Living Beautifully

Day Dreaming 2/1/2012

2012-02-01T00:01:00.009-07:00

I would like to celebrate this post because it's #1,100 post. I am nothing if not tenacious.
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I absolutely do have these little hanging paper globes and pompoms around my house. Some are in my bedroom. One is in the family room and several are in my office and craft room. They are paper. They are cheap. They add pizzazz to any room. They are cute. I like them immensely. You could do this over a tub or even a toilet. Yes, I said toilet! I have decals on my toilets' tanks.

My bedroom is dark and it's very difficult to get a good photo unless it's early in the morning when the eastern sun shines in, but this is a white pompom in there...

and this is the little birdcage I made and attached to the end of it.

I put a pink one in my office. It is behind me when I'm sitting at this desk. I added curling ribbon. It's a very feminine room.

This is a white pompom with another birdcage attached to it. It's in our family room corner.

Another photo of the family room corner with just the pompom showing.

Snooooore.....day dreamin'.........

I've done this in some of my rooms a few years ago. Just paint some cheap picture frames and stack them against a wall.

This is an emergency kit for lovers of pink. Break it out and just stare at it until the blues go away.

I have some shutters like these. I painted them white and added roses decals.

They are in my home office on the wall behind me.

Intoxicating comes to mind when I view this little scene.

If only........

Sighing...

I have 2 old drawers smaller than this that hold papers and such. I think I'll hang them on the wall and use them to hold things in the bathroom.

Okay, go. I mean GO and make something special of this day for yourself and if it includes someone else, so much the better. A phone call from my dear friend lifts me up like nothing else can. Do it! Take someone's breath away today. :-) And then...have a cupcake. ;-)
~*~

Day Dreaming 1/30/2012

2012-01-30T00:01:00.010-07:00

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

2012-01-28T09:10:00.002-07:00

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

2012-01-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

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.
~*~

A Dreary Day in the Desert

2012-01-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

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

2012-01-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

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. ;-)

~*~

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.
~*~

Dancin' Queen

2012-01-15T13:28:00.001-07:00

Again, forgive me but Caroline loves dancing and, as her great grandmother, I love sharing a few funny things about her with y'all. Ballet to her is putting a leg in front of her with her toes pointed as you'll see in this video. She's done it better, but she is distracted from it by watching herself in the mirror, which is the only way our granddaughter can get her to stop grabbing for the camera. See:

Her usual cute face:

Caroline doing Ballet and Hip Hop! She has started this sniffing thing recently and sniffs everything and then puts her finger on her nose if it stinks to her and which you'll see towards the end of this video, the sniffing not the finger to her nose in this one. Weird kid I know but then she's in this family so what can I say? ;-)

Just a few Random Thoughts today:

I actually do visit some blogs; it's just I don't have much time to leave comments for a lot of them. I've seeing the profiles of a few and noticed that a lot of women are putting in their profile about books they like—the classic books. Now, I wonder if they just put that on there to sound—oh forgive me for lack of a better word and I truly don't mean this to sound like it is going to sound but highbrow. I don't like the classics at all. Give me a good trashy murder mystery or action packed thriller and I'm lovin' it. I truly don't like the old love stories. I'm asking: what do they really like about them? I read them in high school and college but found them truly boring.
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If you are not married to the guy, the answer should be NO and you know what I'm talking about. If he truly loves you, he won't ask and he would ask you to marry him. First hand knowledge here! :-)
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Another 24 and Jack Bauer comment: He once saved the world with duct tape. This is true.
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Every day I'm able to stir up endless possibilities in my paranoia pot that is forever boiling on my mental stove.
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Mormon girls serve casseroles...this comment will be explained in a later post!
~*~

Pink Saturday for 1/14/2012

2012-01-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Beverly's Pink Saturday once again. Just click on the logo and visit her blog to see what it is all about and visit all the other participants.

While this isn't pink, it sure caught my eye when I saw these photos of gorgeous kitchens.

This one is very similar to a friend's kitchen. They have recently sold their house but I'm sure the new owners bought it because of that kitchen.

Also, the purple ruffled bedspread. My granddaughter's favorite color is purple so I'm showing her this one for sure.

I'm a crafty and creative person so I thought I'd simply show you some of the things I've made for the last several years. I've sold most of the birdhouses, which is my favorite thing to do and will do more someday. I just need to find time to get the craft room in order and do them. Okay, let's face it; basically, I'm trying my best to be lazy. It's a contest between a friend of mine and me. I think I'm winning!

This is a clothespin bag. I have three of them in my laundry room just for eye candy. But actually, they do have clothes pins in them. Decorated and darling clothes pins.

This is one I sold. I do them with barkcloth and/or designer fabrics. They all had the same theme: roses. What else? I love rose fabrics and still have quite a stash of it.

They truly are adorable, and I put my heart into each one. I may have some for sale someday again. I'll show them here if I do.

I have picked up old suitcases for as little 50¢ and as high as only $2.00, which I consider quite a bargain. I then cover them with gorgeous fabric and place them on plant shelves around my living room.

~*~

Okay, ready for some more of my thoughts on the television series 24 and Jack Bauer? Well, you're gonna get them anyway.

Why do they keep doubting Jack Bauer when he's "been there and done that" and is rarely, if ever, wrong.
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In the 8th season, the CTU (counter terrorism unit) one woman is trying to be a fashion model. No agent would walk like a runway model in high heels. Her clothing is so tight I can see her navel and stretch marks through the fabric!
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They are forever asking "Are you alright?" Sometimes I want to jump through my laptop screen and scream, "If I was alright with 3 bullets holes in my chest, a gash on my head gushing blood and a broken kneecap, I'd be sure and let you know!"
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Oooh, and the big one: "You're not leaving this room until you tell the the truth." Well, if that doesn't scare them into telling the truth, I don't know what will!
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Has anyone noticed how all the architecture is 1950s style. I mean the "residences". Then the doors in almost all the scenes are glass. I found that very odd. When questioning a suspect I'd think they'd want heavy wood doors. My guess is that they got a discount on those old looking doors. Simply the worst decor I've ever seen.
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Has anyone noticed none of them wear seat belts?! Horror!!! Just let me try that and see how fast the police pull me over.

In one season they had a "villain" who was from India, had long hair, a vertical soul patch, very short and was, frankly, about as threatening as a squishy banana.
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The satellites spying on us was, quite frankly, disconcerting. I hope that isn't true but something tells me it is. Wow! To be able to track me right down to my bathroom is not comforting, I tell ya!
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Yet...I'm still enthralled and loved that series.
~*~

Just Sittin' Here Daydreaming

2012-01-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love most about this mission for my Church is just being able to sit here taking calls while I blog! I'm so loving this. We all need to serve in some way and this is my small way in helping people.

Having been the highest paid woman in a very top Fortune 500 company, you would think this is beneath my capabilities. Noooo, it is not! When we serve our fellow man we are serving our God. I know it's hard to believe someone so humorous—ME—can be very religious, but I think God loves humor. After all, he gave us teenagers, didn't he? *Smirk*

Today, I give you more photos of English kitchens, which are very homey. I love the look of them and the coziness they exude. Isn't this window arrangement just lovely? I like the cheerfulness it brings.

I am a big devotee of mismatched chairs.

These next two photos are the same kitchen if you can believe it, huge by my standards, but just scrumptious.

I have a pantry but nothing near what this larder is.

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A group of us women had lunch together a couple of weeks ago and the subject of sociopaths came up. Yes, I know, it's a strange subject to come up but I had a question about something else—narcissism—and that segued right into sociopaths. One of my friends is a licensed psychologist so she was more than willing to answer a question. So I told them my first experience with a sociopath—and hopefully, my last!

Our decision to move to Idaho was a fluke caused by the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco. We arrived here and bought a small business and retained the one employee of that existing business. (This was a total lifestyle change for us, trust me.) That woman was the best salesperson I'd ever seen. If someone walked through the door, it was rare that she would not get the sale. She was that good. The problem was she was a sociopath as I found out later.

She never had access to our finances but she got around that in other ways. One was giving our product away at our cost. She apologized and we lost a great deal of money, but she was our employee so we bit the dust on that one.

Then she would lie and tell people in that small town that we were doing things we were absolutely not doing. She could look right at you and lie and you'd believe her before me. It was truly mind boggling. But she was so believable that it almost destroyed our reputation. Come to find out she had been in prison for embezzlement. Then one day the Secret Service showed up and asked us about her! She had been using a credit card belonging to a friend of hers in another state. That is a federal crime. Talk about shocked. While this woman wasn't a very attractive lady, if she had fixed herself up and dressed more stylish, she could have been a millionaire in selling.

At that time a new friend, whose husband was a psychologist, (Why have most of my friends or their husbands been in the mental health field?) and I were talking while sitting at a park one day and I told her the story. That's when I found out about sociopaths. She told me that's what sociopaths do. They have absolutely no conscience of right or wrong. It certainly enlightened me and I am much more guarded around people now. Our church excommunicated her and the leaders came to me and hubby and talked about it but we assured them she didn't have access to our finances. But it is kind of sad when someone with such a skill as selling does things like that when they could be so successful honestly.
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Just a few Random Thoughts for today:

Embarrassing moment: The other day I was on Skype with another missionary who was helping to train me doing this mission. I hadn't even combed my hair that morning as I wear a headset when sitting here taking the calls. I started picking my nose and several minutes later I realized we were on video chat! Talk about embarrassing. So be careful when you are skyping with someone. I have my preferences set so no one can video me without me clicking on Video. I screwed up that day for sure. I didn't know what to say. Deer in the headlights?! So quiet I could hear my brain cells dividing?! Yep, all of the above.
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Am I perfect because I'm a Christian? Nuuuuu, I am as imperfect as people come. I don't dance with the devil but he sure signs my dance card frequently!
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Next time I think I'll talk about padded bras.
~*~

A Blogging Tip

2012-01-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

In a recent post I stated something about blogs that have all the favorites of the blogger on the sidebar and some go on forever. Well, after that, I saw one that actually went on for hundreds of favorites. I can't remember whose it was and wouldn't say even if I could so as not to embarrass her or him. I don't think I've ever seen so many. I think it was on their Profile page though. My goodness, that blogger had a lot.

Anyway, I received an email from someone saying that is how she can keep up with all of them and when they're been updated. It didn't occur to me that some of you didn't know the alternatives to have a Blog List on Google Reader. Yes!! You don't have to have them all on your sidebar. I actually prefer Google Reader. Anyway, I'm showing you how you can do it without having your scroll bar so tiny you can barely see it when you have so many things on your sidebar. I'm not meaning to embarrass anyone or be mean but just to show you there are alternatives.

I'm done a screenshot of my desktop to show you how I view all my favorites. There could be many more as I do hop around but I've had to limit it to just a few who inspire me, whether creatively, emotionally or spiritually. I've also Photoshopped the screenshot so as to not make anyone feel bad if they're not on it. Plus, I like privacy. Yes, I know that's hard to believe with some of the things I post on here but there are certain privacy issues of which I prefer to adhere. Having been burglarized twice in California (once even walking in on them and being threatened with a screwdriver) and having once been burglarized here in Idaho. Actually, I don't think I've ever mention Love Bunny's name on here, but I do so in emails to people. It's all about privacy.

So, google Google Reader and create your own page and start putting your subscriptions in there. It will take a while if you have a few hundred but it's well worth the effort in my opinion. And, please, pass the word around. You may use my screenshots if you'd like. Just drag them to your desktop. (Mine looks a bit different because I'm on Apple Macs.) Or send your friends to this post. I'll also put it in my tutorial up at the top so it will be visible to anyone. That tutorial up at the top gives you a plethora of blogging tips on how to do a blog. If you haven't looked at it, I suggest you do. It can answer a lot of questions for you. It's a good tutorial I did in 2009. In fact, you might like looking at all of the "Pages" up at the topl

Oh, and those in the top left corner are ones that Google "advertises" and you could be in there for other people to see also. Those aren't ones I necessarily subscribe to.

~*~

All This Talk of Other Countries

2012-01-08T00:01:00.001-07:00

I've noticed much talk about other countries on the blogs: things French, things Italian, things English and such that I've decided to do some posts about living in other countries. Personally, I love seeing photos of other countries and having visited other countries I just cannot imagine living anywhere else but the USA. I know most of you love to travel and wish you could travel more, but with some first hand knowledge of living there I find I'm happy just exactly where I am. But more of that later. First, let's visit a typical middle class home in France. Second, be happy where you are and for what you do have. I am.

In this photo I'm intrigued by what they've done with the ceiling. I've never seen a ruffle hanging from there before but I kind of like it.

Stone walls and floors in the bedroom would make for a very cold bedroom I'd think but with the fireplace it wouldn't be so bad. And, lots of ambiance!

When we moved into our house, which was brand new, and noticed how all the plumbing worked so well that we could turn on both showers, the washing machine, dishwasher, flush toilets all at one time and still not notice a bit of drop in the pressure, I was sold on new construction. I doubt I would ever be happy in an old fixer upper or old plumbing. I had enough of that in our last house!

Very sweet vignette in the bath.

I'm not too sure I'd want a living/sitting room this rectangular though.

I do like the round top doors though.

Wine cellar? Only the French. ;-)

Lovely bedroom for visitors.

Neighborhood markets would capture my attention also.

The view from the house across the lush valley.

Beautiful walkways but I don't think I'd want to be climbing up and down daily. I'd guess the whole village must be in great shape from the meandering streets.

This little place in the yard would certainly be a blessing though.

Beautiful views just walking in the evening.

But tell me, how do the cars navigate on such narrow streets?

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My brother-in-law and his wife lived in Italy and Belgium. When they lived in Italy they had to go out and buy cabinets for the apartment they rented. When Italians rent an apartment or house, it comes with absolutely nothing except maybe a toilet. There is no flooring. There are no kitchen cabinets. And when they had a broken window it took weeks to get it replaced. They just don't have Home Depots there to go in and get a piece of glass. I've forgotten most of what they told us it was like but I think they were glad to get out of there.

Here is an account from a friend that lived there:

We lived in Italy and it was not a walk in the park. It was poor, lots of stealing going on. It was not the dream I imagined it would be. I was thrown into a big, old, dirty, filthy city and it was hard for those 3 years. The food was wonderful. The traveling was a blast, but I would not want to live there again. And oh, the healthcare was horrid. It was scary to go into the hospitals. They are like 3rd world countries, just didn't feel sanitary or clean like what we have here. And they don't make appointments. They wait for first come, first served. You have to bring your own bed linens, nightgowns and food. You bathe the patient; they don't. And they sandwich them all into a room like sardines, not a pretty sight. Yeah, I love where we live here in the good ol' U.S.A.!
~*~

Pink Saturday 1/7/2012 English Country Rooms

2012-01-06T11:02:00.004-07:00

Happy Pink Saturday once again and thanks to Beverly for hosting it. Visit all that you can or at least one new one you've never visited before. Have fun!

