Wedding Projects: Chalk Board Signs and Easel

My brother's wedding is this coming Saturday and it feels like time is moving like a fast moving train towards it's destination. Aside from cleaning the house from all of the family coming to stay we still have a tons of projects to work on including these chalk board signs and easels. 

The chalk board motif is following a design that matches the wedding invitations. This sign is going to be outside of the church. 

My dad made the easel by getting firing strips and cutting them to length. He then lightly sanded and painted them black with enamel paint. 

The chalk board was one that my Mom already had. My brother's fiance had found the quote already on Pinterest. I've linked the original picture here. 


My Mom made the "Just Married" sign for the back of the getaway car, which is going to be my parents' convertible Volkswagen Beetle. She decorated the side of chalk board's bare edge with a black patterned Washi Tape. 

I hope you like these ideas. If you have any questions about how we did these or want to make a comment please feel free :) I love to hear from any readers!

~Jilly

An Eggcellent Easter

Happy Easter everyone! 

One of my favorite things about Easter is of course dying eggs! We used to spread out the newspaper on the kitchen table and dye our colorful eggs with the vinegar and color tablets. This year my Mom and I decided to try something a little different. I kept seeing thing on Pinterest and the Blogosphere for dying eggs using shaving cream...

Say what again?

The white foamy stuff that your dad uses to shave his face? Absolutely. 

We just took a cookie sheet and sprayed it with the shaving cream. All we had was a can of gel shaving cream. I was a little weary of it at first but it turns into the foam when you mix it around with your finger a bit and the color in the gel doesn't dye the egg or effect the dyes. 

We had left over egg dye from before and just dripped dye into different areas of the shaving cream. 

We pretty much swirled the eggs around the dyed shaving cream. It was fun and a little messy. I think this would be more fun for little kids and Mom's who aren't as worried about making messes. 

I thought my Mom had the clever idea of using a meat turner to help swirl eggs without getting the dye everywhere. 

One website I read was to keep the eggs in the shaving creams for at least 4 minutes but they weren't all that bright and colorful so we left them covered in the shaving cream for about a half hour to forty five minutes. 

Afterwards we wiped off the shaving cream off with a paper towel. If you were looking for a way to have really bright and vibrant Easter eggs than this is probably not the way for you to go. However, if you want something fun to do with your kids then this could be a fun way to try out. 

Happy Easter!

A Woman's Consent

I read a fascinating and thought provoking blog post today by a woman who is a 9th grade teacher in Georgia. 

Accidental Devotional "The Day I Taught How Not To Rape"

Given the recent events in Ohio over the last week involving the rape of a teenage girl by two high school boys, I thought that this was a very heart breaking look into the minds of adolescents who grow up in a society that will sometimes flaunt sex and violence but then condemn it at the same time. 

I think she is brave for standing up and telling these children what they need to know. Also I feel that we shouldn't be afraid to stand up and say this is right and this is wrong. This is absolutely a must read for any parents, teachers, counselors, men and women. 

Let's Kick This Cold In The Butt! Part 2

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post about dealing with the common cold and trying a mixture of honey and cinnamon to spur it along. I am happy to say that I think my cold is finally going away. Today was the first morning that when I woke up that I actually felt like myself again. I still have a cough and the sniffles but I think that it's just the gunk that needs to leave my body. I'm not feeling the achy, freezing cold, fog that I'm in when I'm sick. 

Now, I don't want to say that the honey and cinnamon mixture was 100% effective in taking care of this. I was still doing my best to take cold medicine regularly, give my body plenty of rest and drink fluids. So, I think it was a combination of all things. 

Read my previous blog post below if you would like to find more information. 

Also, if you've tried this let me know how you think it worked for you. I'm interested to know. If you also have an home remedies for the common cold pass them along. Knowledge is power!

Let's Kick This Cold In The Butt!!

I've had a head cold the last couple of days with all of your basic symptoms, sore scratchy throat, watery eyes, dripping nose, uncontrollable cough and exhaustion. At first I thought it was just going to be a couple of sniffles and I'd be able to go right through my day... not the case necessarily. I feel like I've been hit by a semi truck.. apologizes to people who have actually been struck by semi trucks. 

I've been loading up on cold medicine, herbal teas, water and chicken soup.... and I still feel like crap. Even hibernating like a bear in the winter isn't making me feel all bright eyed and rosy. Instead I feel like a slug, a fat lazy slug. 

Ew.

Instead I'd like to be feeling like this...

