Random Thoughts 9/9/2012

Read the top line just under my logo. That is my utmost belief.
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I hear about summer breakfast programs at the schools now. Since our kids have been out of school for many years and only one grandson left in high school now, I don't get much information about what's happening in our schools. But to have to feed them—and I love kids as much as anyone—is beyond my comprehension. That's what parents are for! I fed my kids; you feed yours. Again I lament, what's this world coming to when the schools have to feed them breakfast and a lot of times lunches and sometimes dinner? And even during summer vacations? This came up in church several months ago but it just crossed my mind recently because of the start of school and the billboards announcing the programs. Puhleeeeze, feed your kids so I don't have to. I mean I'd absolutely have them over for lunch anytime, but feed your kids, parents.
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Recently while shopping with Love Bunny, I spotted Eggo waffles. I wanted some. He said he'd make me some from scratch. I said I wanted Eggo. We got some. They were a comfort food when I was a young mom. I love those little waffles you just throw in the toaster. Easy peasy. I also love the smell of maple syrup in the morning.
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I don't know if you've ever noticed but I almost never post pictures of children on my blog. I'm astounded at the amount of photos on websites, not just blogs but all over the internet. Fashion sites, etc. I just don't want some p*rv*rt somewhere viewing them. I want to protect them. I only post my grandkids and great granddaughter with my granddaughter's permission. And I always ask if I can post a friend's new baby or something like that. But to post pictures all over the net of little munchkins posing is not something I think is appropriate, even as cute as they are. ;-) I'm not big on posting clothing much either. I'm just not into fashion at all. If I have my body covered, I'm fine.
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A few weeks ago we were shopping for beets. (I love beets with macaroni and cheese. That's how my mom and dad did it and it just seems natural to me now to have that combination.) But th' hubs was helping with the shopping again...you know where this is going, right? I've lectured that man so many times about shopping I have lost count. He said the store was out of beets. I told him to calm down and I'd look closer. I found th' beets! He started loading them into the basket. I never, ever buy one of anything. I hate not having something when I need it, so when I'm down to my last 2 cans, I put them on the list and buy 6-12 cans the next time we go grocery shopping. Well, he put one can in after I saw they were actually beets and then he started throwing more cans in. Needless to say, he didn't read the labels and started throwing pickled beets in. I do my own pickling of the beets and don't buy the pickled kind in the store. I had my little hissy fit about shopping. My stomach is roiling now just typing out the words!!
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What is it about small villages that entrance us so?

And if you're new to my blog read this sign:

I think this is the most gorgeous bed I've ever seen.

A lovely bedroom for you.

Teensy weensy cottage for ya.

Lovely patio I'd like to have in my back yard.

I have no idea where this is but with those palm trees outside definitely in a warm climate, but would you look at how high that glass wall is!

Cute and colorful.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Ya wanna go to France now, right? ;-)

Our country is so blessed to have such bounty as lush and beautiful as these raspberries.

Cute vignette on a back wall.

This old stone house is made lively with all that vivid red.

Tea, anyone?

Clipboards made gorgeous with beautiful fabric.

I don't usually post clothing but this is so feminine and pretty I wanted you to see it.

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Words of Wisdom

What you are doing thunders so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you are saying.

Be the example you want others to see. I need to be better about this also. Truly.
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I Am A Suburban Girl

Well, Photobucket is back up and running so I'm safe, at least for awhile. I'm sure you can imagine my frustration with almost 13,000 photos on there. I hope they get more servers on their site to take care of all their subscribers.
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I am not a country girl. I'm very much a suburban girl...okay, old lady. I'm not fond of living in big cities or small towns. Now, I know this goes against the grain of some of you and that's just fine. If you want to live in the country or on a farm, more power to ya. Me? I want Wal Mart, Costco, Applebees, Olive Garden, Home Depot, Texas Road House, Red Lobster, Taco Bell, Lowe's, Albertson's, banks, gas stations, hospitals, Joanns Fabrics, Michaels and Stone Cold Creamery as close to me as possible.
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Recently I came across more absolutely stunningly gorgeous photos. I can't believe how many websites are out there with beautiful photos. Here are some below and more are coming very soon. I try to post every 2 days and that's a lot considering most bloggers. I just want to keep my mind busy and bring some peace into this nutsy world going on out there. Sigh. So just stay tuned, breathe, relax as you'll only get positive things here—and beauty! And I even throw in a video once in a while of our great-granddaughter, Miss Caroline. ;-) Life is so good to me!
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This room just struck me when I saw it. Two different kinds of sofas and that regal-looking chair. Uh-huh! Beautiful yellow walls and red fabric on one sofa.

