My Perspective On Some Things

I was reading recently on the internet, the only place we can get news since we don't have or want a television. I rarely if ever have the radio on either, even in the car. I usually listen to my CDs of old music from the 60s, 70s and 80s. I try to live a quiet life centered around God. Trust me, I need a lot of work! But I live in the world and try not to be of the world. But this article just floored me.

A "civilized" European country is seeking euthanasia for minors and Alzheimers patients. This is what they are seeking: the law to be extended to minors if they are capable of discernment or affected by an incurable illness or suffering that we cannot alleviate. What child could make this decision?! Have we sunk this low that we would kill our children and older citizens? I'm astounded. I know of a professor at a leading university that advocates killing of children who are Downs even after they're born and have reached a certain age. What a sad commentary. I also shouldn't want to be standing near him when our Savior comes. I'll sometimes find myself weeping for what goes on in the world. That's why I try to not read much about it, keeping my life centered on good instead of evil.
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One of the little girls killed in Connecticut recently was a member of our Church. Her bishop in her ward is the son of a member of my ward. He—our ward member— called my hubby, a leader in our ward, to say he couldn't help with putting together our yearly widows and single ladies Christmas baskets because the little girl's family wants her buried in Utah and their bishop to travel with them to conduct the service. So the bishop called his dad (our ward member) and asked him to come help him get through the service. I imagine it's going to be a very tough day for everyone. Life is so fragile sometimes and we've cried over the tragedy but we have an eternal perspective that we'll all be reunited once again. Sometimes, that's all that can keep some of us going. Me? I'll just let the Lord decide when it's my time to leave this world. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I've heard people ask the eternal question: How come there's so much evil in the world? Well, we believe the Lord allows it to test us. How would we know what was good if we don't know evil? They're complete opposites! Now, don't get me wrong; I hate evil. But it's what we do in life that defines us, not the clothes, the cars, the big homes or celebrity. It's how we live our lives and the good we do. Again, don't get me wrong; I have a lot of repenting and work to do, but I'm trying my best to be a merciful, good person. It's my daily trial in life Trust. me. ;-)
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This is a hotel. Wouldn't you love to stay there?

Sweet and cozy kitchen.

A lovely large bedroom with old wood floors and the most gorgeous lace spread I've ever seen.

I have enough lamps in this house but if I could have one more, it would be like this one. Maybe I'll redo a shade on one. Hmmmm......

This has given me an idea. You can make little crowns with lace by using decoupage and paint and fit them to your kids' heads or add a piece of elastic at the back. I think I'll do one for Caroline and Juliette.

How would you like to have an exquisite bedroom such as this one? Fantastic!

Another quaint cottage with a turret.

This hydrangea is one hundred years old. My hubby saw this and said, "WOW!!"

Cute container for when clipping your roses.

Gorgeous decorated bottles with their very own holder.

Beautiful rose soaps.

Beautiful way to store your laces. I wish I had saved my old spools from laces now.

Talk about isolated! Your own house on your own teensy, tiny island. Going out for a loaf of bread or quart of milk takes on a whole new meaning. ;-)

These have the look of MacKenzie-Childs. I doubt they are as there are so many duplications being made now of their items, but these are still gorgeous.

A Mary Francis designer handbag. It's my favorite one and I'd buy it if it didn't cost almost $300. I think it's absolutely, gorgeously stunning!!!

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Tidbit:
Washington's Mount Rainier was named for a British soldier who fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
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A Beautiful Living Room/Dining Room

I told you there would be more, and this isn't even the last of it. She manages to do so much with so little it is truly amazing to me. She even dazzles with fabric wall art.

And look at the lovely valentine roses wreath this chick made. Just gorgeous.

This isn't her house but a friend's. Wouldn't you love to have a living and dining area like this one? Oooooh, how gorgeous and divine, just like a romantic cottage.

Another cuff I made and practicing close ups with my Canon. ;-)

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Don't Forget the Cottage Charm Giveaway

Do not forget the Cottage Charm Giveaway on 5/29, chicks. These are the exact little coffee filter roses to be awarded on that day. Six of them. All scented with Crabtree & Evelyn heirloom rose oil. Who will be the lucky one to win them? Hmmmmm???? Just comment on the Cottage Charm Giveaway Blog post here and it certainly could be you.

