Frame project update:

I've been slowly working on the window frame project for a few months now.  If you remember this old window was original to my parent's house, which was built back in the 1940's.  In the process of using the heat gun one of the glass pieces ended up broken.   I had already been thinking of replacing the glass with plexiglass so the break made up my mind for me.  To avoid injury I completely covered both sides of the glass with tape.

I then put the frame in one of those huge thick outdoor trashbags and took the whole thing outside.

I was extremely pleased when my preparation worked and each pane of glass came out in one piece.

This next pic shows you the side of the frame that was inside the house and was painted at some point.  You can see where the glazing compound has been removed.

Here's the final pic for today - the frame after two coats of primer.  I'll upload some more pictures tomorrow to show you guys the final color I've decided on.  Have a happy Monday everyone!

I don't have anything very exciting to share today, but I did want to show everyone that I have found some form of crochet that my hands are willing to work together on.  I bought a set of Knifty Knitter long looms from Walmart probably about a year ago and over the weekend I thought I would give them a try.  I'm not giving up on my granny squares just yet though!

I started with a double knit pattern on the smallest loom.  The instructions say I am making a scarf, but I am anxious to learn how to pull the end loops together in order to tighten the weave so I may stop early and make a pot holder!  I'll update with more pictures later.

Happy Hump Day everyone! :)

All I want...

... is to learn how to crochet a granny square.  Is that so much to ask?  I just want my hands to have the patience to learn this skill.  My mind is already way ahead and planning all of these beautiful pieces, but my hands do nothing but cause trouble.  I'm left-handed so of course that's a point against me from the start.  Ever searched online for crochet tutorials or youtube videos?  Don't bother unless you're right handed.

Alright, alright - end rant.  I'm off to practice this chain stitch thing some more.

~*Just imagine all of the beautiful throws, soft baby blankets, and then some day cozy leg warmers, and socks - maybe even toe socks!!!*~

Wild Weather Part Two:

After April 27th it seemed like we were having severe weather almost daily in my area.  The majority of the storms have been thunder and lightning, severe winds and rain.  We've had at least two more hail storms though, the worst coming one day shy of a month since the first one.  David was at work so I was home alone, but at least this time I had my flashlight, my keys, my cell phone, and I was wearing my tennis shoes!  I feel like the entire town was more prepared this time.  The police department sent out an automated call to all published landline phone numbers to alert that a tornado had reportedly touched down in the area.  I don't have a landline phone so my Mother called me to make sure that I knew.  At the same time the civil defense / air raid sirens around town began going off and continued until the storm was over.  I live across the street from a school that has a siren so there was no mistaking the urgency.

This particular picture was taken by the mother of a student that my friend Glenn coaches.  They were at the school for practice when the storm began and she snapped this photo.  Scary, isn't it?

 

This first video was me looking out the door when the hail was just getting started.  You can see the pieces bouncing off of my already dented car!  The sound is bad on this video because of the air raid sirens going off in the background - it was too much for my digital camera to pick up.

 

This next one is when the storm got really bad.  This is when I was back inside huddled in the downstairs hallway wishing David was home!  I'm looking up at one of our skylights and the window on the landing.  You can hear how loud it gets as the hail gets bigger.

This one was taken after the hail was over.  It gives you and idea of how strong the wind was and how much rain came down.  The electricity was off at this point as well so you can't see much past my neighbor's house.

These next few pictures are ones that I took after the storm was completely over.

 

Hail on the ground, but no where near as much as in April.

Walking down the street a bit to show all of the rain water that had no where to go.

 

Looking up the street.

 

And down the street looked like an absolute muddy river.

A neighbor's yard.

Those are all of the wild weather photos that I have to share for today.  Let's hope the weather stays nice so that I won't need to share any more!  I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll be back to posting again on Monday :)

Wild Weather Part One:

April 27, 2011 is a day that I don't think I will ever forget.  As I'm sure all of you know there was a huge outbreak of tornadoes and severe weather all across the Southern United States.  I live in NE Tennessee and my family was very fortunate to avoid the worst of it.  I thank God for bringing us through safely and I pray for those that still need help as it seems tornado season has really just begun.  

I have never been so scared or felt so unprepared in all of my life as I did that night.  I knew the weather was going to be bad - we don't have cable television, but I kept seeing severe weather alerts pop up online and I was also in cell phone contact with my parents and sister who live on the other side of town.  I was actually signed into Facebook watching as all of my friends were posting about the weather where they lived.  I remember the storm getting worse and worse as it came closer - the thunder and lightning seemed almost simultaneous - there was no time to count the seconds between the flash and the sound.  

