Keeping In Touch 5/29/2011

I've been remiss in blogging recently, but being in training meetings for my mission has taken up a lot of time. Sorry, but my mission is going to be taking up most of my computer time for the next year. I even thought of giving up blogging for this year but, truly, I don't think I could do that and survive. It's a passion and the Lord has said we must temper our passions in doing work for Him and I'll do it, but I shall definitely have free time for doing what I want so I'm continuing do it. I shall truly need lots of prayers from anyone who will be so kind as to include me in their prayers.
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So that being said, I'm recycling some old photos with some new ones today. We don't go to church until 1 pm today so I have some time to myself while hubs is still sleeping.

Some little tussie mussies I made last year.

One of my gorgeous roses from last year. It's been a very cool and wet spring this year and haven't seen any flowers yet but there are buds forming. I can't wait to be able to share this year's crop with you.

Some of the little scrunched paper flowers I made. Easy peasy, chicks, and you can use scraps of paper to do it.

An old tin can I recycled for a breath-taking storage can for whatever I want to store in it.

This is one of the coffee filter roses I started making. This is one of the better ones, but I like the ones I'm doing now much better. They're fluffier and much, much easier to work.

And now for the real eye candy for me: Miss Caroline at her 1st birthday party. Love the drool on her chin. ;-)

Her Mummy and Dada took her on the ferry across to the islands in Washington. I think she loved the trip by the expression on her face.

And we wondered if any cake went into her mouth at all with this picture! We'll be celebrating it again when we all travel to California soon for our anniversary.

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And in the spirit of Sunday I'm going to try and share a video of our General Conferences with you each Sunday. This is Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's speech to the Church in April of this year. Please don't just click off, but listen to it and learn what the Lord would have us do.

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I'm Out of th' Boot!!!

Yesssss, I am finally out of the boot. I'm happy, but I'm also missing it already. I felt confident with it on that no one would step onto my heel and it afforded me company without depriving me of solitude. ;-) BUT when the doctor looked at the wound today he saw a stitch that hadn't come out. They weren't dissolving stitches, and he did take them out, but apparently he missed one, and it had started to be covered by the new skin. I'm so glad he found it! I've had wound coverings and silvasorb on that wound for six weeks, and he wasn't going to cover it today but I said I wanted a band-aid. He laughed but I got my band-aid!
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I saw the most incredible acting in a film I've ever seen the other day. It was Sling Blade and starred Billy Bob Thornton. I'd never heard of him but decided to stream the film on my laptop via Netflix and was enthralled by his acting. It was the most incredible acting I've ever seen. But I think I'm through viewing videos now. Hubby has admonished me! ;-)
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Another thought I had was Bruce Willis, whose films I loved because I love action movies. When the "costumer" came up in the credits I thought it should have been "Hanes" or "Fruit of the Loom" because the only thing he wore was trousers, t-shirt and blood in every single video I watched. Love the movies though.
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We were driving somewhere the other day in my car, which usually has the radio off but since hubs drove it one day it was on an FM station called The Tracy and Margo Show. I asked him why he listened to that particular station—old rock and roll—and he said they were funny and he needed humor. I told him he had ME for all the comedy relief he needed. He just nodded and laughed.
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Pink Saturday 5/21/2011 and Some Comments

Welcome to Pink Saturday. To view all the other participants just click on Beverly's logo below.
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I made this froufrou umbrella for my great granddaughter and it hangs in her room.

I made this one for ME out of an old umbrella frame. They are quite adorable and get compliments from all who see them.

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I was informed this week by my podiatrist that I had to wear the boot for one more week to ensure my achilles tendon is firmly attached to the heel bone. So just sitting at home I've watched over 50 movies in the past month. My daughter gave me her Netflix account number to view them on my laptop by simply streaming them since we have no television. So I have some comments on movies and actors as well.
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My favorite movies have always been spy, espionage, action movies; I just love to see the bad guys get their just due. I do not like chick flicks at all. But in reading Claudia's blog last week I think it was, I also would like to comment on the media people.

