The Mechanic's Mirror

Its no secret, my husband is a professional front end mechanic. His abilities go further than that though. I don't think there is anything he cannot do. If anything breaks or goes wrong, he can fix it. Needless for me to say, he is also a good cook and dishwasher! I learned today that he took a shot at being crafty. Its pretty funny, and hey if works, do it.

The other day something went wrong with my SUV. It was leaking antifreeze from underneath. He noticed it the moment I backed out of the driveway to go to work. He is very observant on this stuff (I think I could get a little ding on the oil pan and he would spot it immediately). So upon checking out the cause for the leak, he spotted a broken clamp around the hose. He fixed that, added more antifreeze and I was off to work again. Yesterday, he noticed the same leak! He checked it and came to the conclusion it needed a "coolant temperature sensor". He read about these things and how they work.

This funny looking little thing was not very easy to find and had to be ordered but he had it the next day and proceeded to repair my vehicle.

Here is where his crafty little idea comes in.

Somewhere, he has a nice telescopic extending mirror. He needs this so while he fixes the problem in the motor, he can also see up from underneath. After tearing the house apart looking for the mirror, he was unsuccessful in finding it and didn't want to have to go buy one at that moment.

He finds an old door mirror in the storage building (it was suppose to have been thrown away a long time ago) and broke it. He took a small piece of the mirror, a clothes hanger, and electrical tape and made his own little mirror.

Here is what an extending mirror suppose to look like (web photo)........

and here is one of a craftsman..........

I know what you must be thinking. "If you break a mirror, then you will have bad luck for seven years".

Well, this little jewel brought good luck. My SUV is up and running like a charm.

Is there such thing as Santa?

If your a parent, you will be faced with this innocent question sooner than you really want to. Once your child is in middle school, he or she probably does not believe in Santa but still hold on to the childlike hope.
If your child is asking this question, they probably already know the answer and just want to hear it from you.

Some parents will choose to never let there child believe in Santa from the day they are born. They consider it a "lie" and the christian thing to do is tell the truth from the beginning. My parents had me believing in Santa until I was about 12 years old. Once I knew the real truth, the thought never crossed my mind that they were telling me a lie or any less of a christian. It was more of a fun tradition to make believe a fat man with reindeer flew across the world delivering toys, However, we were always reminded of the birth of Jesus and this is why we celebrate.
 

 

The way I see it, is if a child cannot believe in something they cannot see, then this could bring doubt in believing in a God they cannot see. Don't get me wrong. I know God is not an imaginary character but looking from the eyes of a child, this could confuse them until they are old enough to understand.

 image I caught with my phone at a local restaurant just last week.

When your child seems to really have the whole Santa thing figured out, then this is a good time to go ahead and tell them the truth.

St. Nicholas was in fact, a real person from years ago. He was a very religious man and would deliver toys to poor children in his village Just like the wise men did when Christ was born. This legend grew into the story we share now. We should be sure to keep the belief that Santa exist in the hearts and souls of all kind and generous people. Once your child has this understanding, he or she may choose to believe in something even greater.

Is there such thing as flying reindeer? No 

ThanksGiving

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! If you are like me, then you are about to pop right now and the thing you are most thankful for at this moment is a recliner or elastic waistbands. Wow, I ate so much food! I'm definitely going to have to double up on my Zumba classes next week.

We started the day off making the turkey. We only did a breast this time. My husband (my personal chef) cooked it the traditional way....in the oven.

To prepare the turkey, he stuffs it with butter and wraps it in a buttered cheese cloth to hold in the juices. Works every time.

I made dressing for the first feast. Yes, first feast. We have to go to two places.

First we went to my brother-in-law's to eat and later went to my parents to eat. Both were great. Just being around the families are some of the best times. We really missed some of the other family members that were not there. They were enjoying Thanksgiving at the beach with more family.

Oh my goodness! look at this plate of food for round one.

"what diet?"

My daughter made two cranberry salads, one for each visit. Some people call it congealed salad. Cranberry is not a favorite of mine but this is delicious.

Here is the table at my parents house for round two. Everyone hangs out all day long. There are little ones running around and a lot of talking and cutting up. They also had a whole table of desserts too but I was just too full to get up and photograph it.
Now, where is my skinny drink?

My first knitting!

I'm one of those people that when something gets on my mind to do, whether it be cooking, cleaning, a craft, or even a vision of something to draw, I have to do right then. Kind of like this blog. I believe I actually started it between a TV show and commercial.

Well, I have always wanted to knit. I can crochet, but not knit. So the anticipation started building again during a conversation with my friend Crystal, who can knit the cutest hats. She was telling me how easy it was with a knitting loom. My mind was made up to try it. 

Meanwhile, looking at other blogs and websites, there it was! .........

A picture of the scarf that's been on my mind all along. So that night I had to go out and get me a ball of yarn and a knitting loom. After watching several you tube videos on how to use the crazy looking loom, I was actually doing it. I was on my way to making a scarf. A cowl neck scarf to be exact. Im not really sure why I even need a scarf like this for where I live. It really only gets cold in January and February and cold to me is below 40.  

My photos are different shades because one was taken with my cell phone and one with a camera. But the yarn was mainly brown with earthtone colors mixed in.



