Being Benched

My husband has always been a man of action. He played basketball all his life. But more than making baskets, he likes to use his hands to make benches.

He also likes to rescue things. . . like old wood from the landfills. He picks it up all the time. If a neighbor is remodeling, he willing takes the wooden waste off their hands and puts it back into another project, such as this one. He made this picket-fence bench for me years ago. But, when the wood started to rot, he simply replaced the slats and painted them pretty as new.

Repurposing an Old Light Fixture

Our old ceiling fan motor finally burnt out. My husband took it down and put up a new light fixture with a fan but I didn't want to just throw the old one into the landfill. Our local "dump" is full enough. So I started thinking, what could we do with that old metal and wood and glass?

The metal and wood I recycled but the glass votives I decided to repurpose. I washed them up and added tea-candles on the inside for a wonderful illuminary for outside.

How 'bout you, have you repurposed anything lately?

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

So the Wise Old Owl says, "You CAN have your cake and eat it too." I just have to figure out how to do it all--without overcooking the cake.

You see, once again I was struck by the baking bug. . . Not good for my diet but so yummilicious for my fam, well it should have been. Unfortunately both cakes were a little over done. Not burnt - just dry. That is the definition of an overdone cake: "dry".

So many people tell me they don't like cake. The truth is they've just had bad cake. It doesn't have to be burnt to be bad, when it's dry--not burnt--it's just overdone cake. Those dried out slices of sin are actually overdone or they wouldn't be dry and you wouldn't be needing a glass of milk to wash it down. You'd want another piece of moist--melt-in-your-mouth fruity flavor.

Anyway, I was so busy preparing my cakes--from scratch--that I wasn't paying enough attention to the baking process. I was making a banana cake--which I have never had not turn out--well, never say NEVER 'cuz that day was today. The other cake was supposed to be a wonderful lemon poppy seed cake with a lemon and coconut buttercream frosting. The frosting was yummy--the cake--not so much, 'cuz like I said, it was overdone.

In fact, they both came out...disappointing. And with about 25 people coming to celebrate Luke's graduation, it was another one of my not so famous cake failures. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

I guess my problem is, I just want it all...cute cakes that taste moist and, well, delicious 'cuz if I'm going to eat it, I want it to be worth those approximately hundred-thousand itsy-bitsy calories I'm going to need to run about 10 miles just to burn off and stay even.

But there's always tomorrow. (And remember, if you don't have a cake pan that is large enough for your cake, all you have to do is cover some cardboard or wood in aluminum foil and WAH-LAH wonderful serving tray for your cake ;)

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of food, family, friends and even fireworks!

Here's my fireworks in my garden.

Visual Stimulation

So I've been working on a MG manuscript for quite a while now. At least that's the way it feels. But recently I had an epiphany. I'm thinking of including some graphics with the story at least for inspiration.

And I've been working with the graphics--well, the idea of it, I'm no artist but I have quite a few of them around me in my house--to develop my story more and enrich the plot. It's odd how I haven't thought of this before. I mean after all my brother was an artist, my husband's uncle is an artist, my boys are artists. Unfortunately that one gene somehow skipped by me but . . . I'm thinking, why not take advantage of everything around me?

How 'bout you? Are you using everything available to you in your writing?

Word Game

If you think you know words, try this quick test. It's fun.

Beading for fun

This is my first project beading. I took a class in Idaho while I was on vacation. It was a relaxing morning and a fun crafting experience - my only problem was threading the needle - luckily I have a few youngins around to help me out ;) and I'll actually wear this bracelet :)