Oh, I need a new water bottle. I got a lovely swell bottle for Christmas and promptly lost it. I still don’t know how. Maybe if I buy a replacement it will turn up.

LOL! Yep, that's how it usually happens!

My daughter just broke her part glass water bottle at work. I’ll show her this, thank you! :)

I got a new very vivid red bathroom runner (Safavieh) .... still trying to decide if I like it.

Making me happy? Little sweetheart roses that I gave my late mother, for mother's day, still blooming in her garden many years later, next to their new friend, a little dragon statue sleeping there in honor of the first "chapter book" that Mom and I read together, "My Father's Dragon" by Ruth Stiles Gannett. I did a big Amazon order last week . . .

Pretty colors on your bottle. I need a new one but it can't be tall because I keep knocking it off the nightstand. :) Short and fat will do.

I actually do have something that makes me happy. Like Jinx, a bathroom rug! Nice and thick, washes easily and great colors. It's in my bathroom and no one sees it but me.

Take a look at the reviews. Turquoise is the color I bought which matches the rug in the bedroom.

I have used a Hydroflask (same concept, original brand) for years for my water habit. I left it on a plane in January (remember planes?) and had to buy a new one immediately. It will keep my water cool all day at the beach. I always bring it through security in airports empty and then buy a large bottle of cold water to fill it for the trip.

Thanks for the tip, Ida - I'll have to look into that Iron Flask for DH who never has enough water. He's been using a large thermos type mug for years - drives me crazy. It's bright blue (nothing is blue in my house) and insists on using it at every meal. Have you ever tried to set a nice table then have a Bozo mug mess it all up? Story of my life ;-)

jmck I do the same thing with my double walled water bottle at the airport but I prefer my water icy cold so always make a swing through Starbucks or some other place and ask them to fill it with ice when I buy a bottle of water from them.

My tomatoes are beginning to ripen and I ordered a Foodsaver system From Costco. It arrived yesterday and I can’t wait to play with it and start freezing homemade sauce. I don’t know why I waited so long really.

edited to add, I really like your big iron flask. I have small and large Swell bottles. I really prefer to carry around the smaller one but the large one is really handy when I’m going to be out more than a few hours. And if I were still working, for sure.

My 10 yo frenchie recently got her stitches removed from the removal of a tumor on her ear. She is now cancer free! Look how happy she is.

re the hydroflasks, I bought monogrammed ones for my kids for their Easter baskets last year, and why didn’t I get one for myself too? I have a Tervis bottle that I like a lot, though, and I use to to make cold-brew raspberry iced tea every night (I fill it with water, add 2 tea bags, put it in the fridge, and the next day I have a big insulated bottle of iced tea to carry around with me). Mine is like this, but with a pink top.

I went to Longwood Gardens today (I’m home for a week before heading back to Connecticut). I got to see the corpse plant which is due to open any second now.

I also came home to a riot of color and hydrangeas. Best part is I didn’t do a thing

And I turned on our rinky dink fountain. I love the sound of running water.

Gorgeous plants and pup! Always love seeing your photos here.

Well, this has made me ridiculously happy today. Ok, maybe happy isn't the exact word I'm looking for, but something along the lines of satisfaction. I was finally able to hang "Bambino" up in our library, after he decayed and bleached in our garden for about a year. A friend, knowing my affinity for all things Georgia O'Keeffe (including bleached skulls and bones) found this deer skull while hiking with his daughter and brought it back to me. Unfortunately, it still bore entirely too many traces of the beautiful living creature it once was... it even had eyelashes, which sort of broke my heart. But I was determined to eventually honor the animal it once was, and left it outside for nature to take its course. Today I scrubbed away the last vestiges of dirt and a tiny bit of stubborn sinew and pronounced it clean and ready to hang. I like it here. I want to get a dark floating frame for the canvas painting below it, and then this little corner will be complete.

By the way, I have since learned that bones found in the wilderness should remain in situ, as they serve a role in the ecosystem. Too late for this skull, though, which was carried across many miles by someone who meant well.

I think what's most satisfying to me about this is my lack of squeamishness. I probably have sinew flecks under my nails at this moment. Oh well. It'll clean.

Ida, awesome! Looks great there, and such a cool story behind it.

You’ll like the light I ordered for my dad’s entryway (he’s building a big shop with attached apartment on a beautiful wooded acre with pond). I’m doing it in the style we love, vintage western, Southwestern, cowhides, Oriental rugs, traditional, antiques, lots of textures, carved furniture, stained woods, etc.

This internet picture doesn’t do it justice. It is gorgeous in person — very heavy glass with wonderful colors, and the metal has a beautiful patina. I didn’t get a picture before G packed it back up! It won’t be installed for a couple of weeks.

