If I Could Live In A Rose Garden

Edit: I just noticed that on the first few pix it looks like I had the "proportionate" button on my PhotoShop "unchecked" and the pix look distorted and thin and elongated. Wish I could capture that look on this bod, chicks!! I'll try to be more careful from now on, promise!! AND I'll post pix of "Love Bunny's new T O Y, tomorrow along with the finished wall. Now, understand it'll take me a while to hang things again. I want to study a scheme for putting things on the wall before I dive in haphazardly hammering in new nails! Oooooh, and I love all the tips people have been giving me on the "growing" of all my plants. I truly need all the help I and hubs can get.
~*~

Hubs and I spent the day trying to stay out of our contractor's way but we don't do a very good job of it. Well, hubs does; I don't! He's through today with the walls - texture is on and it looks really lovely. He has to come back on tuesday to put in the stainless steel sink I purchased a couple of months ago. (His name is Bob Robinson and he lives in Nampa, Idaho if anyone wants any remodel work done I think he'd be thrilled if you gave him a call. He's very reasonable.) Anyway, I've stepped in his "mud" on the paper he puts down on the carpet with my bare feet and tracked it all over the place, stuck my finger in his mud, and I've also brushed against his texturing and he's had to redo it once. But all in all, I think I've pretty much stayed outta his way! He, on the other hand, might just disagree. ;-)

But hubs wants to buy a pop-up trailer and has wanted one for a couple of years, diligently searching ebay and Craigslist for one. He found one today and we went to look at it. We offered a price to his wife because he was out getting their dog mated. :-) Dogs must really love this one!! Anyway, he came home, called hubs and accepted his offer. Now, I told him if we got a trailer I was taking over and "shabby chic-ing" it up. I don't think he has a problem with that really. His aim in life is to make me happy! But it's a hunk of change I tell you to buy a small pop-up trailer. I'm truly not that much into camping any more. It's not that I don't like getting out in the woods once in a while - like once a year or every other year - just fine for me! It just takes a lot outta me to get things ready, plus I have to be away from my computer for a few days and to tell ya the truth, my little cherubs, that scares the heck outta me and almost makes me shutter!! Truly, when Smokey the Bear puts in wireless and the U.S. Forest Service can run tech support with the cable/ISP company then I'll give it more thought! Until then, pass that router please and keep your hands off my browser! But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Soooooooo.........sigh........another decorating project for a "trailer"!! Whoopydippydoooo......... Mom never warned me about these kind of situations! Aaaaaaacckkkkk!!!!

Then we went to Greenhurst Nursery over on Happy Valley Road - don't ya just love that address??!!! I picked up a hibiscus and a beautiful english vintage tea roses bush with the most luscious smell. I've pictured it below with a caption telling you which one. Love Bunny/hubs has already dug the hole and put the hibiscus in it and also is in the process - prior to receiving the call that the aforementioned trailer was HIS - of digging out a forsythia bush to put in the new rose bush. He just HAD to rush over to Middleton to pay the guy and pick up his new trailer! Now, you and I would say it could wait till monday, right?? Nuuuuuuuu, hubs has to waste a gallon of gas in the gas guzzler Montero to run over and pick it up. After all, ya never know when aliens from outer space just might decide to invade this planet and set their beady little eyes on that exact trailer he just purchased to transport back to their home planet and disassemble it to find out what in the world this civilization is doing with these tiny little "houses" with canvas tops rolling along on wheels, right?!?!?! Sheeeeeesh.....

With all the wallboard dust it's another night of eating out. Last night Applebee's and tonight Qdoba's for mexican salad.

This is what he cut and pulled out for the hibiscus. I didn't like it anyway.

Hibiscus is on left.

Just some summer roses blooming.

Aren't these just lovely?!?!?!

The new rose called "Medallion". It is a very pale pink with a bright sort of pale yellow center and kind of ruffley petals. Very lovely!!

The hydrangea is getting bigger and the bougainvillea is growing in just a week!!

Remodel Day #6 & "Pink Saturday"!

Okay okay, it's still early here in the west, chicks!! Just got up and have part done from last night, but needed more photos for ya.

Not much different from yesterday except more mud on the walls and he's to come back today for 3rd mudding and texturing. Then monday we'll paint it and it'll be done except for the "decorating"! *Smile*

Close up of a basket I keep things in.

My first attempt at painting on something "round"! Eeegads, what a time that was. I'll get better though.........I think!

A tribute to my group on ebay. Oh my, how I love those special chickadees! Simply the best ever............

A rose painting a woman was going to throw away and I said send it to me and I'll display it!!! Can you imagine? It's just gorgeous.

Very closeup of one of my birdhouses in my collection.

A sign I bought on ebay because it touched my heart........ ;-)

More "fluff" laying around this house. Always "PINK" fluff though!

The beginning of one of my paper roses. I must get back to them, but blogging keeps getting in the way......and remodeling........and cleaning...........and cooking........and laundry..........and my affair with Tom Selleck and Clint Eastwood! Hah, as if?????