I spent a total of about 3 hours on it. A heavier yarn would have worked better. It was not as close knit and heavy as it needed to be. The local craft store didn't seem to have wooden buttons so I bought some wooden rounds and had my wonderful husband drill holes in them to make them "buttonish". Is that even a word? Well, It is now.



The finished project.

                                                                                                              

Next time, I'm gonna try using knitting needles and do it the old fashion way. I can hardly wait to try. I'm going to get my Moms knitting needles while I'm visiting her for Thanksgiving which will be another story!

A visit to the country

Saturday I attended a baby shower for my best friends first Grandchild. She is so excited because not only is it her first grand baby but its gonna be a little girl. My friend has two boys of her own and now she will have a little granddaughter to dress in pink lace, ruffles and bows. It was great and am glad she invited me.  

The baby shower was located out in the country in a cute little farm house. The home belonged to the great-grandmother-to-be. It reminded me so much of my own grandmothers house. It was small but yet always big enough to hold fifty guest if it had too. It was cozy and welcoming. As we were leaving, I could smell that aroma of Fall. Ok, normally I would be stubborn to take in the fall since I am more in love with the summer and have fall allergies, but I could not help but slip back into another memory. The memory of living at home where my Mom and Dad still reside. They live in the country too where you can smell the cool air, fireplaces and the leaves on the ground that stay unraked. Its also quiet and you can hear birds singing and children playing.

On the way home, Me and my daughter decided to stop in my old home town and grab a sandwich at Sammy's Pub. We both got the same burger but with different cheese. She requested American while I chose the blue cheese crumbles instead. It was delicious! Needless to say, afterwards, we visited another bakery that just so happend to be in walking distance.
Now back to the city, where the work week will come quick.

Give Thanks

This time of year its so easy to get caught in all the rush of getting the Halloween decorations down and getting the Christmas decorations up. Rarely do we think of Thanksgiving being more than just a day for a big dinner with family and friends, a day off from school and work, or the day before a big shopping spree.
Then, sadly there are those that make Thanksgiving the only day to give thanks.

Right now while the economy is slow and more people are out of work, more homeless on the street and more crimes being committed, we feel like we have nothing to be thankful for, especially those who are victims of these cases. But we have a lot of things to be thankful for. We just take alot for granted. I mean, just imagine not having a family, a car, a house or friends. You may hate your job but imagine loosing it tomorrow. You may not have any of those things right now but if your reading this then you have a computer or a fancy cell phone and be thankful you have eye sight and the ability to read.

So as we enter into this Thanksgiving holiday, remember the meaning of Thanksgiving and be grateful. Wake up everyday for now on thinking about what you have, not what you don't have and always give thanks to God. Waking up is the first blessing you get each day.

Trying new things

This weekend was about like any other weekend as I tried to find things to do and places to go. My daughter was home from college, so like always, we got to catch up on a lot of talk. I love the bond we have and can talk about anything just like best friends. After I got away from the office chair, we decided to go to the mall and look around for new things to wear, Christmas gift ideas and ......CUPCAKES!

Yes, there is a new cupcake place in the mall. I will be talking more about that little experience in one of my upcoming post. [spoiler] We are currently on a mission right now to find the best cupcake.

Sunday was quite nice too. After hearing a great sermon at church, me and my daughter went out to eat with my Mom and Dad at a local Chinese buffet. Those are always good on Sunday. I wish I had gotten a picture of my Dad as he tried his first bite of sushi. Needless to say he did not like it but it cured his curiosity about eating it. Its just one of those foods that if you don't like it, you wish you did.

Sadly we had to take my daughter back to school. This always saddens me. My husband will usually take me out afterwards and that usually cheers me up. This time before heading back to the house, we stopped at a Brixx Pizza. Its new in the area and we always like to try the new places at least once.

It was nice and clean inside.

It doesn't take much to entertain me so I thought it was pretty neat that beside our table was a wall made of chalk board and pieces of chalk on the ledge.

I was tempted the whole time, and yes, eventually I wrote my initials on it.

Then there's the pizza. The pizzas are all made with thin crust and are all one size (The size that was to much for one but not quite enough for two, but since we try to eat light, it was perfect for us). They had many different kinds of pizzas to choose from. After trying to decide on the one we wanted, we finally decided on the veggie pizza. We chose the wheat crust and It came with mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, onions, broccoli and cheese. I do not know what they were thinking, but broccoli does not belong on a pizza. But it was good! Next time I think Ill try the Margarita pizza.

Nearing touchdown

I am a fan of UNC Charlotte 49ers. I guess because my Daughter and other family members have gone there and that's a good enough excuse for right now. But It will not be long until they will be starting there first football team in the year 2013. 

website photo

The football stadium will start out with 15,300 seats with the ability to expand to 40,000. You can tell the new team is on its way when you see not only the tuition prices going up, but you see more fan memorabilia in the stores around the area.

Just the other day I found these cute "Niner Nuts" sitting on the counter right next to the others cans for UNC (#1), NC State, and Wake Forest. I hope eventually they will be right up there with the big boys and I will have a new team to cheer for.

The next thing I did was sent a can of these to our friends that live in New Jersey. There daughter also goes to UNCC and is my daughters best friend and former roommate. I think they will get a laugh out it.

   

 Now what did I do with my Carolina cup?