Click on the logo below to see what it's all about.
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Here I've shown some scenes from English country life. I love England and the British Isles, but I wouldn't want to live there. I love my country, as I'm sure the British do, but home is home. I can not even imagine living anywhere else in the world. Too much is romanticized about living abroad, but that's all it is: romanticized. Having visited other countries I do have knowledge of them, plus we have family members who came here from other countries. They risked much to get here and have become U.S. citizens. They tell me other countries, especially where they are from, would give all they could to come here. So be careful what you wish for, sweet bloggers.

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Random Thoughts:

Over on her blog, Claudia has been blogging about the English language used today, and I'm definitely with her on this one. But I have one more thing I hear a lot in conversations and that is: there's. When speaking there's is singular; plural would be there're or there is and there are. I majored in English so trust me on this one. Example: There's the men of the organization coming towards us. Incorrect. It should be: There're the men of the organization coming towards us. Men is plural. Okay, I'm OCD about proper English, but a nation that can't speak well because they aren't taught well and aren't corrected when wrong because someone is afraid of hurting their self-esteem, shows its ignorance. And that brings up the proper use of its and it's.

It's is a contraction for it is. Its refers to possession. The bird was preening its feathers. It's the bird that is preening its feathers. Get it. You will be thought of as well-spoken if you master this one and a few other very, very common English errors. Speaking well shows knowledge and intelligence.

Oh, and anyone reading this has my permission to use this in your blogs. Please! We must be better educated with our native language. Help me to get the word out.
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Love bunny and I go to restaurants at least twice a week. (Read previous post for why.) A restaurant is a place to eat. Their goal is to make good food, have happy customers and make money. Okay, for those of you out there that have a problem with people and/or businesses making money, let me ask you: What would you have a business for? Making money, right? Yes!! Okay, with that being said, the restaurants aim would be to make you happy so you'll come back. If you don't see something on the menu that you'd like, then ask if they can fix something for you that you'd prefer. A good restaurant will try and most will be happy to please you. Trust me on this one also.

Recently at Applebee's we noticed they had taken 2 of our favorites off their menu. Mine was Asiago Peppercorn Steak. I LOVE that! Voilà, I now order it though it is not on the menu. Problem solved or I would have gone elsewhere. I'm an assertive woman who usually gets what I want, being gracious and smiling, of course. There's no reason to be rude...ever! I'll tell you about my letter to Olive Garden in a later post. ;-) Ooooh, and the apostrophe in Applebee's? It's because it's intended to show possession as in Applebee's Restaurant; we just shorten it. Besides, it's the way they spell it.
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More 24 and Jack Bauer.

It truly amazes me how many traitors get into CTU (counter terrorism unit). I hope that isn't true in our actual government; although, looking at it makes me wonder!
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I can't think of one instance where Jack Bauer has been wrong. Why don't they believe and trust him? Boggles my mind.
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Most spoken phrase: "It's imperative this stays between us." Then the man or woman turn on their heels and run to spread the news. Sheesh.
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Another popular phrase: "Everybody's losing it.
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Jack Bauer should be given a bill for everything he's destroyed. That man goes through some equipment!!
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They keep giving the traitors a gun.
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They are constantly on their cell phones, and they never go dead. I want their cell phones!!
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Tough guys don't have to act tough. Example: US Marines, my heroes!!!
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But all in all, I absolutely still love that show.
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Until next time...and there will be more. And if I've made any errors here it's because I'm too lazy to go back and read it again.
~*~

Girl Talk...About Me.

2012-01-05T13:22:00.005-07:00

Girl Talk...

I see and visit blogs that have certain styles whether it be decorating, cooking, humor, crafting, family, genealogy and I love them all. I've narrowed down my favorites from almost 200 to less than 50 though because I just don't have the time to peruse them all anymore. I'm not sure I can be put in any specific category because I'm such a varied person. I love decorating but I can only do so much in our "retirement" house. I love humor but sometimes I just don't have anything funny to say. I love crafting but I can only hold so much in 1800 s.f. house, I love eating but don't particularly like to cook...alright, let's face it: I hate cooking. I'd much rather eat out—let them cook AND do the clean-up and dishes. Fact of life, chicks! I'm getting lazy in my old age.

But mostly I am a very, very visual woman. I love seeing photographs. So it would be rare for me not to post something visual. Hence, the photos of old English kitchens below, but then read on below that and I shan't take up much of your time with descriptions, just look.

I love the larders the English have. I'd love having a "room" to store all my food.

Ooops, now how did that cute chick get in here. ;-) The love of our lives. Did you really think I wouldn't post a picture of our little great granddaughter? Fooled ya, huh?!

We had a house once with baseboard heating, which is much like the old steam radiators. In my opinion, it is the best heating there is. It is an "even" heat and not blown in air that hits you in the face or feet, but comforts the whole room. Loved it!

This is one of my favorites. I love the green painted cabinets. It's a very colorful kitchen.

Okay, so great-grandchildren can be boring to look at, but we so adore this kid we have to show her once in a while. Too much would be boring I know, so I'll keep it to a minimum.

With all that being said, someone asked me about me so I thought I'd post a bit more about me than what you might have seen (Let's face it, not everyone reads the sidebars anymore since some bloggers list their hundreds of favorite blogs and it goes on
F O R E V E R! You'll never see that here. I only post interesting things. ;-)
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I love Big Hair.
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I have feet bigger than I'd like: size 9.
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I hate Spam loaf, spam email and regular junk mail that the postman brings.
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I love pink and live in a pink house with a retired Marine I call Love Bunny or Bubbie.
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I actually do live my life in exclamation points.
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I'm a very positive person and love to laugh and be humorous.
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I love eating lunch out with a friend. For me, one-on-one is best but I love eating with 2 or 3 also.
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The 2 best presents I ever got were a flashlight given to me by my hubby (That took some thought into my comfort while camping!) and false eyelashes put on by a professional given to me for Mother's Day by my daughter-in-law. NEED I SAY MORE?! A fantastic and very original gift. You can see my eyes here with them applied:
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I'm a wall flower at large parties.
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In smaller groups I'm a chatterer.
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My voice sounds much younger than my age. It hasn't changed my whole life; I still sound like I did as a teenager, but it's a very authoritative voice. I usually get what I want but I'm never rude or nasty, just authoritative with a big smile.
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I have a tremendous amount of mental energy but physically it's waning so fast I could cry. :-(
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A friend loaned me the video The Help. I didn't like it at all. Others have raved about it but I just didn't care for it.
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I love reading more than just about anything.
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I'm doing a Mission for my Church. It's Guest Relations and I can sit here for 4 hours and answer calls directing them to departments that can help them. It is one way of giving service that I can do. I'm loving it actually. We all need to do more service for our community and others.
~*~

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-03T00:01:00.002-07:00

This holiday season is officially over, but hubs and I both noticed that there was no big celebration on the news sites this year as in years past where they at least have the ball dropping in Times Square. I mean the internet sites since we have no television. It kind of fizzled out with a whimper. I wonder if it's the apathy or are people actually realizing the reason for this celebration or if it's just the mood of the country: tepid and/or frustrated with how things are going in general. I love this time of year but we just don't celebrate much and try to keep the spirit of the season. We don't have small kids at home though so it's very easy for us and I truly have everything I need and most of what I want. At any rate,

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE

Again, just look at the homes below without any descriptions from me. I'm too lazy to do it right now.

We went to the cinema today to see War Horse. A strange thing happened though.

We bought the tickets and actually splurged on popcorn and sodas for a total of $33.50. I thought it was outrageous but I wanted popcorn. Hubs "scrooged" a bit but he finally stopped complaining and got a soda, and I shared my popcorn with him. In 20 years we've only been to the movies about 5 times and 2 of those were free tickets from our home teachers in our ward. I'm not interested in movies much but I cannot understand how a family of 6 could even afford to go on a regular basis. With just popcorn and drinks it would easily be $100.00. Now I know why Netflix is so popular.

Anyway, we went into the theater for War Horse according to the ticket person and the marquee inside the theater. The movie started with several coming attractions, and by-the-way, the only one I would want to see is Mirror, Mirror with Julia Roberts, a take on Snow White with humor. Absolutely my kind of flick! Then what I think was a cartoon about self-esteem. Ooooh, puhleeze! How politically correct can we get? Then a muppet cartoon also. I thought it was kind of strange to list so many credits at the beginning of the cartoon, but after about 20 minutes, hubs said, "Give me the tickets." I did; he marched out, came back and said, "We're in the wrong theater!" It was a muppet movie. But we were so clueless as to cartoons and such that we actually thought it was a cartoon.

We got up and went to the cinema manager and told him what had happened. He said the movie we wanted to see was about 20 minutes into the story and we could go in. I said, "No, I want to see it from the start, so we'll come back at a different time." (I am NOT a wimp and very assertive—VERY!) He said that was fine so we elected to see it at the 6:30 time.

Bottom line: If you haven't seen War Horse, go! It was absolutely wonderful and a true family movie. No swearing, nudity, sex or anything that you wouldn't allow your kids to see. Just a great movie.

More in a few days. I have much to say lately.
~*~

English Country Rooms

2011-12-30T00:01:00.001-07:00

For this Pink Saturday's participants, just click on the logo below and go to Beverly's Blog where you'll see all the participants. It's my favorite thing to do on Saturday, and Beverly is just a sweet person to know.

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For Pink Saturday I'm going to show a painting a dear sweet friend of mine painted and I bought a couple of years ago. She has gifted me with several of her beautiful roses paintings also. She does beautiful work. Her name is Lorena. I believe she incorporated pink into the Christmas stocking in a dazzling way. Just love it!

The holiday season is almost over, and it's calmed down here quite a bit, so I'd like to try and get back on track with blogging. I spent the Friday before Christmas in bed and didn't get out until Sunday night when Love Bunny cooked the whole turkey dinner for me. We believe I got food poisoning from a bad jar of salad dressing I used on tuna salad a few days before. I'm fine now though. And his dinner was superb. I did mash the potatoes for him however.

I'm sick to death of food at the moment. I ate my way through about 2 boxes of chocolates, a pumpkin roll a friend surprised me with (DELICIOUS!), numerous Milky Way Simply Caramel bars, cinnamon rolls, a Dutch apple pie, a pumpkin pie, Coldstone Creamery LARGE (Is that one called Gotta Have It?) chocolate ice cream dish, Olive Garden Black Tie Mousse pie, Applebee's Triple Chocolate Overload cake, pumpkin cookies, a popcorn and nut mix with chocolate drizzle, a cake that sent my taste buds into survival mode with all the sugar in the frosting and a Jack in the Box Chocolate overload cake also. My sugar level is right up there with the National Debt, trust me.

So with that being said, let's view some pictures of some English homes I love. I incorporate English, a touch of French, Traditional, Romantic, Shabby, Chic and a bit of ME thrown into the mix in my decorating. I always have thrown in a bit of ME, but certainly over the years my styles have changed. Just view the rooms without me saying too much about them. Pictures speak louder than my words ever could.

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And just for your information, I'll have more pictures this week with more thoughts on 24 and Jack Bauer very soon. ;-)
~*~

Roses and Fancy Plates for Pink Saturday 12/24/2011

2011-12-23T10:15:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Pink Saturday just before Christmas 2011. It's a special time of year because we celebrate the birth of our Savior and I love watching the hustle and bustle of it even though we've given up on gift giving except for the 2 youngest grandsons and our sweet Miss Caroline, our first great grandchild. We'll see her in about a month when we go over to visit with our little munchkin for a week. Here is a picture of her with her mummy, her aunt and new cousin, Ethan. They actually have the same hairline but different color. He sure is a doll. His mummy is the prettiest physician I've ever seen. Isn't she lovely?
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But as always, I thank Beverly for each Pink Saturday and her sweet willingness to help me give away 12 aprons because we are trying to get rid of unnecessary stuff. Thank you again, Beverly. She is one of the sweetest and kindest bloggers I know.
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I decided recently to bite the bullet and get rid of some china plates I've collected over the years. Let me assure you this was no easy decision. I absolutely adore these plates but it's time to get rid of them. Now, I've thought of taking them to the thrift store or giving them to my daughter to do mosaics with them (She's insistent that I give them to her) but before I do that I'd like to see if someone else who won't cut them up would like to have them. I won't give these away but if you see any plate or set of plates you'd like, email me and I'll give you the thrift store price, but you must consider the cost of mailing them to you. That can be more than the actual plate. If there is no interest, they go to California with us this spring for my daughter to cut up. I don't plan on being around when she does it as I can't watch it; I'll cry. :-(

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Butter pat plates.
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I love this plate and will find it hard to get rid of if someone wants it.
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A rose covered honey pot. Not many of these around.
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Love Bunny bought this for me at an estate sale as a surprise but I don't use it.
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Anything you see ABOVE this picture is available, not anything below here. I'm keeping just enough plates to furnish a table for my family. And if we have any more great grandkids then they get the Melmac plates. :-) I refuse to hold onto stuff anymore. Letting go and getting rid of so much "fluff" is more important. Both my kids and granddaughter have more than I do and don't want any more stuff. It goes!

Just a few crystal stemware for us to entertain "lightly".

Just enough dishes to do the same.

These are the dishes I had crammed into that china cabinet.

~*~

Thoughts on the Season

2011-12-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year but not for the obvious reason of gift giving. Hubs and I gave that up several years ago. As a matter of fact, this is the farthest I've come to decorating this year and it's December 20th already. Hubs got the tree down from the garage attic two nights ago and finally set it up last night. I have neither the desire or the energy to decorate it yet. It's that simple. I wouldn't decorate at all because it's just the two of us and no one is coming this year but my sweet Love Bunny loves having a tree. It makes no difference to me as my heart is in the real reason for this season of the year. I adore the feelings of Christmas not the commercialization of it. Ooooh, don't get me wrong; I've eaten my way through Wal-Mart's candy aisle three times now. Then there's the Christmas day and the day after Christmas when things—candy!—go on sale. Hold me back, please. It'll take me months to even care about food again. I sit here trying to get up the nerve to go in to cook dinner even though I have absolutely no hunger at the moment. Food just seems obscene to me right now, but I did promise hubs fried potatoes and tuna salad, one of his favorite meals. Sigh.

Anyway, these are pictures of how far I've gotten today. Read on for more of the reason.

