An Ivory Soap Story

That bar of Ivory soap in the third photo brought back a memory to me.

When I gave birth to my son, I was extremely ill, not expected to live actually. But after 9 days in the hospital bed hooked up to IVs and given about 21 shots a day, I started feeling better. I think on the 9th day I was able to see my new baby. I was also allowed to take a shower even though I was extremely weak.

Since I had come to the hospital after 3 attempts at labor and being sent home, they kept me the 3rd time. There were 9 doctors in that examining room looking at every single part of my body, even my fingernails. I was in serious trouble. My kidneys weren't functioning properly and I was dying. I rallied after about 9 days and the doctor even bought me a Coke. It was so good to be able to drink something. My new baby and I went home on the 11th day. Hubs had taken care of our 11 1/2 month old daughter and had her potty trained and broken from the bottle. He's a miracle worker. And yes, she was potty trained at 11 1/2 months old.

Finally, I was able to get out of bed and look in the mirror. Ghastly! Then, the thing I needed most was a shower. Coming in as an emergency, I had no personal items with me when I got in the shower so I washed my hair with the soap they had in the hospital—Ivory. Have you ever washed your hair with a bar of Ivory soap? Trust me, it doesn't work well. My hair felt like it was coated with something. The first thing I asked hubs when he came in to visit was, "Bring me some shampoo." It was horrid and when I washed it later the next day it felt wonderful to have clean hair. Every time I see that soap I think of that incident in giving birth to my son. I still love the smell of that soap and don't even know what kind of packaging it has now, but I never used Ivory after that. :-)
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Another beautiful rustic village entry way somewhere in Europe.

We're heading into this season so I thought I'd show you what cottages look like with snow-covered roofs, stone fences and grounds. I don't think they get much snow in Great Britain.

Remember when Ivory soap looked like this?

Always beautiful roses for you.

A tropical veranda overlooking the ocean.

Laundry hung and drying on the line.

A quaint European kitchen. I like the all-white cabinets and the splashes of pink and blue. Looks like a cake!

I cannot tell you how many times I've tried duplicating this ribbon rose. Many!! I'm not giving up though, just have to find more ribbon.

Real candy for "eye candy" today!

A beautiful white lingerie laundry bag.

Prettily wrapped packages awaiting transfer to the recipient.

I like this sign. It's darling for a kitchen.

The purple rug drew my attention. My great-granddaughter's room is pink, purple and brown. She's drawn to purple like her mummy. :-)

I know I am. You are also, trust me on this one.

If only my school lunches were like this, I might have eaten them instead of the cafeteria fare. I'd pack a bologna sandwich and to this day, I cannot touch bologna. Plus the beautiful packaging makes them even yummier.

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Linking up with:
At the picket fence.
 

A Story About A Moose

Moving to Idaho from the San Francisco area was certainly culture shock. Don't get me wrong; I love Idaho. Love it here. It was still a culture shock and we had a friend, who worked for a huge bakery, send us "Care Packages" of french and sourdough bread for awhile. Then we started seeing the brands we were familiar with inside the stores. But there were cultural differences we had to overcome.

Idaho is an agriculture state. It's also known for hunters. Now, we're never hunted and have no problem with people who do. We're all in the "food chain" somewhere and some of our friends hunted to feed their families. Personally, I do not like deer, elk or moose meat. It just isn't my thing. I'm not crazy about meat but I do like it and a good steak is my idea of a good meal, especially Applebee's asiago peppercorn steak.

But one day we had to go visit a family we knew from church and I had never been in their house before. It was a manufactured home on some very small acreage. Mom was a nurse and Dad was a middle school counselor and coach and they had 5 boys if I can recall. I felt sorry for the mom with 5 kids and all boys. But she handled it quite well. She got daughters-in-law and granddaughters after the boys married.

But our first foray into their home was a huge culture shock. We entered through the family room door, which was set up very masculine with a huge TV and all chairs and overstuffed sofa arranged in front of it—typical of a sports-loving family. We aren't into sports in any way, shape or form. I do, however, know the difference between a football and a baseball—one is round and the other is oblong.

As we proceeded through the dining area and into the living room—which actually was the hubby's office—I came face-to-face/nose-to-nose with a moose head that stuck at least five feet out into the room. I started quite visibly when I almost ran into it. Upon looking around I saw all the walls were covered with dead animal heads. As I said, hunting doesn't bother me. But coming face to face with so many animals was stifling in that small area. It was definitely a man's house! I think the mom was used to it and didn't care about the decorating too much. There was absolutely nothing feminine about that house at all. Boggled my mind. I think I was traumatized for a couple of hours but I got over it and declared I'd never hunt if the occasion every arose. It didn't! Thank heaven.

As I've said, we moved from that small town of 5,000 people to a medium-sized town of about 90,000 people. Let me hear it for big towns!! We never looked back. ;-)
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Another cute cottage in Carmel.

A beautiful entrance somewhere in Greece or the Mediterranean.

An attractive but unusual bedroom.

Oooooh my stars!!! I loved this color combination when I first saw it. Gorgeous.

A tub of beautiful posies.

You'd never have to worry about cleaning the shower walls, just sand blast them. :-) Big enough for two and no shower door is my perfect shower.

A cute little step stool.

And cute curtains also.

Pretty door. I have decals on all my doors also. Love this style.

Lovely table setting using blue and pink together.

This little craft room is sort of incongruous with the deer head in it, but cute nevertheless.

A beautiful southern-style home I thought you'd appreciate seeing.

Cute picnic area on someone's porch.

A magnificent kitchen with white shabby chic cabinets!

Pretty roses pillows and chenille on an old wicker chair.

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Linking up with SSS WOW
NMH Open House Party. 

