April 21, 2008 at 12:09 pm (1)
Tags: Mother's Day gift ideas
Shameless Self Promotion. I know, but I have to have something I am proud of myself for, right? So, if you are looking for something great to give your mom, or mother of your children, go to Saucy Frocks and get them something they’ll love you for! You can read my other blog for a good reason to get her something like this! It makes a very convincing argument!
April 21, 2008 at 8:52 am (Positive Thoughts)
I was able to help my mom and step-dad move into a new home on Saturday. (no, not the one in the picture!) I was so excited, as it is a move I have been waiting for for a few years now. They lived in North Carolina after they married a little over 10 years ago, and it was hard for me to have my mom so far away, but I enjoyed visiting her when I would get the chance. It is soooo beautiful there!!! And, of course, it’s the home of my “magical” place- the Biltmore!!!! I get weepy just thinking about it! I dream about it on a regular basis, actually. I even have viewmaster slides of it which I pull out and look at wistfully from time to time.
The Biltmore was built at the turn of the century by a very wealthy man named George Washington Vanderbilt. He built it for his wife for a wedding present! It was originally intended to be MUCH smaller, but turned into this incredible and breathtaking palace! It’s been featured in Architectural Digest, and many movies have been filmed there as well. (see “Being There”) I want to stay in the Biltmore hotel, breathe in the oppulence of the surroundings! I WOULD stay in the actual house, but that isn’t allowed. (arg!) I think I was actually a guest there in a former life. (Ok, I don’t really believe in that stuff, but maybe I was related to someone who stayed there and it’s been passed down through my blood.) The first time I ever went there, it was like going home! Truly!
There is a fantastic buffet restaurant there called the Deerpark Inn that serves top-of-the-line gourmet dishes in an elegant setting, for under $20 a person! I will miss it!!!! There is a cute little petting farm where the kids can pet the animals. Eason loved it when we went. I told my hubby that he WILL take me there someday- Oh yes, he will!
So, this was pretty much a travel log. I didn’t intend it to be that way, but now that it is, you can have a great idea for a place to visit with romance, and beauty, and luxury- all rolled into one giant sprawling estate!
Oh, Biltmore, I will always cherish our time together. I will miss your smooth dark woods, your vaulted ceilings, your breathtaking views. There will never be another for me.
Oh, and Mom…. I’m really glad you’re in Utah now! Sorry, forgot to mention that!
April 18, 2008 at 8:18 am (1)
It’s hard when you have a perspective that another does not, when you can see the foolish choices they are making in their life on a daily basis, the complete lack of responsibility they exercise in their decisions, and their inability to pull themselves up out of the muck they are swimming in due to their own inaction. It is hard to watch someone doing things that will hurt them, and not be able to do anything about it. When it’s your own child, you can help them to understand what they are doing wrong, you can punish them for doing wrong things so they understand consequences, and when they are young they usually understand and change their behavior. When it is an adult, it is not that simple.
Right now, I have a vantage point of someone in my life who simply cannot see how their little daily decisions or lack of decisions in this case, is causing their life to spiral out of control, driving them deeper and deeper down into despair, financial ruin, and spiritual and ultimately physical death. Their actions are pushing all who love them further and further away. I try to talk to them about how just changing a few things about their daily rituals and choices can drastically alter the course they are headed in, but they refuse to accept the truth of their situation.
I can do nothing but watch and pray, offer support and advice when asked, and hope they will “get it” eventually. I hope it’s before they end up homeless and completely alone.
April 15, 2008 at 9:56 am (Mindless ramblings)
It’s Cruel Torture…
Numbers racing through my head
It’s April 15th
April 10, 2008 at 9:13 am (Mindless ramblings)
Today is a good day to post a list of things I hate. Why? Because I am in a bad mood- duh!
Onions
Smell of rotten potatoes
cramps
obligations I can’t get out of
tiny cramped houses with no storage
dirty socks
laundry
people who don’t signal
day-old glazed donuts
long toe nails
doing dishes
greasy hair
slow poke kids
responsibility
over-cooked pasta
dirty floors
washing blinds
selfish people
pap smears
people who read their entire talk in church from the church magazine
being out of chocolate
paying bills
removing dingleberries
bad singing
when fitted sheets come up off the mattress in the night
wearing socks to bed
wearing shoes
cleaning the bathroom
days hotter than 85 degrees
snow in April
gas prices
my faults
other people’s faults
this posting!
April 8, 2008 at 8:39 am (Mindless ramblings)
Our piano desperately needs tuning! We’re talking, I’m a soprano, and the high notes on our piano are almost too low for me! The other day, in frustration, my hubby yanked out the phone book and began angrily looking up piano tuners. My hubby has always hated the phone book… mainly because of the alphabet! He always gets frustrated and throws the book down and says he can’t find something. I ask him if he was looking in the “p’s” for “Piano”….. he just says… “oh”.