Just a bit of eye candy for you while I tell you the reason. I think I'll sit and make more ribbon roses while watching Netflix. Again, read on...

24 and Jack Bauer!
I love that series. Since we don't have a television and don't want one I subscribed to Netflix for a free month and a friend told me about the series 24 since she knows I love action movies and not chick flicks. I have never seen it until about a week ago. I watch it every chance I get. I'm in season five with three more seasons to go. Give me a hero who follows his own dictates and kills every bad guy in sight and I'm in heaven!

But I do have some comments on 24.

Since my brother-in-law is a retired FBI agent I can assure you the female agents do NOT run around in high heels.
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The two original female leads were pathetically bad actresses and should have been written out of the series way before they got killed. They showed about as much emotion as a bag of dog food.
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Jack Bauer's writers must have a "thing" for tall, emaciated, no talent women. Makes one wonder.
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There are way too many women in authority roles: CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit), etc. That does not happen in real life and the ones in the plots were nothing but insecure women making real women look like career-grabbing hussies. That is not true in real life.
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Agents don't run around with their windows down when guarding the President. Just not done.
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The agents spend way more time on the phone than necessary. Why don't they just say, "If you'd stop calling me, I'd be able to get some work done."
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Is there a women in CTU who hasn't slept with Jack Bauer or Tony Almeida? Ooooh, puleeeeze.....
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The most used statement in the series: Let me make one thing clear.
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You've got to have a death wish to be around Jack Bauer.
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I'll have more later but all-in-all I absolutely love the show!!!
~*~

Pink Saturday 12/17/2011

2011-12-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

The winner of the last apron is
BJ of Sweet Nothings
Congratulations! I think she's won 2 now.

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #12

2011-12-09T00:01:00.002-07:00

First of all, the winner for last week's apron is:

LV of Thoughts from Meme's Corner

Congratulations!

Join all the pink lovin' chicks on Beverly's blog today. Thank you again profusely, Beverly, for helping me give away these aprons to bloggers who will appreciate them. It was most generous and very kind of you to do this.

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This is the last apron to be given away. I'm done! I trust they all went to good apron lovin' homes as I put my heart into each one of these. Originally, they were for sale but these didn't sell for some reason. They are adorable in person. ;-) So in the effort to declutter our home I thought I'd give them to bloggers who appreciate this sort of thing. I love aprons and wear one all the time when cooking or crafting. Trust me, I'm a slob when it comes to those 2 things.

This one is actually canvas like a butcher's apron so very sturdy. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post right here. I'll draw a name during the week and post the winner on next week's blog. I actually notify the winner before I post it here. But since Pink Saturday actually debuts on Fridays and we go to Applebees, Olive Garden or Outback on Friday nights, nothing is going to interfere with that! Good luck, chicks.

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A few thoughts from this past week.

About 3 years ago a pizza/Italian sandwich shop opened up about 2 blocks from us. We went in and had sandwiches when it opened and I was very unhappy with the service and didn't particularly like the food. (I am very, very picky about my food.) So I told hubs I wasn't going in there anymore.

Well, he said it's been getting great review on their Philly Cheese steak hoagies on his iPhone. Yeah, you can get rating on your iPhone for restaurants. So he wanted to try it again since it might be better after 3 years—actually, he just kept bugging me until I gave in at a weak moment. I kept saying no. But the other day I decided to show him who knows best. We went there for lunch. Service was long and pathetic and not good in the least. Hubs agreed with me. I knew I would be right and I told him. But it was a sandwich out and I love eating out, but we definitely will never to there again.
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Then a few days later we went to a place that had liver. Now, I won't even have liver in my house but I relented for hubby's sake. I had a BLT with fries. A real treat for me but the BLT was horrid also. I think hubs trust me now when I say I told you so! He won't ask me to go there ever again. ;-) However, this waitress must have been new because we've never seen one that had all her teeth and no tattoos swarming all over her body, arms and face.
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We're still both on WW program, but I bought a pie to take to a Thanksgiving party. It missed a slice when we took it so I told hubs the gremlins got into it. I lied; it was ME. Why can't we have pie before the main dish? I've always liked that idea so this time I did it. The hostess just giggled at me when I told her I needed a pie fix early that morning. I love pie for breakfast!
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I'll be back soon with what's happening in the Living Beautifully household.
~*~

A Spiritual Melody for Sunday 12/4/2011

2011-12-04T10:58:00.002-07:00

Just some beautiful music for a Sunday around here. Enjoy.

~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #11

2011-12-02T00:01:00.004-07:00

Ooops, almost forgot to announce the winner. It's

Yvonne of La Petite Gallery.
Congratulations!

What is Pink Saturday? Go to Beverly's blog and check it out. You just might want to participate at some point if you haven't already. No matter what, you'll enjoy perusing the bloggers who share their pinks with us.

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This week's apron is a wedding cake top and tiny pink rose bouquets on the bottom with a pink polka dot ruffle. Just leave a comment on this post here and I'll pick a name during the week and announce the winner on next week's Pink Saturday giveaway. Yes, it's just that simple, chicks.

~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #10

2011-11-25T00:01:00.006-07:00

The winner for last week's apron is:

Chubskulit

Congratulations, Sugar!

Please visit Beverly's blog to see all the other participants today. Thank you, Beverly, for doing this each week. We all appreciate you enormously!
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This little pink stripe and cake apron is this week's giveaway. Leave a comment here on this post and your name is entered. During the week I'll draw a name and announce it on next week's giveaway.

~*~

All of us have rituals in our lives—daily routines, which we adhere to religiously. At least, I do. One of them is my toilette every morning. It goes something like this:
Turn on shower.
Potty while shower is warming up. This may vary depending on how much liquid I drank the night before. ;-)
Get in shower.
Wash hair.
Condition hair.
Wash face with a special brush bought for just that purpose. This once got out of sequence and I washed my face twice.
Wash body with Dove extra moisturizing body wash.
Wash, ummmm, other areas with another washcloth.
Wipe face gently with another washcloth getting in ears.
Get out and dry off and wrap hair with one towel.
Use other towel for rest of body.
Lightly moisturize face.
Shave 10 lip and chin hairs. (Okay, I admit it. The hairs are too light to have them taken out with a laser so until a laser is developed to take out light hairs I'm stuck. The wax just doesn't work for me. Confession!) More than I tell most friends. ;-) And, Martie, if you're reading this DO NOT spread the rumor around the office!! ;-)
Put styling gel on hair.
Blow dry hair upside down. (Secret to fluffy hair.)
Brush teeth.
Moisturize with Oil of Olay (intense stuff for my age group!)
Another Oil of Olay treatment of which I've forgotten the name at the moment. (Another sign of advanced aging.)
Brush teeth
Put on foundation, powder and mascara.
Fix hair. Spray hair.

Now, if anyone of these is out of order it throws me off. Once I brushed my teeth out of order and before I knew it, I was brushing them again!

Another instance:
Sitting down to read, I usually pick up the book and then turn on my reading lamp. This is such a habit that one day I picked up the book and turned the light switch and turned it OFF. I simply didn't expect the light to be on but it was. I then turned it on.

I am just simply a creature of habit.
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I realized we can make a difference when we are unhappy with a situation.

I learned that Scentsy was discontinuing my favorite scent that I have in warmers around my house: French Kiss. I loooove that fragrance. I was devastated (I mean devastated!! I cried right there in my Scentsy dealer's house.) and my Scentsy distributor said to call or email them. I did. They are NOT discontinuing it!!! I was beyond thrilled. I immediately ordered 6 room sprays and will order a brick of it so I never run out.

I also wrote to Pepsi about a horribly bad 12 pack I purchased. It was NOT at all like my regular Pepsi. I contacted them via their website and have heard nothing from them. On the other hand...

I contacted Hagan Das about a flavor that was beyond my wildest chocolate dreams—Mayan Chocolate. It was fantastic—deep dark chocolate with a hint of cinnamon. Best chocolate I've ever eaten.

Well, I did hear from them and they said it wasn't a very good seller so they discontinued it due to that fact. I simply cannot believe it wasn't a good seller. It was out of this world fantastic! Sob.... I suppose I didn't make the compelling case I thought I was making.
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I've decided while on Weight Watchers I'm going to make chocolate a FREE food. Works for me.
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I have a bubble in my tummy so I'm leaving the room for the moment. ;-) Until next time.
~*~

Reality Around the House 11/23/2011

2011-11-23T00:01:00.001-07:00

Reality. Claudia has been posting about this on her blog. The reality at my house is this:

A desk that never seems to be clean. No matter how hard I try there is always something on top. My camera is in my hands at the moment otherwise it would be sitting to the left of my iMac just to the right of my JBL Creature Speakers. My Canon is always there to grab at a moment's notice to run and snap photos.

The filing cabinet behind my desk doesn't get much better than this. Trust me. Hubs says I need to clean up my files and reorganize them and I just may do that during the holiday season to give me something to do since we no longer buy gifts for each other or kids, just the grands and great granddaughter get something. I absolutely loooooove not having the stress of Christmas shopping. That painted shutter and office chair cover in the corner will be given to the thrift store or sold on eBay. I hate to part with either one but it's time. I'm being brutal on getting rid of things in this house.

I'm supposed to be exercising each night in here but I've been so busy doing other things that it's fallen by the wayside for a while.

This message board needs some serious cleaning up but I just never feel like taking off and filing the things on there. My earphones for the phone I use frequently so I can talk and type at the same time.

Our master toilet room. Hubs stacks our supply of toilet paper so high I can't reach it. He thinks he's being cute, but actually it makes more work for him because when I need another roll I have to call him in to reach it for me. ;-)

These are just some of the pillows I'm going to get rid of. There are several more in my bedroom and to the right of this photo out of sight.

More storage boxes to sort through. I recently threw away a plethora of old photos of vacations we've taken. They weren't digital and were horrible plus most of them were views of beaches or mountains or landscapes that nobody in their right mind would want to look at even IF I had the desire to show them, which I don't. The most boring thing for me is to visit people and have them drag out photo albums. I usually just try to ignore the albums and keep talking. It's torture for me!

Our master bath shower. There are always 3 washcloths on the door.

My supply of Nair sits on the corner tub in our bathroom because after the last leg shaving I had 11 bandaids and 2 4x4 gauze pads to staunch the flow of blood. I'll never, ever shave my legs again. I buy Nair 4 at a time and when I start the 4th bottle I put it on the shopping list to buy 4 more. I'm tired of bleeding!

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We did go to the movies on Monday night. The movie we chose was Tower Heist and was really funny. It was strange to see Alan Alda play a bad guy though. I would recommend it because we laughed a lot.

The tickets were free but the snacks were out of sight!!! A small bag of popcorn and a small drink cost me $10.75. How do y'all manage to take kids to the movies? A family of four or five could easily be a $100.00 tab including small snacks. A small candy bar for $4.75. Holy moly!

On our drive home we saw a lot of homes with their Christmas decorations up. I told hubs he was NOT putting ours up because I didn't want him to put stress on his neck. He kept telling me he was and I kept repeating he wasn't. He finally called me a grinch. I said, "Make that Grinchette and ya got it right, bubbie." You know who's going to win this argument, right? ;-)
~*~

The Beginning of Winter 2011

2011-11-21T13:17:00.004-07:00

It's official; winter is here. The roses are no more, and we had snow a few days ago. It didn't stick but it was here for a few hours anyway.

This looks like a tissue paper rose.

Miss Caroline in the pumpkin patch with her Da-da. I don't think I'd be carrying her around on my shoulders with a cup of liquid in those sweet little hands (look at them) but her daddy is the man in her life and she's the "other" woman in his life. I've never seen a man so crazy about a kid in my life!

Just some dried hydrangeas from our front yard.

And doing some mundane things around the house today.

With all the physical therapy I've been doing—and now hubs—we've gotten free tickets from our physical therapist for a dinner at Olive Garden and now free tickets to a movie. We're going to go see Tower Heist tonight.

Monday nights is our "salad night" at Jack-In-The-Box. You all know by now if I can get out of cooking I'm going to do it. Mondays are a "no cooking" night for me, as is one other day later in the week, either Thursday or Friday night. And if I can throw in a lunch or two, so much the better.
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The other day while running some errands I saw a school marquee that said:

Are you resting enough? Attendance is important.

I didn't need a billboard to tell me that. My parents put the fear of death into me if I didn't attend school. Truly, I was astounded that message would even be necessary. Gee, how the world has changed from when we were in school.
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Love Bunny is taking physical therapy now. On Friday night, November 11th, he came home from doing the VFW Buddy Poppies and told me his head/neck area hurt. He did more Buddy Poppy "sales" on Saturday also. His neck got worse. I called some men in our ward to come and give him a blessing. It just so happened to be our Bishop and he's a pediatrician and mentioned meningitis. I had already decided I was going to take him to ER just before the Bishop and another Elder arrived. They gave him the blessing and off we went to ER. His head was hurting so had he couldn't lift it off the pillow. The Bishop crawled up on my side of the bed to lay his hands on hubs' head while the other man attended on hubs' side of the bed.

After 3 1/2 hours in ER it was determined through x-rays he had occipital nerve inflammation. They gave him a 2 drug cocktail intravenously and 3 prescriptions and sent us home. So from that day until today I've been driving him everywhere he's needed to go. With the drugs we didn't want to risk driving. He's also taking physical therapy to help the neck muscles. His head isn't hurting quite as bad as a week ago but it's still there. He'll be fine I know but it was a bit scary for those couple of hours. But when he went with me to PT for the first time, the physical therapist jokingly said giving him an evaluation was private. I told her he gave us his privacy 50 years and 5 months ago—our wedding day. She shut up and he didn't say a WORD!
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Recently my "lunch" consisted of a sausage biscuit from McDonald's and a Milky Way Simply Caramel candy bar. It was a very busy morning! I love that kind of breakfast but sometimes we just gotta do what we gotta do! Sigh...and wink!
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That's it for today. Off to get ready for my night out. ;-)
~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #9

2011-11-18T00:01:00.003-07:00

The winner of last week's apron is:

Laura Ingalls Gunn

Congratulations, Sugar!!

Thanks to all who visit here. Now go to Beverly's blog and see more pink things today. And thank you, Beverly, for helping me get rid of these aprons to pink lovin' chicks who will appreciate them. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post right here. Your name is entered and I'll pick a winner during the week and announce it on next week's giveaway.

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This is the apron for this week's giveaway.

