What a great story Kate. Thanks for asking her to share it Bare!

Wonderful Story!!!
 

That is such a beautiful story Kate, so glad Bare asked you to share it with us. You and your hubby have huge hearts :eclipsee_gold_cup:. You must have been so excited waiting for their return. Great story!!! :coolsmiley:
My son and I have a cute story, but nothing compared to yours thats for sure lol. We moved in this house in late November and Christmas morning we got 3-4 ft. of snow. My son was out snowmobiling and I was watching him at the window, he came to the window to say hi and shut the engine off and all of a sudden we heard this little meowing. Sure enough there was this teenie tiny kitty right there up in the tree! She was the size of my hand and practically lifeless. Long story short, my son nursed her back to health and we still have her and she is a beautiful jet black kitty. How original, thats her name lol. How on earth she ever got up here on this mountain is beyond me. She must have been a gift from Santa. :shrug:

Hahahaha!
 

Bare! Ain't it the truth! That is sooooo funny! :a20:

Bare, I noticed you told that joke very quietly. LOL any particular reason?

Good one!:coolsmiley:

Sometimes we talk about Coldwater Creek in this thread. So I thought I would tell you about the pants I just bought there. The style is called "Willow" and these are wide leg but not a huge wide leg that makes you look like an aging mermaid walking around. Just a nice dressy look. Front zip. The fabric is poly, rayon, and a touch of my best friend spandex. And they are machine washable so says the tag.

These pants have a little weight to them and would not be the most comfortable thing to wear casually in heat. But if you need something a little dressy, to wear with a jacket, and maybe a low heel, you might like this style, too.

And the very best part of all is that I think they run a little big. I could buy the size that I know I have really outgrown. It was a long winter.

If you have been around here for a while, you may have been with me last summer when I wrote about the quest for the dress to wear to my niece's wedding. Well, of course, it was one of those dresses that I thought would mean I would have to just face the fact that I would only get to wear it one time. Beaded jacket and all that. And then another niece decided to get married. Different side of the family and so I was all set. Or so I thought. I CANNOT FIT INTO THAT DRESS. Well I can fit into it. BUT IT AIN'T PURDY. And I do not have enough time left to make it happen.

So I will wear these new pants from Coldwater Creek and a jacket to the rehearsal dinner. (I am the favorite aunt again -- well actually I am the only aunt this time-- and so I will be reading at this wedding, too.) And then for the wedding the next day, I will squeeze myself into a kinder dress, not the one from the quest. (sigh) And maybe just wear allllll my jewelry so I can throw off a blinding light so nobody can tell what I did all winter.

Boomer the Zaftig

boomer just keep smiling and no body will notice the dress. Maybe we need swap shop for dressy clothes worn gently one time only.

As nice as that dress was Boomer, there are bound to be generous seams. Look at the seams on the dress and see if there is some fabric there to work with. It is amazing what a tailor can do, and usually in very little time. You had the perfect shoes and jewelry to go with it. Seems a shame not to get to wear all that again.

Hi SS,

I know. But the date is coming up really fast. I am so aggravated that I did what I did. It's like I blacked out and whoops eight pounds later. I have another dress that will work. But I really liked that dress. But if I wear it, I will have to stuff myself into it. And now what will I do with it? All the nieces will be married as of this wedding.

Boomer

Perfect
 

Boomer -

I have found the perfect dress for you!!!!!!

http://justjared.buzznet.com/gallery...remiere-02.jpg

;);):laugh::laugh:

Boomer avoids photographers a lot but I believe that that is her at the last wedding. People really paid attention when she did the reading!!

GG and IG,

I really do not like the sleeves on that one. But thanks so much.

This is the other dress I bought last summer:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2997580?...=searchresults

And it has to be the most forgiving dress in the entire western world, actually the whole world, maybe even the universe.

And in this new era of wedding manners, I hear that black is fine at a wedding. I think white is still a no-no. Not sure.

I have a long strand of pearls (fake but they look good) that I am thinking of wearing with it. They are so long that they can be looped into a double strand or knotted. I am a fan of long knotted strands of pearls. (I don't think I was ever a flapper though.)

So anyway, for now, this dress is the backup. Time will tell. And really, I do not know why I am concerned. Nobody is going to look at Aunt Boomer. This is another drop-dead gorgeous bride.

