My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Rambling Just A Bit Today

Back in the early 60s my hubby went to Haiti on a ship with other Marines and Sailors. He described the condition of that country and felt so sad for those people. Poverty beyond description to most of us. No sanitation. Bathroom duties were done right there in the street, women squatted and men stood and did what they needed to do. He said it was filth beyond anything he'd ever seen. Personally, I think it's very sad. 
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Recently I've come across a few blogs from surfing from other blogs. The blog posts were pretty old but in perusing them further I noticed that some had abandoned the blog altogether and some had deleted their blogs—or so they thought. Let me state here and now that a blog is never deleted from the web. Once it's published, it's published forever! I'd go to the new blog site, which sometimes they'd give a new name and start over, but the old one was still there. So be careful. This particular blogger thought her old blog sounded too "down" and wanted to start all over with a less depressing blog. Well, she got a new blog but the old one was still there for all to see. I can't say it enough: Once you hit the word "Publish", it's a done deal and there forever. So be very careful what you say on a blog. You can't take it back.
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Smile as though you make them wonder why you're smiling. I do. It will always bring a smile back to you.
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A beautiful passageway in a European country.


A lovely English road with the homes right on the edge of the road. Quaint.


Isn't this evening purse gorgeous with its white embroidered fabric?


A blue room like this is something I could live with if I didn't like pink so much. This is beautiful.


This entry is stunning and I'd love to have it. But that chest is gorgeous!


Very bright and lovely kitchen area. Looks almost like a restaurant.


Another narrow, windy, steep road in Europe somewhere.


More thatched cottages.


Pink antique kitchen table.


Cute bathroom.


Beautiful sun room/dining room near the water.


Beautiful pillows stacked on a lovely chair.


A pretty vignette with fans and roses and ephemera.


Cute little embroidered wall hanging for a kitchen.


Looks to me like an old English country bedroom. That chair looks very substantial.
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Tidbits:
A Danish company has given its employees free subscriptions to internet p**n sites, but what would you expect from a country that now euthanizes its citizens. Sad and horrific in my opinion.
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Our state is #1.
Here is what the "D, F, G and H" states are #1 in:

Delaware:
Most profitable farms
Theft

Florida:
Freshwater turtles
Mortgage loan fraud

Georgia:
Best conditions of roads
Personal bankruptcy filings

Hawaii:
People who carpool to work
Highest cost of living
~*~

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Decorating the French Chairs

I'm reminding you again to visit my Pinterest since I have almost 8,200 photos there in one place for you to see. Most of them have not been put on here yet. I know you'll enjoying seeing them.
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My granddaughter showed me the most amazing video the other day and I just knew I was going to share it with all of you. It's about 8 minutes long but well worth watching. I found it just incredible that someone could do makeup like this. And the model is also gorgeous! Of course, it would take me about 2 years to even try to get this look. :-) But it's up to you if you want to watch it. Fascinating though and I always like to share things I find interesting with all of you.

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Love Bunny is a camper, a scouter, a retired Marine (as I've mentioned many times before), a definite leader of men and a natural-born leader even if he doesn't see himself that way. He is. He's made a decision to not be as active in the Scouts as he used to be because of his age. He supports the Scouts vigorously, however.

When we lived in California, he was a Scoutmaster and a truly magnificent one. If you want your boys to grow up to be men, he's your man. He treats them like men and not baby boys. So I thought I'd mention a few things about him pertaining to this.

Every year in California he would take them on a 50-miler hike. Now, he's really good at this. When he'd go off on those hikes in Yosemite, I'd go up the Pacific Coast Highway 1 to a B&B and spend time or fly back to visit my mother and sister. That was before I gave up flying!

