A Bit of a Bright Spot

Hello, hope you all had a nice weekend.  It's been a roller coaster week since hubby and I moved home to find our home totally trashed by our renter.  Amid all of the craziness, there's a little bright spot in the form of two adorable baby mourning doves, right outside our back door!  I first noticed mama dove sitting in the wall planter by our door when we got home.  The next morning, what a surprise to find this!

 Well, this is what they look like now, anyway, after one week!  Aren't they the sweetest?  We try not to disturb them any more than we have to.  I'm sure that mama regrets putting her nest so close to the door, now what we are home (and in the nasty cigarette butts that the renter put in my planter!).

 This is what they looked like on Monday.  Mama even cleaned up the egg shell:)

 They even have their very own guardian angel looking after them!  It has been such a thrill to watch them grow, I imagine before too long they will be ready to leave the nest.

 And here is just a small sampling of what hubby and I have been dealing with.  The renter had the nerve to say that we gave her permission to paint!  We were up past midnight the other night covering this mess up.  It took 4 coats of Kilz primer, and 3-4 coats of Valspar paint with built in primer, to cover it.  Some of the grafitti it still bleeding thru in a few areas.  I honestly don't know how people can abuse other's homes like this.  She eve tore down the beautiful floral Ralph Lauren wall paper border in my craft room, that I loved so much.  And she damaged the walls in the process.  So, that room will have to be repainted, and I need to find some new border as a replacement.

 I tried to get a good picture of some of the grafitti, but it's not showing up very well.  I think she used magic markers!

 This is what much of our yard now looks like, thanks to the renter who blew piles of leaves all over the yard, killing our once beautiful grass. Still trying to figure out how to get the nasty cigarette smell our of our master bedroom (yuck!).

 Stains on rugs and carpets from her dog.  We had new carpet put in most of the house on Thursday, and it feels sooooo much better already!  No more nasty dog pee smell or stains.  We are supposed to get our furniture delivered in the next day or so, can't wait for that.  Thankfully we've had our motor home to live in (parked in our driveway), thru all of this.  In all honesty, I am drained physically, emotionally, and mentally.  I am so ready for life to return to normal (whatever normal is, anyway!).
We did get our high speed internet, phone, and tv connected today, so that feels good.  I know that "this too shall pass", but walking thru it has not been a piece of cake, to put it mildly.

On a lighter note, I can't wait to show you how I've been decorating our pontoon boat, that we had launched a few days ago!  (hint:  I've used lots of pink, and it has a tiki hut feel to it!).  Thanks so much for all of your support and kind words during this difficult time.

Hope you have a great week!