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Okay, I've bitten the bullet and subscribed for one free month of Netflix. This, of course, will mean watching it from my laptop computer but I want to see what I've been missing. From the latest fare I've been watching it doesn't seem to be much. I subscribed to the "instant streaming" end of it. While I was hoping to watch some of the oldies like Casablanca, it seems that those are available only by DVD. My friend, Stacy, who knows all the latest about Netfix, has assured me Netflix is negotiating with studios to have just about any- and everything available streaming in the near future. At least that is their goal. So I'll be curious as to how that turns out but I haven't seen much I'm interested in except for thrillers and spy/espionage movies, which as you all know are my favorite genres in books. We'll see.

But in the watching of some videos (instant streaming and disks loaned to me by friends) I've read credits. Did you know you can learn an awful lot from credits? Oooh, my yessss! (Ooooooh, as an aside to that, when I'm on Netflix I have 2 other tabs open. One is for IMDB so I can find out the plot, the goofs in the movies and do a wikipedia search for the actors. The other tab is Wikipedia.) ;-) You can learn an awful lot about the old actors and actresses on there. I never knew so many movie stars have been married numerous times. Some as many as 5 to 7 times is not unusual. Sheeeeesh. It makes one wonder why they wouldn't stay married for their entire life. Oh, a very few were, but it was a rarity.

Which brings up why Love Bunny and I have been married for over 50 years. I think he's a hunk and always have. Trust me, he didn't marry me for my body or money. Neither did I marry him for his body or his money. I truly feel sad for those Hollywood types of men who have a hot young wife—sometimes young enough to be his granddaughter but certainly young enough to be his daughter—and have people laughing behind his back. What does it gain him to have a beautiful woman on his arm? His buddies have to be laughing at him. She's there for the money and fame only and everyone knows it. It truly gives me peace of mind to know hubs and I are the same age and are growing old together. Our children have attested to this fact also. We're a Forever Family in this world and the next.

Two things I found interesting in the credits are this:

On the opening "warning" it states this: "Private home use only. The definition of home use excludes the use of this disk at locations such as clubs, coaches, hospitals, hotels, oil rigs, prisons and schools." Oil rigs???? Why not churchs? My church won't let us show a video in any kind of group setting in the church because of the warnings but I don't see "churches" in the warnings. But OIL RIGS???

The other thing I thought was funny was the catering. I'm guessing they cater the food for the actors when working. (Nice, if you can get it!) Most of the time the caterers are "Hollywood Caterers, Tony's Catering, International Caterers, Alesandro's Catering, etc., but one such movie caught my attention when the caterer was TV Dinners. I suppose that was a budget movie. :-)

The other thing I saw was how much smoking they do in movies. I'm talking about recent movies. Everyone smokes! I thought Hollywood was against smoking! You can't tell it by their movies. Most of the actors I've read commenting about it are smokers! How hypocritical can you get?
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When we moved in this house our new ward helped us unload the truck. They got done in one day what took us weeks to pack, and move over to a storage facility. It was an awesomely stressful task made short by their help. But it was just pieces of furniture and boxes. The other day I thought about what it looks like now because some of those people from that ward (we're in a different ward now because of a realignment) hadn't seen it like it is now. They seemed awestruck by how it is now. Just gave me a bit of pride to show it off a bit because when we were off-loading the trucks it looked sad. I guess you could say my "life" was in the boxes. ;-)
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I've been eating a lot of fruit lately, mostly strawberries, watermelon and pineapple, my favorite fruits. But the other day I kept smelling something like perfume but wasn't really perfume. Then I realized I had dripped some pineapple on my shirt. So now I'm sporting Eau de Pineapple!
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That's it for this week unless I get creative and get out and photograph something to show y'all.
~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #8

2011-11-11T00:01:00.004-07:00

This post should be titled: "How My Life Depended on the UPS/FedEx Man This Week" but read on, chicks!

The winner of last week's apron is:

Sherry of Country Wings in Phoenix

Congratulations!

And the winner of the tote is:

Robin of RobinfromCA

I seem to always be thanking Beverly for her Pink Saturdays but I truly do love this meme the best of all. Very easy for me to think of something pink to share with all you bloggers.

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This is the apron for this week's giveaway. You should know the drill by now: Leave a comment on this post right here. I'll draw the name sometime during the week and post the winner in next week's apron giveaway.

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Now, you can read about how my life depended on the UPS/FedEx man this week!

It's been a harrowing week for me.

About a week ago I started getting an ache in my jaw/tooth(?) but couldn't figure out which it was. Monday was a regular dental appointment to get my new crowns on the lower part of my jaw. I went in for my appointment and told them about the ache. They numbed me up with about 6-7 shots of novocaine to pull off my "halloween" teeth as I described them and to put on my permanent crowns. They couldn't find my crowns. They come from Los Angeles by UPS/FedEx and the truck normally would have delivered them the preceding Friday. They panicked, to say NOTHING about ME panicking! Yikes.

They got in contact with the lab in LA and they traced it to the truck that should have been there Friday but didn't and were on the truck to be delivered by noon that day—Monday. (I left the house at 10 am for an 11 am appointment.) As luck or fortune would have it, the crowns didn't get there until about 2 pm.

Well, it gets better. When she pulled off the temporary crowns, I heard an Uh-oh. This didn't exactly set well with me since I was in pain, but I trusted her and my dentist beyond measure to fix the problem. She said, "I see a root there." Okaaaaay, let's fix it quickly. So they did. The temps weren't on well enough and that allowed some seepage into that tooth area and the root was inflamed. Can we say "root canal" along with the new crowns? Well, at least I was deadened because as the morning and early afternoon wore on they had to keep deadening me with novocaine until the UPS/FedEx man arrived. So I truly was good and dead by 3 pm. I asked if I was exceeding the legal limit for a controlled substance and they said probably. Now, understand that with those bottom exposed (little ground down stubs!) I couldn't eat OR drink anything as roots and nerves were exposed. As I said, I left the house at 10 am; I got home at 4 pm. So I was without water or food for all that time. I stopped at Jack-in-the-Box for a milk shake on the way home and dribbled a lot of it down my shirt. I am so sore still today that hubs says I'm still talking funny. Now, don't get me wrong; I absolutely love my dentist and his staff. It was just one of those things, but hubs isn't letting me forget this is costing us about $9,000 trying to save teeth because of gum loss.

Sooooo, shameless as I am, I am going to show you what $9,000 worth of dental work can look like. They still have to whiten the molars in back to bring them up to the whiteness of the crowns, but after spending that much I sure want someone to get the benefit of those glams!!! Also, I had to do a very close up of the teeth so you couldn't see the chapped/flaky lips or cuts on my lip from all this. And I have a very small mouth. I think I can also see some spit bubbles in there, but no extra charge for those, chicks. (Oh, for esthetics sake, I can't show you the root canal. Ratz!!) ;)
~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #7

2011-11-04T00:01:00.009-06:00

Happy Pink Saturday once again and thanks to Beverly for hosting PS. Visit her at her blog and see all the other participants. And a very public thank you again to her for helping me to give-away these 12 aprons. Only 5 more to go after this one.

Oooooh, and you might want to check out the tote giveaway on the previous post a few days ago. Just saying...;-) You MUST leave a comment on that post to enter!

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The winner for last week's apron was

Sarah

Congratulations!
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To win this apron, simply comment on this post. You'll then be entered to win. Easy.

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Hubs and I are itching to get back over to see Miss Caroline, and we talk about her every single day. She's our pet subject these days.

But the other night we were talking about our trip over and he mentioned Dairy Queen. I perked right up of course because WE didn't go to DQ while over there.

I said, "DQ?"

He said, "Yes, I had to go into DQ to use the restroom."

I perked right up again thinking of Caroline in the car.

I said, "You didn't leave her in the car alone, did you?"

He said, "No, I took her in with me."

I perked up for the 3rd time quickly going over the scenario in my head of which restroom—mens or womens. My mind was boggling at that moment.

I said, "You didn't take her into the men's room, did you?"

He said, "Yes. What else was I going to do with her?"

I perked up for the 4th time!

I said, "What?"

At this point, I was imagining her with those little hands and lips that loved to touch and sample everything new and the things in a men's room that were head high to a 17 month old munchkin.

He said, "I didn't use the urinals. I picked her up, took her into a stall and held her in my arms while using my other hand to use the toilet." He also held her closely as she wanted to touch the walls, hanger and everything she could see.

I was at once both relieved and startled at what Caroline got to see at that moment. He assured me he directed her little head towards his back. Whew!!!
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We are both doing Weight Watchers because we've put on so much weight lately. The other night I just was looking around seeing what I could eat that wouldn't give me extra points. I eat a lot of fruit: canned natural applesauce, pineapple, strawberries, but all sugar free. But that night fruit just wasn't cutting it. I dipped into the Wheat Thins, which is a problem food for me, along with Cheez-its and a few of things. Okay, okay, let's be real. More than a few. I've been known to look at sneakers and thought with a bit of Sweet Ray's BBQ sauce they could be rather tasty. I think I'll need a trip of my own to DQ tonight. Sigh...
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A couple of days ago hubs came into the house and said our No Soliciting sign hanging on the porch had deteriorated so badly he brought it in so I could make a new one. The sign says this...well, let me show you the sign:
Of course, this was just at the exact moment that a local college student showed up to sell us oranges and grapefruits for the holiday season. I politely (a first for me with a solicitor, but he was from a private religious institution, where one of our previous neighbors is a professor and the guy was a cutie also...the student, not the professor) told him we can't eat grapefruit. He toddled on his way, which got me to thinking of a new sign I think I'll post out there in lieu of the above one. AND to which I've frequently had to add the question: What part of NO SOLICITING OF ANY KIND did you NOT understand? Hmmmm????
Showing Love Bunny the sign, I asked him on a scale of 1 to 10 how offensive was that sign. He said it was probably a 6. I told him I must be off my game; I can be much more offensive than that. ;-)
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Until next time, bloggers.
~*~

A Little Change, a Tote and Cupcakes

2011-11-01T15:57:00.000-06:00

I saw these on a blog of the winner of one of my aprons and just loved the fanciness of these. Are they not among the prettiest, fanciest and yummiest cupcakes you've ever seen? They're from Henri Bendel in NYC. Just thought you'd love to see them.
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I cut some hydrangeas from one of our plants in the front porch garden area and brought them in. They were pretty dry but still had color so I had hubs pull down from the plant shelf in the living room the urn with the arrangement I made last year with all the things bloggers and my eBay group had given me so I could put the 4 branches of the hydrangeas into it. Snapped some photos to show you. I like how it turned out. A bit of green in there. Maybe I'll get some artificial ones for it.

Blogging gives me 2 pleasures: writing and photography. I'm not very good at either one, but it allows me to keep my grammar skills up and to practice photographing things. Some are bad shots and some are better than I anticipate, but it's all practice. So hang in there all you bloggers who are like me and trying to perfect those skills. These photos will attest to that!

So with that being said, I'm giving away this tote. After all I did to make it, it just didn't work for me. I'll make another one with a zipper since I'm very concerned—okay, so I'm OCD—about safety and not losing my phone or iPod. So simply leave a comment here and you are entered for the giveaway. I don't make it hard for you at all.

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Now, I've told you hubs and I are silly sometimes. So we're sitting around talking and I wondered out loud if they stitch your mouth together when you die and are put in a casket. He looks at me and said, "With $8,000 worth of dental work for the past few months I'd better see a smile on your face showing those gorgeous teeth." He's such a card. ;-)
~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #6

2011-10-28T00:01:00.005-06:00

Our weather has changed dramatically in the past few days, getting much colder. I looked out the patio window this morning and thought I'd get a few pictures of the last vestiges of summer. Fall is officially here. Our cherry tree got zapped by a frost a few nights ago, but today it's looking even more frosted. I can see Love Bunny's mower tracks in the grass. It crunched under my feet at about 9 am this morning. And just to the right in the photo are the tomato plants dying. Hubs picked the last ones a few days ago and we are now trying to distribute them to as many neighbors as we can!

This little carpet rose bush is struggling to keep going up until the very last minute.

I try to keep my photos at 800 pixels wide so you can't see this very well but if you could see it at 3800 pixels you would see the frost on the roses. It looks like sugar frosting. Just beautiful to view it in the garden.

The winner for last week's apron is

Grace

Congratulations, Sugar!!

Welcome once again to Pink Saturday. Pop over to Beverly's blog and view all the participants for today.

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This is the 6th apron giveaway. Just leaving a comment on this post will enter you to win the apron below. Simple. Easy. Do it!

~*~

Rooms and Random Thoughts

2011-10-26T12:48:00.000-06:00

We've returned from a week with our granddaughter and her family. It was wonderful and very tiring for both of us, but we did bond a bit with Caroline. She's such a delight.

I woke up yesterday at 4 am and got up about 5 am, came in here and surfed a while, went back to bed at 6 and finally got up at 7 am. I hit the floor running and finally about 9 pm I sat down. It was the busiest day I've had for months.

Rooms I've thought were very pretty. Actually, they're just "fluff" to my...Random Thoughts that follow. ;-)

This sofa reminds me of one my grandmother had when I was a kid.

The lamp on the side table is what capture my attention mostly.

I LOVE this sofa!

Why can't my bedroom look this good?

Again, red/pink and yellow. My favorite color combination.

There isn't anything about this room I don't like. I love love love this room.

A gorgeous traditional bedroom.

~*~

Random Thoughts:

I ate my way through 3 states again. I'm feeling so fat it seems as if I've been raised from birth for sacrifice.
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Hubs and I are silly sometimes when driving on a trip. Actually, I'm silly most of the time, but life is fun for me.

Anyway, while driving back from Washington I was looking at hubs' profile and mentioned to him that I'd like to see that little smirk I love so much and is sooooo sexy. It takes him a while to get that smirk right, and I tell him when he's reached that point but this time I went further. I said, "What do you know that I don't?", just as a question—because that smirk reminds me of someone who knows something I don't. He said, "Well, I know a lot about Plutonium 238." Ooookaaaay, let's go with that then. (When he was in the Marines he was in nuclear weapons and knows a lot about that sort of thing. He doesn't tell me everything as it was on a "need to know" basis and didn't consider me a "need-to-know" person and refuses to tell me things that he did 40 years ago in the military. That's fine.

