Here are some blue things that look like Texas bluebonnets, but not quite, in the front yard. 

Mystery Tree. I thought this was a pussy willow tree because it looked a lot like the tree in my neighbor's yard, that definitely is one. However, this weekend, the bulb things bloomed out into flowers. My neighbor's pussy willow tree didn't do this - it created these small shaped bottle-brush type things that are shedding all over my back deck. They didn't flower at all. So now, I'm not sure what type of tree this is - there are very tiny leaf buds but they are few and frequent. It's definitely different. 

Here are a couple of the daffodils that have been hiding underground. With all the similar green shoots coming up I was hoping to see them across the whole front of the house. Turns out there are a total of 4 blooms, these three near the sunroom and one in the front. But they're nice to see nonetheless. 

Katman is watching me snap a few photos from the sunroom - this is his second-favorite daytime perch, with a view to the action out front and the squirrel and bird activity in the adjacent tree. 

Finally! A rain-free weekend. My maple tree is starting to bud out, and even without the leaves it provides a nice shade canopy. The most surprising thing about the back yard is how green the grass is. It's that super fine bluegrass stuff which I understand requires more frequent mowing than other types. Guess I need to get a mower.  

Wallpaper Project Part II - beginnings. I've decided to address the smaller bathroom and get all of the wallpapering effort out of the way. The ladies who do the work are slow as molasses but they do excelent, qualitiy work. During the work in the bigger bathroom, it took 2 ladies 4 days to strip and repaper the room. This was because they took Thursday off to go bowl. In the half bath, they've stripped it a week ago and left all of their tools in a tidy pile in the bedroom - but have been incognito for a week. I haven't heard back from them in a week. I'm trying not to think this is odd. In this town, where you can walk through a furniture store for 40 minutes unapproached and give up on trying to buy something because of salesperson apathy, and where service providers often opt to simply not call or show up for appointments, maybe the fact that I have their tools and supplies stockpiled in my bedroom is a good sign. Maybe I'll learn more about that this week.  

Here is where the mirror was on the half bath. Makes you wonder what would make unfinished drywall discolor like that, underneath wallpaper. Ugh. For this room I chose a wallpaper that looks like an organic weave - not in a cheesey 70s way, but in a neat new age way. It's a horizontal pattern which should make this smaller-than-a-closet water closet a little more roomy feeling.  

Bathroom Wallpaper Completion - Part I. Here's a seam shot...you can see a wallpaper seam just to the right of the light switch. I guess that's not horrible, but my eyes go to it pretty immediately. I think it was the nature of the paper - the mosaic shaped tiles were not perfectly aligned on the paper - which was why I selected it, thinking that my not-quite-90-degree corners would be better disguised this way. Problem is the paper tiles started flush left on the side of the roll of paper, so when hanging one strip, the right edge would be differently aligned tiles. But, it makes the room look literally 3 times larger than the bat-cave, floral-vomit junk that was up there previously. 

So, here is the main bathroom, wall paper completed and reinstalled fixtures repaired (in one case). Now I've realized that my small mosaic tile wallpaper pattern makes the room look humongously empty. What kind of wall decor is next? I don't want to hammer nails into the paper...the walls are plaster so anything of any weight significance would require molly bolts and look horrible when I leave and try to sell. Tho in keeping with the whole mosaic bathroom I'm leaning toward a lot of ivy. Except the shelves around the tub are not wide enough to hold potted plants. I'm out of ideas on this one. 

My Bathroom Renovation.......in progress! It's so odd to see it with no wallpaper. But even in this state, it looks worlds better than it did with the flower/stripe vomit that was there. 

Here's a shot from the other corner. It's so much brighter (obviously) that the little light coming in from the closed window blinds, that you can't see here, illuminates the tub as though a sky light were above it. 

Here it is! My chosen wallpaper, soon to be applied. 

This was the snow we had recently. Big, fat flakes that were melted by the next day's sun. 

This one's for you, Alan!! I have not cut my hair short, and while you can't really tell from this shot, it's a little more red now, *wink wink*. Luck o' the Irish and all that! Kathmand decided to jump up just as the shutter opened. Believe it or not, those are the stairs to the upstairs to the left of the shot.  

Here's a shot of Kathman hanging out in the sunroom, in his favorite day-spot.