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.
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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.

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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.
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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!

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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
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Linking up with SSS and NMH.

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.

Random Thoughts 7/19/2012

Granddaughter and great-granddaughter were in California recently visiting with our daughter. This video made by granddaughter makes us laugh as we're the great-grandparents. But as you know, I don't show much in the way of Caroline on here so as not to bore you but I am a very proud, doting great-grandmother so you'll have to indulge me once in a while. ;-) We are pretty sure the dogs were so severely traumatized they refused any walks thereafter with Miss Caroline. BTW, our son says our granddaughter and I sound exactly alike. So now you know what I sound like.

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Just some random thoughts today.

I cannot tell you how many times here on my blog I get questions from people who post as anonymous, have no blog, and/or don't leave me an email to respond to their question. I truly try to find a way to respond but that just doesn't happen. I don't know if they read every post so I can't post an answer on one of my posts. Please, if you want a question answered from me, leave an email address or ask me by sending an email, which is on my sidebar. I'll definitely get back to you.
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Oh, and another thing. I monitor every single comment. EVERY ONE. So if you're trying to advertise your real estate site, your computer software site, removing stickers site, payday loans site, rapid cash site, garage storage site or your  tent trailer site, don't even bother. It'll never see the light of day on here.
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I read a lot of espionage, mystery and thriller books. I always wonder how good a spy I would have made. I'd love to work for the CIA. Wonder if they take 70 year old great grandmas? That would be a perfect cover I think!
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I recently found a fashion blog. She just posts photos of fashion, no writing or text, just photos. Not really any advertising either. But down at the bottom there is a "Donate" button. For the life of me I can't figure out to what a person would be donating. Her blog? Her lifestyle? I have no idea. Nice try though. I suggest she go out and look for a job instead of begging.
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Every kid is a frustrated lawyer. Example:
Why do you ask?
How do you know that?
What about it?
I don't have to tell you anything.
Sigh...
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Power tools. We women know how to use them; we just prefer to let the men get their hands dirty and have the broken nails instead of us. Why do something when men love doing it? That way my hands stay clean. I have my own tools and they're clean. Hubs are greasy, dirty and gross. Need I say more? Hmmmm?
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Isn't this bouquet and vase exquisite? What a stunning display for a table setting.

Lacy ornaments in a basket.

Another refurbished, decorated bottle. So simple to do with just any bottle.

A cottage for rent in Brittany, France.

Beautiful vintage window with pansies and lace curtains.

A crown table display for a birthday party. Cute!

Lovely potting shed.

Scrumptious-looking cake.

I. Would. Love. To have this fence and flowers in my yard!!!!

I need to make more of these for a friend who is having a baby in September. They are easy to make, just time consuming since I make mine by hand.

THIS is the color of yellow I love with pink! Gorgeous.

Another sweet little cottage in France.

This is the inside of a Carmel, California, cottage. I wish everyone could pay a visit to Carmel. It is like another world there.

Or you might like this little cutie.

I have some old tiny wine crates I got in Napa Valley. I think I'll paint them white and display some things like this in them. Adorable.

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Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. ;-)
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Refurbishing Some Red Shoes I Love for Pink Saturday 12/5/09

A friend of mine is doing a series of photos of Victorian Christmas' through this whole month. It is "eye candy" for sure. So won't you please go visit her at Aunt May's Cottage.

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Visit with Beverly at howsweetthesound for more participants for Pink Saturday. You'll not be sorry. Hope your holiday was wonderful!
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Beverly has asked us to share a Christmas memory and mine just happens to be about a pair of red shoes!

In the late 1950s we lived in Yorktown, VA. and did our shopping in Williamsburg. One day while shoe shopping my mother wanted these red shoes for me and I wasn't particularly fond of the style. I would only agree to them if she bought me a pair I liked. I was a teenager and a bit obstinate. So we bought 2 pairs of shoes that day: the red pair and another pair that the color escapes me after 50 years, but I rarely, if ever, wore those red shoes and never did hear the end of it from my mother. Oh, I loved the color, just not the style.
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I've had these shoes for over 25 years. They were my favorite pair of shoes but as you can see they've just about had it. Who am I kidding; they've definitely had it. They just went with anything: skirts, dresses or pants. I love them. So instead of throwing them away I've redone them to keep in a spot in my home. If I could find a shoemaker to duplicate them I'd have another couple of pairs made. But, alas, around here no one would take on the challenge. That surprised me because they definitely look easier to make than a pair of cowboy boots!

First step was painting them. I didn't necessarily want them to match so I painted one pink and one white. It took several coats of paint for them to even start to look better.

First I added german glass glitter to the outside. Then I started with the embellishing.

I painted the heel alizarin crimson red. That's about as red as you can get. I've given it many coats and may have to do many more through the days just as high end house painters and decorators do to those fabulous homes in magazines. Do you realize that in some cases those homes get 25 coats of paint? Yep, they do. The more paint the more luminous the wall. I've never done less than 3 coats of paint to any wall I've ever had.

Then I added some gorgeous vintage lace and some ribbon roses.

Since I call just about everyone "chick" I decided to add a little chickadee and a frivolous bright pink feather. A paper rose tops it off.

I wrapped some beautiful fabric around some poly filling and stuck it inside the shoe. After all, who wants to look at the yucky inside. On the sole I glued some pretty paper on but didn't take a picture of that.

And voilà the end result.
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I'm grateful to have lived in many places in the U.S. and having visited other countries because I then can truly judge about how wonderful this country is.
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