Closet Lighting

Last week, I posted about Corey installing our closet doors.  Today, I'm sharing the second part of the project, which was installing lighting in out closet.

Remember, Corey and I still need to drywall over the frame... and now, we'll also have some holes to patch from the electrical work, but we're always a work in progress.

Here's the back of the closet frame, this is where Corey attached the fluorescent lighting.

I tried to get some decent pictures...

We seriously needed extra light in the room, and it would have been impossible to see our clothes without this update.  Here's our closet pre-doors.

 

... And here it is now!  The closet lighting actually works well as ambient light for our bedroom!

 

 

LET THERE BE LIGHT!  We're not getting too excited though.  There's still plenty of work to do, including this patching from running the wires.

 

In case you're wondering, that coiled wire is for Corey to run to the overhead light.  We thought we'd update everything at once.

Patching aside, we also now have a double switch!  When combined with the bedside lights that Corey installed in the summer, we'll finally have a bright bedroom with switches for the overhead light and closet beside the door, and separate switches and lights over each nightstand.  Woo hoo!

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• Hiding Our Closet
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WHO Let the Dogs Out?

Meet Monty!  He's our newest foster greyhound and we picked him up on the weekend!  We'd love to take a minute to introduce him to you guys...  He's a real charmer, as you can probably tell from those eyes!

Unlike our last two fosters, Monty is very young and has tons of rambunctious energy.  He's also a total sweetie!

Corey tried to teach Monty to fetch, but like most greyhounds, he lost interest in the ball when it stopped moving.

He's a good sport... and he deals well with his grumpy foster brother, Barkley.

He's actually part of a group of greyhounds who were brought in from a foster home in the states.  There, he was living with one of his litter mates and their mother.  He's been really sucky towards me but we think he just misses his family.

It's been chilly in the mornings, so Barkley shared one of his coats with Monty.  If Barkley could speak he would probably say that he looks better in blue anyway. ;)

But that's not to say that Monty isn't cute... because he's so handsome!  He's mostly a light fawn colour except for a 5 o'clock shadow on his muzzle and a black tail.

Each time we get a new foster, we need to be careful to still give Barkley plenty of love. 

He's an expert at photobombing.  Boom!

Boom, again!

At one point, Barkley basically made it known that Monty was not welcome to chill in our room with him.  Luckily, Monty is pretty resourceful and made his way to our spare/storage room and dug himself a spot under the blankets.    It was so cute that we almost wished we didn't have to make him get down.

What do you think of this cutie?  We have a full house again and we're seeing more of his personality each day.  It won't be long before the FULL MONTY comes out.  Sorry for the bad joke, I have absolutely no filter for bad jokes.

Related articles

• Release the Hounds! (Pics of Our New Foster Dog)
• Greyhounds Make Grey-t Pets!
• Meet Friendly (Our New Foster Dog)
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Mulch Ado About Nothing

So, it's been a rainy week in Toronto and our backyard has turned into a mud pit.  You may recall that in the summer, we were beginning to show our yard some TLC but we haven't touched the actual lawn, since we're hoping to be building a deck next year.

Unfortunately, this leaves us with a yard full of gloppy mud... especially in the high traffic areas.  Worst of all (for a clumsy person like me) it's slippery!

Here's a quick look at the stairs as well.  I can't wait to replace this deathtrap!  The wood hasn't been maintained and when it's wet, it feels like it's covered in oil!  In case you're wondering, I have only fallen down these stairs once and it wasn't serious at all.

Anyway, I was sick of Barkley tracking mud into the family room, so we finally bought some mulch to cover the mud.  So far, it's working like a charm and once the steps dry, we're going to apply a non-slip coating.

I would say it's MULCH better!  Sorry, I couldn't help myself. 

Actually, I was surprised by the fact that I actually don't hate the way it looks.  I don't think I could ever cover our entire yard, because I'd miss the grass, but covering part of the yard could really cut down on our lawn maintenance.  Corey and I are considering this as a temporary fix until we can build a deck. 

To help us to visualize what our lawn could look like, I collected some inspiration photos:

I think I was drawn to this one because of the fire pit and I found the picture on a blog called Daisy Mae Belle.

This next picture is by Gardenwright Landscape and Design and it makes me want a stone pathway in our yard.  Their blog points out that reducing your lawn area is also a great way to conserve water.

This picture from Ideas for Backyard Landscaping makes me like the idea of a curved edge with small shrubs and plants poking through.

And finally, this picture from Good Earth is a little too planned for my taste but it illustrates many of these ideas very well!

What do you think?  Would you trade in some of the grass in your own yard for mulch?

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Friday Reading: Part 12

This week has felt so short with Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday.  We both have work to do on the weekend but we're looking forward to seeing friends in the evenings.  If it doesn't rain, we may begin decorating for Halloween... Which, we've been looking forward to for ages!  We may also try one of these great fall drives from the Ontario Tourism website.  Do you have any exciting plans?

Here are some interesting links I've been collecting to share with you:

Do you have trouble remembering names like I do?  I'm going to try this technique.

This trailer is sad but important to watch.

This ballet on the 57th floor of Four World Trade Center is beautiful and haunting.

A little kitschy, but sort of brilliant.

This is one of the sweetest videos I have seen lately.

Have you seen this hilarious impression?  I went to school with this talented guy!

I'm bookmarking these Infographics to get you through life!

A cool way to visualize really large numbers.

If you haven't seen these hilarious Conversation With My 2 Year Old videos yet, you need to see them all!

Did any of you follow the whole Sinead vs Miley drama that was all over the internet a couple of weeks ago?  Here's the original open letter from Sinead.  There are a few sides to this story.  While the advice seemed sound, it was also pretty presumptuous.  Miley responded with some pretty mean tweets.  While most people rushed to Sinead's side, some felt that her advice was pretty condescending.  This week, Gloria Steinem weighed in with an opinion that pretty much sums up my own thoughts.  What do you think about all this?

I think many of these teaching ideas are very smart.  I love the idea of giving a child a toy and letting them decide how to play with it.

I've been trying to convince my mom to join Facebook.  Some of these other Baby Boomer Facebookers are hilarious!

Have a great weekend!

Related articles

• Friday Reading: Part 1
• Friday Reading: Part 5 (And a teeny bit of wedding talk)
• Friday Reading: Part 7
• Friday Reading: Part 10
• Friday Reading: Part 11 (... And More Wedding Updates.)
• Friday Reading: Part 6 (AKA, All the articles I didn't have time to post on Facebook)