Thursday, April 28, 2011

Monday Is A Milestone

Happy Thursday, All!!  I hope your week is going well and that you are safe and dry.  We've had CRAZY rain and thunderstorms and tornadoes in our area.  DAILY. 

This coming Monday is a milestone of sorts.  Mr. Inspiring turns 4-0!!  I was planning on a birthday party for him at my mom's with my family this weekend (on the surprise side of parties) and he up and decided he wanted to go camping for his birthday weekend!  Fine with me!! 

We camp at Cloud 9 Ranch about 4 hours from here.  You have to be a member.  There are 5 or 6 campgrounds, 6500 acres, 4-wheeler/ATV trails out the wazzou, laundry facilities, miniature golf, a couple of pools, horses and trails, a car wash, a small grocery store, a little cafe, and a spring-fed (river) stream that runs through it.  It is a magical place, if you're into camping and 4-wheeling and fishing.




 My daddy was the president of the Board of Directors for a few years before he passed away.  He LOVED Cloud 9.  And the other members  he worked with on the BOD loved him, too.  In fact, they named the main road after him.  When I go there, I feel closer to Daddy.  He passed in January of 2007, and I miss him so much.




I digressed............ so sorry - - back to my post!!

I wanted to do SOMETHING for Mr. Inspiring to commemorate his big birthday.  He's the kind of person that really doesn't like for someone to fuss over him, or so he SAYS!!  I've been wanting to try painting on glass, so I figured I'd make one for him.  (Disclaimer) This is my VERY FIRST attempt at this, and I'm not sure it turned out the way I had imagined in my head.  BUT - it is done and I'm sure he will LOVE it.   I've only really worked with acrylic paints when I craft, and this FolkArt Enamels paint, while it says it's acrylic paint for glass, it has a TOTALLY different texture and 'feel' and it.is.thick.  I wanted the paint to be a more solid color rather than opaque.  So I kind of 'globbed' it on to get the color I wanted, and that made the paint have a texture.  I really think I will like this paint after I play with it a few times.  I think the texture aspect will be fun to create and play with - who knows what I'll come up with?!

First of all, I drew on my 40 with a fine sharpie.  Then I stopped with the sharpie.....  the rest was done freehand. 



I put the tape on it for a 'line' to keep my 40 straight.  I filled in my numbers with purple paint, then wrote "happy birthday" with blue.  I used lime green to outline and dot my numbers and for Mr. Inspiring's name.  On the back, I used aqua. 



 After I had it the way I wanted it, I put it in my oven at 350 degrees for about a half hour.  Here's the finished product.




A couple of things I discovered while using this paint:
   -  My brushes cleaned up really well just using rubbing alcohol
   -  The paint gets a 'skin' on it after a few minutes, so if there was something
       small I wanted to remove, I used my xacto (is that how you spell it? it looks funny)
       knife, and scraped away what I didn't want.
   -  For bigger things I wanted to remove, I used a cotton pad with alcohol on it and
      wiped it away.
   -  When it first comes out of the oven, while hot/warm, the paint isn't quite set, and
      you can still remove and/or scrape with the knife.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that it's dry!!!  The ranch is expecting more rain this weekend, and the river/creek/stream is out of it's banks, so there's no place to cross to get to a bunch of the trails.  That's fine with me - - we're going to take our chain saw and help clean up.  I'm sure there are a bunch of trees down, blocking some of the paths.  And when we camp?  We ALWAYS eat very well!!

There goes the diet!! 

Hugs ~~ Suz


Have you tried the Enamels paint?  Have you painted anything on glass?  How did it turn out?  I'd LOVE to see your projects!!!        I'm thinking about using this paint on glass ball ornaments..........  What do you think??
    


I'm linking to these Wonderful Parties!!




Creations by Kara


Iron Violet Designs

Monday, April 25, 2011

A Wonderful Day

I hope that each and every one of you were able to celebrate Easter with your loved ones. 

We unexpectedly were able to have our grandson spend the night Saturday night and Easter day with us.  He's such a sweet little guy and I fall more in love with him every time he's around.  We went to church yesterday morning with my SIL and her family and Grandma.  Then we went to my MIL's house and spent Easter with MIL, FIL and Grandpa. 

The weather wasn't very cooperative.  Stormy and raining for most of the day.  People are joking about building an ark, but, maybe we should have some boats handy?  This is crazy......   We're supposed to get 10+ inches this week.  Mr. Inspiring's uncle is moving everything out of his hunting club, and will undoubtedly have to move stuff out of his house today, too.  The water isn't just coming from the Mississippi River or just from the Ohio River, there's a crazy amount coming from BOTH - at the same time.  I believe I heard "Historical Flood" in sentences yesterday.

