All good dogs...

I used to think I was a cat person until I got a Yorkie. They are about the funniest dogs in the whole darn world, especially our little Grover. He reminds me of a little puppet I know. We named all our Yorkies after Sesame Street characters; Burt, Ernie, Zoë and Grover. Yes, we once had FOUR! Unfortunately we lost Ernie but before he went on to the big bones in the sky he gave us Grover. So-o then there was three....



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Grover, Layin' Back



**************Burt, His Favorite Pose



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Zoë, Beauty Sleeps

The Heads Go...Water Flows

This was one corner of our backyard before.
….The ceramic heads just had to go!




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I had great plans to build a custom water fall in the corner of our back yard. I even went to Lowes and bought the pool liner and dug a hole for it, I thought I would get some large rocks and place around the pool. Well….this ol’ back fought back and when I spotted this light weight man-made water fall complete with little pool and built in light. It reached out and grabbed me! It was so simple and the exact look I was going for, simply “plug and play.” I mean, how could I pass it up? I went to Fred Myer bought some plants and sat them around, put a few potted evergreens around and “Wa La” a little bit of the northwest in our back yard….





Trickle, Trickle, Trickle........

MUNOZ AND IKEA

Today I took some pics. of our master bedroom and my dressing area just outside the door. I mixed the paint myself that I used on the back wall in the bedroom and hung a Rei Munoz print we found at a Value Village above our bed. I think my mother's handmade quilt blends in well with the earth tones of the oak furniture and wall color. It's the same 70's bedroom furniture we have had for years, after a while it sorta grows on ya.

This was the last quilt my mother did before she died.

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My little dressing and makeup area.

If you recognize this look....well...then you are probably very familiar with IKEA. LOL

Little Places and Creations

When we moved from “the big house” I left behind this huge attic studio....

Now this is what I have claimed for my sewing space; a little piece of heaven carved out of a closet in my husband's sudy...

My passion for crocheting has bloomed since moving here, partly because I don’t need all that much space for a ball of yarn and a crochet needle. Below is a picture of just some of the little treasures I’ve crocheted for my new granddaughter.

I am now working on a little hand-held afghan for her.(below) I made one for my grandson; a small one he can carry around with him. He likes it; in fact he seems to have become quite attached. See my daughter’s blog ( http://lilmamakaren.blogspot.com/) it looks like his afghan has even found a place on his highchair tray.

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Take a look at the under the stairs closet I turned into a grandchildren's little hide-a-way, now that was fun to do! Gota use all the space in this little house of ours!

S-o-o-o after two months of painting and decorating this is what our place looks like…. Our rare northwest spring sun streaming in the windows.
If you look real close you can see two of our Yorkies planted in the cushions of our couch.
I took the pictures standing on the stair steps that lead to our bedroom.

Ol' Fogies on the Go

The Upside of Downsizing
~Or~
Two Ol’ Fogies On the Go

This last September my dear sweet husband of 25 years retired after working for Boeing for nearly 36 years. Many wives dread the time when their husband becomes a stay-at-home man. I didn’t, he is my best friend, my confident and my sexy ol’ man…I love him dearly.

At the time of retirement we lived in the family home that was over 50 years old. Located on almost two acres it was in constant need of repair and screamed “MANTAINACNE” with every beat of it’s dear ol’ heart. Needless to say the yard itself was a never ending project.
So in October of 2007 we purchased a small home in a planned community, only a couple blocks away from one of our sons.
We downsized from a 4,000+ square foot dilapidated “fixer upper” to a brand new home with an open floor plan, vaulted ceilings and all new appliances. Our new home’s total square footage is not even 1200 square feet!
And get this…we now have a back yard smaller than most folk’s garages. We LOVE it!

I spent two blissful months painting and decorating. We gave away extra furniture, dishes, pots and pans, nicknacks, books…all kinds of stuff… to our kids and the Goodwill. What a wonderful feeling that was…so freeing! We officially moved in the first part of December. Now along with our three little Yorkies, Bert, Grover and Zoë we are enjoying our “Home Sweet (Easy to Clean, No Upkeep, Little) Home.”

My space for doing crafts and sewing has shrunk considerably so I have rediscovered my passion for crocheting. I’ve created little crotched treasures for my grandchildren and even some sweaters for our little mutts. Right now I am working on an afghan for our newest (our first granddaughter born just a few days ago). I call the pattern hugs and kisses…if you look at the picture closely you might notice the X’s and O’s.

This spring we have grand plans to do our little backyard. I’d like to create a cozy outdoor living space complete with propane fire pit comfy lounging chairs and lots and lots of flowers. We get the morning and afternoon sun so it will be a great place to have our sunup coffee or sunset wine. And even though my age warns me I shouldn’t; our little backyard is the perfect place for me to soak up the sun and work on my tan.

So far we have spent some of our free time traveling and have plans to do much more. In the future I’ll share with you some of our travel adventures. We bought a red corvette convertible and it is quite a sight to see these two old fogies decked out in our designer sunglasses, grey hair flying in the wind and heads bobbing to the beat of CCR. We are planning attending a corvette convention in Montana the end of May.