Next, we saw a man and his son on horseback on a road just off the freeway here in Idaho. I said, "They must be looking for their cows." He said, "There aren't any cows in sight." I said, "I said they must be looking for them, not found them!"
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We follow the advice we get from our church leaders as diligently as we can. Several years ago we were counseled to not deface our bodies with tattoos or have more than one earring in our ears—women—and men to not wear earrings at all. We've always had counsel to not smoke or drink alcohol and I don't. When I look at what's happening in our world today I think of how wise our church leaders are in this counsel. It's our choice but wise counsel. I now see beautiful young women and men with tattoos running up and down their arms, on their faces and even grandmothers with them. I've never ever liked defacing my body and don't and even removed the earrings from my ears. I think our church leaders knew the coming rage among people and warned us to follow the example of Christ. I'm sure glad I did. Although Love Bunny has a USMC tattoo on his bicep, he tries to not let it show by wearing shirts that cover it and besides, he had it long before he joined the church. Our bodies are our temples.
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I haven't yet started on my Italian lessons as I've been so busy just with life but I'll do it probably next year. I took Spanish and French in high school and in college and have forgotten most of it, but I do speak fluent sarcasm!
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In this family the competition is pretty stiff establishing one's self as an eccentric, but I give it the my best shot to out-eccentric my daughter. Sometimes it's a losing battle. Truly! My granddaughter and I are just thrilled she rethought her decision and finally refused Judge Judy's invitation to be on her show. This is true; I kid you not! Whew.
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I think you've had enough of me for one day. Smile, I love all of ya!
~*~

A Spiritual Melody for Sunday 10/23/2011

2011-10-23T00:01:00.001-06:00

Another one by Yiruma. I think I'll buy his album.

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #5

2011-10-21T09:56:00.006-06:00

I'm so sorry I almost forgot to post who won the apron. I schedule these posts weeks in advance sometimes and then forget to post the winner but here it is.

BJ

Congratulations, chick!

Get in touch with me, sugar, and give me your address. I'll mail it off to you on Monday.
~*~

Another Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly. Thank you, my sweet blogger friend.

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This little beauty is the 5th apron giveaway. I have to tell you that the top part of the apron's pink paisley is one of my all-time favorite prints. I love that fabric. To win you simply leave a comment and your name goes into a drawing. That's it. Just that simple.

I'm no different than any other great-grandma or grandma. I love seeing photos of Miss Caroline. This is her at dinner last night eating corn on the cob. Tonight my granddaughter and her hubby are taking us to Applebee's!!! Yippee!!!! Nothing gets in my Friday night date night, even if it does include my granddaughter and great-granddaughter.

No random thoughts this week, but just you wait until next week. ;-)
~*~

It's a Tough Life Babysitting

2011-10-19T00:01:00.000-06:00

Miss Caroline is a handful, let me tell you! Hubs and I watched her yesterday and were pooped by night. LOL She can run circles around us. Let me update you on what we've been doing so far. This video was made several days ago with her mom's stepmother from California. You can play this if you wish. It's only 33 seconds long.

Just before we came my granddaughter asked if we'd like to go visit my aunt in Bremerton that I haven't seen in over 50 years. She's 94 and I figured as long as we were over near there we should go. But you must understand that we're not familiar with the Seattle area or the ferries to the islands or peninsulas across the bay. So we set it up with my aunt, who lives with her daughter, my cousin, who I haven't seen in at least 45 years. We've changed. She's old; I'm NOT! How did she age and I not age? One of those mysteries of life. ;-)

But I'm here to tell you we got lost on the way she told us to come. We had our GPS get totally confused since it didn't know that the way it wanted us to go had a road closed. We persevered...in other words, we—hubs, me, granddaughter and great granddaughter—got on the cell phone and called grandson-in-law, who was probably the only smart one among us, and asked him to get on Google maps and find out how to get to the ferry. To his wife he said, "But you're calling from an iPhone, google it!" Mandy said to him, "We've got you on the phone now and I'm not familiar enough with it to do that." My 2 computer geniuses here. Sigh. He guided us into the Edmonds-Seattle ferry and we got there just in time to miss one ferry so we waited about 45 minutes for the other. It went downhill from there.

We tried to find a place to get lunch because by this time it was 1:30 and hubs was getting a tad testy. We found a Subway near the ferry, grabbed the sandwiches and barely made it back to the queue to board the ferry. It was a pleasant crossing. But it made us about 1 1/2 hours late from when we said we'd be there. Arrived about 3:15, spent a couple of hours reminiscing of the past 45-50 years. Headed back to the ferry.

Granddaughter is still feeding her little munchkin breast milk and was pumping. We got in line for the ferry, realized we had left her computer at my cousin's house and had to get out of line while people were honking at us, drive back to the toll booth with granddaughter still pumping milk with a "drape" over her front and getting some very strange looks from the passenger cars in line because she got out to tell the toll booth lady what the problem was...well, you get the picture. We laughed ourselves silly thinking about what the other cars coming through the toll booth were thinking as we were going in the opposite direction. Hubby ran in, got the computer and raced back to the queue at the ferry. The ferry we wanted was gone by that time so we had to wait another 45 minutes. So by this time it was getting late and if we had waited until we got back to granddaughter's house we would have been eating about 9:30 pm. So we went to another Subway and got sandwiches again. We made it home in time to put Caroline to bed with kisses all around. I don't think I want to spend another day like that again.

Here she is making her Poppop a pot of cocoa.
~*~

A Spiritual Melody for Sunday 10/16/2011

2011-10-16T00:01:00.004-06:00

I'm not one to usually play music on my blog but this is absolutely stunningly beautiful. It touched my heart in a way not much can. Just click to start and listen for about 4 or 5 minutes and relax. I promise you'll enjoy it. It's Yiruma and he's the most profound songwriter I've heard in a very, very long time. I plan on putting more of him on my posts in the future. Sometimes we just need moments to relax.

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #4

2011-10-14T13:00:00.001-06:00

The winner of last week's apron is:

LindaM

I've contacted her and it'll be on its way very soon.
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Today is the 4th apron giveaway of the 12 I'm giving away. I want to thank Beverly for having Pink Saturday but also her kind help to me in getting them to bloggers who will love them.

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This seems to be the most popular one. Could it be the cupcakes or the black polka dots? I don't know, but several women have emailed me saying they hope they win this particular one.

~*~

Random Thoughts:

Many, many years ago Love Bunny (hubs for the new viewers) told me 2 things that rocked my world. One is the world does not revolve around me. Now, this might sound silly or even difficult to believe, but I was shocked. I thought of course the world revolved around me. I am the center of the universe. This is not said with narcissism in mind at all. I just truly thought it. See how sheltered I had been up until that time.

The 2nd thing he told me what that not everyone thought as I did. Now, that was almost too much for me to register in my brain. Right is right, right? Well, it took me a long while to get my feeble brain wrapped around that. I finally came to realize as I got out into the world that he was correct in his assessment. As I look at the world today, it sure makes sense now. But back then I really thought everyone thought as I did. See how far I've come in the 50 years I've been married to a very wise man. I'm a great deal wiser now, trust me on this one.
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"That's all there is" is usually an excuse for bad behavior. Some people do not believe there is a reason we are here on this earth so they tend to live morally corrupt lives believing there isn't a price to pay sometime down the line. I'm here to tell you "YES, there is." There is a life after this one, and I intend to live as moral and honest as I possibly can. I know there is life eternal. I'm far, far from perfect but I'm striving the best I can. Some people are gifted liars who seem to have never been saddled with a cumbersome moral compass.
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I'm a tad sick of the government telling me what foods to eat and trying to limit salt and/or sugar. I can do that perfectly well without their help. We have free agency to eat what we please. And this just might include a Big Mac once or twice a year when the mood strikes me.
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Recently, I saw a "How Rich Are You" on a news site advertisement and if you entered your income it would tell you where you ranked in the world wealth. I passed on that one because I didn't want to embarrass myself.
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Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors. I hope mine are proud of me. I truly falter sometimes. ;-)
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Views overheard in the nursery are always harder to dislodge than those taught in the classroom. Teach your children well, my friends. Don't let others teach them their principles; teach them yours.
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Until next time, blogger chicks.
~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #3

2011-10-07T00:01:00.005-06:00

I drew the winner of the 2nd apron giveaway this past week and have notified the winner who is

Martie

Remember that some women emailed me that they wanted to enter and didn't have a blog so you won't see Martie's name on the list. There were 3 or 4 women who did this. How they knew was a mystery to me since it IS a blog. Maybe they just read blogs. But I'm appreciative no matter how they found me.
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Today is the 3rd apron giveaway. I want to thank Beverly again for hosting Pink Saturday. Actually, PS is my favorite thing to post. Maybe that's because I love Saturdays, but I also love, adore and relish PINK! However, my favorite day of the week is Monday. I don't know why but it just is.

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Nothing need be said about the apron, but I will say it has a piece of a vintage dresser scarf as its pocket. Simply posting your comment here enters you into the drawing. That's it. Nothing could be simpler, just to comment on the post giving away that particular apron.

~*~

Another Tote Bag

2011-10-04T12:15:00.001-06:00

First, here's a photo from my granddaughter's hubby's cell phone of our great granddaughter, Miss Caroline, 16 months old, taking her swimming lessons. When they were here visiting us and she was put on a playground swing, I noticed she had no fear—the higher they pushed her the more she laughed and liked it. So I suggested they give her swimming lessons just in case. After seeing her in a small child's pool in her backyard, they agreed. She is now loving the lessons and will put her face underwater. Ooooh, and the binky? Love Bunny says it's her flotation device. Her mummy said she loves that binky!

I decided to do another bag with a bit more room in it. This is what I've been working on for a few days. Remember, there is no pattern so I'm making it up as I go along. Not quite finished in this photo.

The back of it. Still have a scrap of that vintage pillowcase lace if I want to do another one.

Here it is finished. If I give this one away, the flower stays with me! LOL

I made this little ribbon rose many, many years ago when just learning how to do them well. This is one of only a few that are my favorites. I doubt I'll ever part with them since it was my first try. I've gotten a bit better though. I love crafting these flowers.

~*~

Thoughtful People

2011-10-04T00:01:00.001-06:00

I have no clue why this published early. I wanted it to post on 10/4/11! Sigh...

I have the most delightful neighbors. He teaches high school and she's a psychotherapist and they have 2 little girls: Ella, 6, and Hadley, 4. Hadley had open heart surgery as an infant and really gets around just fine now as a very energetic 4 yr. old. They're both little pistols, trust me. They know to vacate the sidewalk and driveway when they hear the garage door go up and always asks hubs if they can see his trains. A few days ago they came over with their bouquet of flowers for hubby and me. Quite a cute little twosome if I do say so. Ella once proceeded to give me all of their passwords for the garage and computer. LOL I looked at her dad; he looked at me and shrugged and then proceeded to reprimand her. I think she's going to be elected the next Homeowners Association President of our subdivision! She cannot keep a secret! Cute. This is the bouquet.

Then later in the day our friends from down the street and their 2 kids brought by a bouquet for watching the younger two while they were going through a crisis earlier in the week. How thoughtful some people are!

~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #2

2011-09-30T00:01:00.005-06:00

If you're not a regular reader of mine then you missed this post about the bag giveaway. So I'm not going to draw a name for the winner until Sunday night. If you want a chance to win it, then I suggest you skedaddle on over there and leave a comment. And please leave me an email to get in touch with you if you don't have a blog.

I planned to announce the winner of each preceding apron giveaway on the next week's giveaway, so in keeping with that the winner of the apron on last week's PS post is:

Cindy Adkins
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Today is the 2nd apron giveaway. This is the apron for this week. Only people who comment on this particular post are eligible for this one. Just trying to give everyone an even chance, gals. And once again thank you, Beverly, from the bottom of my heart for helping with this. I receive so many blessings from bloggers and friends that it is truly amazing and humbling. I'll also help in any way I can if you need me to, bloggers.

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Easy to win. Just leave a comment and you'll be given a chance to win one of twelve aprons I'm giving away on Pink Saturdays for the next couple of months. To see all of them go to this post.

~*~

The Case for Giving and My Crummy Mood

2011-09-26T10:31:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had "one-of-those-days"? That was just a rhetorical question. Silly me, of course, you have. Sunday was one of those days for me.

It was Fast and Testimony Sunday for our church. We fast for 24 hours —I'm horrid at it!—and then give what we would spend on a restaurant for those 3 meals and give to our bishop to help the needy families in our ward. We also bear our testimonies that day. I broke down. I couldn't stop crying from the very first man who spoke. Then a few kids got up and one young man who sobbed the entire time. That didn't help me.

Then in Sunday School I was handed a slip of paper with a scripture to read when the teacher got to that part. He must have given 2 slips of paper because another woman read the one I had. I'm still trying to get used to my iPod and the scriptures on it so I was flummoxed. It didn't get any better. Just one of those days when all goes wrong or the Lord is calling you (ME!) to repentance for thoughts during the week. Oh, who am I kidding? My thoughts in general my whole life! I skipped the 3rd hour, Relief Society, the women's hour at our church on Sunday. I couldn't take the chance that a thunderbolt wouldn't come down, zap me into the next century and the lucky person sitting next to me getting scorched for MY problem. I came home and picked up a book I've been reading. The photo below was a mistake pointing the camera up at the sky when I was taking photos but it pretty much sums up my mood today.

It is said that when we serve others we're happiest. So I'm serving you today. I've decided that I need to give something away to serve y'all. This little bag I made. If I make someone happy with this then I'll be happy. I can always make another one for me. Just drop a comment here and next Saturday when I give away one of the aprons I'll draw another name for this little tote bag. If you don't want it, don't comment here. It's that simple. Remember though that this was a prototype and ain't perfect, chicks. ;-)

P.S. Please do not tell me to be happy; let me wallow in self-pity for a few days at least, for Pete's sake.
~*~

A Few Thoughts on a Lazy Afternoon

2011-09-25T00:01:00.004-06:00

Summer is over or at least coming to an end. Our granddaughter, Mandy, Ivann and Miss Caroline came, camped with us and left. Our daughter, Nan, and her boyfriend came and went home. Hubs dragged me off to the wilds of Idaho for the last time this year. I have gotten the house in some semblance of order. At least most of the house. The craft/spare room is looking like...well, the photos below show what it looks like. I haven't put the craft table back up, but the sewing machine is up and running. This is a room that I can make a sewing mess and shut the door and no one knows the difference unless I choose to show them. You are one of those. ;-)

I'm trying to lighten the load on my shoulder when shopping by making a cute tote. I have a rather plain one that does the job but I wanted a snazzy one. Cute being the essential factor here, lightweight, over the shoulder/neck to leave me hands-free but security plays a factor in this also. I think I've designed one that meets the criteria I want. Less to carry but secure.

The boxes that I piled all the craft stuff into when I knew the kids/granddaughter/great granddaughter were coming still have not been emptied yet. I bought several little shoebox-type containers at Wal-Mart for this purpose but just haven't had the energy to do anything about that. I'm sure some of you understand this.

Yep, the beautiful fringe is still on the floor this morning. Remember: Close door and nothing shows.

