Saturday Gazette for August 12, 2017

Good afternoon sweet Cottage friends! I didn't get out a post yesterday but realized that my original intent for a weekly journal post was intended for Saturday, anyway. So...here we go for this week: 

Time: Here in good old Dunbar, WV it is now 3:06 PM. I took time around 1:20 to re-set and wind our cherry wood Kassel wall clock for the first time in MONTHS today. It is pleasant to hear it "tick-tock" and chime the hours and half-hour whenever I walk past the living room. 

Weather: Well, the day started off all sunny and then we were hit with BIG rain! The kind that falls straight down with huge drops!!! It has let up now and my sweet hubby is getting ready to spray the road dust off of our house. We usually do this a couple of times a year. He said he was going to get it done come heck or high water. I think he might just get that high water if it comes another down-pour~LOL!!! 

Sipping on: Nothing right now. I need to get my lemon water in here out of the family room. I am trying to drink lots more of it as it is so good for the body. 

Munching on: Cheese and crackers....mmmmmm! 

Reading: Fresh Cut Flowers for My Mom; a little book of quotes and inspirational sayings for mother. I gave it to my mom for Mother's Day around 2006 and now enjoy reading it myself. She had written a personal message to me in the back of the little book thanking me for it. Very meaningful and powerful. I am also reading Bible Facts About Heaven by Dr. John R. Rice. There is a lot of good Biblical information within the pages of this little book. 

Listening to: The Best of The Police on YouTube. I have always loved their music. Just fun. 😍

Family News: Well, my sweet grand-daughter is real close to having her baby. We know that she is having a little boy and they have decided to name him Xavier. I like that name; something different. We are all getting excited to meet this little one! 

Around the Cottage: My daughter's two sons are here to spend the night with us! I am going to fix my homemade Spaghetti for our supper; it is one of their favorite meals. They start back to school on Monday so this will be the last time for a little while that they will get to spend the night with us. In other news our son, Caleb is now job hunting. Please say a little prayer for him that he finds something soon. He is wanting to start earning his own money and save up for a car. 

Around Town: Not too much here in Dunbar but our neighboring town of South Charleston, WV celebrated their 100th Anniversary of township this past week. It is a beautiful little town with some neat shops and restaurants and also a beautifully preserved Adena Indian burial mound. There were lots of activities there and they also buried a time capsule that is to be unearthed on the 200th Anniversary. Congratulations South Charleston!!! Here is a photo of the Mound:

Adena Burial Mound, South Charleston, WV 

Well, that's about it for this week. I am hoping to get started on Monday posting some old pictures and telling you about my past homes and the little things I used to do when decorating them on a budget back in my younger days. For now I hope that you will all have a wonderful weekend!!!

Big Hugs and Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte 💖

Pinterest, Pictures, Planning and Other Daily Things.....

Good morning from WV dear cottage friends, 

     I am sitting here enjoying my mid-morning cup of coffee and playing on my trusty computer for a bit in between my daily housework. I thought I would take a minute to post a little note here just to say "hello" and to keep you all up-to-date with what's new around here. 

     We have been busy with all of our usual doctor appointments and especially last month! Between my husband, myself and our son we averaged at least two a week! Sheesh!!! My husband and I had the most but our son did have to go in for his annual check-up with our family doctor and he had an eye exam. He got good reports from both; of course being 18 that is not unusual. My husband and I both had good reports for our age and my cholesterol levels were all really good! YAY! My husband got his results from his most recent blood-work yesterday and his numbers were all really good, too!!! His A1c level is now 6.2 which is really good compared to the 7.8 he had this time last year. He also got new glasses and just picked them up from our local Vision Works yesterday. He got one regular pair and one pair of prescription sunglasses, which he really likes. With his diabetes it is really important to keep up with his eye care. He looks really cool in them, too. (smile)

     As stated in the title of this post, I have been doing a LOT of pinning and making new boards on my Pinterest page. That is one VERY addictive site~LOL!!! My latest obsession is my Victorian Style board, cake recipes, candy recipes, Barbie clothing patterns, bridal wear and anything from my childhood! If you do Pinterest you will know what I mean when I say that what is interesting one week will more than likely give way to "something completely different" next week. Oh my, just saying that makes me want to start a Monty Python board now~ROFLOL!!!! I have found some things that I really want to try making~especially the candies that would make such a nice Christmas gift. I have been finding and making some really good recipes for our supper there. I made one called "Cheeseburger in Paradise" last night and it was a real hit with my guys. I liked it too and made sure to print it off to use again. 

