Clay Pot Birdbath

I saw the idea for a clay pot bird bath on Pinterest and decided to do one myself. I bought 4 pots about 8" diameter at Walmart for $2.50 each. I glued them together with E6000 glue ($2.97 for 2 ounces) that I found at Walmart The saucer, 16" was $14.97 at Home Depot, Walmart didn't have any. I used Rust-Oleum American Accents Stone spray paint. It's $7.97 at Walmart, and took a little over one can. So the entire project can be done for under $45. If you happen to already have the pots I suppose it would be more of a recycle project. WARNING... I just found out this paint is NOT waterproof! UGH I hope that a sealer will fix this problem. After a big rain today I saw that the paint on the edges had washed off. You need to use outdoor paint, or seal it!!

To make:

Put glue on the bottom of one pot, turn the other upside down, let dry, put glue on the lip of the top pot.

Turn the next one upside down and wiggle into place; look all around to make sure the edges match. They won't be perfect. Let dry.

Glue the bottom of the top pot and add last pot. Let dry.






The best way to make sure you center the pots on the saucer is to put it upside down on a level, sturdy surface. You can get a pencil and outline the pot onto the saucer to make sure it is centered, you could even measure the sides, but I just went ahead and glued the lip of the top pot and turned it upside down onto the saucer. Let dry. I waited overnight, but you probably don't have to.












Take the entire thing outside. Place it on plastic to keep the dirt off the bottom. If there are any rough places, use very fine sandpaper gently. Spray paint in a sweeping motion. Let dry. Repeat until covered. Do it in layers or it will make a mess! Don't rush.

Turn it upside down when it is completely dry. Be sure to get in the spaces between the pots. This stuff seems to stay sticky and will come off if gently scraped. I think I'm going to have to add a sealer. It also says it contains lead, which does not make me real happy. I think I'm going to get a plastic liner so I don't kill any birds...

Place on a flat surface. I planted a muscadine vine near it and added a flower and some cute owls I found at Big Lots. Gardening things are on clearance in many places right now!

Finished bird bath  by Wynne

Dinosaur Birthday Party

My Grandson's Dinosaur Birthday Party

Goodie bags full of the Animal Planet candy. 

This is the info on my grandson's 6th birthday party. For the goody (goodie?) bags I used colored lunch bags. Fold top over. Glue on eyes (white circles and half circles a little larger), use marker to make pupils and nostrils. Cut "teeth" triangles at edge of the folded over top, add dinosaur arms/hands and dinosaur eggs. Staple or add yarn handle. I'm sure there was a better way to do this, but I got the idea from a pic somewhere online.

Dinosaur Crossing sign: Choose or cut a square of cardboard. Cut yellow paper same size. I found a dinosaur from color sheets online and made a pattern by directly copying it off the computer, but you could print one out for a pattern. Choose a simple picture. Cut it out of black construction paper. Use marker to write Dinosaur Crossing. Laminate if possible. Hot glue to the cardboard. Buy or make a wooden post. I happened to have a sign post from a Halloween decoration. I screwed the sign onto the post, then hammered it into the dirt by the walkway.

Pinata or decoration Dinosaur Egg. I made a paste of flour and water and wrapped a balloon to make a paper mache egg. I spray painted it yellow because that is the color paint I had. I bought these blow up dinosaurs at the Dollar Tree. You could put one in the egg, then blow it up and have it hatch at the party! I found the cottony green fake Easter grass at Joann's. The dinosaurs around it were bought at Dollar General.

Food

We had Dinosaur Bones, Dinosaur Claws (Bugles), chocolate "mud" brownies, individual bowls of ice cream, trail juice--Capri Sun and KoolAid Jammers, the usual chips and dip, a lot of Animal Planet candy like dinosaur eggs and suckers that I found at Big Lots. Actually that find is what led me to the theme. The only thing we didn't do theme-wise was the cake, because it was ordered before we decided on the theme.

Animal Planet Candy

Dinosaur Bones

Assembled Dinosaur Bones
Marshmallows and Big Pretzel Sticks

White Chocolate Covered
Dinosaur Bones

ACTIVITY

We were at a park, so there were swings and such. They had their binoculars to be on the lookout for a dinosaur near the Dinosaur Crossing Sign. They found one--the pinata!

Dinosaur Pinata, formerly a Sun Pinata

The only pinatas I could find here were a sun and some girlie pink one. When I saw the rays on the sun I thought, "spikes!" I cut one entirely off and folder the cardboard in. Then I glued blue tissue paper on top of the yellow. I cut rows of fringe and glued them across and down in two triangles for feet. I added the eye. This is the finished pic (at my house). They were so funny hitting the poor thing. They didn't even stop when the candy came out, they beat it til there was nothing but little pieces left and even broke the stick, which was an old tool handle! After they destroyed it they flew, or tried to fly dinosaur kites I bought at the Dollar Tree. They had a great time with them, too!

Binoculars

Here's how I made the toilet tissue roll binoculars:
1. Spray paint toilet paper tubes, or cover them in paper--wallpaper, wrapping paper, shelf liner.
2.Cover the ends in colored plastic wrap. Tape tightly.

