Tag: wine

FIREWORKS ON MY HEAD!

by Alfredsson Jane, posted in Alfie Stories

Indepence Day is an important day, I know this. My mom and dad make a big deal out of it. There are people everywhere and the smells of delicious food. Mom loves to decorate and set up the patio. We play games and drink and its all fun.

But then there are the loud bangs that come from nowhere and the crazy lights in the sky that show up after the noise or even with the noise sometimes! CRACK and then these shiny weird colors show up CRACK, SIZZLE, BOOM and there’s more! Then they’re raining down toward us and what seems like at the last second they fizzle away into nothing! INTO NOTHING! How do I know they won’t show up next to me and I’ll go boom! How can I make sure the next one won’t show up on mom’s head and then she’s gone forever. And where in the world is that BOOM noise even coming from? And why? And why does it have to be so loud!?

These past few days have been horrifying for me. I’m losing fur all over the place and my body won’t stop shaking sometimes. The only place I feel safe is in the bathroom because there are no windows! Mom wraps me in blankets and sits with me so I feel a little bit better but it’s still terrifying. I get these treats that taste kinda strange a few hours before it gets dark. Mom says they have chamomile and melatonin in them, they taste like fake beef. After a while I start to get kind of tired. If I fall asleep before the fireworks and other noisy things start I can sleep right through them. I like when that happens. If I don’t fall asleep before they start, it’s worse! I fight sleeping and stay awake but I’m even more scared and tired out. Zuc looks at me like I’m crazy, sometimes I wonder if his senses work very well. He’s a good sniffer but when it comes to sight and sound I’m just not sure about him.

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On July 4th, Mom went to bed early with me. She gave me some of those treats and then we snuggled up in bed. I snuggled into my bed next to her. She pet me until I fell asleep. When the fireworks started the treats didn’t work all the way because they were so loud. I would wake up scared and then fall back asleep only to have nightmares and wake up again to more loud noises. Mom laid in bed while everyone else watched them. She held my paw and talked to me in her sweet voice to help me stay calm. I love my mom.

I’m curious, what are some ways others cope with fireworks? Mom has tried all kinds of things but none of them seem to completely work. I also do this with thunderstorms so any ideas could help us a ton!

Birthday Glass

by Alfredsson Jane, posted in Alfie Stories, DIY Decor

This past weekend was one of my best friends’ and my boyfriend’s little sister’s 21st birthday! (Same person, not two people.) I’ve made it tradition to paint the newly 21 year old a glass for their gift. I’ve done 3 so far, my boyfriend’s, my sister’s, and now my boyfriend’s sister’s.

I love making these. I love the looks on their faces when I’ve nailed the design.

Generally I try to keep Alfie away while I paint. She’s a white/golden dog. Colors are just attracted to her! She once ate some of my food coloring jars- the good kind- and had a green belly for almost a week.

I wanted to relax so I set up at the coffee table and sat on the couch. Alfie and Zuc are allowed to get up on the couch as they please as long as they don’t push their boundaries. Alfie got too excited over the paint. Boundaries were pushed. The carpet wore the paint. Although I really can’t blame it all on Alfie. Yes, she got excited which triggered Zuc to get excited but it was Zuc who jumped up and concurrently flipped the paint plate. It shot into the air and he freaked out and ran. If he hadn’t his head would’ve been covered in paint and not the carpet..

Even with the disaster the glass came out perfectly.

To make these I bought bulk glasses off of amazon.com: Stemless Red Wine Glass, Beer Glass, and White Wine Glass. There are also a number of other glasses you could choose and they don’t have to bought in bulk. Each of these had a maximum of 6 glasses per case. I really like each of them. They are good smooth glass to paint on and are somewhat durable. When the White Wine Glasses arrived Alfie was still a roley poley little puppy and her cardboard box obsession was only beginning. She crashed into the full box of glasses and only one of them broke. None of them shattered or anything and let me tell you what, she was a rough little ball of fur. That being said, to save money, dollar store glasses work okay too. I just don’t prefer them because they like to break and have deformities in the glass itself making it harder to paint on.

I’ve had the paint so long I don’t remember where I even got it but it’s just basic acrylic paint. Same idea for the paintbrushes and spot tools.

When I finish painting the glass I let it air dry and then bake it. Start with a cold oven place the glass on the rack and allow it to heat to full temp, I usually heat it to about 350 degrees, once at full temp I leave it about 10-15 minutes then turn the oven off and crack the door. Allow the glass to set in the oven while it cools. Once cooled I take it outside and spray it with some gloss or matte modge podge depending on the look I desire.

Also, if you’re anything like my non-crafty sister, you may not want to go through making a glass. In this case I’ve also got you covered! Just visit my Etsy site! Generally I can paint anything you could ask for, if I can’t I will always try to do the next best thing you can think of! The make wonderful gifts! Glasses Transformed