You can see it coming together. I didn't have a pattern so just had to go by the seat-of-my-pants here. Lots of mistakes, but it is coming together. Taking notes for the next one though. Select fabrics I already have. Find that beautiful pink fringe I haven't seen for months. Then later I'll measure and cut a few pieces from different fabrics. Then I'll rest or "get away from" it for a while. Then go back and cut more. Leave. Come back. Sew. Little by little. It's taking me several days to complete this. I do it this way to not get frustrated. Didn't work. Trust me. I'm trying to have it done very soon though.

Later in the day:
As you can see I left the fold-over flap off. I just cut it too big for this one. I'll use it on the next one maybe. Plus I'm not that adept at flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants. A ribbon rose I made along with a darling little rose button in the center, scraps of ribbon and snippets of lace plus one vintage lace I had on a pillow case that was falling apart—the lace, not the pillowcase. It's so ratty but I just couldn't throw it out so I sewed it on here.

As I've said previously, I love the color combination of pink and yellow so I've put a very bright lemon yellow lining inside with pockets of various colors on the lining for glasses, iPod, cell and a pen. You definitely won't see this little cutie at WM.
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I was sitting here yesterday while hubs was at a convention. He goes to a lot of them: train conventions locally and on the west coast, Marine Corps League ones when they're close enough to drive, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) when they're local or close enough to drive here in the west or northwest. He's very supportive of and loves our troops. After all, he is a retired Marine.

The VFW Post in our town helps veterans financially when the need occurs. The past few weeks he's gotten calls from a couple of people who need help with their utility bills. After a few questions were answered, he met them at a local grocery store where you can pay your utility bill there. He doesn't just give them the money or a check. He goes there, meets the person asking for help there, pays it with a check and they both get a receipt. How many other organizations do that?

One such transaction yesterday involved a woman. Her hubby was a veteran (they don't have to be retired, just a veteran of a foreign war) and Love Bunny heard her tale of woe. Hubby was cut back hours in his job, their leased vehicle went over the mileage and they ended up owing a lot of money on the lease—at least to the tune of $600 being taken out of his paycheck for at least a couple of times but hubs didn't know how many times. Then she applied for a job at a local school cafeteria and the background check showed a felony at 17 yrs. of age so they fired her. She couldn't understand that one. DUH. But as hubby was walking out to the parking lot he noticed a big truck and when she opened it there were cartons of cigarettes in the cab. As he was telling me the story and got to that part, I reminded him we're not to judge; we're only to help. (Our church doctrine.) He agreed but had trouble wondering why people buy very expensive cigarettes in lieu of food or paying their essential life saving utility bills.

A few days before he was paying a utility bill for a man who got behind. As they were going to leave the store the man told hubs his wife said they were out of food and asked him if he could buy them some food, hot dogs, hamburger and buns. Hubby told him he was only authorized to pay his utility bill. After all, it's not my hubby's money and he's a great caretaker of money with which he's entrusted. So he told the man sorry.

When he got home and told me that, I chastised him. He could have helped with our personal money and bought the guy a few food items. I think he was sorry he didn't after my admonishment. We are commanded by the Lord to help each other. That doesn't mean judging others when they need food or clothing or essentials. It does NOT mean helping to pay their boat, ATV or car payment! (Yes, I'm a judgmental person but trying to "catch the vision" and am truly doing better on this issue.) But as the Lord says, aren't we all beggars? Yes, we are. So we need to be loving, kind and helpful to our brothers and sisters, but still maintain being prudent. Giving is never something for which you'll be sorry.
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Okay, I'll stop rambling now.
~*~

Pink Saturday Apron Giveaway #1

2011-09-23T00:01:00.006-06:00

Here is the first giveaway. But since I wasn't entirely clear on my last PS post that it would begin with this week, I'm adding the names from then to this week. I also want to say a public thank you to Beverly for helping me get the word out for things I want to giveaway. The decluttering continues in this house.

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Simply leave a comment on this post to win this apron. The rest of the aprons will be given away on subsequent Pink Saturdays. With a few thoughts thrown in of course.

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And those of you who have been long time followers know that I sometimes post just random thoughts, things that just pop in and out of my head while driving or just sitting around.

A few months ago I went to a friend's house to watch her bake bread so I could learn how to do it. While there I asked her why she and her hubby built such a large house later in life. They are in their 50s. I told her we scaled DOWN to a smaller house in our 60s (5,000 s.f. to 1800 s.f.) and couldn't imagine trying to keep up with the housework involved. I never again want to clean 4 full bathrooms. Her answer was that the kids get married and return home with all the grandkids. I just looked at her, smiled and said, "That's what hotels are for, sugar." They just sold their house last month within a couple of weeks in this depressing housing market. I think I got through to her!
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Another friend told me she was having a man and his wife visit them and was stressed out about fixing them a dinner; at least, they were staying in a motel for the night. This woman confessed to me on the phone that night that she was so tired lately that she just can hardly get her house cleaned: vacuum, rest, back to vacuum, rest, 3rd try at vacuuming, rest. When she told me about dreading fixing a dinner for a stranger and his wife, I said, "That's what Applebee's is for!" I'm dead serious, too. Many times I loiter at the edge of propriety. ;-)
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We have our yard sprayed about 5x during the summer season and it pays off in spades. Our yard is the best looking in the neighborhood with hardly a weed daring to poke its head up. Great service. So this week he told us he's offering spider/bug treatments. I told him no as I rarely ever see a spider or bug, which is great. But I can remember when Love Bunny (hubs to the new readers) lived in the Jacaranda motel in Oceanside, CA. waiting for military base housing and had to wrestle the cockroaches into submission for our meals. We've come a long way, baby.
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I know there are some of you out there who want to live in "simpler" times. Are you nuts or what?! Give me a Dyson vacuum, flush toilet—preferably one that can flush 10 golf balls, self-clean and freshens the air, a microwave, frost-free freezer and refrigerator, washers and dryers any ole day of the week. I just cannot see dying early from cleaning house! Stymies the heck outta me.
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I was in a house recently and it's pretty hard to describe it but I'll try:
The structure looked like the residence of a troll who had grown weary of living under bridges, without amenities, but who had neither the knowledge nor the industry, nor the sense of pride, needed to maintain a house. It was pretty pathetic. That is not a statement on the people living there. They are kind, gentle, loving and spiritual. They just simply have no sense of decorating.
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Even moral acts can have dimensions that scar the mind and wound the heart. Take care.
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Have you had enough of me today? Until next time.
~*~

The Curtain Caper

2011-09-20T00:01:00.003-06:00

I've sat here trying to figure out a snappy opening but I'm too pooped to pop or think.

This is the 6th pair of curtains I've had for this window. I have never covered the small window with anything but lace because it's so small nothing will fit there and look right. Anyway, I bought this fabric online and got a fantastic price at $6.95 a yard for higher end fabric. I love the fabric. It's a pink, taupe and white stripe and very pretty. I almost shot myself making them and this is the story.

You would think by now I'd be able to make something without ripping it apart...3 times. Yep, 3 times I took it apart. I wanted 4 panels out of the 7 yards I bought. I'm no fool. I know myself and I always buy more than I need just in case. And just in case applies to ME. First the rod pocket was too small and it wouldn't go on. Rippppp! So after sewing 4 lengths together for 2 full panels I thought it was too full. Ripppppp! So I ripped the seam apart and made 4 panels, very looooong panels and redid the edges after ripping out the rod pocket. Ripppppp! I spent several hours on Saturday doing this and while Sunday is a day of rest, the curtains sat there nagging—yep, actually staring me down and nagging—to finish them up last night because this morning I had to go to PT again and the carpet cleaner was coming.

I need a vacation at this point from just reliving this experience! Still with me?

Okay, so I flipped them over, meaning I forgot the top, just let it go, and restarted from the bottom now. But I kept one with 2 panels sewn together and the other 2 just on the rod squished tight so you can't see they are 2 panels (one on the right in the 3rd photo below.

Now, if you're confused, just think how I was this past weekend. A job that should have taken just an hour or so took me 2 1/2 days. If you've lost count of how many times I've ripped them apart, just trust me. Even I've lost official count. But if you come to my house and try to see the bottoms I just might have to kill ya. ;-)

Last night.

Last night

This morning. I really do like them!

I put the ribbon and rose back up there.

Closeup of fabric.

Very close up of fabric.

But one serendipitous thing did happen. While sitting and waiting for the carpet man, Mario, to finish I decided to redo a few things—plus wash some sheets, but that's another story. These 2 candlesticks were too large for the candles so I decided to stick some tissue paper down there. Lo and behold, it looks just like a ruffle around the candlestick. I'm impressed by my ingeniousness!

They now grace my living room table.
~*~

Giveaway for Aprons

2011-09-16T00:01:00.004-06:00

I know I'm a pathetic great grandmother but I could sit all day and look at photos and videos of my great granddaughter. Here is that little sweetheart and her mummy, my granddaughter, early in the spring.

She almost always has her sunglasses on when outside.

In this family, we start them out young keeping their skin youthful. ;-)

No, she didn't put it on the kitty. Here she's calling to her kitties by rubbing her fingers together.
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Welcome to Pink Saturday and many thanks to Beverly for holding the event. I've been remiss lately in posting for Pink Saturday and I do apologize for that, but life gets in the way and I frequently just stumble through it and then there are the times Love Bunny drags me off to the wilds of Idaho to camp. Such is the luck of this summer but I'm here to stay for awhile.

As many of you know if you read my blog regularly, I am decluttering my house. We've already taken 4 truck loads of stuff to the thrift store and there is much more to go. However, I cannot bring myself to just throw these sweet aprons onto the pile destined for the thrift store and not many of the women I know are into shabby chic, vintage items. (Idaho still hasn't evolved that much, chicks!) So I've decided to give away the rest of the ones I made and never sold. I know that if I give them away they will have gone to homes that will love them.

While they are truly aprons meant to be used, I've just hung them around my kitchen for the past few years. They've been a great decorative item but it's time I let go. They're all washable and many have fabrics you'll never find again. All are sweet and meant to be used. All are ruffled and very girly. Most have pockets and some quirky little items on them, like covered buttons I've made, lace, cute one-of-a-kind buttons, vintage doilies as pockets, rick-rack, toile fabric, tiny roses, polka dots, ticking stripes, vintage bedspread fringe, Waverly fabric in some, and one-of-a-kind fabric you'll never see again in others. I've made every single one with much love in my heart. But it's time, gals.

So, I'll give away one for the next 12 Pink Saturdays. Below are photos of all twelve of them. I'll just put them up on Pink Saturday over at Beverly's blog. There is no catch to win, just leave a comment and if you do NOT have a blog then leave me an email address so I can get in touch with you. If not, I'll pull another name within a reasonable amount of time and that person will get it. I don't want this to be hard and time consuming for me. I'm so into easy!!! So just stay tuned, comment, wait to hear from me and they are yours. Yes, you can enter each time I post a new apron so conceivably you can have more than one. It doesn't get any better than that now does it?!

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Another episode with the Love Bunny.

He wore out our treadmill. Actually, it almost killed him as he was walking on it and the power surged in the motor and almost threw him off. He does 3 days a week for an hour but Fridays are his big push. Plus he always lifts weight afterwards. (Trust me, you don't want to mess with a Marine, whether active duty or retired.)

Anyway, he wanted another one and I'm trying to keep our purchases down. So he did the Craiglist thing and found one. Not bad. It was listed for $150 and we got it for $120. It's truly like new and the man who sold it to us said his wife gave up after a couple of months.

So hubs is out in the garage as I type this trying to take it apart to put in the huge garbage can. He's saving every single bolt, screw and anything he thinks might be something he'll need someday. The man is 70 years old! He will never, ever need anything he's saving! Sigh...
~*~

Roses Wallpaper Border and a Surprise

2011-09-13T00:01:00.000-06:00

When I took down the curtain rods a few years ago and put up these new white ones I had a few rips in the wallpaper border. Now, you have to understand I bought this wallpaper border many years ago and can not find it anywhere now. It is most stunning. AND it was very expensive. I bought it when we lived in California and knew it would be in my forever house someday. When we moved to Idaho I just knew that first house was not destined to be my "forever" house so I just kept it, along with another gorgeous wallpaper I had found at Home Depot many years ago. That wallpaper I used just a fraction of but I kept it because it was the most luscious shade of jewel-tone green with grapes and ivy in it. But nonetheless, this flowered border went into this house. (Oh, yes, I almost forgot. I have another gorgeous Italian border I found and bought but it hasn't been used yet either. That one is an Italian villa view and quite stunning also but I just may use it someday somewhere in this house.

So with that being said I just recently went about the task of finding 3 small strips of it left over from this family room. All 3 strips are of the same bouquet. There are only 2 bouquets in this border so that the repeat is 2 bouquets. And wouldn't you know that the 2 left over are not the one which was damaged. So, being certain of some things, I proceeded to just apply the 2 leftover pieces to the damaged pieces certain that nobody will see the difference. I know this with 99.9% certainty! You all probably wouldn't have noticed unless I point it out to you.

These first 2 photos I took at night so the lighting is atrocious but it is just closeup so you can see the pattern repeat: far left is big rose pointing down to the right and the next one is big rose pointing down to the left and then it repeats again.

So in these 2 photos taken during the afternoon you can see the patched border just to the right of the white molding. See the 2 roses pointing down to the left? Hardly noticeable.

This patch is the one just to the left of the white molding. Hardly noticeable at all unless I'd purposely point it out. I don't care because at least now you can't see the pink wall visible through the rips. This was my fault for putting up the border after putting up the curtain rods and cutting around the rod. Try not to make the same mistake I did. But I was saved by finding the 3 extra bouquets quite by accident.

Oh, and one more thing.

I'm having a giveaway for Pink Saturday. Actually, I'll be having 12 of them over the next couple of months because there are some things I just couldn't give to the thrift store. It will all be explained on Pink Saturday, which I'll post on Friday afternoon. ;-) You're getting a "heads up" here, chicks!
~*~

The Psychology of Shopping and Decluttering the House

2011-08-31T21:11:00.000-06:00

Indulge me today; I need it!

I came across this 3 year old photo while cleaning up some files on my iMac recently and thought I'd share it with you. It looks pretty much the same but I am decluttering the house and the dining room has lost a lot of stuff in that cabinet in the background. I'm being brutal in giving stuff to friends and sending 4 truckloads—so far—of stuff to one of the local thrift stores.