Boomer of the Wedding

Wedding Boomer
 

Ahh Boomer - I thought you would love Angelina's dress!! :evil6:
The black dress is gorgeous - and there is nothing more perfect than black and pearls.
I remember the dress you had for the other wedding' -
it was beautiful but so is this one.

Knock em dead!!!!!!

That dress is the perfect "little black dress" that everyone needs in their closet! And black is very chic for any occasion anymore. I'm sure you will look lovely!

[QUOTE=Boomer;205043]GG and IG,
This is the other dress I bought last summer:
http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2997580?...=searchresults

Love the dress. Was going to order it for myself .. it is out of stock! Oh Boom, you got the last one.

Oh Jeanne,

That is beautiful. When I was very young I visited my Grandma (in Massachusetts in the winter) and looked out the window and saw this pretty bird outside in a snowstorm. I told my Grandma and aunt and they at first thought I was in fantasy land and finally came to look. It was a lost parakeet (we never found the owner). He lived for many years with Grandma and talked up a storm.

Sounds like your little kitty knew the right place to go to - and found a real home.

k

Boomer,

I love it, And your niece will be so happy to have her favorite, witty, well-read aunt that I'm sure you will look great no matter waht you decide.

PS - also a big fan of the knotted pearls - real or not!

Speaking of neat girl tricks ... I cut up egg cartons and use them for earring storage.

Anyone else have some neat girl tricks to share?

I apologize for the lame trick. It is 1:30 AM and I should be asleep. :mornincoffee:

Bare, Egg Cartons????

your puttin us on right? now that is the epitome of frugality . :shrug: LOL

Get a good nights sleep and contact us in the morning!

Nonie, I don't do it to be frugal ... it is the best way I've found to store individual pairs of earrings. And you can stack them in a bureau drawer. But I'd love to hear a better way.

By the way, with the money I saved from not buying jewellery cases, I bought a Villa in TV! ;)

And did you know that hydrogen peroxide is supposed to be a gang buster cleaner (Beady and Wiwi know the details).

Ahhhh great idea!!
 

Hydrogen peroxide to clean?!? Wow I love it! That would sure be cheaper than buying all these expensive cleaners. I cant wait to try it tomorrow!! :pepper2: Thanks Bare!
My sister uses egg cartons to start seeds for her garden. :)

Just kidding ya Bare, Thats a very unique idea, and I dont know of any better way to store earrings other then throw them in a big heap in my jewelry box and have them get all tangled up.

I really admire people who can recycle items most people throw away and find good uses for them. :coolsmiley:

Actually, my daughter uses hydrogen peroxide to clean pet accidents out of her carpets. She claims it works every bit as good as the expensive pet cleaners you buy in the pet shops. So much cheaper too. Its probably a good idea tho to spot clean first to make sure it doesnt take the dye out of the rug.

I use those little plastic craft boxes with the partitions for my earrings. It keeps them separated and I can choose the pair I want easily without having to open various boxes.

Good to know that peroxide is good for doggie mishaps, wish I had know that two weeks ago lol. One of my doggies "tossed his cookies" if you know what I mean lol :1rotfl: right before a showing. I was frantically trying to get the spot out of the rug :faint:. Got the spot out, but didnt sell the house lol :shrug:.
I am sure you all know this frugal idea, but just in case....yesterday I repotted some plants, during the year I save the little styrofoam balls that come in packaging. Its great to fill large pots in the bottom, great for drainage, save money on filling the whole thing with potting soil and really great for making it easier on the back when you have to lift them lol. :rolleyes:

Just in case you don't want to bother with saving the little styrofoam balls all year for potting plants, I use aluminum cans. Just bend them in half and place in the bottom instead of rocks, etc. Works great for drainage and makes the pots much easier to move. It doesn't matter which part of the can is exposed, either. If water gets into them, they just add moisture as the plant gets thirsty.

Great Idea Dilly!!
 

:ohdear:Thanks! That is a great idea and so much easier than saving those styrofoam balls :ohdear:. Sure wish I had known yesterday lol, I was outside and a burst of wind came thru and it looked like it was snowing!! :faint:. This saves the day as I have more plants to re-pot and have lots of empty cans :coolsmiley:. No more styrofoam for me :bowdown:!

I was enveloped in a fine mist today at the mall
 

This afternoon I must have completely lost my mind. I went out into the world of shopping, which I hate a lot, and I bought a pair of pants.

So what is wrong with that?

