Seed Packet Roses Ephemera

I think these roses are among the most beautiful of all the vintage ephemera roses I have in my collections or have ever seen actually. They have been my favorite for many years. I'm sharing these with you because of their beauty. Click to enlarge and use as you would like. BUT if you do use them, be sure and let me know when you post what you've done with them. I want to see your creations, chicks.

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Random Thought:

What is it with UPS packages? They are so dirty I think they must intentionally drag them through a dirt pile before delivery. I wonder if they've ever thought of "cleaning" up the insides once in a while. I do, however, love my UPS delivery persons!

Fairy Ballerina Giveaway

I've been in a lethargic mood lately, not wanting to craft or even clean house. Yikes!! So I just got my act together this morning and made this for a giveaway for my 600th post. A vintage ephemera ballerina decorated with netting, roses and bows on card stock. All you have to do to sign up is leave a comment here. It's that simple, chicks! Comment HERE. I will draw a name May 5th.

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Random Thought:

What does hubby mean when he told me I need to clean the toilets today? I just cleaned them a month ago! Maybe he needs to stop using them, huh? Sheeeeeesh.......

Night Lights and Liver......Yuck

Update on son.

Keith is really struggling with forgiveness for these men along with the physical aspects. He has no idea when he might even be able to return to work as an RN. The ringing has continued so loudly he can barely hear anything else. The headache persists. The vision is still cloudy. The doctors have not been able to tell him if these issues will even ever clean up. That's the frustrating thing for him. He called the hospital to set up some kind of counseling and is going to call his bishop for spiritual counseling with him on forgiveness. I think his spirit is wounded even more than his physical body at the moment. I think that any and all of you mothers out there can sort of understand what I'm going through at the moment. I lay awake at night praying. I also get weepy during the day when I think of how valiant he was and why this had to happen to him. But I truly do have faith this will get better.
*

Then last friday morning Love Bunny told me he was experiencing vision problems since the day before—bright flashes of light in his left eye. I told him to get into QuickCare asap and he was over there by 8 am. They set him up with an ophthalmologist at 3 pm that afternoon and at 4 pm he walked into the house and told me he had to be back at the eye doctor in 25 minutes for emergency surgery. He said I had to go and drive him there and back as if I wouldn't have anyway. *Sigh*........ I take things in stride usually but I thought he was joking. He wasn't! So they lasered a tear in his left retina that afternoon. I could tell after about half of the laser shots that he was hurting badly because he motioned for me to be silent. This man doesn't "hurt" very often, I tell ya!

I then treated him to liver and onions (one of his favorites and I refuse to even be in the same state as liver if I can avoid it, much less COOK the stuff!) at this "restaurant" (using the term loosely as you all can admit being in one of these places at some time in your life! You know the kind of place I mean—where the dust balls hang from the ceiling and the waitresses call you "honey" and do everything but burp ya and you're afraid they might even try that!) for being so brave having his eye beeped with 183 laser "shots." He was grateful because I absolutely hate going into this cheap greasy place to eat. But I thought he deserved it! Men tend to want their mummies and wives with them at times like this and we mummies and wives certainly want to BE there at times like this.

Is life ever going to get back to an even keel around this house?!!?! Hmmmmm??
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I put the sheers back out on the patio. (Will I ever get this backyard like I want it?!?!?) Then I decided to put some strings of lights I have around the poles and light it up back there for a more romantic feel. And we alllllll know how I feel about romantic feel! Yes, it turned out quite well I think. Oh, it's not like those fancy homes that have gobs of money to have it done professionally but it does serve the purpose I wanted.

I think the azalea survived the winter in the family room but not so sure about the hibiscus and bougainvillea in the front yard that Love Bunny had under some of those styrofoam things you get at WM or Home Depot. We'll see, but they look a bit pathetic when he uncovered them yesterday.

Squeeeeeeeeal!!! With the lights on last night. I love the feel they give the patio.

Couture Dresses

These dresses aren't made by the great couture houses of europe but by ordinary women here in the U.S.A. who wanted to learn how to do it for their own wardrobes. Each one was made for themselves to wear. Magnificent! See what you can do by making your own clothes when you know the techniques. Aren't these gorgeous?! I think they're absolutely beautifully stunning!!!!

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Random Thought:

Are the Burger King and Dairy Queen married? And if they are, is Carl's Jr. their offspring?! Just wondering, chicks.

Sharing the Gift

I've been looking at some beautiful art prints to buy to supplement my favorite wall in our living room and came across this one a while back by my all time favorite artist, Susan Rios. Just about all the prints on this wall are by her so it was wonderful to add to my collection. I love her art and we've been emailing back and forth. What a sense of humor this woman has. I am astounded by her beautiful paintings and showed her a picture of my wall. I think she liked it, but I would truly love to be able to paint like this little chickee. Oh my, how gorgeous is this one! It is called "Sharing the Gift" and I'd love to have a patio like this one on which to sit with lace cushions, smell the roses and dream of my garden.

