I've Done It For 52 Years!

I've added even more photos to my Pinterest page. Go visit it and see them. I know you'll love all the images.
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A few weeks ago at church, hubby invited some friends over for dinner before he told me he was going to do it. He's such an entertainer and social animal; I'm not. That wasn't a problem really, but he drove me crazy that afternoon.

The friends were invited over for leftovers from Christmas—ham. It was a beautiful and huge ham and although, I love ham I didn't particularly want it for 4 or 5 meals. Hence, we invited them to help us eat it. He fretted like a little ol' lady about dinner. Remember, I've been cooking his meals for almost 52 years.

Hubs: What about potatoes?
Me: I'll mash a big pot so you'll have some leftovers for next week.
Hubs: Great! Sounds good.

Hubs: What about salad?
Me: What about it?
Hubs: Could we have some coleslaw?
Me: What if I just make a fruit salad?
Hubs: OK! Good, good.

Hubs: What vegetable should we have?
Me: I'll make my famous fried corn.
Hubs: Ooooh, yeah, that sounds good.

Hubs: I think we should use some good china.
Me: Uh-huh. (Sighing at this point.)

Hubs: How about those leftover caramelized yams?
Me: Uh-huh, fine.

Hubs: I'm cutting up some pickles and putting some olives on a plate.
Me: Uh-huh, fine.

Hubs: I'm making a pitcher of sassafras tea.
Me: Okay, but not everyone likes the taste of it so why don't we have juice or something.

Hubs made a pitcher of the sassafras tea and had to explain what it was and how he loved it growing up. I knew the drink would necessitate a history of his childhood! It did. Sigh.

She and I had water. I think hubs was disappointed she didn't try the sassafras tea. (Snicker)

After dinner and after they left, I cut the rest of the ham off the bone and wrapped it up and threw away the bone. I told him cleanup was up to him and left the kitchen.

Let's see how long it is before he asks anyone over to dinner again. ;-) I love this man to no end. :-)
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A yellow laundry room is quite cheerful.

Ireland. Love that country.

Painted cookies? Adorable.

Sweet tweet hangers. ;-)

Darling cups and bowls.

Aren't these the most adorable hatboxes you've ever seen?! I love them.

Old world walkway with pretty tubs of colorful flowers to brighten up the drab stone homes.

More beautiful perfume bottles.

Darling kitchen with plenty of work space.

I really, really, REALLY like this room!

A profusion of pink flowers on a balcony.

Cute ol' French tubs.

Pretty vintage green tri-fold doors.

Cute vignette in a vintage room.

Just some eye candy to leave with you.

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Tidbit:
Only U.S. town where mail arrives by mule: Supai, AZ (at the floor of the Grand Canyon).
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Linking up with NMH Open House party.

Just A Few Thoughts Tonight

I'll mention again my Pinterest page where there over 7,500 beautiful photos for you to see. I can't believe how fast the following is growing on my site! Thanks to all of you who are following. I'm humbled by the response to it.
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Just a few thoughts on my blog tonight.

I've never shared this website with anyone on my blog. Don't know why. But I'm rectifying that on this post today. I found her a couple of years ago when she commented on my blog. I went back and read every single post she ever wrote and just about split a gut laughing. She lives in Utah and is a mental health counselor but the most irreverent woman I've ever met...and FUNNY!!! I warn you this woman can be a bit bawdy sometimes. Sometimes??? She is absolutely hilarious, at least to me. She gave up blogging for a while in March and gave us another post in September, but you've really got to visit and laugh. This is her blog site. She gets comments in the hundreds almost all the time. I wish she'd come back but I guess there are so many nuts in Utah that she's too busy counseling. ;-)
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Hubby is a party animal. Well, more of a social butterfly and gregarious. I'm not. I'm pretty much a let's-eat-and-leave-type chick. It's really hard to party with ibuprofen being my main "snack" lately!
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I'll mention my "thrifty" friend again. She's the only person I know who doesn't get rid of a car until it qualifies for the Guinness Book of World Records for the most mileage on a car. Sigh. That subject came up recently since they have almost 300,000 miles on her hubby's car. I've told her to get rid of it but she says it's still okay to keep around just in case one of the other cars goes out. I just can't get my head around that!
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Darling white, pink and flowery bedroom.

Love this color combination.

What a gorgeous bracelet!

Pretty crocheted roses.

Gorgeous white formal home.

Lovely vignette in a forest.

Now that's a bicycle I wouldn't mind having. Cute seat cover and basket to hold groceries.

What is it about stone steps that attract us so? Very quaint and adorable.

Yes, I do love this sofa and cushions also.