I told hubs how sorry I was to have spent so much money on frivolous things when we moved into this house. I see all the stuff being put into boxes to be taken away and wish with all my heart one of you bloggers who loves my style were here to give it to. It's been brutal to see all this stuff go to others but I'm committed, and once I'm committed there's no turning back. I need to concentrate on reality and reality is those things don't mean as much as peace and freedom and a lifestyle that doesn't try to keep up with the neighbors. I see many bloggers just trying to buy as much as they can to satisfy some thing inside them. I'm becoming not that person. I don't want to be so competitive that I lose focus of what really matters in this world. This is not just lip service, chicks. I'm serious about this. All I need is food, a home to live in, a car to get me where I want or need to go and my hubby and kids. It's been a real revelation realizing this but it is sooooo very true at this time in history.

See that little suitcase on the left? Not the front one but the one in back. It's going.

Also the little one up in the left hand corner on the other side of the living room. It's going also. Truly, I thought I'd be crying but funnily enough, I'm not. It actually feels good to get things out of here. Oh, this is an old photo and the curtains are gone and other very flowery ones are up at the moment. However, I just ordered a pink stripe fabric to redo them yet once again. That will make the 6th pair of curtains I've had in this room. Nothing is ever static around this house.

This etagere is gone already to a friend's house. The vintage school desk is sitting on my front porch ready to be sold on craigslist. If it doesn't sell soon, I'll put it around on the back patio for the winter and try again next spring.

As I sit here today struggling with all the things I'm getting rid of a few thoughts have occurred to me. Okay, okay, more than a few, but I'm being nice—thousands of thoughts have gone through my head today, not the least of which is: Why in the world do I take hubby grocery shopping with me? I can't for the life of me figure out why.

My whole life has changed since he retired and has stayed home with me. Okay, "staying home" isn't quite accurate as he does a lot of things for our church, the VFW, the Marine Corps League and teaches several classes a month on real estate. (The latter job is a requirement from me to him to help me keep my sanity.) But the thing I'm most perturbed about is grocery shopping.

My opinion is that men simply do NOT understand the psychology of shopping but specifically 'grocery shopping'. We women follow a set of unspoken rules of which men have not been aware since the beginning of time.

Today while shopping he again hangs on to the cart trying to direct me around people. I have been grocery shopping for us for over 50 years now and I think I'm qualified to handle a grocery cart without being thrown out of Wal-Mart. He won't let me pass them, pushes the cart with an iron grip and tells me to watch out for other people. For crying out loud, I'm nice!! I've never hit anyone, smile all the time at my fellow women and men shoppers and actually, on a regular basis, let them go around me by getting out of their way.

Then, there's the 'putting the item in the cart' business. He just grabs an item off the shelf, not noting that it isn't the regular item/brand I buy and then organizes it in the cart ever so carefully. I just toss it in. Yes, of course, there's an organization to MY putting things in the cart but he makes it a science and that takes two to three times longer. I get frustrated and just start pushing the cart away. I don't crush bread or fresh items but I don't take near as long. Bottom line: I want to do my shopping alone from now on and not worry about saving a few pennies with a brand I don't like. (I'm NOT going into the argument we had over Del Monte versus Heinz ketchup today.)

The checkout stand is entirely another issue. We women understand how to 'get it done' without being obnoxious but certainly being assertive—at least I do. I'm assertive without being obnoxious. I start loading on the belt as soon as there is a bit of room and negotiate my cart a bit to the right of the person so I can load the bags into it asap. Mr. Love Bunny, or Happy-To-Shop-Man, doesn't let me do what I need to do. He's giving me the evil eye and pushing the cart back. I tell ya, I just want to POP him!!!! I am never ugly or mean to people! I know how to shop leisurely and graciously without offending anyone! Truly, I do. The only thing I want him to do is carry the groceries in. So I just may have to go shopping alone from now on.

It's off my chest now. Well, that is, but there will be more shortly. Trust me on this.
~*~

Getting Back to Work

2011-08-23T10:31:00.000-06:00

I've gotten the bug lately to "clean out" and "get rid of." You all know what I mean, and, of course, I've said it before, but this time I actually mean it. As you can see from the photos below I've given up watching streaming videos on my laptop and decided to get myself in gear. This has not been easy. I mentioned to Love Bunny the other night that I've GOT to stop watching videos on my laptop because my neck is starting to hurt and if there's one thing I don't need, it's another body part hurting. But a few words before I get into that.

Being a slug can be addictive, especially when access to streaming movies is so easy. But there are few things worth watching. Truly. It's mostly trash and I was succumbing to it. Why do we do it? For me it was simply not wanting to deal with reality at the time. Being in a slump can be very debilitating mentally, which then spirals down into physically. I am now cleaning out so much that hubs had made 4 trips to the thrift store so far and more are definitely on his horizon.

Take a look below.

This étagère is now sitting on the front porch. I've put it on craigslist but no takers so far. I do have a place I can use it in the house if need be but I think I can use it on the front porch also. So it quite possibly will remain out there with pots on it. We've had it for 38 years at least.

This is all the stuff that was on it.

The "stuff" will now go on this bookshelf that I moved in here from the family room.

That space was then empty, affording us much more room for a much needed side table and a lamp.

The stuff on the sofa will stay, but the stuff on the floor goes to the thrift store. Plus there's a plethora of items in the other corner of this sofa just waiting to be dealt with soon. Probably the thrift store will benefit here again. This room needs much attention.

Then while all this is going on recently I decided also I wanted a different dish drainer. I went to several stores locally and couldn't find anything I wanted. Even Williams and Sonoma didn't have anything I wanted and their's started at $85! So I surfed Amazon and eBay until I found this one for $25.99 and free shipping. Even hubs loves it.

Then I was needing 2 containers to put our sweeteners in. We use very little sugar but sweeten our drinks with packets of artificial sweeteners. I was putting both of our choices on the same plate but that just didn't work well so I shopped the house and found a couple of things I thought would work. However, in the end my choice was sitting on my coffee table with little shells in it. Below you now see it holding my Equal and the original dish on a pedestal holding hubs' Sweet and Low. This bowl holds the soaps, and the pedestal dish is now sitting on our coffee table in the living room.

Much more efficient this way.

And this little bouquet of flowers is sitting on our dining table. Hubs picked them a few days ago. Aren't they gorgeous? Most of the photos are horrid because of the lighting in this house, but the one below turned out well. Maybe I need a new lens. I think I'll take a trip to the local photography store and ask.

~*~

A Bit of Blogging

2011-08-10T16:11:00.000-06:00

While I've been busy, I've also been a bit lethargic about life lately. Try as I may, I cannot seem to get interested in much of anything for several months now. Bear with me while I ramble a bit.

Yes, missing in action for a while, but I'll be blogging more soon. Which reminds me of something I've been seeing lately—not as much blogging around the internet. I've noticed it with myself and definitely with others. I've cut my favorites severely since I'm tired of seeing the same ol' stuff going on. I'm tired of simply viewing a blog that is promoting its owner's merchandise or viewing the same vignettes 20 times or setting tables with different plates or promoting "sponsors" on their blog. To me, it's just plain boring. They can absolutely do anything they want, but I'm choosing to stay away from those blogs.
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I've not gotten over watching videos on my Mac laptop since the surgery in April. I now know I've got to give it up. I'm not doing the things I need to be doing in life.

I've taken a 2 month leave of absence from my mission to deal with some personal things like the dreaded colonoscopy. Yuck! But it will soon be over. Then if that isn't enough, my left knee has been hurting. My son and hubby say it could be from the surgery on the right foot and the stress it puts on the left leg. This coming Friday will be my last day for PT on the foot/heel so I'm glad for that, and, yes, it has helped. I'll continue doing it at home though because the Achillles Tendon is still a bit tight.

So that's put me on a downward spiral with life. BUT this week I decided to get my backside in gear and do something around the house. I'm not one to change frequently, or change a lot, but I do change things.

For instance, notice the sofa below. I took off the slipcover to wash it (the skirt was filthy from visitor's shoes) and decided to leave it off for a while. I'm so glad I bought a washable slipcover; it washed beautifully but we had to spread it over 4 lawn chairs to dry it since it was so large and heavy for the dryer. I didn't want it to shrink either. But it was so big and heavy it took 2 loads to do it and even that was dicey! I also cut it down to 3 pillows instead of the 5 I had on there.

That sofa is almost 20 years old and still looks new. I just love it!

Then I decided I've got to get rid of some things in this house. So in our bedroom was a little footstool I had covered with a beautiful Waverly print years ago. I took it off when we moved here and stored the little footstool up in the attic. Last summer Love Bunny brought it down and parked it next to his bedside table. It's been there "holding" his clothes each night. It was just sitting there looking pathetic in its foam, soft stuffing covering and muslin that I thought I'd make another cover for it. Wasn't I just saying "get rid of some stuff"?! Sigh...

Well, one day I noticed a Battenburg lace small tablecloth I had stashed away and wondered if it would fit over it. Voilá, it fit just fine to cover the padding and muslin so I used some upholstery tacks to simply tack it. It took me all of 5 minutes to have a new little stool to have as an extra seat or a stool on which to prop one's feet on. Washable also! So now I don't have to sew anything...at least until I want to sew, which brings us to the next problem.

This sad and sorry looking craft and sewing room, which we're using more for food storage now. It's looked like this for almost a year. I usually just close the door and forget about it. There was way too much stuff in it. The antique school desk had to go. We took it out and it's now on Craigslist. I simply didn't have room OR need it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was an impulse buyer that day. I've curbed my spending dramatically!!!

I'll get to this before Christmas because I can feel my zeal coming back slowly. ;-)

A few roses from my garden today. They're still blooming. Aren't they just lovely? What would life be without beautiful flowers? God is so good to us!

If you've stayed with me this far on this post, thank you! I do tend to chat/ramble on too much. ;-)
~*~

Caroline Walking

2011-07-18T06:34:00.002-06:00

Being her great grandmother I laughed myself silly over this video of course, but I do think it's funny especially at the end. I've watched it at least 15 times since Mandy sent it to us. Mandy says she does fine but when she carries something she's top-heavy and topples over. :-)

~*~

Where Bloggers Create 2011

2011-07-14T09:05:00.003-06:00

I've come a bit late to the party since I just today heard about it. Anyway, just click above on "My Romantic Office and Studio" and it will take you to where I work and create.~*~

Just More Rooms to Drool Over

2011-07-11T10:45:00.000-06:00

I'm struggling to keep my blog somewhat updated while doing this mission. I thought it would be a breeze, but I was wrong. It is most challenging. I'm online making phone calls, keeping notes and updating ONLINE what I'm doing. So I just wanted you to see these lovely rooms I saw in an Ethan Allen magazine some years ago.

Red/pink and yellow are my favorite color combinations as I've said before. This is a particularly stunning shade of yellow and I love it. I also prefer 2 cushion sofas as it gives the person sitting on it more room, plus, rarely do 3 people sit on a 3 cushioned sofa. At least, that has been my experience.

I absolute LOVE this sofa.

Another room decorated in my favorite color combo.

~*~

Temples and Piano Hymns for Sunday 7/3/2011

2011-07-03T00:01:00.005-06:00

I saw this video a few days ago and just sobbed at the music and the beautiful temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know the reasons for the temples. If there is one near you, please try and visit it. They are truly beautiful, magnificent sacred buildings.

~*~

Pink Saturday 7/2/2011 and Random Thoughts

2011-07-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Pink Saturday, chicks! I know I've been absent from PS and from blogging but I am on a mission for my Church and that has to come first. More on that later. But please visit the other participants by clicking on the logo below to visit Beverly and this wonderful showing of the PINKS!
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This is our front yard a few days ago. The roses are in full bloom and are gorgeous and very fragrant. Enjoy viewing them! I even got hubs to spring for another rose bush. I'll show it in a later post. It's magnificent also.

These smell absolutely wonderful.

And this one is one of my favorites. Actually, I have several favorites but pink and yellow is my favorite color combo so it's high on my list.

As I said earlier, I am on a mission for my church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I thought it would be a breeze; I've never worked as hard in my life. I'm doing a Family History mission, which means I can do it out of my home on my computer. But I've had to learn so many new programs that are NOT familiar to the general public: SugarCRM, inContact, Googledocs, WebReference, wikis for the church, MeetingPlace and a few more. I'm supposed to commit to at least 15 hours a week. I thought "no problem." I was wrong! It's been a major challenge. I was trained for 4 or 5 weeks. This past Monday, along with something else, I totally lost it and broke down crying to Love Bunny. I explained what had happened to me that day (story below) and how low I was feeling about the whole thing. He set me straight, but more about that after the next story.

Last year my primary physician told me it was time for a colonoscopy. Well, y'all know what that means: drinking the most dreaded drink known to man. But I agreed. I went down the hall to the doctor she recommended, scheduled an appointment for a consultation and several days later I met with a woman in the doctor's office who wasn't the most pleasant of individuals and was a severe person, and I'm still not sure if she was a nurse, FNP, PA or just his assistant as her manner of dress gave no indication. She took my history and when I went back out to the receptionist, she scheduled an appointment for the procedure. I did a "mental shrug" and wondered about how this was going to work. Now, I don't know about you all but I want to meet the doctor before going into the surgery room. I didn't think this was out of line one bit. I absolutely take a very assertive stance in my healthcare and all other parts of my life. So I called back to cancel the procedure until I'd met the man. This has taken several months because he wasn't always available. I said that wasn't a problem; I'd wait. Meanwhile, my doctor was pressuring me to have it done. I finally called again to the other doctor and scheduled. They then called me back and asked WHY I wanted to see him. He didn't see why that was so important. So I had to explain to the doctor's receptionist (who was a sweetheart) WHY. I was experiencing a bit of a problem but didn't want to tell the whole office, for crying out loud. After explaining in the most intimate details the problem to the receptionist, she said that she'd relay the information to the doctor. She was as embarrassed as I was.

Well, this past Monday I went to his office and was escorted into a consultation room. When he walked in—I've never ever SEEN the man before—he wouldn't even meet my eyes. I held out my hand as he DIDN'T and he had no choice but to shake my hand. It went downhill from there. He was rude, arrogant, disdainful, contemptuous and told me 2 times to not interrupt him. Why I didn't just get up and walk out I don't know. I came home, went out to dinner with hubs,vented to him and asked for counsel as he knows me better than any other human being. He just said, "I don't see why you're even asking. Cancel the appointment and go back to your old doctor [the one who has performed the procedure 2 other times and is a surgeon]." Hubs is so practical! I didn't need validation as I knew I was in the right but I was so stunned by that man's behavior I wondered how he even got patients. If he doesn't like meeting with his patients then he should seek another line of work. His bedside/chairside manner was atrocious. I even asked him about the little problem I was having and asked if when he performed the procedure if he would do a surgery is anything was wrong. He said, "No." I sat there stunned waiting for an explanation. Then I asked why and he said he wasn't a surgeon; he was a D.O. Okay, that was the clincher for me. I knew this wasn't going to be a match. That's when I drew hubs into the picture.