I have never in my 70 years seen so many people with face lifts, plump lips, whiter than white teeth and cleavage. It's as if they try to outdo each other for the most revealing dress. Trashy! The anchor women on news are so obnoxious to watch. Their heads doesn't move for fear of their hair getting out of place! Are there no normal looking people on television? That's hardly reality. Not to mention smoking, cussing and dresses that my mother would never have allowed me to wear. What is it with modesty anymore? I'm a very modest person, but most of the actresses and anchors dress like prostitutes with nothing left to the imagination. I could actually see up the skirt of one anchor we saw when visiting with kids last year and watching news with them. That's why we gave up watching television year ago.

Then there's the hypocrisy of smoking. Every single movie had all the actors and actresses smoking and driving luxurious cars while they're telling me to not drive or purchase certain cars. We've had a couple of friends buy "efficient" cars but traded them in because they were so bad to drive. Hypocrisy to tell me to not use my dryer and hang clothes out on the line, but it doesn't apply to them. I'm sick of the Hollywood types trying to tell me what to do. Does no one have flat lips anymore or eyes that aren't exactly like every other Hollywood actress because they all go to the same plastic surgeon? Plus their mouths would have been washed out by my father and mother. Filthy language.

I saw The Towering Inferno and really liked it, plus Steve McQueen's acting was very natural. His facial expressions were what I would expect a face to look like in the situations he was in. Very good actor. I haven't seen one actress of today who can act except for Sally Fields and she smoked and had a filthy mouth also. And some popular ones are just plain untalented. I truly was astonished by the lack of acting by most of the ones I saw.

I loved all the James Bond movies. They all smoked, wore bikinis and went barefoot when climbing a mountain to find the evil man's lair. Plus they'd wear high heels to walk on the streets of Turkey. Those are uneven brick or stone streets. Yep, that's how I do things every day: high heels and bikinis. Just nutty in my opinion. And we won't even talk about The Terminator, who in my opinion is simply Euro Trash to do to his wife what he did. How despicable can a man get? But it's becoming the norm. How truly, truly sad.
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This is a video of our General Conference in April. The topic is desire and addresses some the the things in the world today. I thought it's more than appropriate to watch (if you so desire of course) at this day in time.

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Off my soapbox...for today anyway.
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Ramblings Today 5/16/2011

Today I went out into the yard. Now, this doesn't sound like a big deal to most of you but it was to me. Love Bunny isn't here. He's been gone to northern Idaho for 4 days. Okay, so he left me alone without being able to drive, a boot on my foot and not being able to walk well, but that was okay. He knows I'm a strong and resilient woman. And that's what I want to talk about today...among other things. ;-)
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This is a gurgling fountain in our front yard. With a webcam out there I can hear the wind chimes and the gurgle on the fountain. (The cam is video and audio and allows me to see who is on our porch without answering the door.) I love the tinkling of the chimes.

I was practicing closeups on my camera once again. I realize you may get tired of hearing this, but practice is the only thing that makes perfect. I am not perfect with the camera yet, adequate perhaps, but far from perfect so I need the practice.

While schlepping around the roses, I stepped into a depression with the booted foot and it hurt. Will I never learn?! Our lawn is lush and deep green because we have a local lawn care man come 4 or 5 times a year to spray and it is well worth it. People are always asking how hubs keeps it so green and lush. For one thing, he doesn't mow short; he mows long. That helps keep the grass green. So we sink into it when walking in that grass. Roses aren't budding yet as we had a late frost. But soon, very soon!

We have islands on the entrance into our sub-division and each street. This is our view.

This sycamore tree was very high and dying at the top. Hubs cut it back last year, and it's grown several feet back this year.

This cute little sign is what I see while on the potty. (Is that too much information for ya, chicks?) ;-) I had to straddle the toilet to get this pix of it. I think I got it at TJMaxx for a song but I think the 2 I got are adorable. The other one is below this one and is what is over our garden tub in our master bath.

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Now, let's talk about an incident that took place a few days ago.

A sweet young mother I know offered to pick up an Oriental Chicken Salad for me from Applebee's (Hubs might be gone, but that in no way means he can't buy me dinner even if it was take-out) and stopped in to chat while delivering it. She was in some distress since a client had taken advantage of her. She's a professional and I've told her she needs to raise her rates but she was hesitant to do it since she's only been doing her job for a few years. I've seen her work and it is outstanding. I pumped her up with a pep talk about being assertive. While taking a class in her profession recently, she was told the very same thing. She's timid but I'm determined to help her become assertive! She knows she doesn't charge enough for her skills, but people still take advantage of her and, as with a lot of women especially, she's afraid of losing business by being firm and not getting referrals. I came a bit unglued with her. I see her timidity—something of which I'd never, ever be accused—and get a bit frustrated with her for not standing up for herself when I see so much potential for her. She just needs some confidence in herself.

