The Story of One Heroic Woman

I'm finally getting over the cough, which turned out to be acute bronchitis, which I don't think I've ever had. It was rough. I stayed in the house for a month and rarely ventured out. But today I had hubby take me to the beauty shop for a hair cut since I haven't done a thing to it for about 3 weeks. Just too weak to do anything but sleep and read.
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Heroes!

This says it all so just read and pay tribute to this most magnificent of human beings. I only hope I'd have had the courage this woman had to save lives. Just another thing I must improve on I suppose. The humanity in this woman isn't even present in the tip of my finger. She's one of my heroes, along with the men and woman of the armed forces who want to fight and die for my country. Thank you to all you veterans. My heart is touched every day by your courage. If you are the relative or friend of a warrior, give them a kiss from this old lady. Please!

And now for some eye candy.

This is one of my favorite rooms. Oh, I have many! This is just one I love, arranged for conversation and not especially television watching.

And as I've said, I love a bit of the French look since that is part of my heritage, but I'm a pure-bred American and proudest most for that. Vive l'america!!

I found this flower arrangement most stunning. Few flowers and just candle holders, but truly stunning.

Look at how the furniture is adapted to the curvature of the windows. Lovely.

Simply a bit of eye candy in a cute little cup made into a pin cushion.

And another one most charming.

The kind of wrapping I'd like to receive on a gift.

Another pretty vignette for a dinner party.

I love this chair, even the gray stripe fabric. If I need a neutral color I'd never ever use beige; I'd use gray and have in a room we redecorated in California. Love it much more than "neutral beige", which to me looks dirty.

Without those windows this room would be just another living room, but that wall of window—along with the chandelier—makes it magnificent.

Cookies too pretty to eat!

A simple, yet stunning, room done just right.

A place to rest and dream.

A beautiful kitchen.

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Linking up with Pink Saturday.   

Yanni and Until the Last Moment

I simply want to share this video of Yanni and Samvel Yervinyan playing one of my favorite songs, Until the Last Moment. It is a song I've selected to be played at my funeral...someday. ;-) It is simply gorgeous and eternal. I listen to it in my car a lot. It is just so romantic and speaks to me of eternal life.

Respect for Others IS Love

I have read a few things on the internet about bullying this past year. I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they put out videos like this. This one especially hit home with me. I was never really bullied as a child or teen but there was one incident that stands out in my senior year of high school, just this one time only.

As I've said before, I was the child of a military man and we moved around a lot. I hated it. But I was in my junior year of high school and we moved to a new place. Being a rather shy young woman, it was difficult for me, especially in my last year and a half of high school. I was always a "visible" person, even to this day. But there were two girls who made fun of me one particular day on the school bus. Looking back, I have no idea why but I'm guessing they were jealous. Otherwise, why do something so cruel as to make fun of another person? It was a short incident but it has stuck with me all these years. I'm not into the "State" taking care of these things; I believe it's a parent's responsibility to teach these things to their children. I tried doing that with mine. But it's not up to other people to intervene unless it's criminal. Just my opinion. I suggest you watch this video and think about it. The speech is one from a General Conference talk of our church by Dieter Uchtdorf and is most profound. If this doesn't touch your heart and make you think, then there's not much hope for you. If you love others, you'll love yourself and vice versa. That also goes for respect. Seeing this reminds me I have much to work on also.

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A gorgeous Ralph Lauren room. I love his rooms because they are masculine in a feminine way or vice versa, but they are for just about anyone with taste.

I really do like white rooms but I need color and I think those homeowners who are switching to all white in their living rooms will revert back in a short while. It gets awfully boring seeing no color in a room.

I really do love these pink and white tulips but tulips have such a short life span I don't let hubby plant them. I'd rather buy them at the market already cut.

I have seen these little bottle vignettes done all in white with cast off glasses and love it more than this color one, but I do think this is lovely. I plan on doing a white one or all pink with some of my vases and cast off glasses soon. I think it's just lovely. I think having them all the white color would pull them together more.

YES!!! It's a private train car. I'm in the stages of planning a trip for our whole family for our 55th anniversary in a couple of years. I want a train trip where I don't have to fly to get to it and spend at least one night on the train with all of us. Maybe even 2 nights. My son has responded: "Sweeeeeeeeet!" Our grandkids are all grown except for 2 that are 17 and 18 so it'll be fun for them, especially the great grand girls who will be 5 and 3 about that time.

I love this room. Who says Christmas have to be red and green? Pink and purple are great also!

One of the loveliest pillows I've ever seen. I have a plethora of pillows I'm trying to get rid of, giving some to the granddaughters but the grandsons want nothing to do with froufrou pillows.

A gorgeous tablecloth and dinner setting. I love gorgeous dishes.

Do I really need to say anything about this chocolate comfort food?

Yeah, yeah, I know. You all want a place like this in France. ;-)

Remember when about 8 years ago these vinyl chair covers were all the rage but they cost about $125.00 for a custom one? I would have loved to have bought one and they are worth it but I just couldn't see spending that much. Also I was too lazy to make one so I never did get one. I'm glad I didn't now as I'd have had to wash it frequently in this dusty desert farming community.

Yessireeee, my idea of camping—taking my foam bed, chairs, huge tent, porch, plants, rug for wiping shoes and lights out into the woods. Hubby just laughs and sneers at this though. ;-)

Isn't this a neat idea? Get a long concrete bench and put pillows on it for when a crowd shows up. It's pretty enough to have in a house that can accommodate it also.

Just some real candy and "eye candy" for ya.

This is my kind of kitchen—having a dining room in it. Saves a lot of space and a formal dining set goes well in it. I love this!

