Tasteful Pugs.....

For PM - who thinks my Pugs are tastefully done....hmmmm???!!!! Maybe not all of them! Thanks for the compliment but I do tacky Pugs as well- they're all good! (I did not skin Eli and make a purse out of him as I have been accused. This is another treasure from my Mom. She knows me pretty well!)

Spring Forward!

Looks like it is time to get out in the yard and do LITTLE work!!! Last spring our yard looked the best it ever has.....then came the drought. By August the yard looked the worst it ever has! I'm afraid we lost a lot of plants. So I'm happy to see these guys back this year!



I was reminded that I need to set my clock ahead this weekend -so Spring is really here- at last! I love to decorate for holidays. This year the construction project has limited me to just a few places to put my stuff/clutter! Here are a few of my egg cups with paper mache eggs. When I moved in the neighborhood I was lucky enough to have a real artist next door. I took a class from her to learn some of her paper mache secrets. I love to play with it! See the little Easter Card - here is a close-up. My Mom just sent it to me in a treasure box. My Aunt and Uncle sent it to her Y-E-A-R-S ago. It looks like it belongs here.



A few of my White Rabbits have come out on the Kitchen mantle. Sadly most of the rabbits will remain packed away this year. Maybe next year......

Tagged??? Me???

I am so new to this... I have been tagged by Maggie. She says to pick up the nearest book, turn to p.123, find the fifth sentence and then write the next 3 sentences... Here it goes...

"I shall keep it, just the same," said the Witch, laughing at her, "and some day I shall get the other one from you, too."

This made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of water that stood near and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from head to foot.

Instantly the wicked woman gave a loud cry of fear, and then, as Dorothy looked at her in wonder, the Witch began to shrink and fall away."

Yes, it is The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. It is a 1903 copy given to me by my husband. I am a retired 3rd grade teacher and I read that book to my class every year for 25 years! The next book on my nightstand is Where the Sidewalk Ends another children's book. I miss reading aloud to my kids which is why I still work as a part time teacher with reading comprehension skills.

Now I am supposed to tag 5 people, but, please forgive me. I am just beginning to delurk and meet people, so if you stumbled over here and want to play - I tag you! I have some issues with privacy and Internet safety...be gentle with me and maybe I will come out of my shell! Thanks Maggie for asking me to play!

The Master Bedroom

The master bedroom was a long project with many ups and downs. We started with a strange room that had been added on the back of the house. We aren't sure when, but have been told it was there in the 50's. It was an L shaped room that had a tiny bathroom, a tiny closet, a dropped ceiling, a rock wall, painted over wallpaper and 3 different types of more recent flooring. It pretty much all had to go! Demolition took a while... We discovered 3 ceilings- one of them tin- when we started. They came down and a new bead board ceiling went up. I love all of the angles in the roof line. When we pulled off some sheet rock we found the original siding from the back of the house and a walled over doorway that is the back of our pantry closet!

We kept the siding. I love it. You can see a stained glass transom in this picture. We had it done to celebrate when this room was completed.

The entry to the bedroom has some Audubon prints that I had in my files at school. I bought them in the 70's when I was a young teacher to use in Science lessons. Forgot all about them until I retired... They were meant for this house!

The Pug guards my husband's candy stash.

This is the "Grandma" chair I got at an estate sale in our neighborhood. It is an early recliner. We took out (or they fell out ) a very rotten window and modern door and put the French doors to the imaginary deck. The tile is there for a landing pad. This is the only room in the house where I wanted carpet. I found a patterned blue with pink and yellow roses . The DH gave in on that!

Around the corner of the L shape is the sleeping area with another Pug on the pillow.

The closet on the left is original. DH added the other closet to match. They are both his. The two closets on top are storage (mostly Christmas decorations).

When we moved in there was a niche where the right closet is and a door to the laundry room/pantry.

My blue and white plates over the entry to the sleeping area.

Far wall of the sleeping area- The framed antique buttons belonged to the wife of a man who grew up in this house. After they married they lived about a block away. I went to an estate sale at the house and bought a jar of buttons, not realizing the connection.

Before we finished the bedroom, we slept in the library/TV room and had our clothes in plastic tubs. I LOVE the way the bedroom turned out. When the renovation gets too much for me I can escape back here and shut the door and pretend the whole house looks like this!

We Have Walls and a Ceiling

The sheet rock is up. A little more sanding and it will be time for paint. The color has been selected for more than a year. When we painted the hall and staircase we tried the same color and 2 runners-up on the walls in here. After living with the swatches a clear winner stood out. The insert for the fireplace is here and looks great. We didn't know how real it would look. I'm falling a little behind in planning the window treatments. I thought I knew what I was going to make then I saw some fabric last week that I gave me a whole different idea. DH likes the trim around the windows to show after he works so hard on them. I had some valances up that covered the trim. They are in good shape, match the new paint color.....so I would only have to make some new sheers.....but, he would rather get rid of the old valances and go with the new idea.......mounted inside the window. I will go back and look at that fabric again to make sure.....

Another Finished Project

The master bathroom has a bit of a pug theme. We enlarged a very tiny, dark and moldy bathroom in our bedroom. The former shower stall became a linen closet because there were few closets in the house. The fixtures all went to the curb. The old bathroom was navy blue. So we went with a sunny yellow to brighten things up.

The paint color carries over from the bedroom and so does the bead board. To save space we used a pedestal sink.

We added a walk in dressing room, which is too messy to take a picture of right now, and a potty chamber.

Once again all credit for the hard work goes to my husband. This was the worst part of our house. The day we moved in it was raining inside this room! The dressing room had a waterfall. The first repair done to the house was a new roof over this section. The rest of the house had a new roof -thank goodness! My part of the bathroom (other than the planning) was the curtains and the pug pillow !

Junk Therapy

I LOVE old stuff. I love the history, the imperfections, the chips, the thriftiness, and the hunt. I reward myself for work with a trip to a thrift store. It renews my soul to find a treasure that needs a good home! Luckily I live within ten minutes of 6 different thrift stores so I can make a quick run for a fix whenever I need one. I also love flea markets, yard sales and estate sales. My husband...not so much. He likes the stuff I haul home or at least pretends to most of the time. But, he would rather not go with me. It works out because usually he would rather be working on his current house project. This Saturday he volunteered to go with me! I was gentle and rewarded him a chicken biscuit. We went to 4 different sales. I really enjoyed having him along with me. We didn't buy much but most everything was 1/2 price. He even found a level that he liked.

My stuff

- sweet, embroidered, vintage blouse - handmade, shell buttons, french seams

- box of tatting (for some sewing project in the future)

- box of old, Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments

- old, chipped Blue Willow dishes (maybe for mosaic project...)

- tiny Santa mug

- wooden box (no clue why I bought this other than it was 25 cents!)

- glass jar (for buttons in sewing room)

I'm really a pretty cheap date!