Ta-Da: The Latest Member of the Family

I am just taking a minute this morning to post the promised photos of my daughter's sweet new son. Introducing Wyatt Lee (last name withheld at the request of my daughter and son-in-law) hope you enjoy the pics:

From top to bottom and left to right: The new momma with her little one, my sweet hubby (aka pawpaw), me and our son, Caleb (aka Uncle Caleb) and my mom and dad at their house. We are all so glad that he is here and so healthy! Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!!
Stay Cozy,
Charlotte

Back to Regular Posts

     Whew....has it been a long time since I have posted anything! Sorry about that. I have not forgotten my sweet little blog, I have just been busy around here with a multitude of STUFF! I have been busy with our son and his homeschooling, my daughter had a new baby (pictures will be coming soon), my Celebrating Home business has been on a steady increase, I have a couple of design projects that I am working on, my mom has been in and out of the hospital with a venous leg ulcer that just does not want to get well, and, of course, there are the chores that come with every day living.
     I had one other new and very interesting opportunity come my way a few of months ago. I am now writing a monthly column for my favorite local publication, Two Lane Livin'. My column is titled "Feather Your Nest" and it is also included on the web version. I love writing the articles for my column and try to keep them short, sweet and informative for my readers. This is true of the other columns that you will find there, also. The best part about Two Lane Livin' is that there is no "bad news" reported there. No politics, no murder or larceny, just good news and lots of good ideas for every day living from every day folks. Kind of like taking a minute out of your busy day to visit with your neighbors. Stop by and check it out. You will love the wonderful down home appeal that editor, Lisa Hayes Minney, maintains in this "little jewel" of a paper from Central WV.
     I do plan to get back to putting up regular weekly posts here at my humble little blog starting this week. I have some pictures to share from around my cozy little cottage as well as some ideas to share to help you with decorating your cozy cottages, too. It does seem good to stop a while and visit with each of my blog buddies here. Hope that each of you are having a wonderful week!!!!

Big Hugs and Stay Cozy,
Charlotte    

Something New

I have just discovered that I can send new posts to my blog by email!!! I am too excited over this. I knew that the blogs were set up to receive postings sent via mobile blackberry, but did not know that I could type one in by my humble email application. I am testing this out right now and will leave the post if it looks satisfactory to my ever discerning eye ;o) If you are reading this, then it passed my inspection. I also wanted to take a minute to say thank you to those who posted such kind comments to my last little garden post. You are all just too sweet. Hope you are having a lovely evening.

((Hugs)) Stay Cozy,

Charlotte

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My Little Garden Spot

Hello again to everyone. I am trying to get back into full swing with all of my online postings and business. I have been released to drive again and to go back to most of my household chores (sigh) so much for the leisurely life... Seriously, I am glad to be getting back to my normal routine and could not wait to run my vaccuum for the first time. There is just something theraputic about pushing it along and seeing my carpets become all fluffy again. Robin does a good job when he has to take over the chore, but there is just something personally gratifying about doing it myself-aaahhh!

I had a few pictures of that little garden spot in front of my house that I thought I would share with you. I have had some of them in the camera for a while, but just did not get them posted. Here are a couple from April:

The Azalea bush was really full this year

My little garden helper, Caleb My sweet kitty,Zoot Caleb at the park

Happy Independence Day!!!

Hope that you are getting ready for a day of wonderful celebration with family and friends. My hubby is fixing a variety of meats and I am taking care of fixing some yummy veggie dishes. We have invited our children to come and eat with us. Caleb is excited about the fact that there will be fireworks in Charleston tonight. I love the 4th of July!

I love to wish everyone that I see a Happy Independence Day! I specifically use that term even though it seems old fashioned today. I love to remind folks that this is what we are celebrating today. The signing of the Declaration of Independence that lead to our freedom from England and the tyranny that the King was imposing on our American Colonies! A freedom that has its roots in the Bible and the promises of Christ: Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:36

Samuel Francis Smith penned the words to the song "America" in 1831. The tune is that of the British National Anthem, "God Save the King" (or Queen). We know it better as "My Country Tis of Thee". It was first sung at a children's Independence Day celebration in Boston at Park Street Church that same year. I am posting it for you and hope that you will pay close attention to the last verse. I am glad that my Liberty comes from the Lord and that no one can ever take that from me! Hope your Independence Day is full of Freedom, Fun, Family, Friends and Food!!!

America

by Samuel Francis Smith

1

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!
2
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
3
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
4
Our father's God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.

Until Next Time, Stay Cozy,

Charlotte

A Quick Note Just to Catch Up

Good day to all!

It seems like a lifetime since my last post here. I am thankful to all of you for continuing to check in here from time to time to check on me. You are all so dear to be concerned about me. Those of you who are also Facebook friends know by now that I have had my surgery and am continuing to recuperate and am gaining my strength back day by day. I am just so very relieved that it is over and that I will not have to deal with any of that any more!

