Inside a Mom's Mind

Alaska Girl lives in Montana now.  She is brewing beer.  Luckily, you all are thirsty, so she has a good gig.

She has a great dog named Rach (Rock).  He is a Karelian Bear Dog and I have devoted entire posts to him. He is the bad boy your mother always warned you about; completely charming, but watch out. The last time he got away (by smashing through the screen door) he went down to the bar and she got a call that he was there and could she come get him.  He wasn't causing any trouble, just getting petted and fed probably. Like I said, bad boy.

Rach trees bears.  He trees snow leopards or pumas or lynx or whatever.  He chases moose off of your path. He is fearless.  He doesn't even mind guns or loud noises or snowmobiles or anything.

Alaska Girl has had pretty crappy winter weather where she is.  Now, her version of crappy is not much snow.  That's my version of awesome.  Suffice it to say that she has been able to train outside on the trails in shorts.  Yeah.

Apparently, the last time she ran on the trail it wasn't good.  She posted a picture on Instagram and I asked her about it.  She told me it was the creepiest run she had ever done on the trail.  Rach was spooked and kept trying to back up.  This set off alarm bells for her and awareness was high. Luckily, nothing happened and she was able to get by the scary last tree and get safely into the car.

She then told me about the 2 dogs that had been attacked in her town by mountain lion.  Of course, there are always bear in town - around 2 a.m. is when Rach sets off the alarm, charging at the windows.  The mountain lion are something new and no one seems to know why they are coming into town.  Great.

I'm not sure I needed to know about the mountain lions.  Or the fact that Rach was spooked.

However, being the awesome mom that I am, I calmly suggested that perhaps he knew more than she did and maybe she should confine her runs to town for the time being.  She said that is what she has been doing because the fact that he was spooked and nervous really scared her.

So here is my assessment on the situation.  Read below for a take on how a mom's mind really works.

Here is my version of Rach.  Fierce protector.  Notice the lynx in the top branch.  If this dog is scared, pay attention.

This is a mountain lion.  It is ready to pounce on my daughter, dog or no dog.

This is a grizzly.  It is also ready to attack my daughter.

This is how I see my daughter.  While she may be a pink leopard, she is no match for the mountain lion and the grizzly bear.

Voila.  The inner workings of a mom's mind.  Now you know.  There is no off switch, just a looped video of these images that run through my mom mind constantly.

In all reality, this is probably what is out there.

Love you, Alaska Girl.

I Lied, Sort Of

I really didn't mean to lie or fib or anything.  I thought that I was back.  What I forgot to do was look at the calendar.  Blog goes on the back burner when it is anywhere close to Christmas.  Sorry 'bout that.  I hope that I didn't lose too many of you.

I did finally take pictures of my completed bathroom.  Ta da!  I have some ideas for more posts, so I am going to try and get back on this band wagon.

To help jog all of our memories, I will post the closest pre-reno pics that I have and then the post-reno.  Hit it!

So here is the pre-reno entry into the bathroom.  You can see on the left the end of the current linen closet and how close it is to the door.  There was no room for a towel rack.

Now the entry is far brighter and the closet has been turned to face the entry rather than facing the interior of the room itself.

The old linen closet that opened into the room.

Yes, it was very roomy, but we don't miss it.

Here is the little closet that we had installed.

Yes.  It is a great deal smaller, but takes up far less room and is enough for what we need.

The view towards the front window.  That shelf was a cheap built in that was easily removed.  We found out that the insulation in the entire room was completely inadequate, so that was added into the remodel.  It was well worth the unexpected expense and now that room is probably the warmest in the house.

This is under the window now.  My very own window seat.  I do share with the kitties.

I made the cushion and pillows.  I bought a 2 or 3 inch thick foam piece at Joann's and then I purchased 3 different pieces of outdoor fabric from Hancock to cover two of the pillows and the bench seat.  The little light blue pillow I covered using extra fabric from the curtains that I had hemmed.

I am no great seamstress.  This is a very simple envelope pillow.

Here is the little one I made with the leftover fabric and a random piece of trim that I had.

The best part of the window seat is that it hides all of our linens.

I purchased some baskets at Target and all of our linens fit in here.  I love it.

They used a large piano style hinge on the lid.

The pre-reno view towards the sink/toilet area and side window.

And the view now.  We have so much more room on and in the vanity. 

The old tub/shower combination.  Notice the nasty floor.

The view now.  And of course, there is a comfort height toilet hidden in the alcove.

This is the old shower.

And this is my fabulous shower now.  Yes, that is a light above the shower.  I love it.

So now you have seen the full renovation of our upstairs bath.  We absolutely love it and I usually can't believe that it's ours.  I had a great team behind me, but ultimately, it was a lot of work running around looking at tile, fixtures, curtains, fabric, trim, etc.  I am thrilled with the results.

The only thing I have left to do is add any artwork.  I am so slow at that.  I also have an idea for a furniture piece, but that takes a while to find.  When I do find it, I will post it.

Thanks for waiting.