I'm Aliiiiiiive

Thank goodness these two days are over.

Give me the remote, a Vanilla Coke Zero, and some ibuprofen!

Shannon

Black Friday

This day should become a national holiday -

"Have a Heart - Be Kind to Your Checker!" Day

Tomorrow I will be at my register at Hobby Lobby. My part-time job.

If you are in my line, yes, I know my line is a mile long. It will be a mile long all day. Relentless. Yes, I know it took an hour for you to finally get to my register to pay.

I will be at my register for 8 hours on Black Friday, and then back at my register early Saturday morning for 9 hours. Hopefully, the person who is scheduled to relieve me for my break will remember, so I can run to the bathroom and get a drink (and maybe some Advil) really quick before I have to get back to my register. And to my mile-long line.

When you finally do get to the register to pay, Have a Heart - Be Kind to Your Checker! A smile and a little understanding will go a loooonng way! We appreciate every kind word you choose to give!!!

I'm just saying.

Shannon

It's 10:00 Thanksgiving Morning

I'm behind.

Thanksgiving with Charlie Brown

This was dinner tonight- -

Toast, Popcorn, Jelly Beans, Pretzels

Pink Ice Cream with Cool Whip

We ate ours at our dinner table with all the silver trappings. Charlie Brown served his on the ping pong table in the backyard.


Do you recognize this menu?


Watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving tomorrow - this is exactly what he and Snoopy served to Peppermint Pattie and the gang!


We watched the show while we ate our dinner.

My husband's comment? Actually very sweet - he grinned and said it was very creative. We all laughed a lot and had a very fun dinner together. (I did hide a piece of chicken under the toast to help fill everyone up.)


My kids asked me if I got this idea from a blog. My answer - - "Of course!"

Thank you to all my friends that live in my computer for all of your wonderful, creative ideas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Shannon

How to Un-Paint Old Glass Christmas Ornaments

I have bought a few boxes of old glass Christmas ornaments at Goodwill lately and un-painted them to get this look. It's soooo easy!
The older the ornaments the better it works. I was trying to get an old mercury glass look. The old Shiny Brite brand seems to work the best. But other old balls will also work. Hopefully in these first few pictures you can tell that some of them have an old, faded silver look. Those are the Shiny Brite or other really old ornaments. The shinier silver balls are "newer" old ornaments that the color does come off of, but the silver inside is a more solid bright silver look.
I do not un-paint the balls that start out silver or gold, because a mixture of those two colors is what I am going for.

I love the old, faded look. And mixing it with the shinier silver gives more dimension. So - I will buy any of the old balls - but definitely the Shiny Brites.Just hold a ball UPSIDE DOWN under hot running water. You do not want the water to go inside the ball, because if it is one of the older balls, the hot water will wash all the silver out of the inside. After just a few seconds under the hot water, you will be able to rub off the colored paint. It usually just rubs off with your finger. Every now and then you may have to scratch at it with your fingernails. But it is really soooo quick and easy!


Thanks to Tales From an O.C. Cottage and Vintage Bella Studio for the instructions for this wonderful project!

Go to Goodwill!!! You will be glad you did!

Shannon

I LOVE GOODWILL

Today I found this . . .

and this . . .

which became this . . .

and this . . .

(sorry about the glare from the flash!)

after I un-painted them.

Come back on Sunday and I will show you how to unpaint old glass ornaments to get a vintage mercury glass look.

Shannon

A Dumbbell in Walmart

Yesterday I went to Walmart. I wanted to get some Christmas shopping done. Close to the entrance, I stopped at a Christmas housewares area. I put a dark green tablecloth in my cart for Christmas. It was only $9, and it was the ONLY one in green that they had that would fit my table. This is a fact that you should remember.

My next stop was close by in the pharmacy area. My son has shot up this year, and is now taller than me. And the other day I looked over at him and realized that he had a little moustache! It is suddenly obvious. Well, this gave me a great stocking stuffer idea! I want to get him a razor, some extra blades, and some shaving oil. I think that sounds fun!.

I wanted to buy a razor that uses plain old Trac II blades. You know, like our husbands use. And our dads use. You can still by the generic brands of Trac II blades for about HALF the price of the name brand blades. So that is what I was looking for.