And this is the lovely paper wrapped around the last pictures. You'll see it when you get down to the bottom. I put the little decoupaged hangers on there because they have PINK roses on them and contrast with that wild and crazy paper!!!!!! Wooooohoooo.

My very first painting that I ever considered selling on ebay. I guess no one else thought I should have considered selling it because it didn't. Humbled me, but I don't care. I love it and proudly hang it in my house. So when I'm rich and famous from painting roses and running around in my Mercedes with a chauffeur and thumbing my nose at all of them and wearing those bustiers and hot pants and showing off this hot bod, I can laugh and go nananananana, right??!?!!! And if you believe that, you really ARE in lala land, sweet chicks. I don't want riches; I HAVE them! I have my kids and Love Bunny!!! Yesssssssss, who could ask for anything more than that?!??!

A very sweet and talented lady, Miss Doodle, gave me this lovely roses painting. (It is but a snippet of the whole canvas.) And for that she is in my thoughts almost daily because it hangs on the wall across from me here in my office/computer room.

Another painting that touched my heart from Lorena. It's on the same wall and I see it every single day!

A lot of women send me things for helping them with their computers and technical stuff because I am a techie. This is what one sweet lady sent me - 2 lovely rose paintings. I know, I know, you're asking how can this "beautiful HOT se*y nana chick" be so techie??? I don't know, just lucky I guess!! But I help anyone with anything I can about computers and blogging and photography. Now, don't beat the door down asking me things. I'm busy with the remodeling, ya know!!!

Can you believe this?!?!? I received these in the mail yesterday from Joanne after winning the delightful D R E A M letters from her. BUT can you even guess what they are??? At first I wondered why she would send me some elegant gloves with fancy polka dots on them. And then I picked them up and they're rubber gloves!! Yes, gardening gloves, but ya know what, my sweet chickadee?? I just may wear them out to Applebee's tonight with my "not-so-elegant" attire. Hey, I live in Ideeeeeho, ya know!!! Formal is a crease in your jeans and spit shined boots!!!

And finally, does this say it all?!?!?! The letters/word I won from Joanne.

Remodel Day #5

Day 4 wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, but tonight will be with all the sanding. I've covered the living room with plastic drop cloths because tonight it's sand, sand, sand the walls and then apply more "mud" and sand again. So the next 2 days will be the worst in terms of "sanding dust", which I am NOT looking forward to! Here's what it looks like this morning.

My sweet long time friend, Steph, has awarded me yet another blog award. I love Steph dearly and her mum is my adopted mum. Just how lucky can one chick get, I ask you???!!! She's a true southern lady. :-)

Here are the rules~~~~~~
1. Link this back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post these rules in your blog.
3. Share 6 unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag people at the end of your entry.
So here are six unimportant things about me~~~~~

1.
I love going barefoot. Hubs is always telling me it'll ruin my feet and it causes them to get "tough" on the bottom (his are as soft as a baby's bottom!) but I hate wearing shoes unless I go out somewhere. I am sitting here typing this with my pink "crocs" on though because of the mess in this house at the moment. Nails, staples, wood parts and chunks of sheetrock are everywhere!

2.
I'm a list maker. I can't live without my lists - from grocery lists to to-do daily lists, it's what I have to do to accomplish things.

3.
I'm not fond of the daily routine of cooking. But sometimes I like to try gourmet recipes and love that. If I was rich I'd have a cook, masseuse and a gardener!

4.
I am NOT a social animal. I hate parties and if you asked me to play a silly game I'd probably refuse. Hubs, however, is a party animal! I only go to functions I absolutely have to go to and that's very few. I love staying at home. Plus I loathe having my picture taken. That's a very personal thing to me so you'd better ask before you take one. I am not a "star" type person and would much rather go through life as a small fish in a big pond instead of a big fish in a small pond. Toooooo much responsibility, chicks!

5.
I cannot stand disorder whether it's in my house, car, garage, yard or head, there has to be order and not chaos for me. I don't function well if it's not. I know, I know, I have a serious problem, you say. SOOOOO WHAT?!?!!!! It won't kill ya, right???

6.
I love Toyota Camrys. I doubt I'll ever have another car that's not a Camry. It just keeps on trucking along no matter what.

Now, for the people I'm supposed to tag. Well, I wanna tell ya something, sweet blogging chicks, I've seen this go around to many of the more "popular" chicks' blogs and some never get tagged. How sad, because there are some lovely bloggers out there that I'd absolutely love to get to know better. I especially like to know what state and town they are in. I truly do! So what I would like to happen is that for anyone and everyone reading this to take the rules and answer with the 6 unimportant things about yourself and pass it on. I do this NOT to get out of tagging someone but because I truly do want to learn more about all of you.

