What is this {pretty, happy, funny, real} you speak of?
~ {pretty, happy, funny, real} ~
Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
{happy}
What really makes me happy is that the garden is getting somewhat weeded. It's like when you vacuum and dust inside… so peaceful when it's done. You can think.
And also that I have a big enough clothesline for two, three, or even four loads of laundry. Those are full-size bath towels, the kind that are extra-long. This thing is a beast. It's true that it's a little wonky, due to the underground streams that pour off the hill. Not even being set in concrete helps those posts stay truly upright, but I feel there is a metaphor in there for my life… This is where it has to be, and it's okay.
{funny}
I recently realized that I am obsessed — OBSESSED — with having the right-sized bowls for various applications. Thus, I have a plethora of bowls, some not pictured here. It's like what would happen if you served the thing in a less than optimum bowl — please, don't even think about it.
Also, remember, I told you about planting fava beans as ground cover in this bed (just here because that's how many I had). This is them, turned and dug under.
You know darned well that if I had been over-zealous in weeding or just not been careful but had intended these plants to grow, they would have expired on the spot. But since I meant to destroy, kill, dig them under, however you want to say it, well, they keep growing. This is very similar to the grass that grows in the asparagus beds but not in the lawn…
{real}
Proof that you can get pretty old and still be stupid. A tiny splash of bleach on my pretty linen shirt. Could I have been less hasty and put on an apron before washing those towels (see above, clothesline). COULD I???
{bad phone pics for pretty and happy}
My birthday ice-cream cake, made by Habou, was so pretty, but this dumb phone picture was all I got. I mean, I got a piece of cake — and singing — too, but this is all there is to show for it! Sorry… but it was pretty!
A nice little harvest of asparagus for a supper, on my pretty new plate that Bridget got me from Poland! Isn't it gorgeous?
And this whole post could have been about cute grandsons who came to visit last week, if I hadn't been so lax in the photo department!
I guess sometimes you just forget to take pictures! That's silly.
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Ellen says
I’m curious about your uses for the bowls of various sizes. I am often acquiring new dishes of all sorts and then getting frustrated with my over stuffed cupboards. Yet I can’t get rid of them! Don’t we all need different bowls for ice cream versus cereal? And heavy dishes for a formal dinner but the corel set for every day?
Jennie says
Sometimes, it’s nice to just enjoy an experience without worrying about documenting it, too. 🙂
Leila says
Clearly I did not worry too much!
Kris says
I love love love bowls! Always a struggle not to pick up another new bowl at the thrift store, every time. Maybe the bleach spot would be the perfect place for a lovely brooch? I’m currently wearing my most comfortable skirt, with an extra long shirt to hide the tiny bleach spot! Can wear it again thanks to your laundry tips for removing grease stains! So grateful for you, and your wisdom, and your willingness to share!
Becky says
Ok, certainly a ridiculous comment but…I have always wondered whether you can take a bleach splattered shirt and just dunk the whole thing in bleach. Would this destroy it? I haven’t had the guts to do it, but I have been tempted.
Leila says
Becky, the problem is that bleach is heavier than water (remember, always add the bleach TO the water, like you “oughter”) (but don’t splash!) so it won’t bleach evenly 🙁
Ugh.
Dani says
If you really love the shirt, wear it to a craft store and try out the sharpie that most closely matches the color. Yes, the spot will turn into a hole eventually, but I use the sharpie trick on lots of my black shirts.
Logan says
I’ve found that bleach eventually eats through some clothing so many of my bleach stains have become holes. So I wouldn’t recommend splashing it all over a shirt.
Corrine says
I find sharpies can make bleach accidents at least less noticable and sometimes not noticable at all. Time for a trip to the craft store?
Jenny says
I used to cover a bleach spot on a denim skirt with a Sharpie. It worked great!
Jen says
This was going to be my suggestion, too. Sharpies have saved many of my items of clothing. Even wearing an apron isn’t guaranteed to save my clothes.