Did you know that they don't MAKE razors any more that use Trac II blades? They all use Mach 3 or Turbo Booster or Titanium or Quatro or Hydro or Nitro! I found the Trac II BLADES. But NO Trac II razors. All kinds of razors - and they all have 3 or 4 or 10 blades. No simple 2-bladers.

And at least HALF of the regular HAND-HELD razors had BATTERIES! WHAT?!?! These are not electric kinds. These are razors that you have to change out the blades - just like my husband's - just regular razors. Why in the WORLD do they have batteries?????

After staring and reading every label to see if ANY of them could use a plain old Trac II blade, I gave up. I had no idea that buying a razor could be so perplexing.

I turned around to get my cart. It was gone. Along with the only green tablecloth that Walmart had that would fit my table. I walked all around that area looking for my cart. Then I walked all around looking for the tablecloth, hoping that someone had taken the cart and just set the tablecloth down somewhere. Couldn't find it. Got another cart.

Went to the toothbrush aisle. I thought I would put a new toothbrush holder in everyone's stocking. They only had one style. So I got five of them. While putting them in my cart, I tried to open one to make sure I liked it. The top wouldn't open, the side wouldn't open. I pushed and pulled. I finally realized that you had to slide the inside piece out the top - like a straw inside a straw.

I felt so dumb by now. I can't buy a razor. And I can't open the toothbrush holder.

So I went to combs. I wanted some short, black, plain men's combs. To put in my son's and husband's stockings. Just because theirs tend to get mangled from always being in their pockets. They have a lot of combs at Walmart. All shapes and sizes and colors. I searched. Just when I was about to give up and walk away, I saw one, lone, short, black men's comb way up high.

My next stop was women's clothes. To look for pajamas for my daughters. No cute pajamas there.

But I saw hose. I stopped at the hose - I need some new hose. But hold on!!! Because I blog, I have learned much. The latest tidbit I learned was about hose. For the life of me, I cannot remember whose blog this discussion was on - but it was just this week. She had bought a very pretty brown dressy dress, and had asked for advice on the color of hose to buy. She had dozens of comments - by far most of them said "no hose." "Nobody wears hose now." "No hose - just SPRAY some COLOR on your legs."

What??? Spray? Color? Is this like a liquid hose??? Since when did people stop wearing hose? I always wear hose. I thought only teens and young 20's went without hose. And that is because they have pretty legs.

So I stared at the hose. Wonder where they keep the liquid hose?

This is all too complex. So I left without a razor or hose or a tablecloth, and with only one plain black men's comb. But I have five toothbrush holders. Hope I can remember how to open them.

Since when did Walmart and the basic essentials become too complicated for me to figure out????

I think one of my husband's favorite quotes fits here: Kahn from Star Trek - "I'm laughing at the superior intellect."

Shannon

A Nester-ified Christmas Garland Planter Thingy

EDIT: This post is from a couple of weeks ago, (today is now Dec 10) and I am linking up to the Nester's Holiday Garland Show & Tell. This planter garland does now have white lights in it. And it really looks sooooo much better in person. I just can't get a good picture of it.

The Nester posted directions on making "The Most Wonderful Christmas Garland Ever." Be sure to go read her post. Great pictures, and step-by-step instructions. So today I decided to use her methods to fill the planter that is in my dining room. This is my finished product.(I hate to admit it, but it started out with these horrible P.O.O.P.I.E. plants in it that you see below. They are now in the trash. Yes. Your welcome.)I used what I already had. I started by laying this garland along the top of the planter.
This box is what I had to work with.
Next I added a few greenery stems.
Then I added four or five of these sugared fruit stems. I bought these at Hobby Lobby after Christmas last year for 80% or 90% off. These are tall stems, but I basically laid them down in the greenery base that I had, and tweaked the fruit and leaves till it looked like I wanted.

At this point it was getting close to what I had in mind.

Then I used some cheap picks to fill in any holes. I just stuck these in wherever I could see through into the planter.
Then I added a few of these glittery ball stems - because I am all about glitter and glitz. I also bought these at Hobby Lobby last year after Christmas - 80 or 90% off.
Finished. I'm happy with it. (Well - I might add a string of white lights. Do you think I should?)

EDIT: After looking at my pictures I realized that the greenery in back was way too tall - so I have scrunched it down now so that it looks proportionally correct - trust me, it's much better now!

Head on over to A Scrapbook of Inspiration for a Christmas Fair!

Shannon