A Fabric Story and Clean Clothes

Back about 30 years ago, Milliken came out with a fabric called Visa. It was the be all/end all fabric at that time. I remember getting my first pair of knitted pants in the fabric. Let me back up a minute though.

I was folding the laundry a few days ago—not my favorite thing to do as it hurts my back—and got to thinking about clean and white underwear. (Yeah, yeah, I know, my life is so exciting.) But I like clean white undies. I wear nylon tops and bottoms and hubby was wearing cotton/poly tops and nylon undies. I can never get them to the original whiteness. I had a friend once that had the whitest laundry I'd ever seen and switched to her brand of detergent. Still, after a few washings of new garments, they were be a bit off-white. I was frustrated and thought perhaps skin-type might be the culprit here as hubs has an oily skin while mine is very dry. So I recently bought him all cotton tops seeing if that might help. As I was folding the laundry that day, I noticed the cotton tops were a becoming a bit off-white still.

Now, back to the Visa fabric—a polyester, I think. My first pair of those pants were white knit and if you got something on them, it just about never came off. It was part of the fabric at that point. It was hailed as the best fabric for our generation. So why wouldn't it be white and clean? The only good thing about it was it didn't need ironing and this was a huge announcement at that time. Housewives were freed from the ironing board! But I never bought a Visa knit dress or pants after that, never, not even if it wasn't Visa, actually.

If you look at the Milliken website they talk about their company doing good. Well, that's all well and fine but I just want my clothes to be white and clean! I guess just knowing I washed and bleached them and they are clean should be enough to satisfy me.

I know, I know. I post about weird things sometimes but that's th' way I roll, sistahs! ;-)
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Isn't this castle lovely? Must be difficult to heat though. Think of the electric or gas bill and consider yourself lucky you live in 1800 or even 2500 square foot house. :-)

Another darling vignette.

Porch swing with lovely accessories. I really love this one!

Looks like a Christmas house to me. But three stories is a pretty big house. The red paint is what drew me.

I believe this is a street in Canada. My son has been up to Vancouver, B.C. and said it was the cleanest place he'd ever been. But then he lives in Southern California, which I love so don't get all bent out of shape with this comment. :-)

A pretty tent for a wedding.

You know I love this because of the pink stripes, right? (I once had a sofa for which I had a special slipcover made with those exact pink and white stripes. See the second photo. I loved it but sold it when we moved here because we had so much furniture.)Really, it is a darling porch.

Another beautiful bottle.

I cannot resist any shabby chic rooms. They are among my all-time favorites.

A cute idea for a party, be it for young ones or older young ones, like me. ;-)

I like this room but the windows are the gorgeous things in this photo. Not too crazy about those slipcovers though.

Just a beautiful street to shop on.

Another beautiful room.

The rose is beautiful but the vase is gorgeous.

Lovely living room in what looks to be an apartment.

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Tidbit:

The cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II burns a gallon of diesel for every six inches that it moves.
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I Love Bookstores

I thought I'd share the ottoman I've refurbished since I've ironed it. Looks great to me. I am very pleased with it now.

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A sweet fellow blogger, Claudia, did a post on bookstores recently. She and I are avid readers. I'd bet I read more than she reads though. But I read so much and am rarely without a book to read. Once I get down to 2 books left, I start visiting the local used bookstores or order on Amazon. Claudia was extolling the virtues of small or individually owned bookstores as opposed to the giants that dot our cities now. Frankly, I'll buy a book wherever I can find it, but I do love the 3 we have in our town that I visit. But since I may have read all the ones I'm interested in here in town I have to order online. But I love perusing bookstores and getting recommendations from the knowledgeable owners. It has opened my mind to a lot of books I may never have read had it not been for their recommendations. For instance, Janet Evanovich.

I had never read or heard of her until a man at Bent Corners Used Books mentioned her. The first book had me hooked. I went back and bought every single book of hers he had in stock. She is one of the funniest writers I've ever read. I laughed myself silly reading about Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter, and her sidekick, a former...uh...woman of the night. Hilarious!

I love Jeffrey Archer and have read every single book he's written so far. To me, he is the best writer alive who writes about different things. Most authors stick to one subject. Not him. He is a fantastic author.

