A Lazy Monday

This is what I came home to today. I often wonder what the menagerie is up to while Paul and I are gone during the day. Looks like they aren't up to much...

The dogs are not allowed on the couch for several reasons. First, with both dogs on the couch, there is no where else to sit. Yes, Rosie takes up more than half of the couch. Secondly, they always mess up the back cushions. Lastly, dogs belong on floors, not furniture.

They didn't seem to be abashed when I caught them on the couch.

"Ok, guys... time's up. Get off."

Can you see it in her face? She is telling me: "But its so comfortable..."

"Rosie, get up. Now."

I get the look from her brown eyes: "Moooooooom!"

What to do?

I am trying to figure out what to do with my growing collection of quilts...

It doesn't help that I found an adorable pattern that I would love to try. It is called "Count to 9" and isn't an antique or vintage pattern that I typically love. I fell in love with this pattern because for one thing, I love numbers! They're so visual and lend a very fun quality to the quilt. Secondly, I love the colors- very simple and classic. You can't go wrong with white, beige, black and a little bit of blue. That specific color combination is found in my office, which I will share with you soon.

The quilt is in the far left corner behind the lady. This woman is the one who designed and made this quilt. She has sells her patterns on Etsy, and she can be found at Sweetwater .



Im trying to decide if I should order this pattern or not? I'm not quite confident in my sewing skills yet, but it would be such a fun project, wouldn't it?

What do you think?

My Secret Fabric

Do you want to know my secret? I didn't buy my fabric for the curtains from a fabric store.

During the first week after I closed on the house, I spent many days painting and had an *eureka* moment. I used a dropcloth to protect the hardwood floors from drips of the paint. When taking a break, I realized that the color of the dropcloth is exactly what I want for my front room. It is a light linen color with very subtle variations in the fabric. It is very natural and airy.

So I decided to do an experiment...


I bought another dropcloth from Home Depot and washed it in very hot water. Now, as you might know, a dropcloth is a big piece of fabric that has been chemically treated in order to be stiff. So, I put them through 4 cycles of very, very hot water to get rid of all the chemcials. As a result of that, they came out very light, very airy and very soft.

The neat thing is they come pre-hemmed, so I didn't have to do very much sewing! I used them for many things...


Mom bought me these cute chairs from the flea market a few years ago. They were covered in a very kitschy, retro fabric that didn't quite match my style. I took the chairs off and re-covered them with the dropcloth fabric. They look much more classic and streamlined. Much more my style now.


I also used the remnants to make a pillow for my new chair.


Lastly, I used them as drapes for my curtains. They blend into the walls very well and give the room a very natural, graceful feel. I love them!

Wanna know the best thing about the dropcloths? They only cost $9.99 at Home Depot! If you were to look for similiar fabric at JoAnn's, for example, you would easily spent $25 per yard.

What a great steal, I think, for a piece of linen that is 8 feet long and 6 feet wide!

Hodge Podge Sunday

It has been a relaxing, yet busy Sunday!

Paul and I went to the flea market. I finally got my apothecary cabinet for my office. I have plans to put my craft stuff in all the drawers. I wont be able to pick it up until the next flea market day in August. The inside of the drawers are not finished and have a really musty smell to it, so I asked them (in my negotations) to varnish the interiors of the drawers, as well as clean it up really well. So, it'll be all done and placed in my office in August. I can't wait!



We also stopped at the Hosta Guy's booth at the flea market and got several awesome plants. He has a lot of "hard to find" colors/types of Hostas that you cannot find at the nurseries or stores, such as Walmart or Lowe's. We picked up a total of 6 plants, all varying sizes. Most are green with dark green stripes or green with white stripes. I will post more pics later of the yard. Here is one below with our new "mini" iron fence (more on that later...).


Our rosebush is doing very well... it has gorgeous white blooms on it. It is called "Snowdrift."


While Paul and I spent most of the afternoon working in the yard, the dogs have been relaxing in the shade. Sam keeps an eye out on all the activity that is going on while Rosie is content with munching on a stick.



As I am typing this post, Rosie and Sydney are laying on the bed together. Shows you how FAR Syd has gone in terms of accepting a huge dog, much less two of them, in her space. Yes, Rosie takes up most of the queen size bed... thank goodness she doesn't like sleeping with me. It makes her too hot!

Rosie says Hello!

I havent posted any pictures of Rosie in a while now. She is now 9 months old and is over 100 lbs. She looks like an adult dog, but still acts like a puppy. She is klutzy as ever and trips over herself all the time. Its very funny to watch!

Rosie and Shane

Rosie came with me for the last day of school, which was a sad day. It was my offical last day at WSD, and I am no longer employed there. It was bittersweet. The students loved seeing Rosie again and were sad to say goodbye.

