it was a naughty - and nice - year

Not my usual post, but I thought I'd share some Christmas cuteness before the year is over.  I was at the mall a few weeks ago when I came across a lady selling homemade dog scarves.  Since my dogs love being festive 😆, and I like supporting small business, my dogs got an early gift of style.

I couldn't resist the naughty or nice scarves, especially since I have one dog of each kind; and everyone in my family knew exactly which scarf was for which dog, no questions asked.

Here they are, in all their Christmas cuteness:

(Yes, they are looking at a cookie being held over their heads.)

In case you are wondering what qualifies a dog as naughty to Santa, I have an illustration:

This is the scene we arrived home to a few weeks ago, after attending a Christmas concert.

Just like everyone knew who the naughty scarf was for - with no questions asked - we all knew which dog did this, whether we saw it or not.

That's Wizard with the broom.

You can see the innocent dog watching from the corner.  That's Shiloh.

We all knew she was simply an observer.

And naughty or nice, they both got a treat from Santa for Christmas dinner; 

some "crap from a can" mixed in with their kibbles.

They love the unhealthy questionable stuff as much as we do sometimes.

And finally, one last pic, just for cuteness overload:

The new kitten got some bells.

They lasted about a minute before we took compassion on her and removed them.

(They are loud!)

This is Nala.

Fingers are crossed that they all make it to the nice list this year: no running away, no destruction of objects and no pointless barking.  I imagine they'll make it about two hours.

And I imagine I'll love them anyway. 💕

the weirdest Christmas present ever?

It was a lovely Christmas season.  And I received one gift - that I absolutely loved! - that may be the weirdest (grossest?) gift I've ever been given...

So here is a little backstory: every year on Black Friday I take myself antiquing.  It's always a nice, quiet day in some other little town where I just wander around, eat leftover Chex Mix from a plastic container, enjoy Christmas decorations and imagine the histories of all the objects I'm perusing. 

This time I was at a favorite antique store in Shelbyville, Tennessee.  While I was at the store, I found something I really, really loved.

It was a vase full of fake flowers, but it was no ordinary vase.  This vase was HUGE.  It was about 18" tall, made from thick glass and very heavy.  (Read: it was very solid and also due to it's slightly wider circumference at the base, would be difficult to tip over.)  It was a wonderful vintage green color with a basket weave design.  I saw it and not only loved how it looked, but thought it would be perfect for all my tall cut flowers, in particular my lily trees that grow about 6' tall.

A vase tall enough for these flowers, and also heavy enough to not be tippy is something I really haven't seen before.  I just loved it.

Not seeing a price tag, I asked the shop owner how much it was.  She actually had a pair of them, she told me, but they were not for sale.  They were for display only.

This was disappointing, as I was prepared to pay for these.  I was even ready to leave the cheap zone, because I really, really liked (and kind of needed) this vase.

So a couple of days after I got home I decided to try and find the vase on ebay.  After a couple of failed search attempts, I finally had enough of the right key words to find one.  It was listed at $60 plus shipping, and I was pretty sure it was identical to the one at the store.  (The vase was unmarked, and I still don't know who the original manufacturer is.)

So I sent the listing to my husband and asked him to order it for me as a Christmas gift.  He did.

Christmas morning I opened the huge box, which was packed very thoroughly to safely ship a tall, heavy glass object.  As I pulled the paper away, there was my vase.  I noticed it was really filthy.  Obviously the seller had not bothered to clean it before packaging it.  Then I noticed something down in the bottom.  In the midst of the dirt, it looked like maybe plant debris.

My son looked inside.  "You don't want to know what that is," he informed me.  So I got out my camera for a clearer look.  And it was....two dead mice.

Yes, two dead mice were in the bottom of the vase that was so carefully packaged and shipped.

Yes, the seller - who had photo'd, listed and wrapped this item - had NOT BOTHERED TO REMOVE TWO DEAD MICE from inside of it.  And I thought sending something dirty was lazy.

Well, having grown up in seasonal cottages, and spending years cleaning filthy rental properties (and one foreclosed house - it was bad), I am pretty hard to gross out.  I've seen a lot.  And I've scraped up and removed mice in every possible state of decomposition.  So I guess the seller chose the right person to put his minimal effort in with.  There was no screaming here.

But still...really?

Maybe now I really have seen it all.

Actually, after my (wonderful) husband hosed it out for me outside, I spent a little time wiping it down inside and out with some vinegar.  I couldn't believe the change.  What I had thought might be a lot of scratches on the glass turned out to just be ground in dirt.  My vase was sparkling after a little vinegar wipe down.

Here is the vase after I got it all cleaned up.

I just love it's vintage design.

I was really surprised I was able to track it down online.

Here's what I first saw when I unwrapped the packaging.

What I thought were a lot of scratches in the top of the vase were just dirt.

But what is that in the bottom?

These poor fellows jumped in and never made it out.

I guess I should be glad they were just bones.

If you have ever smelled a decomposing mouse that still has any skin left, it's not very pleasant.

And here was the original vase I saw in the antique mall, in all of it's fake-flowered glory.

The owner did not want to sell this "display."

(It was even worse when she told me she actually had two.)

Well, it was the first - and hopefully the last - time I've ever had dead mice wrapped up and given to me.  It is a gift I will always remember.

I'll finish this post with a few pics of the reason I'm so excited for my "new" vase:

Here are a couple of my lily trees in past years, when they were still not as tall as the 6' fence.  (Now they are taller).  They also multiply over the years, so I'll have more stems to cut.

These lilies need a tall container!

And since a few of my lily trees have downward-angled flowers, a taller vase helps you see and appreciate them more.

Lily season is one of my favorite seasons!

I'm looking forward to a new year filled with more flowers! 🎕