Ramblings 10/21/2013

I have over 12,000 photos on my Pinterest now with nothing but gorgeous images, or as I prefer to call them, Eye Candy, with many more to post on there. In a very short time period, there are now over 9,600 followers so you know there must be a lot to see. Just scoot on over and view it as I'll probably never get all of those images on this blog, especially since I'm now not posting as often. That may change but life right now is challenging me. Dieting being my number one priority. But service to others has been also challenging. I'll speak to that issue later.
*

But first a few more stories about my precocious great-granddaughter as told to her mummy.

Miss C, as I call her, told her mummy these things the last week or two and we have no idea where these ramblings are coming from:

C. says J. [her baby sister] is the "little nutcracker in the moonlight of her heart" and she also told me that if I lie to her she will "poke out my eyeballs with a fish hook."

Heading into daycare today, some father is heading back out to his car as we enter and is singing a children's song to himself, fairly loud (and he is alone at this point just having dropped off his child). C. asks where "Steve" is going. I was about to ask if she knew the man, then looked back at him, realized he was wearing a shirt with large horizontal stripes of gray and green, and immediately realized she thought is was Steve from Blues Clues!

C. wants to buy her 87 year old great grandma a "real-life adult pony so she can gallop and ride" for her birthday.

My daughter thinks the birthmark on her hip is her cutey mark. [This has something to do with those Pony dolls.]

As we drove into work today, C. told me stories about living in Mexico as a child, where she swam in the ocean, went bowling, and "ate fairies with a little tomato on them sprinkled with parmesan." And then she was a pirate captain in the sea of Egypt who found a boy that wanted to be a pirate but he didn't know how to swim, so they had to take him to the Egypt swim school, but when they got there it was actually a house filled with gems that were booby trapped with nails and they all had to run away. This kid is nuts. ;-)


So we're thinking she possibly has a future as a writer or at least a great storyteller. But as her teachers tell her parents, and we can definitely affirm, she never, ever forgets a thing. This could spell trouble for us!
*

Did you hear about the college professor holding a lecture on "Orchestrating Orgasms" lecture at a university? I doubt anyone needs a lecture on that. But to do it in a school/university setting I believe is appalling. What in the world is going on in our educational system today?
* 

I cut my index finger just before we went to Southern California a few weeks ago and it actually took off the tip of that finger. That'll teach me to not sharpen my butcher knife right before I intend to cut the meat off of a ham bone. Anyway, it bled practically non-stop for 2 days, requiring many band-aids and multiple ones for that finger. My hubby then said I used band-aids like my great-granddaughter. She absolutely loves putting band-aids on everyone regardless if they have a cut or not. I saw her mum, my granddaughter with band-aids all over her legs in a photo the other day and asked her about it. She said Miss C just kept wanting to put them on her and it's a cheap "toy" for her to play around with. My hubby said, "Your great-granddaughter is just like you, uses a lot of band-aids." I just stared at him.
*

I love laundry hanging on a line but having a clothesline near this adorable porch makes it even cuter.

This is a gorgeous room in several colors of blue.

A cute kitchen dining area.

Don't you love those foreign soaps all done up in beautiful packaging?

And of course we can't get enough roses.....EVER!!

I do like this small home with a living room and dining area combined.

I love these laundry carts with gorgeous fabrics to hold the laundry. My double one has mesh bags on it but they're starting to rip apart. I plan on making new ones with gorgeous fabric for ours.

While it's a gorgeous room, I cannot see myself in a room like this. I'd never want to clean it for one thing. ;-)

A delightful, charming homey kitchen and dining room.

A beautiful home in France.

I love the colors in this room. Beautiful. And that sofa? Gorgeous!

A vision in white.

While I love this, it wouldn't be practical in this desert sun, plus we're surrounded by huge farms and the dust would be horrid to have this setting outside around here.

But of course, I'd love to have this on my front porch!

Life doesn't get any better than coconut in my opinion. :-)

~*~

Food, Beautiful Women And A Granddaughter Story

Now, I can certainly understand people wanting to be healthy and eat well, but I'm really and truly sick of the food nazis telling me what I should eat. I eat healthy and can co it without any help from anyone. You know those lists of healthy foods they give you at the doctor's office from time to time or the ones you see at the supermarket or perhaps your children bring them home from school. I hate those! I know them by heart and we eat vegetables, small amounts of meat, beans, etc. But I have yet to see one where it has donuts, pastries, bagels, candy or such on it. I want to see that one! I love vegetables and beans but a girl's got to have some variety. I cannot imagine going through life without chocolate or donuts or Pepsi. I don't eat a lot of it. I really don't. But I would appreciate other people stop telling me what to eat. I know what to eat!
*

My vote for the most beautiful women in the world would be Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor and Raquel Welch. They have the faces I think are classic. Sophia Loren once said she eats pasta almost exclusively. My kind of gal!
*

The other night I was talking with our granddaughter and asking about Caroline and Juliette and how they were. I always want to hear about them and what new things the Big Sister is saying. ;-) This night was a story about going out to eat. 

