Pink Saturday 4/16/2011 French Cottage

Happy Pink Saturday, sweet bloggers. Once again visit with Beverly for more pink in your life and beautiful things to see.
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Since I'm confined to home pretty much for the next 5 weeks and can't even get into my yard easily I thought I'd look around and try to capture some photos in my books and on the internet for Pink Saturday.

I came across this darling little cottage for rent in France and wanted to share its charm with you. I'm not particularly one of those people who are dying to go to France but this would be an ideal vacation spot for some of you. ;-)

My dream living room. Well, one of my dream living rooms anyway.

It's in the northwest part of France and looks to be near the ocean, just how far I'm not sure, but very close.

This is not part of the house but I thought I'd share the lovely living room with you anyway. Another dream room of mine.

I also came across these little storage buckets and just thought I'd need to buy them but I don't need anymore storage bins or boxes with what I have now. But aren't they just gorgeous?! And I love pink stripes.

I've seen this house on the blogs before but maybe you haven't. I could live there quite easily. It's just gorgeous to me, plus it takes a brave person to paint their home pink.

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I'll be doing another post on blogging in a few days. I'm trying to keep as active as I can without being able to bear any weight on my right foot so maybe I'll post more often for a while. I just don't want to bore anyone.
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Musings 4/13/2011

Are you tired of the teeth and the foot by now? I am! So on to better things.
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I've been reading a lot the past few days and since I can't get out of the house easily it's just about the only thing I can do. So tonight I thought I'd share a few more thoughts.

Several years ago on eBay the shabby chic decor was a hot item. I'd never sold before but when I saw some of the going prices I jumped on the band wagon with pillows, sachets, birdhouses and other fanciful things. I sold a few things but not much. I thought they were on par with the other sellers and at much better prices, but, alas, many others didn't I suppose and I had many things left over. The little sachet below is one of them.

There were a few sellers who were commanding high prices—such as $500—for those little sachets! Yes. I couldn't believe it but mine went for $10 if they sold at all. Well, there were a few buyers who paid such ridiculous prices but one buyer was scamming the sellers. It then got ugly.

This particular buyer was paying astronomical prices for items from just a handful of sellers and then didn't pay or was paying with her boss' credit card. A scam. We're talking thousands and thousands of dollars here. It was a bidding war to see who could buy a tiny sachet or pillow and command the highest price. Honestly, I couldn't begrudge any creator their high price but that was ridiculous in my estimate. Hundreds of dollars? The sellers fought to get their money back and even created a group on eBay for the sellers who were scammed by her. And it got uglier!

For some of the sellers it got downright nasty. I've never seen such vehemence in my life. I helped in that group with the technicality part because I was proficient in eBay groups and computers in general, but I left after a while because I just couldn't deal with the vehemence. Yes, I believe those women should have definitely gotten their money or merchandise back and all the associated fees, but dwelling on it wasn't solving the issue.

Hence, I gave up selling on eBay, at least my homemade items. I was a flop as a seller. :-( I'll sell a few items now but they're usually things I'm trying to get rid of. It was a devastating thing to know I wasn't much of a seller. :-) But such is life.

The other day I saw this story and just couldn't believe it. I'm a pro-life lady, converted about 20 years ago. Seeing my beautiful grandchildren and great granddaughter, Miss Caroline, I just couldn't imagine something like them being aborted for the sake of convenience. This baby is 21 weeks old in his mummy's womb and a very talented doctor opened her up via a c-section, opened the womb and operated so this less than 5 month old baby boy wouldn't be born with spina bifida. And it worked! He was healthy. The story said that the moment the baby grasped the surgeon's finger he froze, was totally immobile and stated that it was the most emotional moment in his life. I can see why. He gave that little guy the gift of a normal life and his parents are beyond thrilled. I must say, however, that the doctor was tucking his little hand back inside as it flopped out. That does not take away from the fact that it's a baby. I think the little boy is now about 11 years old but this story didn't get much coverage at all in the papers or television. I thank God for the talent of the surgeons who save these tiny angels.

I think I've said enough for today. Maybe I'll participate in Pink Saturday this week...if I can get around enough to photograph some pink stuff.
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Sunday Musings

Can you tell I'm bored? Well, I am. I've been perusing the blogs this afternoon since I can't go to church because of this:

Maybe these won't keep me out of church, but a sinus attack can. First it was food poisoning, then the braces, then the foot/heel surgery and today I'm coming down with a sinus attack. Can you believe this?! I haven't been out of the house for 4 days and I'm in desperate need of a shower and shampoo. Hubby announced this afternoon that he wants to try and give me a shower tomorrow. I said there was no way I could stand on one leg in the shower. He suggested a tub bath. I said once I got down there is no way I'd be able to get back up on one leg. We've compromised on a sponge bath tomorrow. ;-) I'm simply feeling too vulnerable to trust someone to do anything when I only have one good leg/foot to support me. Scary thought.