I was inspired by my great-grandparents (his grandparents) ... they had a 1922 Craftsman Bungalow in Arlington — it’s on the US National Register of Historic Places — and decorated as such. He and I have antiques from their home, he actually lived next door to them as a kid. This is a nod to Dad and Nanny (our names for them). :)

Jinx, I LOVE that! It's absolutely gorgeous, and I would love that in my own home! What a great tribute to your great-grandparents, and I so hope you'll share photos of the place your dad is building. It sounds wonderful!

Alas, I had to move Bambino, as the cats kept trying to figure out how to get to it from the desk. They couldn't reach it, but it was still a recipe for disaster. They're fascinated by it and terrified by it at the same time! So, now it's here, over the windows ...

Cats!! 😼😸

I really do love Bambino there, too! I’m not just saying that, it looks great above the window.

Thank you — I’ll post the Dad and Nanny light after G installs it (he’s doing all the electrical work). :)

Oh, Ida, forgot to post the registry page. Look at the price! It wasn’t a big house, under 2000 sq ft. [Edit: Deleted for privacy purposes.]

My greats moved into it in either the 30s or 40s, they were originally from Ft Worth. I remember going to visit them there as a kid, they had such beautiful furniture! Unfortunately, the area and house haven’t been kept up.

Do you remember KZEW radio station? Well, in the mid to late 70s, one of their well-known DJs bought the house (my greats had to move to assisted living). My dad listened to that station and was star struck that a radio personality was next door to my Mema and Pepa (his parents still lived there). He became friends with them and I went over a couple of times ... they decorated very 70’s boho/hippy ... macrame planters everywhere and they framed in the original claw foot tub with those diagonal boards popular back then. They had a ton of plants on it. 😄

What a wonderful description of the house! It definitely sounds like a place with a wealth of charm and character! How cool that a "celebrity" purchased it too! Oh, I remember The Zoo quite well, and had that sticker on the back window of my 1980 Pontiac Sunbird, in which I cruised around blasting the radio or my cassette tapes (April Wine, anyone?)! That station and Q102 were our mainstays back in the day!

Does anyone even listen to FM radio stations anymore? I listen to NPR but that's it these days. And do teenagers still cruise in their cars? We LIVED for that!

Yes! Q102! I still listen to Bo and Jim. I remember Z97, too, then. And KLuv (still on, but stinks now).

My dad recently ordered us some KZEW bumper stickers online. I need a cool car for it!

Ahh, cruising. Cooper St in my red Trans-Am. Boston cassette blaring. 🥰

(BTW, every time I read the title of this thread, I say it like Ozzy.) 😄

I'm proud of you for the Ozzy intonation, as that's exactly how I intended it ... but then I thought, will anyone 'get' that? 😁

I almost pulled the trigger on buying a KZEW tee on Ebay just now, and still might-- although I don't "need" another t-shirt, especially now that I literally go nowhere else but work. Those were the good old days though, and it's such fun to reminisce! I remember house parties, where I didn't even know whose house I was at, but a friend of a friend of a friend knew someone who was going, so everyone just piled in. Bunch of damn late 1970s hippies mostly, and all that encompassed, but god it was exhilarating to be so young and carefree!

Cooper Street was happening! I mostly stuck to the Fort Worth side or HEB, but once or twice I crossed over into Dallas County and felt downright adventurous doing so! There wasn't a lot out on that stretch of Highway 183 going east back then, certainly nothing like it is today. It's amazing how vastly this whole area has changed in the past 40 to 50 years.

Right? I well remember when 360 wasn’t halfway finished! And I-30 was called the Turnpike. Love this trip down memory lane!

My grands bought land off 157 in Mansfield (in the 60s) and my Mema said it was so “out in the country”, she’d pack meals for when they went out there to spend the day. We moved out to the ranch in the 80s, and it was so cool being in the country, Quarter Horse ranches everywhere, but so close to D/FW. Now it’s nothing but houses. I miss it there. I don’t even recognize Mansfield anymore!

I did live in Dallas, too, as a kid (divorced parents) and we lived near an upscale apt complex that housed many of The Dallas Cowboys. Us kids walked up to DD Lewis’ door one day, knocked, he answered, we stammered ... he was very patient and kind. 😄

I wasn’t as familiar with HEB until the early 90s — I took some night classes at TCJC. Airport Freeway scrares the crud out of me, it always has!

Sorry, rambling ... it’s fun to remember the old times. :)

PS: GET THE T-SHIRT!!!

LOVE that lamp Jinx.

Thank you, pink! :)

Love your Bambino, Ida. Sorry yo7 had to move it but it still looks good.

And your lamp, Jinx! Can’t wait to see your Dad’s place.