Texas Hail

We have been living in Texas for a few years and Monday, April 11th we had our first real Texas hail storm. I have heard of these storms, and we had one hit close by a few weeks ago, but you really have no idea how crazy they are until you live through one.

I learned a valuable lesson on that Monday. Always check the weather radar before you go out if there is the slightest chance of severe weather. I went out to take my Granddaughter to my Grandson's swimming lessons. When I left for the 10 minute trip, the sun was out, and the bad weather looked way far in the distance. I pulled into a parking space right in front of the swimming building and the storm was right there. I barely had time to get the baby out of the car when the tornado sirens started and the hail started to fall. I got to watch my car get pelted by hail for a good 15 minutes. It just made me sick knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop the inevitable damage.

Hail in the flower beds

When the storm was over, and I drove back home, I was surprised to find only one small dent in the hood of my car. I then went outside my front door to see piles of ice all over the yard and in the flower beds. There were some plants that were damaged and the hail just beat the leaves off the trees. The interesting part was the size difference in the hail balls. They were mostly about dime size but there were golf ball size hail mixed in. Those were the ones that did most of the damage.

The largest hail balls I found in my yard.

You can see the difference in the hail sizes from the same storm that hit our house.

We got off pretty lucky because a few miles from us in Wylie, TX  they were hit with baseball size hail and homes were demolished. Windows in homes and cars were broken and the hail not only dented roofs in the area, but put holes in the roofs. These homes and cars were not only damaged on the outside, but were then getting water damage inside because of the wind and rains that followed the hail.

This is a hail ball from Wylie, TX not far from us. 

Do you think I will ever drive out in this kind of weather again?  Hail no!

Quick Ottoman Tray

Our game room is Red, White and Black in honor of the Detroit Red Wings Hockey Team.  We used our black couch from our VA sunroom, along with our black storage ottomans.  I needed a tray for the ottomans and decided to paint a bare wood tray I had in my sewing room closet.

I used a simple idea that was easy to make.  I painted the tray with several coats of "Red Wings Red". Next I used a large stencil and painted a white letter N in the middle, and outlined it with a black sharpie.  Because it is impossible to get everything to look perfect doing it freehand, no matter how hard you try, I decided to rough it up a bit to make it look old and worn. This way the imperfections look perfect.

Cue the sand paper. I scuffed it up a bit and it looks worn and old. I sprayed it with a top coat and it was done.

Easy Peasy!

Decorating My Kitchen Island

Our new house has a huge Kitchen island and needed a decoration to break it up a bit. I started with a square flat dish with black beans on the bottom, and candles sitting in them. It looked OK, but needed to be bigger.

Simple and boring

Time to go shopping! I never get time anymore to shop during the week, so I took advantage of not babysitting on Good Friday and did some shopping therapy.

First stop was JoAnn Fabric. I was there to look for fabric to cover a chair, but saw they had a 50% off sale on all their garden items. I found three bird cages that were in the perfect green for my kitchen, and got them for less than $15 each. My mind was going into overdrive trying to think what to put in them. My first thought was I would just put the black beans in the bottom and put one candle in each.  Then I saw the cutest glass white birds that light up. Now, I was thinking one small bird in two of them and a larger bird in the middle cage.

Cute little birds, and they light up.

Next Stop Stein Mart. This trip was to look for a quilt, and instead I found the cutest green and brown glass birds. Now, I am rethinking the cages and how to set them up. I have two round and one rectangle cage and I am definitely putting the dry black beans in the bottom. What to put in next is the question, candles, birds or a mixture?

Love these birds. Does that make them Lovebirds?

I chose the birds. The small white birds in the round cages and the taller green and brown birds in the rectangle cage. They turned out cute and cover just the right amount of space. Success!

I told you they lit up!

Yoga Instructor, Ballerina or Hockey Goalie?

My granddaughter has started to crawl and the process is fascinating. My kids started with the commando move using feet, knees and elbows. Next, they would get in the crawling position, hands and knees, and rock forward and back, then dive a little forward. Finally, they would move their hands forward and then knees in the traditional crawl. This was followed by the turn and sit, and turn back to a crawl. It has been so much fun each day watching this sweet baby go through this process in her own very unique way.