Well, these pants are LINEN! Aaaaaauugghhhhh!!! What was I thinking?

But they fit so nice. And they felt so nice. And they said they were 100% Irish. (even though on closer look they had come in via Thailand)

And they made me look not quite so butterballish, even though I dedicated the winter months to that project.

So I kind of understand how it came over me. I was caught up in a fine mist I think. And I bought LINEN. LINEN! Aaauuuuugh!!!!!

I have avoided linen for a really long time. Dry cleaning costs a blue fortune. So that's a pain. But the other thing is that I am always afraid that I will end up looking like I have been sleeping in my clothes for days on end because of the way linen wrinkles.

Anyway, at least the pants are black. So maybe they won't look too wrinkled.

And the saleslady told me that she just does not worry about the wrinkles. It's linen, after all. I think linen is supposed to be a little classy maybe. I don't know about that part. But it is not too practical. That I do know.

So I guess I should just get over it and embrace the linen-ness of these new pants. And figure the trade-off of wrinkles for butterball-hiding fit will be worth it.

But there is something about that I need to know -- or not. Does Talbot's have skinnifying mirrors in their fitting rooms?

Boomer

Boomer, my friend,

Linen with wrinkles is classy - just brazen it out... Anything that skinnifies is wonderful.

Now - about those mirrors... Not so sure about Talbots, but one of the shops in LSL definitely does. I tried on a pair of white (white!!!!) jeans and they made me look thin. I jokingly said the mirror must be "fixed." The sales associate turned all sorts of red and tried to say they really did look good.

I knew better - but bought the, anyway.

Please come for a visit to TV - I also bought some white linen capris the same day as the jeans. What am I thinking???!!!!?????

Kate

Country Music....
 

Any of you gals like Country Music? They are having a tribute to George Strait on now. Woohoo....all those handsome cowboys...I wanna jump thru the tv screen!! :pepper2:
I saw in my TV dvd that you have had a few down in The Villages, Lee Greenwood etc. :coolsmiley:

Kate, it's not just Talbots. I am also suspicious of the mirrors in Coldwater Creek, and the lighting there. How gullible do they think we are? But wait! I buy stuff there.

In fact, I checked Coldwater first today, but it must be the season for the peasant look. Those days are long behind me. I did not even like the look the first time around. The only person who could look good in that look would probably be Gina Lollobrigida.

Coldwater had a bunch of peasant skirts, some even had hideous quasi-ruffles at the bottom. I do not know what they are thinking. In one of those things, all I would need would be to tie on a babushka and I would look like I just got off the boat with my ancestors. If I accessorized by clutching the family sauerbraten crock, the look would be perfectly finished. So OK, I will embrace the linen concept. It's better than a long, ruffled, orange skirt and a babushka. (shudder)

And Jeanne, I love country music. One of these days I am going to start a thread about country music. I think I like it so much because the songs usually tell a story. And the lyrics are often really clever and fun. And besides, where else can a woman hear such beautifully romantic lines as, "I'd like to check you for ticks"? I just gotta love that stuff. Can't help it.

Boomer

I love TV because they really do dress so casually there. ...I mean......REALLY casually... I came back to Cincinnati and had to..........dress up a little, not nylons thank heavens, I am so glad they are gone, even if they do smooth out a few things.

Anyway. I played golf in what I play golf in usually in TV and looked really bad. They still wear golf skirts up here.

Of course if I took off 800 pounds maybe I would look better in anything. Not good, but better. sigh.

Love Country Music
 

I like all kinds (well, almost all), but country is tops. Besides, it's kinda hard to grow up in West Texas and not love it. George Strait is awesome. I learned to dance going to rodeo dances. I can remember my baby sitter taking me to see Hank Williams and my daddy and I loved to waltz. Needless to say, I'm kinda partial to the old stuff, but love it all. We love to go out to the Orange Blossom Opry when some of those guys like Gene Watson come in....saw Hank Thompson a couple of years ago. My husband and I used to go out to the local honky-tonk about once a week before we moved here. I'm in the process now of putting all my old albums to CD. The way I'm doing it is kinda time-consuming because I choose to do the option of one song at a time so I can build custom CD's. With my collection, it will probably take me forever and a bigger computer to hold them, but it's fun and the music is priceless. Most of my stuff is in pristine condition since I used to play them sometimes only once in the process of putting them on tapes. I still have lots of the tapes, too. The idea of a new thread sounds like fun.

