Hubs and His Vegetable Garden

My hubs was the best catch of the day when we met 51+ years ago. It's been quite a journey for us, probably more trying for him than me. Hah! He would never say that but it gets a bit crazy living with a compulsive person. Me, not him. He's quite easy going. I like everything organized just so in my house. He doesn't care what I do except I'd better not touch his train room. I rarely ever go out there.

But his garden is his pride and joy, both the flowers and the vegetables. He can grow tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers like crazy and therein lies the tale.

I don't can anymore. I hate it. It's too hard and time consuming and isn't worth it for two people. I can buy it cheaper at the stores without all the work. I got rid of my canners and jars about 5 years ago and haven't looked back. I did keep my dryer because we like to keep our granddaughter and great granddaughter in dried fruit. Plus it's not hard to do it.

But we can't eat the tomatoes and cukes fast enough around here. They just keep multiplying like crazy. I'll make a cuke and tomato salad, or just slice them and put them on a plate to eat. Or he'll make tomato sandwiches or we'll have them in a salad. OR we'll give bags of them to the neighbors. I'm sick of cucumbers and tomatoes. But he'll bring in a bag full and put them in the fridge. They will "disappear" every day or two until they're gone. He doesn't even seem to notice, which is good. I'll just leave them on the counter for a day or two, then put them in the fridge for a day or two while taking several out and throwing them in the garbage. It's gotten so no one wants any more vegetables from us! But the truly funny thing is that he doesn't notice at all. ;-) I think I have some rotting in there as I'm typing this post. They'll be gone tomorrow! ;-)
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I think this is a very pretty room. Nicely arranged and pretty colors.

While this is a lovely room, that side table is what caught my eye before that gorgeous bay window. Lovely and elegant while romantic and liveable.

Another bedspread from the same place I bought my ruffled quilt. It's gorgeous also.

Just some pretty embroidered pillows and a decorated box.

This wallpaper reminds me of the 1990s and the plates on the wall also but still gorgeous.

I'm sure this is something Rachel Ashwell came up with but isn't it adorable and wouldn't it be fun to have in a bedroom?

Some happy hats to make you smile. :-)

A bold color on an old French building. Love the color!

What an outdoor room! Frankly, I don't see how people keep white so clean though. In our desert, they'd look filthy all the time. Winds blowing the sand and dirt from nearby farm fields would destroy them within a couple of years at the most.

Truly eye candy. ;-) Gorgeous.

Another beautiful bottle.

A sweet card.

An adorable kitchen but I love the bright red touches. Could that be red chalk paint?

This wouldn't have to be for a wedding but could be for a fancy luncheon for friends.

Aaaaahhh, the luxury of windows to the world such as these. Beautiful.

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A Night Out for Dinner

I'm joining in with Claudia's A Favorite Thing linky party tonight and will use this post but put in a favorite thing now to join her at 8 pm EST.

It's hard for me to have just one favorite thing as I could keep this party going well into the 22nd century with my favorite things. Actually, I'll probably depart this earth before I could possibly get through my "favorite things." But today my favorite thing will be this little bucket I painted to match the new decor that I'm striving to get: Romantic/French/Traditional/Connie. ;-) It was purchased at Joanns fabrics and kind of a verdigris color and not very good one at that. I painted it pink and yellow stripes. Turned out even better than I thought it would!

Closer to better see it is yellow. Anyway, while it looks lime-color in these photos, I can assure you it's yellow and I truly do love the colors.

This was taken inside with indoor lighting, but I assure you this is truly pink and yellow, not limey green.

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At a doctor's office recently I was reading an old Reader's Digest. There was an article in it by a podiatrist. She said unequivocally that the best lotion for feet was Amlactin. My own podiatrist recommended it also. It's a bit pricey at about $15.00 for an 8 oz. bottle but it is so true. Even Love Bunny noticed how soft my feet were. And if that man notices anything, it's worthy of note, trust me!

He and I don't see eye-to-eye on portions. Food portions. He'll ask for peas for dinner and would put a half a bag of frozen peas in the pot to cook. That's ridiculous. He says it's the right amount. I put about a third of the bag in the pot to cook. He just has no sense of portion. We argue about this all the time.

