Five Things Thursday

1. These birds from the Nashville zoo are beautiful:

I've only been to the Nashville zoo twice in its current location. I did not see these birds, but the next time I go, I'll find out if there's a "bird house." Obviously, they are tropical birds.

2. I have no words!

Actually, I do. These are too creepy to me. Maybe for Halloween I might thing they would work. 

3. I think this is a great idea:

What a great way to expand the job opportunities of deaf people.

4. This made me laugh out loud!

Seriously---what where the 70's thinking? I've always thought that the 70's were the worst decade for fashion.

5. I find this so surprising.

There are commercials inviting people to join unions. Just goes to show the shortage of workers all over. When we lived in St. Louis, there was a waiting list to get in to the apprenticeship programs for unions. You could rely on fair wages and good benefits. This commercial is for the electrician union. Since the pandemic--and what has been dubbed--"The Great Resignation"--there just aren't enough workers. I wonder if this is the new normal?

What I Buy Wednesday

I didn't buy anything this past week as I was catching up form our trip to Portugal and getting ready for the Bridal luncheon. I did buy the flowers for that. 

So, I thought I would share the "souvenirs" I brought home from Portugal. I really don't like to use the word "souvenirs" as it makes me think if kitsch--you know, trinkets and key chains. Well, speaking of key chains, I did try to get Butch to buy himself one. It had the name "Emanuel" on it. We have NEVER seen that. Obviously, it's a European name. His mother was from Austria. He didn't want to do it because: A. He doesn't need a key chain and B. He's not 10 years old and wants one with his name on it!

Okay, on to what I bought.

There's a lot of color here! I bought quite a few pashminas that are going to be gifts. 

I was enthralled by the tiles everywhere--streets, outside of buildings, inside of buildings, floors--you name it and it was tiled. I couldn't resist the trivet as it incorporated the tiles and cork (another big thing in Portugal. You can get cork shoes, purses--just anything--in stores that only sell cork products). There are potholders under the trivet. I do like to get things that are practical and I actually needed the potholders. 

You can see my Starbucks mug in the back--for my collection. There's a tiny trolley car Christmas ornament next to it. I bought that little tidbit tray because I loved all the different tiles on it. The spoon rest came from a local artist in Coimbra. Now I want to call your attention to that stack on sardines. I had no idea that sardines were such a big thing in Portugal. There are stores every where that are dedicated to sardines and fishy pates. 

They are so colorful. The labels are really pretty. BUT---if you buy sardines in the fancy stores with these fancy labels, they are upwards of 6 Euros per can!! 

We love sardines, but were happy to find them in the little market near our hotel for under 1 Euro---more like our prices. On our rainy day, we decided that we'd rather have a picnic in our hotel room. We stopped at the market and bought sardines, cheese, fruit and crackers. (We love to do this when we are traveling. We eat out so much, it's nice to have something a little lighter.) We brought home several cans to give to the "boys."

The only other thing I would have liked to get were some "tile" earrings. There were so many choices. But when it came right down to it, they were either too big or too small for my taste. 

Tuesday Thoughts About...

...how to load silverware in the dishwasher.

Should you place your silverware up or down in the dishwasher? My friends and I have debated this for years. Of course it’s a personal preference. I even went to the experts—whoever the experts are. This means I read an article. Don’t know by who or their level of expertise, but ultimately, it is a personal preference. 

What I do. I put everything down except forks. I don’t want the tines to get hung up and bent in the holes of the utensil holder. 

The article made a few points:

1. Placing silverware up usually gets it cleaner.
2. Negative to facing up: you handle the part of the silverware that people are putting in their mouths. That's sort of unappetizing.
3. All knives should be place down for safety. 
4. Placing all utensils down will crowd the basket. Oh well.

I say, there’s no “right or wrong” answer. If I’m at your house and loading your dishwasher (heaven forbid—aren’t I the guest and therefore on vacation?) I will load it however you prefer. If left to my own devices, I’ll do it my way. If you don’t like it, don’t leave it to me. That won’t bother me at all! In fact, it might make both of us happy!!

While we’re talking about cleaning, did you know that you are supposed to vacuum before AND after you clean? Supposedly, if you vacuum last, you stir up lightweight dust and pet hair that will float back up to the surfaces that you dusted. Well, I don’t have a pet, so I’m not going to vacuum twice. Heck, who am I kidding. I don’t do it anyway. I have “people” for that!

Me on Monday

Well, the wedding on Saturday night was so much fun. It was downtown at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Butch and I had never been there before, but Stephanie and Mindy had. It's a really nice place and perfect for a wedding.

The ceremony took place on an outside deck overlooking downtown Nashville.