Anyway, one year while on the 50-miler he invited a friend from work. The friend wasn't particularly a camper but he thought he could handle it thinking what fun it would be. (FUN?! A 50 mile hike?!!) Hubs had told him about washing dishes. Hubs is shall we say fervent about washing dishes in the wilds. You use boiling hot water for washing and boiling hot water to rinse and I mean RINSE well. He told his work friend how to do it properly. Well, he didn't rinse the soap off well enough and there was diarrhea among the men the next day. Needless to say, hubs was angry, very angry. You do NOT want your men to have to suffer this while on a 50-mile hike, trust me. He told the man he wasn't doing it properly and if he didn't do it properly he was going to get another duty less desirable. The man was not happy but he never got asked to go again with hubs on a camping trip.

Then there was the night hubs woke up to a bear in his face. The bear had put his teeth through a Tupperware container with coffee in it never thinking the bear would be able to smell it. Hubs jumped up and alerted—screamed—for all the boys and men to be alert. The mama bear wouldn't leave because her cubs were up in the trees. Someone hadn't put their packs up the proper way while camping on a hike. They learned a lot from that experience. They came to love hubs and gave him a great tribute when we left to move up here. A lot of men think they are leaders but truly aren't. Hubs is just the opposite. He doesn't see himself that way as it just comes natural to him. He truly is a great man.
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Since they were having a sale on these hydrangeas and peonies, I went back to Michaels and bought a few more. I like the fullness of all of them in the drawer on this coffee table. Plus these pink hydrangeas are the most beautiful shade of pink I've ever seen in this particular artificial flower.


Peonies are one of my favorite flowers also. These are shades of pink and a bit of yellow thrown in, yellow being my favorite combination with pink.


I am trying something on these chairs in the way of decoration but while it looks gorgeous, I don't think it's going to be functional if someone sits there. The extra heavy boas would not be comfortable for someone's back while sitting in them. So I'll figure out another way to put them on without wrapping them around the back.


I love the elegant look though. I'm such a froufrou girl!


The little rose I put on this one is one I made from ribbon.


I think it's a wee bit small so I'll either make a bigger one or switch it out with the hoards of others I have.

So this is what I finally did. The boa tied on with twist-ties through the cane and not the least bit invasive to someone sitting on these chairs. The seats are next in line for their ruffled covers.

I love these paper roses on there. I simply wove their teensy stems through the cane and tied them to it. Not even visible or pokey to anyone sitting in them.


The rest of the photos are ones from the internet, not mine. Isn't this lamp darling? Looks like dotted swiss fabric with crochet edging. Sweet!


It's hard for me to pass up tiny shoes since I have 2 great granddaughters who have tiny feet.


Just a quiet vignette with pink threads and pink bottle.


Isn't this a clever idea? Just having dried roses falling out of a pretty jar.


I'm always a sucker for pretty dishes with flowers on them.


A pretty little cottage with pink blossoms blooming in the yard.


And a thatched roof in a bigger cottage in the UK.


A pretty place to dream does NOT have to be huge with expensive furniture. Look how quaint this tiny area is. Adorable.


And talk about cute!!! Making some of these for a tea-drinking friend would be a terrific idea. They are genuinely cute!
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Tidbits:
Our state is #1!

"A" states are here.

There are no "B" states so let's go to "C" states and what they are #1 in:

California:
Roller coasters
Air pollution

Colorado:
Flu shots
Cocaine usage

Connecticut:
Dentists visits
Electricity consumption
~*~
Linking up with SSS and NMH.

Monday, March 25, 2013

What? No Television?

I plan these posts ahead and schedule them ahead. I inadvertently scheduled two for 3/22/2013. You may have missed the second one that came up that day so check back if you weren't viewing two of them for that day. I knew I had scheduled two and meant to reschedule one of them but forgot. I don't like doing that and shall take special care in the future to not let that happen again. The correct one was A Trip to the Supermarkets and the one I meant to change was Trip to Washington. I'd sure hate for you to miss a single post of mine with all the glorious photos I post! ;-) I really blog for the photos as I'm an "eye candy" person.
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Hubs was driving a friend with him to a meeting several days ago and the man starting talking about television shows. Hubs said he hadn't seen one particular show the man mentioned. Then the man asked if he watched the football game. Hubs said he hadn't because we don't have a television. The man turned and looked at him and asked, "Then how do you watch football?" Hubs said, "I don't; we don't have a television." The man was stymied and just kept repeating, "How do you do it?" What is so hard to understand that some of us don't have television and prefer it that way? I know it's not for everyone, but it is for us. We live in a very quiet world. We prefer it that way. I rarely, rarely even have the radio on. But what's so important that we'd need a television? We get news on the internet and can filter what we want to read. And if there's any big catastrophe I'm sure friends would let us know. You might give it a try, maybe for a week and see how different it is in the house, especially with kids. It is much calmer and you do things together as a family if you have kids at home. For us empty nesters, it's also time to be with each other without interruptions. If anyone does this, let me know how it worked for you, please. I'd love to know.
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Gorgeous, gorgeous pillows!