HI Brightspot and girls. This does remind me of my many Girl frends back in Michigan and our "wine Tasting parties" at my indoor pool in the middle of the snow driven winter. Who cares what the wine tasted like. :oops: It would be sooo cool to have that bond here. This Thread is so far the closest to it I have found since moving here 7 Yrs. ago. Thank you to the originator of this Thread.

Softfire- where did you use to live in Michigan? My hubby and I are originally from Traverse City, but we now live in Plymouth. Still trying to sell and move to TV!

Boomer - I am convinced that all stores have those mirrors! So I usually don't try the merchandise on at the store. I take it home and try it on, then return what I don't like. If I am at a store that is too far away to return something, I will try it on there. But I have to absolutely love it or I don't buy it anymore. There is just so much to choose from out there that I am extremely picky anymore. But shopping isn't a chore for me, I like to browse and look. It becomes more of a treasure hunt! (ps...linen is a nice natural fabric that breathes, so it keeps you nice and cool in the summer. Sometimes that is worth the extra hassle for the care of the fabric!)

Gracie - I was golfing on Monday and I wore a tank top because it was cool enough that I had a jacket on over it. Of course, we were half way through our round and it warmed up considerably. I ended up taking the jacket off when I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt very self concious not having a collared shirt on, but I noticed that many of the other women didn't have collars on their shirts either. (I was subbing in my sister's golf league.) I know this course is very lenient on their dress code, but I still felt out of place. I should have worn a collared shirt under my jacket. I guess we should dress to feel comfortable, but feeling comfortable isn't always a physical feeling.

SS.... I lived in Oakland County. A Minute from Paint Creek cider Mill . Know of it? I sold Real Estate With Re Max In Rochester for 18 yrs.. Now I I am working out of Marion Market. Food and Fuel Program , My ad is listed under businesses. Do you come here in the Winter? Look me up Booth C105. Plymouth is a very nice area as well. What made you leave Traverse City? Nice area there too. Good Luck toward a sale. GO WINGS!

Country Music....
 

A country music forum is an excellent idea, that would be alot of fun! :coolsmiley: I too love all music (could probably live w/o rap tho lol), but I listen to country all day long :pepper2:. Wow I didnt know about the Orange Blossom Opry, sounds like they have great stars. How often? I will love that! Last night's tribute to George Strait was amazing, I am so glad I taped it too, now I can watch it over and over....all the big stars! :eclipsee_gold_cup:. I havnt figured out how to transfer my albums and CD's onto the computer yet :shrug:. My son always does the "electronic stuff" for me lol, but I better learn quick since he wont be in TV to help me out with my silly questions :1rotfl:. He bought me an IPOD for Christmas for my music so I can listen while gardening, but I have yet to take it out of the box lol. :1rotfl:
P.S. "Walk the Line" (story of the life of Johnny Cash) is on Friday at 8 p.m. on CBS. I have seen it twice already and will watch again lol. :pepper2:

I bought a turntable that is designed to plug into the computer (I think a stereo system, too). It came with the software to convert records to the computer. I think it was something like $119 thru Circuit City's online site. I haven't checked but it seems I remember seeing something on TV the other night about them still being in the online business. You have the option of doing one song at a time (which I like to do) or you can do an entire album. The problem with doing the whole album is that you can't pick out just the songs you want to either listen to or burn to CD's. It's fun and I get to listen to the music I haven't played in ages. Sure beats reruns and those blasted Bob Dance/Appliance Direct commercials! It's really easy to do...if I can do it, anyone can. I sometimes have to backtrack a little because I get a little wrapped up in listening and forget to stop and save the song....not a problem, though. Thank goodness for do-overs. Some of the places like Belk's have a radio, etc. combo that will take records to CD's for about $149, but I don't think that it has the capability of doing the one song thing. I also heard that they are not all that reliable, either (they have really come down in price). I'll be glad to give you whatever other info I can or help you do it.

Thank you Dilly!
 

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain it to me. I have been lazy about learning these things and just have my son do it lol :shrug:. Well...not that lazy lol, I do ask him to show me, but he is always rushing so I guess he figures its easier for him just to do it lol. :1rotfl:. I will check out Circuit City online, I did hear yesterday on the news that they may be making a comeback. :coolsmiley:

Country Music
 

Re country music ..... Have you ever listened to the words of George Jones' old hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today"? I think it is one of the most romantic songs ever!