Loud-Mouthed Cell Phone Users

Technology. Love it. Cell phones. Hate them.

I rarely ever use my cell phone. I keep it for emergencies if I'm in the car and have car trouble or need to call hubby if I'm alone. It's really just a security measure for me. Going out to eat in restaurants and listening to the loud-mouthed man/woman at the next table is an affront to us all who want to dine in peace and quiet. Or going to a store, waiting in line, and a loud-mouthed woman gives her whole love life/history/latest battle with the kids, etc., you know what I'm talking about, to her friend on the phone in the loudest voice on the cell phone. I'm really, really danged tired of it. The next time that happens I just may confront the person on bothering those of us who do NOT want to hear her problems loudly discussed while waiting to buy something. It's rude, offensive, obnoxious and disgusting to me. If you're guilty of this, stop it. Now.

Now, Love Bunny and I both have cells. As I've said, mine is rarely on, but I am on our land line sometimes and hubs will walk into the room on his cell phone while I'm talking. It doesn't do for 2 people in the same room to be on phones at the same time.

The other day he did it and I screamed at him that I was on the phone. Three times! I mean shouted out loudly. He later said he didn't notice I was on the phone, but I don't see how he could miss it. I had to shout 3 times and that's embarrassing to have to do it while he's talking business with someone, but this has got to stop. The person entering the room, usually him, should vacate the room asap. We'll have this discussion again as he tends to forget when he's concentrating on the phone but I've had enough of it. Especially the loud-mouthed women in the register lines at the stores. And restaurants? I won't even go there. I think these people just want to show they're "important." Well, don't do it in my space, guys. You impress me but it's a negative impression I'm getting. As I've said, two people cannot be in the same room when both are on cell phones!!!! Rant over. For now!

Oh, but there is one good point to cell phones: I call him on it when he's in another room, in the garage or outside in the yard, instead of yelling. (I learned this from my son because he has such a large house and called his wife from the family room when she was upstairs in the bedrooms.) Hubs has hearing aids but doesn't use them much, usually for church or when I insist. He talks much softer when they're in. Otherwise, I repeat myself several times. Losing hearing is a factor in aging but his was caused mostly being in the Marines and taking recruits shooting. He made them wear ear suppressors but he didn't. When we're young, we never think of that. But rock bands probably have absolutely lost most of their hearing. It does take its toll on our ears. Be very careful.
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Yes, I love this bedroom also.

Darling way to display kitchen items.

What a cute bottle. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

Another romantic cottage on the water. Sigh...

The hangers are what drew my attention.

My kind of way to gift wrap—PINK!

A "sweet" luncheon.

Just some more eye candy with roses on the letter holder and tulips in the pitcher for you.

A bit of lace curtains on the window.

Lovely balcony with lots of flowers around it.

What a gorgeous building. Not sure where it is though.

Colorful little sitting area with lots of bold colors.

Not roses, but the name escapes me for now.

An idyllic little spot to sit and read. Very unique hanging lamp.

More eye candy for ya, chicks!

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Drumsticks Ice Cream Story

Remember this post where I talked about shopping with th' Love Bunny? Well, he did it again! But this time with Drumsticks.

Until a couple of months ago, I hadn't had any Drumsticks ice cream for years. But during the surgery recuperation when my appetite was dulled from the painkillers, I tried enticing my appetite with any comfort food I could think of—Eggo waffles, Big Macs, just anything. Not much appealed to me then. But when he brought home Drumsticks ice cream I couldn't get enough of them. (Heaven forbid the weight should fall off! Sigh... But actually several pounds did disappear but I was diligent in getting them back on! Smirk) Then one night we ran out. I mean I was eating 2 or 3 a day! That's a lot for me. So I had him make an emergency run to our local market to buy some. He came home with some that had mint as the ice cream. Didn't read th' labels again!!! I was frosted because they didn't have the nuts on them either. What's a Drumstick without the peanuts? So I swore he wouldn't ever go shopping without me again. He's still trying to prevent me from killing every shopper in the check out line! It's not like I haven't done the shopping for 51+ years for us. I promise you I've never run over or crunched the heels of any man or woman in the aisles yet. Okay, okay, maybe once, but that was an accident. And he's forever holding on to the cart so I don't kill anyone. Drives me crazy.

But as fate would have it, the nuts dropped on the floor and since I go barefoot all the time, I was forever stepping on peanuts no matter how careful I was to inhale every single little smidgen of nut. So then, I very subtly admitted that we may have to buy the nut-less kind because my feet were getting tired of stepping on sharp little peanuts. I looked at him with a "don't even think of saying it" look on my face. He didn't.
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A sweet, small and purely white room for a getaway. Could it be a cabin or cottage in the woods perhaps?

Very ornate gold entry table.

Fairy dust in a lovely bottle. ;-)

Cute way to serve lemonade drinks.

Lace and handmade ribbon roses on an article of clothing. Yummy!

Who could resist this darling apron slathered with beautiful roses. I'd love to have some of that fabric.

Cute way to display some plants.

Just a sweet window in some other country from the looks of the building and pots.

A froufrou hat along side a chair.

I thought you'd like some more ideas on what you can do to jazz up your lamps.

I have no idea what country this lovely duplex is in but from the looks of the architecture, I'd guess the northern parts of Europe. One is the reverse of the other, and the pink and white go adorably together.

See what you can do with a basket of greenery? A delightful way to add lighting to outside or inside. Just take a basket, fill it with greenery and add some miniature lights. Lots of pizzazz.

The ever-present roses on this blog. ;-)

Another cute idea for outside, as well as inside, to add punch to an area.

Cherry blossoms abloom within a secret netting room. Pillows, food, and a secret place. Sigh.

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