3. Cover the raw, taped edges with painter's tape or masking tape. 

4. Punch holes on opposite sides. 

4.Wrap yarn around a ruler to desired length ( I cut mine about 30") and cut.
5.Thread yarn through the holes and tie knots on the inside of the tubes.
6. Put stapler inside the tubes (a tight fit) and staple a couple of times. I found it easier to lay this with stapler upside down on the table. You might want to hot glue them before stapling so they'll stay.
7. As kids arrived I gave them the binoculars and let them put dinosaur and happy birthday stickers on them for decoration.

GRRR Jude had a gigantic time!

Newbie Gluten Free/Dairy Free Shopping!

I was so excited to go shopping in the Jackson/Brandon, MS area to search for more gluten and dairy free products. First stop was at Target. All the items I had coupons for were sold out. But, I was so happy to find that Larabars are GF and DF! AND there were $1 off coupons on the box! At about $5.95 a box this would make them $4.95 for a box of 5. Acceptable. I got 4 boxes of the Blueberry Muffin and 2 Peanut Butter Cookie. Then I saw individual Uber/Larabars. I happened to have a .75/3 coupon so I bought three of the only flavor-- Apple Turnover. When I got in the car I tore into the Blueberry Muffin bar. It was amazing! Like nothing I'd had before, but it filled the empty spot in my stomach and eased my craving for something sweet and chewy.

I wish I had gone back and bought all they had, because Kroger, my next stop, did not have any.  They did have Enjoy life Crispy Rice Chocolate bars! I had bought some of the Dark Chocolate boomCHOCOboom Enjoy life bars at Winn Dixie and they were good. But I really like the Rice Milk added in these! And I had $1.50/2 coupons! Score again! Then I looked at the Udi bread. I knew I had a coupon, but DARN it had expired 2 days earlier. Major bummer, since the bread (all frozen) was in the $4.50-$6 range. I bought one Udi sandwich loaf mostly because someone had bought several before me. (I later tried the Udi as toast and it's pretty good). I found a brand I didn't know--kinnikinnick. I got the multi grain sliced loaf ($4.49) and donuts-- Vanilla Glazed Donuts that taste like the white powdered ones.  I REALLY love them! The GF bread is more suited to donuts because of the heavy texture. These were $5.99,  but totally worth it to me! They are sweet, so coffee goes well with them. I stocked up on Terra Sweet Potato Chips that were $2.99 because I had $1/1 coupons. I like the salted ones better. They have many varieties, but caution--not all are dairy free. I found Hodgson Mill Peene , elbow macaroni and linguini ($2.99 each). There are other brands at Walmart, but the price doesn't vary that much. As far as dips go, the Yucatan Avocado and Sabre Hummus are GF. I couldn't find the variety of Smart Balance spread that is supposed to be GF. Earth Balance was more expensive than Winn Dixie so I didn't buy any. But now I know that Earth Balance comes in a no soy variety I will probably switch to it.

I am so happy that Walmart now carrieds the Udi bread! I also found a lot of gluten free mixes at Big Lots! My favorite one is the Bob's Red Mills Shortbread Cookies!
What are your favorite GF products?

A New Diet for the New Year

This is not a diet to lose weight! I wish I could gain some back, actually. In May I topped out at 133. Freaked me out! I'd been about 120 for several years, and suddenly, boom! I started watching every calorie, signed up for Curves, exercised like crazy with Shape Magazine's bikini workout, and let me tell you, it is killer!! Somehow I got back to 125-120 range. I was OK with that. Then I went through menopause. I won't bore you with the gory details which led to me feeling like I had rubber bands around my ankles, barely able to walk in the morning or after sitting for a while. My hands hurt really bad! Was it from all the gardening? from getting older? My doctor wanted me to have a nerve conduction test. Several friends told me not to, that is it awful. So I didn't. I did think maybe I had arthritis. But my doctor, not happy about not taking his advice refused to refer me. Luckily I had gone years ago to an arthritis doctor in another town because of my Raynaud's. He referred me. Appointment MONTHS later. I'm dying NOW. I got online and researched. I came to the profound conclusion that I had menopausal arthritis. I had gotten off the pill (I stayed on to avoid the awful hot flashes) but now I had no hormones. I called my gynecologist's nurse and begged. FINALLY they called in hormones.  A few months later I'm back to my old, er, younger self.

By November I had some moderately severe emotional stress. I started losing. A LOT. I got down to 115, 113, 110... What in the world!! I had never had a colon scope and I was overdue. My sister and another doctor friend told me I might have gluten intolerance. The Doc set me up with a quick appointment and told me to get extensive blood tests. I had an EGD scope also, since I'd been having spasms in my throat along with acid reflux. I knew I was dairy intolerant, but didn't REALLY think I might be GI or have Celiac. Our family has a history of stomach problems, however.

The biopsy showed hiatal hernia, signs of food allergies and possible Celiac disease, moderate gastritis, internal hemorrhoids, and colitis. Wonderful. The Gluten Panel was not back yet. I had decided by then, though, to cut out ALL gluten. When the test results were negative I once again got online and saw that this is very common. My GI doctor said I don't have Celiac... his partner says I do, biopsy tops the blood test. So now I am struggling to find food I can eat. I have to spend HOURS researching every bottle or package I pick up in the grocery store. My son thinks I'm just not eating. He doesn't understand. I lost to 108 and I'm still having bad cramps, etc... My next step is to schedule an appointment with my original, general doctor and hopefully he will be over my unfaithfulness to him : ) and give me instructions for the colitis, etc...