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Linking up with Pink Saturday.

Our Heritage Is Important To Our Progeny

I'm going to remind you again of my Pinterest page where I have almost 14,000 photos of nothing but eye candy. If almost 11,000 followers find them interesting and beautiful, I'm sure you'll like to at least view them. I promise you won't be disappointed. Nothing BUT eye candy. A feast for the eyes!
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There are times when I need "comfort" food. Hubby always knows because I look at him with puppy dog eyes, put my curled hands up to my chin and whine like a puppy. He knows what that means. He's a sucker for it and will run to the store for whatever I need: Blue Bunny Bunny Tracks ice cream, cinnamon rolls, Häagen Dazs butter pecan or some kind of vanilla with caramel, cake or Drumsticks ice cream cones or even Werthers caramels. It depends on how I feel as to what I want. Since I've had this terrific cough for a week, it's been especially bad. I don't feel sick, don't hurt or ache, just coughing my head off. It started when we got an inversion in our city and the cold air just made me cough when I went out in it. Know what I mean? I'm sick of it. So I sent him grocery shopping a few minutes ago and put a few "comfort" foods on the list. ;-)
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My great grandgirls, C & J, have become interested in our heritage, which is important in our church, and the oldest one who is almost 4 years old is asking about her great great grandmothers and great great great great grandmother also. I've sent my granddaughter the information but they also want stories. Stories are a big part of their lives as their Dada and Mummy read to them a lot, every night at least. So granddaughter wants me to send stories to them so they'll be acquainted with MY history. It's been a chore but I have to do it since I'm in my 70s and don't have a whole lot of time left and certainly want those little munchkins to have some memories of me. I'm also including some photos with each story so they'll know what I was like as a kid. I think it's a good idea.

While we were over there in February we saw this painting done by the one who is almost 4. I was stunned that she could actually paint a dog. You DO realize it's a dog, right? I can't even draw a stick dog!! Her father and uncle are artists though so she's inheriting it from the other side of the family. Her dada can draw just about anything. I truly have never seen so much talent in a man—computer scientist, artist, handyman extraordinaire and a story teller with a fantastic imagination.

I don't know if this photo has been photoshopped but it doesn't look real to me—beautiful!—but not real.

There's always a bit of French and a bit of English in my home, 2 groups of my ancestry besides Dutch and Mexican.

Isn't this wisteria just beautiful? Goes perfect with the shutters on this shop.

How fortunate for this homeowner to have so much light in her kitchen. But if she lives in a warm climate it must get pretty warm in there in the summer season...if she lives in the northern hemisphere, but if it's in Australia or New Zealand then it would be the winter season that's warm. I knew a guy from Australia once and he was shocked upon his first day in the U.S. because our toilet flush water swirls in the opposite direction. He thought the toilet was getting stopped up.

Just yum!!!!!!! Hubby made me a chocolate cake last night as I'm having a terrible time with a cough. Not sick, feverish, just coughing. So is he. But I wanted comfort food and that's what he baked. Wonderful hubby. ;-)

A room I love and think is very cozy.

I like this sofa but I'd probably never buy one like it. A bit too busy for my taste.

But I do love this distinctive dining room. Great for entertaining and it's made to stand out in this home. Marvelous!

Oooooh, yeah!! I could live in this home in a heart beat. Only I'd have to have someone else clean it.

A cute English cottage with pretty windows, curtains and flowers with a lush green lawn.

Another darling living room.

I love this room and the way it's arranged but that painting on the back wall would HAVE to go. I mean GOOOOOO!!! Maybe it's their kids' school/fantasy project. ;-)

Another cute pillow.

There's always room for apple pie with ice cream. I think they put a dollop of cream on this. Let's not cut corners here, just slather it with premium vanilla ice cream!!!!

And a home in Greece. They seem to love blue and pink with white the main color. Beautiful!

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Linking up with Pink Saturday.    

Th' Grandgirls' Performance in Sneaky!

When we drove over to Washington State to visit our granddaughter and her family recently, we were treated to "concerts" every day and night from the great grandgirls. Now, they both love the camera when mom has it and try whine till they can get it from her. Here is one video my granddaughter put on my thumb drive for me before we left. It shows both of them trying sneakily to get the camera after she places it on the family room coffee table. Just notice how "sneaky" the oldest one is! Then she starts to pout by laying her head on the cabinet. Just too funny for us. The youngest just goes for it without any deviousness. We love to watch them. I cannot tell you how many times I watch these videos on my iMac. As I've said before, you don't have to view it if you don't want to but I get to post it since this is my blog. ;-)

A delightful dining area.

And a delightful white one also.

Sometimes these homes seem cuter than then ones we have in this country. Look how those upper windows swing in from the cute wall beneath. Lovely garden and a sweet door swinging out.

A simply gorgeous, divine bathroom.

This reminds me of an ice cream tulip but I don't think I've ever seen one with a green center. Beautiful though.

Another lovely patio dining area.

Blue isn't my favorite color but this open shelving cabinet is adorable.

Can you imagine a bright and shiny green kitchen. Pretty and original but I think I'd tire of it fast.

Bouquet of flowers on a beautiful chair.

I'm pretty sure this is in San Francisco as I've lived close and been there many, many times. My favorite city for shopping and dining.

Just a simple vignette for a wedding party. Unique without a lot of cost. See what can be done on th' cheap.

I've always loved red and white checks and find this cute.

I'd love to have a counter this big and this pink, but then I'd have to cook and we all know how I feel about cooking more than twice a week.

Aren't these eggs gorgeous?!

I've been thinking about making one like this to hang in my laundry room. I think it's very clever and darling.

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Linking up with Pink Saturday.