Gail is a crazy re-inventer. I’ve seen her use old doors to make beds, benches out of headboards and drawers into memo boards. She also loves chocolate and loves cats-so, she’s pretty much at the top of my list for that.
Come on over and see what this weirdo has to say while guest posting at My Repurposed Life and stick around to get to know Gail a little better.

Peace out.

I will be using my handsome hubby, Biceps, as my subject matter while I show off PW’s Action Sets. (He’s easy on the eyes and bites a lot less than the kittens…)

This is the RAW image straight from my camera. No adjusting has happened to this sweet face, yet.

Wanted for Handsomeness: Biceps
Reward: Icecream

I know, I’m a dork in love. At any rate, this is the Vintage Action Set in all its glory. I did lighten the photo a little, because Biceps was getting lost in the dark.

I used the Fresh and Colorful Action Set on this photo and adjusted the light layer to “vivid light”.

This is the Old West Action Set. It’s not the favorite choice for this photo, but I think it would come in handy for horse/barn/state fair applications. Cowboy hats, turkey legs and roller coasters need this action set.

I’m so partial to vintage photos, this might be my favorite. This Seventies Action Set is a bit of an unsung hero, washing out photos and not immediately catching the eye. But, I think this set brings a nostalgic feeling to most photos without overdoing it.

Thanks, Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond, for creating Action Sets that we can all use for free. I give a tip of the hat to you and a simultaneous bowing curtsy-which is rather hard to do if you think about it.

Not too old, mind you-but older. I still have my original teeth, hair and eyesight-so, I’m still doing pretty good.

And, since it was my birthday today, I’d thought I’d let you in on a few wishes that I have:

1. I wish I could eat these without gaining an ounce-every day of my life.

2. I wish some rich super distant uncle I had never met bequeathed this sweet ride to me.

3. I wish kittens never died. Instead, they would be whisked up into heaven just like Elijah.

4. I wished these people….

5. …and these people lived closer.

6. And above all, I wish I never disappointed this guy, made him mad or ticked him off. Fat chance, but I’ll sure as heck try.

I have many more wishes, but I’ll keep it to six. I need time to go party!

I absolutely love hummus-I could eat hummus slathered on sandwiches, by the heaping spoonful, or with veggies if I feel like being a little more sophisticated. What I don’t love is paying $3 or more dollars for a tiny container that’s full of hard to pronounce ingredients.

So, off to the kitchen lab! And, within a few minutes, I had fresh hummus at my fingertips.

Here is what’s needed to make this Hummus Among Us Recipe-without tahini:

3 Cups Drained Garbanzo Beans (reserve juice if desired instead of the water)
1 Cup Water (or bean juice)
1 TBS Lemon Juice
2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
3/4 tsp Chili Powder
1 TBS Garlic Salt
1/4 tsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Salt (not pictured, sorry…)
Food Processor/Blender

Pour the 3 Cups of Garbanzo Beans into the blender. Add 1 Cup of Water and hit the puree until the beans are smooth.

The Hummus should have this type of consistency-thick but still pliable.

Add the 1 TBS Lemon Juice to the mixture.

Next, add the 2 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Add the 1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds and blend again until smooth.

Now for the spices! Add the 3/4 tsp of Chili Powder-(or if you like things a little spicy, take the plunge and add a full 1 TBS).

Add the 1 TBS Garlic Salt.

And finally, add the 1/4 tsp Onion Powder and the 1/4 tsp Salt. Blend again until all the ingredients are mixed thoroughly.

Put the hummus into a cute bowl and then add a little more chili powder that will show off your awesome hummus.

Serve with fresh cut veggies and enjoy the Hummus that’s Among Us!

Linking up here, along with other parties:

I have been dragging my feet for quite some time on an issue I normally attack with my ninja skills. I want to repaint and redecorate two rooms in my house:

The Dining Room

And the Living Room.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with these rooms and I do feel rather American wanting to redo a perfectly good room. The idea when we first chose this light gray paint was to have a very minimalistic, clean look (Bicep’s desire) but with a little color (my desire).

However, it just feels cold and blah.

I am determined to do it with no money out of pocket. This means selling things I own to buy new decor and paint, making deals and waiting for sales. I have been patient, grasshopper.

Here’s what inspired my color choice originally. While on tour, I came across this unique cinder block fence. I loved the turquoise color and filed the color in the back of my little creative brain.

Months later, I put together my case for change and presented this color board to Biceps. Lo and behold, the minimalist man liked the idea and enthusiastically supported it.

He has become a big supporter of my decorating prowess after I redid the Master Bathroom and Master Bedroom while he was on tour. I think he became this aforementioned big supporter mainly because he didn’t have to do any of the work. Heh.

So, dear Readers:

Here’s why I am writing to you. I have the inspiration, the go-ahead, the non-budget-budget and the time. It’s getting to the ridiculous point of just needing to pull the trigger and I can’t seem to do it. I think I’m afraid to paint a color so bold and possibly trendy. Should I just jump in, no regrets and slap that paint on the walls?

I received a notification on my phone that I had a new email. Opening it, the innocent looking email warned me that my homepage was all in Arabic. The emailer even mentioned one of my projects that they liked and they had a legitimate looking yahoo email address.

I opened my site, thinking surely this person was mistaken. They weren’t. Poop. Crap. Dang.

The background to my site immediately turned black. And, then I saw something rather similar to this at the top of the page.

Photo Source
Striped colors decorated the fist in green, white and red. The hacker’s name was proudly scrolling across the tab bar and the top of the page. (I don’t want to give this moron any satisfaction, so I’m not going to tell you who it was.)

