I Need a Little Direction

If you are like me, you are looking at Facebook every day.

And there is a lot to see, especially if you are a cooking/crafting/gardening/decorating sort of person – which I am.

A few months ago I saw a really cool craft that could be used in the garden. It is a decorative piece that can be as personal as you want it to be.

What am I talking about?

My Brand New Sign Post.

Tada!!!!!

Now I know what you are thinking.

I want one too. That is Soooo Cute!!! Was it hard to make?

To be honest it really was not that hard to make. First off, I had the 2x4x8 already standing up in the ground. It was meant to hold up an air conditioner but stayed when the air conditioner died.

The next part was gathering the wood pieces for the name plates. At some point my neighbor was remodeling their house so some slats stayed in my yard. Another neighbor was tearing down wood siding. Some pieces came from the burn pile my husband keeps around.

The next part was even easier. I sanded down those pieces on the side I wanted to paint to make it smooth and accepting of the paint. I ran a damp cloth over each piece to remove dust from the sanding.  Then I made a list of the different places I wanted to put on a sign board.

However, how I did the next part was a part of the learning process. I lettered most of the boards. And that part was fun because I changed font styles for the different places. I used FolkArt Outdoor Acrylic Paint by Plaid for the letters. Another lucky coincidence? My son is a paper boy so I have lots of brown craft paper to use under my painting projects.

Just before making the last three name signs I realized I wanted a little color on them to make the letters stand out more. So I found some peach color paint and used my pounding brush to apply the color. After the paint was dried, I used a fine grade of sand paper to remove some of the paint to make the wood look a little distressed.

I really liked that effect. When I tried it on some of the pieces I had already painted, the effect did not turn out well. I should have sanded more of the first bit of lettering off. Instead, I soldiered on with a new coat of a pale pink and lettering in the black outside paint. Once it was all dry, I sprayed each board with a clear glaze.

All that was left to do was to have the husband pound nails into the boards while I held them at jaunty angles with the back of the boards level with the 2×4. The finished product looks great. I am not usually successful with projects like this but this time around, I have a winner.

Have you tried any of the ideas you have found on facebook or pintrest and have had success?

Supplies:

Paint Brushes

Fine Grade Sand Paper

Seven thin wood pieces the shape and size of a street sign

Acrylic Craft Paint in your choice of colors for background

FolkArt Outdoor Acrylic Paint by Plaid for the lettering

Clear Glaze Spray Paint

2×4 in the length of your choice

Nails and Hammer

Husband or willing person to use hammer and nails

 

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Getting Ready for Easter

Family Movie Night

 

By Karyn Bowman

 

I have to admit I am a big Facebook fan.

 

I have connected with former classmates and friends with whom I have lost contact. I stay in touch with former co-workers and fellow writers.

 

Image from Everything Holiday Facebook page

But I also get to see great room designs and recipes. In fact, this past weekend I saw a recipe for colored cookie-dough Easter baskets.  You take small scoops of the dough, dye it the colors you want and shape it into a basket that fits in a mini-muffin tins. Later you fill the baskets with jelly beans and other good stuff.

 

I saw another recipe for a ring bread that was covered with sprinkles. I am sure there will be plenty of recipes that look fun to try, and I cannot wait to see them all.

 

Poster Image from IMDb.com

 

One of the programs I have been hearing about is The Bible on The History Channel. This is a five-part mini-series produced by Roma Downey (Touched by An Angel) and her husband Mark Burnett. I was able to see one 2-hour episode and enjoyed the story of Jesus’ birth.

 

Roma Downey played Mary as a 20-something. She was very beautiful and appropriate. The scene in which she gives birth to the baby is outstanding and heart warming as people came to the young couple’s aid. But nor did the producers shy away from the violence of the time period. Harrod’s demand that all baby boys be put to death and the very narrow escape of Mary and Joseph.

 

Sadly, I missed the final episode as I was in bed sick. But as of April 2^nd, the series will be available on DVD. I am willing to bet that this will be a hot item since the show has been wildly popular on the History Channel. I do not know what that says to you but to me it shows a country that is wildly curious about the good book. People want to know.

 

Poster Image from IMDb.com

Now when it comes to this time of year there are lots of religious movies from the past. I think about The Robe starring Richard Burton as a drunken tribune who wins Jesus’ robe during the crucifixion. He does his duty and takes the robe with him. But Marcellus is plagued by nightmares and visions, causing him to return to learn more about the last owner of the robe.