Heading out to the restaurant, a Chinese Mongolian BBQ, Caroline said as they walked out the door, "A muffin would be nice." Mummy and Dada looked at her wondering where that came from. The whole way to the restaurant she kept saying, "A muffin would be nice." Mummy said she said this all the way. She's only 2 1/2 years old and runs that house! LOL Well, almost. They're on to her antics by now, but this is one smart cookie, I think. ;-)

Then when her Dada has to go out at night for a grocery item or something, Caroline will hold up her hand in a "stop" sign to her mummy and say, "It's too dark for you, mummy, I'll go." This indicates she wants to go along for a treat as you may well know. That little munchkin has them wrapped around their little fingers so thoroughly it's laughable!
*

This is one of those sofas I liked but the whole room is neat, clean and cute.

More decorated bottles.

A house in France for rent.

More luscious roses.

A pretty cafe.

Just eye candy in white.

I think this is a cute quaint entrance to a home. Love the colors and the little window with a ruffled curtain/blind.

Beautiful table and setting.

If only we could all have such adorable kitchens like this.

Lovely entrance with all the flora around it.

Beautiful dining room.

Cute valance.

Love that lamp shade.

Pink sofa, crystal chandelier. Beautiful!

French cafe. The chairs certainly look comfortable to invite long conversations.

~*~
Linking up with SSS WOW.

An Old Friend

The other day I was sitting in my family room reading a delightful book called Empire of Gold by Andy McDermott (the first book I've read by him, certainly not the last either) It was recommended by a man at our local bookstore and I'm loving it. The main character, Eddie Chase, makes Chuck Norris and Bruce Willis look like wimps!

And then the phone rang. It was a woman from my past that I hadn't heard from in years, probably 15 years. I was stunned because I've thought of her through the years and actually, very recently thought of her again. I've tried locating her since I knew where they moved when they left here—Colorado. Her hubby was a hospital administrator and I called a hospital in the small Colorado town and asked for the administrator, but it wasn't her hubby. The new administrator helped me try and locate them but to no avail. I really liked this woman.

So fast forward several years from then and she got my address from a woman we both knew in the small town we moved from when we moved here. I didn't even know they knew each other.

Her life has changed dramatically. She's about 15 years younger than I am but a truly beautiful person, inside and out. She lives with her oldest daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren now. She and her hubby divorced and he left her destitute with 4 children. It's a sad story, but I was thrilled to have heard from her after all these years. We, of course, vowed to never lose contact again and exchanged emails. She may be going to live in Switzerland in the coming year. I just hope she heals from the devastating marriage she had to an abusive hubby.

It's funny what life brings you. I'm peacefully living my life and then out of the blue, a person calls and you hear their tale of woe and it yet confirms to me how blessed a life I live. I loved this woman because she helped me come into the Church. How can I forget someone who did that? She's a great lady and a beautiful one. No man should be able to destroy someone like he did her. I hope all of you reading this today see your own self-worth and don't depend on others to give it to you. There isn't one person out there who can give it to you; it's yours to take!
*


Another sweet thatched cottage in the UK somewhere.

Nope, I haven’t forgotten all you lovers of rustic. ;-)

Little cottage with French doors and an eyebrow window.

Cherry pie. Remember that song back in the 1950s or 1960s called Cherry Pie? It keeps going through my head but I simply cannot find it on google.

This may be called a cottage to some people but to me it’s more a lake house or vacation villa.

I just love the popularity of the once lowly cupcake now! I’ve always loved them because you can eat just one and be satisfied instead of a huge slice of cake.

While dark and foreboding, I thought this room had a handsomeness to it.

Lilacs in abundance. We don’t have any in our yard but perhaps I can get Love Bunny to plant a bush somewhere out back.

Looking into lavender fields through a gorgeous portal.

Do I even need to comment here? What an absolutely serene mews to live in.

Red and white bedroom. Gotta love it!

On our trips over to our granddaughter’s house in Washington near Redmond we come across several flower stands. Washington is a very lush state in the western part of it. The eastern part is desert, just like us here in western Idaho. The blackberries grow thick along the roads we travel to get there. If we go over in the spring we could stop and pick them for free. But most of the time we go in late summer and none left. But you’d never have to buy them if you lived there. They grow prolifically.

A kind of bohemian bedroom.

Cute idea for ways to store your fabric strips.

What darling polka dot dishes. I think this is somewhere in Europe judging from the language on the canister.

I would love that chair and cushion.

Is this lovely or what? It looks like a pixie or fairy picnic. Absolutely stunning.