I don't own a lot of jewelry, mainly because I'm not a jewelry person. But this little necklace struck a chord with me. Just beautiful.

I wish I knew where the fabric on that chair was available. It's gorgeous and I'd have loved to have been able to choose it for my new sofa.

One of my obsessions is pretty bottles. I'm looking for a few new ones to decorate for my living room. I'm thinking I'd like to display them on my coffee table. Looks like purchases of new perfume is in my future. :-)

Believe it or not, this is fabric. I saw a lady's website recently where she does gorgeous embroidery for fabrics. I just can't remember where it was. Absolutely stunningly gorgeous fabrics though.

You know roses and pretty polka dot vases grab me, right?

A tea shop in Carmel.

Darling wall hanging.

We all know how clothespin bags grab me. I like this one but have never made one like this. I have some embroidered table runners that I could make into a clothespin bag though.

Look at this sweet hamper some knitter has made.

Eye candy for ya.

Another Carmel cottage.

I have no idea what this room is for but it looks like a dining room. Most unusual with all the plants and the skylight however. Beautiful though.

Imagine Wedgewood blue cupcakes.

Having this room with those chairs would be wonderful also. They look sumptuous and relaxing around that blue footstool for conversing. I'm sort of a prig when it comes to conversation areas in a home.

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Linking up with The Dedicated House.

My Apple Saved My Bumpkis Today

First of all, let me tell you that I've been experiencing difficulty with photos appearing in my Photobucket account. I've been in contact with them and they're working on the issue. With almost 13,000 photos in there, needless to say, but not being a chick at a loss for words, I'll say it anyway, I don't want to move them anywhere else. I love PB and hope this issue is cleared up soon. If not, I may have to discontinue posting for a few days. I hope this isn't the case. I have scheduled posts out to the end of September. As of 6 pm Tuesday, 9/4, PB is still down with maintenance so I can't do much. I'm just hoping these photos come through. I'll see tomorrow morning when this posts. 

Second, let me say just one other thing here: I'll definitely delete or block you as a follower if you are subscribed to other websites or blogs that I deem inappropriate. This is not a violation of your "free speech", but if you want to be a follower of mine just so other bloggers will click over to your blog and it's a p*rn one, forget it. I won't allow that. I became a bit suspicious when one person started following me a few days ago so I checked out their site and it had things I just do not approve of. I think most people know what that means. I'm really sorry I had to post this but it came up and I'm just not into those sort of things and wouldn't want others to have to find out the hard way for themselves what it is.
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As I've stated before, we've been an Apple Mac family from the beginning. Having owned at least 7 Macs through the years and also owning 2 regular PCs at the moment, we can tell you the superiority of Macs over PCs. There is no comparison. But, however, today my iMac saved my bumpkis again.

On Macs for the past several years there is an application called Time Machine on Mac OSX and later. When you click on it on the Dock, your whole desktop crops down and Time Machine then takes over. It looks like something from outer space actually. Here's what mine looks like. The "timeline" is over on the right side so you can go back as far as it'll let you, which on my machine is September 2011. I have an external hard drive that updates every hour. I take NO chances with anything on this machine. As with many of you, my life is on my computer. ;)

But anyway, I was Photoshopping some photos to upload to Photobucket. Now, when I edit them in PhotoShop, they come from one folder. As I'm finished editing them, I put them in another folder. It's not uncommon for me to have 200-250 photos at a time to edit. I do small batches of about 20-25 at a time. Then I trash them from the original folder into the trash and delete the trash. (This may sound complicated or tedious to some but it works well for me...until today.) After editing them from the first folder and putting that batch into the second folder, I then upload them to PB. But today I actually trashed several photos from the second folder inadvertently. I smacked myself on the head for doing it because I'd probably never find these photos on the internet again! I peruse lots of sites to find these delicious eye candy photos to share.