Photo Source
Almost everything on the page was in Arabic-very similar to this. (But, joke is on you, you funny hackers-this is the Lord’s prayer in Arabic. Boo yeah.)

I scrolled down even further to read a few sentences in English, touting how horrible America is and how great Syria and Palestine are. (Since when did they become friends?)

The hacker made death threats to all U.S. citizens, collectively and individually. Turds.

I called, texted and emailed my wonderful web guy. Sorry, Cole. I might have been freaking out a little.

But, just a little.

My web guy had his hands full dealing with terrorism and a crashing server on one side and this on the other. I wonder which he would have preferred?

The rest of the weekend my site looked like this. What’s that? You don’t see anything. Yep, that about sums it up.

I would like to say that my immediate reaction was enjoying the forced blogging vacation and casting my cares on the Lord. The reality was-it took me about 5 hours to get to that point and actually believe it.

And a glass of red wine.

But, hey-that’s down from the 5,000 hours that I freaked out when my site took a nose dive in 2011 with absolutely no recovery option. So, I think I’m doing pretty good…

I contacted these guys, and I will admit, I felt a little Nancy Drew about the whole matter. Side note-did you know the FBI actually emails you back when you email them?
The FBI had real people that cared about this bizarre midwest blogging wife. They aren’t just some vest sporting, coffee drinking, cool sunglass wearing, entity driving around in a bad sedan and hanging out at the White House.

 

And that’s where I’ll leave you. My web guy jumped through several hoops and I am back up and running. The FBI has probably moved on to bigger fish.

But, if this joker gets caught, you will be the first(s) to know. Thanks for sticking this out and seeing me through this.

This is just a quick post to let all of you know where I stand on terrorism. Briefly stated-I am against it. In all of its forms, in all of its capacities, in all of its stupidities, I think terrorism stinks.

I am so thankful to live in the United States. I am thankful for all of the men and women that have given their lives so that I can be free.

And, I’m so thankful for all of the sweet facebook, twitter and text messages you guys sent to me while this was all hitting the proverbial fan.

However, there is a devil afoot.

Sure, he looks cute. Sure, he’s furry. Sure, I even talked about how wonderful it was to have a bunny in my backyard.

But did you know that bunnies also like to eat my plants-the ones that I’ve toiled over, loved on and kept safe from hail storms? Bunnies love to nibble-and I will admit, they look pretty darn cute doing so-but they are destroying my garden. Something must be done!

Enter Garlic Salt and Chili Pepper in mass quantities. Bunnies do not like sniffing these two substances. In fact, they tell the other bunnies to stay far away.

I sprinkle a little of each around the base of my plants and around the perimeter of my garden.

As the bunny checks the wind for potential vegetable and leafy prey, the garlic and chili pepper reach their delicate noses and they take off for greener, less spicy pastures.

I reapply the spices after a heavy rain.

I don’t mind sharing. But after three destroyed pepper plants attributed to this very cute little bunny, I chose to go the humane route and spice it up.

Let’s not talk about the alternative offered by Biceps.

Linking up here, along with other parties:

I have this lovely friend Jennifer–pictured here on the left (which you can read all about her in my article: Together in Tulsa in This Land Press) that gave me the weirdest present ever. And for an unseen bonus-it was wrapped in Christmas paper, but yet given to me in April.

Now, you may say, “Weirdest present ever? Come on, Rebekah. Surely being a part of your family, you’ve received weirder.”

You have a good point. And it’s obvious you don’t believe me. Let me prove it.

Weirdest Present Ever

Yep, a book called “Crafting with Cat Hair”.

Jennifer claimed that she “saw the book and thought of me”.

Funny, Jennifer-real funny.

Now, I may be fully into my cats, but am I a crazy cat lady? I think that I have proven that I am not.

The concept behind the book is recycling your pet’s hair and turning it into crafty “everyday” items. Like picture framed images made from cat hair of your cat.

That’s pretty “everyday”, don’t you think?

Maybe something a little more “everyday” are felt book covers, embellished with cat images made from you cat’s hair. I wouldn’t give it a second thought to pull this out at my local coffee shop.

The book also teaches you how to make fun toys for your cat from their own hair. Hm…

Not weird at all.

It offers patterns, step-by-step guides and instructions, as well as…

…how to harvest your cat’s hair and store it properly until you are ready to craft with it.

I suppose if the kittens in your house are just going to upchuck it anyways, you might as well get green and recycle that cat hair. I mean, what could be wrong about that?

Absolutely nothing.

By the way, Jennifer-you are in big trouble. And paybacks are…well, you know what they are….

His white blood cell count was low and he had a 105 degree temperature (apparently, 101 is the normal temperature for a kitty). He was moaning, panting and dry heaving for days. We had to feed him watered down canned cat food with a syringe and he wasn’t stoked about that process. Nor was he stoked about the process of having his temperature taken.

I have the scratches to prove it.

After a visit to the vet on Saturday, an emergency visit at 2am Monday morning and a 9pm emergency visit that same Monday night, we thought we might lose him. There was absolutely no reason behind what was going on in his tiny, furry body.

We prayed. We pleaded. We asked our friends and family to pray.

My anxiety level rose to an unhealthy level and the Lord reminded me that anxiety is not of God. He brought to mind 1 Peter 5:7 which says, “Cast ALL your cares upon the Lord, for he cares for you.”

I resigned to trust Him, to let go of my control, to understand there was no understanding and to rest in my Savior’s arms.

Maxwell is home, resting. We are believing for a full recovery-he hasn’t been declared “healed” by the doctors, but I declare him healed in Jesus’ name. But even if he isn’t, I will trust in my God. (Daniel 3:17 & 18)