Manic Monday -- Mosaics Wild, A Metamorphosis Mild, And A Thrifty Treasure Gild-ed

Triple threat today -- A Metamorphosis, a few Mosaics, and a Thrifty Treasure.

Whew -- that's a mouthful.

First, we're checking in with Mary at Little Red House, where she hosts Mosaic Mondays. (Click here for more.)

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I'm not really good yet at this Mosaic thing; each time it's a surprise if I manage to do one. I use Picasa, because it's already on the computer and I keep learning something new.

This time, I learned that if you highlight an entire folder and tell Picasa to make a collage, this is what you get:

And it makes you laugh out loud.

How nuts is that? We can play "Where's Dion?" in this mosaic -- can you find the spaniel in the jumble?
He's in there; Dion manages to get his nose into most of what goes on around here.

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Now, a more sane mosaic --- one that brings together the elements for today's metamorphosis:

And that brings us to the business at hand -- decently clothing a bare-nekkid Parlor fireplace.

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Thanks to Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for hosting Metamorphosis Monday (click here!) and to Rhoda of Southern Hospitality for hosting Today's Thrifty Treasure (click here!) -- go ahead, click and find some great stories!

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Our fireplace overmantel needed help. It was bare as bare could be:

My friend Suzanne, who is a decorator, said, "A big painting, that's what it needs."

That sounded good, provided I could find a big painting that I loved.

But, I was getting another message from another source -- That Old House herself was chiming in. And she is a force to be reckoned with, this old gal.

Do you see what living in an old house can do to you? You get a little batty.
(Although some might say you are batty for buying an old house in the first place!)

Well, That Old House told me that she wanted a mirror over that fireplace.
And not just any mirror.
A round, convex mirror with an eagle on top, and little balls strung all around,
representing the 13 original colonies.
A mirror that was cutting-edge fashion back when That Old House was a youngster.

I folded. I have learned to listen to my house.

For more than a year, I cruised Ebay, bid, and lost.
Then week before last, I made a low-ball bid . . . and won.

It arrived in an enormous cardboard box, and I had a moment of panic that it was too big!

Anne: "Mom, didn't you get the measurements before you bid?"
Me: "I didn't think I'd win!"

But by the time Anne and I cut and pulled and wrenched off the wrappings and paddings and Styrofoam peanuts. . .

It turned out to be just the right size.

So we hung it, all by ourselves with our lily white hands, and a big ol' hammer.

Yeah, we hung it a tad too high. We can fix that.

Well? Was That Old House right about what was supposed to hang on her wall?

I'm thinking the lady knows whereof she speaks.
And she wants one room in the house where the original owners would feel, well, at home.

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One more mosaic -- I told you I've been practicing. This one with real live people. When our daughters went to London back in June, they took lots of arms-length self-portraits, together. Here are a few of them:

Digital cameras are amazing; the girls brought home something like 1,000 shots. Mind boggling.

I wish I'd had digital cameras and computer editing back when they were little and cute. Now they're old and they don't smell like baby powder anymore. (We were at a family baptism on Sunday -- lots of little ones underfoot, made me miss babies!)

Go visit! -- Cass