So now I go to my first resource for information... Pinterest. I found this link and I found this link to Health, Home & Happiness for their honey and cinnamon cold recipe. I've been hearing a lot about the antibacterial and antiseptic properties and it's pretty interesting. I always thought it just tasted good in hot teas. 

What the heck... let's give it a shot. 

What You Need:

1 TSP of honey 

1/4 TSP of Cinnamon 

Verdict.. not sure but we'll see. I tried this about an hour ago. I'm not completely cured but I didn't expect to be. Health, Home and Happiness said to take this a couple of times a day. So I'll try again in a couple of hours. Of course this is NOT a substitution for any medicine. I still will be taking plenty of cold medicine, drinking hot tea, and keeping hydrated with water. 

I'll try this again in a couple of hours and check back with an update. 

May I Have Your Attention Please?

Right when I'm trying to make a serious effort and write a weekly blog my computer is completely on the fritz. I got a new AC adapter for my MacBook two weeks ago and everything was working splendidly. Then this week I tried to start my laptop up in the morning and nothing. It was fully charged but dead as a door nail  Last night I took it over to the guys who fixed it previously and I was told that my motherboard was most likely fried. Not necessarily from anything I had done but just the life of a laptop I suppose. 

The guy was really nice and said he would look into seeing if there's something he can do. 

I want to cry, I've had that laptop for four years now but we had a good run. 

I haven't completely abandoned this project. I still have two projects that I'm working on. Right now I'm using my Dad's laptop for the time being so I'm not completely cut off. So I may be able to continue writing just not a regular as I would like. 

Until then, 

Jilly

For all you American Downton Abbey Fans.. (Possible Spoilers)

I doubt that work would let me call in tomorrow to process and deal with this... I'll be wearing black because I'm in mourning now. Mama says I can go into mauves and purples in the fall.

Please comment and maybe we can all get through this together.  

Wax On...

  So a month ago I decided that I wanted a new dresser. I had been using a modular system of fabric cubes in two checkerboard like shelves for a couple of years. It worked fine when I was a teenager and in my early twenties but I felt that I needed something more adult like. So one weekend right after Christmas this past year my Mom and I went out to every single furniture store in our hometown. I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for because my aesthetic style has been changing a lot from a more modern look to the French cottage pastoral. However, I had a feeling that once I saw it, I knew that it would be the one!! 

There's No Place Like Home Pinterest Board

  Going from furniture store to store was really bumming me out because nothing was appealing me. Everything that I saw wasn't the right color wood, or it was too overly lacquered or just fake wood in general. I wanted something that was really well made and not cheap. So I went home feeling a little despondent. The next day my Mom suggested we trying checking out some of the local antique shops to see if we could find anything. As a child and a teenager I would have whined and cried about having to go to antique or craft store with my Mom now I love it. Browsing Pinterest has also giving me more of an idea of what I like and what I don't like. (If you'd like to see my board click the link) Two minutes into walking into the very first antique store there it was... I may have heard angels singing "Hallelujah" in the background.

Ta da!!

I think that it is so cute! This painted black dresser is made from maple wood and has dovetail drawers. It has solid wood gliders that fit perfectly like a puzzle piece. However sometimes pushing my drawers back in can get a little stuck or snagged. 

   My Mom suggested to take a block of paraffin wax and rub it along all of the wooden rails to make it more smoothly. 

Interior of the drawer... WOW!

Wow. I really need to paint my nails.

Dang that woman is a genius... It was really simple and only took a minute or two per drawer. You don't have to push hard for the wax to get on the wood. 

I also waxed the gliders on the drawers as well... and now they move in like buttah!  

You can find paraffin wax probably pretty much anywhere. It is used more for home canning and candle making... or you could just also use an old candle. I imagine that it would also smell nice if you rub a candle as well. 

You thought I was going to say Wow again didn't you?

So there you go! My first project is done too!! That's a big deal for me considering that I've been wanting to write this blog for at least seven months now. I'm going to give myself a pat on the back. 

Yay!

Happy Anna Howard Shaw Day To Us All!!

I resolve not to be a bitter about Valentine's Day. Actually I'm in a pretty good mood today. There were chocolate chip cookies in the office which is a total score in my book. 

I don't have any real thoughts about Valentine's Day. If you have someone to share it with great, enjoy the day and feed each other chocolates while sitting in front of a fire and a bear skin rug. If you're single like me, it's no big deal... think about it this way at least you're not in a relationship with someone who you're miserable with. Although I am sitting here waiting for Astronaut Mike Dexter. 