I never thought braces hurt so bad. Maybe it's just that kids don't complain much or are afraid of what their parents will do, but I'm not a kid, and these dang things hurt my tongue and inner mouth. If anyone has had this experience as an adult, I'd love to hear from you and how it gets better.... pleeeeeease, tell me it does.

Reading some blogs today and came across some rants, which is fine, but I came across several that are in just plain bad taste. One blogger describes in detail her dating experiences. (Okay, I went there innocently and will never go again.) But bad taste is still bad taste. For Pete's sake, why glorify your tasteless adventures?

Then I came across some religious ones and some are rather beautiful and some not so much. I'm a religious person but I don't do a lot of spiritual blogging. Why? I'm really not sure, but I am a praying woman and thank God daily for our blessings and to seek His help with my life. Sunday is a day of rest for us. We don't shop or eat out unless we happen to be traveling.

But one caught my eye as sheer poetry how she describes her Sundays and her attention to her loved ones and home on that day. She just brings comfort to my mind when she so lovingly posts.

And this is the best I can do without being able to stand and photograph things for ya, chicks. I think I'll go read and feel sorry for myself. :-)
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What Else Could Happen?!

It's been one heck of a week for me. But first I need to show the birthday people. My eldest grandchild and only granddaughter turned 31. My son turned 48. Yep, April is a big month for celebrations in this family. And oldest grandson is turning 27 next week. And since granddaughter is my height—5' 4"—you can see how tall Adam is—6' 3".

Granddaughter and her hubby and Caroline a few months ago.

Son and his wife celebrating 24th wedding anniversary next week also. You can see why I have such beautiful grandsons.

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Now on to what else is happening.

First, on monday I got braces on my bottom teeth. Yep, at my age! I cannot tell you how sore my mouth and tongue are. Why, you ask? Well, to save my bottom teeth from shifting any more than they have, which will strengthen them and not lose them as I grow older. I intend to keep every single one of them before I leave this earth, and my dentist and I share the same philosophy. Hence, I've been able to only eat milkshakes for the most part and Dreamsicles. Chewing hurts too badly.

Then this morning I had surgery on my right foot to remove bone from the heel because it was stressing my achilles tendon. I'm in a splint from behind my knee to the tips of my toes. I cannot walk or bear any weight on the right foot for a month. Can we say "ouch"?! Can I please have an "awwww, so sorry for ya"?! I just scoot around on this scooter for a while. I'm not thrilled in case you're wondering. I even have to have help going to the bathroom. Hubby and I will be very, very close for a few weeks.

And speaking of that, what did he decide to cook for dinner???? The fishiest smelling fish in the freezer. I cannot tell you what this house smells like now. I think you can get my drift.

I am heavily padded at the moment, but you cannot keep a blogger down, right? I cannot believe how big my foot and leg look in this photo. Sigh.... Plus it's 6:45 pm at the moment and I'm still paralyzed. It should wear off sometime during the night and the pain will kick in. Sigh...

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Folding a Fitted Sheet

Several requests on how to fold fitted sheets prompted me to show you how. I don't have a video feature on my camera but hubby does. If he lets me borrow it and helps me with it I'll post a video. He's on the treadmill at the moment so it'll be later today. In the meantime let me give the directions. Very, very simple.

This is for a sheet with elastic all the way around. I find the "shortest" side (top and bottom of sheet) and grab it from bottom to top. Take the corner from the bottom (or top, doesn't matter here) and tuck the inside seam from one end to the other end, matching each corner seam. So it will be seam against seam. It will be tucked under as shown in the next 2 photos.

Now smooth it out a bit and kind of "square" it. Or in other words, hold the folded end above and the midway point below and smooth it down. At this point your sheet will be in half length ways. Just smooth as much as you can with elastic all around the sheet.

Then fold over length ways again.

And then fold up from top/bottom in half and then in half again as seen in 2 photos below.

This is the same sheet above after folding it one more time, just turned 90° so you could see it better. Ready now for the linen closet.

Ooooh, and this sheet is Italian. I have French and Italian sheets, but truthfully, there are absolutely soft and gorgeous American sheets available. Personally, I love American products. Their quality is superior. I don't care where it's made as long as it's cotton, a high thread count and soft. I have one set of buttery yellow that has a weave in the sheet. I'm thinking of giving it to a friend as the weave bothers me. I didn't think it would when I bought them but it does. I am a very tactile woman, sort of like the princess and the pea. I feel it ALL! I want comfort no matter what. That's why I am so OCD about my floors being clean. I don't want to step on even a pebble from outside.
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Rainy Day and Sheets

It's a dreary, rainy day in our part of Idaho today, but I had to get a couple of photos of the trees budding out. I think this means spring is right around the corner!

This is our apple tree. I sure hope we don't get any blight or worms on it this year. Being a "fruit grower" can certainly be frustrating!

This is our quaking aspen tree and my favorite tree in the world. I love to see it quake in a very gentle breeze.

This tree is a Navajo willow in our neighbor's yard and is only 6 years old. It grows faster and looks like it'd be hard to kill also. Several grow in our neighborhood because they're fast growing and we need shade here badly in the summer time.