Rosie and Jon

One of my former students, Jon, had a very difficult time accepting the fact that our working relationship was ending. He developed a very strong bond not only with me, but also with Rosie. Jon is one of my absolutely favorite kids in the world. I first met him as a spunky little 4th grader, and he is now entering 7th grade this coming fall. He has a very dysfunctional, difficult home life and I've decided that I cannot cut all my ties with him. I have been communicating with his grandma (who has him most of the time because his father is who knows where? and his mother is out of the picture). Paul and I will take Jon for a few days this summer, so he still have access to a deaf role model (me) and a male role model who can sign (Paul). We plan on taking him to the movies, to the beach, and play in the backyard with Rosie and Sam.

You can see below that he and Rosie love to play. Its very cute to watch.

Delivery Today!

Guess what was delivered today???

My new chair and the new split boxsprings! Whoo hoo!

I dont know if I told you about the boxsprings yet or not...

On moving day, we realized that our queen size boxspring did not fit in either staircase (ah, the joy of having an older house with steep, narrow stairwells!). So, we have been sleeping in the guest room on the main floor for the last 3 weeks. I went out and ordered queen split boxsprings since they will fit upstairs.

Meanwhile, I ordered a comfortable, cushy chair for my office. I had no problem picking out the actual chair itself... the fabric was where it became tricky. I looked through the store's fabric catalog and wasnt pleased with their huge variety of plaids, solids, tweeds and ugly florals. In the very last book, in the very back, I came across a floral print called "Cornflower Blue" and I knew it was IT! Paul rolled his eyes at me. He said "ok, that fabric is very Hollie..." I figured that I should go all way out "girly" in my office.

I think it looks fabulous and I see many nights curled up in the chair with my laptop and/or watching TV. I think the pillow I made yesterday with the leftover fabric from my curtains looks cute with the new chair.




Obviously, neither room is finished in terms of placement or unpacking. Im just happy to finally have a bed upstairs! I am currently working on putting up a curtain rod in the bedroom-- you can see the wooden balusters at the edges of the window that will hold up the rod. It will look very good, I think. I love having large windows with lots of light!

Its slow work, but progress nonetheless!

A Glimpse into the Backyard

Ah, here are more pictures of what I have been up to recently. These pictures are in no particular order...



I dont think you have seen the actual front of the house, have you? Well, here it is! Its a cute bungalow in grey, white and red colors. Sadly, there is no landscaping in the front yard, as you can see. That will be my big project next spring, I think.


Here is the lovely peony bush we planted. The color scheme in the backyard will be mostly greens (duh), white and blues. So, the peony bush we planted has white, frilly flowers. The peony bush in the front yard is a Sarah Bernhardt (my favorite!), which has very large pink flowers.


As you can see, the dogs LOVE the yard. They play mostly in the "run" which is a long expanse of grass along the side of the house. They like to run and chase each other in this space.




One neat thing that I really enjoy about the house is the fact that we have the largest Oak tree in the entire neighborhood in our front yard. Its majestic and just beautiful! It provides a lot of shade in the front yard, which is nice for when we want to sit on the front porch.



Hydrangeas along the wall by the garage in the backyard. They are doing very well and are blooming like crazy! We will get a third bush to put just beyond the second one to make a "wall" of blue flowers. Hopefully over the years, they will fill out and it will look like one long bush.



Our yard touches the neighbor's garage. This area was poorly neglected (it is across from the herb garden) and we decided to fill out the space with hostas and mulch. Hopefully by next summer, the entire space will be filled out and you will not see the mulch at all.



Back to the blue blooms-- aren't the hydrangeas just beautiful???



In the corner of the yard, where there is absolutely no sun, we planted many ferns. Im excited to see them grow and start filling out the space a bit. I cut out holes in the planters that they came in to give them a little bit support while they grow stronger. Paul calls Rosie "the buffalo" when she runs in the yard... gotta give the poor, fragile plants some help or they'll be trampled!


Ahh, the lilac bush. We found a great, mature bush on sale! Its called Blue Skies, and is a very light lavender/blue color. The nursery said it is a fast grower, so we're hoping to see more growth next year!




I painted the sun porch on Saturday. It was a cream color with a lot of blue/grey trim. The cream color was alright, but it was very dirty looking. (I had to leave the cream color on the inside of the windows, since it matches the paint on the exterior of the house...) I decided I wanted it to be much more airy and clean, so I painted everything white. What a big change! It looks fabulous! You can see the contrast between the cream on the inside of the window with the white on the porch.

In the spring and fall, when the weather is nice and cool, we will leave the doors open for the cats and dogs to lounge on the sun porch in the sun. It should be just lovely. Im thinking about hanging some sheer white curtains to make it look more like a room and give it an airy quality. Eventually, we will replace the flooring in the sun porch and put down tile (to match the tile we will eventually put on the kitchen floor). Seems like a lot of projects will eventually get done...

Ah, the joy of having a house!