Then there's David Baldacci, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, James Patterson, Daniel Silva and a few more. But these are my favorites and I buy everything they write. But I digress.

There is nothing like going in to the one downtown here called Yesteryear Book Store. It looks like it may have been an old department store at one time because there are 2 levels. Actually, it's more of a mezzanine but it has books all over the place. There must be hundreds of thousands of books in there. So many that there are stacks on the floor even. I love going in there and the books are pretty cheap also. But I'll always read books I can hold in my hand to feel the paper. I doubt I'll ever succumb to e-books; I just love holding the book too much.

My go-to bookstore. Not very big but I can usually find 10 or 12 books in there to buy.

This one is in the basement of an old church but the books cost a bit more and it's hard to navigate around in there as you can see. I have a friend that works in there a few days a week and she helps me locate books, but I'd spend more money in that one than Bent Corners, which is very, very cheap.

This truly is the biggest supply of books I've ever seen. Our local library doesn't even come close to it in size or number of books. Actually, our town library is rather pathetic and there is parking for a very few cars only, just not worth the time going there.

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Now on to the beautiful photos.

 Apparently, a lot of people, me included, loved this fabric enough to make tea towels out of it.

It's pink, what can I say?!

Roses and laundry hanging on the line. My favorites. ;-)

Beautifully photographed close-up of a flower.

Pretty pin.

One of the most beautiful entry staircases I've ever seen.

Mexican foliage. Beautiful.

They're even doing these craft folded roses on haute couture now. Lovin' it!

Benches with pillows instead of chairs.

Prettily made up vignette.

Nice night for a picnic. :-)

And your favorite: French chateaux.

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Tidbit:
The Cullinan Diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered. Found in 1905, the original 3,100 carats were cut to make jewels for the British Crown Jewels and the British Royal Family's collection.
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Children Never Grow Out Of Some Things

I'll remind you again to visit my Pinterest page with over 7,000 photos of gorgeous eye candy. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Just click here.
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How do I put this? Hmmmm...Well, I guess I could just say hubs has a hard time finding something in the house I've asked him to find. Usually it's a pantry item. He'll look and look and swear it's not there. While I'll know for a certainty it is. So then I go to the pantry in the kitchen or the smaller one in the laundry room or the shelves we have in a spare room to hold extra food items. I'll find it immediately unless we really are out of it, which is unusual because as soon as I'm down to my last 2 cans I'll put them on our shopping list to buy more. So I'm rarely without something I need. This applies to just about anything in this house besides food items.

When our son was here a few weeks ago, he came out of the guest bathroom and into the kitchen and washed his hands. I queried him about why he didn't wash them in the bathroom. He said, "I couldn't find any soap in there." His father and I just looked at each other. There are 2 sinks in there with a bar in a dish at each sink, 10 bars in a pretty dish holder between the sinks and several more bars in a drawer in there. Son is 49 years old and still can't see something right in front of him. Sigh.......He is soooooo like his dad!
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Some of you who have been followers for a while might remember a book I was reading about the Secret Service, the men who protect our presidents. Here's another story.

A vice-president who espoused family values told his secret service detail to take him to the elegant St. Regis hotel. They took him in the back door and to a room on the fourth floor. He then asked them to come back in 3 hours. They then understood he was having an affair with a woman. They left him there unprotected, a clear dereliction of duty. As agents they were embarrassed because they were facilitating his adultery and felt like pimps. They couldn't look his wife in the eye after that. I never give the names but you can buy the book and read it to find out all the little secrets involving men who lead us.
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Sweet home on a soothing pond.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous rose wreath!!!

Lovely lined laundry basket.

Adorable kitchen.

Beautiful living room.

I love this print fabric!

Sweet old tins.

A lovely old bottle with a stopper that just won't stop! Magnificent!

Now, this is what I'd call a tiny bedroom.

Pretty little sachets wrapped up with roses and bows.

Lovely lace garment.

Pretty jewelry.

A fantastic wreath. I don't think the flowers are real though. I'd love it no matter what. It's beautiful.

Love these fabric roses.

Pretty close-up of a gorgeous pink rose!

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Tidbit:
A single Formula One racing tire costs about $1,200.

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!
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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.

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