Now, what do sheets have to do with this post? Well, I'm gonna tell ya, chicks.

On my granddaughter's Facebook page she talked about how I cleaned her stove top on the last visit and how she didn't even know the knobs came off for cleaning. Her mother—my daughter—was amazed at what she didn't know. That got on the subject of folding fitted sheets. Daughter said she was the best fitted sheet folder in the world. I said, "Au contraire, I am the best." So here I am to prove it to people on her Facebook page and I'll be directing them here to prove it. And yes, I do buy French sheets for our bed! I love soft linens to sleep on.

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And speaking of the French, I read an article recently that a mayor in France had a bust of Marianne in a traditional Phrygian cap removed because her breasts were too large. I take exception to that. As a well-endowed woman I believe I speak for many women when I say: at least ours are real. How could he be so judgmental about something like that? We who are born that way rarely ever flaunt our chests. I certainly don't! Ridiculous man.
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Pink Saturday 4/2/2011

It's another Pink Saturday for all you great bloggers. Just click on the logo below and visit with Beverly to see pink things.

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Okay, let's visit Mexico, Puerto Vallarta to be exact. I love Mexico. I've been there many times but my favorite place is Los Tules Resort in PV. We would rent a condo and usually have the pool to ourselves. There are actually 7 pools on the property but the area we usually requested was near the largest of the pools.

This is that pool. Once our condo was in that building to the right, but we'd get different rooms around that same pool. I absolutely loved it there. I prefer the west coast of Mexico of course since we're in the West. The end of May was the season we always went. It was almost deserted then so for us that was perfect.

This is one of the restaurants in the hotel Fiesta Americana, which is next door to Los Tules. It's outdoors so it's very casual if you wanted to eat there with your swimming suit on. That could be the exact table where I fainted into my plate of food. I'm very familiar with that outdoor restaurant and it's small. Since we've eaten there many times I know it well so, yep, that is the exact spot.

This is the Fiesta Americana next to Los Tules. You can just see the top of the condos in the middle part of the picture just above the palm trees. It's absolutely gorgeous!

BTW, my photos of the place are not digital and horrendous so I'm using the pictures from the website.
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I went shoe shopping last week and was in Dillards looking for some proper shoes. Since I'm having surgery on my heel next week. (Nuuuu, don't cry; it ain't serious, chicks. Just separating my achilles tendon from my heel, scraping away some bone, be in a "non-load bearing" position for a week and a month in a boot. Piece of cake!)

Anyway, a month ago I bought a pair of SAS shoes. Those aren't cheap but supposed to be good walking shoes. One hundred and forty-eight dollars worth of "good walking shoe." It didn't solve my problem with pain.

So then to the Boise Mall and Dillards. The salesclerk measured me for a completely different size from the SAS store lady and showed me these shoes. They are among the ugliest shoes I've ever seen. BUT they are the shoe that the salespeople were wearing because it "rocks" your foot forward and does NOT bend. It's not padded in there, but that really didn't matter. They just feel good to walk in. I'm still getting used to them. One hundred and forty dollars worth of "getting used to"! And to tell you the truth, while I was out running errands yesterday people kept looking at my feet and 2 women said they were cute and asked me where I got them and what they cost. The shoe does NOT flex. I can't remember the concept the salesman described but I really like them. I feel steadier on my feet and am about 2" higher, which is great when you're only 5'4" tall. And they make your feet look small. AND they're a size 9, not a 10 like the SAS lady told me. I wondered why my right foot kept slipping in the other shoes. One foot is 1/2 size smaller but it was enough to make it not feel right. These aren't a problem because your foot is supposed to slip in there. Just weird but it works.

They're called Dansko and truly darling on the feet.

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And Some Random Thoughts:

When reading a story the other day, one of the characters said something was "just across the way." It started me wondering just what is "the way." No practical explanation I think.
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I got a "heads up" from a friend on the website Spokeo. If you haven't heard of it, go there and put in your name. It can be frightening what they know about you. I immediately requested my name be unsubscribed. People already know too much about us. I try to be as anonymous as possible but it's becoming less and less possible in this age of computers. Please take care of your identities. We belong to LifeLock and already they've alerted us to things going on.

Which brings me to Great Britain. Did you know they have cameras on every corner of London to help with security? They can track you no matter where you are. Even your car license plates. It hasn't deterred crime a bit, but I'm truly shocked the British, who are our forefathers, would give up their privacy in that manner. I don't want people knowing my every move! I want my rights to privacy. I'm a rider who likes to keep tight reins on my own life, not have someone else do it for me.
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I sometimes listen to radio if I'm working around the house. I love talk radio. But it's truly seldom that I listen to very much otherwise. Anyway, I kept hearing one announcer say this about one host: He's Idaho's #1 Taco. I kept wondering what that meant until one day after several months I caught it. He was saying Idaho's #1 talk host. But it sure sounded like taco! We need to slow down and enunciate our speech more clearly. And don't even get me started on the teen talk of today!
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Okay, you've had enough of me for one day. More in a few days. Opinions, that is. ;-)
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