This is how it looks on that wall above the biggest painting
Closer view of it.

And a little mosaic table my daughter made that I confiscated while down in California last week. It fits just perfectly there by my chair. I've been looking all over for a side table to sit in that area but wasn't able to find anything. Thank goodness I found this in her garage while down there.
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Random Thought

If you can't forgive your hubby or wife of anything, then you don't love them enough.

Saving Money on Repairs and Being Green

A couple of months ago I almost burned the house down from cooking. I turned the stove burner to low and I mean real low but something malfunctioned and it didn't go low, instead, it went HIGH! Luckily we caught it in time.

Now, does this mean I shouldn't cook anymore. Nuuuuuuu, hubby doesn't like that kind of talk since he really enjoys eating but likes to save money any time he can. Me??? I just want things to work well and as they should and not become a hazard. He's my hero when it comes to fixing things but for this particular time he was busy with some other business and told me to call an appliance repairman. I did. Just to have that man come in cost me $70.00 plus the cost of the part. It was a switch behind the knob, not the element itself. Hubby was flabbergasted at the price. So I happened to do some research on doing the job ourselves and found a wonderful place to buy replacement parts for just about any and every appliance you can imagine. If you need to replace any part of an appliance go to EasyApplianceParts and buy it at a savings and repair it yourself. Save money!!

Now, the advantages are cost saving in more ways than one. First of all, you don't pay for a repairman to come out and I think it's important these days to know how to fix your own appliances. Our stove is less than 4 years old and no way were we going to buy a new one. I just wish I had known there were people on the internet who sell appliance parts at a discount so we could have saved 70+ dollars. With the economy the way it is every little bit helps. Plus things aren't put into a landfill to rust for eternity. It just makes sense to save money, be as "green" as you can and get it done quicker. Oh, did I mention it took him almost 2 weeks to get here?

Looks like a simple stainless steel sink, huh??? Nope, it has so many things underneath that you wouldn't believe it. The spout on the right hand side with the little black handle is for instant hot water for hot drinks. That's very hot water. The curved neck spout on the extreme left is filtered cool water. But there's even more underneath the sink. We have an instant hot water tank that gives us instant hot water for washing hands and dishes. This is not as hot as the spout for drinks however. So you can imagine how many things could go wrong just under our sink!

We all need to know where to get the correct part for any appliance in our homes and to learn how to do it ourselves. It just makes sense, ladies!

Creating For A Special Chick

I created this for a chick. She doesn't yet know she is getting it. It's made of shabby roses fabric, paper roses, tissue paper garland, buttons, netting around the bottom, a "special chick sigh" and little charms. I can't wait until she gets it.

I am sooooo loving this new camera and the pix it takes. Much better than a few weeks ago!!
~*~

Thelma and Louise Do California Golden State Freeway

Okay, chicks, it wasn't pretty! I've giving you fair warning now.

We left Idaho for northern California on tuesday last. This is Oregon for those of you who think it's all lush and green. Au contraire! It was snowing, cold and windy through the eastern deserts of Oregon. And this is what we saw for about 200 miles: sand, sagebrush and horizon to the mountains.

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Update on son.

You can see this picture of him taken on 4/18, which was 2 weeks after his beating. While there I took him to emergency because his leg—the one operated on 3/9—was hurting him and they thought the "beaters" had re-injured his leg. He goes back to ortho on wednesday 4/22 to see if it is, in fact, injured more after the beating. His vision is still cloudy but the left eye has sustained some trauma. That eye pupil is now oval instead of round as it should be and makes him susceptible to detached retina and more susceptible to glaucoma in the future. His vision is like looking through a cloud and left eye is worse. This can go away and we're needing prayers that it does. His left eye isn't as wide open as his right. The bruising is subsiding but still visible after 2 weeks. He is still in pain in the head. Police haven't gotten the guys in custody yet. I know this takes a while so I'm not too concerned. Son still does not remember talking to me the day after this occurred. Most of his memory is vague on the beating and he would like to see the surveillance video but hasn't seen it yet.

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My daughter and I went to southern California on thursday last. It was Thelma and Louise (I've never seen the movie, but it's what I think the movie was about.) We've set the Golden State freeway (I-5) and a certain McDonalds back 50 years.

As usual we ate our way from northern Calif. through to southern Calif. Potty stop at McDs also caused a certain "stir" among the diners.

