Rambling Just A Bit Today

Back in the early 60s my hubby went to Haiti on a ship with other Marines and Sailors. He described the condition of that country and felt so sad for those people. Poverty beyond description to most of us. No sanitation. Bathroom duties were done right there in the street, women squatted and men stood and did what they needed to do. He said it was filth beyond anything he'd ever seen. Personally, I think it's very sad. 
*

Recently I've come across a few blogs from surfing from other blogs. The blog posts were pretty old but in perusing them further I noticed that some had abandoned the blog altogether and some had deleted their blogs—or so they thought. Let me state here and now that a blog is never deleted from the web. Once it's published, it's published forever! I'd go to the new blog site, which sometimes they'd give a new name and start over, but the old one was still there. So be careful. This particular blogger thought her old blog sounded too "down" and wanted to start all over with a less depressing blog. Well, she got a new blog but the old one was still there for all to see. I can't say it enough: Once you hit the word "Publish", it's a done deal and there forever. So be very careful what you say on a blog. You can't take it back.
*

Smile as though you make them wonder why you're smiling. I do. It will always bring a smile back to you.
*

A beautiful passageway in a European country.

A lovely English road with the homes right on the edge of the road. Quaint.

Isn't this evening purse gorgeous with its white embroidered fabric?

A blue room like this is something I could live with if I didn't like pink so much. This is beautiful.

This entry is stunning and I'd love to have it. But that chest is gorgeous!

Very bright and lovely kitchen area. Looks almost like a restaurant.

Another narrow, windy, steep road in Europe somewhere.

More thatched cottages.

Pink antique kitchen table.

Cute bathroom.

Beautiful sun room/dining room near the water.

Beautiful pillows stacked on a lovely chair.

A pretty vignette with fans and roses and ephemera.

Cute little embroidered wall hanging for a kitchen.

Looks to me like an old English country bedroom. That chair looks very substantial.

*

Tidbits:
A Danish company has given its employees free subscriptions to internet p**n sites, but what would you expect from a country that now euthanizes its citizens. Sad and horrific in my opinion.
*

Our state is #1.
Here is what the "D, F, G and H" states are #1 in:

Delaware:
Most profitable farms
Theft

Florida:
Freshwater turtles
Mortgage loan fraud

Georgia:
Best conditions of roads
Personal bankruptcy filings

Hawaii:
People who carpool to work
Highest cost of living
~*~

Read more »

Decorating the French Chairs

I'm reminding you again to visit my Pinterest since I have almost 8,200 photos there in one place for you to see. Most of them have not been put on here yet. I know you'll enjoying seeing them.
 *

My granddaughter showed me the most amazing video the other day and I just knew I was going to share it with all of you. It's about 8 minutes long but well worth watching. I found it just incredible that someone could do makeup like this. And the model is also gorgeous! Of course, it would take me about 2 years to even try to get this look. :-) But it's up to you if you want to watch it. Fascinating though and I always like to share things I find interesting with all of you.

 *

Love Bunny is a camper, a scouter, a retired Marine (as I've mentioned many times before), a definite leader of men and a natural-born leader even if he doesn't see himself that way. He is. He's made a decision to not be as active in the Scouts as he used to be because of his age. He supports the Scouts vigorously, however.

When we lived in California, he was a Scoutmaster and a truly magnificent one. If you want your boys to grow up to be men, he's your man. He treats them like men and not baby boys. So I thought I'd mention a few things about him pertaining to this.

Every year in California he would take them on a 50-miler hike. Now, he's really good at this. When he'd go off on those hikes in Yosemite, I'd go up the Pacific Coast Highway 1 to a B&B and spend time or fly back to visit my mother and sister. That was before I gave up flying!

Anyway, one year while on the 50-miler he invited a friend from work. The friend wasn't particularly a camper but he thought he could handle it thinking what fun it would be. (FUN?! A 50 mile hike?!!) Hubs had told him about washing dishes. Hubs is shall we say fervent about washing dishes in the wilds. You use boiling hot water for washing and boiling hot water to rinse and I mean RINSE well. He told his work friend how to do it properly. Well, he didn't rinse the soap off well enough and there was diarrhea among the men the next day. Needless to say, hubs was angry, very angry. You do NOT want your men to have to suffer this while on a 50-mile hike, trust me. He told the man he wasn't doing it properly and if he didn't do it properly he was going to get another duty less desirable. The man was not happy but he never got asked to go again with hubs on a camping trip.

Then there was the night hubs woke up to a bear in his face. The bear had put his teeth through a Tupperware container with coffee in it never thinking the bear would be able to smell it. Hubs jumped up and alerted—screamed—for all the boys and men to be alert. The mama bear wouldn't leave because her cubs were up in the trees. Someone hadn't put their packs up the proper way while camping on a hike. They learned a lot from that experience. They came to love hubs and gave him a great tribute when we left to move up here. A lot of men think they are leaders but truly aren't. Hubs is just the opposite. He doesn't see himself that way as it just comes natural to him. He truly is a great man.
*

Since they were having a sale on these hydrangeas and peonies, I went back to Michaels and bought a few more. I like the fullness of all of them in the drawer on this coffee table. Plus these pink hydrangeas are the most beautiful shade of pink I've ever seen in this particular artificial flower.

Peonies are one of my favorite flowers also. These are shades of pink and a bit of yellow thrown in, yellow being my favorite combination with pink.

I am trying something on these chairs in the way of decoration but while it looks gorgeous, I don't think it's going to be functional if someone sits there. The extra heavy boas would not be comfortable for someone's back while sitting in them. So I'll figure out another way to put them on without wrapping them around the back.

I love the elegant look though. I'm such a froufrou girl!

The little rose I put on this one is one I made from ribbon.

I think it's a wee bit small so I'll either make a bigger one or switch it out with the hoards of others I have.

So this is what I finally did. The boa tied on with twist-ties through the cane and not the least bit invasive to someone sitting on these chairs. The seats are next in line for their ruffled covers.

I love these paper roses on there. I simply wove their teensy stems through the cane and tied them to it. Not even visible or pokey to anyone sitting in them.

The rest of the photos are ones from the internet, not mine. Isn't this lamp darling? Looks like dotted swiss fabric with crochet edging. Sweet!

It's hard for me to pass up tiny shoes since I have 2 great granddaughters who have tiny feet.

Just a quiet vignette with pink threads and pink bottle.

Isn't this a clever idea? Just having dried roses falling out of a pretty jar.

I'm always a sucker for pretty dishes with flowers on them.

A pretty little cottage with pink blossoms blooming in the yard.

And a thatched roof in a bigger cottage in the UK.

A pretty place to dream does NOT have to be huge with expensive furniture. Look how quaint this tiny area is. Adorable.

And talk about cute!!! Making some of these for a tea-drinking friend would be a terrific idea. They are genuinely cute!

*

Tidbits:
Our state is #1!

"A" states are here.

There are no "B" states so let's go to "C" states and what they are #1 in:

California:
Roller coasters
Air pollution

Colorado:
Flu shots
Cocaine usage

Connecticut:
Dentists visits
Electricity consumption
~*~
Linking up with SSS and NMH.

Read more »

What Makes Us Different As A Country?

I've been thinking about this for some time now. Do you realize how un-modern Europe is? It's amazing to me how they don't even have plumbing as modern as we do. We have toilets that are above anything in any other part of the world. I mean no disparagement to our sister countries in Europe; it's just a fact having been to several and relatives visiting and/or living in several other countries. Those civilizations have been around thousands of years longer than we have. How is this possible? Based on a curiosity of here we are as a people, and we're no different than anybody else—less than 300 years as a nation. So many of these day-to-day standards of living things regarding hygiene and so forth are far advanced beyond people who've been around thousands of years—nations, cultures—at least many more hundreds of years than we have. Is it the entrepreneurship of this country? The rugged individualism? What? I'm asking. I won't even mention the countries on other continents. To me, it's puzzling. Some of our inventions have come from ideas the early Romans gave us. What happened over there that they don't have the conveniences we do?

When we were in Dublin, my hair dryer demolished the electrical outlet and we had converters! I tried to look innocent when we went down to breakfast that day. But I've never blown out a circuit in a U.S. hotel or motel.  
*

Another thatched cottage for you.

An antique French daybed with pillows.

A pretty table setting.

A cottage in Carmel. I may have posted this one before but it's still beautiful. Just look at that eyebrow window.

A gorgeous patio I'd love to have.

A beautiful entry into a backyard.

I can never, ever resist a pink room to show you!

A most unusual room and lamp. Notice the pillows are a pumpkin color but also reminiscent of pumpkins. The lamp looks like it could be in a witches house, too. ;-)

More delightful linens. Some of my favorite things to post.

I've just been struck by an idea. But isn't this display gorgeous?!

Lace, beads, ribbon and the beginning of roses being made.

A curious lamp inside a bakery. Delightful indeed.

How sweet is this breakfast room.

A pretty bow.

Trellised roses.

~*~

Read more »

An Ivory Soap Story

That bar of Ivory soap in the third photo brought back a memory to me.

When I gave birth to my son, I was extremely ill, not expected to live actually. But after 9 days in the hospital bed hooked up to IVs and given about 21 shots a day, I started feeling better. I think on the 9th day I was able to see my new baby. I was also allowed to take a shower even though I was extremely weak.

Since I had come to the hospital after 3 attempts at labor and being sent home, they kept me the 3rd time. There were 9 doctors in that examining room looking at every single part of my body, even my fingernails. I was in serious trouble. My kidneys weren't functioning properly and I was dying. I rallied after about 9 days and the doctor even bought me a Coke. It was so good to be able to drink something. My new baby and I went home on the 11th day. Hubs had taken care of our 11 1/2 month old daughter and had her potty trained and broken from the bottle. He's a miracle worker. And yes, she was potty trained at 11 1/2 months old.

Finally, I was able to get out of bed and look in the mirror. Ghastly! Then, the thing I needed most was a shower. Coming in as an emergency, I had no personal items with me when I got in the shower so I washed my hair with the soap they had in the hospital—Ivory. Have you ever washed your hair with a bar of Ivory soap? Trust me, it doesn't work well. My hair felt like it was coated with something. The first thing I asked hubs when he came in to visit was, "Bring me some shampoo." It was horrid and when I washed it later the next day it felt wonderful to have clean hair. Every time I see that soap I think of that incident in giving birth to my son. I still love the smell of that soap and don't even know what kind of packaging it has now, but I never used Ivory after that. :-)
*

Another beautiful rustic village entry way somewhere in Europe.

We're heading into this season so I thought I'd show you what cottages look like with snow-covered roofs, stone fences and grounds. I don't think they get much snow in Great Britain.

Remember when Ivory soap looked like this?

Always beautiful roses for you.

A tropical veranda overlooking the ocean.

Laundry hung and drying on the line.

A quaint European kitchen. I like the all-white cabinets and the splashes of pink and blue. Looks like a cake!

I cannot tell you how many times I've tried duplicating this ribbon rose. Many!! I'm not giving up though, just have to find more ribbon.

Real candy for "eye candy" today!

A beautiful white lingerie laundry bag.

Prettily wrapped packages awaiting transfer to the recipient.

I like this sign. It's darling for a kitchen.

The purple rug drew my attention. My great-granddaughter's room is pink, purple and brown. She's drawn to purple like her mummy. :-)

I know I am. You are also, trust me on this one.

If only my school lunches were like this, I might have eaten them instead of the cafeteria fare. I'd pack a bologna sandwich and to this day, I cannot touch bologna. Plus the beautiful packaging makes them even yummier.

~*~

Linking up with:
At the picket fence.
 

Read more »