Oasis Dreaming

Look at what popped up in the backyard this week. Under some very ugly rocks, and beneath a layer of "weed paper", (don't even get me started on that stuff) a little line of perfectly spaced crocus are making their appearance. 

This week we've had two beautiful evenings where the wind wasn't blowing and the temperature was above 50. We found ourselves in the backyard dreaming... Dreaming of the pergola we're going to build, dreaming of the hammock we're going to put in, the trees and flowers to plant and dreaming if all the possibilities awaiting us in our backyard. 

You see we are really lying to ourselves when we say we bought the Steel City Tudor for her charming indoor details. We really bought her for her backyard, or at least the vision of what we want for the backyard...  This is how the yard looked last May. Long, tree shaded, spotty grass, odd rocks, tree stumps... You can see all the potential, right?? Yeah, I'm having a hard time too..

From this

to maybe this...?

And from this

to maybe this...?

So for now, I'll just keep pinning and dreaming. 

Winter

This has been our first REAL winter in the Steel City in as long as I can remember. We've had snow and cold for a little over a week and the snow isn't melting off right away. I'm loving it! That being said, this is our first winter in our 90 year old Tudor and there has been a bit of a learning curve. Our furnace is brand spanking new and when it kicks on it's like a fighter jet roaring to life in the basement.

Keeping all that toasty warm air in house has been the real trick. First there was the vent to the crawl space under the living room. Once we plugged that puppy for the season, no more icy cold toes on the hardwood. Except the vent cover fell off and our kind neighbor came to warn us she saw some squirrels nosing around. Eeek! Sealed back up. 

Then there is this gap on the front door....

I'm thinking that the original hardware must have had a nice thick door plate at the lock. I'm not even sure how to fix that...  The Tudor is amazing though and we really are staying warm and toasty. ❤️

Getting into the car in the garage the other day I noticed something unusual. 

Can you see what that is? Those are the nails from the stucco wire coming through to the inside of the garage. They are all frosted over!!  

It's a tiny frosted world! I just love them. Stay warm friends! Happy Winter ❤️