Olive and Herbie wish you a very Spooky Halloween

Addled minded

I have a new love in my life. I am always treated kindly. I am taken on wonderful adventures. I feel peace, joy and unbelievable love, the kind that is rarely seen.

My new love - is my library. I have the most gorgeous library I have ever been in.

This used to be a bedroom, the master bedroom as a matter of fact. In old homes, all bedrooms look the same so I have no idea what defined this as a master as opposed to a regular. Regardless, it was the master. When we did a remodel a few years ago, we moved the master to the other side of the house so we could add a bath. This room became the lets dump all the crap that doesn't fit anywhere else room.

I changed it. I need a library. Books are treasures to me and I own a ton. When I moved, I packed up over 50 boxes of books. Even with a ton of shelf space in my new library, I still have 12 boxes to go. The last ones are the rare/old/signed ones and they need a better space.

I designed this myself. Drew up the plans and hired a woodworker to do the job. Every last detail was one I wanted and no one else got to chime in. Sweet!

The cabinets are pine with a bead board back. I love bead board and would fill the whole house with it if I could. The cabinets are painted white with a yellow (the strongest yellow I could find) back. The shelves are all stationary. I only want to house books, therefore I don't do the third rule (1/3 books, 1/3 open space and 1/3 decorative objects). Also, with the amount of weight that books weigh, I didn't want any bowing of shelves. All the shelves, with the exception of the bottom row and the three top shelves in the big cabinets, are the same width. They are made to hold hardbound books.

I had electricity added to the top of the shelves and I have pink twinkle lights that lay up there. I added a fun lamp I bought at Powell's (the best book store EVER) and an vintage clock that I don't even remember buying.

The bookcases were built off-site and then attached to the wall. All the painting was done off-site as well, the touch ups were done after they were installed. Molding was added at the very end.

I painted the walls a light lavender color and changed all the trim from gray to white to give it a crisper feel. Added a vintage light fixture to the center of the room. I added a comfy, giant leather chair that holds two dogs and if they let me in, me as well.

I still have things to do. The window needs to be replaced, art work needs to come in, and the side of the room that faces the ocean needs some lights.

Right now the books are just up on the shelves. No real rhyme or reason, just opened a box and set them up. As time goes by, I will organize them and clean up the shelves a bit. I added some little doohickeys, baseballs, pictures of pugs, and other little things. I don't think that stuff will stay but who knows, it suits me and that is really all I care about. I set a table in the middle of the room so I can leave out the books that I want to read next plus it gives me a work space to cover the books with protective sleeves.

The photos don't do the room justice. It is simply unbelievable in real life. I spend a whole bunch of time just standing and sighing in total happiness.
I think that Louise May Alcott said it the best "She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain." I love being addled.

Danger is Everywhere

We have exciting news in our household.

Our dog has found out, after only 5 short years, that we have windows to the outside world. Now you might not see the excitement in such news but trust me when I say I SURE DO.

Every twenty minutes or so, I get to have a small heart attack. This happens more often now thanks to Daylight Savings Time. So that just totally ROCKS.

Before we all lived in a state of semi-bliss. The dog, Herbie, only knew the sound of someone knocking at the door. Now this was bad enough, for he would bark at the door and then the next 3o minutes. Even though the person had been gone for 29 of those 30 minutes. Then we would have lovely quiet, until a light bulb would go off over his head and he would remember that someone had knocked on the door and off he goes again. So most of my day is spent yelling "SHUT THE HELL UP."

But now we get to add in the ENTIRE OUTSIDE WORLD to my day.

The dog was in the living room when he thought he saw food on the window ledge. We don't normally keep food on our window ledges, but pugs are not the brightest bulb in the dog world. And since he has no idea where we keep the food, he will spend his entire life seeking it out. This is second only to sleeping, which takes up 20 hours of his day and the other 4 is spent on tables, couches, my craft table, our beds, the kids desk, in all garbage cans, the recyclable containers and now window ledges, looking for food.

He didn't find any food but he found a million more things that are coming to KILL HIM. The ENTIRE OUTSIDE WORLD is coming and how we never told him this, is a giant mystery and we are paying a pretty steep price.

Now he stands in the living room and stares out the window, growling, whining, and my personal favorite, BARKING HIS FOOL HEAD OFF. Cars parked across the street. The outside illumination (or as is known to the rest of the world, Christmas lights that I am too lazy to take down). Squirrels. Birds. Leaves. Branches. Dust. Invisible things. Clouds. The evil mailman. Dogs that are eying his property with the intention that it looks like a fine place to relieve one's self. People with small children that are mocking and teasing him in ways that only he can see.

All day this goes on. Occasionally it is offset by a nap or a drink of a beverage. Yesterday, it was my coffee the day before a diet mug root beer. I now speak in a throaty whisper and am thinking that phone sex girl could be a new career opportunity for me.

There is some good news, in our little house of horror, so far he has only discovered that we have living room windows. Woe to me when he finds the dining room ones, the bedroom ones, or the family room ones.

Thank God, I was already on blood pressure medicine. But now I know for sure it is working.

He snores, sheds, takes up most of the bed, and I love him to death!

This is Herbie "The Love Pug" a 5 year old black pug. Having a pug is not for the faint of heart. They are obstinate, shed enough that we could make another pug daily, snore, and must always be on top of you, not just by you, but actually on you!

Don't let that cute face fool you! He has the personality of a thug. "Bring it on!" is his motto and he does. Oh, he is all wind and no substance, but that doesn't stop him. He takes his thug job very seriously. The only reason we have not been attacked by a garbage can, is because he was on the job. Leaves, branches, stray garbage blowing in the wind, have not wrecked havoc on his family, because he stood his ground and said "Not on my watch!" He believes delivery men were sent here just to torment him. Garbage men are truly the work of the devil. Small children laughing down at the park, exist only to annoy his sleep.

But every time we return to the home, he welcomes us as if we have been gone for years. 8 seconds to go and check the mail, requires 10 minutes of a leaping, wiggling pug. Closing the door to take a shower, requires 15 minutes of exclaiming "That we did indeed miss him and thought him gone for ever, and it was our lucky day that we found each other in the hallway!"

So we put up with disemboweled stuffed toys, looking like a yeti in our day to day activities, the fact that he has the ability to bark for 20 minutes at the UPS man who has been gone for 18 of those minutes, the fact that he can climb onto my desk, drink my coffee and eat 1/2 lb. of melty mints and feel no remorse when I return 5 minutes later, all because he believes that his family rocks his world. And in this day and age, that is something pretty spectacular.