Spring cleaning run a muck

Look at all this Martha Stewart paper, blue and gold wood grain , pink velum, and pink tissue, each roll a mere $1.50 , compared to the original price of $12.00 a roll. yippee I love this kind of thing.
I washed my dining room drapes and I have unearthed my "dirty little secret" I have no where to put my vacuum's really with the exception of my basement and I vacuum a lot and that wouldn't work for me to have to lug them up and down, so I hide them behind my dining room drapes ,you would never know they are there, I know it's such small living trick, but it is working , until I buy the much needed storage cabinet for our upstairs landing.
Here is what happens when spring cleaning goes wrong, I washed my drapes , for the first time, followed the directions dried them hanging and fluffed them in the dryer to get rid of that awful stiff crunchy look, horror , they shrunk 3 inches , they are useless.
So I have a dilemma , either I add fabric to lengthen them , buy a new rod that has bigger rings and install it a bit lower, but I like them higher it raises the ceiling visually, or buy new drapes, but the color works and I like them ,so may a combo add the fabric at the bottom and new rod ?
How annoying though I just wanted to have them clean.....see what I get for going the extra mile.

This is a Silestone counter sample, it is grey amazon, I liked it because it looks like cement and even a tad like soapstone, you can see my current selection is faux granite laminate, yuck, it's ok at best , but I would love to have a nice clean look for our counters, I do a lot of baking and this would provide a smooth and cold surface great for rolling out dough . Just thinking here , I am not sold yet. Carrera marble would be nice too , I wonder what the cost would be.

Naughty puppy

This is my naughty puppy, that is black spring mud on his chin down his chest and deep into his paws, I was wondering where he was ? oh there you are puppy in the melting sewage backyard digging up a mess ( our backyard is 60% mud and 40% grass because winters and dogs are hard on grass), we try our best but lets face it there are poops out there that have been hiding under numerous snow falls, am I convincing you out of buying a family dog yet? winter and dogs don't mix. Hence why we have concrete plans to build a big deck and a dog potty area with rinseable AstroTurf , that's right you put lots of stone beneath and poke holes in the fake grass easy to scoop the poop and rinse the pee.
Here is the little devil after a impromptu bath . He drives me crazy , but he is like a little teddy bear , and is always so happy to see me, the sight of my and my family brings him pure joy.
For all you Canadian readers I wanted to show you the best deal in town, let's face it laundry can get messy , well at $14.00 this folding station( which I thought was much smaller what a nice suprise) is a welcome addition to the laundry dungeon I have , I can fold organize and even leave things for others to complete , hint hint ! I think this would be also helpful in my walk in closet to hold clothes and laundry , you too might be able to find one one if you hurry out to the nearest Superstore.

1 Year and counting.

Well today is my 1 year anniversary of my blog, it has been fun, I am glad that I was open to give this thing a try , I have enjoyed this experience, and seen many wonderful things and connected with many wonderful and talented like minded people, this has been very positive, I would like to say thank you to those of you who stop by regularly and comment , I love to hear all the input , thank you for letting me share a little bit of myself with you . 247 posts and counting , I hope to come up with some more things to share in the coming year.
Cheers !