Paige is the daughter of my friend, Nancy. Bob and Nancy were the first people we met when we moved to Nashville in February of 1985. Paige was just 2 years old. Mindy and her daughter, Leigh were newborns. Nancy and I had so much in common from the start: large, Catholic family of 7 children and we both lost our dads as teens. We hit it off with Bob and Nancy from the start. Bob passed away about 20 years ago, but I'm sure he was with us at the wedding!

This picture overlooks Union Station. In case you are not sure, I am the "shrimp!"

Mindy, me, Butch and Stephanie.

Stephanie and Nicky. Unfortunately, Justin couldn't be with us. He was involved with a wedding of his own! He's the food and beverage manager at the Nashville City Club nearby. They are busy with all of their own events every weekend. We miss him, but it's the nature of the business.

The tables were beautiful. Paige had taken the time to write a special note to each guest for coming. That was so sweet! Considering there were about 200 people there, that was no small task!

And then there is this:

This is our gang! Bob and Nancy were part of it too---Nancy still is. In 1986, Butch and I started the poker group. The guys would get together once a month to play poker while we girls went out to dinner. It was always something fun to look forward to. We were all young parents busy with children. But once a month was for us--and any other time we could get-together (lots of game parties). We traveled together and some of us still do. We skied with our kids. We've partied together and had a lifetime of fun--for nearly 40 years. 

Now we're all retired. We girls see each other all the time. The poker group is still going, but a bit more sporadic as everyone is busy in other ways. Some of the guys play golf together. Plus, some of us have a trip to Sanoma planned for October. We girls have a beach trip planned in May.

We all had such a fun time at the wedding. We had planned to leave around 9-ish, but then we started dancing. That lead to more dancing. When we decided it was going to be the last one, Butch wanted to dance with Mindy. As I was exiting the dance floor, some random guy said something about not quitting. I turned back and grabbed him by the hand and said, "Okay then, let's go!" 

When it comes to dancing, I'm not above picking up some random, young, hot guy!! Okay, he was young and only semi-hot, but he was game so that made him hotter! I don't think he realized how old I am as he tried to "dip" me at the end. I only went down about half way for fear of throwing my back out. Now, I've never thrown my back out before, but didn't want to find out how far I could push it! Like I've said, taking no chances!!

Something for Sunday

It's been a week of flowers! You might call it flower "overload" as if there could possibley be such a thing!

Last week, I got the notification that White's Creek Flower Farm was ready to start up their deliveries for the season. I signed up for a bouquet--not thinking that I would need to make some arrangements for the bridal luncheon I was hosting on Friday.

On Wednesday night, we had the whole family--well, all the in-town family--over for dinner. Mitchell and Emily showed up with this:

Beautiful flowers and a bottle of wine. So thoughtful! That girl is good for him! Totally unexpected, but such a nice surprise. I do love flowers!

The bouquet was so lush and full that I was able to get another arrangment out of it for over my sink. I love flowers here as they are right at my eye level. I really enjoy that.

Then I purchased the flowers to make three arrangements for Paige's bridal luncheon.

I am partial to white arrangements. There were six different flowers in each one.

These were the table favors: custom wrapped Hershey bars and macaroons. 

After the party, I stopped by Steph's house and Mindy's condo to surprise them with an arrangement and party favors. 

No sooner did I get home than my arrangement from the flower farm arrived:

It was full of flowers: several varieties of daffodils, different colored runuculus, pussy willows, several colors of tulips, black and white anemone's and a few others I didn't recognize. I ended up putting that arrangement along side one of the ones from the party in the family room. That way I can enjoy them both.

Oh, and then, Paige sent me this as a thank you for hosting the luncheon:

It's a single rosebud inside of a beautiful, little suede box from "Venus et Fleur." I've never heard of this company or concept before, but it's a real rose (you can tell by the feel). It has a lovely scent. I've put it on my nightstand so I can smell it from the bed. Believe it or not, it will last a year. I am to keep it out of direct sunlight and be sure to leave it in the box. I'm not to water it either. I don't know how it will live, but I'm going to see if it really lasts a year. I hope so. It's so pretty, delicate, and smells so good!

This has been such a happy, flower week for me. I don't think I could ever get tired of them. There's no such thing and too many!

PS While I'm at it, just thought I would share a picture of the beautiful bride:

The wedding was so lovely. I'm happy that Paige and Nancy included us in so many of the festivities! 

Scrapbook Saturday

I save all those little half inch strips from my 12x12 papers. 

They cone in handy for a quick title page for a travel album.

I happened to be in St. Louis is 2020 when my siblings had a little birthday celebration for me.