As much as I love Liz Lemon.. yes I relate to a fictional character invited by Tina Fey.. I don't want to be here on Valentine's  Day. Right now I'm just said that 30 Rock is now over...at least I have Community and Parks and Recreation though :)


So here's a fun Valentine's present for all my Liz Lemon fans and what love means to her!

Oh Liz...

If you don't want to get depressed and cry in to your Sabor de Soledads let's look at some chubby puppies instead...

Awwwwww

Bwhahahaha I couldn't' resist!!

Dying Alternator - Or Hey I Learned Something New Today!

To my own detriment, I know nothing about cars. All of those times in high school when I first started driving my 1990 Ford Taurus and my Dad would want to show me certain things like how to check the oil or making sure the tires were full of air pressure, I never really paid attention. To this day, twelve years after I got my license I still don’t do the little things that I know I should do to my car. (Dad, if you’re reading this... sorry) This was all put into sharp perspective last week when the alternator on my 2005 Honda Accord died.

                                                       

This do hickey... runs stuff

 Right now I’m in a period of transition, I’m twenty eight and I moved back into my parent’s house. This isn’t something that I’m particularly proud of, I mean what person in their twenties wants to admit that they need help and have to move back in with their parents? I’m not going to blame this on the economy, or the government or my job, although that would be the easy route. I believe it is a culmination of different factors and ultimately for some reason, I think this is where God wants me to be in my life. I would disagree but he’s the Big Man Upstairs so I’m going to trust him that he knows what he’s doing. He’s got more important things to worry about than my pithy complaining about getting to live rent free... what a spoiled little brat am I..

  So last Monday when I was starting my car to go to work, I discovered that there were a couple of things that were off. The lights were really dim and flickering and my radio didn’t work. I blare my radio... and I’m not listening to music.. I’ve got NPR’s Morning Edition that I’m rocking out to and learning things about what’s going on in the world. The two things I know about cars.... how to fill up a gas tank and I at least know the difference between a perfectly fine working car one that isn’t.

  So at twenty eight I walk back inside and grab my Dad... I did the little Princess, “Daaaaaaaaad???” and he was right behind me. Of course in about five minutes of watching the engine running and poking here and there at things that I don’t know what they do, he immediately announced, “Yup, I think your alternators going.” My guess would have been that my battery is dying. I do know that the battery runs the lights and the radio and stuff like that but not the actually running of the engine. So I was kind of sort of close.

 Wikipedia explains it like this, “An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current.” so basically a generator... if there are any engineers or mechanics or knowledgeable and I’m wrong stop me and tell me in the comments. I’m still learning about a lot of this and I would hate to give people the wrong information.

There are a couple of warning signs to be aware of for when your alternator starts to go out.

1. Flickering headlights
2. Dimming headlights also in the dashboard as well
3. Warning light in the dashboard (I missed this one)
4. Radio starts to fail
5. Squealing / Whirring sound
6. Burnt “electric” smell (Like an overheating battery) You know it when you smell it. This I understand is when the bearings inside your alternator seize up and can potentially burn up your serpentine belt, which can spell out major trouble.

  My Dad told me later on that there are two ways that your alternator can die.. and it sounds like it was going both ways. Mechanical and electrical. There might have been possible breakage in the copper wiring, basically it was just beginning to wear out. My car is 7 years old and has over 100,000 miles on it, so yeah things are going to naturally wear out. Also the bearings were probably starting to seize, hence that metal burning smell.

 If you start to notice any of these issues get your car to a reputable mechanic as soon as possible. In my case I was lucky because I was not driving my car to work when this started to happen. I have to drive on the interstate to get to work so all I could think about was, “What would I have done, if I didn't have my Dad to help me?” Also I was thinking, “What about if I move or if they move what would I have done then?” Since I’m one of the few people who do not own a smartphone and I can’t really get the internet on it, I wouldn't have been able to look online for a tow truck. I would have had to call someone to get me the number of a tow truck. What would have happened if I had either no bars or that my cell battery was dead? There’s all sorts of possibilities of how this could have played out but I think the most important things is having a plan or at least know the warning signs and know who to call. At the very least make sure that your cell phone is charged up at all times.

I hope this little article can help at least someone learn something. I know I learned a lot. Also if you have any information to impart or share, please feel free to do so.

Guys have a great night. I'm off to go catch up on some Downton Abbey and spend more time on Pinterest. 

Jilly :)