 

-get loh

dayyyyylilies

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

So read my story........
(click on a picture to make it larger)

(cue post edit.. dayyyyylilies and irises!)

(no edits!)

-get loh

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

My work roomies had been begging for a chocolate cake pretty much since the beginning of time March. E has mentioned about once a month that he wished he had a chocolate cupcake. One evening I apparently fell and hit my head because I gave in and made <my soon-to-be-famous> Triple Chocolate Cupcakes. Needless to say, they were a hit. I'm almost ashamed to say how I made them for fear of being knocked down of the pedestal these chocolate lover's put me on.........

I used Mrs. Field's Chocolate Cupcake Mix, added in Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chips after the batter was whipped and right before poring into the cupcake foils, then spread on Duncan Hines Milk Chocolate icing. No matter how simple -- YUMMMM. I think the Dark Chocolate Chips really added the right touch!   ;-)

(I wanted to try it heated because I knew it would somewhat melt the chips in the cupcake. Soooo I used 10 seconds I think ... there was icing everywhere! Then, I had a friend from work say she heated it too, but for about a minute, and she had chocolate everywhere! Lesson learned-- do less than 10 seconds! Maybe 5?)

-get loh

EWomen - Saturday 1

Whew, if we thought Friday was jam-packed.. We had no idea what awaited us for Saturday! It was a blast. All of it. :-)

The whole gang and some of us in our seats...... (Yes, we were early. And we got pretty good seats!)

Starting us off...

Lysa TerKeurst

She is one of my favorites. (Okay, they all are!) She has *some* (not just one) amazing testimonies. Lysa  qualifies as my favorite because she in her time sharing with us she gives lists and verses, like we are at a bible study. This morning our theme was "Exposed" and we studied from Joshua 6:1-5 and then Joshua 5:13-15 to discuss the Wall of Impossibility. Joshua is exposed here because God has already told him what is going on. So the results of this are 3 Critical Choices: 1) Breakdown or Breakthrough <How do we react in situations - any situation> 2) Injest or Digest <Happy for a day versus life-changing> 3) Believe or Not. <Is the wall really Impossible?! God is I AM ---> I'M POSSIBLE>

Worship with Michael O'Brien. He is always a wonderful leader and he has a couple of sweet love songs. Check him out at http://www.michaelo.org/. He shared his story about coming off the road with NewSong to be able to spend more time with his family. His lesson learned: "Know the difference between your calling and your gift. Never let your gift take precedence over your calling."

Next Up...

Angela Thomas

Angela is the comical, over-the-top gal. All of her stories can classify as gut-busting. Like so many of the Scriptures, she compared our life to a race. In Ephesians 4:1 she points out that we have *only* one life so we must live worthy. (What a contrast to so often hearing that we aren't worthy!) We studied  Hebrews 12:1-2 and looked at Paul's trials in 2 Corinthians 11. Through Angela, God was able to remind us that dealing with sin is work but we've got a life to live! We can't get "in" (bogged down) with other's sin and therefore we must pace ourselves by who we run with. (Apparently that is some runner analogy. I wouldn't get it, haha.)

The ladies of EWomen strongly support Compassion International. This year a rep was on stage (instead of "just" a video) and he'd brought an amazing woman from Africa who told her life path and sang a beautiful song.

We got to hear from Kim and Krickitt Carpenter- the real-life couple of "The Vow." Since I am always way behind on movie-references, I really didn't know who they were, but what an amazing story! Krickitt has obviously been through so much, so who's going to ignore her words? She asked "Who says everyone's rainbow has the same colors?" and reminded us to always have an eternal perspective.

And then for the lady I was most excited to see ... Candace Cameron Bure! 

Candace's story was especially down to earth (once we zoomed right through Hollywood life). It was just everything that we all needed to hear, all rolled up in one lady in heels. 

The picture that sums up the weekend: 

-get loh