And, also, you might want to check out yesterday's blog or the sidebar for the announcement.

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A Cottage Charm Giveaway!

Twice Remembered Cottage is having her 4th annual Cottage Charm Giveaway. I've decided to participate and this is my first year doing this. Squeeeeeeal! So here is what I'm giving away.

Nothing says cottage charm half as good as roses. Aaaaahhh, but these aren't just any roses, chicks. I make these. I scent them with Crabtree and Evelyn Heirloom Rose Oil. You will love these. They last a very long time. I have dozens all over my house. They're not real, but paper. Every single person I've gifted with them has raved about them. I've giving away 6 of these beauties.

It's a month long event so to give everyone a chance since it ends on May 29th I'll draw a name on that day. All you have to do it leave a comment on this blog post. Now, I'll only ship to U.S. Truly, how much easier can it get.

I have a mass of them on my coffee table.

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Random Thoughts:

I heard a story recently about a little boy who was practicing for a baseball team. He was throwing the ball up into the air to try and hit it. He did this 3 times and finally grew frustrated, but then a thought came into his head and he lit up and said, "Wow. What a pitcher!" Life is what we make of it.
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Love Bunny can't stand not answering the phone.Recently, we've been getting a lot of phone calls from "toll-free", which usually means they're begging for money or trying to "give" us a credit card. Since he's retired now he's home more. I don't answer those kinds of calls. I told him to go ahead if he wanted to after a couple of times of seeing his frustration. I don't think he believed me when I said they're solicitors. He did and it took him 5 minutes to tell them no. I can say no in 2 seconds. I think he's cured. He doesn't answer them anymore.
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God has a sense of humor and because the world is wondrous he expects us to find reasons to smile even on the darkest days. That's why I'm so upbeat and a happy chick!
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If you have a credit card phone number stored on your cell phone, you need to get a life. Seriously.
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Family Room Refurbishing Part 2

Another view of the family room. It's not a very big room but it faces south and gets a lot of sun during the day. It looks out into the back yard. The lace curtains barely visible on the sides are what separate it from the dining room.

Clock on the left with a potpourri of things on the mantle. Pictures and mirror frame on the left.

A lamp to which I added flowers, lace, hanging crystals and a card from a friend .

Petal cake I made and put on a coffee table with a vintage roses tablecloth on it in our family room.

Little shabby houses sitting under a print of the english countryside with a cottage. A friend made these and I added the pink balls and white garland for the shabby effect. If I like it, it goes!

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Where Bloggers Create 7/24/09

Karen over at MyDesertCottage has invited us to participate in her "Where Bloggers Create" today and since I have spent a great deal of time creating my own blogging/craft/creative spots, I opted in. Please go visit her to view all the others who are sweet enough to show us where they sit each day to do all the lovely things you see on the blogs. It's fun and exciting to look at each person's space. And it just may spur you on with ideas on how to beautify your home or just a room or a vignette within a room even.
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As I've said many times before we moved 4 years ago from a 5,000 sq. ft. on a rolling hill acre house to this 1800 sq. ft. house on a sub-division lot more manageable. The move necessitated a severe cut in furnishings and space for us. BUT we do love it here. We have 4 bedrooms - master bedroom on one side of the house and the other 3 on the other side of house. Only one serves its purpose as a bedroom - ours. The other 3 are hubby's office, my craft/sewing room and a computer/home office for me, so I really have 2 rooms for such. They are small rooms however.

I've given it much thought though and creating can be several ways under the umbrella of "creative." While I love creating items by sewing, I also create by decorating my home and writing, blogging and photographing many things. I want to do it all—or at least as much as I can—before I leave this earth and I don't have many more years left to do it all. So come with me for a tour.........

We are entering the craft/sewing room from the hallway. This is what you see when approaching. There are very, very few "spaces" in my home that are not feminine, girly, romantic, froufrou or pink.

View of the whole room.

