Trip To Washington

 On our recent trip over to Washington state to visit our granddaughter, her hubby and their two girls we had to drive 2 vehicles. We were delivering the sofa with the green and white ticking stripe slipcover I had in our family room to her. Their family room hide-a-bed was trashed by th' cats. So hopefully this one lasts longer. I'm running out of sofas!

Anyway, hubs drove his truck and I drove our Camry. We made it through a small part of Idaho, all of Oregon and just inside the Washington state line the tarp ripped. (Now, let me say here that if hubs had followed my advice on wrapping the sofa in a plastic drop cloth before putting on the heavy blue vinyl drop cloth we wouldn't have spent the better part of a day vacuuming and using a lint remover all over the sofa to get the teeny tiny bits blue stuff off.) Snicker, snicker!

Anyway, I was lead car keeping him in my rear view mirror at all times. We would have forgotten to do the same, trust me. When I didn't see him in my rear view mirror I called him on my cell and asked where he was. I was pulled over to the side when I did this. He told me what had happened and tied it again and then caught up with me. He took the lead for a while then.

Soon it started to rip completely off. We finally got to a WM store in Yakima, WA, and I went in and bought another tarp. He tied it even tighter and we made it to their home. Remember, it was raining and a bit of snow in the Blue Mountains so we had to have a cover for it. But let me tell you, that blue polypropylene is a bugger to get out of sofa fabric.

Then it became dark—foggy—as we came within about 50 miles of granddaughter's house. I turned on my lights but they didn't light up on my dashboard. I panicked, phoned hubs in back of me and told him to get in front and see if he could tell if they were on. He said, "They're faint, but on." I made him stay in front so I could see his tail lights. It gets pretty dark on the back woodsy roads of Washington when we got off the freeway. But the lights did come on just before we got there. I think it's a sensor in there that won't turn on until it gets to a certain degree of darkness but let me tell you I was panicking. I don't drive much at night at all so I wasn't really familiar with the lights. But I always fret when we travel. I like being home in my own house. But granddaughter and her family came over several weeks after that so we got to see them again.
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I just thought these pretty blues would delight you.

Though I didn't make this mosaic, I thought it beautiful enough to show you.

I have a pair of cowgirl boots broken in to where I love wearing them. They're slouchy now with a true cowboy heel, which is my favorite type of heel and I love them. I wear them with long dresses to church.

Another place to dream.

We all wish for a place to have inside for our gardening or snow days or just puttering, but few have one as nice as this.

Eye candy.

Yes! A beautiful pink house.

Fruit with flowers always makes a pretty table setting. I once used artichokes as a table setting.

A good way to keep your Popsicle when it's really hot out.

Cute wall sconce.

A place for gardening. Heck, I'd like it for my living room.

Wonder if it's all edible.

Little box covered with sea shells.

I loved the lace cover on this vintage table.

This looks like a showroom, but that bed is really stunning.

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Tidbit:
A Cinnabon study found that the scent of cinnamon causes mall shoppers to be more polite.
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Ballerina's Toes

Having been a high heel wearer in my younger years and loving the way they made my feet and legs look, I now try to warn the young women today at church how they'll suffer for wearing the highest heels imaginable in their youth. I loved and still love moderately high heels. I had some absolutely stunning heels that friends wanted to buy if I would sell them. Unfortunately, my feet were bigger than theirs—size 8 1/2 and they wouldn't fit them when I no longer wore them. I sold some on eBay and some I just cannot part with. So I truly know how you younger women feel. But I've had to have surgery on both feet to correct what those heels did. (I fully anticipate any young woman reading this will "pooh-pooh" what I'm telling you by rationalizing that it could never happen to them. I laugh but feel sorry for them because that's exactly what is going to happen to them in a few decades, especially with the ridiculously high heels now that have women almost standing on their toes.

I saw some article the other day that sent me to another article that talked about ballerina's feet. Our niece was a ballet dancer and auditioned for the NYC Ballet. I cannot remember if she danced for them but she was a professional ballerina for a short period until she met her hubby and got married. She is a beautiful long-legged young woman with 2 boys almost grown. But when I think about her and what she gave up, I'm certainly glad she did.

Ballerina's suffer immeasurably from being on pointe most of their lives. The feet you are about to see are some of the worst cases I've seen, and they will never be normal again.

So if you're the mother of a little girl wanting to be a ballet dancer, think twice about what her later life will be like. The younger years will definitely determine how much pain she'll endure down the line.

This is what some of the ballerina's feet end up looking like. The legs are also distorted with most of them.

Never to be able to be repaired.

Ruined toes and feet.

Pain and wrecked toes.

Deformed.

This is the worst case I've seen.

Twisted and painful.

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Now, let's look at some eye candy and beautiful photos.

Sigh. Yeah, the first photo is one of a darling pair of shoes. Sorry about that. But they are cute.

A quaint, sweet home in Europe somewhere.

And another pretty home.

I would never have thought of painting my kitchen cabinets in stripes but I love these.

Look at all the windows. They all have the same curtains so this must be just one person's house above a business. Absolutely adorable.

Some of my favorite things to show—beautiful fabrics.

A charming office for a woman.

Isn't this cute? I don't think I'd want to live beneath a waterfall though.

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Tidbit:
The world's largest eatery: the Damascus Gate restaurant, in Syria. It seats 6,014 persons.

Couture #3

At this point I'd like to say a few things.

Yes, these fashions are exquisite. I'm talking about the talent of the designers of the clothing, fabrics and the seamstresses. Just the construction of these fashions takes a lot of experience and talent and time.

While salivating over the beauty here, I must say I'm pretty astounded at how fashion has become so immodest. I recently saw a model in a dress that was nude on one side all the way down. I knew it was nude and not just flesh-colored fabric because the breast and private area were clearly visible. This is high-fashion?!

I'm naturally a modest person but my religion highly promotes modesty. I wouldn't have it any other way. My body is private for me and my hubby.

Years ago, in Berkeley, California, a male student attended classes in the nude. He was told to get some clothes on. He then sued the University and won. Now, what does that say about our society when nudity is allowed in a public institution, but any semblance of God is not allowed? Even if you're not religious, there has to be some concern for societal indifference to nudity where children can see it. I don't want to hear about "yeah, but the body is beautiful" or anything like that. Yes, our bodies are beautiful but we don't have to flaunt every single thing we've got to the whole world. There is a sacredness about our bodies. Even most of these fashions I couldn't wear because my undergarments would show. I think they're gorgeous but I'd never wear any of them or, at least, very few of them. I never wear anything sleeveless unless I have a jacket or shirt over my dress or tank top. I wear long dresses mostly but I wouldn't wear anything much above my knees. These are just my standards and I don't impose my standards to the world. I wear clothing that my church suggests we wear for modesty. No mandatory rules here, just what we know to be modest and not salacious. But I'm seeing so many teens and moms wearing things that years ago we'd never even think of wearing. Tops that leave nothing to the imagination. Skirts so short I can see up their dresses to their underwear when in a restaurant sitting down. It saddens me greatly.
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Enjoy this batch of luscious couture!

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