Back to Blogging

It's been a long while since I've posted a regular blog post but today just felt right. I think I'll be back at least once a week. A lot has happened.

I did another round of physical therapy—fourth time for the same injury in a fall several years ago now. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally and still very emotional and my sweetheart of almost 54 years helps and supports me a lot.

I had a "breakdown" in Costco in July; it was a Friday. I went over with hubby for his eye exam to help drive him home if they dilated his eyes. While he got examined I strolled around for some groceries. I was in one aisle and just felt myself welling up with tears. Immediately I went back to the optical department to wait for hubby. He finished and wanted to shop some so I said okay even though I really didn't want to shop.

In the "syrup" aisle I just stopped and told him I couldn't go on any more. He went over and picked up our last item in the back of the store. A woman in the aisle I was in accidentally dropped an huge gallon of maple syrup all over the floor. That did it for me. I just broke down in tears. Hubby got me out of the store. I cried all the way home, went right into our bedroom and sobbed and slept until Monday, 3 days. It's been an uphill battle since then. I'm much better now, but my neighbor is a licensed social worker and referred me to someone who would be good for me. She knew I needed someone "neutral."

So I had more PT with another therapist and that did better than all 3 times with the former therapist. I finally got an MRI and there was spinal stenosis and nerve damage and my left hamstring is atrophying. I'm still doing the exercises but at home now. But I've had a great friend who has helped me along and I love her to pieces. She definitely understands as she has depression also. I can deal with it but it's harder in my 70s than the small bout I had in my 40s when we decided to leave California and move to Idaho.
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This is my 2 year old great granddaughter, Miss J. She has her own style and insists on dressing like this now and even going to daycare, this is the outfit. You can see she loves glitz and glam. She takes after her Nana, which is what my grand kids and great grand kids call me.

We're calling this style "Dollar Store Chic" as just about everything she has on came from our local dollar store. I think they went there 5 times while they were here. It was their favorite place to go and went there 3 times in one day!

Yep, got her cowgirl hat on backwards and unhappy she isn't getting her way.

Sunglasses are accessories to ALL the girls in this family. We never go out without them. Notice she even has on 2 different shoes. Her favorite thing right now is shoes, even if the hand-me-downs from her sister are too big. Th' girl has style AND attitude! Just like the rest of the girls in the family.

Spaghetti is her favorite meal, along with raspberries.

This is big sister, Miss C. She's also a pip!

This is Christmas day. My granddaughter, their mother, said they unwrapped presents all day. They believe in "overdoing"! But I called them that night and they were still unwrapping Christmas presents.

This is the bonus room and it is stacked wall to wall with toys and shelves holding toys. This is a "clean" room day. Most days you cannot get through it for the toys on the floor.

This is her big sister on Halloween. I have no idea what the costume is. But it's Miss C's style also.

The kitchen cabinets were painted white over Thanksgiving so they came over here to visit us as the paint is oil-based and odorous and they had to leave the house. The light you see in the upper right hand corner is gorgeous. They have 2 lights over the island and they're crystals. I lost my breath the first time I saw them. I'd love to have them in my kitchen but we have vaulted ceilings and it would be a chore trying to change from the recessed ones we have. They are truly breathtaking in their kitchen.

I love this room. Just cozy and a great room for company. I'd add pink of course.

An adorable porch. Love the chairs but I'm sure they'd get dusty in this area.

Another sofa and chairs I adore. Just a glamorous room and I love glam.

I'm not fond of the natural color of wood. I prefer white but this is gorgeous. Some people won't paint wood. I'm NOT one of those people. If it's too dark I paint it! Wood is not sacrosanct in my book. But this room is beautiful with lots of light.

If I had this kitchen I just might cook more but we know how I feel about cooking every day. Not for me.

I also love this sweet entry area. It's welcoming as most entries should be.

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Slipcover for Sale

This is just a short post about a slipcover. The cover below is for sale. I gave the sofa and slipcover to my granddaughter but she decided she didn't want the slipcover so she brought it back when she came over for Thanksgiving.

I bought that slipcover from a catalog I used to get but the publication is no longer sending them out to me so I can't remember the name but it was an upscale one. The cover in question is a green and white ticking stripe as you can see in the photos below. It is in A-1 condition or I would NOT be selling it. Several people asked me if I ever wanted to sell it to let them know. I've forgotten who they are but it's now for sale. This is one item I'm NOT giving away to someone. It's a heavy twill I would guess and it's been washed a few times and comes out beautifully. No stains or wear on it. I just put it right back on the sofa. I paid several hundred dollars for it, about $400 OR $500 if I remember correctly. So if anyone is interested just send me a comment and I'll get back to you. I'll let it go for $200.00 and that's a fantastic deal. Those of you who know how much good slipcovers are worth will appreciate this. I had one made for the same size sofa in the 1980s and it cost me $800.00 at that time. This is a steal and I would not get rid of it except that we're scaling down and don't need it any longer. I think it weighs about 40 pounds to ship. I'll check that out if there is any interest in it. Here are two pictures of it in our family room. The family room doesn't look like this anymore but you get the idea for the slipcover. I am also posting it on craigslist so first come first one gets it. I can guarantee you will NOT be disappointed.

Again, contact me through a comment and I'll get back to you promptly. Thanks!

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Time for an Official Break

It's been a long 10 months for me. I've decided to make it official by telling you what's been going on and telling you I am taking a long break. I don't know for how long but since I love blogging so much and haven't been consistent with it for a while I thought I'd just make it official: I am taking a break and not sure when I'll be back.

It started with the sciatica in my left leg and hip in the early part of this year. That took me a long time to figure out why so much pain. But then after months of exercising and chiropractic and massage something else happened.

I was getting out of bed one night to go to the bathroom and as I arose from the bed and turned I felt a "snap" or "pull" as I thought about it later on. It was intensely painful. This went on for a couple of weeks before I went in to the emergency room one night. (I already had some pain pills from the sciatica so I wasn't in any big hurry until things got worse.) I thought I had pulled a groin muscle. That's where the pain was, groin, around the upper part of the left leg. After 4 visits and 4 shots of the "heavy duty stuff" in about 2 weeks, I finally got a doctor who thought it was something else and ordered an MRI.

She scheduled it immediately and found out there were lots of things going on: "arthritic changes" (whatever that means), disk bulges, spinal stenosis (abnormal narrowing), referral to spinal surgeon who does the "minimally invasive" of this kind of surgery and more PT when that's done. Can't you tell I'm just thrilled?! I've spent the last 5 months doing physical therapy every single day to a minimum of help and now I get to do more? Well, it is what it is. So I just won't have the physical or mental capacity to blog a lot at all so I'm just not making any plans to do it for some time. I may drop in once in a while but my focus at the moment is to get rid of the pain. My nerve endings are just shooting pain down my legs horribly and pretty much consistently. It's mostly affecting my left side but there is a little pain in both legs sometimes. I'm pretty much on pain killers most of the time. I don't drive much at all, don't get out much at all either. I'm frustrated and feeling sorry for myself on a pretty regular basis. But I am a very strong woman and will do what I have to do to get better. Prayers are always appreciated and I pray for others also. So that's it for a while. I'll still do Pinterest though as that doesn't require a lot of time and I'm not consistent on my pinning as I've got over 16,000 pins up now. But mostly I want to thank those of you who visit here and especially the few who leave comments. It's encouraging to know some people care enough to do that. Thank you! And I'm leaving you with just a few of some of my favorite rooms to view.
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I especially love the windows, the pink sofa and the fresh flowers around this room.

I don't usually like high windows or ceilings but this house just speaks to my soul with the beautiful rooms open to each other. And I don't especially like rooms open to each other but with such large rooms flowing beautifully into each other this is definitely on my list of favorite rooms. Not saying I'd buy it even if I could afford it, just saying I like it a lot.

This has a coziness I like as well as an unusual staircase in such a small house.

This is one of my all-time favorites room. Just like the red and yellow together.

And again, the red draws me in. A cozy room to chat in.

I also love this room, especially since it is designed by Charles Faudree, one of my favorite designers. It is genuinely homey without being too exaggerated. Lush sofas, ottomans and cozy, comfortable chairs. The floor would be easy to clean. Windows admit a lot of light.

Cute is what I'd call this room. Ottomans are a big part of my decor because I truly want my guests to put their feet up if they prefer. I always, always have an ottoman in front of my chair and an extra two sitting around for guests. Essential in my home.

A bit more sophisticated than usual but I still like the decor. It's not an elegant room, just elegantly appointed. Groupings in which to chat are essential to me because hubby can chat with a guest about which I have no interest and I can chat with someone who shares my interests.

I'd call this a family-friendly room  and I like its accessibility to the kitchen for a family room. Again, all the essentials I love: colors, coziness and foot/leg comfort with ottomans.

A bit more elegant than usual but I do love the room with its two sofas and furniture placement. That's very, very important to me.

Elegant and gorgeous is all I have to say about this room.

Shades of pink and lavender drew me to this lovely room.

A very traditional room to which I am always drawn but updated traditional.

Again, all the essentials for me in a lovely room.

I love the French look about this room. I could live in this room very easily but I'd have to have some pink in it. Beautiful!

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What's Been Happening the Last Several Months

Since the first of the year I've had sciatica. Then I went into physical therapy for it. After 4 months I'm somewhat better but still a burning hurt in my hamstrings. I'm now under the care of a massage therapist who is doing myofascial release for that area of my body. I am uncomfortable much of the time, but I have faith I'll be much better soon.

But during all this I had a meltdown because of being in PT and Chiropractic also. I'm getting better with the crying but I'm still a bit weepy at least every day or two. I'm also very, very tired. I have some women who are a great support for me.

We were planning a trip to California, where hubby would go to Fresno to a model RR train convention and I would stay with our daughter. I decided to stay here in our home. It's an 11 hour trip to the SF Bay area where hubs would leave me with our daughter for 10 days. Then he would travel to Fresno and pick me up on the way back. Just about everyone had me convinced to go so I wouldn't be alone. At the last moment, I sat my hubby down and told him I'd changed my mind. I wanted to stay in my home, my comfort zone. This was terribly important to me.

He left early Monday morning. When he got to Reno he called me and told me he cried pulling away from our home. He was sad leaving me alone. I appreciated his sentiments more than you could ever, ever imagine but I felt good about my decision. I assured him I was fine and he called every day to see how I was doing. I suppose this happens when you're in the twilight years of your life. Sure I cry each day for missing the love of my life for a solid 9 days and pray that we're both well and have no problems. I told him on the phone tonight this is the last time we're apart. No more conventions, only going to visit kids, grandkids and great grandgirls. That's it. It is so much easier being in my own comfort zone, cry alone, go to a local restaurant if I want to and sleep in my own luxurious bed here at home. And I can clean my house and do some projects that have been put on hold for so long. But I'm getting much better and have friends who actually love me very much. I'll be fine. But, yes, it definitely took a lot out of me. I am getting my groove back though, trust me!
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If you love red, white and blue kitchens this will get your heart pumping. I think it's fabulous!

And an exotic bedroom on a step-up level is pretty enticing also.

If only I had this large a space to work in! But I don't do a whole lot of crafting anymore.

I've always loved this look on steps and those plants, which the name escapes me at the moment. ;-)

I love this chair—color, tufted back and on wheels also.

This actually looks quite like a shop with its tall wall but it could be a home. Gorgeous idea no matter what.

I very much like vignettes like this.

I actually have one of these little cages in my living room but it has roses in it. Easy way to add pizzazz to a room.

Beautiful Old World gardens.

Clever way to show off your dishes and store them at the same time.

My friend, Rhea, paints these little birdhouses. I am the recipient of one of these, plus a few other painted things she's sent me through the years. They are displayed in various rooms of my home. I love the way she paints. She's very clever and very "neat" in what she does. She's been very sick for a long time and just lost her young hubby to a medical error when he had an appendectomy. I've talked to her on the phone and want to try and keep it up as she's very special to me.

I love the colors of this room, yellow and pink. That is my favorite color combo. Those colors are stunning together.

A very tidy and lovely office and craft room from all the fabrics behind the doors in the dark cabinet. Just beautiful.

Clever and gorgeous way to store trims.

Another idea for a birdcage.

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Back Soon!

I shall be back soon with more photos and a bit of an explanation of my absence.

Connie