Daughter had to potty badly as she never stops drinking! We stop at a McDs and when we walk in running with our legs crossed there was a sign on the women's room door and door jamb saying it was out of order. Daughter, being the brat she is, opens the door to the men's room shouting "woman coming through!" A man yells that there are men in there but nuuuuuuuuu, DD didn't let that stop her. She told him he doesn't have anything she hasn't seen before and kind of shields her face with her hand to give the guy at the urinal a bit of privacy. (?) *Sigh*..............

She runs to the only stall, opens it, goes in, turns and puts her purse on the door hanger, turns around and there is a guy sitting on the toilet with his jeans around his ankles looking at her. (I'm on the outside of the door hearing all this and trying not to wet my pants.) She says "oops" and grabs purse and runs to the door and just about knocks me on my bottom. There is no way we would have made it to another rest stop so we ripped the "out of order" sign on the women's door and door jamb and go in. The floor is filthy with over run toilet "garbage" and the toilets are stopped up but we HAD to go and go THEN! We relieved ourselves and I washed my hands. I didn't even bother to flush as there .................. well, you can get the picture. I turned on the hand dryer and DD has a fit because then we can't hear if the men have left the men's room. We waited for it to turn off and then peeked out to see if they were there. Coast is clear so we march out of the women's room and RUN to the exit door before we get recognized and stopped. I got outta that place as fast as I could. Needless to say, we didn't trash the women's room any more than it was trashed. I felt filthy after that.

DD asked why any man would not lock the stall door and I said I doubt he thought a 5'11" woman was going to crash in on him! I think the poor guy is still traumatized at that experience.

It took us 6 1/2 hours to get from northern Calif. to my son's house in southern Calif. The drive back was 8 hours. *Sigh*.................

Okay, we have a GPS in my car and hubby spend the better part of an hour setting it for me and DD to not lose our way.............. We lost our way back!! We ended up in the desert northeast of Riverside. I told DD that this was looking vaguely familiar to where we lived 40 years ago—the Calif. desert. When I saw the "Hesperia" exit sign I knew we were waaaaaaay off track. I had a sneaking suspicion before that but DD said Nuuuuuuuuuu, we're on target. She's lucky to be alive but I'm gonna shoot the voice in the GPS for not telling us to turn off of the 215 onto the 210. I can't repeat what DD said she was going to do to the 'Ho' in the GPS! Her words, not mine. I don't use that kind of language.

Anyway, I thought you'd like to see some roses blooming in her yard. Her hubby picked this one and brought it in for her. The pink ones are blooming on the bush on her deck as you can see from the last picture.

Hubs was glad to see we made it back when we arrived at her house. He was at a convention and couldn't go down with us and son didn't want him to miss the convention so it was just the two of us: Thelma and Louise. Only we survived! *Sigh*...................

I think I'm still traumatized from the trip so I'll go rest now. *Sigh*................

White Fan

When I attend a temple session I get warm in there as they keep it warmer for the older people who attend so I bought this gorgeous white fan since everything in the temple is white. There's a touch of gold on the sides and on those little things that hold the fabric, but isn't it simply gorgeous?

Practicing my artful blogging on these close ups also. I'm getting "adequate" with my new camera now. *Smiling*!!

Embellishing T-Shirts

A week or so ago I went shopping at one of the large retailers around here and found some darling tank tops with lace. I bought several of different colors and a couple more pinks that didn't have the lace on them. Now, I am never seen in sleeveless clothing at any time but I knew I could cover them up with a blouse, sweater or jacket so I made th' leap, chicks. But they were such a good deal—normally $16.00 each on sale for 2 for $15.00 so how could I go wrong. I wanted to embellish the plain ones so I stopped at Joanns to find more lace to put on the plain ones and this is how they turned out. See the 2nd photo.

I couldn't find any red lace for the red tank top so I just put on white with pink ribbon running through it. Then on the far left one I hand sewed a tiny lace and added a ribbon rose. See how you can be creative when you want to be. Also, I'll never ever see another chick in that particular top! I hate it when I see another dress I have on someone else. That's why I usually shop online or get things in California when we go visit the kids. Plus I sew dresses and that's a guarantee I'll never see them on another person and be embarrassed because they look so much better in them than I do!! *Smile* It's rare that I'll see anyone in the same thing now.

These tank tops can be worn under a V-neck sweater in the winter also. Layering is one of my favorite things to do in winter.

Ooooh, and that one on the left? That's what I was wearing when I took these pix, so you can imagine what I'm in taking these pix—my camisole top! And if that doesn't send ya running from the room screaming then nothing will, I guarantee ya!! *Wink, wink*.........

Bedroom Pompoms

Here's what I did with the pompoms. Of course, when I have the bedroom painted pink they will come down for a few days but I had to get them out of the way!!!!!! I'm truly running out of room in this house, chicks.

Here's where I've put the little redone chair. I think it's going to become a catch-all for hubs. *Sigh*...........

