Questions and Answers

Reminder: As of 7/1/2013 Google Reader will no longer be available for following their blogs. Most of us have looked around at alternatives and my alternative is BlogLovin' to help me keep track of my favorites. You can join on that. While we're disgusted and disappointed in Google's decision, it is their decision and we have to go on from there. So you won't see it after that date. If you want to follow me, just click on the button on the top right side to follow me. That's how I'm following my favorite bloggers. I hope you decide to join in.
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Hubs will sit outside in the summer. I find nothing interesting outside but inside my home is a different story. Fascinating to me. I love sitting in my home. It's comfy to me. Outside? Too dang hot for me in this desert, although, I absolutely love being in this "reclaimed" desert and can't imagine living many other places at all.
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Like most of you bloggers, I receive questions asking about certain items or posts. But how often I receive questions about a specific thing and there is no return address to which I can reply is astounding! I can't believe the stupidity of some people. Now, it's not just that, but when I click on their "Blog name"—if I can find one, which is rare even by googling the name in the email—it might not allow me to look at it to answer their question. There are also a lot of anonymous emails I get. Don't even bother because they never see the light of day around here. I'm on a Mac and I can put up a "rule" to delete them as they come in and a sound plays alerting me that it's anonymous. I could put a captcha (word verification) in to not get those kind of comments from the bots, but I hate them as much as anyone so I don't want to do that. I'm not so stupid, in fact, I'm very intelligent, to know when it's an ad and not a comment. I don't ever allow them on my blog. I also delete what I might consider nasty or negative comments. Even though I receive some nasty or negative things, I don't have to put up with it or post it and won't. I'm sure a lot of you know what I'm talking about. So, if you have a question, include your email if you're serious about wanting an answer on where I bought something or whatever it is you want to know. Please!
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Just a dreamy cottage for you. Love the brooding sky also.

A European walkway.

Roses. ;-)

An enchanting green-shuttered home.

Another lovely shabby chic living room.

I love the blue windows with muntins in them, the white curtains and the splash of color with impatiens and hydrangeas. I think it's just beautiful.

A darling place to rest just outside a shop.

I might just sit in the sun if I had this area to do it in.

This setting looks familiar but then again I post so many photos it might have been posted before, although, I take care in trying not to do it. But, anyway, this is worth repeating if so.

Another cute way to display potted plants.

I like how this homeowner displayed her dried roses. Very clever and pretty.

Pretty soaps in a bathroom sure do make guests take notice.

Red toile is always a favorite print of mine.

Where do people get these pretty bottles of lemonade?

Another way to display roses.

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Tidbit:
The best way to get husbands to do something is to suggest that perhaps they are too old to do it.
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Getting Rid of Stuff

Another reminder of my pinterest page. There are now over 8,500 photos/images on there that are not necessarily on here yet. If you wish to view them, I suggest you go there and become a follower as I pin on a regular basis, usually at least a couple of times a week.
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We're still working on downsizing our stuff in this house. The other day I gave some solid oak dining chairs to a friend and hubs asked if I really wanted to get rid of them and I said yes very firmly. It seems like he likes all the stuff I've bought over the last 35 years, but there is just too much and at our age; it's time. I don't want to have my kids to have to do it for us if something happened. That's not fair to them and they pretty much don't want anything. They have their own "stuff" and don't need any more. I understand that. Just a few personal things will go to them and the grandkids. I'm just tired of having so much that we can't move things around in this house. My daughter is doing the same thing at her home in California.

Nice weather the past week. Today I asked hubs what the weather was going to be and he immediately pulls out his iPhone. He checks his iPhone for the weather every day. I look out the window and the thermometer on the patio to see what the temperature is. Much easier. He drives me absolutely nuts with the hundreds of apps he has on his iPhone. If I mention something, he has an app for it. Sigh. I may take up drinking and never be sober again!!
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It's so pretty today that it looks almost like this around here. Curtains billowing in the breeze, clear skies and a beautiful day.

Everyone loves stone houses and the atmosphere that it brings to a home. This is especially cute, I think.

Isn't this decorative egg exquisite?

Our irrigation canals around here for irrigating our yards aren't this pretty, but they can come close in some areas around houses here for being shady. But I love the flowers and bridge in the background.

A quaint little guest bedroom in the French style.

A rather plain little living room but it's kind of cute with the French feel.

I like the pink in this room but it looks almost like a setting in a furniture store the way it's set up.

This room certainly asserts itself. Fabulous.

I've always loved rooms like this: huge windows, settee, ruffled tablecloth, pretty curtains on a window and a chandelier.

This is absolutely adorable. Black and white with touches of red and pink. I could live in this porch or sunroom easily. Darling!

Just a sweet dining area in a kitchen done extremely well.

This room belongs in a warm climate with its monochromatic color. Very pretty.

A fancy entry way. Two different chairs done in the same fabric to pull them together.

A cozy pink, white and gold sitting room.

What a relaxing room to dream in. French doors to the patio and a chaise lounge to sit and read. Great room!

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Tidbit:

Henry Ford's son received his first Ford when he was 8 years old. He drove himself to the 3rd grade.
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Linking up with Pink Saturday.