I've seen some, for lack of a better word, "selectiveness" in some blogs. I've NOT selective; I love hearing from and learning about each and everyone of you. So please, please give it a go, my sweet friends. We're all here blogging to have a good time so let's HAVE a good time!!!!!
~*~

Yesterday while surfing some of the blogs I remembered an incident that happened in Mexico - Puerto Vallarta, I think - many years ago now and thought I'd tell you the story today on here.

We were in the condo just coming in from the pool and I was just changing from my bathing suit into some clothes. There was a knock at the door. The young men always bring big fresh bottles of water for the "north americans" every day in those Culligan-type 5 gallon containers which are quite heavy because our tummies just cannot adjust to their water for the short period we vacation there.

Anyway, there was a knock and I couldn't get to it in time. The mirror was on the side of the bathroom where the door was visible when I was looking in the mirror. So after a wait of several seconds because I was "in the middle" of changing (read here as stark n*ked!), I heard the key in the door and the door opening. There stood a very shocked young mexican guy who froze! I looked at him and he was getting an "eyeful" of this gorgeous hot bod!! Riiiiiiiight!!!! LOL He realized I was in the condo at that point but after not answering right away decided to just use the staff key to come in and leave the water. As I said, he froze and I froze and then he backed out, Jack rushed to the door from the living room and opened the door and got the water. It was quite a shock. Ooooh, and we never saw that guy again. I suspect his eyes are still "glazed over" and he's still in rehab from that incident!!! Pray for him; he needs it!!!

Remodel Day #4

Day 4 began in a whirl for me. I had a massage scheduled for 2 pm, we were scheduled to feed 2 missionaries, hubs was teaching a real estate class until 5 and was at least 1/2 hour away and missionaries were to eat from 5 - 6 and be on their way. I had steaks to cook out and I have no clue how to use the BBQ! I mean I can move it around the patio but turning on the gas tank and the actual igniting of the fire is beyond this chick's scope! Besides, like they always tell you: If you learn how to "do it" (whatever it is), then you "own it." Welllll, this gal ain't "owning" cooking out! I barely want to "own" cooking in! As my friend, Bertie, says the only reason I have a kitchen is it came with the house! I adore fast food resturants, ordering in and nice restaurants too. I've cooked for 47 years and hubs deserves to take this "hot grandma chick" out on his arm - "arm candy"!! Hah.......trust me, that ain't so and Sophia Loren has nothing to worry about! But I digress.

The missionaries ended up grilling the angus steaks I had and Love Bunny missed a fiiiiiiine meal, let me tell ya. Steak, potatoes, salad from our garden, corn on the cob and watermelon. Ooooh, let me correct that; he missed a fiiiiiiiiine HOT meal! Missionaries were gone before he even got home!

All this going on while Contractor Bob is measuring, cutting and hammering away. (Oh, an aside here.....some of you sweet little chickadees think hubs is doing the remodel; Love Bunny is NOT doing the construction; we hired a contractor we know personally. I wouldn't trust hubs to be diligent in getting it done in a timely manner, which in actuality means he won't listen to my nagging to "get this job done!" Remember, we're married - annnnd want to STAY married. Need I say more?!?!?!)

You've seen this house before so I won't add descriptions, just use your imagination as to what is happening to the living room/kitchen/dining area wall to enclose it and "define" the rooms a bit better. It's also providing wall space on which I'll hang more "fluff", move our grandfather clock into the LR and can then get a non-working fireplace/mantle in our family room. That'll be "eye candy" also. Squeeeeeeeallll!!!!

Earlier in the morning I decided to wash off the patio from the grease drippings and bird droppings. I moved all the chairs, pots, the grill and the infamous bicycle of hubs that he insists sits out there till he finds time to clear enough room in his shed to hang it in there. Well, 2012 is just too far away for me so I put it in the yard and when the sprinklers came on last night it got wet. I thought he was going to keel over. Now, don't those guys doing the Tour de France cycle in rain?!?! Yep, so what's the fuss all about?!?! It's wet; deal with it, guy! *Sigh*.........................

Then after hosing down and scrubbing the patio, I turned the hose on the window and surrounding areas of the house washing the spiders and earwigs outta their little hidey places. Whoooooooa, chicks, it was fearsome, let me tell ya!! Then I "attacked" the window, which in reality is a breeze because....................... of these 2 little items below. That's a window squeegee and a lambs wool window cleaner. Washing a window with these 2 little things is not only the fastest, easiest way to do it, it is actually fun. You dip the wool washer in plain water from the bucket, swish it over the whole window QUICKLY and then take the squeegee and wipe the water off. I've never had to do a window 2 times and they're clean with absolutely no film on them. It does it all efficiently and quickly. I absolutely love these 2 little items!! They're supposed to have been made in Italy but the handle says made in Oakland, Ca. and it's called Ettore, as you can see on one of the closeups, with a very specific little "aviator wings" logo. They're the absolutely, unequivocally best thing I think you'd ever find for cleaning windows - nothing but water and they're squeaky clean. A bit pricier than most but I've had these for maybe 8 years and it shows no signs of use or abuse. You can get them at commercial cleaning supply companies. Well worth it in the time it saves you.