Time of the Season.....

     Happy Friday, cottage friends! I am just sitting here enjoying the last few sips of my coffee and reflecting on the sweetness of  the morning stillness. You all know this is my very favorite time of the day! I was just thinking about how sweet our summer has been. No major drama or anything really too exciting; just the gentle grace of ordinary days! Our little garden has produced enough to help with our veggie needs, Caleb and Robin have really bonded over lawn care this year, we have had fun days with family and friends stopping by; so many good memories! It has been most lovely, indeed! 

     Last night the three of us went out to supper at The Cracker Barrel restaurant nearby. My sweet hubby Robin had Baked Steak and Gravy, son Caleb had a big Rib Eye Steak and I had Breaded Fried Shrimp~MMMmmm!!! When we got home I got out my cinnamon candle and burned it for the first time this season. I had switched over to a floral Lilac scent for the Spring/Summer season and had really been enjoying that beautiful aroma, but last night's visit to the good ol' CB sparked my interest in all things Autumn to the next level~lol! As the fragrant spice wafted through our house I realized how truly ready I am for Fall! I am even going to hang up my new wreath today and start changing out the flowers on our front porch. There is just something magical about this time of the year! 

     I want to take a minute to wish everyone a Happy Labor Day weekend!!! We are planning a cookout here tomorrow with our children and their families and we have one of our Grandsons coming over to spend the weekend with us tonight, as well. My hubby is out right now getting our good old van inspected and a fresh new sticker put on it. We have annual vehicle inspections here in WV. My son is still asleep upstairs and the house remains still for the moment, anyway. Life is very serene for now and I am loving it!!! Sending you much love, hugs and prayers for your day and your weekend!!! 

Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte

For Today......

     Good morning and Happy Friday, blog buddies! Well, I kind of got away from my daily posting; I guess I sometimes feel that my daily life is a bit too routine and boring to share. I am a creature of habit these days~lol! I did have a good week and did lots of good cooking along with my never ending battle with Mount Laundry around here. Who would think that three people would have so many loads of laundry in a week! Sheesh!!! (Heehee) 

     I have been giving a lot of thought and prayer to once again offering some light design and color consultations to clients again. It has been almost 5 years since I have done any sort of decorating or design services outside of my home. I would simply LOVE to have ladies call on me once again to come to their homes and give them color and decorating advice. I cannot do anything with heavy lifting involved and my days of furniture and accessory sales is over, but I sure could do lots to help give them steps in the right direction for creating the home they are longing to create. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers about this matter. 

     Today I am fixing a BIG crock pot full of good Beef Veggie Soup for our supper and am going to make some homemade Cheesy-Bread slices to go with it, too. I am reading lots of my mom's beautiful poetry books in my spare time. She did not write poetry, she LOVED to read poetry and was given many lovely books filled with inspiring verses throughout the years. I am hoping to start sharing some of them on here and on my Facebook page over the next few weeks. This is what is new around my sweet cottage. I hope all is well with you and yours. 

Lots of Hugs and Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte

Is it Foggy Out There; Or is it Just Me????

Good morning, Honey-Bunnies.....not a long post this morning. I am just TOO foggy on the brain~ick! I am over on FB posting all sorts of pretty pictures and sweet greetings. That what you have to LOVE about FB: no matter how foggy, sore, sick or otherwise just icky you might feel you can always find something cheery and beautiful to post there to encourage and inspire your friends. I find such joy in doing that! Much love to everyone today. Hope to be able to type a longer post for you all tomorrow. 

Hugs and Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte 

 

Rainy Tuesday...

     Rain, rain go away....oh, wait a minute; we NEED that rain!!! Our little backyard garden is SO very thankful for a good, long drink! LOL!!! Good morning and Happy Tuesday, cottage friends!!! We have been getting a good soaking rain since last night around 9:00 or so. We had some lightning and thunder last night, but now it is just dark and drizzly out there. I was supposed to go to Wine Cellar Park this morning for a special meeting of my Ladies Bible Study group, however I do think that will be cancelled. So I am just having a second cup of good, hot coffee and enjoying my time here on my computer blogging and visiting with everyone on Facebook for a while. 

     I am feeling a bit sluggish this morning; no doubt due to our soggy weather. I am one of those people who just loves to nap on rainy days. I do have work to get done around here but I know that I will most likely get in a little snooze this afternoon sometime. I am thinking of watching some of my old favorite movies while folding laundry later on. I haven't watched Heidi in a while so I might have to pop that one in! (smile)  

     I am leaving you with a picture of my little Avocado tree that I grew from a seed. It is the first time I have ever successfully grown one though I have tried many times before. It does take a long time for them to finally sprout. This one took a couple of months and lots of watering and sunshine. I am hoping that it grows really BIG! I know that it will most likely never produce Avocados, but I am looking forward to having this pretty tree among my houseplants in our dining room. I will close for now but am wishing you all a pleasant day and hope that you will accomplish whatever you set out to do with much joy and gratitude! 

Much Love and Stay Cozy! 