I told her to do an exercise while going through the grocery store. Look at the women. Some are quite clearly "victims" and others possess a "self-confidence" just in the way they walk, look and shop. I think all of you know what I mean. Now, don't get me wrong. One can be nice while being assertive. One piece of advice I gave her was to put on a "steel magnolia smile" and by that I mean show confidence in her ability with a smile if that is all she can manage at the moment. Show the client the contract, explain it to them, highlight certain things if need be and tell them very firmly those are her terms. Show confidence in her voice, her face, her demeanor. I believe a lot of women need to learn how to be assertive while still maintaining their femininity. That's very important. We are women and we don't want to be men. I want my man to take care of me—and he does, but I also want to be able to take care of my man and myself should the need arise. We need men. And we need to be confident in our abilities as women and the keeper of the home.
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Off my soap box for now. ;-)
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Pink Saturday 5/14/2011

Another Pink Saturday has come around. To view all of the participants, hop on over to Beverly's blog by clicking on the icon below:
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I cannot tell you how good it feels to simply take a shower or even just wash my hair over the kitchen sink. Having this boot on my foot has lost its luster, let me tell ya. To update you, I had a doctor's appointment 3 days ago. When he walked into the room he asked me where my boot was. It went downhill from there. :-(

Through miscommunication I thought I didn't have to wear the boot. He had a fit when he found a lump on my heel incision. He thinks he may have to go back in if that lump is an injury. We'll know next Tuesday. I was furious with myself for believing I wasn't finished with the boot. Plus he had told me not to drive and I drove there! Love Bunny was teaching and couldn't get out of it so feeling pleasantly well enough I drove. I didn't drive home! I called a friend to come and get me.

Then when hubby called me that he was on his way home that afternoon I told him what happened. I figured he'd come home and get someone to go with him to fetch my car. Nuuuuu, Mr. Macho drives his truck to the doctor's office, switches to my car, leaves his truck there, comes home, rides his bike over there, pitches it into the back of the truck and drives home. What is it with men having a problem asking for help?

But anyway, I'm having to wear the boot even to bed and can only take it off if sitting and watching videos on my laptop. I've now watched over 50 videos from friends and the complete collection of James Bond movies for which my daughter sent me the DVDs. Okay, enough of my travail.

I was in WalMart on Tuesday with hubs—me in the riding cart—and a woman stopped me and said she loved my hair. What is it about my hair that so many women find appealing? Her appeal was its fluffiness. Sometimes it's the color. For Pete's sake, it's only gray sprinkled around a light brown, nothing special I assure you, but her compliment came as a surprise. I said thank you, always the best response, and drove away in my electric cart. But I was still astounded by the flattery, albeit, pleasantly. This photo is today after washing it and feeling marvelously better.

This little shelf was one of my very first attempts at painting. I'm sharing "old stuff" as I simply don't feel stable enough to go out much wearing this boot.

Another attempt at bird nests.

My bouquet will be 50 years old in about 3 1/2 more weeks. I couldn't just stash it away. It is part of my wall decor in the living room.

My Mother's Day rose is finally wilting but I won't throw it out until the petals drop.

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Mother's Day Spring

Our Mother's Day yesterday was a rather rainy, dreary one, but I did manage to get out and try my hand at videoing and grabbing some closeups of our apple tree. The apple blossoms were gorgeous.

I stayed home from church again because my foot hurts very badly, especially to walk on it. I finally got a photo of it Friday with a lot of contortions on my part to photograph that part of my anatomy, but it is really too gruesome to show here. However, I have an appointment with my podiatrist tomorrow. I'm hoping he declares it "healing well."

I also posted a video yesterday of my quaking aspen trees. And if you go back to see it on the previous posts, you'll see two of them. I loaded one from youtube and one directly from my computer on to blogger. I like the larger one but I'm still experimenting to see if I can get it to load larger from my computer as I don't like all the ads that come up with the youtube one. Go check it out if you are viewing this post because there are 2 from yesterday and let me know which one you like best. My preference is larger ones.
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But Love Bunny attended church and brought me home a beautiful flower the Young Men and Young Women got for each mother. Plus my son sent me an Edible Arrangement of chocolate covered strawberries and apples. They were delicious but I'm trying my best to lose some of this extra weight and gave half of them to a friend.

