Spring Cleaning 101

Do you think that's me in the photo?
Heavens no...when I clean it's quite the opposite. Who's going to get all dolled up like this to clean?

They say every woman's either a cook or a cleaner. ... my family, we're the cleaners. I swear you could have eaten off my mom's floor even when she was in her 80's. I have to admit I'm not as fussy as I used to be when I was first married. I've learned there are more important things in life like blogging and Pinterest spending time with your family. A house is to be lived in. My house isn't dirty, but it does get messy especially when I'm crafting LOL

Here's my routine for spring cleaning:

First, I gather my supplies...a bucket, a good cleaner ( I like Murphy's oil soap) cleaning cloths, dust mop and my upright and canister sweeper. Once I had a neighbor that didn't own a vacuum... that just boggles my mind. How do you clean without a vacuum?

Then I empty the room as much as possible.

Take down the curtains, anything hanging on the walls and put away anything that doesn't need to be out.

Working from top to bottom, I use my dust mop to dust down the ceiling and walls. Next, I clean the blinds and wash the windows... I wash and wipe dry all the furniture and then use my canister sweeper on the baseboards and around the edges of the furniture... wipe down the baseboards if needed.

 Then clean everything that was hanging on the walls or sitting on the desks (photos, knickknacks etc.)
 Hey look... here's a photo of me and my husband that was taken 25 years ago at our son's wedding! My Hubby had hair back then...

Sorry, I sometimes get sidetracked.   On to the bookshelf.

I used to have tons and tons of books but now that I have a Kindle I've been getting rid of most of them. I sorted through the bookcase and now I have a great stack to donate.

Next, hang clean curtains and vacuum the floor.

 Everything starting to look and smell fresh and clean.. don't you just love that!

Here's where I'll be sharing:

Nifty Thrifty Sunday * Sundays at Home * Amaze Me Monday * Mix it up Monday * Make it Pretty Monday * Busy Monday * Keep it simple Monday *Tasty Tuesday * Delicious Dishes * Inspire me Tuesday * Talk of the Town  * Thrifty and Vintage Finds *Moonlight and Mason Jars * Before and After Wednesday *the Alder Collective * You Link it, We Make it *What's Cookin' Wednesday* Wordless Wednesday * Create it Thursday *  Full plate Thursday * Throwback Thursday * The Pin Junkie * Anything blue Friday * Friday Finds * Photo Friday * Foodie Friday * What To Do Weekends

Just think about it....

Flicks.......

GET LOW
Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek in a true story of a mysterious Tennessee hermit who threw his own funeral party in 1938 while he was still alive.

Duvall, who's goin' on 80, does a great job as always.

THAT EVENING SUNAbner Meecham, an aging Tennessee farmer discarded to a nursing facility by his lawyer son, flees the old folks' home and catches a ride back to his country farm to live out his days in peace. Holbrook giving one of his best performances.

Two movies I feel were worth watching!

Don't you just luv a Picnik ?

That's Picnik.com
 It's an awesome online photo editing website that you can use for free. They have fast and easy editing tools, text, stickers, frames...you name it, they got it!

 I use it to make most of my headers and colleges.  You can upgrade for as little as $2.08 a month but the free account offers more than enough for the average photographer... like me!
Check it out.
See more inspiring snapshots this Mosaic Monday over at "Little Red House".

Tee shirt Sayings...

Hope you have a fun weekend!!!

To do list.....

~ NUMBER OF ROSES ~

Jack suprise me with roses for my birthday!
20 roses...that's the way the bouquet came. Why the number 20?
I don't know. I google 20 roses and found this:

Number of Roses:


1 rose - Love at first sight
2 roses - Mutual Feelings
3 roses - I love you!
7 roses - I'm infatuated with You!
9 roses - Together as long as we live!
10 roses - You're Perfect!
11 roses - You're my treasured one!
12 roses - Be my Steady!
13 roses - Forever Friends!
15 roses - I'm really sorry!
20 roses - I'm sincere towards You!
21 roses - I'm committed to You!
36 roses - I'll remember our romantic moments
50 roses - My love is genuine!
99 roses - I'll love You till the day I die...
100 roses - I'm totally devoted to You
101 roses - You're my one and only
108 roses - Will you marry me?
999 roses - My love will last till the end of time...