Then came the hail.  It started out like normal hail - ping, ping, ping - it sounded like little marbles hitting the roof and bouncing off.  And then it just kept getting louder, I thought for sure the windows were going to break any moment - it sounded as if someone were taking billiard balls and smashing them into the roof.  Keep in mind I live on the top floor of an old house that was turned into apartments - I did not feel safe.  And just as I thought it couldn't get any worse - that's when the electricity went out.  In my first few moments of panic I realized that I didn't know where any of our flashlights were, didn't know where our candles were, and even if I did - I didn't know where the matches were at.  It got so bad that David said we needed to go downstairs into the hallway.  The entrance to our apartment is on the first floor and we didn't have any basement to go to so we went to the lowest place we could.  David is originally from Florida and lived through hurricanes growing up so when he told me to go downstairs I really got nervous.  Huddled in the hallway listening to those awful sounds I admit I cried and I prayed - aloud.  I realized how unprepared I really was.  I was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.  I was wearing flip flops and I thought if we should have to leave the house I would need tennis shoes.  When the lights went out I had set my cell phone down who knows where and I had no idea where my car keys were if I should need those as well.

Here are some of the pictures that I took that night (can you believe I had my camera strapped around my wrist the entire time?).  There were three sets of hail storms that went through our area.  After the second one we left to go be with friends who were gathering downtown - just the thought of big sturdy multi-story brick buildings made me feel safe - that's not to say that they were just that they made me feel that way.  This first picture is outside of the apartment - you can't see it in the picture, but it looked as if it had snowed - the entire ground was white, there was no grass to be seen.  And of course I was still in my flip flops so it felt like walking on marbles.

 

This picture is sometime after 3 am when the storm was done and we felt safe enough to come home.  The hail is mostly gone, but it looks like a tree went through our back porch.

 

And below is the next morning - the driveway was still covered.

The view in between our two cars.

These are some shots that I took 04/28/11 while driving through the neighborhood to view some of the damage.  This is someones trampoline wrapped around a telephone pole.

A crushed car.

And that is a very large tree that fell straight through a house.  I don't know the owner's personally, but I have a friend who does and she says they had both just gone to bed when the tree fell so were not anywhere near that part of the house.  Thank God!

The worst hit area close to where I live was Glade Springs Virginia.  If you look on youtube there are multiple videos of the destruction.  It's sad because you see houses and businesses that you've driven by a million times before and they're just not there anymore.  They're gone.

Here is a flickr album of Glade Springs.  These are hard to look at.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vaemergency/sets/72157626474513895/show/

This page gives more detail about how many tornadoes there were that night and where they actually touched down and traveled to.
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/weather/weather_news/historic-outbreak-the-latest-information-on-the-april-27-tornadoes-as-the-nws-surveys-the-damage

In the end the only damage we had was one broken skylight and two very dented cars.  The adjustor estimates there are over 130 hail dents just on the roof of my car alone.  That's not counting where hail hit the same place more than once and caused the dent to wrinkle!

Enablers...

 

So I don't know if I've mentioned it before or not, but the can tab bracelets are pretty popular.  Almost every time I wear one someone wants to try it on or asks if I can make a bracelet for them.  My reply is always, "Sure, just save your tabs and I'll put it together for you."

Well, it appears that some people have taken me quite literally.  The bag you see in the above picture contains nine and a half pounds of aluminum can tabs!   My friend Josh got these from a friend of his and brought them to me.  I have no idea how long he had been saving them.  This bag is mostly regular tabs with a few Redbull, Monster, Rockstar, and various others mixed in.

 

David just about died when he saw the bag.  His concern of course was that sometimes I tend to start a project and then not finish it.  When it comes to crafts I will admit to having many projects all going at the same time.  So I promised that I would not let the tabs take over.  My idea (other than making more bracelets) is to make a beaded curtain.  It wouldn't be too hard, I just need to find a length of small silver chain links on my next trip to Michael's or Hobby Lobby.  Until then I've just got to clean the tabs and separate them.  They were very sticky so the above picture is approximately five pounds of tabs in my kitchen sink.  Aluminum will not rust and is very resistant to corrosion as well.

 

 

This pictures is of my two newest bracelets.  The red tab came from a can of Redbull Cola and the blue one from a can of sugar free Redbull.  The rest of the bracelets were done with regular silver Redbull tabs.  I would love to be able to make a Redbull bracelet that is red, silver, and blue all the way around, but that might be difficult given that they don't make the cola anymore.  I might have to do some searching on amazon or ebay to see if someone has some still lying around... :)

Blog hiatus is over!

After a much needed break from blogging I'm back and ready to start posting again :)  I'm glad to see that there are still plenty of you guys out there!  Thanks for sticking around! 

Today I'll start by sharing a few pictures of some of the crafts that I've been working on recently.  I started making these aluminum can tab bracelets this past December.  They are fun to wear and super easy to make.  The first one is made out of tabs from the energy drink Monster.  And no, I didn't drink these all by myself!  One of my favorite bartenders was kind enough to collect them for me :)

The bracelet below is made with tabs from the energy drink Red Bull.  It took a little longer to make these than the bracelets I made with regular can tabs.  The bull on top is a little hard to work with and the Monster tabs have no opening on the top so I had to use a nail to poke two small holes into  each one.

I'm working on a couple new ones so I will probably post more pics tomorrow.  Until then everyone have a great evening!