Elizabeth says
I think sometimes people are so busy taking pictures, they forget to make the memories to go with them. The memories are the point! The pictures are just incidental. 🙂
Leila says
Hmmm… doesn’t seem to be the case here 😉
Kate says
We are happy to be out in our gardens too! We finally have warmer weather and this week our gardens are being watered by God… at least according to the weather guys.
Mary @ Better Than Eden says
I can’t tell you how many clothes I’ve ruined by carelessly using bleach or paint because I *think* I’m incapable of mistakes or because I’m just not thinking at all! You’d think I’d learn by now but I’m usually too much in a hurry to take the extra few seconds for precaution. And then I earn my reward for my hastiness!
Tamara says
One evening when every single-serving bowl in our house was being washed in the dishwasher, I had a major need for a bowl of cereal. (Yes, I was pregnant.) I had my cereal in a giant salad bowl. It was pretty silly.
Mary Cooney says
You make homemaking so lovely and artistic! You make me want to do the same although it might be futile. I have five kids romping through the house all day!
Lisa G. says
The Polish dish is gorgeous! And the cake, too! (that’s a “was” – I imagine there’s none left.) Happy Birthday again!
Donna L. says
Keep the lovely linen blouse! A watercolor marker in the same hue will save it~ask me how I know! 🙂 You will need to keep dotting the color on to replace the white each time you wash, but you will get to keep wearing it—
I am with the other posters—*please* just enjoy the lovely cake and singing—don’t worry about catching every moment on film….just love it! I think a picture of the aftermath….crumbs and dishes everywhere would be a better picture to me~
So glad you had a lovely birthday–could we ask Habou for her delightful cake recipe?
Leila says
Donna, I really wasn’t worrying 🙂 But it was pretty, so I did want to take a picture — mainly I had in mind Finnabee, who had picked the flowers but had gone to bed.
Donna L. says
I think that it was SO SWEET that you wanted Finnabee to see the flowers that decorated the cake…I understand the importance of the picture!
Also, I simply adore your huge laundry line! I have room for one {1!} load at a time….and in the Maritime Northwest, things dry s-l-o-w-l-y….but they do smell lovely once they have finally dried!
Anitra says
My grandmother used to get bleach spots on her “nice” clothes (because like you, she would forget an apron… and she used bleach to clean *everything*). She would embroider a pretty flower over the bleach spot, adding a cluster of other flowers around it or on the opposite side of the garment, so that it looked intentional.
I’m sad that I won’t have a vegetable garden this year, since we’re moving in a few weeks – too early to harvest anything from the old house (so I didn’t plant anything), but too late to plant anything at the new one – especially since I’ll have to make a new garden bed. 🙁 I’ll make do with a few plants in pots until next spring. (The new house does have nice landscaping, but it’s all flowers, mostly perennials. So I need to get a feel for what’s there before I start changing it all.)
Jenny says
I love having an eclectic collection of bowls. My husband is less enthused by it.
KC says
Embroidery or applique for the bleach spot, perhaps? (I also endorse coordinating patch-pockets, both because I love pockets and because they can cover things helpfully), but the location of this spot is iffy for that.)
*Or* you could tie-dye overdye the whole thing. 🙂
(I had a bleach spot on a patterned dress once, but I happened to have a marker that was very close to one of the colors in the dress, so just colored-in the bleach spot away each time after it was washed – your shirt looks to be too solid-colored to pull that off, unless you got an exact match, but maybe…?)
But yes. I have bleach-spotted so many articles of nice clothing by thinking that it’s just a quick job and I’ll be careful, and this time, surely the bleach won’t splash… nope.
Woman of the House says
It looks like warm weather finally arrived in your neck of the woods. 🙂 So glad you got to spend time with your grandsons! Sorry about your blouse . . .
Woman of the House says
Oh, and happy birthday, too! 🙂