Day Dreaming 1/30/2012

Good morning.

Let's dream some more...and maybe face some realities. Oh pleeeease, tell me it ain't so! Yesssss.....read on.

I love blogging as I've said many times. I also like reading other blogger's posts. But I have to comment on a couple of things.

I try my best to keep my sidebar to a minimum but to have nothing on there would be boring. (Actually, I've gone through my sidebar and eliminated several things in the past few days to keep it even more simple. I think most people don't even read sidebars. How sad. I'm very picky about what I put on there. Try reading my sidebar once in a while. I change it infrequently but if you've been a follower and are perceptive, you would know I do change it a bit. I admit to being a bit OCD and being distracted by so much "fluff" on the sides that I can barely read some posts. But when it's a three column blog and blinkies, music, advertisements and other stuff are so distracting, I'm keeping my blog surfing to a minimum. I do not mean to offend anyone. Please, think about your blog and what it might look like to other people. I doubt I reach very many of you but I mean to reach as many as I can. That does not mean I'll not read blogs that have that but it does mean I'm going to have to love that blog.

There are times on this blog I have much to say and times I don't. I love seeing pictures on blogs. In my opinion, it would be a very dry, boring blog post if there were no pictures. I've surfed the internet and uploaded over 700 photos to share with you—photos you may have seen and some you've definitely not seen. While I personally would find it boring to just look at photos or just read a post, some of you may not. I like both. I'm going to try and be better at posting because, well, simply put, I love blogging. So I'll be sharing many photos with you and also writing some comments to keep it not so boring. (Let's face it, I've shown you just about everything in this house including the toilets. There isn't much you haven't seen except maybe hubby's shelves in the garage with the motor oil on it. But that may be coming so don't discount it.) But I have no intention of not showing you more photos of my house. When I do I'll make sure you know it's my house and not take credit for the other photos. I simply do not want to bore you. Yes, I leave random thoughts sometimes. I doubt I'm too boring though. So to sum it up—there will be a lot of photos.

My purpose is to bring visual pleasure to your life through pictures and a few comments. While we live in reality, we can also dream a bit during the day. While I love the title Day Dreaming, I doubt I'll keep it and just put a different date on it. But I'll always put Day Dreaming as a label so others can find it if they want to day dream. So my blog will keep to my original concept, just adding a bit more fun to it. Life is always about change, isn't it?
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Pedaling a pink bicycle with a basketful of tulips may seem like a wonderful thing to do but how many times do we actually see someone riding a bike carrying flowers. My guess is not many times if any, but it happens frequently in European countries. For all that, I'd still rather live exactly where I am at the moment: a medium size town in Idaho.

Breads are my downfall. Oh, I don't eat regular sandwich type breads much at all, but french bread? Ooolala. I have no control over it. Just put some butter on it and I'm happy. My second favorite bread is a croissant. With my wonderful chicken salad on it. As a matter of fact, let me share my recipe with you here.

Cook some chicken breasts in the oven with Mrs. Dash, salt and pepper until they are golden. Take them out and cool them and then with a chef's knife chop them up into small bites.
Add celery, maybe one stalk ( I rarely measure most things, just go by the seat of my pants.)
Add chopped finely pecans. Yes, PECANS! They are a "sweet" nut and make a big difference in my opinion.
Then add mayonnaise.
Then add a bit of sour cream.

That's it, very easy. When I make this for friends they just love it and rave about it. Also, I love putting a bit of cream cheese on the bread/croissant with it. It tastes like heaven should taste if heaven were a sandwich. I think you'll like it. Roasting the chicken makes a big difference from boiling chicken. Yuk, who in the world would want to boil a chicken with that horrible smell? I've never, ever in my life boiled a chicken, just roasted them.

I love stemware also. Whenever we can, we use our crystal. It makes even hamburger gravy seem elegant. : -) And strawberries are a staple in my refrigerator. I don't care what they cost but usually they're not expensive at all.

I think this bright magenta pink pillow just screams elegance in this room. Try something shocking like this and see how it makes you feel.