I would have taken any of those numbers!!
Suzy

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN .

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American....There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag..... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language..... And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt ~ 1913

Ugly who?

I love the Ugly*Betty character.

Her personality is amazing. She's the peacemaker...  She's smart yet naive, loyal, determined, and has an supportive family.

But...Betty is your average "geek". She has frizzy black hair w/ fuzzy bangs, bushy "never been plucked eyebrows", blue braces, and dorky glasses. Her fashion choices are very bright, over styled, and just plain tacky. While I believe America Ferrera is absolutely gorgeous, I cannot believe how ugly they make her look.
Betty is such an infectiously happy character that it's easy to get swept up in her life. she's just so darn likeable. I'll admit that I've wished more than once that she were real and my friend.

How does someone like this .....

 really look like this?

and this:

And while were on the subject...

how does this:

become  this:

and this !

Amazing.....

World’s largest Chicken Fried Steak

 FORT WORTH, Texas - A Fort Worth restaurant is boasting the biggest, breaded beef in the world: a four-pound slab of top round, that, after being coated in crumbs, deep fried and red in cream gravy, weighs about ten pounds and packs a whopping 10,000 calories.

The Cowtown Diner started serving the "Full O Bull" platter when it opened in January. Since then, the restaurant has dished up about 15 orders of the bovine complete with sides: six pounds of mashed potatoes and ten slices of Texas toast.
How many fat grams are packed in such a preposterous meal?

"We were afraid to calculate that," said Scott Jones, owner of the Cowtown Diner. "We also didn't want to figure out the Weight Watchers points."

If you're brave enough to tackle the $70 mammoth meal by yourself, you'll get it for free. You don't even have to eat it in a certain time limit. You just have to eat it all: steak, potatoes, gravy and toast.

So far, Jones said, no one has swallowed the challenge.

I'll be "lost" without Lost....

Sunday will be the finale of a six - year run for the series "Lost".  I have never before been so engrossed in a television show...not missing a single episode since the beginning.
I've become so attached to these people and I think that no matter what role they may play in the future, they will always be Jack, Sawyer, and Kate to me.
And I'm gonna miss them...REALLY miss them.

I'm just sayin'...

There's been a epidemic spreading around this country for some time now, and there seems to be no end to it in sight. I'm talking about the influence that Hollywood, television, and magazines are having on our young girls; making them feel that they need to be something different than what they are and forcing them to grow up before their time.
Jonny Diaz sings about this in his latest song:

"More Beautiful You''""

Little girl fourteen
flipping through a magazine
Says she wants to look that way

But her hair isn't straight her body isn't fake
And she's always felt overweight

Well little girl fourteen
I wish that you could see
That beauty is within your heart

And you were made with such care

your skin your body and your hair
Are perfect just the way they are

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don't buy the lies, disguises,
and hoops they make you jump through

You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you

Little girl twenty-one
the things that you've already done
Anything to get ahead

And you say you've got a man but he's got another plan
Only wants what you'll do instead

Well little girl twenty-one
you never thought that this would come
You starve yourself to play the part
But I can promise you there's a man whose love is true
And he'll treat you like the jewel you are

(CHORUS)
So turn around you're not too far
To back away be who you are
To change your path go another way
It's not too late you can be saved
If you feel depressed with past regrets
The shameful nights hope to forget
Can disappear they can all be washed away
By the one who's strong can right your wrongs
Can rid your fears dry all your tears
And change the way you look at this big world
He will take your dark distorted view
And with His light He will show you truth
And again you'll see through the eyes of a little girl.