Charlotte

Monday, Monday......

     Good morning and Happy Monday my lovelies! Well, I hate to tell you all this, but all of my weekend entertaining with my sweet little grand-girl finally caught up with me yesterday. My Fibromyalgia flared in a RAGE!!! I felt just like someone had pushed me down a mountain and then ran over me with their four-wheeler~OUCH!!! I did make myself get in that kitchen to prepare the homemade biscuits and gravy that I had promised her, my hubby helped and he fried up a big pan of bacon for us, too. I am SO thankful to God for that man!!! I took her picture on the front porch in her favorite dress-up outfit, too but then I had to retire to my sofa for a nice L-O-N-G nap! Her pawpaw took her home so I got to sleep for a good while in the afternoon. I do love having my grands around, but I am just not the great "entertainer" that I used to be when the older ones were little. :-( 

     When I woke up from my nap I watched some HGTV and had a little chicken salad sandwich. I got an old decorating book down off my "design library" shelf to look through and just enjoyed a little time to myself. The book is one that my mom gave me a few years ago; New Creative Home Decorating by Hazel Kory Rockow, Ph.D. Mom bought it when she was a young homemaker in the 1950s but the design basics and advice given remains true to this day. If you ever run across a copy it is a good one to read. 

     I am feeling a bit better this morning, but still pretty achy and my hands keep going numb so it has taken me a while to type this post. I am determined, however to not give up my daily blog notes! Wishing you all a lovely Monday!!!! I will leave you with a picture of my pretty grand-girl to make you all smile! 

Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte 

Sunday Morning....

     Good morning! I am up and enjoying the sweet silence of this Sunday morning before everyone wakes up. I have my usual coffee and toast beside me and just wanted to type a bit on my blog to keep in practice. It feels so good to be back at it that I don't want to let one morning pass without writing a little something, anyway. 

     Yesterday was such a GOOD day; we did have our pancakes and homemade cinnamon syrup for breakfast and then Miss Kayleigh and I watched a couple of movies together. She picked The Wizard of Oz and I picked Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (starring Donny Osmond, of course)!!! You just gotta love a young grand-girl who can appreciate good cinema!!! Later in the day we took her to a park so she could swing and we gathered some wild Hickory Nuts and cracked open a couple to eat. Makes you wonder about how many old Euell Gibbons must have had to crack and eat back in the day in order to get full~LOL!!!! Afterward we went to another favorite park and took a very short hike along the nature trail there. My hubby's hip was really bothering him and it was a tad too hot out there for us, so we called it a day and came home to air conditioning and pop-sickles. 

     I am getting ready to fix some biscuits and gravy for us this morning. We don't usually have big breakfasts every morning but I try to fix something nice when any of the grands spend the night with us. That is what memories are made of, right? (smile) I hope that you are all enjoying your day and I hope to type a little bit more tomorrow. Hugs to all!!! 

Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte 

Sweet Saturday Musings...

     Good morning and Happy Saturday, sweet friends!!! We made it through another week and now it is time for a wonderful weekend! YAY!!! I no longer work outside our home-sweet-home, but there is still something SO serene about Saturday mornings. I woke up around 5:45 and tiptoed down our stairway to my good old computer. My Fibromyalgia was RAGING so I tuned into YouTube to find some light stretching exercises that I could do to help ease things up a bit. I did these along with Dick Nunez and they seemed to help a LOT!

     We have our beautiful grand-girl, Kayleigh with us this weekend and I will be making her favorite breakfast of Homemade Pancakes in just a little bit when she gets up. We had such fun last night playing board games and card games. She brought her new bracelet loom and we had a time trying to make rubber band bracelets together. I tried to teach her how to crochet too, but considering that I, myself can only make one very L-O-N-G chain I am afraid that I am not a really great teacher~hahaha!  She is left-handed and I am right handed so we had fun trying to flip things around, too! She did catch on to it pretty well, though.  

     Well the kids (Kayleigh and our Caleb) are up now and watching some cartoons together in the family room and I must now turn my attention to those good-old-pancakes. Saying good day to you all and hope your Saturday is lovely!!! It does seem so good to be back blogging with you all! 

Much Love and Stay Cozy!

Charlotte 

                                                     Breakfast in Bed by Mary Cassatt

Front Porch Friends

     Good mornin', good mornin' to you!!!!Hope everyone is having a great one so far! I am up and have had my toast and some coffee and am currently having fun visiting with everyone on FB! I truly enjoy my little morning routine!!! It is so good to "see" friends and family and catch up a bit with everyone over there! 

     Yesterday we had a surprise visit from some of our very favorite homeschool friends!!!! It was so cool as I had been chatting a bit on FB about how I missed friends and neighbors just stopping by for visits on the front porch. We stayed inside for most of the visit, but my hubby just couldn't resist showing off our veggies in the back yard and sharing some 'maters and peppers with them. We sure had fun talking and laughing and just catching up with each other face to face for a while!!!! 

