Pink Saturday 7/2/2011 and Random Thoughts

Welcome to Pink Saturday, chicks! I know I've been absent from PS and from blogging but I am on a mission for my Church and that has to come first. More on that later. But please visit the other participants by clicking on the logo below to visit Beverly and this wonderful showing of the PINKS!
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This is our front yard a few days ago. The roses are in full bloom and are gorgeous and very fragrant. Enjoy viewing them! I even got hubs to spring for another rose bush. I'll show it in a later post. It's magnificent also.

These smell absolutely wonderful.

And this one is one of my favorites. Actually, I have several favorites but pink and yellow is my favorite color combo so it's high on my list.

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As I said earlier, I am on a mission for my church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I thought it would be a breeze; I've never worked as hard in my life. I'm doing a Family History mission, which means I can do it out of my home on my computer. But I've had to learn so many new programs that are NOT familiar to the general public: SugarCRM, inContact, Googledocs, WebReference, wikis for the church, MeetingPlace and a few more. I'm supposed to commit to at least 15 hours a week. I thought "no problem." I was wrong! It's been a major challenge. I was trained for 4 or 5 weeks. This past Monday, along with something else, I totally lost it and broke down crying to Love Bunny. I explained what had happened to me that day (story below) and how low I was feeling about the whole thing. He set me straight, but more about that after the next story.

Last year my primary physician told me it was time for a colonoscopy. Well, y'all know what that means: drinking the most dreaded drink known to man. But I agreed. I went down the hall to the doctor she recommended, scheduled an appointment for a consultation and several days later I met with a woman in the doctor's office who wasn't the most pleasant of individuals and was a severe person, and I'm still not sure if she was a nurse, FNP, PA or just his assistant as her manner of dress gave no indication. She took my history and when I went back out to the receptionist, she scheduled an appointment for the procedure. I did a "mental shrug" and wondered about how this was going to work. Now, I don't know about you all but I want to meet the doctor before going into the surgery room. I didn't think this was out of line one bit. I absolutely take a very assertive stance in my healthcare and all other parts of my life. So I called back to cancel the procedure until I'd met the man. This has taken several months because he wasn't always available. I said that wasn't a problem; I'd wait. Meanwhile, my doctor was pressuring me to have it done. I finally called again to the other doctor and scheduled. They then called me back and asked WHY I wanted to see him. He didn't see why that was so important. So I had to explain to the doctor's receptionist (who was a sweetheart) WHY. I was experiencing a bit of a problem but didn't want to tell the whole office, for crying out loud. After explaining in the most intimate details the problem to the receptionist, she said that she'd relay the information to the doctor. She was as embarrassed as I was.

Well, this past Monday I went to his office and was escorted into a consultation room. When he walked in—I've never ever SEEN the man before—he wouldn't even meet my eyes. I held out my hand as he DIDN'T and he had no choice but to shake my hand. It went downhill from there. He was rude, arrogant, disdainful, contemptuous and told me 2 times to not interrupt him. Why I didn't just get up and walk out I don't know. I came home, went out to dinner with hubs,vented to him and asked for counsel as he knows me better than any other human being. He just said, "I don't see why you're even asking. Cancel the appointment and go back to your old doctor [the one who has performed the procedure 2 other times and is a surgeon]." Hubs is so practical! I didn't need validation as I knew I was in the right but I was so stunned by that man's behavior I wondered how he even got patients. If he doesn't like meeting with his patients then he should seek another line of work. His bedside/chairside manner was atrocious. I even asked him about the little problem I was having and asked if when he performed the procedure if he would do a surgery is anything was wrong. He said, "No." I sat there stunned waiting for an explanation. Then I asked why and he said he wasn't a surgeon; he was a D.O. Okay, that was the clincher for me. I knew this wasn't going to be a match. That's when I drew hubs into the picture.

My point here is with the new healthcare laws we need to take an even greater interest and be assertive in our healthcare. Plus, do NOT put up with this "God-like" behavior with any doctor! It's your life and your body. Be assertive!
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Random Thoughts:

On Same Sex Marriage: Marriage long ago ceased to be a promise made before God and community for man to take care of woman until death do us part, for man and woman to take care of their children until they are old enough to take care of themselves.

In its place is a half-meant promise to live together until man and woman are sick of each other or no longer have sufficiently enjoyable sex, with children fitting somewhere alongside who gets the Prius as a priority.

I am so blessed to have the same original man with whom I started out married life. He knows my physical flaws, the sagging body, the wrinkles, the age spots, the scars, all my imperfections and still loves me with all the vigor of a first love.
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What we do in life echoes in eternity so you'd better shape up here.
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When my daughter gave me access to her Netflix account recently while recuperating from foot surgery, I watched DVDs on my laptop. I noticed how smoking is so prevalent in the movies. I don't smoke and never have, just as a personal choice, not just because of my religion. But I certainly want to have the freedom to smoke for others who do. Now, I'm finding it very hypocritical for the Hollywood types to condemn everything that is the "hot item" of the year here and then do just as THEY want. I don't believe there was one single movie that they didn't smoke like a fiend. I was truly astounded after hearing them wanting to ban smoking.
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Modern Store Interior Design of Tollman Alessi in Tel Aviv

Modern Store Interior Design of Tollman Alessi

 Two hundred and fifty square meter of display will feature products from the company’s vast assortment of over 3,000 design objects for the home, table, kitchen, office and more. The new store showcases products from all three divisions of Alessi (AdiAlessi, Alessi and Officina Alessi).

Tollman Alessi Store Design

The new store is part of the the Tollman's chain's, leader of design culture in Israel. For the opening of "Tollman's Alessi", an exhibition of 4 of the tea and coffee sets in limited editions will be shown on site. The designs brought to Israel are by the architects: Tom Kovak, Gary Chang, Massimiliano Fuksas and Doriana Mandrelli and Future Systems.

Our 50th Anniversary Dinner and Vacation Part 2 for Pink Saturday

Welcome to Pink Saturday once again. I'm doing this early so you can read about our experiences this past week.
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These are what we saw in our gardens when we got back home from California. The peonies are absolutely huge. But on with the story below the flower pictures. Do not stop reading here!

And 2 different colors of clematis on the same plant.

We arrived at my daughter's house in northern Calif. on Monday and on Tuesday she and her boyfriend and hubs and I traveled down 101 to Santa Barbara. The motel was booked on line. Let me say here the pictures do NOT do justice to the rooms. If they hadn't been so cheap at $189 a night we would have gone somewhere else. We were all disappointed in them, but as I've said many times before here we just laughed and giggled at how bad it was. Nothing—and I mean absolutely NOTHING—ruins my vacations.

My son and daughter had booked 5 rooms for all of our families. Hubs and I took a small room as it was just us and we aren't picky. BUT this place was sad. Most of the lights didn't work. The whole place was shabby instead of the perceived "ambiance and quaintness" visible in the photos. A nice regular room in Santa Barbara started at $400-$500 a night and since my son and daughter footed the bill for hubby and me we weren't about to complain. I mean they didn't let us pay for one thing the whole week. But as I said, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me where we stay as long as the bed sheets are clean. There were wicker settees outside of each room so we commandeered 5 of them and sat out there instead of in the rooms. Being right across from the beach was nice for the kids also.

This was our room and trust me when I say the actual room didn't look this good close up. The toilet in my son's room wasn't even bolted to the floor and moved whenever anyone sat down. Our toilet seat wasn't on tight either and at one "critical" point it slid sideways with me on it and I almost fell into the...well, you get my drift here. It was not pretty, let me tell ya. The phones in every single one of our rooms didn't work either. Thank goodness our rooms were next to each other. The closet is to the left of that mirror/alcove and there was padding on the concrete floor but no carpet. (Photos courtesy of the motel's website.)

A patio on the 2nd floor of the motel. We never went up there as stairs are still hard to climb with this foot, although, it is definitely getting better.

We had to fight for parking spaces in the motel lot. Parking was at a premium here with the beach across the street. There were 27 motel units but only 12 parking spots and only 2 or 3 on the street.

This was our son's room. He had 5 people in his party: him, wife, 22 yr. old son and 14 and 15 yr. old sons. The staff put a cot in the closet for our 22 yr. old son. Then my tall, skinny son sat in the one chair and fell through to the floor. They took the chair out to a vacant room and brought him another chair. It truly was laughable.

This was my daughter's room. My oldest grandson's girlfriend's little girl, 3 years old, had a fun time splashing in the jacuzzi tub. They are planning a wedding for next May. This room also looks much better here than in actuality.

This is how the skies looked all week down there. I think we saw about one hour of sun the whole 6 days.

I truly am not complaining as I'm grateful for my son and daughter and can adjust to just about everything. BUT it gets better, chicks...

An elegant dinner was planned for The Stonehouse at San Ysidro Ranch, ranked as one of the best hotels in the world. And it truly was elegant.

We had a party of 15: 2 babies, 2 teens and the rest adults. The menu was spectacular and pricey. The side salads were $13 each and the desserts were $14 each (Mine was caramel apple pie and just for the record my apple pie is better!). I had the Parmesan Encrusted Halibut, which 4 of the adults had, but 9 had the Steak Diane. I had a bite of my 22 yr. old grandson's and it just was incredible. My son had it and said it was better than Ruth's Chris Steak House steak and that was his favorite until this night. I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it tasted. For those of you unfamiliar with Steak Diane, this is how it is prepared: The steak is seasoned by rubbing garlic and pepper into it and fried quickly in butter. A sauce is made from the pan juices using butter, shallots, cream and beef stock with worchestershire sauce, which is poured over the steak just before serving. I actually prepare this a lot because we love it but I go very easy on the cream. Mine has never tasted this good though because the steak was Premium! My kids wouldn't let me see the total cost but with the prices on the menu I figured out this had to be a $1300 to $1500 dinner. (A funny thing happened with Caroline and her mummy. One waiter —we had about 5 waiters waiting on us—asked Mandy if Caroline wanted anything and since she's only a year old she told him no, she was going to give her Spaghetti-Os. We all laughed at that, but she couldn't have eaten anything on that menu.) The below photo was on the Stonehouse's website as I didn't get any pictures and the kids haven't sent me any they took that night. As an aside: Jackie and Jack Kennedy spent their honeymoon at this resort.

And better yet...

The dinner was Thursday night and took us about 3 hours eating on the elegant patio in lush surroundings. We had valet parking and there had to be at least 5 valets because all of our cars were brought up from the wooded parking area at one time. But later on that night people started getting sick—daughter, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and her hubby, one grandson and Love Bunny. He went to bed that night and stayed in bed until Sunday morning. I'm not going into specifics but he was queasy and used the facilities A LOT. I stayed outside on the little area outside our room with some of the others who weren't sick. We don't know if it was something in one of the food dishes or just a bug going around but I didn't get sick.

Now, for the clincher. I told the kids "NO GIFTS" and had no reason to doubt they'd adhere to our wishes. But while sitting in that beautiful setting at that stunning table, they whipped out a gift bag with a jeweler's name on it. I was in shock when I opened it up and inside were 2 gold watches with our 50th anniversary date engraved on the backs of both watches and a little stone on each one. Brats!!! They never did listen to me. :-) Sigh.
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Our 50th Anniversary Dinner and Vacation Part 1

I'm so tired I could lay this body down and go to sleep and it's only 6:15 pm. We got back home last night at about 9 pm. It was the longest it's ever taken us to travel down to California or return, but there's a reason for that. (Sit back because this is going to be a long post.)

Love Bunny got a ticket a few weeks ago. But what makes it truly remarkable is that I was with him and just a few minutes earlier we had been talking about speeding on the very road we were on when he got the ticket. It's near our house and it was in a school zone. HE said he didn't see the flashing lights on the school zone sign. (DUH!) Now, this is remarkable since it was on a corner, kids were everywhere, parents were picking kids up and I had just nagged him about speeding. (I've gotten 3 tickets in my entire life; he's gotten 5 in the last 3-4 years.) He was accelerating and got to 41 mph in a 20 mph zone this particular day. I saw the cop coming from the opposite direction and had just opened my mouth when he turned around and put on his roof lights to pull hubs over. I'm a nag when it comes to speeding. I just don't speed. No reason to. We're retired and not in a hurry no matter what.

To say I was angry is putting a real shine on it. I was furious, livid and if there were any other adjectives to describe my mood, they have slipped my brain at the moment. I didn't speak to him for about 18 hours, waiting for my anger to calm down. When I did, I told him I'd not drive with him again if this continues OR he can drive and I'll nag him each and every time we're on the road. He went for the latter. He knew he was screwed and didn't even offer a defense. Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely hate nagging him about speeding but we can't afford any more tickets or rate increases in our car insurance. He's a very careful driver really. But he just has a heavy foot, and things don't stay in his head like they do mine. I'm great at compartmentalizing; he isn't. So that's the story of why he is supposed to follow speed limit signs now, which put our travel back from California at 13 hours instead of the usual 11 hours. We have made it in 10 1/2 when our son-in-law died, but the usual time is 11 to 11 1/2 hours.

There is a stretch of road in Oregon out in the middle of absolutely NOWHERE where you have to do 55 mph. He's gotten a ticket going through there and it's a speed trap. You can see the horizon from front to back and see no life whatsoever but it's still 55 mph because the citizens of Oregon see no reason to raise it on that 2 lane stretch of 95. There isn't a lot of traffic at any time but it's the only highway out of Idaho to Oregon, Nevada to California. So we did 55 mph for 120 miles with only 2 very tiny towns on that route. When we hit the Nevada state line we can go 70 but it doesn't make up for the time you lose going 55. Also, there has rarely been a time when we don't see a cop giving someone a ticket and this time was no different. We warn people who are taking that route to do the speed limit in Oregon. Oregonians are fanatic about their speed limits! The trucker we saw this time had passed us and we caught up with him when the cop had stopped him. He passed us again before we hit the Idaho line! Once we saw 4 different cop cars handing out tickets. Some people never learn.

So this is just a tease of what's to come later. There is more, much more to tell you but I have things I've got to do tonight. I'll leave you with these photos of my daughter's yard.

Back yard showing her little storage shed and all the roses in the back. Her back yard has grass but the front doesn't. She's spread rock in the front to keep maintenance down to a minimum.

Her gazebo with wisteria growing over it.

She's a shopping maniac and got this old bedstead to put out there.

Her small vegetable garden is seen in the background. She had to put screening around it to protect it from here cats and dogs.

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P.S. I haven't proofed this so if there are any grammatical errors or misspellings, get over it!
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I'm Back from California

We just arrived home last night after 13 hours in the car. I'm pooped but I will update you on our anniversary trip later tonight or tomorrow. I have no doubt you'll be intrigued with the stories I have to tell. It was truly very eventful! So let your interest pique but until then enjoy the picket fence and roses until I can get some laundry done, pick up our mail and get a haircut for this mop-looking head of hair.
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Checking In 6/9/2011

This is Miss Caroline yesterday. We're down in Santa Barbara on the ocean for our 50th anniversary with our kids, grandkids and great granddaughter. I'll have LOTS more pix in a day or so, but tonight we're out to a swanky restaurant for the celebration.

Quirky little face in this picture but she must have had something in her mouth. We love those big blue eyes of hers.

This little tag came on a present I bought for her and it was so darling I thought I'd show you. How creative is this clothing company!

A preview of things to come next week. This is daughter's back yard. More soon.

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Modern verandas- A new Australian species hits the market

Modern Verandas

When you use the word “veranda”, there’s a natural mental association and vision of the old style verandas of yesteryear. That image is rapidly becoming out of date as a new breed of designs rolls out. Verandas these days are true architectural achievements, extremely stylish, and far more importantly, fully functional extensions of the living space of the home. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Australia, where the veranda has been a design icon for over a century.

The reason for Australia’s “veranda-consciousness” is simple enough. The old Australian homes used to have all round verandas as a defence against the glare and heat of the Australian sun. Verandas have remained a preferred architectural option ever since the mid-1800s, and a combination of a booming housing market, CAD design and consumer demand has generated a vast new range of veranda concepts.

Designs galore

It has to be said in all fairness that the Australian designs do include some real innovations. The modern Australian version of the veranda can be quite spectacular, and these things are big. They may not be quite ballroom size, but they’re pretty close, and the sheer amount of covered space they create can be quite a surprise.

Design and materials quality are extremely high, and there’s an obvious element of true craftsmanship in both. What may stun some viewers is the versatility of the designs. There are thousands of possibilities, all of this standard, and some designs include excellent lighting through the roof of the verandas, a design innovation in itself. These “skylights” come in a range of options of tinting and shading, and are designed to deal with the sun while ensuring proper lighting.

Lifestyle and functionality

Anyone who knows anything about the Aussie preference for an outdoor lifestyle built on to big homes will appreciate the cultural values, too. If you were deliberately looking for an expression of the “parties, barbecues and good living” motif of Australian folklore, you couldn’t go past the new veranda styles as an expression of that culture.

These new verandas really are something special in lifestyle design, and they include a very high level of functionality as well. The materials are tough, weather-resistant, and top quality. If you’re living in a place like Queensland, for example, with its unpredictable weather and tropical heat, you need something big and tough as a veranda, able to stand coastal winds, the occasional deluge, and hot, strong sunlight during summer. The Australian climate can literally bleach and desiccate most external structures. Top quality materials and good designs have allowed these sometimes huge structures to do their job and survive the toughest conditions.

Verandas on the market

The Australian verandas have another aspect which might surprise some foreigners. You can simply pick up a phone or get online and choose a veranda for your home like shopping for groceries. They’re easily available to be installed directly. This is a consultative process, and the main issue is the sheer number of choices. After you’ve made up your mind, the installers will build a veranda for you, and you’ll find yourself with a whole new home lifestyle on your hands.