I had no idea that 9-volt batteries stored improperly are a fire hazard. I’ve included the terrific video that alerted me to this in today’s post. Pass it on to everyone you know and perhaps save a life.
For more information: 9-Volt Battery Fire Hazard
On the flip side of the dangers of 9-volt batteries is their ability to start a fire in an emergency situation. In the above link you will find a video that demonstrates how to start a fire with a 9-volt battery.
I’ve been having “phun” creating a pompom garland.
Materials: 1 inch pompoms (other sizes work too) waxed dental floss, large needle, scissors.
I laid out the pompoms in the order to be strung. I wanted to be sure I didn’t fall into a patterned look.
I threaded a large needle with waxed dental floss. The waxed varity helps the floss to slide easily through the center of the pompom.
Pushing the needle through the center is a bit tricky, but after you thread a few pompoms you will have a good feel for the pressure needed to press the needle through. To keep each pompom stationary I went through, then up and down again. All in all, I took three passes through the center to make sure the pompom was anchored and would not slide out of place.
I was pleased with the finished product and plan on stringing all 100 pompoms onto three foot strands of garland. Anything longer would tend to become easily tangled.
To guard against tangling I wrapped the garland around an empty gift paper tube. This is also a smart way to store the garland.
Happy Pomming!
My grand-daughter recently turned one year old. Her parents had a photo booth at her party. I managed to grab each grandchild and pull them into the booth with me. My sweet husband also joined in. We felt like little kids! So much PHUN! If you have a chance to book one of these new party attractions you won’t regret it. All the guests, young to old, loved it.
Dreams…they can be good, they can be bad. I had some fun tweaking the photograph of this calla lily to include a downhill skier. I thought it a fun way to show how a commonplace item and events in your life can combine and become the impetus for a dream. I don’t know about your dreams, but I have found what I read, view on television, or dwell upon before I sleep will sometimes become fodder for a doozy of a dream. Take Saturday night for example: I watched a thought provoking movie, “The Bucket List,” starring two of my favorites, Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. There was nothing even remotely frightening about the movie even though the main theme was sad. Along near morning I was embroiled in a scary dream involving the Abominable Snowman. How do I get Abominable Snowman from such a benign movie? Well…in the dream the characters visit the Himalaya Mountains, where…you guessed it…resides the Abominable Snowman.
The dream had my garage as a backdrop, the evil Snowman was inside trying to harm my cat, suddenly he turned toward me with those evil eyes glowing…well…I roared. I don’t mean roared in lower case letters, I mean, “ROARED!!!” Trouble is even though sound asleep, I ROARED in real life too. I awoke myself, and woke my husband too. Don’t feel too sorry for him, he is used to this reaction to a bad dream happening from time to time.
If perchance the snowman gets in your dreams tonight too…have a little ROAR in solidarity with me. Happy Dreaming!
Most of us have heard the wisdom of Romans 8:28 many times throughout our life, but it is still good to hear this good news again…and so today on the Sabbath I dwell once again on God’s extraordinary promise to mankind.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Roman’s 8:28
With all the craziness of the holidays, illnesses and injuries in the last few weeks, it was not hard at all to find an example of today’s post to photograph. In my craft room, in the corner with my watercolor paper, I found the perfect example of a cobweb. My husband and I had wondered only a day or two before why a web with a spider is called a spider web, and why an abandoned web is called a cob.
Here are the answers I found on Wiki-answers and Ask.com
Wiki answers: “The Middle English name for a spider web. Origin of the word is coppeweb, coppe pronounced ‘cobbie’ being the Middle English word for spider, which was introduced to England by invaders and originally pronounced ‘kab’ in the Netherlands. Contrary to popular belief, cobwebs only form when dust collects on wayward pieces of silk produced by spiders or other insects.”
Ask.com: “There is no difference between a cobweb and a spiderweb. They are both different words for the same thing. The usage of the word cobweb was more commonly used to refer to a spiderweb that was not in use.
Oncidium Orchid (Dancing Lady)
A little dab of sunshine on a cold winter’s day.
Today started out terrific! My achimenes bloomed.