A very doable and darling idea for your vine plants.

~*~

A Few Thoughts on Women

A few weeks ago, we had a lesson in our Relief Society, which is the 3rd hour of our Sunday meetings. I call it The Women's Hour as it's for women.

This particular day the lesson was given by a young mother, probably in her very early thirties. She did a fantastic job, absolutely fantastic. She shook the whole time and would never think it was a good lesson. In other words, she beats herself up. About 20 minutes into the lesson, I leaned over to my friend, Patrice, and said, "I live a charmed life." She nodded agreement. I feel so blessed and grateful for what I do have in this life. I don't grieve at all for what I don't have.

It was about how women beat up on themselves, especially the mothers and, in particular, the mothers who stay home to rear their children. I knew it struck tender feelings because of the tears and tissues and there were probably some abused women in the room also. I grieved for those women because I can't ever remember feeling that way—unappreciated. But then I worked.

I went to work when my kids were 5 and 6 years old. Remember, my hubby was a Marine and we didn't make a lot of money; although, I must say we could have gotten by. We just wanted more things like a stereo, which is the first thing I bought with my first paycheck. (And I had every record Dionne Warwick and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap recorded and listened to them over and over and over!) I can't remember the cost, but I remember $55, which was either the cost of the stereo or my very first paycheck. But the figure $55 sticks in my mind. Probably my first paycheck because I only made $1.75 an hour working at the base PX. We were thrilled to get that, trust me. (But going from that $1.75 an hour to being the highest paid woman in a very large top Fortune 500 company was monumental to me. I worked hard to get there.) I can't say it was worth the sacrifice to my children though. I really can't.

Anyway, back to the story.

I went to college when my children were in school and didn't work for several years. I stayed home for a while with them. When hubby retired from the Marines, we did a whole lot better in life.

I belonged to 4 or 5 women's groups during the 1980s and loved the groups. I learned a lot about myself. However, I can never, ever remember putting down women who stayed home with their children. We were all professionals in the groups: a pediatrician, a nurse, an engineer, several of us businesswomen, etc. But not once did we denigrate women for staying home. I don't do it to this day. Why?

Well, I was reared (as I now realize) by parents and grandparents who always made me feel special. I just knew I was special! I also have a very loving hubby who never made decisions for me; they were mine alone to make. He stood behind me and encouraged whatever I did. Did I make mistakes? You betcha! But I learned much from those mistakes. I grew from those mistakes.

Rearing children is hard enough without women denigrating stay-at-home-moms. It's especially tough raising good kids today with the worldly influences and temptations that are thrown at them from all sides. They don't need to hear other women putting them down for the most important job they'll ever have. I know this because I didn't stay home with my kids when they needed me. Would I change all that now? I truly don't know. I can't answer "what if" questions. I just don't know.

I believe as women we need to help each other, not spew vitriol at SAHMs. They do a thankless job, believe me. The ones I know beat up on themselves far more than any woman could, but the ones I know also know they're doing it for the good of mankind. And that's what makes them so special in my book. We all need to pump up each other, be kind to someone who is struggling, whether it's the mom who stays home or the mom who is working. They all need positive feelings from us.
*

A favorite living room I saw. Yes, you can decorate with pretty dresses if you'd like.

Stunning color on this house. I'm pretty sure it's in some tropical place.

What a joy this pleasant entry is to someone who comes knocking on your door.

We all love to view beautiful windows and old buildings that have a lot of character to them.

A tea party or lunch in the woods or an orchard.

Froufrou will always catch my eye!

A beautiful antique French chair with pink cushions on it. Yummmm!

Balloons, a banner and cupcakes displayed on a beautiful plate or platter will assure a pleasant event for anyone.

Another interesting entrance to an older home.

Beautiful patios such as this one draw lots of attention.

Beautiful setting...and it just this moment gave me a great idea. I have two urns on my front porch. I think I'll cover them with glass and use them as tables for out there instead of the faux geraniums in them now. Why haven't I thought of that earlier?!

A cute red plate rack.

A delightful bedroom for little boys or girls who like exploring places. How many munchkins get to climb up into their beds? ;-) This one looks like a little girls room.

And this one looks like a BIG girl's bedroom! Yep, my kind of glamour.

This is an example of how to picnic in style!

A flower shop. From the language on the sign it looks like a far eastern country, which just goes to show you that no matter where we live we all love to have beauty in our lives.

Just beautiful eye candy for you.

One of the most darling footstools I've ever seen.

An example of what you can do with scraps of fabric or netting. Make a beautiful lamp. You'll see some examples of lamps I've decorated on my sidebar if you look. I love to froufrou up lamps. I don't want my house to look like everyone else's house and it sure doesn't!

~*~
Photos courtesy of pinterest and tumblr.