Hello All you wonderful Diva Darlings,
I hope you don't mind Darlings, but I had to just post this marvouls picture of a period pink bathroom, and I have to admit mine is pink too. Well why not? Certain shades of pink can be very flattering.
So did you enjoy the Oscar’s??? My friends and I certainly did, had a wonderfully marvelous party here, champagne, fingers crossed, wonderful finger food, and small plate food, pot luck as well as catered.
Yes My Dears, having an Oscar party is a wonder event to celebrate, to see all those lovely ladies in their elegant gowns. And you can dress up too just for the fun of it.
And especially since I’ve installed a huge plasma screen T.V.; did it just like the “executives” do in their homes, well it does help to have the funds to do it and I consider it an upgrade and improvement to my home.
I have this huge bookcase and right in the center is this plain blank wall created to hang paintings; well I had my contractor, who did all the work on my home before I moved in, to look at it and told him what I was interested in. The clever man knew exactly what I wanted, since I was planning on buying a new television and Juanita wanted my old one. (It has a larger screen).
So he very carefully removed the paneling and found the perfect recess for the screen, he finished it off, set up the mounts, and connectors for the screen. Then he installed a motor to raise and lower the panel on tracks so it retreats up into another alcove that actually holds the supports for my floor to ceiling book cases on one side and my floor to ceiling mirrors on the other, making sure that the vibration (if any, from either the motor or sliding) will not crack or loosen the mirrors. The motor is powerful enough to lift not only the panel but also any painting that I may choose to hang on it, up to a certain weight.
All was ready (after a number of test runs) so like a curtain rising on a theatre, up it went and we enjoyed the Oscars. I have to confess I did not see all of the films up for best picture but I was hoping that either “The Help” or “The Artist” would win and as I suspected “The Artist” won out, but just for the fact that “The Help” was even nominated told me how wonder a picture it is.
Of course we were “ooohhhing” and “Ahhhing” the clothes that the ladies wore, it was hard to say what was my favorite, but it was ‘sparkle, sparkle, sparkle”.
But sadly it all has to come to an end, and with much “air kissing” and “see you soon’s” it was over, I told Juanita that we would just put away any left over foods and drinks and leave the clean up for the next day. So with her and I working as a team we cleaned, washed and put away everything, and doing the usual “fluff and dust”. There are times when team work is very important. Fortunately it wasn’t all that much, you see Darlings, I do believe in paper and plastic, so the clean up was relatively easy, as long as you have hefty garbage bags.
And Juanita and I had enough food for two days, lunches and dinner, although we did have to be careful not to give Princess too much, as it can be not healthy for her tummy.
Ordinarily I would used Monday and Tuesday to go to my “office” but I instead decided to set it aside and use the time to go through my closet to see what needed to be repaired and spruced up by my shoemaker and labeling each one as to what need be done.
Currently going through my holdings, they are doing well, and I simply cannot see anything that I should be on the alert for, except I am watching the events as they unfold in Greece and other European Markets as well as the Middle East.
With the rising oil prices forcing the cost of gasoline to go up I am going to have to curb some of my driving excursions and plan my household trips a bit more carefully. I do use public transportation, bus, rapid transit, ferry to get to my office, since I have the luxury of having the bus stop only a few feet from my home, but other things cannot be frivolous.
As a matter of fact, talking with my “Ladies who Lunch”, the subject of gasoline prices came up. We all agreed that Jerry Brown’s statement in that we all have to use “green-cars” was ridiculous, there are people who cannot afford to purchase such cars, or are elderly and on a limited income. They cannot afford anything else, and then, as one of my ladies pointed out, the idiot in a “letters to the editors” column, stated everyone should use a bicycle, there are people who suffered from various health conditions such as sever asthma, heart troubles, rumitoid arthritis for who attempting to use a bicycle could either kill them or be extremely painful, it is even difficult for them to even walk to a bus stop or walk in general. Our general consensus was that the idiot was stupid to even make such a blanket statement like that.
And in the last 6 years or so, our public transit system has eliminated runs, discontinued stops that were needed, shifted others to area’s that are and difficult or dangerous to get to, raised the rates and generally has made the public transit system an impossible, useless joke. Especially with the Van Hoole buses that are so dangerous that an elderly person is in danger of falling down and in some cases cannot even climb up to the platform seats. Some elderly people have to use a walker or one of those rolling market baskets to carry their groceries and it is impossible to get them on board because of the design of the bus.
Definitely one of our Public Transit systems worse choices.
And some of our ladies have said that being environmentally concerned is fine except for the Environmental Nazis, we need to develop our own oil resources and cease to be dependent upon foreign oil and not sell our oil to other countries, “American First” is our war cry, enough with making people rich when the economy is hurting, even I no longer have any stocks in oil or auto manufacturing, with the exception of John Deer.
And with the “saber rattling” with Iran, and Israel has said they will attack on their own schedule and not even give the United States or any free country any warning of their military moves, this is serious Darlings.
So what can you do now?
First --- see if it’s possible that public transit can take you to work, you may have to plan on leaving from home sooner and get a transit card or pass that will help you pay your way without having to dig for change.
Second—if that is not possible see whom you can car pool with.
Third --- If you can take public transit to work, then plan your car trips very carefully to maximize travel with the least amount of gas, combine trips, make a route map so you will know where to go. Go to the Farthest out place first and also find out about each places’ hours. Then work in, in some cases you will see that you maybe working in a loop, if so and 2 or more places are close by, park your car at the best location and walk to the different stops.
For example, my shoe repair person and my tailor are within two blocks of each other so I park between the two and I take one thing to one, then walk past my car to pick up what I need to take to the other.
In a shopping mall that also has banking, and a grocery store, I will go to the bank first, and finish with the grocery store, in some case though you may have to re-park since many grocery stores now have shopping carts with locking wheels.
So plan your route and note where every place you need to go to is located and pick the best parking location.
Fourth---if you have no choice but to drive to work by car, consult with a seasoned, knowledgeable tax preparer about mileage and see if you can get a tax deduction for your car if used to get you to and from work or as part of your work routine, it is possible that you maybe entitled to a tax break of some sort. See also if your transit pass is also tax deductible as well. It will mean that you will have to do some bookkeeping but keeping a small notebook in your purse should not be difficult.
One of my Ladies does not use a gasoline credit card because she objects to the high interest rate, so she uses one of her lower interest rate credit cards (she keeps two) and goes to the one of the better grocery store gas stations where she frequently shops for groceries, just the other day, she received a 43 cent per gallon discount on her 20 gallon fill up, a savings of $8.60 or the cost of two gallons of gasoline at the current rate.
So Darlings NOW is a time when a Divalista must also think like a Frugalista.
Until Anon, Kisses Darlings
