WE are going through mice issues as well. NEVER had to deal with it here....but, stupid me---when I decided to start just throwing my produce scraps directly into the garden--well that just exascerbates the problem. Was out watering the planters around my (empty) pond and two pop out from under the rocks that edge the planter border---and scurry up the side and back of the pond. Also saw one scurry from my patio over to the pond and then last night watered my backyard flowerbed and one jumped out to scurry over to the patio! SOO, hubby got some mouse traps and loaded them with pnut butter. He checked them this morning. One the pnut butter was licked clean but not tripped! and another is missing! I don't think my dog got to it because we locked her in her yard last night....sooo, just waiting and hoping. I'm not a cat person but we MAY have to get a cat...and OUTDOOR cat! ugh....pray for us...and as far as I can tell, none in the house..... Love, Jules

myself I love your mantle the way it is..just my opinion..as for the decor, it depends on the style, my guess is that you are going somewhat rustic with a tad contemporary..am i right? I think i would find 2 long narrow matching pictures or mirrors or pieces of art and center one on each side wall of the fireplace above the mantle, one thing that really looks great is to layer..so if you use mirors or if you use an outdoor scene ..say with a lot of grasses..you could layer your grasses in front of and below the art on the wall..to tie in the art to the mantle, and then add a few other outdoorsy things to the mantle..the photographs are too small for there, put them somewhere else..although lovely they are just not the right scale.. do you happen to have a rock collection? it would be pretty on the mantle with an outdoor picture of a stream going over rocks along a meadow? with the grasses.. or a few beautiful unusual rocks on the mantle with the grasses..or a hurricane lamp with washed river stones filling it..clear glass..to tie in the rocks of the fireplace with your art. tell a story about what you like, if you love horses a horse running through a meadow, if you love old mills, an old mill with a creek and some old wooden architechtural pieces.. a tall grouping might work in the center going down to a shorter one on each side..or a tall one on each side of each wall with shorter in the center.. maybe two long art or mirror pieces, a much taller grass in the corner center and the smaller grasses just over the edges of the art on each side.. there are number of ways to do this..but you love it..leave it white unless you hate the white..i don't..i think white and stones is very updated rustic

We brought him to the vet for treatment last night. I know he gave him a pill, and also some shots but I think those were just update shots. We adopted the kitty from the Humane Society, but for the first little while you are technically "fostering" and need to bring the cat to them for any treatments etc. I had no idea what the vet was saying to me most of the time. It was noisy, he had a thick accent, and we were busy trying not to get eaten by the biggest, meanest rottweiler ever seen that was in the waiting room. It kept lunging at me and DD, and when they brought out our kitten in the carrier it went BALLISTIC. Even managed to pinch me when I was not looking, through a muzzle! Anyway. We bring him back early December to be neutered. Once that is done, we pay the rest of the adoption fee and he is ours for good! And no worms today, and none in the litterbox that we can see. So hopefully that is a good sign...I don't know how long it usually takes for the pill to work. As for that dog, they were bringing it in to see if it got along with one they hoped to adopt. Yeah. Good luck with that. Dances.

None of that list annoys me. I love the Christmas season. Like Rusty, the only thing that I dislike about this time of year are the miserable wretches that want to put a damper on everyone elses fun. If they are not into it, fine. Everyone is not the same. But really,keep your negative attitude to yourself. What type of person sees people being excited to celebrate something and feels the need to try to ruin it? I hate when people tell me its too early for ME to listen to the music,that MY decorations are too much, that I spend too much on gifts for people that I WANT TO give gifts too. I mean, not even a gift for them! A few people have asked me what I plan to get for SO this year. I always get lots of things. The total for his gifts is usually between 1 and 2 thousand dollars. Not much to me,given the circumstances. He is so good to me all year, so when I get my profit sharing check at work every December,I spend most of it on his Christmas. How in the name of Bob Crachit is someone gonna tell ME that I spend too much money on him? Or that I listen to the music too early? Or anything like that. No ones asking them to chip in for the gifts or to tune their own radios to the music. What's their problem? Anything to be negative. Anything to be contrary. Anything to counteract the joy and excitement of the season. That's pitiful. I remember the year that an older kid at school had told one of my nieces (5 years old at the time) that Santa wasn't real. She was devastated. That kid was a miserable creature, who thoroughly enjoyed seeing her enjoyment ruined. Luckily, her parents were able to convince her otherwise and the magic lasted for a few more years for her. So yeah. My list would be fuddy duddies. Oh, and white/clear Christmas lights. What's the point? Although,in fairness,they dont really ANNOY me. They are pretty..I guess it just seems like a missed opportunity.......