And then, I remembered I had Time Machine. Whew! I don't have to use it very often at all—rarely, in fact. So I clicked on TM and retrieved them from earlier in the day; in this case, about a half hour. I cannot tell you the relief I felt. I love computers, but especially my Mac.
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And this is the quilt bedspread I purchased for my bedroom. It should be here in about a week. I can't wait to see it!

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This bedroom is absolutely one of the most darling I've ever seen. Lucky is the little girl who lives in it. I assume it's a girl because of the furnishings in the room.

Just a sweet sun room for some lucky family. Very inviting and my kind of room.

A pretty street in somewhere in France.

Sweet pink hutch holding even sweeter plates.

Lovin' this cozy red and yellow living room.

This is the way I've felt for the last few months. I'm picking up now with the help of my wonderful hubby, affectionately known here as Love Bunny, but it has been a struggle, let me tell ya!

A beautiful old home but the flowers in the foreground are what caught my eye.

Can you image a small room like this just to sit and read? Looks like 2 chaise lounges. This to me is heaven.

Oooh, I love the colors in this room.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Lust away, friends. That thatched roof looks like lace on the top.

This photo is here because I love this color combo. ;-)

I know it's not the Christmas season but this heat of 90° here in the desert is getting to me so much that I'm anticipating the cold temperatures coming soon. And this is a lovely photo of a home.

Just give me glorious color and I'm happy!

The Golden Gate Bridge. My favorite city in the world to eat and shop. But look at the tiny pool this homeowner has. Property is at a premium in "The City by the Bay."

Have you noticed this blog post has a lot of pictures of my favorite color combinations?

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Linking up with at the picket fence.

One Thing I Never Do

I never leave our home with an appliance running. There are 2 reasons for this.

One is when we lived in Yuma, Arizona, in base housing on the USMC air base there, we lived in a townhouse with 4 units. We were thrilled to get that apartment because it had 4 bedrooms and with just 1 girl and 1 boy we only rated a 3 bedroom apartment. Prior to that we only had 2 bedroom apartments. But it was the only one available so they offered it to us and we gladly took it. The fourth bedroom was an ironing room for me.

Our neighbor on one side had several kids and a portable dishwasher. Dishwashers were not included in base housing. But with that many kids I think they needed it and bought one to put in the kitchen.

One night they started the dishwasher and went to bed. It didn't work properly and almost set fire to the apartment, which would have spread easily to ours next door. We were grateful they caught it in time. I'd never have gone to bed with anything like that going.

The second reason is a friend of ours was going away on a week vacation to their cabin up in the mountains of Idaho a couple of hours away. As they were leaving she turned on their dishwasher and they left right then. After 2 days, her husband needed to come back down from the mountains because of work I think or to get something. But anyway, he came home and their house was flooded. The main area was upstairs and they had a daylight basement on bottom as they lived on a hill. The dishwasher malfunctioned...for 2 whole days water just kept pumping into the dishwasher and down the floor and walls. They had to completely gut most of their walls and flooring and replace the whole kitchen cabinets. It was a mess. If he hadn't had to come back to town, it would have been even worse probably even having to just demolish the whole thing.

So I never, ever take the chance of an electrical appliance going awry. I turn it off or wait until it finishes. BTW, the neighbor who lived in the same unit two houses down on the other end owned a skunk. And, yes, it stunk. You had skunk odor in the air all the time. I don't know how they stood it in the house. I hope to never, ever again have a neighbor with a skunk for a pet. Ugh!!
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A very cute pink and apple green bedroom. I really like these colors together also.

Oh my! How cute for a girl's bedroom. Lovin' the pink stripes on the wall.

Light filled room. Crown and drapes over the bed are adorable also.

This reminds me of an old English jousting tournament with the flags and heavy embroideries around the room. No, I don't like this room but had to show you.

Pretty, small pillow and vivid colors.

I like all these colors together.

A shop in Carmel.

Another small hidden hideaway to have a lunch with a friend.

Another Carmel cottage.

Adorable living room in shades of green.

Looks like a patio on the back of a small house. Doesn't look large and expensive to me, which just goes to show you how a beautiful patio doesn't have to be on a huge, expensive home.

Love. These. Colors!

While I've always loved Dutch doors, I'd never feel safe with just part of the door closed. Anyone could just walk in. But this is beautiful.

These tulips made a grand statement.

Another sweet stone-washed cottage with red shutters.

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