My Heart Is Heavy This Morning

I have said I want this blog to be a respite from everything that happens in this world today. And I promise beautiful photos—always. However, waking up to news that one of our ambassadors to Libya and 2 of his aides were killed when they were attacked—2 dying immediately and the ambassador suffocating to death—brings a great sadness to my heart this morning. This man is a young husband and father. I grieve for this man. I can't imagine what his family is going through to see his body carried partially naked through the streets. Tears run down my face as I write this. Please, please, pray for this man and his family today. We need to also pray for the men who did this. Evil must be stopped. Sorry for this tirade but my heart is so heavy this morning.

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A sweet girly room, just my type!

My message to you this day.

Still more dinner ware from Green Gate.

Some plates from Green Gate

Another adorable frilly, feminine bedroom.

What a cute way to hold a few books if you're not a true bibliophile.

A small laundry room in Europe somewhere. See, we girls are much alike in how we dress up our homes, laundry room, kitchens, etc. No matter where we live.

I love this chair, but especially the yellow/red/pink of the fabric.

A gorgeous bottle.

Roses vignette.

Ohmygosh, how cute is this little camp trailer. I doubt it would be much enticement to me to go camping however. If I could just park it in my back yard and go out and play it in once in a while, it might be fine though. We all know how I hate camping!!!

While this is a lovely old sofa, I'm not quite sure about whether it's tattered or what. But it does look like it's at a flea market.

Pretty pink bowls.

Another quaint pretty little restaurant in France. Can't quite read the writing on the menu however.

This homeowner caught my attention with the huge rose painting on her walls. But her table setting is pretty also.

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My Ribbon Roses

I'm going to say this ONE MORE TIME for those of you who haven't read it before or don't know this: If you send me a question asking for help, then you need to send me an email address to respond. If your "settings" in your blog do not allow me to see your email and it comes as NOREPLY-COMMENT@BLOGGER.COM or as a Wordpress.com blog and there is no email to contact you on your blog, I'm just going to ignore it. It does no good if I have no way to get in contact with you to answer a question or offer help. In fact, it looks to me like the comments are simply spam. Plus the fact that if I try to find someway on your blog to leave a comment and you haven't posted for....oh say, 6 months , 2 years or EVER, then that leads me to believe you're not serious about your question or even worse, (gasp!) a serious blogger. Tell me it ain't so! And I handle spam by deleting it! You won't get past me, trust me, so don't waste your time. Okay? I'm really not mad, just wanted to make this very clear. :-)
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I just noticed the date I'm posting this and let me say since it's been 11 years today that our country was attacked and my heart still remembers it.

I had just gotten out of the shower when my phone rang and my neighbor told me to get over there immediately since we had no television. I stared in horrific wonder at those two buildings coming down. I still get teary thinking about it. I hope with all my heart our country never, ever lets that happen again. Being a very religious person, I knew the end times were going to be tough and our Church advises us to be prepared—economically, temporally and most of all, spiritually. But that day just stuck in my mind, thinking about the moms and dads who wouldn't be going home that day. I also think about those brave NYC firemen and police who tried to help and lost their lives doing so. So mostly I pay tribute to them. I love our brave soldiers, firemen, police and emergency personnel. (I'm blubbering like a fool typing this.) Just be prepared, my friends, to defend our country.
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First of all, I'm doing something on this blog post that I don't normally do. When I was selling on eBay, I would make the photos 2 different sizes so when they clicked on the photo it would enlarge. This can only be done when using a template, which I use every single time I sell on eBay or do these blog posts. This took a bit more time and I decided early on not to do it with my blog. However, I did it on this post with only my own photos. I can't do it with photos I didn't originally take. So if you click on each photo of mine you'll see a larger photo of the roses, etc. I really like large photos but they take up much more storage space on Photobucket or any image hosting so I rarely ever do it here. Enjoy.
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One of my passions is making ribbon roses. I don't use a lot of them most of the time so I don't make many now, but with the redo of the chandelier shades I'm going to make some. I'll need five of them. Below are some of the ones I've made in the past. I have more than I'll ever use but I love making them. It gives me peace when I craft. My dilemma is which one I'll like the best on the shades.

A flower I made years ago. It isn't velvet; it just looks like it. Red—and purple, for that matter—are very hard to photograph unless you are a professional. I'm not!

This is a flower I had hot glued to a craft—can't remember what at the moment—and I took it off. Yes, you can get them off using a heat gun (hubs') but I do not recommend it as you can burn your fingers severely. I haven't so far but I'm very, very careful when I remove things I've hot glued on.

I have no more of this exquisite ribbon or I'd do the flowers I want in this. I can't even find this ribbon anymore.

I wanted to see how a 7/8" ribbon would work. Way too small.

This one worked pretty well.

But this is my all-time favorite ribbon rose besides the red one. They are assembled differently. This one is much quicker to make. Both are lovely.

Making the red rose requires much more work and time. I'm just starting this one to see how it comes out.

This is another favorite of mine. I pinned it to my jacket to wear to church recently. Simple and very quick to make.

My craft room and table are a horrible mess at the moment. I'm very fortunate that I have a room all to myself and can just shut the door if I have someone come over.

I'm thinking of doing a ribbon rose in this polka dot. The only down side is that it's one-sided. Hmmmm...maybe and maybe not. I hate to cut into this ribbon and destroy the 2 long pieces. We'll see. Oh, btw, that's me and hubs during one of our frequent trips to Mexico, but the picture was on a sight-seeing day cruise on the ocean and a dinner. They put that silly hat on him to take a picture. He hated it but was a good sport about it.

While I was in the craft room I noticed a pillow I had. I made this pillow out of some leftover fabric from the 2 chairs in our family room. They have since been recovered in another fabric, but I doubt I'll ever part with these pillows. It's a moire fabric and beautiful, but you all know how photos don't do justice to the actual item. Even though Ethan Allen makes pillows to come with the sofa, I may put these on there in place of or rather with the other pillows. We'll see how they go.

Now, enough of me. Look at this glorious area in a homemaker's kitchen. Cute!

These lamps are among some of the most elegant I have seen. I'd take these in a heart beat.

Haaa, you thought I wouldn't include a little cottage-by-the-road, didn't you?

And more from Green Gate for you to see. Isn't it a "fun" kind of dinnerware?

And a beautiful bouquet of roses in a french pitcher.

And I leave you this day with 3 boxes of beautiful candy, cookies and cupcakes! :-)

I know this is a long post but back here I promised to a few more tidbits on our U.S. Presidents and their Secret Service men from this book, In The President's Secret Service. So here's another tidbit.

At a dinner party given at the home of a personal friend of this President, the Secret Service gave the hostess some recommendations that she really had to adhere to so that the President and his wife could have this small, personal dinner with her and a very small group of friends.

The SS agents asked that draperies be put up on her windows. Agents were stationed everywhere around the yard and no-parking cones were put up in front of the house. Another request was that she empty a closet nearby big enough to fit at least two men as that was where they would take the President in case of a threat. They also selected where the President would sit. (Going out to dinner with friends as a U.S. President requires a lot of preparation. It's not done lightly!) She acquiesced to their demands and she then asked a question about what would happen to all the other guests and what they should do in the case of an emergency. The agent's response was, "Madam, I have only one client: the President." I wonder if she thought about reconsidering the invitation!
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Linking up with WOW and At the Picket Fence.

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.