YOW!!

How is it mid August already?!

I have rocked this summer with all I've had...I've been outdoors daily. I rarely use the AC. Crazy, I know. But the last two winters here have been so long and awful, that I must have open windows and stagnant and humid (if not fresh!) air!!

Curtis says hello. He's 3 years old now!

He loves: Car rides, multiple walks per day. Treats. Yelling at people who walk by our house....and US!


We also have a new sibling for Curtis..Miss Paisley. She's a rescue dog from West Virginia. You can take me out of the south (I lived in Tennessee for two years) but you can't stop me from going back AND gathering  new family members!!

Here she is! In a dream I didn't think possible, we managed to find ourselves ANOTHER labraweinie!! She is 2 1/2 yet she seems to act as Curtis' older sister. Very loving. She cuddles and kisses 24/7. Loves blueberries, squirrel patrol and oddly...red gingham! On this day, she said she was going for "Full Barbecue Regalia" as she searched through my fabrics. I couldn't say no!


This is true of both of our kids. Thank God for the barking. It is probably all that has kept us from being murdered over the past few months.

Finally..my sweet friend Tina from What We Keep blog (also known as TOT) sent me this a few months back and I LOVE it:

A great reminder! I love her embroidery. I honestly didn't think I liked embroidery anymore until I've had the good fortune of owning some of her lovely creations.  http://www.tinacarlson.com/

And..I'm off! The nice weather is calling...I believe there's another iced mocha to be had, a Better Homes and Gardens to peruse and then..back to work!

Rock This Wednesday!
xo~

T

Welcome To The Puppet Show..and a bit more.

This is what covers the closet of my now office in our new place. It was formerly a little girl's room. I love yellow (or "Yeyyo" as Emerson used to say.) but thought I'd change these out pretty quickly. Here's what happened:

We lived in the new house for about a week. Brad was back to work. I took a shower very late one night after unpacking. I was as dirty as "a frenchman" as Homer Simpson once said to Marge. I digress.

As I am showering..suddenly the smoke alarm goes off! NIGHTMARE! Both dogs freak out. They're barking and scared. I'm a bit stunned. I jump out of the shower. Angry. Soaking wet. I realize the offensive alarm is right in the hallway outside of the biffy. I wave my arms. It stops for a second. I think "What a dumb place to put this alarm if the heat and steam of the shower make it go off!" I head back into the shower. What a dummy. The same scene happens again. The second time I'm angrily swearing. I get on a chair, rip it out of the ceiling and remove the battery. Or try to. It's one of those old ones that's hard to disassemble.

Rat bastards! As I'm trying to get it to quiet down, I have visions of hitting it over and over with a bat. I finally get the battery out but it's still squeaking a bit. I can't tell if it's leftover hearing damage or if it's really happening. I finish my shower. I think of Brad telling me "It's just bad luck." which is what he says whenever anything bad, uncomfy, scary or irritating happens when he's at work (such as..sick dogs pooping on carpet, alarms, weird noises, etc..)..I can't find Daisy our older dog. When I do find her..she's in this closet. Upset. Scared. Lying in the bottom there on the blankets my Granny Stolarski made back in the 70's. She stayed there til morning and slept.

She looked SO DARLING. I now refer to it as the Puppet Show. Curtis the puppy sleeps in there during the day when I work. It is so cute. I got down there and looked around as if I were that small. I realized..this is cool. I'd totally live here!

Cozy! Will I end up turning it into a reading nook? Only time will tell! Options are endless!

What I've enjoyed about this house so far: I'm trying to live in it and figure it out rather than painting walls and accessorizing. It seems better this way. Some rooms are unfinished. I have a few where I don't know what color I want for them to be, so I'm just waiting. It's much more comfortable. Normally I rush a bit to finish everything so it feels complete. That is not happening this time. It's slow going. But the parts that are completed feel right.

A cute part of our backyard. Yes, it needs a bit of weeding between the stones. It rained all week. I do have some solar lights from Ikea wrapped around the tree now as well as solar lights in the ground around the tree. I think we'll get a firepit and place it in this area (but away from the tree!)- that's our neighbor's house. He's a very nice guy. Daisy barks at him every time she sees him. Every. time. It is exhausting and sometimes embarrassing. Like having a misbehaving kid that just will not listen. Sigh. Butterballs!

This kid is just tuckered out by 2pm daily! Nap time! This is our living room. Love the wood burning stove, windows and mouldings. Not sure of what color we're going with in here, but it may be a nice moody blue or gray. Or green. Not sure. Like this blue below.

http://www.mainecottage.com/true-blue.html

But then again..maybe not. I feel like it will come to me.

I've also been logging some time on Design Seeds lately and I LOVE IT!!