So, staring at the list of piano tuners in the book, neither of us knows who to call. We’ve never heard of “Joe” or “Ed” or “Les”. They could be escaped convicts for all I know! I’m the one that has to let them into my home, with me all alone, what could possibly happen, asks hubby? A whole heckuva lot, if you ask me! The one consolation is that most piano tuners, I have found, are old, retired men who are very nice and incredibly well rested.
Merritt chooses to call “Joe”.
*ring* *ring* *ring* *ring* *ring* *ring* *ring*
(a woman- not a native english speaker- answers) “Hullo?”
“Uh, yes, is Joe Brown there?”
“Whaaaaaat?”
(a little louder and more distinct) “Is Joe Brown There???”
“Whaaaaaaaaat????”
” Joe Brown….. the Peeee-aaaaaa-nnnnooooooo Tooooooo-nnneeerrrrrrrrrrr”
“Hold on” stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp……. door squeeking……….. Man hacking in background…..
(a feeble, old, one and a half foot in the grave, old man answers) “h-h-h-h-e-l-l-l-l-o-o–o?”
“Is this Joe Brown?”
“Whaaaaaaaat???”
“Is THIS J-O-E B-R-O-W-NNNN????”
“Whaaaaaaaattttt?????”
Pause for a moment. Think, do I continue with this phone call, knowing this man can not hear? Can you have a piano tuner who is hard of hearing, let alone one day from death??? Once I had a crown put on a tooth, only to find out later that it was made by a blind man. Like that’s a GOOD thing???? It’s given me troubles ever since!
“Are you Joe Brown, the piano tuner???”
“Oh…… I’m reeeee-tiiiiii-eerrrrrrrrdddd”
We were too emotionallly exhausted after that phone call to try any more numbers. Today, however, I was able to get a nice sounding retired man, who seemed to be able to hear just fine, and was pretty able-bodied as he was planning on going golfing later today. I’ll still look him up on “America’s Most Wanted” just to be on the safe side!
April 4, 2008 at 8:29 am (Mindless ramblings)
Hello. My name is Erin and I have no life. (“Hi…… Erin!”) Thank you. Today, because I have no life and can take time to think about a lot of things…. especially because I’m sick…..I am going to talk about what is wrong with the rest of you! Oh, no one in particular, so don’t get all in a tizzy. Mainly, what is wrong with others who don’t rely on their imaginary friends in internet land to supply them with the missing life they don’t have.
In this world today, it is clear that people are moving more and more away from personal interraction and toward total isolation. You can shop the internet for groceries, gifts, clothing, even psychological help! You can type your questions to a person in another country who will attempt to help you diagnose your computer problems, or figure out why your phone has a fuzzy sound on it. You can even try out different hair styles on a picture of your face rather than talk to a stylist. (I take this one step further and actually do the hair cutting myself, as well!) And thanks to the world of blogging and web pages, people can now have “friends” all over the world…. friends they never actually have to “talk” to….. never have to babysit their kids… never have to listen to them ramble on and on and on about relationship problems….. (well, some do on their blogs, and that’s totally cool, but you don’t HAVE to read the whole thing, and they never know that you didn’t!).
I have to admit, I am a mixture of old and new thinking. I still love to go grocery shopping and talking to the checkers. I like baking cookies once in a while and taking them to a neighbor. I like getting a phone call from a long lost friend. I also like the convenience of ordering gifts off the internet. I love the fact that I don’t have to drag my son to the store with me to shop for clothing, or try to sneak Christmas presents under my coat in the cart while he isn’t looking. I buy them online, instead! I also love that I can read about fascinating people and their lives through their blogs. I may never meet them, but that’s totally cool with me. Now, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I only spend a few minutes each day actually blogging….. but there are those out there who’s life blood is supplied via blogs…. I am only thinking of them!
So, with allllll that said….. what is wrong with you people who don’t post a blog every day???!!!! What could possibly be more important than spending time writing about day to day stuff that goes on in your life? What? You think spending time with your children is more important? You think that helping them with their homework takes precedence over blogging? Well, I’m sorry, but you have your priorities screwed up! What about the many many people who are hanging on your every word each day? What about those who sit anxiously at their computer monitor… clicking each blog with anticipation…. then going away feeling empty and alone when you haven’t posted that day? Think about your responsibility to those who have embraced the new internet age and no longer know how to have actual human interraction without moving their fingers at lightening speed to type their responses! Just think about it!
I must admit, I have failed in this. I have allowed myself to become caught up in sewing aprons and taking care of my family that I have neglected the rest of you. I will try to do better. I won’t call to apologize, so don’t wait for the phone to ring… if you still have one. I will simply type “I’m sorry” and put a little 
you know what that means, don’t you. I don’t know how to emoticon a hug, though… sorry.
Saucy Frocks! aprons The Little Window Shoppe
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