My in-laws live in the country, down in a valley.  I love where their house is.  There are always so many things to look at.  My MIL works at a florist shop and she has a very green thumb.  She has so many different flowers in her yard and plants and different and unusual planters.  I just love her touches.  They have a covered back porch and that's where she hangs her hummingbird feeders.  I saw a hummingbird taking a rest at one of them.  Poor teeny, tiny thing.  I think he was even tired of all the rain.  I don't think I've ever seen a hummingbird sit to drink.  But he did, and I took a picture.



Saturday morning I was wandering around blogland and I found this recipe for Mini Oreo Cheesecakes over at (http://www.anotherwomack.blogspot.com/ ) Suddenly I See. Go visit her.  Her blog is really cute.



 This is the easiest recipe and the results are sooo yummy!!  I didn't have any fresh strawberries to top them with, so I used Hershey's Chocolate syrup.......  soo yummy and the perfect size!!

Have a great day, Everyone!  I PROMISE that I AM working on some projects and hopefully I'll be able to post in the morning! 

I miss you guys!!!  Sometimes life just has you make other plans once in a while......  I'll be back more often that I have been for the past month.  That's MY plan, anyway!!

Hugs ~~ Suz

Friday, April 15, 2011

It SNEAKS Up on You!!

Happy Friday, Everyone!  I hope ya'll are having a great month so far!  I can't believe that it's the middle of April already!  Did you get your taxes done and turned in?  It's that time, ya know!! 

Vacation was super awesome!  Orlando was beautiful and the weather was wonderful.  We did all the Disney parks and SeaWorld.  We also got to see my cousin from Cocoa Beach and go to the beach and swim in the ocean.  I now understand why Kevin Costner tells Ashton Kutcher to chew gum.  Yech!!!  Salt water does NOT taste good!!  But those waves were amazing! 

We also got to see Fantasmic at MGM and the Parade of Lights and the Fireworks at Magic Kingdom!  Soo worth getting your seat 2 hours before it starts! 

I don't think I've mentioned this in my blogging before, but I've been dieting for about 6 months.  I'm following my doctor's orders, and trying to get my hormones lined out, too.  I took a core strengthening class last spring and my 3rd month into, my migraines came back with a vengance - - hormones.  My sister told me that I'm the only person she knows that has a ligitimate excuse NOT to exercise!! LOL   Migraines are HORRIBLY WICKED and I wouldn't wish them on anyone  - - not even my ex-husband!! 

Anyway, I've lost 25 pounds, but lately, by weight loss has slowed down.  I've got 10 - 15 more to go.  Well, right before vacation, I figured it out.  DUH!!  Right after Christmas, I picked my coffee habit back up.  And since I know that sweet n low (Aspartame) is NOT good (don't believe me? read Jillian Michaels book.......  whew!!  BAD stuff!!) I decided to go back and start drinking it the way I started years ago!  With that wonderful Coffee Mate flavored goodness.......  mmmmm   Vanilla Nut and Sweet Italian Cream, my favorites!!!  I drink coffee out of huge cups.  One equals probably 2 or 2 1/2 regular cups.....  I realized that I was going through one big bottle of creamer a week..........  divided out, that's like over 300 calories a day in creamer ALONE!!!  Man...........  what a bummer.  I mean - - I LOVE that stuff!!!

My doctor said that using that much a day is like starting your day by eating a candybar for breakfast and it messes up your metabolism for the whole day!!  So I asked him which was the lesser of 2 evils, the coffee mate or sweet n low...........  So, he asked me why I didn't use Splenda???  I thought it was all the same kind of stuff..........

Turns out, it isn't.  He said that Splenda is a 'natural' sweetner. It's one molecule away from being sugar....  and while you taste 'sweet' your body doesn't absorb it.  You just pass it on through!!  YAY!!! 

So now I have my coffee figured out.  Now, I need to figure out and/or find a LOW CALORIE recipe or brand of Poppy Seed Dressing..........  I'm eating salads like crazy, and not just your typical side salad size.  I eat like almost a mixing bowl size for a meal........  and those calories in my dressing are causing problems, too.  Anyone have any suggestions???  I love balsamic vinegarette dressing, too, and it doesn't have as many calories, but..........  I still love the Poppy Seed!

If anyone has any ideas or recipes, please, PLEASE let me know!!

And by the way - - I've missed you all!!  No projects this week, but I will be posting soon!!  Got some in the works that are almost finished!!!

Hugs ~~ Suz

Friday, April 1, 2011

Happy April!!

Good morning, Everyone!!  March was a busy month, but yet - - I didn't get to post as much as I wanted.  Oh, well........  April's here!!  And that means - - - VACATION!!

I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be posting or lurking or linking or commenting for the next 10 days or so.  It's family vaca time!!  (I hate it when I go to visit some of my regular blogs, only to find they haven't posted for a week or two ~~ then I wonder if they're hurt and in the hospital or something!!)

Thank you for all the love you've been sending on my posts!!  Talk about a shot of self confidence!! 

If any of you find some super awesome projects, send the link to me in a comment so I can be sure to check them out when I get back!!!

Hugs ~~ (Vacation-bound) Suz