So far, I have not started back to doing any regular design or decorating work. I still have 3 weeks until my doctor will release me and I intend to take every minute of it to rest. I want my body to heal to its maximum potential. I am doing light housework, taking phone calls, scheduling appointments, working on some writing projects and promoting online sales with my three online stores. This is keeping me busy and interested for now. I do have some new photos of my little garden that I will be posting in a day or two and some thoughts on a couple of new projects that I am getting ready to start. I just wanted to stop in for a minute to let you all know that I am OK and to say thank you for being my friends.

Hugs to all and Stay Cozy,
Charlotte

Busy (and a little tiring) Month

Greetings Dear Bloggin' Buddies,

I have decided that my last post probably should have been entitled "The MONTH Ahead" instead of "The WEEK Ahead". This past 4 weeks has just FLOWN past me and I realized that I needed to stop by and give this Cozy old blog a minute or two of my time. I have been by most of your beautiful blogs and do apologize for not taking a wee minute to comment to let you know that I had been there to visit. I promise to at least try to do better in the future.

My days have been a mixed bag as of late. I remain busy with Design Consultations and Celebrating Home business, but I have been plagued with fatigue from this condition that has me in its grips. I will update you a bit and let you know that I am dealing with uterine fibroid tumors. Not a pleasant condition and less pleasant to talk about in polite society. I am looking at a hysterectomy sometime in the near future, probably by the end of summer. I have a couple of other friends that have had the same surgery for the same reason, and they all assure me that I will feel so much stronger once it is done. Right now I often just feel "wrung-out" all of the time and have to just stop right in the middle of doing things to sit down and re-gain my strength. My blood pressure meds are working and have brought me back to a more acceptable range. At the peak, about 2 months ago, it registered at an entirely unhealty 210/100-YIKES! I have never had anything but normal range my entire adult life, so this has been quite an adjustment for me. But I am trying to keep on going and not complain too much, I do have this beautiful family and business to think about. Just keep me in your thoughts and your prayers that the Lord will give me the strength I need for each day.

I also wanted to share a little note about an award that was sent to me from Melanie over at New Creation Cottage a while back. I am truly so very sorry that this did not get posted right away as she is so dear and this is the first time that anyone has sent me a blog award of any type.

This was just such a special surprise for me, and such a sweet sentiment. I do often feel like my blog friends share a sisterhood, even though most of us have never met anywhere else but here on our computers.


The Rules Are:



1.Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!

3. Be sure to link your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Remember to link the person from whom you received your award.

There are a few special ladies that I would like to send the award to as they are always so kind to share a kind word in their comments to me, or with something nice written on my Facebook wall. Some days they just "turn on the sun" as their comments warm my heart and add a smile to my face:

1. Shiloah Baker at Homemaking Cottage Blog

2. Stephanie Withrow Woody at Providence Handmade

3. Tina Lawver at The Artful Life

4. Susanna Holstein at Granny Sue's News and Reviews

5. Violetlady at Violetlady at Home

Thank you to all of you that leave comments and I hope that over time we will build wonderful "kinships" with one another through our blogs. Thank you again to dear Melanie for this very special award to me. I will close for now as I must make the rounds to your blogs to see what is new in your lives.

Blessings to all and Stay Cozy,

Charlotte

The Week Ahead

Spring is in full swing!!! My calendar is showing that to be very true. This week is shaping up to be a very busy one for me with people wanting to spruce things up around their houses for the spring season. I am looking forward to things getting even busier over the next couple of weeks. We are also finishing our school year with Caleb and I am hoping to schedule his portfolio review sometime this week. I have an upcoming doctor's visit that may, or may not result in getting a bit of surgery scheduled (more about that later, depending on what the doctor says-just know that we are not talking about anything life threatening, just something that needs to be taken care of). WHEW-you can see that it might be a while before I am back at blogging. I love to come here and share what is new around the old Cozy Home, but if you don't hear from me for a couple of weeks, just know that I am "up to my eyeballs" and will get on here again as soon as time allows. Hope that you are all having a wonderful spring season!

Hugs and Stay Cozy,
Charlotte

The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring (Tra-La)

I finally stepped outside yesterday to snap a couple of pictures of my dear little daffies. I do now have a large flower garden, only one modest little bed. However, it brings me much joy to see things starting to bloom there once more. I am looking forward to the little azalea bush popping out in blooms sometime later this month. The Hostas should follow behind somewhere in early May, and I am thinking of planting some wildflower perinnials to fill in the rest of the year with color. Here are the pictures that I snapped:

Check Out the Coupon

I don't know about you, but whenever I see that cute little Snuggle bear I just have to smile. This morning I placed a neat little widget on the right offering readers of Cozy Home Cottage a two dollar coupon for Snuggle Creme fabric softener. Snuggle creme is a new product that adds two luxurious aromas to laundry time while softening your clothes. To me, there is just nothing cozier than fresh, clean, soft laundry coming out of the dryer ready to be enjoyed and these two new scents are wonderful and calming to the senses-aahhh! Click on the widget and snag the coupon for yourself. I don't often place offers like these on my little homey blog, but this one was just to much in the spirit of Cozy Home to pass up. Hugs to all and hope you are having a wonderful day.

Charlotte