 

This 1953 movie won two Oscar awards for set design and costume design. It was also nominated for best actor in a leading role, best cinematography and best picture. It also won a Best Picture award from the Golden Globes. Now you are probably wondering who should see this movie. Because of the censorship laws at the time, there is not much that is objectionable but the context is meant for teens and adults.

 

Finally, I feel the need to mention The Passion of the Christ. This ‘R’ rated movie directed by Mel Gibson is a puzzle to me. It is incredibly violent and harsh. It is also filled with some beautiful re-enactments of famous art pieces.  I can only recommend it if you are fully aware that this movie is rated ‘R’ for prolonged violence and torture. I do not recommend this movie for children under the age of 10.

 

Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.

Easy Shrimp Chowder

One of the things I have enjoyed about Facebook is you see different things. If life doesn’t take you to the library to check out various magazines, Facebook brings it to your computer screen.

Provided you ‘like’ said magazine.

Now why I ‘liked’ Southern Living magazine in the first place is beyond me. I am not from the south, I have no plans to move to the south (I have a low heat tolerance), and I have only a few relatives who live in the south.

But this magazine also does drop-dead gorgeous pics of homes. I am willing to guess I drooled over something I discovered by accident.

Right now I am out of work. I was laid off – which is a bummer. But I am still spending a lot of time on my computer looking for new jobs. And that means when I need a break from the depressing grind of filling out yet another online application and survey, I go to Facebook.

Image from Southern Living

 

Last week, Southern Living puts up a recipe for Shrimp Chowder. They have a picture to go along with it and the picture looks glorious.

The shrimp is floating happily with pieces of potato and tiny bits of parsley. Oyster crackers are strewn about to soak up the wonderful broth that you know will taste wonderful once you make it.

I decided right there and then that Saturday night’s soup was going to be this seafood delight. I announced to the kids what we were going to have and that prompted the 16-year-old to make other plans as he does not like shrimp.

The others were in and even the husband seemed ready to have something a little special. During the week he had bought a double long bread from Wal-mart. We had one half for supper during the week and save the rest for Saturday. However, our dog has been on a bread kick for the last month or two.

Somehow between Friday night, when I last saw the loaf, and Saturday night, the dog made off with the bread and ate it all up without the rest of us seeing him do it.

In the pot

 

You can find the recipe through this link. It was very easy to put together. I started with a chopped onion in an aluminum pot.

The onion sautéed for about 8 minutes. That alone smelled good. Then I added the two cans of cream of potato soup, 3 1/2 cups of milk, and a touch of red cayenne pepper.  I only added a touch because my 8-year-old is not a fan of spicy foods. He loves shrimp but he can leave the pepper on the side.

While different portions are simmering, I start cleaning the shrimp. The recipe calls for raw shrimp but my store did not have raw shrimp in the size I wanted. I needed the kind that comes 50-60 in a pound. So I compromised and bought pre-cooked shrimp in that size.

This made cleaning of the shrimp easier and some people may have come into the kitchen to make sure the shrimp was tasty. All I had to do was gently but firmly remove the tails. Once they were cleaned, the shrimpies went into the pot.

Parsley from my herb garden

 

Next up was chopping up the parsley.

Last year, I had herbs in containers on my front porch. I mixed them with the volunteer snapdragons and it was quite pretty. But it never seemed as if the parsley took off.

When the weather became too cold to stay out, the parsley and rosemary pots came in. That is when two sprouts really took off on the parsley. I would prefer the plant get a little more bushy so those two tall stems came into the kitchen.

I chopped them up nicely after putting in the cheese in the soup and waited for everyone to be ready to eat.

Serving Suggestion

 

While setting the table, I put out the leftover Monterrey Jack cheese and the small bottle of red pepper. Oyster crackers bought at the last-minute also joined us for supper.

I drank a blush with the soup although I am sure something a little sturdier would have been the better choice.

The 8-year-old complained about the amount of red pepper while the husband added more to his bowl.

By the time we were dome eating for the night, I noticed that there was only one serving left. That went to my daughter after she got home from a school dance.

The next day, one of the 16-year-old’s friends asked if there was any soup left.

He was disappointed.

Most of You Will Ignore This Blog Post and Not Share it

It is the middle of the holiday season and it seems as if our hearts are more open to pleas of mercy and understanding.

