Lessons I've Learned in Life

Do you remember when you were young and your mom or dad told you that you couldn't have another piece of watermelon? And you had to eat it right down to the white part! Do those lessons not stick with you to this very day? Mine did until a few years ago. Then I got to thinkin' about that—which is pretty dangerous if you ask hubs or any friend from my ebay group. But I did—think that is. Why did they say those things? My mom also told me I could only have one candy bar. Why? We went to the dentist regularly so there wasn't much chance of all my teeth falling out from rotting.

So now that I'm in my 7th decade of life I've been thinking on it. (Actually, I've thought about it all those years but just the last 10 or 15 I've seriously wondered what was the matter with having 2 candy bars if I wanted them. Or to just cut a watermelon into quarters and have at it, just eating the heart out of it.

Well, I've been set free, chicks!!! Yeeeesssss, I cut it into quarters and ate a one quarter of the melon but I did eat right down to the white part because I wanted ALL of it. I am also wondering why in the world this was labeled a "seedless" watermelon.

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Excuse me while I find 2 candy bars..........

What I'm Working On

I can't find any picture mats at a reasonable price so I've decided to use some old ones I had in colors I don't use any more and paint them. Soooooo this is what I'm doing today.

The "artist's" work desk. ;-)

The mats that used to be dark brown and beige are now a caribbean blue and a leaf green. Shopped my house and no money spent! My kinda deal, chicks.

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Random Thought:

Do not go lightly into the night; tromp on its b*tt!

Vintage Living

I'm posting the last photos of Ardenwood in Fremont, California, where we visited in May. I culled the numerous photos I took and decided too many were just repetitious but these few will strike your fancy I believe.

Would you believe they had a porcelain "baby" tub in this house? Yessssss. It was for the bathing of infants and young children. It was up high off the floor for the ease of the mother or nanny.

This gives you a little better perspective of it. I thought that was a darling idea and very practical.

I would give much to have a butler's pantry like this. Heck, I'd just like my kitchen to be this big, have this much storage and the counter space!

My grandson, Adam, looking at this vintage stove and hot water heater.

The first house in the town to have a hot water heater. An ingenious design for its time.

I thought a few of you might like to see this old sink which is still in use today in this house. "Back to the future?" Yep. Many are now installing these kind of sinks in brand new homes.

Better view of the stove and hot water heater.

Hold me back here, chicks!! I'd love to have that old sewing machine and cabinet. Actually, I'd like the dress form also!

The docent who gave us the private tour actually played old phonograph records on this and they were wonderful—scratchy but wonderful!

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Random Thought:

It is best to not pick your nose while hubby is driving because it could result in your finger ending up in your brain. (Personal experience!)

Some People Ask the Silliest Questions and Pink Saturday

Happy pink saturday! Go visit with Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to see and visit with all the participants.
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Several women I know and a few bloggers have asked me what in the world do I blog about or how do I come up with things to blog about? Usually I tell them to read my blog if it is the former asking the question. Some are stymied that I can find so much to write. I have so much to blog about it's hard NOT to blog, chicks! Life to me is a blog and a photoshoot. I've said this before so excuse me for being repetitive. I do this for ME and if it helps someone else along the way, then fine. So be it. It's hard NOT to find things to blog about. Just driving somewhere with Love Bunny can be a blogging experience. Trust me!

This particular day:
I have been wanting to: make new pillows for living room sofa, recover the pop-up trailer cushions, make covers for the front porch chairs, paint some picture frames and various other things on a list about 2 pages long. In the midst of that, our daughter calls me and tells me she's taking 8 kids to Great America in San Jose. (This is the girl that lost her husband in May, remember. I only have one daughter.) Eight kids to Great America??? She has a Toyota Camry hybrid! How is she getting 8 kids and herself into that? One of the kids' grandmother loans them her van, of course. All the kids in the neighborhood have come to her rescue to keep her from getting too lonely. Plus she walks her new dog 4 times a day!

Anyway, she takes them and 2 of the neighborhood girls ask her about the camera bag she is carrying and where she got it. They're girly girls! I made one for me and one for her and sold a couple of them on ebay. They want one! So needless to say she called me and told me to make them each one. So add that to my list of things to do, as IF I don't have enough already. Le sac d'appareil-photo:

So while I'm making the covers for the camper cushions, I also cut out a cover for the chairs on the porch because the pads are so filthy I can't stand them and I'm waiting for the "end of season" sales to buy new ones. These were an "easy cut and sew" so I did it quickly so we can sit out there and swelter in the 90° plus temperatures. This could also have been accomplished without any sewing at all by simply cutting out a rectangular piece of that fabric and pinning it onto those cushions at the back. Of course, I didn't think of that until after I had finished them. Sigh..............

I've had this fabric for years and it's 108" wide so I could spare the fabric. Isn't it pretty? It was really cheap also.

Oh, while we're on the front porch take a look at the signs I put out there recently. I figure I painted them and I can hang them on my front porch if I wanted to and if someone doesn't like it they can take a flying leap into Neverland. I'm as proud of them as any artist would be with their first paintings.

Now, the print fabric is the fabric I'm using for the new pillows—subject to change at any given minute, I tell ya— and the red is a heavy duty twill I was going to make the front porch covers out of but I changed my mind. I told ya!!

Next on deck are the camper cushions. And therein lies another story.

I was so careful to cut it because I only had so much fabric. Well, I cut them but the cushion for the back I cut too large but didn't realize it until I had the boxing sewn on and was fitting them; therefore, I had to rip it apart, cut off about 2 3/8" and resew it on again.

In the midst of all this I decided to hang another shelf that was stored behind the bathroom door IN the guest bath. So Love Bunny does that for me and I have more storage space immediately to put things up there.

Then Love Bunny tells me we're going on our ward camp out in a couple of weeks. (Now, we all know how I feel about camping, right?!) I cry and whine because it's right after we go over to Seattle to visit our granddaughter which is right after I have to get 2 new crowns on my top 2 molars. And that's right around the time I have to get my arm operated on because my left wrist is numb in a certain area but hurts like heck to even wear a watch. Has the man no mercy?!

And they have the nerve to ask me where I find things to blog about?!?! I think I'm gonna cry...............
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Happy Pink Saturday anyway. :-) <-------- Me, trying to keep a smile on my face.

New Sunglasses

Sunglasses are important to me. I am rarely without them. If I go to the mailbox I have my sunglasses on. Photosensitivity affects more green-eyed people than other colors—and I have green eyes—, brown being the least sensitive and blue being medium, depending on the person, of course. But I can hardly open my eyes in sunlight, so they are constantly with me.

Recently one of the ear pieces broke and I rushed to the optometrist and they repaired it but it freaked me out a little bit thinking I could have been without glasses for a period of time so I purchased another pair recently. I don't buy the prescription ones anymore because my vision has improved and don't particularly need them to drive so I just purchase a decent pair. I like the ones that are big, not because of the fashion trends because I've worn BIG glasses since the 70s. I like them big to cover as much of my line of vision as possible. When you live in the desert and travel back to California a couple of times a year and drive through the Oregon, Nevada, California and Idaho deserts you NEED strong sunglasses.

This is the old pair of the very dark glasses I used for sailing. The ear pieces are so stretched out that they will hardly stay on, but they are very dark for sailing—which I don't do anymore since we're not on the California coast, but they'll do in a pinch. The very dark ones are very hard to find anymore also.

This is the pair I bought a couple of months ago.

This is the new extra pair I bought at Costco, which I believe are better than the expensive top designer ones at Macy's and cost far less.

When I went to pay for them he brought out this "designer" case and the pink cloth for cleaning them. I knew right then I had the right pair, chicks!! LOL

And read the "fairy tale" on the cleaning cloth. Darling! It says "Once upon a time in a land far, far away called Pacoima there were two nice girls who liked stuff. Juicy Couture swept the land and they lived happily ever after". Pacoima is in southern California.

I feel like Marilyn Monroe now. :-) <-----------Me, smiling at ya.