Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Ike made landfall north of us. We didn't even get any rain. I am thankful that we didn't get any of his wind either! I spent much of the day Saturday putting things back! I have just about everything back where it belongs. I decided to clean the windows on the patio and the furniture before returning it to its place. In the evening, my son and I went to Incredible Pizza with my Dad, Stepmom and nephew. Pop and the boys had a bumper car challenge, and we played some games. Pop clobbered me on the deer hunt game! Sadly, I forgot my camera in the rush to get showered and ready after working outside in the heat.
This morning, we are having T-storms courtesy of the cool front! Boy do we need the rains. Yippee, we are expecting highs next week only in the mid 80's! What a treat after high 90's!What a surprise to come home to discover that I 've been given the Smile Award by Nola of Alamo North http://http//alamo-north.blogspot.com/ .
The award was created by Mere at The Babblings of Mere. 
The Smile Award
These are the rules:
1. The recipient must link back the the awards creator.
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must chose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award, as posted by Mere.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.
Characteristics for the Smile Award:
1. Must display a cheerful attitude.(not necessarily at all times--we are all human)
2. Must love one another
3. Must make mistakes
4. Must learn from others
5. Must be a positive contributor to blog world
6. Must love life
7. Must love kids{Most of the time, I'm trying!}
I am passing on the award to some of my favorite blogs. It was hard to narrow down my list, because I follow many wonderful blogs!
1. Marie at Watch the Wind Blow By for her cheerful postings!
2 Joanne at My Little Cottage in the Making for her posting Please help make Rhonda's Mom smile, that shows a love for one another.
3 Heather at Speckled Egg for Pretty Posies and a flop. Not everything turns out according to our visions, been there!
4. Carolyn at Tumbleweeds and Thyme who must be learning from others by having Pasha and Nic from Russia help out on their farm this summer!
5. Joy at Joys of Home for sharing so many wonderful ideas for me to copy!
6. Gretchen at Bird Nest Cottage because she shows her love of life in her postings.
7. Tracey at tcalamity who has 4 lovely daughters!
Several days ago, I showed my blogging buddies the letters that I had scavenged from our neighborhood sign demolition! The letters were originally a bright gold. My first plan was to paint them flat black, but then I saw the hammered copper spray paint at the store. I decided to give it a try. First, I lightly sanded the letters. I sprayed the one on the right with a copper hammered paint directly over the gold. The letter on the left, I painted flat black first, and then I sprayed it with the hammered copper paint. I like both of them. My son opted for the black with hammered copper method for his "B". 
Here it is hanging in his bedroom. His bedroom is painted with 2 shades of a denimy blue. First I painted the walls the lighter shade of blue. Then I mixed the darker shade with the glaze. I painted the glaze mixture on the wall a section at a time and then pressed thin paper that I had wadded and wrinkled up onto the wall to remove some of the darker shade. I would not do a whole room with this method again. It made my arms and hands very sore!