I took several cuttings of favorite plants in the waning days of summer. One of those was from my achimenes plant. The small blooms are gorgeous, and miniature, reaching the size of a nickel in diameter. They make up for their diminutive proportions by abundance, covering the fuzzy green foliage with dozens of small flowers. The blossoms dance on the end of their springy long stem, exuberantly waving in the softest touch of a breeze. The lavender color of my variety is especially pleasing, and a very popular summertime plant. You can find this same plant in a variety of containers and hanging baskets.
The funny thing about the flu is, I am never sure if I have it or if it is something else. Vague symptoms, combined with a klutzy fall in tangled ivy, caused me to be unsure if my body aches and feelings of illness were due to the fall or due to something else. (Hmmm…is ‘Wasn’t sure I was sick,’ going to be my epitaph?) Now I think the fall might have been caused because I was a bit unsteady on my feet due to…yes…probably a mild case of the flu. A general all-encompassing feeling of something being wrong, a constant need to lay down, whether it be on the couch, a bed, the tub, or during a few very bad hours…on the bathroom floor.
I’m on the upswing today, but the nefarious hold of this type of illness is that it claims you back, a bit like a rogue and violent wave in a peaceful lagoon. I will think I am on the upswing and then, “Bam!” another wave of ill feelings will engulf me. So…I guess I am going to chalk up my days of feeling “off,” to the flu. Especially since, everyone, but a very blessed few in the family, has come down with exactly the same thing over the past few weeks. The illness seems to hit people in the area where they are weakest along with an unrelenting day or two of headache.
And as to the problem-solving category this post is in, I had my best few hours when I stewed down some chicken legs, onions, carrots, garlic, fresh oregano, dill, basil…added the juice of a lemon, a touch of orange juice, and felt compelled to add a splash of vinegar too…a pinch of sugar, a teaspoon of salt and a shake of pepper. Don’t know if I’d recommend it for anyone else but for some odd reason I added a pinch of baking soda…oh yes…don’t forget to cover all with water and the pan with a lid. 🙂 I cooked this concoction for 2 1/2 hours, cooled down and strained all solid pieces out, re-boiled, added some cut spaghetti pieces and dined. Oh my, I thanked God the whole time it was cooking…I knew just by smelling the incredible aroma of the steam that I would feel better. That was the best day of the whole illness. I think I am on the upswing now…we will see. My advice…at all times have some chicken in your freezer ready to boil down. Chicken broth has been proven to help combat the symptoms of cold and flu: 10 Foods To Eat When You A Cold or Flu.
I apologize for the rambling nature of this post…but hey…I’ll just blame it on a brain dealing with the flu!
If you like the movies created from Jane Austen’s books, you will enjoy this BBC DVD of Elizabeth Gaskel’s tale of love between the privileged class and working class. Spoiler alert: Terrific ending!
My words are not necessary…
I love this comment Tulani left on Wednesday’s post. It is beautiful, and I want to share it with everyone.
’tis a new year and new hopes abound,
the old is past so the new can be found.
We share our thoughts, our hopes & our dreams,
and put away our worries and our schemes.
We look forward into this new year
and into each new day,
For the light of GOD shows us the way.
Happy New Year my dear friend,
may the blessings of GOD forever shine down upon you.
It’s a snowy day in the Northeast…I hope the birds have a secure haven today.
Beautiful Christmas ribbon is on sale in stores at this time. The prices are slashed to almost nothing. I was able to purchase this beautiful blue-green ribbon for pennies. I don’t think it looks exclusively like Christmas, so I decided to use it to decorate some new desk accessories I recently purchased.
A glue gun was the perfect choice for attaching the ribbon. Since the ribbon is virtually weightless, the smallest dabs of glue were all that was needed to hold it in place. Another advantage of using a glue gun is that it is easy to remove. If I choose to change the colors on the desk it will be easy to pull the ribbon away and attach something new.
Happy Crafting!
The balloons were flying high last night, the sign in place, I was pleased with my New Year’s greeting to the neighborhood. So…woke up this morning and the balloons were twisted and tangled around the hitching post, my sign was on the ground…oh well…”best laid plans…” they sometimes fail. I guess I didn’t take into account the strength of the winter wind. Oh well…started the year off with a laugh at being foiled again…HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!