Some Designer Rooms

 My blog looks just a bit different as I've removed a few things. I think it was becoming too cluttered on the sidebar so I took off my Things I Love, Things I'm Not Too Fond Of, and I took off a few things under my logo so now there are only 3 Pages up there. The Google Reader Follower's list will disappear July 1st with their getting rid of Google Reader so that'll free up some space. But if you want to still follow me, do it with Bloglovin' up at the very top right. I  just wanted it a bit more streamlined. So enjoy reading.
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Are there rooms in your heart that no one is allowed to see because they may not be consistent with the design of the rest of the structure? I certainly have such rooms. They're so private that I share them with no one and hope they don't show in my face or actions in any way. They're mine alone to nuture and view from time to time to see if they need something I can give them or just want to be left alone a bit longer until I can visit them with something to add to the decor of that room.
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Most of my friends and acquaintances are kind people. I just seem to have them in my life. It's usually been that way wherever we've lived.

The woman who cuts my hair is a doll. The best beautician ever. Very talented. A good, sweet loving mother to her 2 children, number 3 expected the end of the year. But her father died last month and she told me so softly I almost didn't hear her. I wept with her. He was a very handsome young father in his 40s and she loved him greatly. She sat with him the day he died. I sat there and wept while she cut my hair. I couldn't help it because she is such a sweet, kind, loving young woman and daughter to her father.

Then a few weeks later it was time for a teeth cleaning appointment. I showered, dressed and put on makeup (since they work with 2X glasses looking in my mouth and cleaning my teeth). But just as she started she took a tissue and wiped the right side of my chin. She said, "You had a bit of makeup there." I was so stunned at her thoughtfulness I could have cried. Some people wouldn't have bothered, but Chris is so thoughtful and known me for so many years, she performed that small kindness for me. It brought me to tears later as I thought about how kind everyone is to me. I am truly a blessed woman to know the people I know in my life.

Then I read this by the President of our Church and it expresses my views rather well.

I believe in the beauty of nature-the flowers, the fruit, the sky, the peaks and the plains from which they rise. I see and believe in the beauty of animals. Is there anything more regal than a magnificent horse-its coat brushed and clean, its head held high, its gait a symphony of motion?

I see and admire beauty in people. I am not so concerned with the look that comes of lotions and creams, of pastes and packs as seen in slick-paper magazines and on television. I am not concerned whether the skin be fair or dark. I have seen beautiful people in a hundred nations through which I have walked. Little children are beautiful everywhere. And so are the aged, whose wrinkled hands and faces speak of struggle and survival. . . . Those wrinkles have a beauty of their own, and inherent in their very presence is something that speaks reassuringly of strength and integrity and a love that runs more deeply and quietly than ever before.

I believe in beauty-the beauty of God's unspoiled creations, the beauty of his sons and daughters who walk without whimpering, meeting the challenges of each new day.

I believe in the beauty of good music and art, of pleasing architecture, and of good literature untainted by profanity or verbal filth.

My dear young friends, there is so much of ugliness in the world in which you live.  But you can rise above this and revel in the beauty to be found with a little effort.
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A gorgeous dining room with pretty slipcovers over the back of the chairs.

A fantastic red-accented room.

An astounding blue room with lots of red throw in. I just love designer rooms because they show us ways to make our homes more gorgeous without being expensive if you take the time and ingenuity to do it.

A pale blue rose room. I love the coziness of the chairs around the fireplace.

Another blue room. Beautiful but it definitely looks affordable.

I love lots of chairs in a room. Most people don't like sitting three people on a sofa that is made for three people; two is the usual amount of sitters on a sofa. But I also like chairs for some to sit on also.

A cozy melon colored room with a white sofa and several chairs.

Sofas, chairs, lush pillows, lush curtains, a fireplace. This is s room I'd love.

I like chairs on the outside of the room also. Sometimes conversations start with 2 people sitting on the sidelines. I think this style is perfect.

I love this little simple white shabby room also.

A lovely blue elegant room near the seashore perhaps.

A Gorgeous dark red wall with lots of white and gold thrown in.

Gold and pink in this room. Very expensively decorated.

Simple but gorgeous chairs table and sofa

This is a bit more rustic in a french tradition but these homes are hard to come by, but beautiful however.

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Tidbit:

In the 20th century, more people died of smallpox than in all wars of that century combined.
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Linking up with WOW at NMH

A QuickTutorial

First of all, I'd like to speak to the horror of what happened yesterday in the Boston Marathon. My heart really and truly goes out to those people who thought they were safe that day. How despicable can anyone be to target innocent people who just wanted to watch a marathon on a nice sunny April day? Hubby came home from an appointment and hadn't heard yet so he and I watched it on the computer and both of us couldn't even speak with the lumps in our throats and the weeping in our eyes. I hope everyone says a prayer for the ones left behind that had to witness the horror.
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Recently I was perusing a website for some things I've been looking for and came across a site that had them but her photos were not the best for her lovely and unique items. After all, presentation, and on the internet, photos, are the most important thing when showcasing your items. I emailed her and gave her a quick tutorial on creating more beautiful images. Now, don't think I'm sounding "better than thou" about this; I just simply love helping people on the internet. Yes, it was a great risk that I might embarrass her or turn her off, but fortunately she took it in the fashion it was meant. I've done this with two of the most recognized artists we all love and they were grateful also. Just goes to show you they're all grateful for any help they can get. One might be a great artist but a total ditz when it comes to blogging, photography, or other things about the internet.

