Holidays Aren't for Wimps!

I'm again recommending that you go to my Pinterest page where a total of 23,910 followers on all the boards and over 13,600 photos are there for your perusal. I think you'll find a lot of images you like. The imagery is absolutely gorgeous for you and I have absolutely nothing to gain by sending you there. :-)
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Well, the holidays have come and gone and I am grateful they're over. Ooooh, no, I'm not a Scrooge but just the regular grocery shopping is brutal at that time of year. But hubs and I spent a very quiet week at home...well, let me rephrase that. We spent a NOT so quiet week at home. My iMac started giving me some problems. Let me tell you the story.

It just didn't seem right for a while. We all know when our computers are doing things that aren't normal, right? Well, I could tell something was amiss. And let me say here and now that I'm a big advocate of external hard drives. We have 3 of them for our Macs. Those have saved our tushes a couple of times, especially when I inadvertently "trash" something and then empty the trash, realizing a week later I need that "something" badly. Easy peasy with an external HD.

Then I called the Apple store in Boise for an appointment. After leaving it with them for a week doing exhaustive tests on my RAM, they decided that was the problem—bad RAM. Go figure. Anyway, that was replaced.

In the mean time, I'd been lusting for a 27" iMac for a couple of years now. I decided to go ahead and get a new one since we weren't too sure the 21" iMac would make it. So after putting it in the Apple store for repairs, I ordered one online from Apple—the 27" iMac, which was to be delivered Dec. 24th before 8 pm. It didn't arrive then. But the online FedEx support person told me we could pick it up in Boise at their facility between 9 am and 1 pm Christmas day. Getting out of bed and driving there wasn't much of a problem, but when we got there they said it was put on a truck to be delivered Christmas day. We hurried home. The delivery guy got there about an hour later with it and I actually gave him a kiss and a big tip for working the holiday. I treat tradespeople very well. They're the lifeblood of online shoppers.

So we go pick up the 21" iMac at Apple in Boise, bring it home and it's worse than before. I couldn't even empty the trash or even drag anything to the trash. Nothing on my desktop would open. It would then just quit unexpectedly. It's very unusual to experience problems with Macs and they're known for that and their tech support. We take it back in and after a few little tests, they rebooted it in the latest OS, which is Maverick, and even threw in an updated version of iLife free, a $49 savings. Can it get any better?! I have to say here and now that we have converted several friends to Apple and they love their Macs for the beauty of the OS and the support. It is by far superior to any other company in the world! And I do NOT say that lightly.

I also vowed to eat out as many meals during the holiday week as I could. We even ate Christmas dinner at a local restaurant and there was a waiting list when we got there. They told us that Thanksgiving was worse than Christmas. I figure more wives are opting to take a break and be treated to a dinner out! We've eaten breakfast, some lunches and most dinners out this past week. I'm at this moment cooking oriental chicken for hubs for being such a great sport and babying me.

And we didn't shop for any presents for anybody other than the grandsons under 18 and great granddaughters, even ourselves and we're all just fine for that. We had a very blessed and Merry Christmas and were in bed by 11 pm on New Year's Eve. One of the happiest Christmases I've ever had! I told you I was an easy chick! Okay, forget the iMac. It was needed and essential for the running of this household. ;-)

A stunning cake plate of mosaics.

I'd love to have a little cart like this but I don't walk to any grocery store. I remember as a kid going on my bike to the grocery store and buying a six pack of Pepsi or Coke in one of those carry-type cardboard packs I could put on my bicycle handles. It cost 30 cents! And I don't remember a charge for returning bottles either.

A beautiful living room in the yellow I like with pink. I love the sunny bright yellow.

Dream on, sisters! Beautiful patio.

Yeah, a beautiful place in Italy to visit.

Beautiful bathroom but I'd want 2 sinks in there. The rug is what drew my attention though.

I remember being in Ireland in the rain and the Irish actually washing their windows, business as usual. And they all had gorgeous lace on their windows. That's my style to this day.

Love this beautiful flower-y pillow.

A brave man lives in a house this pink, but my hubby would do it if I wanted. Just gorgeous.

What a sweet small breakfast room this is.

Love this dining room also. I'm still looking for chairs like these for our dining area.

A cute little rest area in a garden.

Now, this is what I'd like our dining/kitchen area to look like—a bit formal but not too formal and near the kitchen. I love this style.

Gorgeous roses and lamps in this vignette.

Can we say we like this area also?! Sigh...

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Linking up with Pink Saturday.