     Speaking of  front porches; I am sharing another one of my pictures from a couple of weeks ago when I spruced up our pretty front porch with some beautiful bedding that I am no longer using in our bedroom to take some long-overdue pictures out there. This morning I would like to introduce you to Isabella; Queen of Spain! She is my lovely Uneeda Spanish Queen doll from 1969! She was one of my favorite dolls and BOY was I so surprised that Christmas morning when I found her waiting for me in our living room!!! She is just as beautiful today as she was way back then; don't you think? 

     Well, I will close for this morning but hope to be back tomorrow with another mini-post for you all. I do enjoy blogging but will just have to keep working on getting back in the habit of writing again~lol! Wishing you all a wonderful Friday and a sweet weekend!!! ((Hugs)) 

Stay Cozy!

Charlotte 

Thursday Thoughs

     Good morning sweet cottage friends!!! Well, here I am back at the old blog....bet you thought you'd never see hide nor hair of me again but here I am~lol! I have really been having some rough days with my hands hurting and being numb lately but I am trying to push past it and do so long to be active with my writing/blogging again. I do read your beautiful blogs at least once a week at the good old Blogger dashboard so I am not completely out of the loop.

     We have been having a very pleasant summer here~lazy, but pleasant! Our little garden is doing well and the weather has been fairly enjoyable even with the long stint of rain we had back in early July. Our tomatoes really LOVED that and as a result are really sweet and juicy! 

     I am going to try and post a little something each morning again. I really do miss writing and blogging about our life around here. I am hoping that it will help my hands and my brain fog as well. For now I will leave you with some photos I took a couple of weeks ago on our good old front porch. Hope that you all are having a great week!!!! 

Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte 

     

Simply Susie~Q (Story Number One)

Good morning, sweet cottage friends! As promised I will begin sharing my stories with you. I am hoping to post one story a week and am trying to do them in some semblance of chronological order from the time I was around three years old until the age of ten or so. They represent only a slice of my life as a child in the 1960s in small-town USA and I hope that they will be a blessing to you all in some small way.     

     Simply Susie~Q was a funny little girl who lived in a pretty green house nestled in a valley among the hills of West Virginia along with her beautiful mother, handsome daddy and her younger brother. She found joy in the simple, everyday events and moments in her world and found them to be most wondrous and magical. She and her mother and little brother shared many pleasant days together doing all sorts of fun things at home while their daddy was busy at work. 

     One day in the early summer when the leaves were very green on the BIG maple trees in their back yard, her mother spread a huge brown and red plaid blanket on the ground just beneath the trees and they had a picnic. Her mother had fixed them sandwiches, cheese, grapes and an orange cool-aid drink served in her favorite purple aluminum tumbler. Susie~Q was enchanted by the sounds of the birds singing among the branches of the trees. Her brother was still quite little and asleep on the blanket close to their mother.
     Mother (whom Susie~Q called "Mommy") was always full of surprises and had lots of fun things to share with her children. During their picnic that day she had fun showing her little daughter how to look for four-leaf-clovers among the clusters of clover in their yard and how to make a grass blade whistle between her thumbs. 

     After they had finished eating their lunch, Mommy mixed some green dish liquid with water in a bowl and they blew bubbles through an empty wooden thread spool! Susie~Q giggled as the bubbles floated off into the air on a gentle breeze. She was fascinated by the pretty bubbles and the way that they sparkled and reflected the light and the colors all around.
     It was truly a delightful afternoon and filled with lots of fun and sweet moments. Susie~Q couldn't wait for Daddy to get home from work so that she could tell him all about it!  

New Adventures On The Way

Well, cottage buddies it has been a while since I have felt the urge to write on this good ol' blog. I have had a really hard time coming to terms with being an orphan with both of my parents and my sweet mother-in-law now departed from this earthly life. I am adjusting to it all a bit better now and want to get back to those things which bring JOY to my life in the here and now. I am reading lots of poetry books, drawing a little here and there and pondering the meaning of my existence. What does God have in mind for me. How can He use me? I love how He has made each of us so different and the way He uses each of us to His purpose in reaching others for that purpose. I am not getting out much due to my Fibromyalgia, we are still trying to get Caleb through his last two years of homeschooling and we are busy helping my daughter and her family get moved into my momma's house. But i can still encourage others by praying for them or sending them a word of cheer either by cards and notes or even on good old Facebook in the mornings. This all makes me very happy!
I have also been thinking and praying over posting a new series of stories based on my days as a child at home in the 1960s. There are so many sweet memories going through my head these days about life in my small town and in our pretty little ranch house back then. I have been writing a few of them down and have decided to start posting them here on my little slice of blog heaven. I will call the series "Simply Susie-Q" as Susie-Q is what my daddy and momma always called me. I am going to try and write one each week for you. I hope that God will use them to be a blessing to someone and make you smile a bit.
As for right now we are starting to see beautiful green on our mountains and the redbud trees are in full bloom. I am so very happy to see spring return at last!!! I sure hope that everyone is having a beautiful spring and enjoying all the blessings God has to offer you!

For now, Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte