Let sleeping dogs lie

As Riley has gotten older, she has developed a level of confidence in herself and comfort in our home. This confidence and comfort has led to her exhibiting complete freedom when sleeping. She just does it however she wants.

Her sleeping positions are so cute, that I had to take pictures. Here are just a few pictures of the sleeping puppy.

Cover thief, part 2

Riley's cover-thieving abilities have progressed in the last week.

This is what the bed looked like on Thursday (it was fully made before I got in the shower, by the way).

And by Saturday, she had the sheets entirely off the bed.

We're not sure what inspired her sudden desire to strip the bed, but she definitely took it on with a fervor. Interestingly, today she left the sheets alone. We'll have to see how this trend develops.

Riley says

Feel better soon.

Ridiculousness

Riley didn't want to move while I was making the bed.

So I just made it right over her.

That didn't stop her from stretching out her legs and settling in for a nice nap.

Practicing her favorite pose

She stood like this for 5 minutes.

Cover thief

Riley has a new game. She thinks its awesome. We are not so thrilled.

You see, every morning Duff and I carefully pull the duvet cover over the bed so that loads of puppy hair doesn't end up on our sheets and pillows. Riley has other plans.

The other day, I came out of the shower to find this:

Then, a few days later, this:

Each day, she dug herself in a little deeper, until you almost couldn't see her behind the sheets anymore.

Today, I came home from work and discovered how exactly she was working her magic.

There are no words.

Sorry, sorry, sorry

So its been a month since I wrote anything. I apologize. I'm sure you weren't holding you're breathe, though. You're probably getting used to it.

Anyway, things have been very busy around here, as you can imagine, so I only have a few pictures to share.

First, we had all of our ceiling lights installed (yeah!). They look something like this:

Next, I've been working a lot, including at home on the weekends. When she can, Riley likes to help.

And finally, we put up this year's Christmas decorations yesterday (please excuse the pictures from here on out--Duff took them this morning and he wasn't too happy about it).

Which was just in time for our first snowfall.

If only Riley were here to enjoy it. But instead, she's visiting the grandparents for a few weeks and it looks like she's fitting right in.

Craft projects

Just because we've been lax updating the blog, doesn't mean we've been sitting around and relaxing. We've been busy! And below is just one of the many projects that I've completed in the past several weeks.

We have a bad habit of collecting great photographs but having a house with nothing on the walls. Effective, no? So, I finally found some frames on sale, as well as some additional frames in a box in our basement that are perfect for the master bedroom. A few pictures and dictionary pages later, and here is what you get.


Pretty nice, huh? Now we just have to remember to hang them...

Who knew?

I have never liked the word sconce. It just sounds so...hoighty-toighty. And I can honestly say that I have never owned a sconce.

Until now.

While Duff and I were short-cutting our way through JcPenneys the other week, we came across a bed and bath sale. Of course, the clearance signs drew my eye. We wandered over and were immediately drawn to a box of black candle sconces, 75% off. After a little debate about whether we really needed sconces, we decided that our overall need for wall decoration warranted the minimal purchase.

Once we got home, I immediately thought of the perfect location for them. I don't know--it just came to me.

So the blank corner wall next to the bed...


is now all hoighty-toighty with a pair of candle sconces.


They actually look a lot better than we even expected. Who knew?

The monster in the closet (doors)

A few weeks ago, the bi-fold door covering our closet broke. Wait, it didn't just break. It started to randomly get stuck. First, it got stuck closed, which wasn't good because I couldn't reach any of my clothes. Then, it got stuck open. This was more acceptable except, because the attic access is in the closet, having an open door wasn't particularly energy efficient. But then my darling Duff came to the rescue.

After several debates between the two of us as to the best way to replace the broken door, we decided we wanted two thin doors that opened out into the room instead of the old bi-fold version. Unfortunately, no one makes 12 inch doors. So, instead, we had to purchase a bi-fold door, take off the hinges and make it into two separate doors.

Unfortunately, however, because bi-fold doors have the special hinge and rail system, a door that is for a 24 inch opening only covers 23 inches. So we had a huge gap between our doors. Duff ingeniously fixed this by adding a nice piece of molding down the middle, which also helps make the door look like a unified piece. Overall, after our several dozen improvisations to make it work, the new closet door turned out wonderfully.

Here is a not-great before picture from when we toured the house (the bi-fold door is open in this picture):

And here is the after:
Good work, Duff!