Things Are Starting to Bloom Around Here and Random Thoughts

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

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!!!

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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Pink Saturday 5/21/2011 and Some Comments

Welcome to Pink Saturday. To view all the other participants just click on Beverly's logo below.
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I made this froufrou umbrella for my great granddaughter and it hangs in her room.

I made this one for ME out of an old umbrella frame. They are quite adorable and get compliments from all who see them.

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I was informed this week by my podiatrist that I had to wear the boot for one more week to ensure my achilles tendon is firmly attached to the heel bone. So just sitting at home I've watched over 50 movies in the past month. My daughter gave me her Netflix account number to view them on my laptop by simply streaming them since we have no television. So I have some comments on movies and actors as well.
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My favorite movies have always been spy, espionage, action movies; I just love to see the bad guys get their just due. I do not like chick flicks at all. But in reading Claudia's blog last week I think it was, I also would like to comment on the media people.

I have never in my 70 years seen so many people with face lifts, plump lips, whiter than white teeth and cleavage. It's as if they try to outdo each other for the most revealing dress. Trashy! The anchor women on news are so obnoxious to watch. Their heads doesn't move for fear of their hair getting out of place! Are there no normal looking people on television? That's hardly reality. Not to mention smoking, cussing and dresses that my mother would never have allowed me to wear. What is it with modesty anymore? I'm a very modest person, but most of the actresses and anchors dress like prostitutes with nothing left to the imagination. I could actually see up the skirt of one anchor we saw when visiting with kids last year and watching news with them. That's why we gave up watching television year ago.

Then there's the hypocrisy of smoking. Every single movie had all the actors and actresses smoking and driving luxurious cars while they're telling me to not drive or purchase certain cars. We've had a couple of friends buy "efficient" cars but traded them in because they were so bad to drive. Hypocrisy to tell me to not use my dryer and hang clothes out on the line, but it doesn't apply to them. I'm sick of the Hollywood types trying to tell me what to do. Does no one have flat lips anymore or eyes that aren't exactly like every other Hollywood actress because they all go to the same plastic surgeon? Plus their mouths would have been washed out by my father and mother. Filthy language.

I saw The Towering Inferno and really liked it, plus Steve McQueen's acting was very natural. His facial expressions were what I would expect a face to look like in the situations he was in. Very good actor. I haven't seen one actress of today who can act except for Sally Fields and she smoked and had a filthy mouth also. And some popular ones are just plain untalented. I truly was astonished by the lack of acting by most of the ones I saw.

I loved all the James Bond movies. They all smoked, wore bikinis and went barefoot when climbing a mountain to find the evil man's lair. Plus they'd wear high heels to walk on the streets of Turkey. Those are uneven brick or stone streets. Yep, that's how I do things every day: high heels and bikinis. Just nutty in my opinion. And we won't even talk about The Terminator, who in my opinion is simply Euro Trash to do to his wife what he did. How despicable can a man get? But it's becoming the norm. How truly, truly sad.
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This is a video of our General Conference in April. The topic is desire and addresses some the the things in the world today. I thought it's more than appropriate to watch (if you so desire of course) at this day in time.

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Off my soapbox...for today anyway.
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Ramblings Today 5/16/2011

Today I went out into the yard. Now, this doesn't sound like a big deal to most of you but it was to me. Love Bunny isn't here. He's been gone to northern Idaho for 4 days. Okay, so he left me alone without being able to drive, a boot on my foot and not being able to walk well, but that was okay. He knows I'm a strong and resilient woman. And that's what I want to talk about today...among other things. ;-)
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This is a gurgling fountain in our front yard. With a webcam out there I can hear the wind chimes and the gurgle on the fountain. (The cam is video and audio and allows me to see who is on our porch without answering the door.) I love the tinkling of the chimes.

I was practicing closeups on my camera once again. I realize you may get tired of hearing this, but practice is the only thing that makes perfect. I am not perfect with the camera yet, adequate perhaps, but far from perfect so I need the practice.

While schlepping around the roses, I stepped into a depression with the booted foot and it hurt. Will I never learn?! Our lawn is lush and deep green because we have a local lawn care man come 4 or 5 times a year to spray and it is well worth it. People are always asking how hubs keeps it so green and lush. For one thing, he doesn't mow short; he mows long. That helps keep the grass green. So we sink into it when walking in that grass. Roses aren't budding yet as we had a late frost. But soon, very soon!

We have islands on the entrance into our sub-division and each street. This is our view.

This sycamore tree was very high and dying at the top. Hubs cut it back last year, and it's grown several feet back this year.

This cute little sign is what I see while on the potty. (Is that too much information for ya, chicks?) ;-) I had to straddle the toilet to get this pix of it. I think I got it at TJMaxx for a song but I think the 2 I got are adorable. The other one is below this one and is what is over our garden tub in our master bath.

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Now, let's talk about an incident that took place a few days ago.

A sweet young mother I know offered to pick up an Oriental Chicken Salad for me from Applebee's (Hubs might be gone, but that in no way means he can't buy me dinner even if it was take-out) and stopped in to chat while delivering it. She was in some distress since a client had taken advantage of her. She's a professional and I've told her she needs to raise her rates but she was hesitant to do it since she's only been doing her job for a few years. I've seen her work and it is outstanding. I pumped her up with a pep talk about being assertive. While taking a class in her profession recently, she was told the very same thing. She's timid but I'm determined to help her become assertive! She knows she doesn't charge enough for her skills, but people still take advantage of her and, as with a lot of women especially, she's afraid of losing business by being firm and not getting referrals. I came a bit unglued with her. I see her timidity—something of which I'd never, ever be accused—and get a bit frustrated with her for not standing up for herself when I see so much potential for her. She just needs some confidence in herself.

I told her to do an exercise while going through the grocery store. Look at the women. Some are quite clearly "victims" and others possess a "self-confidence" just in the way they walk, look and shop. I think all of you know what I mean. Now, don't get me wrong. One can be nice while being assertive. One piece of advice I gave her was to put on a "steel magnolia smile" and by that I mean show confidence in her ability with a smile if that is all she can manage at the moment. Show the client the contract, explain it to them, highlight certain things if need be and tell them very firmly those are her terms. Show confidence in her voice, her face, her demeanor. I believe a lot of women need to learn how to be assertive while still maintaining their femininity. That's very important. We are women and we don't want to be men. I want my man to take care of me—and he does, but I also want to be able to take care of my man and myself should the need arise. We need men. And we need to be confident in our abilities as women and the keeper of the home.
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Off my soap box for now. ;-)
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