A gorgeous bouquet of roses so full there must be a gajillion petals in there!

Talk about living in the water! ;-)

A bouquet vignette I couldn't NOT show you.

Pink does it every time for me. Isn't it lovely?

I looooove this cuff. I think I'll try to make one. When I wear mine, I always get attention and question on where I got it. I tell them I make them and they're quite easy to make.

This is a modern-type of homespun room. I like it because of the colors and it looks comfy even if it trends towards early American. Adorable.

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Tidbits:
Your tuition dollars at work: The University of Alabama offers an "Intro to Zombies" course. Puzzling as to WHY!
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Ballerina's Toes

Having been a high heel wearer in my younger years and loving the way they made my feet and legs look, I now try to warn the young women today at church how they'll suffer for wearing the highest heels imaginable in their youth. I loved and still love moderately high heels. I had some absolutely stunning heels that friends wanted to buy if I would sell them. Unfortunately, my feet were bigger than theirs—size 8 1/2 and they wouldn't fit them when I no longer wore them. I sold some on eBay and some I just cannot part with. So I truly know how you younger women feel. But I've had to have surgery on both feet to correct what those heels did. (I fully anticipate any young woman reading this will "pooh-pooh" what I'm telling you by rationalizing that it could never happen to them. I laugh but feel sorry for them because that's exactly what is going to happen to them in a few decades, especially with the ridiculously high heels now that have women almost standing on their toes.

I saw some article the other day that sent me to another article that talked about ballerina's feet. Our niece was a ballet dancer and auditioned for the NYC Ballet. I cannot remember if she danced for them but she was a professional ballerina for a short period until she met her hubby and got married. She is a beautiful long-legged young woman with 2 boys almost grown. But when I think about her and what she gave up, I'm certainly glad she did.

Ballerina's suffer immeasurably from being on pointe most of their lives. The feet you are about to see are some of the worst cases I've seen, and they will never be normal again.

So if you're the mother of a little girl wanting to be a ballet dancer, think twice about what her later life will be like. The younger years will definitely determine how much pain she'll endure down the line.

This is what some of the ballerina's feet end up looking like. The legs are also distorted with most of them.

Never to be able to be repaired.

Ruined toes and feet.

Pain and wrecked toes.

Deformed.

This is the worst case I've seen.

Twisted and painful.

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Now, let's look at some eye candy and beautiful photos.

Sigh. Yeah, the first photo is one of a darling pair of shoes. Sorry about that. But they are cute.

A quaint, sweet home in Europe somewhere.

And another pretty home.

I would never have thought of painting my kitchen cabinets in stripes but I love these.

Look at all the windows. They all have the same curtains so this must be just one person's house above a business. Absolutely adorable.

Some of my favorite things to show—beautiful fabrics.

A charming office for a woman.

Isn't this cute? I don't think I'd want to live beneath a waterfall though.

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Tidbit:
The world's largest eatery: the Damascus Gate restaurant, in Syria. It seats 6,014 persons.

Driving In Snow

Snow has been sugaring our yard the past few days. It does look like a winter wonderland, only I hate driving in snow and ice. I've been doing it a few times these past couple of weeks because I need to be able to do it in an emergency, but I'm driving Love Bunny nuts. We are making a trip over to Washington in a few weeks to visit granddaughter, her hubby and the girls and we knew it'd be snowing somewhere along the way so I had to be prepared. But when we first moved up here, I'd never been in snow to drive; after all, we've lived most of our lives in California.

Well, the first 2 years up here I had 2 accidents in the snow. One was where I was driving Love Bunny's truck and hit a road post and destroyed his passenger side door. You know how well that went over, right? He had broken a couple of ribs a few days before so I had no choice. I needed to go somewhere. I had to drive. Plus I skidded out several times. So I gave it up as we've not had much snow here for a lot of years and it melts pretty fast. It was time, however, to give it a second chance. I probably have a reputation in our city as the slowest driver in snow but at least I'm safe.
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Another beautiful lamp and shade in this vignette.

Wonderful place to stroll.

Cute little vignette.

More eye candy for ya.

Wonderful outdoor living area.

Italy!

Another beautiful area of a lovely room.

Charming old home.

Pretty way to display fabrics—with folded roses sewn together.

I'd love to visit this cute cafe.

Another pretty setting with roses.

French vignette.

How lovely would it be to live here, almost like a castle.

Pretty entry way.

Another beautiful window surrounded by roses and lace curtains inside.

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Tidbit:
In 2006, a London fashion show called "Naked Fragrance" had nude models wearing different brands of perfume, walking in front of a blindfolded audience.
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