 I have to keep up since my granddaughter is so computer savvy. Also, my 3 year-old great granddaughter already has her own computer. It's called Surface. Its passwords for her are to touch her fingers to 3 images on the tablet—an ear, a nose, or an eye in special sequence. Her mummy and daddy are teaching her very young since they are computer programmers. Amazing!


Since Photobucket has a new look and not been too popular with those of us who have been with it from the beginning, I thought I'd give a small tutorial about how photos work on the internet. I think most people have a general idea and some have a better idea, but for the most part the largest majority of casual users have no idea about how they take up space on, not only their computers, but image hosts, such as Photobucket, Flickr, Image Shack, Tinypic, Shutterfly, Imgur, Smug Mug, Postimage, etc.


When I photograph an image for my blog, it will usually be about 3.6 MB—megabytes—and 3888 x 2592 pixels—px—in height and width.  That's huge in terms of pixels. I'll always re-size it to probably about 700 px wide and the height I set to be in proportion to the width. This is done so it won't be out of proportion.

Let me say one other very important thing here: I always edit and try to improve every single photo I post on my blog or my Pinterest, even the ones I get from the internet. There are a rare few that don't need any adjustment as to brightness or removing shadows. I can improve just about all of them, but there are some people who are just so good at photographing their subjects that I don't need to do anything but make them a bit smaller and adjust the pixels. If I get them from the internet, I can not make them bigger, only smaller. They may be a lot smaller than I'd prefer, but they are what they are. However, if they're too tiny, I'll pass them up. I want to see the images in all their glory, not a tiny image barely visible.


I know these are huge but I wanted you to see them well so I'm putting about 6 on here for you to see the difference in the amount of memory your photos are taking up.


Looking at this screenshot you'll notice the small red arrow down at the bottom. You'll also see the little area in the middle right side where it says Image Size and New Size. Notice that I have Constrain Proportions checked (on the 3rd photo down you'll see it) so that it will re-size and not look strange like the photo just after this one.

See how out of proportion this one is. That's what I mean by out of proportion or Constraining Proportions.

Now let's talk storage of these photos. If you store on your computer or on an image host, and your photos are the original size without any editing, you're going to eat up your storage capacity really fast. And that's money. I have almost 18,000 photos on Photobucket but I have yet to go over my limit. At this moment I'm at 4.71% of my limit or 1.1 GB of 23 GB. See what I'm getting at. That's because I edit them to the size I want them to be here on this blog. The size will vary a little bit from time to time. I rarely ever go over 600-700 pixels wide. But, like now in this post, I wanted them bigger for you to see them.

So take a look at the original "size" of the photos I got off the internet. Look at this one below. See on the left where it says 1.7 MB (that's huge) and on the right after I edited and re-sized it a bit, it is 37 KB. That's a huge fraction—about .00002%— but the photo remained the exact same in terms of you looking at it. So, I've saved a lot of space on my computer and my iMac has 12 GB extra storage. Even that's huge! But I don't want it running slow. I want the fastest speed I can get from my Mac. And I get it, too.

And let me say another thing: None of these photos were reduced in actual size or inches, in other words.

Just keep checking these few photos and see the difference below.

These were all done on PhotoShop Elements, a cheaper version of PhotoShop but everything I need. If you're a professional, you'd want the full version for $700 but a PS Elements is under a hundred dollars and even cheaper on eBay probably. BUT, let me say here that you can edit on Photobucket or probably even on your Photo Editor on your computer. I know everyone has one on their computer so you don't even need to spend money doing this. Are you understanding what I'm saying? Save money and room on your computer. If anyone has a question, just email me and I'd be happy to answer them. I make no money doing this, just satisfaction in knowing I've helped someone a little bit.

Now for the beautiful photos.

These pillows must have taken a lot to make, but those little paper or fabric flowers are exquisite also.

Just another beautiful white room with lots of sunlight and a balcony with a view. It looks like an attic room but could possibly be just a second floor room.

And are we loving this darling little quaint cottage? It's much bigger than it looks from the front but how about that circular top. Absolutely cute!

And while I'm on a roll today, look at this other sweet cottage.

I'm trying to decide whether to do two or three ruffles on my French cane chairs. I want the drop cloth for one or two ruffles and a pink and white polka dot  fabric for one of the ruffles. I think I'll experiment tomorrow.

Another sweet kitchen. Love the red Aga with the blue cabinets. And that stone floor? To die for!

Love the little chairs covered with bouquets of flowers.

And now that I've done the silk pink hydrangeas in an old drawer and put it on my coffee table in the family room, I'm seeing them all over the place. I'm tickled pink with the way mine look though.

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Tidbit:

Airbags inflate at a rate of 200 miles per hour.
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