I got some very closeups of our apple blossoms.

There are few things prettier than apple blossoms or roses.

This is the exquisite rose hubs brought home from church for me. It actually had a strong fragrance to it. I love the colors of it.

Don't you just love that center? It looks like red velvet.

The color flows from a creamy white to pink to red on the tips.

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Random Thoughts:

People who choose not to have children are selfish. I'm not including those who don't have children because they can't; I mean the ones who think they are "saving the planet" or just think children "are too much trouble" or "interfere with their lives." Those are the ones who should be ashamed of themselves for being so selfish. Children are a blessing from our Lord, and if you're a Christian we're commanded to go forth and multiply. I can't think of any other blessing that compares to children.
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As I said, I'm trying to lose weight I've accumulated over the past several years, but truly I try not to anything without a saturated fat close at hand.
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Goodness speaks in a whisper; evil shouts. This is absolutely true. Listen to the still small voice and you can't go wrong.
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Love is sharp, it pierces, and love is a needle that sews shut the hole sin in our hearts, that mends our wound but it can also cut deep, wound and kill.
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Ever think of what we do in front of Jesus Christ that we wouldn't think of ding in front of grandma?
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Every day is to me a "Momentous Day"!
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Solar Tubes and A Rant

The roofer came a couple of weeks ago and installed the solar tubes, but I was so busy with the dentist and surgeon that I didn't post until now. Total cost was about $500.00. That's a lot better than $1,000.00 that I paid for just one of them 5 years ago. I'm thrilled to have light in the living room now. I'll get better photos when the sun is out and high in the sky.

This is one of them on one end of the living room.

This is one of the other end of the living room.

The guy didn't make much of a mess at all. Very easy to install but I just didn't want Love Bunny on the roof.

Just starting to clean up but thought I'd grab a photo to show you.

Now, these were taken on 4/28 on a cloudy day and even though these still won't come up to a standard I'm pleased with, they still show a difference in this dark room.

The tubes give us significantly more light.

And I shuffled things around a bit the day he came. Put away some pictures and rearranged some on this wall. I still need to patch some holes, but that'll have to wait until I am steady on my feet.

See the family room through the archway? That chair is where I've spent the last 3 weeks surrounded with my laptop, several bags of videos loaned to me by my sisters in our ward to watch while recuperating, 2 tables to hold everything I'll need while still in the splint (can we say bandaids, antibiotic cream, skin cream, food, water bottles!) and boot and 2 footstools. I'll be so glad to get it back to just one table and one footstool I can hardly wait!
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And now for the rant.

A week ago I received an email from a very popular magazine. I've never written or subscribed to this magazine so I wondered what was in it the few seconds before I opened it. It turned out to be a "Forward" from a woman in my church from someone who sent it to her. I have absolutely no clue as to why it was forwarded to me other than I was in their "address book." Now, you have to understand I absolutely hate this kind of email. That address book had hundreds of people's names in it. In my anger I emailed the person who forwarded it to me and told them to please take my name out of their address book. I'm a pretty private person when it comes to things like that, especially when it could have been prevented with one very, very simple detail: When sending to a group of people simply BCC in your email header and it will be sent to hundreds or thousands without each individual person knowing the other email addresses. (For those of you who don't know, BCC means Blind Carbon Copy and comes from the old typewriter days when you didn't want someone getting the original letter to know you've also sent it to others.) Well, that works with email also! That way we don't send private email addresses around the internet for others to spam us. Those of us with Mac Mail don't even have to do that. As per the screenshot below, in your Mail Preferences Composing, just leave the the box unchecked "When sending to a group, show all member addresses" and it won't show any but the original person addressed to in that group. I've tried to get a good screenshot of that for Mac users but I don't want it to be so big that it would take up an entire screen. So if anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me and I'll help you with it. Don't make people angry by sending them forwards with hundreds of email addresses in the email exposing their address to spammers. I KNOW they'll appreciate this little effort you've taken for their privacy. And as you can see I'll always block out anything in a screenshot that would show my private matters. I suggest you all do that also. You never know when someone just might take your privacy and steal your identity. I do!

There, it's off my chest now! Whew.....
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