The blue school desk I've had for maybe 35 or 40 years. It's been many colors and has been blue for about 25 years now. I've been so busy with other things I've not had time to strip it and repaint it another color. The little brown vintage school desk was purchased a few months ago and has not gotten the attention it deserves but it will soon. This is where I sew. There is hardly a spot in this room that isn't taken up with something. I doubt I could squeeze one more item in. I plan on giving away some of the fabric and craft supplies to a little girl I know who loves to craft.

Shelves hold a great deal of stuff in this room.

This is where I paint. Several people, my daughter included, have told me to paint, decoupage or mosaic the top of this vintage school desk also. Nuuuuuuu, never will happen. That is the original desktop and I love it, but mainly because it is indestructible! I can wipe anything up from it—paint, Mod Podge, hot glue, anything! I did, however, put a shabby chic roses fabric on the front after I painted the sides and back. It was pretty ugly before I did that. And I got that darling little chair at TJMaxx in Boise and love the look of it also.

Can we say "shelves of fabric" here? Yep, lots of fabric but truly I've seen people with much, much more than this. Some of the shelves DO hold craft things. I plan on doing some more birdhouses and trying once again to sell them. *Sigh*...............

Trust me when I tell you THIS is looking neat for this photoshoot. Usually this room is a nightmare, including the desktop!

We are now leaving this room and traveling down the hall to my home office/computer room. I'm a computer nut! Love them.

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As we come out of the craft/sewing room and head down the hall to the front of the house we approach the my office/computer room.

My view upon entering the room. My daughter gave me those hanging lanterns. They are really beautiful when lit. I made a cord cover for them with some very pink toile. I love my window seat and the view out of that window onto the roses in the front yard and the street.

Also upon entering the room you will see my desk. This is the hub of our home, not the kitchen. I'd eat out 5 nights a week if we could. I'm in here most of the time. I do everything on this computer—skype and chat with kids, pay bills, blog(!), buy things on line, play at being a photographer and editor and generally conduct business. :-) BTW, that desk is a cottage style but I wanted something froufrou on the front besides the white so I velcro-ed it to the desk. When the glue wouldn't hold on the fabric I stapled it with my stapler and it's holding nicely. No one would ever know unless they got up very close to see the staples.

My view as I sit at this desk and work. That is an old wood bench we've had for about 25 years and painted it red. The paint is now flaking off and I just threw a Rachel Ashwell cover over it and a bench pillow until I decide if I want to paint it again or not. Probably not. I like it like this. The little shelves in the corner hold items I made that did not sell on ebay. Their loss. I'll probably give most of it away now.

Close up view of my desktop area.
I bought 3 chair covers from a lady on the web and gave one to my daughter and one to another woman blogger who is a stay-at-home mom and struggling to make ends meet on a budget. She needed a lift-me-up! But this was my favorite chair cover.
My desktop is usually clean. What you see is what is usually on it except for my camera which I was using to snap this shot. The white thing on the left front corner is my JBL Creature with tiny speakers on each side of the monitor. It gives me fantastic sound when listening to music on iTunes. My monitor is an Apple Cinema Display and I run Apple OSX Leopard on it. I can't wait until Snow Leopard OS comes out next year! OSX is the most fantastic operating system there is.

Yes, this dress hangs there all the time. A friend had it and makes pillows and stuff out of old wedding gowns she collects. I got this one for a steal. My motto is "froufrou up"!

If I am selling something or just want to post a blog about it, this is where I do my photoshoot on it. This has changed over the last few years but this works just fine for me now.


This little shelf holds all my computer stuff on the top shelf and just miscellaneous items on the other two. Subject to change, of course. I have done photoshoots on this also.
A closer view of the corner of the window seat and the shelves. There is also a lot of computer paraphernalia on the top 2 shelves. My coffee filter rose is in that vase on the top. My daughter made me the mosaic old sewing drawer and I bought the hand painted one from a woman on ebay several years ago.

We now head out the door down the hallway where I have some Charles Wysocki americana limited edition art prints hanging on the walls. He is one of my favorite artists. That little shelf contains things people have given me in swaps and items I made that never sold. I guess I'm not too good at selling, huh??? ;-)

So there you have my "creating" spaces, chicks. Thank you for visiting. I now have to go check out the other participants.
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Random Thought:

Look at the world around you whimsically. I do and it never ceases to delight me because it gives me such a laugh.

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