I truly love white curtains. I think they are elegant—lace, twill—doesn't matter, love any white curtains. I have a set I made but I needed a bit more color in the living room so I switched them out for some pink ones I made. I like changing things once in a while to get a different look or feel. It just makes me feel good to do this sometimes.

This is a photo of my living room before I put in the pink striped curtains. I change them often.

Now, look. Who in the world would have thought in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or even 80s that this old beaten up, worn farm table would be costlier and more desired than an elegant polished table from Thomasville or Ethan Allen? My home is anything but elegant, but I wanted a fancy chandelier and I got it. Yes, hubs grumbled about it looking out of place and then grumbled about hanging it. But you know what? After it was hung, he actually said it looked beautiful. We have no formal dining room—no need for it for just the two of us— just an area off the kitchen, but I wanted it to feel elegant to me.

This is the chandelier in my home.

I wrapped yards and yards of pink tulle around it, securing it with pink organza ribbon and then just stuck little paper roses in the tulle.

I think this is an elegant purse. No, I didn't make it but I do make those kinds of roses for my jackets to jazz them up when wearing them to church. But I also LOVE making those roses. Just relaxing to me to make something beautiful.

Absolutely nothing costly here, but it still has quite an elegant, feel good look to it. And if you're new to my blog, you'll soon learn I do a lot of eye candy.

If you were lucky to find such a piece of gorgeous grill work cheaply, you would indeed be blessed. I just quite simply love the look of this vignette.

Shabby, yet elegant. Surely, you can peruse your neighborhood and find someone throwing away an old door. It may not be this exact kind but consider the possibilities of any door.

Slipcovered ottoman and chair mixed with 2 elegant chairs. Consider your possibilities!

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Also, I would like to point out that on my sidebar, just below Miss Caroline as she comes first, is a blogging tip on an alternative to Blogger Followers. It refers to a post I did a few weeks ago. It's what I use so my sidebar doesn't go off into infinity. You can use Google Reader instead; I do and I love it much more than the Blogger Follower. Just because you don't see me on your Followers list does not mean I don't follow you; I just do it this way instead. Just click on the tulip logo and it will take you directly there. You might want to tell your friends about this also.
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That's all for today. However, be forewarned—there will be lots of beautiful and dreamy places, vignettes, homes, yards, flowers and just scenes to make you daydream. While I don't want to live a lifestyle any different than I am at this very moment, I do love to daydream.

Also, I encourage you to go and lift someone higher than they thought possible, even if it's yourself.
~*~

Day Dreaming 1/28/2012

I sit here a little part of each day helping people with their genealogical pursuits and directing them to those who can help them find answers. While it isn't very exciting work, I still love doing it. Turning the hearts of the children to their fathers is a work needing to be done. Yesterday I had 68 calls so it kept me quite busy, but I am a woman who can multi-task. (Snicker and snort! It got a tad crazy for a while there but I persevered.)

I read a few blogs and one that caught my eye was Claudias on trying to be frugal in an economy that is trashed at the moment. She is a sweet woman whose blog is delightful to read. But the post I was reading specifically struck me as she is doing all the right things. I am also doing what I can in today's economy but there is something else that needs to be addressed. That is a "change of mind/attitude."

I, like so many of you, have dreams of gorgeous homes, gardens, clothing, but that isn't my reality. I have very much come to grips with never having the gorgeous homes seen in articles. However, that does not prevent me from having a lovely, small, neat, decorated home to satisfy me until the end of my days. I truly don't lust after the vain and sparkly things of the world. (Okay, maybe just a mite.) But I'm truly happy with what I do have. Most of all, I'm happy for a man who has loved me for over 50 years and sticks with me through the thick and thin of life. That is the greatest treasure I can think of.

So, let's dream a little and look at some photos I've seen on the internet. These might just inspire you to do one tiny little thing to make your home more beautiful in a frugal way. Oh, and there will definitely be more photos as I had to create a new album in Photobucket just to hold all the photos. So far over 400 with many more to come. I'll try to comment on each one to try and generate your mind to be creative. If there's one thing I'm good at in life, it is inspiring people to their greatness. ;-) So come along and daydream your way into a beautiful life.