If I Had Some Wishes

First of all, an eye candy graphic for you to copy and print as you wish.

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I watched this video put out by my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and realized this is why I create. "Do not let the voice of critics paralyze you." This is my motto for life. If I had a few wishes these would be at the top of my list definitely. Creating and Loving.

My heart is still very tender, maybe much more so than usual as I do have a very tender and soft heart. Oh, I mug around and pretend I'm not so soft but I am. I even admit it, but when others hurt the ones you love and especially your children, your protection mode goes into overdrive. I cannot even describe what it's like.

But in the afterthoughts of this tragic episode I've come to what I consider a "revelation" or "epiphany" and it is this: the incident was a trial for ME. Not my son, but me. He had to suffer for me to learn something valuable. Oh, I think he learned something also but I don't know what it was. But I'm clear on what mine was. It's forgiveness. And it didn't take me long to learn it. I haven't "perfected" it as of yet but I think I'm being given some tools to help me learn how.


~*~

How do I love thee? So in the recent tragedy with our son being beaten severely I found solace in this video put out by my church.

Eye Candy Jewelry

On our way to California to visit kids so prescheduled a few posts while on the road. I'll be taking pictures of our old state while down there and will share on my laptop.
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I'm not a big "jewelry" person and have already started giving pieces of jewelry to my daughter and granddaughter. I don't usually wear anything but a wedding ring when I go out. I've just never lusted for it. I know, I know, I'm unusual and will probably get kicked out of the "chick" club for admitting this but that's just how it is. The pearls in the picture are definitely real. Hubby bought them in the Orient for me many years ago.

I lost a diamond earring several years ago and so took out the earring in the other ear because of this. Then my daughter heard about the loss and bought me another set of diamond earrings. I wear those occasionally because the holes are still there. When I'm at home I wear only my watch. I can't stand having things "binding" on me. Never have. Plus getting water under my ring irritates my fingers. Just how it is, gals.

But I love to look at old costume jewelry and have a few things people have given me to show you today and practice my photography skills.

Restaurant "Attire"..........

I don't know about the rest of civilization but when I dine out I invariably drop something on my "chest." It doesn't even make it to my lap; it just drops on the "chest"! This has enriched the dry cleaners in my town, even if they only charge $2.00 for a jacket, so I lamented to Love Bunny and he suggested that I needed to make a bib. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "I'm tired of getting food blobs on my jackets and shirts when dining out. I'm tired of olive oil from the salad dripping on my chest." (I do have to admit here that I take extra caution in eating because I have a very small mouth and restaurants invariably DO NOT cut the salad greens small.)

LB: "Maybe you could make a nice bib."

Me: "Sounds like a good idea."

LB: "Why don't you make one out of some white fabric."

Me, giving him a look of incredulity: "Huh?!?! White?!?!"

LB: "Oh, or you could do it in pink." (Has the man not been married to me for 48 years and has he been in a stupor for 48 years?!?! DUH!!!)

Okay, so I'm in the middle of making a very, very special "something" right now and it's taking me a lot of time and thought (this last part is not easy, ya know) and I drop everything and cut out a little rectangle of a quilted roses fabric and sew on some scrap of lace around the neck and then 2 ribbon ties. Voilà, my new restaurant BIB! You can now call me "The shabby chic diner"! Olive Garden, here I come........

~*~

Random Thought

I was reading a mystery book the other day and the relatives and friends of the "person of interest" kept saying that he couldn't have done it because he was an artist, a gentle soul and just couldn't have done something bad. Why do we always think an artist or gentle soul can't do something bad? I know manly men who are gentle souls and have never done anything "bad." Anyone and I mean anyone under certain circumstances can absolutely do something evil or bad. And, by the way, he was guilty.

Pink and Pretty High Heel Shoes

Just some more eye candy while we're vacationing back in California. I plan on adapting some of the "toes" of these shoes into clip-ons for some of my shoes.

Now, who in the world would have pink skulls on their feet??! Pretty shoes, but SKULLS?!?! *Sigh*.............

Lime and salmon? Pretty though.

I'll make some clips out of fabric to imitate these shoes here. If I had access to pink leather I'd do it out of leather but where in the world would I find it?

I think these are my favorite pair. I hope I can make the clips out of nylon tulle and paper flowers. I have a lot of paper flowers!

Looooove the color of these shoes.

Yessssss, I would wear these if the heel wasn't so high. Beautiful I think.

Sassy, aren't they?! *Wink*

I also like the color of these magenta shoes.

I've already made a ribbon clip-on like this but it's ribbon and not leather.

One of my favorite color combinations is fuchsia pink and red together. I have a bright red dress and a purple jacket I wear together and it stops traffic, let me tell you! Not ME, the colors!! LOL

I thought these were pretty and very unique. What say you, chicks????!!!!!