A Mouse in the House!

No, not that kind of mouse! I'd be up on a chair screaming if I had seen one of those critters! Nothing scarier to me than a mouse! I won't even look at them at the zoo. And seriously, what is with our zoo that they have mice on display???? I'm talking about the one who used to have a club on TV every afternoon -- you know-- big ears and all!

Some of you may know that while Miss Maddy is a very girly-girl who loves a manicure and pedicure and wearing dresses, she does not like the color pink or flowery wallpaper. Well, guess whose room was covered in flowery wallpaper?? Yep, Maddy's room was home to a wallpaper flower explosion! I should have known she didn't like it when as a baby, she started to peel the wallpaper off through her crib spindles. Then she would quickly lie down when she heard footsteps approaching! She loves to hear that story!

[Part 1 -- still working on wall art and it's not crooked, it just looks that way in the photo!]

We live in an older home and a majority of the doorknobs are glass ones. Love that her bedside table lamp has a similar look, don't you!

[ Her bedside table is not usually this clear, but it always has her fave perfume and a Mickey snow/globe!!]

So, she needed a little room re-do recently and guess what she picked -- Mickey Mouse! I know, I know, you may think it is a little boyish looking, but she loves it and that's what matters. Plus, bedding can always be changed! She does have a lovely chandelier though I forgot to get any photos of it, you can see it in this very old post (hers does not have pink shades, of course).The walls were de-papered (thanks to a super job of a friend's boyfriend) and repainted a lovely soothing gray. New carpet installed that is so soft and cushy, you could sleep on it.

[The two side photos above are from a calendar -- yep, I'm clever like that! Sorry about the flash glare there!]

Once the wallpaper was down and the room repainted, I almost hated to hang anything up -- it looked so beautiful and clean! Don't you just love new paint?

That Mickey-- he HAD to sneak into another picture!

Black and White Wednesday!

Miss Maddy and Miss Muffy out for a walk on a very black and white day a couple weeks ago. We had not gotten to spring quite yet and nothing was green!

Happy to report, that spring has arrived, the grass has turned green and pinkish-purple and beautiful. It would be perfect if only my Mom were here to enjoy it too.

[Do you see the little bee in there?]

Head over to Lisa's Black & White Wednesday for some really cool links!

An Apology!

Evidently, my rather strong reaction to Muffy's escape from the yard was noticed by both Muffy and her best friend, Maddy.

Look at the sweet little gift bag I found on the dining room table the next day! :)

Along with that adorable Pooh, there was a pack of sugarless gum, a little box

with a $20 bill in it (!!) and this sweet note!

Sneaky Little Scottie a/k/a The Great Escape

Who would ever think that this sweet little Scottie would sneak out of the back yard?

Have no idea why she would ever want to escape from the life of luxury she leads,

but escape she did!

Miss Maddy went out to get her for bedtime they go to bed at the same time

- around 8:30 PM).

Well, Maddy goes to bed and Muffy snoozes on a comforter on the floor and then crawls happily into her kennel.

Contrary to what some people think (one neighbor looked horrified

when I mentioned Muffy sleeps in her kennel), she loves it.

Anyhoo, back to the escape! Maddy went out to get her and couldn't find her.

It was getting dark out and guess what -- small black Scotties are really hard to see

in the dark! We both ran in to get shoes and a flashlight and tore out again to search for Muffy.

Of course, all I could think was small black dog running in the street would be pretty much invisible to cars!! Luckily, before I freaked myself and Maddy out too much,

our neighbor arrived carrying the little escape artist.

She hadn't gone far and was at another neighbor's trying to make friends with their cat!

Whew, disaster averted!

A gate had been left unlatched by unknown persons (I have my suspicions!).

Mr. Tennis has taken on the job of fixing the gates in the yard, so fingers crossed

that he gets that accomplished before the lure of the outside world, cats and other dogs has Muffy hatching another plot to get out and explore.

Spring Means . . .

Well, I think it's here to stay now -- finally Spring!! YAY!!

And so, it is time to . . .

Force daughter to stand in the bright sunlight for a photo!

Time to put daughter to work spreading mulch that smells like chocolate!!

Seriously -- the mulch must have had an infusion of Hershey kisses --

it smells that delicious!!

Also, time to finally take down the Christmas lights from around the faux birdhouse!!

DIY Disaster

You know all those cool blogs where bloggers show their latest craftiness and how they saved lotsa dough by re-vamping something they already had?

Yes, of course you do. I love those too!

[From Wisteria -- like this -- but it's not quite right for my space]

Well, this isn't one of those DIY success stories. It's a bit of a sad story of a mirror done in by novice DIY'ers! We had a framed mirror in our entryway that had been there for ages and called out to me for a little pick-me-up.

[Pottery Barn -- bit too ornate for me]

The frame just needed a little repainting -- that would make it look like new (or so I thought)! How SIMPLE, eh? Well, first the mirror sat on the dining room floor for a couple weeks waiting for me to get around to it. I sanded the frame, which was kind of a goldish color with swirls on it like S's. I taped up the mirror covering it with newspaper.

I consulted with Mr. Tennis on how to go about painting it. He suggested spray paint (I had been thinking of sponge-painting it???). Anywho, he rigged it up in the garage and got a little trigger-happy with that can of spray paint. Coat after coat was sprayed on (the goldish color was a bit hard to cover). When it was finally dry and looked fairly presentable, we hung it back up and removed the newspaper! OOOPS -- our mistake was evident -- the paint had bled through the paper and covered the mirror! As in, covered A LOT of the mirror! Can you say now need to purchase a replacement mirror?

[Pottery Barn --love this, but it is really a large mirror!]

The morale of this DIY story is . . . use a lot of newspaper to cover whatever needs to be covered AND take your time.

Not to worry, I have not been deterred by this small setback. Am currently painting a number of frames -- the good news on those is that there is nothing inside that needs to be covered. Fingers crossed for a successful DIY project in my future!