Mismatched chairs. You don't have to have all chairs matching. Look how creative this homeowner was. And did you notice the chandelier? Cute!

A great view can accomplish much towards what you don't have to put on walls—pictures.

Cheap garage sale or thrift store finds can go a long way with a bunch of flowers toward adding ambiance to your home.

Now, if I could only get Love Bunny to go for this kind of camping I'd love it: Throw down a foam mattress and near to a toilet that I wouldn't need a flashlight to find!

This could be any home if it wasn't for the high ceilings. The furniture is slipcovered and quite lovely, but this can be done with very little money, just without the expanse of windows. Also, your utility bills would be lower I'm sure.

Instant and inexpensive ambiance: flowers, ribbons, one smashing pillow and pitchers!

Isn't this photo fetching?

Right after I help a church member pack up to move her belongings I'm coming home and going to make one of these for every doorknob in my house. I've done these before but given most of them away. But it adds so much ambiance to have these little pockets hanging around, don't you think?

Okay, I'm off to pack. There will be more of these photos...lots more! Now, go and help someone else to dream and be more than they thought they could be.
~*~

Pink Saturday 1/28/2012

Welcome once again to my favorite day of the week for blogging. Go visit with Beverly at her blog for all the wonderful pink items that will fill your heart with joy. You can then visit all the participants. Enjoy.

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I'm feeling just like the old Lily Tomlin character, Ernestine. Remember her, the very prissy telephone operator? I'm not prissy, but I'm sitting here with my headset on connecting me to a phone while helping people connect with their Family Search. I AM LOVING THIS!! It is just so much fun to listen to people's problems and trying to help them...while I can blog. Who knew this would be right up my alley?

While sitting here I can surf the net finding lovely photos to share. While I won't do this every single day, as I prefer to post photos I take, I will do it periodically and sometimes with comments and sometimes not. It depends on how busy this phone line is. Today, not so busy.

I love this old metal room divider. It is gorgeous, open so that views aren't obstructed and certainly my style of decorating. Be still my heart. If only I could find one cheap, but I doubt they're cheap anymore. But I use a set of lace curtains to frame our family room from our dining area. It shows nicely. It's feminine, in style with my home and takes the hard edges off the archway.

Pink walls, white trim, pink sofa, red chair. It all spells beautiful to me.

My kind of room, feminine, soft, white and pink and a gorgeous french door.

We have an old trunk similar to what this looks like, but it's really a USMC field desk that hubby acquired many years ago. It's been painted burgundy, gray and white, the last color being white, but it is sitting out on our front porch just waiting to be given away to the thrift store. After seeing this delightful arrangement, I may just bring it back in and use it in the family room as a coffee table. I'd need to apply a new coat of paint though.

What grabbed me in this photo was the lovely ruffled tablecloth AND the french chairs. I want some french chairs from Ethan Allen but I just hate to spend the money right now. While sitting here I decided to peruse Craigslist. What is it about "oak dining chairs" that sends Idahoans into a swoon? Yes, I'm a transplant from the San Francisco bay area and love it here, but oak seems to be the furniture de jour here in Idaho. There is a plethora of oak dining chairs but nothing in french, shabby chic or anything remotely that I'd want.

Now, this little chest reminds me of one I found somewhere, can't remember exactly where, but I painted the sides and then added a lovely roses fabric to the drawers by dipping it in starch and just applying. It's held on there for the last several years and is still doing just fine. A cheap pizzazz-y redo! This one, however, looks like it is done with fancy papers. I absolutely love what she did to this. Darling

I think I'll leave you with just this for today.
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A Dreary Day in the Desert

It's a very cold day here in the Idaho desert. I took hubby in early to leave his truck for a lube and oil at our mechanic's shop, then went back to pick it up and the streets are slick with ice from the rain yesterday. I was going to have lunch with a friend today at a new French cafe downtown but it wasn't opened for lunch in the winter except on Fridays. We had to go to another restaurant and it was delightful to spend a couple of hours with a friend who is just a few years older than my granddaughter, who is 32. We just seem to connect and that's what I'm telling you chicks: Old women can be fun, charming, humorous, silly and a whole lot of giggling went on!