My point here is with the new healthcare laws we need to take an even greater interest and be assertive in our healthcare. Plus, do NOT put up with this "God-like" behavior with any doctor! It's your life and your body. Be assertive!
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Random Thoughts:

On Same Sex Marriage: Marriage long ago ceased to be a promise made before God and community for man to take care of woman until death do us part, for man and woman to take care of their children until they are old enough to take care of themselves.

In its place is a half-meant promise to live together until man and woman are sick of each other or no longer have sufficiently enjoyable sex, with children fitting somewhere alongside who gets the Prius as a priority.

I am so blessed to have the same original man with whom I started out married life. He knows my physical flaws, the sagging body, the wrinkles, the age spots, the scars, all my imperfections and still loves me with all the vigor of a first love.
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What we do in life echoes in eternity so you'd better shape up here.
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When my daughter gave me access to her Netflix account recently while recuperating from foot surgery, I watched DVDs on my laptop. I noticed how smoking is so prevalent in the movies. I don't smoke and never have, just as a personal choice, not just because of my religion. But I certainly want to have the freedom to smoke for others who do. Now, I'm finding it very hypocritical for the Hollywood types to condemn everything that is the "hot item" of the year here and then do just as THEY want. I don't believe there was one single movie that they didn't smoke like a fiend. I was truly astounded after hearing them wanting to ban smoking.
~*~

Our 50th Anniversary Dinner and Vacation Part 2 for Pink Saturday

2011-06-16T00:01:00.001-06:00

Welcome to Pink Saturday once again. I'm doing this early so you can read about our experiences this past week.
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These are what we saw in our gardens when we got back home from California. The peonies are absolutely huge. But on with the story below the flower pictures. Do not stop reading here!

And 2 different colors of clematis on the same plant.

We arrived at my daughter's house in northern Calif. on Monday and on Tuesday she and her boyfriend and hubs and I traveled down 101 to Santa Barbara. The motel was booked on line. Let me say here the pictures do NOT do justice to the rooms. If they hadn't been so cheap at $189 a night we would have gone somewhere else. We were all disappointed in them, but as I've said many times before here we just laughed and giggled at how bad it was. Nothing—and I mean absolutely NOTHING—ruins my vacations.

My son and daughter had booked 5 rooms for all of our families. Hubs and I took a small room as it was just us and we aren't picky. BUT this place was sad. Most of the lights didn't work. The whole place was shabby instead of the perceived "ambiance and quaintness" visible in the photos. A nice regular room in Santa Barbara started at $400-$500 a night and since my son and daughter footed the bill for hubby and me we weren't about to complain. I mean they didn't let us pay for one thing the whole week. But as I said, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me where we stay as long as the bed sheets are clean. There were wicker settees outside of each room so we commandeered 5 of them and sat out there instead of in the rooms. Being right across from the beach was nice for the kids also.

This was our room and trust me when I say the actual room didn't look this good close up. The toilet in my son's room wasn't even bolted to the floor and moved whenever anyone sat down. Our toilet seat wasn't on tight either and at one "critical" point it slid sideways with me on it and I almost fell into the...well, you get my drift here. It was not pretty, let me tell ya. The phones in every single one of our rooms didn't work either. Thank goodness our rooms were next to each other. The closet is to the left of that mirror/alcove and there was padding on the concrete floor but no carpet. (Photos courtesy of the motel's website.)

A patio on the 2nd floor of the motel. We never went up there as stairs are still hard to climb with this foot, although, it is definitely getting better.

We had to fight for parking spaces in the motel lot. Parking was at a premium here with the beach across the street. There were 27 motel units but only 12 parking spots and only 2 or 3 on the street.

This was our son's room. He had 5 people in his party: him, wife, 22 yr. old son and 14 and 15 yr. old sons. The staff put a cot in the closet for our 22 yr. old son. Then my tall, skinny son sat in the one chair and fell through to the floor. They took the chair out to a vacant room and brought him another chair. It truly was laughable.

This was my daughter's room. My oldest grandson's girlfriend's little girl, 3 years old, had a fun time splashing in the jacuzzi tub. They are planning a wedding for next May. This room also looks much better here than in actuality.

This is how the skies looked all week down there. I think we saw about one hour of sun the whole 6 days.

I truly am not complaining as I'm grateful for my son and daughter and can adjust to just about everything. BUT it gets better, chicks...

An elegant dinner was planned for The Stonehouse at San Ysidro Ranch, ranked as one of the best hotels in the world. And it truly was elegant.

We had a party of 15: 2 babies, 2 teens and the rest adults. The menu was spectacular and pricey. The side salads were $13 each and the desserts were $14 each (Mine was caramel apple pie and just for the record my apple pie is better!). I had the Parmesan Encrusted Halibut, which 4 of the adults had, but 9 had the Steak Diane. I had a bite of my 22 yr. old grandson's and it just was incredible. My son had it and said it was better than Ruth's Chris Steak House steak and that was his favorite until this night. I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it tasted. For those of you unfamiliar with Steak Diane, this is how it is prepared: The steak is seasoned by rubbing garlic and pepper into it and fried quickly in butter. A sauce is made from the pan juices using butter, shallots, cream and beef stock with worchestershire sauce, which is poured over the steak just before serving. I actually prepare this a lot because we love it but I go very easy on the cream. Mine has never tasted this good though because the steak was Premium! My kids wouldn't let me see the total cost but with the prices on the menu I figured out this had to be a $1300 to $1500 dinner. (A funny thing happened with Caroline and her mummy. One waiter —we had about 5 waiters waiting on us—asked Mandy if Caroline wanted anything and since she's only a year old she told him no, she was going to give her Spaghetti-Os. We all laughed at that, but she couldn't have eaten anything on that menu.) The below photo was on the Stonehouse's website as I didn't get any pictures and the kids haven't sent me any they took that night. As an aside: Jackie and Jack Kennedy spent their honeymoon at this resort.

And better yet...

The dinner was Thursday night and took us about 3 hours eating on the elegant patio in lush surroundings. We had valet parking and there had to be at least 5 valets because all of our cars were brought up from the wooded parking area at one time. But later on that night people started getting sick—daughter, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and her hubby, one grandson and Love Bunny. He went to bed that night and stayed in bed until Sunday morning. I'm not going into specifics but he was queasy and used the facilities A LOT. I stayed outside on the little area outside our room with some of the others who weren't sick. We don't know if it was something in one of the food dishes or just a bug going around but I didn't get sick.

Now, for the clincher. I told the kids "NO GIFTS" and had no reason to doubt they'd adhere to our wishes. But while sitting in that beautiful setting at that stunning table, they whipped out a gift bag with a jeweler's name on it. I was in shock when I opened it up and inside were 2 gold watches with our 50th anniversary date engraved on the backs of both watches and a little stone on each one. Brats!!! They never did listen to me. :-) Sigh.
~*~

Our 50th Anniversary Dinner and Vacation Part 1

2011-06-14T18:57:00.000-06:00

I'm so tired I could lay this body down and go to sleep and it's only 6:15 pm. We got back home last night at about 9 pm. It was the longest it's ever taken us to travel down to California or return, but there's a reason for that. (Sit back because this is going to be a long post.)

Love Bunny got a ticket a few weeks ago. But what makes it truly remarkable is that I was with him and just a few minutes earlier we had been talking about speeding on the very road we were on when he got the ticket. It's near our house and it was in a school zone. HE said he didn't see the flashing lights on the school zone sign. (DUH!) Now, this is remarkable since it was on a corner, kids were everywhere, parents were picking kids up and I had just nagged him about speeding. (I've gotten 3 tickets in my entire life; he's gotten 5 in the last 3-4 years.) He was accelerating and got to 41 mph in a 20 mph zone this particular day. I saw the cop coming from the opposite direction and had just opened my mouth when he turned around and put on his roof lights to pull hubs over. I'm a nag when it comes to speeding. I just don't speed. No reason to. We're retired and not in a hurry no matter what.

To say I was angry is putting a real shine on it. I was furious, livid and if there were any other adjectives to describe my mood, they have slipped my brain at the moment. I didn't speak to him for about 18 hours, waiting for my anger to calm down. When I did, I told him I'd not drive with him again if this continues OR he can drive and I'll nag him each and every time we're on the road. He went for the latter. He knew he was screwed and didn't even offer a defense. Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely hate nagging him about speeding but we can't afford any more tickets or rate increases in our car insurance. He's a very careful driver really. But he just has a heavy foot, and things don't stay in his head like they do mine. I'm great at compartmentalizing; he isn't. So that's the story of why he is supposed to follow speed limit signs now, which put our travel back from California at 13 hours instead of the usual 11 hours. We have made it in 10 1/2 when our son-in-law died, but the usual time is 11 to 11 1/2 hours.

There is a stretch of road in Oregon out in the middle of absolutely NOWHERE where you have to do 55 mph. He's gotten a ticket going through there and it's a speed trap. You can see the horizon from front to back and see no life whatsoever but it's still 55 mph because the citizens of Oregon see no reason to raise it on that 2 lane stretch of 95. There isn't a lot of traffic at any time but it's the only highway out of Idaho to Oregon, Nevada to California. So we did 55 mph for 120 miles with only 2 very tiny towns on that route. When we hit the Nevada state line we can go 70 but it doesn't make up for the time you lose going 55. Also, there has rarely been a time when we don't see a cop giving someone a ticket and this time was no different. We warn people who are taking that route to do the speed limit in Oregon. Oregonians are fanatic about their speed limits! The trucker we saw this time had passed us and we caught up with him when the cop had stopped him. He passed us again before we hit the Idaho line! Once we saw 4 different cop cars handing out tickets. Some people never learn.

So this is just a tease of what's to come later. There is more, much more to tell you but I have things I've got to do tonight. I'll leave you with these photos of my daughter's yard.

Back yard showing her little storage shed and all the roses in the back. Her back yard has grass but the front doesn't. She's spread rock in the front to keep maintenance down to a minimum.

Her gazebo with wisteria growing over it.

She's a shopping maniac and got this old bedstead to put out there.

Her small vegetable garden is seen in the background. She had to put screening around it to protect it from here cats and dogs.

P.S. I haven't proofed this so if there are any grammatical errors or misspellings, get over it!
~*~

I'm Back from California

2011-06-14T10:22:00.002-06:00

We just arrived home last night after 13 hours in the car. I'm pooped but I will update you on our anniversary trip later tonight or tomorrow. I have no doubt you'll be intrigued with the stories I have to tell. It was truly very eventful! So let your interest pique but until then enjoy the picket fence and roses until I can get some laundry done, pick up our mail and get a haircut for this mop-looking head of hair.
~*~

Checking In 6/9/2011

2011-06-09T15:17:00.003-06:00

This is Miss Caroline yesterday. We're down in Santa Barbara on the ocean for our 50th anniversary with our kids, grandkids and great granddaughter. I'll have LOTS more pix in a day or so, but tonight we're out to a swanky restaurant for the celebration.

Quirky little face in this picture but she must have had something in her mouth. We love those big blue eyes of hers.

This little tag came on a present I bought for her and it was so darling I thought I'd show you. How creative is this clothing company!

A preview of things to come next week. This is daughter's back yard. More soon.

~*~

Things Are Starting to Bloom Around Here and Random Thoughts

2011-06-02T08:18:00.000-06:00

Miss Caroline celebrated her first birthday last week and this is what I got her. I shan't post the whole thing today, just a hint of what it is. Of course, I'll do a post with her and the gift in the next few weeks but I'm going to leave you hanging until then. I can't wait to see that chick next week!

Our peony bush is finally budding out.

And our clematis has finally taken a good "root" in the soil and produced its very first exquisite flower. I cannot tell you how thrilled we are about this.

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Random Thoughts:
I've been very busy on my computer this week doing what I'm supposed to be doing for my mission, but to tell you the absolute truth, I'm in a fog and brain dead from all the stuff I'm supposed to be learning. It's a lot of work mentally to learn several new programs at once. Usually, I—and mostly everyone I know—learn only one program at a time, but it's essential to have working knowledge as rapidly as possible, somewhat like learning a new job. I can't truly relate to you how frazzled I am. So I've been taking breaks watching streaming videos from my daughter's Netflix account. I've watched more videos the last month or 6 weeks than I've watched in my entire life before the foot surgery. ;-)

Funny how spy, espionage and mysteries can somehow entertain me but they take me out of MY world into...well, the real world outside of my home. It's cozy, quiet and happy in our home. Not at all like the "real" world out there. I must say that most of the acting is atrocious and vulgarity reigns in all of them. In this house we don't take the Lord's name in vain; in the movies, it's used at an expletive. I won't be watching videos anymore. Give it a try and see how much more calm your home will be.
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Women must realize that when they change their hairstyle and color, it often achieves what they want to do: look completely different to any unsuspecting male.
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Famous last words:
Daaaad, I'm 13; I know what I'm doing!!! (Daughter about 35 years ago.)

I'm going to join the Marines because I'm tired of people telling me what to do!! (Oldest grandson about 9 years ago.)
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Most of streaming videos I watched said they were reformatted to the screen. I wondered what "screen" they were formatted for originally. Just wondering because I have no clue what that meant.
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On the credits for one video it stated that one song was performed by a band called "Garbage" and it was—garbage, I mean. Why in the world would someone name a band Garbage?
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My kids AND friends kid me about not texting. I just don't want that in my life. It stifles my ability to use language properly for which I'm a staunch supporter. It's teaching our young people to "short circuit" certain proper forms of communication, trash our language and their writing skills (which I'm convinced are on the road to extinction!) and our ability to communicate effectively. I need context, nuance and the warmth and tone that can only come from a human voice.
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I was leaving my massage place the other day and was behind a woman at a stop sign where a woman with a sign was begging for money. The woman in front of me quickly gave her some money, but I turned my head away when I pulled forward to cross the street. It got me to thinking who was the most charitable and I'm very ashamed for that. I vowed the next time I saw someone begging for money at a corner I would give them a bit of money. It's on my head for not helping the poor, which I truly do on a very regular basis through my church, and I'm ashamed of my thoughts on that day. But I was caught off guard the next time I came upon a person begging for money a few days later and told myself to be prepared with a few dollars sitting on the console of my car. God is so good to us and we're truly blessed with everything we need and more that I don't want the Lord withholding blessings because of my selfishness toward my brothers and sisters; for aren't we all beggars? I don't want to be an ungrateful servant.
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Keeping In Touch 5/29/2011

2011-05-29T07:50:00.004-06:00

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!!!

2011-05-24T14:53:00.000-06:00

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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