“The idea that they need to look a certain way in order to be feel beautiful is completely false,” Diaz explains. “Through this song I hope to get the attention of females and tell them the truth found in God’s word, that there could never be a more beautiful you!”

Listen to the song ...here!

Ridin' in Style....

Check out this fancy bike for ladies from the Bike Palace...just $549.99

(click for a larger view)

And these very feminine helmets from Nutcase store Usa...$50.00

These cute little bells, all flowered and stuff...$20.00

Even a handle bar camera mount from Electrabike.com...just $39.99!!

Have you ever ...

come home after a busy day

and just want to relax watching a mindless comedy?

Tonight I watched

" I love you to Death "

with Kevin Kline

and Tracey Ullman

1990

Joey works with Rosalie in their pizza parlor. She is convinced that he works all of the time for them and her world dissolves when she finds that he has been fooling around for years. Divorce is against her religion, so she and her mother and her best friend decide to kill him. Hopelessly incompetent as killers, they hire incompetent professionals as they beat, poison, and shoot Joey who remains oblivious to their attempts.

Not Academy Award material... but just what I needed.

Everything changes...

Why the name change?
Back in 2007 when I started this blog, I wasn't even sure what a blog was. My main interest at that time was my flower garden, thus the name "Suzy's Bloomers".
I thought it was a catchy name for a blog about flowers...
what I didn't realize was that apparently in a lot of countries they still call underwear "bloomers" and when I check my site meter, that's what many of my visitors are looking for...fancy panties!

I'm just sayin'...

Where is Kayne when you need him???

Please tell me what he's done to prove himself worthy in this short time... to be put in the same class as Mother Theresa ??

Here's the buzzzzzz.....

Gosh...I really haven't been posting lately, have I?
I've had so much going on in my personal life that's been keeping me busy. God has answered a few long-standing prayers and for that I'm so grateful.
Now I can relax and get back to the things I enjoy, posting for one.

It makes me smile when you stop by and let me know what you think. Although a couple of my local friends, I won't name names, say they visit "Suzy's Bloomers " all the time, but never leave a comment...hummm...

Well, back to what's been goin' on.
Yesterday I took my C.N.A. (Certified Nursing Assistant ) test in Pittsburgh. I had been waiting for over 9 weeks for my appointment letter to take the test. It's a two-part test, written and skills.There are 24 different skills, some have over 25 steps that need to be done in sequence.You only need to do 5 of those skills for the test but you don't know which 5 they are until the proctor hands you a sheet with the list and says..
"Here are your five skills, you may begin now ".
Well anyone that knows me very well can get just imagine how I was stressin' about that time !!!

But with lots of prayer from family and friends, I passed both the written and the skills.
Now life can get back to normal, whatever that is !
Hope you having a great day.
Suzy

The U.S. economy lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008 according to government reports.

In December alone, over 500,000 became unemployed.
I was one of them.
After 8 years of giving my best, getting wonderful yearly reviews, and taking only 3 sick days, I was called in and told " This will be you last day". My position was in the process of being eliminated, only to reappear under a new name with someone filling my spot that would be paid less than half of what I was making.
Was it that I had worked my way up to a decent hourly wage or that I was the oldest manager at my level ?

Who knows?
But the one thing I do know is that I’d had my fill of disgruntled guests arguing about store policies and the level of service. I’d grown weary of pushing credit card applications onto people when more credit was the last thing they needed in this economy. I had become increasing unhappy there and maybe this was a blessing in disguise. I decided to change direction and get completely out of retail. I had always regretted not going into some branch of the medical field, somewhere that I could feel I was helping someone.

I applied for the Certified Nurses Assistant program at a local facility and was accepted into the program. I will start my training on February 10th. If I can put a smile on a face, or make one person more comfortable, that will make my day.
Check back tomorrow and I tell you what I’ve been up to this last 7 weeks!
Suzy
************************
“What actions are most excellent?
To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured.” —Koran