Just sweet bits of fluff for a vignette.


Another cute storage shed made into a respite cottage.


I wish I could do something similar to my back yard but it just wouldn't work I think.


I absolutely looooove white houses with black trim. I hope to paint mine that way when it needs painting.


This little settee would look perfect in my home. ;-)


Cute and inexpensive way to display flowers with a lot of pizzazz.


Looks how rustic this house is but it's decorated fancy. Gorgeous!


A truck bed full of flowers.


A beautiful art deco door done in pink. Lovely.


Just more roses. :-)


Another little pink shed to dream about.


I love these clothespins. I have some decorated ones but think I'll paper them and put some little roses on them like these.


What a beautiful pin cushion.


A perfect girly room!
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Tidbit:
Our state is #1!
Starting with Alabama and all the A states, I'm going to list what each state is #1 in.

Alabama is first in:
Lowest taxes on goods
Adult-onset diabetes

Alaska:
Heliports
Teen death

Arizona:
Copper production
Alcoholism

Arkansas:
Best trained math teachers
E. coli infections spread by petting zoos
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Friday, March 22, 2013

A Trip To The Supermarkets

I tried to go to Costco by myself yesterday but hubs wanted to tag along. I wasn't happy about it because I'll always spend more when he's along and he always questions me about what I'm buying. Aaaargh.

Well, this was supposed to be a quick in and out. I wanted 2 boxes of Angus burgers already cooked and frozen on hand for our freezer. We got out of there with $131.00! He had to buy a tree. Now, ours is a small yard, just big enough for 2 empty nesters. But he stuck a peach tree in the cart among other things. This is the third peach tree he's planted; the other two died. Annnnnd agaiiiiiin, he had to make sure I didn't kill a woman with the branches from the tree in the cart. I have never, ever hurt or killed a shopper in a grocery store! Promise! We women tend to know how to dodge a peach tree or a full basket of items. He drove me nuts. I had to go shopping at WM also but I went today without him. It was so relaxing and I didn't have him second-guessing me and holding on to the cart so I wouldn't run over anyone. I've mentioned back in posts several times that I'm going shopping alone from now on and I am. OR I'll send him for a few items written on a note paper. I just wouldn't trust him with the bigger shopping but a quick run, okay. We'll see how it works out. Other women in the grocery store mention hubands with them. I think it's a universal feeling of women for the most part. I love shopping alone, taking my time, looking at new things they're carrying, just being leisurely. Has anyone you know gotten a divorce after the hubs retires and stays home all day critiquing the house, toilets, laundry, your shopping and closets? Sigh...

A lovely stone house.


Another living room I love.


A little cute sideboard. It looks miniature but can't tell a lot looking at it from this angle.


A happy day for a picnic in the yard.


Another little  open cottage for playing among the rose garden.


Pretty white chair with pink posies.


Cute little dishes.


Looks like a woman's studio.


And a very pretty window bed with hanging lanterns for a festive area,


Another area in a kitchen with incredibly darling dishes.


A lovely long loggia in a huge home.


A lady's bath with all her soaps and powders.


A quaint street in a small foreign town.


Aaaah, ephemeral pink and lacy candles.


A darling small bath or washroom.
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Tidbit:
More copies of the Ikea catalog are printed each year than the Bible.
~*~