I don't have too many "old" pictures left to scrapbook. So I was happy to use these from 1992.

"It's all in the details!" is about the little things we did at the beach to make things more convenient for our guests.

This is my layout for AYM. The song prompt this month came from Nancy: "What a Wonderful World." I decided to use it for all of the beautiful sunrise/sunset pictures from all over.

That's it for this week.

Friday Frustrations About Carpeting

I'm suffering from the "carpet blues." I HATE MY NEW CARPET!

Yes, that's what I said! I hate it! We spent a fortune carpeting 4 rooms along with the remodel and I hate it. ALL! Every bit of it. Well, wait, I like the rugs. It's just all of our wall-to-wall carpeting that's got my back up. It's all a mess! And I'm obsessing about it!

Let me back up a bit. It all started when we decided to do the upstairs remodel. When it came time to pick out the carpet, I told Christy (my designer) that I did not want to use the same company that manufactured the carpeting in the remodeled rec room--about 6 years ago. Although I LOVE that carpet, it has not worn well. Yes, it was very expensive too, so we're not talking a cheap carpet. 

Considering it's just the two of us, it should not look so worn. Even Christy was shocked. She called the carpet store she always uses to find out if there was some recourse. There wasn't--I think she said that the manufacturer had gone out of business or something or maybe the carpeting had been discontinued. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that we did not get that same carpet again. 

After we picked out the carpet, I started thinking about our bedroom. It was about 8 years old---and looked liked crap! The wear is actually perfectly fine and not worn at all. I loved that carpet too. But, it definitely showed the traffic pattern in dirt! Not wear, dirt.

When I told Christy that I wanted to add our bedroom to the list she was surprised. She asked for pictures.

Considering I wear slippers in the house ALL the time, it doesn't seem like it should be this dirty. Christy was shocked and sent out her best carpet cleaner for some sort of special cleaning without soap--some sort of dirt extraction process. Of course I would prefer to have it cleaned--it wasn't worn at all. The guy ended up only charging me half price because he could not get it cleaner. At least that was something. So, we put it on the list to be re-done. 

And now I'm obsessing over the new carpet. It was almost the last thing to be done during the remodel. There were still a few things to be completed. I was freaking out that the workmen were wearing their big 'ol boots on my new carpet. I could tell right away that this carpet was going to be a problem. And, I was right. I told Butch that we would NEVER wear shoes on it. I haven't. Not once. As I said, I wear slippers in the house. I do not wear my slippers outside and I wash them fairly frequently. Still, after only 3 months, the new carpet looks like this:

It's not dirt. It's the lay of the carpet. It leaves footprints that look like dirt. 

Mindy's room hasn't even been walked in after vacuuming and it looks dirty.

Now that spot IS dirt. I have no idea why or how. Butch swears he hasn't even walked by the closet, here in my office. Maybe Margarita's shoes are doing it. I don't know.

Even at the entrance to the room looks dirty. I had Butch cut the scraps to put pieces in front of the French doors as that deck is definitely dirty. He needs to go out to mess with our flag now and then. Also, when it's time to decorate for Christmas, there's a lot of in and out action. 

There are a lot of shadows too, that look like dirt. In my mind, I know it can't be dirty. But I can't help it. I'm actually losing said mind here. 

I was yelling at Butch about wearing his shoes. He said that he takes them off most of the time. Then I relaized that this is ridiculous that I should be obsessing so. For crying out loud, it's just carpet. And we need to live here. So, I'm trying to relax. It's not happening yet, but I'm trying. 

When we got home from Portugal, I put my suitcase in my closet. This happened:

Are you kidding me? I can't win! Who knows what crud this is from the airport. Thank God I didn't wheel it through the bedroom! I just can't win!!

I'm really thankful that I did not put new carpet in my scrapbook room. I thought about it for half a second. The amount of work involved was just way too overwhelming. 

This carpet is original from when the house was built in 1984. I haven't even had it cleaned since we moved in--1995. Considering it's 38 year old carpeting, it looks just as good as the brand new! No wear either. Well except for this half-witted owner!

You might be wondering about that runner with the pink rug over the top. Well, I bought that to cover up the fact that I burned the carpet when I was embossing. I laid my items and used the heat gun. I had no idea it would melt the carpet. I am perfectly fine with that runner. I don't understand how I can be relaxed about that, yet so out of my mind about the rest. 

I'm a clean freak and it's getting worse!! Chrissy---help me!!! Or better yet, maybe I can turn this lament in to a country song, make a lot of money, and buy new carpet!

Oh, and by the way, April's Fools! Okay, "not!" I'm serious here.