Recently, he took me to Sizzler. Now, I'm not that fond of Sizzler but that night the steak was really good. Hotter than blazes though. No child could have eaten it that hot. I mean the platter was smoking and did so for the entire time it took me to eat the steak and potato. If a parent let a child eat it that hot, it would burn their mouths for sure and then we all know what would happen—they'd sue Sizzler. It took me 6-7 minutes before I could even put a forkful of it in my mouth. Truly! He likes his food HOT—from the skillet to his mouth. Our son is the same way. Me? I have to let it cool before I can put it in my mouth. I don't want my mouth burned and it has been. Once scalded; twice cautious...or something like that.

Anyway, I had a small salad bar, the entree and dessert. He had a bigger steak, salad bar heaping on his plate, then went back for cottage cheese, then went back for a PLATE of fruit and then had an ice cream sundae. We're not talking small portions; we're talking big portions. I was sick just eating what I did, but he said he didn't feel full or think he ate too much and defended it. Sigh...as I said, we have totally different views of "portions." But we both agreed that's our last time at Sizzler.
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Is this a cute little cottage or what? No driveway, just a patch of grass with wheel paths leading to the back. But it looks like it's at the end of a road. Charming, no matter where or what it is.

This looks to be in Britain to me. Not many homes in the U.S. are that close together and so charmingly old.

The other day I gathered all my wrapping papers—such as they are—from the hallway coat closet and put them in my office here. They were getting in the way of the coats and vacuum I have in that closet and I didn't want them to get too frayed. So I brought them into this office and am now trying to find a cute bucket, preferably of the tin/metal variety, to put them in and store them "in plain sight" somewhere in the house. Just adding more eye candy for visitors to see. ;-)

Isn't this a gorgeous dreamy coat? I'd love to have it but I'd look like a polar bear in it.

A stunning balcony window with lace curtains. Oooooh, how gorgeous.

A beautiful bathroom, probably done over in rustic vintage decor. The colors are beautiful and serene.

You probably remember when we would have thrown out something that looks this bedraggled. Now we pay dear for such a vintage "ornament."

Just for the gorgeous deep colors have I posted this for you.

I love this little cuff done so fancifully. While I'm more fond of colors, I'd still make a cute little one like this to wear.

While this doesn't look like a particularly popular or sought-after street to live on, I thought the home was worthy of note. It looks huge even before you have the side protuberances. Cute, but too big for this gal.

This is such a place I'd love to have near me to enjoy. Absolutely adorable!

A rustic bench. Very desirable.

This looks like a bunch of fabric before it is ruffled just put together to make a curtain of sorts. Clever.

An Italian doorway looking like a jewel. Notice the mailbox is the same color as the door and the archway.

Darling picnic table cover. Now, this is my next project! LOL

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Projects Keep Popping Up!

This post has turned out way longer than I intended, so settle in and enjoy. Sorry 'bout that!

You know how it is when you're excited about a new project and can't wait to see it to its fruition. That's how I've been feeling about my living room redo at the moment. Several days ago I ordered my new sofa but it'll take 8 to 12 weeks to arrive from the factory in North Carolina. I can hardly wait! But meanwhile I have some other projects in mind. I've been doing a bit of shopping. Bit?! That's an understatement! But I'm watching my pennies pretty well. If I know I can do it myself, I'll give it a try; if not, I'll think about it a lot before I buy something.

For instance, I saw a photo of a room that had 2 different curtains on one window. I mean one side of the window had a completely different curtain than the other side. Pretty neat actually. Then I saw a room that had 2 curtains on one side and one curtain on the other side of the same window. That got me thinking what I could do. So I bought the pink and cream taffeta curtains—btw, those curtains I got from Overstock.com and they are extremely well made, lined and everything—and then I purchased a french-looking floral print fabric to put with  them, a yellow background with red/pink roses and a tiny blue morning glory. I'll put one of each on each side of the living room window. Here, let me show you what I did as I just threw the yellow fabric over the rod. In reality, this looks beautiful! I also knocked over a pot with a fern in it on the table beside the sofa, knocked over a bottle you see on the shelf, had to stand partly on the sofa and table, lost my footing and almost killed my self trying to hang those 5 yards of fabric for the photoshoot. What we bloggers won't do for a photo. :-)

Okay, I got back upon the sofa and pinned the fabric up there after cutting it into manageable lengths. I also think I should take down that shelf and extend the rods out further, but the other side of that window doesn't give me the ability to do it. I may be stuck or come up with another solution. Hmmmm...I have a feeling Love Bunny is going to kill me before I'm through if I don't accomplish the task for him by falling off the sofa.

