Faux Mercury Glass from Pinterest

Got this great vase at a garage sale for $2.00.  Followed the tutorial on Pinterest for making faux mercury glass--mask off the outside, spray a couple of very light coats of Looking Glass spray paint by Krylon to the interior, (it is very runny paint, it will drip if you put too much), and then follow immediately with a fine mist of half water/vinegar mixture.  Wipe with a paper towel lightly, and just parts of the paint will come off.  Allow to dry--if you like you can coat with a clear coat, I did not do this extra step.

It looks great for a fraction of the cost of getting one at Pottery Barn, especially if you use the online 40% off coupon to Hobby Lobby. (BTW, if you just show them the coupon on your phone, you don't have to print the coupon!  Awesome!)

Love, love it! 

Peace, friends!

My Fabulous Liquor Cabinet

We have kept our liquor under our sink forever, never have had a real place to put it.  My bar glasses were over the sink where I had to get a ladder to have a glass of wine.  So, we were long overdue for someplace to put our booze.

Scene 1:  Garage sale down the street.  Found this cute cabinet for $40.00.  Fell in love.

Scene 2:  Clean this baby up.  It is extra-nasty-grimey.  I scrub with a brush and some TSP (tri sodium phosphate), then I sand--still yellow crud rolling off.

Scene 3: Finally, I deem it ready for paint. My choice:  A Coca-Cola red! I distressed it, in keeping with it's old/folksy style.

I did some additional sanding around the knobs, latch, and edges--where it would naturally be worn.

I love the detail on the side...

Scene 4: It seemed too dark inside, so I took the old girl uptown. I added a stainless steel contact paper made by Contact in the back wall and sides to reflect some light. I mounted it on foam board cut to fit the area so it would have a smooth finish.  I also added a cute striped shelf liner (actually, it is a foil finish gift wrapping paper.)

Final Curtain:  I now have somewhere to keep all my bar items in one place. No more digging under the kitchen sink for the booze!

ENCORE!  ENCORE!!

Peace, friends!

September 11--Let's Never Forget

I tell my story every year.  It is impossible for me NOT to tell it. WE MUST REMEMBER THE PAST IN ORDER NOT TO REPEAT IT.

September 11, 2001
I was at home getting ready to go to work.  I was anticipating the arrival later that day of my brother, Ken, from New York. My dad was in the hospital with a broken hip.  Around 8 am Central time, my telephone rang, and it was Ken. He was flying standby on American Airlines from La Guardia Airport, NYC, and he was letting me know he had not been able to get on the first flights. He asked me to look at the TV and see what was going on at the World Trade Center.  He said they could see a fire from the airport, and wondered if it had been bombed again.  I turned my TV to ABC, and saw a gaping hole in the side of the building with flames shooting out. I reported what I saw, and he asked if it looked like a plane had hit it.  Being a pilot and doing airplane repairs for many folks on Long Island, he wondered if one of the tour planes had possibly crashed.  We exchanged a couple of phone calls, with me updating him as to what the news people knew. After one report, I told him I did not want to alarm him, but it was an American Airlines flight that had crashed. As information came in, I called him and he was relaying it to people around him in the airport. While we were talking, I saw the second plane fly into the second tower. At the same time, he saw the explosion. He asked if that was another plane, and I said yes. My stomach hit the floor. As he relayed that message to those around him, I could hear the distress and pandemonium that was going on around him. People were yelling, and I could feel their panic through the phone. I told him to get the hell out of there, and he said they had just closed the airport.

I hung up and went to work.  I should not have charged my poor customer for her hair appointment that morning, I have no recollection of what I did.  The whole morning was a volley of phone calls. We did not have a TV at the salon, but I took a radio so we could stay up with what was going on.  My daughter Shelly in Amarillo called because class had been cancelled, and she was just figuring out what a target Pantex was. She became our reporter, calling when the flight crashed in Pennsylvania, the bombing at the Pentagon, and when each tower fell. She called when they evacuated Amarillo National Bank, because it was a tall building. I fielded several calls from friends and family in Hartley and Dalhart who knew Ken was to fly out of New York that day, asking about his welfare. I had no answer for them. Finally, around noon, Ken called to let me know he was home, safe and sound. There was no cell phone reception as the lines had been overloaded, so I had spent that time wondering if he was even able to get out of the area, as we heard about the traffic jams in New York City and surrounding areas.

We got reports of others in Dalhart who had family or friends in NYC.  I would have never dreamed that on any given day there would be so many people in that city from our small town who were somehow connected to me or people I know. 

As this all began to sink in, I really realized what terrorism is.  What they did that day, thousands of miles away, affected our whole nation.  It reached across the USA and stabbed me.  It stabbed my family, my friends, my town. It picked us all up and shook us to the core. People were scared, refusing to fly and travel, stockpiling food and water, changing their daily lives out of fear. They discouraged large gatherings of people, thought it would be a target for other attacks. We had lived for many years thinking we were safe, and now our innocence and arrogance are forever gone. We, as a country, had been caught unprepared. 

Yes, I know some of you have heard me tell this story over and over for years. I am compelled to tell it again and again, lest we forget—we must all be vigilant, and stop terrorism wherever and whenever it rears it’s ugly head. There are bad people in this world, always has been, always will be.  Let’s never forget that. I miss my innocence, but it is lost forever, along with the 2819 people from all over the world that died that day.

So what did we do?  As soon as the ban on flight was lifted, my brother flew home to Dalhart.  Three weeks later, my hubby and I climbed on an airplane and flew to Phoenix for a NASCAR race. Oh, and the Arizona State Fair and the World Series were in Phoenix at the same time. ( So much for avoiding crowds.) I refused to let those bastards win. They are not going to stop us from living in freedom.

May God bring peace to those families who lost someone, and may God bless America. But we must not forget that ugly day, or we set ourselves up to repeat it.

 
 

What's in YOUR Wallet???

I was showering last night, and having one of those "relaxing" moments, sort of spacing out, and I happened to focus on the can of Hill Country shaving cream in my shower. It said "Made in Canada". I checked the Suave containers, "Made in USA". Ok, cool. I get out and brush my teeth with Aquafresh. "Made in England". I take out my contacts and fill the case with Members Mark contact solution. "Made in Spain". What the hell??? So I tear around the house looking at labels. I expected some of them: Dollar General Carpet Foam: "Made in China". I was confused by some: Equate Daytime Cold Medicine was made in Canada, but the Equate pepto bismol and immodium was made in USA. Also made in USA was Ajax, Swiffer, Sprayway window cleaner, Clinique makeup, L'Oreal, and HEB aloe vera gel. But the big disappointments: the American icons, Alka Seltzer and Vicks--both made in Mexico. So how the heck am I supposed to "buy American" when all this stuff I use every day is not made here??? I can see my next trip to the store is going to take a while—and I have to entertain the possibility there may not be any brands of these items made in USA anymore. My money says United States of America on it, and I want to buy stuff labeled the same way. Grrrr…..