Parsley is still growing in my square foot gardens. Today I went outside and pinched away a few sprigs of the new growth to stir into the ricotta for my lasagna. Parsley is one of my favorite herbs. I will soon sow seed in my winter sowing containers and start new plants for the coming year. Parsley is also available in freshly cut bunches, or sometimes as a potted plant in most large supermarkets.
My grandson recently drew this amazing race car for my fridge. I loved his art so much I decided when we had a sleepover we might be able to try a technique I had read about and always wanted to try – transferring drawings to t-shirts or other items using Acrylic Gel Medium.
We purchased t-shirts and washed them before we started the project to remove any finish on the fabric that might interfere with the transfer. We took the drawings we planned on using to the office supply store and had them color copied and reduced 25% in size.
Before we began we covered a plastic cutting board with wax paper to put between the front and back of the shirt. This step can’t be skipped, to do so would mean the shirt layers would stick together causing the project to fail. Make sure to place this protection inside the shirt area you will be decorating before you begin.
Lay the color copy right side up. Dollop a good-sized amount of acrylic gel medium on top and spread it to the edges of the paper with a large paint brush. Keep the coat of gel on the thick side, areas with too thin a layer will tend to pull away from the fabric. When you are finished clean brushes and any drips immediately. The gel is permanent when dry. I recommend wearing old clothing and working on a protected surface.
After the color copy is covered with a layer of the gel very carefully turn the copy over onto the shirt. Remember that any lettering or numbers will now be backwards. We were lucky-my grandson had used a number 88 on his car so we had no problem with backwards words or letters. Let the shirt sit and dry overnight in a place where it won’t be disturbed.
The next morning, if the paper backing feels completely dry, turn the shirt inside out and give the back of the transferred area a bit of hot air from a hair dryer.
Turn the shirt right side out again and spray the backing with warm water. Let it soak in a few minutes and then begin rubbing away with your finger. I wondered if this part might be difficult, but it came up fairly easily. In spots where we had applied the gel too thin parts of the picture rubbed away. The edges also were a bit raggedy, but compared to the area where the edges were straight, we decided the raggedy edge gave the picture a much more “artistic” appeal and looked more natural.
Small, lint-like pieces of the backing paper stuck to the fabric of the shirt when were finished. I found I needed to once again carefully immerse the shirts in water and rinse away the residue of the backing. This did not disturb the transfer at all. To excess water after the rinsing I rolled the shirt gently in a towel and hung to dry.
My grandson was very happy with his project and his little brother was very surprised and pleased by the shirt we made for him. I would recommend this for ages 6 and up and only if helped by an adult. Laundering must be done by hand washing. Be prepared for the transparency of the design to whiten up again wet. When it dries again it will be transparent again.
We created two shirts for about 20.00. There is plenty of gel medium left for several more projects.
My Uggs Boots were stained by salt last year. I don’t know why I waited a whole year to clean them off, I suppose it is the classic, out of sight, out of mind syndrome. Thankfully, I do know a good way of cleaning them by applying shaving cream and rubbing with a soft cloth. Below you can see my progress. As I write, the boot I treated is sitting beside a heater vent drying. If there is any residue still left I will repeat the steps.
Dampen the entire boot so there is no line of demarcation when they dry. Apply the shaving cream and gently rub the soiled area with a soft cleaning cloth. Spread the shaving cream lightly around the entire boot with the cloth. No need for a heavy coat, just a light touch of the shaving cream will keep the color and texture of the boot uniform.
The boot on the right was previously treated. You can see the slightest bit of salt stain around arch of the boot, but all in all, unless someone was looking for the problem area, I don’t think it is very noticeable. Give this money saving tip a try. It certainly beats spending near $15.00 to have your boots professionally cleaned.
I read the autobiography of Susan Boyle, “The Woman I Was Born To Be,” and enjoyed every page. Happily, I found that what I had perceived about Susan, while watching her television appearances, and most of all through the glory of her voice, surpassed all my hopes. Susan’s life story is as much a joy to read as listening to her music is a joy to my ears.
Susan Boyle’s album, Home for Christmas, is one of two I purchased this Christmas season. The content and musicality did not disappoint. What I love and support the most about Susan Boyle is her solid faith and moral fortitude in including songs of God’s love in her albums.
Longwood Gardens is a place that brings me a beautiful peace. If you are on the East Coast near Philadelphia try to visit this beautiful conservatory.
