Red Box Movies

Have you heard about Red Box?  I noticed one in the grocery store last week (yeah, I know I'm behind the times).  They have them all over in the USA.  You can rent movies for a dollar a day.  It's a large automated kiosk full of the latest movies including new releases.

This works for me since I don't have cable, dish network or anything with a million channels at home.  I  just have bunny ears, the antiquated way to watch TV and one of those dtv converters.  Believe me, if I had a bunch of channels I'd be watching TV in the small amount of time I have at home and NOTHING else would get done.  I'd watch all the "how to" shows and then I'd never have the time to actually put to use all the things I was learning about from those shows.  I may get it later if I ever get to retire!

This is the real Coco, left and Audrey Tautou

I watched the movie Coco Before Chanel.  It's French with subtitles but that was ok since I like the sound of the French language.  The movie was very good, a tad sad though.  Audrey Tautou was fabulous as Coco.  I've been sewing since I was about 7 and the story of Coco being a woman designer in her time is a wonderful thing.  Hardly a day goes by that I don't think of all the brave and talented women that came before me and paved the way for the women of today to be just about anything they want to be.  They don't have to be prostitutes, seamstresses, house cleaners, librarians, teachers or wives for that matter.  It's certainly ok for women to choose those professions but the door is wide open to do so much more.  Coco got rid of the corset.  Have you ever worn one?  Fun for about 20 minutes and then get me outta this thing.  She gave us the little black dress; a comfortable feminine suit; taught us to not over accessorize and always look and smell like a lady.  Her Chanel No. 5 perfume was the first ever designer fragrance way back in 1920.  She passed away the year I was in 6th grade, 1971.

My grade school cafeteria, what a cool 60's building!

This reminds me of when I was in 5th grade circa 1968-69 that 4 of my girlfriends and I decided to wear pants to school the next day.  I've always been a sort of rebel and growing up with 5 brothers made me toughen up but I was never a tomboy.  Well, the 5 of us did show up in our brother's pants and guess what?  We were treated as semi boys that day.  Our teacher was a woman and yet she made us stand in the boys line before and after recess and again when we walked to the cafeteria at lunchtime.  We were told not to wear pants anymore to school and as I recall we didn't.  GUESS WHAT??  About a handful of years later when my younger brother had her for his teacher and I needed to go get him and my little sister from school, guess what this same teacher was wearing?  Yup, you guessed it, PANTS.  It was a pantsuit but still what a hypocrite.  A few years later when I was in junior high we could wear nice pantsuits to school but most of us still wore dresses.  Because the mini dress was popular we wore shorts under our dresses.  By high school most of us gals wore pants all the time.  Bell bottom jeans were all the rage and that started all of us wearing jeans up to present time.

Hey I'm outta here.  Work's over for the day and I'm headed up to the mall to use my coupon for a free sampling of 4 shades of the new Chanel lipsticks.  You all have a nice weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Crochet Squares Blanket Update

Hi,  here is my skyscraper of 72, 12" crochet squares soon to become a blanket!  I finished crocheting the last white scalloped edge on Sunday.

Now...to lay them out and decide the placement of each so it looks balanced.  Then, sew 'em up!  Sounds easy but I know it'll take me awhile to do it.

We had a little rain night before last and yesterday was fresh and cool.  Today we have some wind and it has blown away all the clouds and is crisp and cool out right now.  Just the beautiful kind of day to be out of doors.  I hope you are out enjoying the day!

Need Some Dirt?

Hi!  We finally has a little cement work done under the front gates and extended the cement by the mailbox where there is a door incorporated into the fence so you can walk through instead of having to open the gate.

We removed most of the small plants and all the weeds and since the soil is fairly clay like we need to amend the soil a bit before putting in the new plants.  I'm excited since I've been wanting to plant permanent plants in here for years.  I think I have enough potted plants that could fill this area and would love to make this their new home!

I believe that we'll have to remove some of the dirt to make room for some soil amendments.  Now, where to put that extra dirt?  Hmmm.  Not sure yet.

Hope you all have a great week.  Thanks for stopping by!

Tracy's Lovely Tea Party

Hi, I'm back finally feeling more myself.  What a dreaded few weeks feeling like c**p has been and so glad that is behind me.

I wanted to share our lovely tea birthday party we had a couple Sunday's ago celebrating my bestest childhood friend who turned the big 5-0 on the 12th.  Her sis called me and said let's meet at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Laguna Niguel in the Dana Point Harbor to do a little surprise tea party for Tracy and I said, "I''ll be there"!  My buddy Tracy has been fighting breast cancer.
Here's a pic of her, isn't she cute?

Her family moved next door to us the summer that Tracy and I would be in 5th grade come the fall, and our moms were lifelong friends as well as our sisters, too.  We recently lost Tracy and Blythe's mom, Eileen, and we miss her but she was partying with us that day in spirit.  While growing up, Tracy and I were inseparable.  We had vivid imaginations and lived in our own world.  In the summers, she would go on vacation and I was lost without her.  I would take care of her cat, George and I'd go to feed him and when he would meow and cry, I completely understood. 


Here's the entrance.  If you've ever had the pleasure of attending an event or being a guest you are lucky as you well know because you are treated very well at the Ritz-Carlton hotels.  If you ever get a chance to go to one please do, as it's fun to dress up now and then.

Here's the lobby...

Here's the party girls from left to right:  Tracy's daughter, Alyssa who's 20 and is a beautiful ballet dancer; Blythe, Tracy's younger sister; my mom, Jeanne; Tracy, Me, and my sis, Yvonne.

Here are all the treats; little sandwiches, fruit, tea and several desserts, yum!

Everything was very delish and they kept coming to make sure that we had hot water for our tea and checking up on us.  They did however knock over one of the teapots full of hot water with a bit of tea in it and had to change one of the tablecloths, but it was okay since it gave us a little excitement for the day and nobody got burned!  Other than that, we had a terrific time catching up on all our lives and promising to get together and to keep in touch.

Tracy and me...

May I ask you a favor?  Could you put Tracy in your prayers?  I really want her to have many more b-days and to be able to see her grandchildren someday, thanks...from the bottom of my heart.  Have a great weekend!

Nasty Cold Bug

Hi, I haven't posted in awhile since I've had all I can do to just get through each day since this darn virus attacked me!  Having your own shop and not being able to stay home and rest is really a drag.  I don't get sick that often (as I knock on wood) so when I do I don't slow down enough.  It seems I got over the flu part pretty fast but then it turned into a head cold and then a sinus infection.  It went like this: One day I'd feel better (and then I'd probably over-do it) and then the next day I felt wiped out again. Up and down, up and down...

Yesterday I was crabby and moaned to my sister (poor thing); the post office lost my postage stamp order etc., had a mild headache all day behind my eyes and then last night I slept for 10 hours and feel sooooo much better today.  I have some things to share with you so I'll be posting a bit more really soon.  Hope you are taking your vitamin c and getting plenty of rest so you don't catch a bug!

Meanwhile enjoy my front yard in bloom!