Frances Mari Burkett - Mother, Wife, Real Estate Agent and Aspiring Writer.: August 2007

Thursday, August 16, 2007

I am so doing this for my house this Christmas!!!

How to make a Sparkling Glass Ornament Tree:

How to Video: http://www.hgtv.com/cr/cda/playerex/1,1979,HGTV_36014,00.html

Materials:

1" x 3" poplar lumber
miter saw
tack cloth or rag
measuring tape
finish nails
hammer
drill
wood glue
220-grit sandpaper
spackling compound
latex primer
gold craft paint
paintbrushes
serrated knife
hot glue gun
floral foam
48" wooden dowels in various widths (5/16" to 3/8")
gold spray paint
various glass ornaments
gold craft ribbon
gold craft jewelry wire
hand saw
pencil sharpener
needle-nose pliers
copper refrigeration wire

Steps:

1. Cut five pieces of poplar lumber using a miter saw to the necessary dimensions to make a box without a top. Nail and glue the pieces together after drilling pilot holes where the corners meet. Sand the entire box and remove the dust with a tack cloth or damp rag.
2. Fill the nail holes with spackle and prime the box once it's dry. Apply several coats of gold paint, allowing it to dry between layers.
3. Cut floral foam pieces with a knife that extend no more than one inch above the top of the box to line the inside (the foam will hold the ornaments plus garland and evergreens in place to decorate the base of the tree). Secure each piece with hot glue.
4. Push the dowels into a scrap piece of foam and spray them gold in a well-ventilated area.

Figure A

5. Remove the ornament hooks and pour hot glue in one to form a pool at the bottom that you can stick the dowel into. Hold the dowel in place for a bit so it's centered, and then glue gold ribbon around the base for a finishing touch (figure A).
6. Using trial and error, determine the placement of each ornament starting with the star in the center as the tallest trunk. Cut the other dowels to length using a hand saw and sharpen the ends of each a little with a pencil sharpener. Stick the sharpened end into the foam, and secure each with hot glue.

Figure B

7. Fill holes by curling craft wire and hot-glue each piece to select ornaments between the gold ribbon and the dowel. Add an assortment of juniper and evergreen branches so they cascade out of the box.
8. Curl copper refrigeration coil as above and stick it into the foam (figure B).

Friday, August 10, 2007

Email from Francisco in Afghanistan, Friday, August 10th, 2007!

I hope everything is going ok. I am doing good and having lots of fun with the ARMY folks. Today I went on a mission to resuply other ARMY FOBs in Afghanistan. I was on a plane with the back of it open and as we flew by the FOB we throw the packages down connected to a parachute. I was standing at the edge of the plane held by a stap. It was very cool. As of now I am staying here for six months, but hoping to go at four with the rest of the Air Force people. See ya all soon and take care.
Capt Mari

Yesterday was a great day!!!

Yesterday was a great, but stressful day. Our real estate agent put in the offer to the home we've been in love with ever since we started looking for homes. The biggest misunderstanding in world history happenned with this house and our real estate agent Julie. The subdivision is Woodland Estates. When we first started looking for homes, we decided to go a bit more south than first expected. We ended up by Boone Grove. We drove by the subdivision and saw a home for sale. It had been sold already but was awaiting closing. That was the only home for sale in that entire subdivision. My real estate agent kept sending me a listing from that subdivision, and we thought that she just simply kept sending the one that was sold since there were no for sale signs that we'd seen. Two days ago, she sent me an updated list of homes and the home was once again there. I was a bit upset. I thought to myself; "Is she taunting me? Why does she keep sending me this listing that we loved but can't buy?" I emailed her immediately and asked her why she keeps sending me this listing. She emailed back and said that was ANOTHER listing, even better than the other one, that's been on the market for 184 days. WHAT? I said to her we wanted to see it right away. The reason why we hadn't seen the for sale sign was because the sellers chose not to have a for sale sign in their property. How weird! Whatever, better for us cause the reason why it didnt sell was because of it. It was waiting for us. The house was gorgeous, and huge. It took like an hour to see all of it in detail. We left the house that afternoon and put in an offer. We offered full price and yesterday, that offer got accepted. Closing is in 60 days!!!

We tried out the new Japanese restaurant that opened down the street but it wasn't very good. I miss Osaka's. They didn't have any white sauce. I miss you Osaka's. We drove by OUR house after dinner. Wow, I don't believe it. I woke up a million times last night and was up this morning with Steven's alarm. Of course the pregnancy isn't helping with the comfort level. I wonder if I would've slept better if they didn't accept our offer, but like Steven said, if they don't accept our offer, it means they don't really want to sell. I can't wait to get started.

Talking to mom yesterday, she said she might be able to come for Thanksgiving and stay for like two weeks. If only... I miss her so much.

Here are some more pictures and videos of our new house taken during the inspection day!

The basement:

Four Seasons room!

They've started packing!!! Wooo Hooo!

The front door!

Windows for Formal Living room downstairs and master bedroom upstairs!

The front yard!

Steven on the driveway!

Jasmine on the driveway!

The name of the house (the owners named it that) but we are changing it!

I researched online to see what I could find on the ritual of knockwood. This is what I found!

Do you knock on wood as a spiritual observation?

The concept of knocking on wood I believe dates back from the Celts and Norse, where it was a prayer to the gods of the trees.

It seems sacreligious for a non-Pagan to engage in that practice since it has religious meaning.

From knockonwood.com:

There are many versions of the origin of the expression and ritual of Knock Wood:

The ancient Celtic people of Europe worshipped the tree spirits as the foremost earthly representation of the gods. If bad fortune visited,or if a battle was about to be fought, the power of the tree spirits was invariably called upon by knocking on the wood of trees. The Druid priest performed all of his rituals and incantations within the sacred arbors. The tree spirits were thought to consume the evil demons back into the ground.

The custom is also thought to originate from Pagan times when trees were held in high esteem. People believed the "tree spirits" inhabited the trees and woodlands. To knock a tree was a sign of respect and was thought to wake the spirit within and provide protection from evil.

It is also thought that the expression and ritual may be a result of the Christian belief in The Crucifixion. Christ was crucified on a cross made of wood and hence, knocking on wood may be a sign of this belief, and a sign of deep compassion and reverence for Christ's resurrection.

There is of course no connection between these ideologies, but perhaps the ritual and expression of "Knock Wood" arose from a combination of all these belief systems.We still knock on wood today to battle the evils of our everyday lives. It's too bad that today we lack the ancients' respect for trees. We might have more forests left.

I don't do the whole knock on wood thing the way most people do. Once the wood is cut, the spirit is pretty much gone. Most people will knock on a table or door or what not. All I need to do to pay my respect to the spirit that creates all is step into the woods across the street from my house.

Usually, I'll just sit in my back yard with a candle, a cup of wine or milk (only when it's cold) and a plate with bread, salt and fruit. I meditate or pray or whatever I have to do and leave the offering. That's why I only use milk when it's not warm outside.

I had also heard that the knocking on wood one was because fairies often live in logs and such things and therefore, knocking on wood was supposed to be lucky. (I don't know where I heard that before)

The name of the house will be THE BURKETTS! I love it!

The garage smells like old oil because they have an old hot rod parked in there! It's a really big garage!