Scarecrow and Mrs. Hogan

Anyone else remember that TV show from the 80's?  With the secret agent and his suburban mom side kick?  I loved it.

Oh man, what a week!  I'm almost grateful for the little bit of downtime.  A little bit, mind you.  Too much makes me batty.  My family trickled out of Oz last week but we had a really great time with them.  Parents and brother left Wednesday morning for the States (poor Mom was sick all through JFK).  Grandparents left for their tour around the Emerald Isle (more on that).  And the rest left Thursday.  My sister and brother-in-law got me hooked on a new fabulous thing, GEOCACHING!  My nephew calls it treasure hunting.  Look it up if you've never heard of it before.  It's like a treasure hunt combined with hide & seek combined with awesome.  It can look something like this.

This is what I did with them the day before they left.  Lots o' fun.

Friday my grandparent's tour brought them back to Limerick.  We went and visited them in their hotel and then joined them at Bunratty Castle for the medieval banquet.  Didn't get to sit with them since they just barely squeezed us in, but did sit next to a lovely family who were scattering their husband/father/grandfather's ashes around the country.  Great food, fun entertainment.  A fun date night given that one of our first dates was a tour of Bunratty Castle.

I don't know if I mentioned, but in the course of all the madness we got a dog.  Or the dog got us.  She must have been abandoned by her owners who were moving (that's really common here).  She's a sweet little yellow lab we call Maybell.  I don't feel the need to give her a pseudonym like some of the people I mention here.  Plus Toto is already my step-daughter, so that wouldn't even work.  I think her identity will still be kept pretty safe.  She's a real doll.

Saturday was relaxing and spent getting a few things to make our space a little more ours and seem a little less like a bachelor pad.  I had a good laugh, the Scarecrow was emptying our purchases out of the car while I put Maybell's new collar on her and gave her a rope toy.  I looked at her and said, "Don't you look so domesticated" to which Scarecrow replied, "Me, or the dog?".  A little bit of both I'd say.  The bathroom upstairs got a nice little makeover along with some new MATCHING lamps for our room.  We also got rid of the plethora of dry cleaner hangers which comprised our closet.  I'm so proud.

 This is our new duvet set we brought over using Target gift cards.  I wish there was a before shot.  It's not that it was unlivable, it's just it was clear a single man lived here.  There was a bare bulb hanging and a black duvet set and one desk lamp.  Best part?  They're touch lamps!  So fun!

Closet before...

 Closet after!  Because the hangers are all the same thickness it looks and feels cleaner.

A mirror has been hung!  Storage has been purchased!  My makeup is no longer strewn all over the top of the dryer!  I'm so happy!

The oddities of Oz will have to wait for another post.  This week was all about making our space our home.