Image by Wcizmowski

On my Facebook account, it seems as if everyone has a tale that makes you want to be understanding whether the issue is bullying, cancer awareness or calling this holiday ‘Christmas’ as opposed to ‘holiday.’

But then it creeps in. The guilt line.

“I bet most of you will not repeat this or put it in your status.”

If you do not you are less of a Christian, less of a person, a failure of a human being. You have no heart, no spirit, no soul.

Or you are like me. You give the flying finger to the guilt inducing note by deleting it, ignoring it or, on one of your not-so-good days, write a comment saying how lousy it is to give these guilt trips.

After all, do we not have enough guilt about everything we are not doing for the holidays, for our kids, for our community? Have you given enough this season, volunteered enough, made your kids happy enough while working around the dysfunction that surrounds you?

Here is someone you know a little or a lot trying to guilt you into agreeing with their point of view. Suddenly, you are a bad person for not agreeing and you did not even get to  hit the ‘like’ button yet. Chances are you might agree with them. But that line stands in the way of complete agreement.

Here is what I am telling you to do.

Feel guilt free as you do not hit ‘like’ or pass on the email.

Let it go un-noticed.

Kids have been dodging mothers’ guilt trips for years, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Why not take a page out of that book?

Let this be your guilt free moment of not allowing someone else’s need to be insufferable right  earnest and make you ‘less than’ because you are not in the 10% who are going to re-post their statement or forward their worthwhile-but-guilt-inducing message.

They want the drama, the top of the mountain feel of being right, and the knowledge that they can get other people to follow them.

Image from klondikebar.com

If you still feel the need to re-post, I understand. But leave the guilt at the curb because if you direct it to me with that line about how most people are not going to put this on their status, you can bet I am  in that 90%.

Even if it means giving up a Klondike bar.

Not That Again!

Do you get irritable over the smallest things?

I know I do. Been that way since I was a child and it is one fault I would like to get over.

Image by o0o0xmods0o0o

Like when I go into the kitchen and find my husband has left drawers open – again. Does it take too much effort to simply shut the drawer. Maybe it does and I do not realize it. 

I am also really pissed at my baseball team. No one can help Adam Dunn out of his hitting slump? None of the coaches can reach this guy? Big bucks were paid for a bat that is not hitting!!!!!! Is his contract breakable or does he need a stint in Triple A as a little reminder? Does he need an old-fashioned “mom” guilt trip?

Another thing that gets my gourd which is not really a big deal? That WordPress changes something every week. Just when I am comfortable “subscribe” is now called “follow” or the bars on the graph change.

Picture by Wcizmowski

Worse of all, seems to be my lack of ability to leave messages on other people’s posts. I cannot write anything more than a sentence or it never gets there. If I want to leave anything more than “Great post, lovely sentiments” it disappears after all of that hard work.

I realize that might indicate I need to upgrade. But upgrading means a $100 expenditure I simply do not have right now. So if WordPress would kindly fork over the money so I can get the latest windows upgrade and have all of the various search engines go to nth degree fast, I will take it.

By the way, has the word “collusion” occurred to anyone in this season of multiple updates?

I am really irritated by the heat we are experiencing this summer. Enough is enough, already. It was 8:00 at night and I was sopping wet. While this has been great for my continued weight loss, it is terrible for my ability to get anything done.

However, rain is due on Wednesday and is expected to get the temperature and humidity down a bit. And you know, that is just in time for our county fair.

Lastly, I am not sure if this is irritating but it is certainly sad. I was cleaning up the mess in the paperwork basket when I saw my college alumni bulletin. So I am checking it out and saw an old boyfriend had died at the age of 49. He was a nice guy, married a woman with three boys, they had one of their own and ended up with a few grandchildren.

There was nothing in the note to say what he died of and his obituary online did not report it either. But the notes left on the online memorial and Facebook indicated that he was missed after suffering through illness.

Not my former boyfriend but something I would imagine he would do, picture by reim 11.

When I think about his wife, I think that no one should be a widow in their 40s. It makes all of my irritations seem trivial and small. She might wish he was still there to leave drawers open and to hang with their grandkids.

It is something that makes you think and be grateful for what you do have.

Although, it would be nice if the husband would shut a drawer every now and again to surprise me.

Anything irritating you this week?