Been there? If not, please go. You just may love it as I do:
http://design-seeds.com/

Miss Daisy is much happier here. She even seems curious about the outdoors and exploring again..at 91! Our other house always had a very weird vibe. I couldn't talk about it much while living there as it weirded me out quite a bit. In the last few weeks we lived there we had a tealight candle relight itself 24++ hours after it was originally lit (and had burned out the previous night, as they do, after an hour or so.)..the puppy's outdoor leash broke three times in three weeks..one day his collar broke and he was two blocks away. We began wondering "Was this built on a burial site or something?" but we didn't talk about it much while living there because what can you do? I did some feng shui cures while living there, saged the house and told anything "Go to the light!"- however- in the last weeks, it was just creepy living there. Glad to be out.

Happy Puppy! Sorry for the somewhat X Rated shot! He was so happy though..it had to be photographed! He does need to be neutered, folks. Yes. That will happen soon and his little head will be in a cone for a few days.

I'm very happy about the lilacs! Love them! And about the vine that grows on this lattice. The whole yard has amazing landscaping. The former owner had chickens so the soil is amazing and we've got hostas, peonies, tulips, sedum and all kinds of plants sprouting. Our neighbor (not house pictured above, other side) is a master gardener and does it for a living- her yard is amazing. It's reminiscent of the house and yard in the movie Practical Magic. Very full of character and imperfections, with interesting orbs and items, but stunning. Makes you feel good when you look over. Curtis has begun watching her as she gardens in the mornings. he lies down and stares. It's quite adorable.

I'm off to have a glass of wine and have some relaxing to do. I have been busy and have unpacked, cleaned or had something to do nearly everyday since we moved in. Today I took the day off.

Hope your night is beautiful and your extended weekend is lovely and fun-filled!!

xo~

T

I'm Still Kicking.

Happy Saturday, Friends!

We have a soul crushing two feet of snow on the ground AGAIN and that's all I'm going to say about it. It's too bad I'm not a big drinker, because I am running out of indoor "fun" activities after HALF A YEAR.

I have had some custom Etsy orders, so it's not like I'm just watching Dr. Oz obsessively ( it IS a good and very helpful show!) but creativity is running low.

Thanks to Shannan at Flower Patch Farmgirl, I have begun watching "The Mindy Project" and I have to say- Good stuff, Maynard! HILARIOUS!!

I made these around Valentines Day!! I was just apparently way too lazy to upload any pictures.

Made some cute wine glass/champagne flute charms for my Etsy shop.

Stole this idea again..from Shannan at Flower Patch. She did it at least a year ago or more. I "made" cafe curtains out of Target napkins. Four napkins for $8, people! Bought a black tension rod, placed it between our two cabinets flanking this window (no hardware install! Lazy at its best!), purchased some inexpensive ring clips also at my local Target and..voila! I needed spring in the house, but can't bear to see the snow anymore so this is a win-win!



Made this below for myself. It just makes me happy.

I never used to believe in pink for myself, but I quite like it now.






He's tired of the whole indoor thing and has broken free of his crappy outdoor leash twice this week. I almost had a heart attack as he ran in the MIDDLE of the street during the snowstorm. All I could see was a little black weiner body in the white snow. He seemed just as stressed out if not more when he returned home. For the record: He has a backyard to run free in, it's fenced. He's lazy and at various times of the day he likes to sit out front with his 30+ feet of leash (or he runs in the road- safety first!) and yell and bark at passerby.

I bought a new leash yesterday and he now goes by "Curtis Unchained". Thank GOD nothing happened to him.




Magnets I made:

Bought the stamps on Etsy..SweetStampShop.






This is what we had for Easter decor for a good three weeks:

And I was inspired by Rachel at her blog New at the Newmans and figured...I can at least string these faux eggs, can't I? Can I just do that?

And one day...I just did. Twine plus Dollar General eggs = Happy! Thanks for the inspiration, Rachel!






I even added some bunny flair to the new cafe curtains!

Yep. Easter lily next to Jane Austen! Why ask why?!

There's more, but the puppy is starting to demand dinner and  Miss Daisy had tooth removal surgery yesterday. She's 91 in human years, so needless to say it was stressful. She broke a tooth and had to have the part in her gum removed. It ended up being like a wisdom tooth removal as the tooth was hard to get out. She was in so much pain and so out of it all night,  it was terribly sad. Everytime I looked at her, I felt like I would cry. She's a bit better today and has even eaten a bit and tried running in the yard. Poor Daisy!

Daisy on a better, duck chewing day.

I'm off to have a glass of wine because...I deserve it.

Feel free to tell me your tales of spring. I am going to have to live vicariously through others for the time being.

Holla!

xo

T