But for now just feast your eyes on these little gems of photos. I have plucked many off the internet to show you so they'll be smaller than my usual. I really like large photos to show you. I hate the tiny ones some bloggers post. I want to see them large! But nothing to be done about these. They're lovely and I'm in a hurry so I won't leave much commenting, just let you look at the eye candy and swoon.

I will be doing something similar to my patio in a few months though. I love this type of decor on a patio.

~*~

Winter Is Finally Here

Oooooh, what's a girl to do today? It's snowing like crazy out there. I took these photos of our street just a few minutes ago.


I'm just sitting here answering the phone for my mission and being the comic relief for these people calling in. I'm so glad they seem to like it when I chuckle along with them. This Mormon girl ain't dull for sure!

Anyway, I thought I'd do a blog since it seems to be a slow day for callers seeking help with FamilySearch. Just a few days ago I was complaining about the lack of "winter" around here. The first snow is natures assertiveness training and she's really dishing it out today, chicks. Love it!

So now I'm waiting to see these again in the spring.

Later on today I'll sit and do a little bit of this: reading.

I've already done some of this this morning.

And if the weather keeps up like this, then I'll be doing some more of these coffee filter roses to put in little pots around the house.

And I'm eating these at this very moment! Yum.

But if I go out today I'll definitely need one of these.

~*~

Heydon Hall Doll House

Heydon Hall has one of the oldest doll houses in England. Queen Anne gave it to her goddaughter in 1696, so it is over 400 years old. I thought you might like to see it, especially if you're an admirer of doll houses or if you have one and love to play with it or furnish it as so many bloggers are doing. It really is quite darling and unique with its nine rooms. Well, just take a look at it and I'll keep quiet for once. ;-)

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I love seeing kids in school; it means they're not taking up road space or roaming around WalMart trying their best to be cute by shoving a 6' skinny male of 17 into a shopping cart and trying to be cool. Sigh...
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Okay, I'll now explain the comment from an earlier post about Mormon girls and casseroles.

Mormons are known for having a lot of children. There's a sound reason for that and I shan't go into it here, but I agree with the reason. Anyway, to make their budgets stretch they make a lot of casseroles. Don't misunderstand me; I love casseroles and there is nothing wrong with them. But young, strong men want meat, unless they happen to be vegetarians, which few are, at least that I've known.

The daughter of a friend of ours who was mother to 7 children served a lot of casseroles so that is what this daughter learned to cook. They were from Idaho. The daughter married a young man from California, who grew up on a cattle ranch. As a newlywed she served a lot of casseroles. One day after several months of marriage he asked her if they could have just meat and potatoes sometimes. She was flabbergasted as she hadn't had much meat with so many boys in her family.

I'm a convert to the Church so we ate meat at just about every meal. I do have vegetarian meals though, but not much, as my hubby also thinks meat is a staple. But I've never done a lot of casseroles to stretch a meal. This is what I meant: mormon girls from large families know how to stretch meals to go further. There was never any disparagement meant here. I am a Mormon.

My granddaughter is a vegetarian and her hubby is not. I know how to plan and cook for her. She'll eat anything I cook except meat, and the utensils I use for meat cannot touch her veggie burger or vegetables. My hubby—her loving indulgent grandfather once flipped her veggie burger with the same utensil as he flipped the meat and she looked at him in horror, and he promptly threw away the burger and got her a new one, put it on the "clean" side of the grill and cooked for her. No problem, He and I love this kid. (We're going to feed meat to Caroline and let her make the choice when she's older, but my grandson-in-law is very much a meat eater and loves for me to visit and cook.) I suspect Caroline will also love meat because she hasn't refused anything put in front of her so far. Gorgeous Granddaughter, GGD, (as we call her and will refer to her as such from here) will feed her baby food with some meat in it though. GGD made this choice when she was 5 years old! I was amazed. But she and I would go out to lunch at Emporium/Capwells' lunch room and, since I love vegetables, would order the steam veggies with cheese sauce. GGD, at 5 years old, would order the steamed veggie, Perrier and cheesecake. Get my drift here? We always knew she was going for high expectations in her life and she has not failed us.
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