. . . happy/bassett . . .

. . . once upon a time . . .

. . . probably about nineteen years ago . . .

. . . i let myself get talked into

getting a puppy for our kids

for christmas . . .

. . . she was a basset hound . . .

. . . she looked kind of like this . . .

. . . but with no white on her at all . . .

. . . just brown and black . . .

. . . she was really pretty . . .

. . . and we named her happy . . .

{i'll give you a second to think about that, because it's pretty funny!}

. . . then ~ as puppies always do . . .

. . . happy grew . . .

. . . and grew . . .

. . . and grew . . .

. . . her ears were

always dragging

in her water dish . . .

. . . aka: forever soggy/dripping everywhere . . .

. . . her feet were huge . . .

. . . as was everything else about her . . .

{and i think you know what i'm talking about}

. . . she would come galloping across the yard . . .

. . . put her paws on drew's shoulders . . .

{he was about three}

. . . and absolutely flatten him . . .

. . . the next fall, we took our kids to disney world . . .

. . . happy went to stay with lori ~ her groomer . . .

. . . with special instructions for lori

to find a new place for her live . . .

. . . when we returned from vacation . . .

. . . it took about a week

for any of the kids

to notice/ask where happy was . . .

. . . and then we told them that

happy went to live happily ever after

with a new family . . .

. . . and i was really happy about that! . . .

. . . sorry ~ tangent . . .

. . . anyway ~ one saturday afternoon . . .

. . . after scouring craigslist . . .

. . . i drove about 80 miles round trip . . .

. . . to buy this . . .

. . . and when i looked inside the drawer . . .

. . . guess what it said? . . .

. . . and that made me happy . . .

. . . see? that first story does tie in . . .

. . . sort of . . .

. . . so the seller and i loaded it into my car . . .

. . . and wrapped it lovingly

in a thirty-two-year-old quilt . . .

{made for me by the sweet ladies in good ol' nineteenth ward when i got married.

the arizona temple is quilted into the center of it}

. . . and i drove around with it in there for a week . . .

. . . looking like i was hiding a casket or something . . .

. . . because believe me . . .

. . . it's heavy . . .

. . . i could barely even lift the mirror . . .

. . . then i took it to a pro for refinishing . . .

. . . and hello, gorgeous . . .

. . . natalie is a miracle worker . . .

. . . even the original hardware looks fabulous . . .

. . . after she scrubbed and polished it . . .

. . . her photos are fantastic . . .

. . . but, the funniest thing about her post

was when she called me a quilter extraordinaire . . .

. . . since i haven't touched a quilt

since about november . . .

. . . i've seriously gotta do something about that! . . .

. . . next step was altering the mirror . . .

. . . it originally sat right on the dresser . . .

. . . supporting the weight . . .

. . . but i wanted it to hang on the wall ~

adding visual height to the piece . . .

. . . enter rob brinton of matage . . .

. . . he worked magic with an mdf template

and some nifty z bar hardware . . .

. . . this kind of project takes a village . . .

. . . and the next player was son-in-law, chris . . .

. . . he helped me unload and carry the dresser . . .

. . . then he hung the mirror . . .

. . . and it's level and everything! . . .

. . . good job, christopher . . .

. . . now don't worry . . .

. . . i'm definitely keeping

great grandma rogers'

antique buffet . . .

. . . but i'm loving this update . . .

. . . and there's even more space

for seasonal doodads and decorating . . .

. . . so to sum up . . .

. . . this bassett makes me happy . . .

{also . . . hello old friends who tell me they read this blog! it was great to see you!}