I don't know.... I like it... I hate it....

Remember my little board craft project? Well, I finished it. I modified this from something I saw at Lowes and wanted it to fill up a wall and to coordinate with the new painting that started this whole mess. So this is what I did. Don't be scared. OK, be a little scared.

2 scoops of raisins

and pretty darned small scoops at that...but here is my raisin yield. They are very yummy...

...and, by the way, I have no immediate plans to become a professional raisin maker so don't bother trying to place an order.

That was a lot of fussing for a little bit o' raisins...

sigh...

A secret art project...

...well, it should be a secret cuz I'm not sure if it's gonna turn out. I will be honest, though, and it is not a totally original art project but since I'm doing some different things with paint I'm not sure if it will turn out or not. I guess I should call it a secret, modified art project.
For the first step there are boards, sandpaper, stain and rags involved.



For this step there was various cans of spray paint involved to make the stained boards less boring.

You're gonna have to wait for the next part cuz I'm babysitting again today.

The next part involves more spray paint. Since I was thinking of using it in my fix-up-the-family room project and since it needs to coordinate with our pink, orange and red painting I will be using those colors of spray paint along with some metallic copper and gold. OK, I'll admit it. I'm a little scared. But hey, you never know until you try, right?

Raccoons, roses and raisins

Hmmm.... you might wonder....what might these three items have in common other then the obvious alliteration and other than you often see raccoonn eating raisins while carrying big bouquets of roses (????????!!!!!!!!!!) OK, it's early. Give me a break.

I will show you these three pictures and you will see ...




That they have absolutely nothing at all in common.

The raccoon is my Dad after having some surgery around his eyes. The roses were a pretty bouquet I picked Sunday morning AND the raisins are what my grapes are aspiring to after two days in the sun.

Sorry.

I feel slightly embarrassed that the real reason I combined these photos is that I am just too lazy to make three posts.

But in my behalf it is Monday and there is billing sitting on my desk waiting to be done AND I am picking up little girls at Raccoon and Mom's house at ten.

Excuses aside, all I really have to say about this post is...

...sigh...

Happy Birthday America!

O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!

O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!

Raisin starter kit

I did it! I got my very own raisin starter kit. It involves a non-metallic tray, a big bag of grapes from my neighbor and some bridal netting (technically this is supposed to be cheesecloth but I didn't have any)

So... you sit patiently for awhile picking grapes off the stem... pick, pick, pick...you sit impatiently for a lot longer picking grapes off the stem... pick, pick, pick.... you look at the rest of the grapes in the bowl and say "heck, these would make lousy raisins" and then you toss, toss, toss them into a smaller bowl and put them back into the fridge.

And then you wrap up your tray all nice and pretty in bridal netting and put them in the sun for a few days. Hey, don't look for more complete directions here...this is as far as I've gotten so far.

And here's the little sunbathers now... aren't they cute? aren't they plump? (why does that theory not translate to humans?)

Sigh.

Can I introduce you to my new friends Riga and Tony?

Yup, here they are. Two sets of twins. Technically they are salt and pepper shakers that I made in ceramics but I see them more as kitchen comrades. I love 'em. Not sure what to do with the extra set but for now I'm just looking at all four of them and talking to them in a fake italian accent!

Hey-a Rig-a...you a wanna salt-a da meatballs-a? Hey-a Tony-a...you wanna a-pepper da raviola-a?

Sigh.