Another Rant

I see a lot of women with copyrights on their photos. I'm not at all territorial about my photos. If you want to use any of them, even my personal ones, you have my permission. It's a form of flattery. I wouldn't put them out in the public domain if I didn't want them looked at and used. As I said, I'm not territorial. But...

I see some out there from other sites—and I'm talking graphics sites here—and women/bloggers are putting their "copyright" on them. They cannot be your copyright if you get them from a graphics site to use and put your name on them! How ridiculous can you be? And then you complain about someone taking your photos to show how beautiful your products are??? Puhleeeeze! How ridiculous can it get? Be flattered that someone considers them beautiful enough to use them. Rant over. ;-)
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Another cottage in Carmel. I think this is a bakery.

Lovely textured and colored window probably in France or Italy.

Urn holding a gorgeous plant.

A sweet cozy outdoor room.

When I saw this little lace dress with pink ribbons on it, I immediately thought of a blessing dress for a little girl.

I would love to have this to display in my home. It just touches my heart in a number of ways.

A lady finger dessert with roses thrown in. Yuuummm.

Just a little bling thrown in for ya, chicks. :-)

A mailbox? Cute, whatever it is.

Every time I see baskets like this I want some, but I know I'll never get them.

Another upscale sun room not many of us can afford. I can appreciate it though; it's gorgeous.

I do love these chippy old boxes for putting on patios and porches though.

I think a pink plastic bucket like this would be just fine for a bouquet of roses.

While I wouldn't want to live here, I'd sure love to visit and have lunch on that dock. That would be fun.

Now, have a cupcake and enjoy your own life!

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Being Content

I am a happy girl. I mean that. I am truly happy where I am. I love my town. I love my home. I love my kids, grandkids, great grandkids but especially my eternal companion—Love Bunny. He really is a great man. Oh, we push each other's buttons, but we know each other so well it's uncanny. But he's not the subject of today's post. Contentment is.

Read the message in the picture below. First photo. Read it. Say it. Believe it. Live it. Are you wanting/lusting for something? Is it something that will give you happiness? If not, then stop it. New cottage at the beach? Trip to France or Italy or South America? Luxury car? Boat? Clothes? Are you doing to die if you don't get it? Then be content with what you do have. Be grateful for it. If you're truly grateful, then that is what happiness is. Being happy brings a contentment to one's self.  Confidence. Satisfaction. If you don't have everything you think you want, so what? If you're not happy, it's your fault. You can change this. With your attitude. I think some people might not believe me, but it's absolutely true: I am happy, content and love living where I am. I care absolutely nothing about seeing the rest of the world. I've seen it and it's no better than where I live in Idaho. I'm happy right where I am. This is my world. ;-)

I remember back in the mid eighties when I was in prime condition and going to jazzercise 3-5 times a week. I love the song "New Attitude"! When that song was played during the hour I just jazzed it up even more.

Then one day, my hubby told me something. Oh, I forget exactly what it was but he said I needed to change my attitude. I truly didn't know what he meant or even how I was to do that. It took me many years to realize it. I've changed my attitude about a lot of things. Ooooh, yeah, I still have attitude about some things but not what's terribly important to my happiness. Be good to yourself. Be gentle with yourself. Be happy with what you DO have and you'll be content. Now, that is not to say you can't have something new. After all, I'm getting a new sofa. :-) But truly be grateful for everything in your life. You'll be amazed at how much happier you are. Personal experience.
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My motto always. Well, one of them.

Wouldn't this be fun as a birthday gift to a friend who appreciates things like this and the whimsey of such a gift? I'm going to do a couple of these to brighten up some women's day who I know need a bit of this soon.

Another small cottage in Carmel.

What fun colors for the beach.

A few cottages in the English countryside. The Brits do cottages well! ;-)

Darling towels with ruffles.

What a picnic at the beach!

This would look cute in my backyard. I can just hear Love Bunny right now: "You want WHAT?!"

I would rather camp in this than the pop-up trailer. Seriously!

I love this fabric. I wish I had some of it for pillows.

Luscious wisteria drooping down for a beautiful archway to a serene path.

My kind of bedroom. Pink and roses.

Here we go with my favorite color combo: pink and yellow.

Grab a chair, a bucket and a bunch of hydrangeas and stick them in your kitchen! I'm going to do that today. Our hydrangeas are still glorious.

This little idea intrigued me so much that I brought out 4 bottles I have and put some cuffs I made over them. I placed them in my living room and now they don't have to be hidden away in my cupboards.

 And here they are. I don't like photographing glass and these were done early in the morning before the sun even came up so I had to photograph them with the flash on in the house. Ugh. But you get the idea. Kind of French-looking. Romantic French. :-) And I do wear these cuffs to church. I've noticed they're becoming very popular. Haute couture actually.

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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.

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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