Then I looked at my chandelier shades and decided I wanted some new ones, a different look. So I purchased 5 and am redoing them also. There will be roses on them and ribbon but a bit less fancy than those on there now. I'm so excited I could just scream.

Then I got the idea of painting a tall bucket I purchased recently from Joanns to hold wrapping paper for me. (Can you tell now I've recuperated just fine from the surgery 6 weeks ago?) It was a mottled green or slightly verdigris color. I wanted pink and yellow stripes. Hubs told me that would be very difficult since it was wider at the top than the bottom. I purchased some artist's tape at Michaels, which actually looks and acts like the blue tape house painters use but with a fancier price. (Don't be fooled, chicks, get the blue tape at Home Depot.) I measured a couple of times and put the tape on. (Hubs was still giving me attitude that it would be difficult.) I had to position the tape about 3 times and let it "fall" naturally to the bottom. Several trips outside to give it light coats—I say that but I screwed up at one point and had to wipe some serious yellow drips with a paper napkin—and then I looked for my pink gloss paint and had none. I had white gloss though, so as I was impatient to see how it would look and knowing I could repaint it if I wanted, I painted it white. After about a half hour of drying I brought it inside, whipped off the tape, showed it to hubs and gloated. Here are the photos of both side. Stripes? Perfect! My first try. I tell ya, I'm on a roll!

 

Then I wanted a "wash and wear no-iron, put right back on the table from the dryer, white ruffled tablecloth."  For everyday use we have a white piece of vinyl but every single time we have spaghetti or lasagna and, since I'm a slob, there are always red splotches on it. The red does NOT come out even with vigorous scrubbing with a sponge and detergent. The problem is I want 2, 3 or even 4 or 5 ruffles on it and I have no idea how to do multiple ruffles around the edge unless the top where I would sew it on shows but I don't want that part to show. I don't know if it's even possible to do it without cutting a bit of the cloth off, putting on one ruffle, sewing the piece back on and then putting the next ruffle on the bottom. I think multiple ruffles make it a bit lovelier. Okay, I googled it to see if I can find the trick to how it's done. Here's one made from a bed skirt. This lady did one that way.

This lady did it from scratch with lots of drop cloth fabric.

 

Another bed skirt ruffle.

Okay, since I have lots of fabric from a very soft old sheet and I've already torn it into 4" pieces and I have a ruffler, I may as well make it myself from scratch. The one tablecloth on the table sitting outside I like better than the other two. I want a very ruffle-y cloth and I can do that with my ruffler. Sigh. It's just another thing to add to my to-do list. But this project might just push me over the edge!
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I've told my daughter I want a clock like this. She's a mosaic artist and can definitely do it. I love this little beauty.

What a delightful way to serve ice cream to friends! Wrap the cones in scrapbooking paper.

Cute and small bedroom.

Another house on a waterway. I believe this is one of those towns in the Netherlands, Belgium or somewhere near them that doesn't have any roads in their town. All shopping, etc. is done by bicycle or walking.

Sweet blue door on an old stone cottage.

Frosted or sugared rose.

An early snow? Beautiful no matter what.

A bouquet of roses to enchant your heart this morning.

Sweet place to sit and relax.

Another beautiful way to display your flowers—on an old rustic cart.

This is one, just one, of my all-time favorite places to have in my backyard.

Beautiful in pink satin and lace. An envelope to hold some letters or hankies.

Do you remember these? I do.

A rose-filled room. A favorite with me of course.

And I wouldn't say no to this little beauty either!

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Linking up with Inspire Me Monday
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Mosaic Monday 
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