     Yesterday I was doing a little pondering about what I really want to do with this little blog of mine. I had thought about just making it a little weekly journal and posting only on Fridays. I still have plans to do that; IF I can ever give myself the kick in the...well you know where...and get started doing it on a regular basis~heehee. I still love to talk about decorating so every now and again I will be posting some kind of idea or another here. I did decide that I will be going through my old photos and find ones of my little homes (I have lived in three not counting where I grew up) posting pictures and stories about them and my past decorating styles. Some of them will have people in them as I have never been one to take too many pictures of just the rooms. For me photography has mostly been about the people in my life. It has only been since around 2006 when I started blogging that I have taken staged photos of rooms and decorative items. I will tell you a bit about the people in my old photos but will try my best to remain respectful of their privacy by not mentioning names. I am going to try and post the first ones next week. 

     I am just about finished with my coffee and ready to head back to my work around here. I did want to post about one more thing. Week-before-last we got a NEW swing for our front porch!!! Our old one finally gave out. It got a crack right along the back support board. It had been a faithful and well loved part of our porch for the last 20 years, but it could not be fixed and so it was time to replace it. I am including a couple of photos of our new one for you to see. My husband painted it white and our son got it up on the hooks for us. We are really loving it already. Very comfortable and pretty!

 

     

    

      I will wish you all well for now and hope to have a little journal for you to read tomorrow. 

Much love and Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte

Hazy, Hot and Humid....How 'bout the Weather Where You Are?

Good Morning blog friends, 

Did ya miss me? Well if you all are regular readers of my humble corner of the blog universe then you know that I tend to be one of those on-again-off-again types~heeheehee...😆
I have been reading through a few of my favorite blogs this morning and looking at some favorite websites and just had the urge to write a short post here. We are all OK here at the cottage and enjoying summer time here in WV. So far it has been a pleasant enough season and not TOO hot, well that is until last week. We are now having days in the 90s with elevated humidity levels, some hazy mornings and high heat indexes~fshew....it's enough to make this old girl abandon my front porch sittin' and just stay inside where my trusty air conditioner is set to a cool 76 degrees. I do try to make it out there early in the morning or later in the evening when things are a bit more cool and refreshing.
We did make it out to one of our favorite local parks last week; Ridenour Lake in Nitro. Caleb our son had his annual doctor's check up. Afterward my husband, Caleb and myself picked up some burgers and milkshakes and headed to the park for what we call a quickie picnic. When we finished eating we drove around to the back side of the beautiful lake so that Caleb and I could take a little hike on the woodland trail there. My hubby didn't feel like the walk so he enjoyed some time alone in the van reading his book. We all had a wonderful time! It is always a treat in the summer to have a little picnic in the park and it doesn't have to be over-planned or even planned at all. Sometimes these spur-of-the-moment events are the best memories.
I do intend to do a longer post later on and am hoping to get back to a little weekly journal on Fridays. I hope that you all are staying cool, dry and refreshed wherever you are. 

Much love and Stay Cozy,
Charlotte

And a Recipe....

Hello again, dear ones and good evening,

Well here I am writing twice in one day on my blog. With me it's either all or nothing I guess~LOLL! I have been thinking all day long about my earlier post. I don't want to leave any of you with the conclusion that I have given up or am in such a horrible condition that I have nothing else to give. I am just taking life much more slowly and thoughtfully than ever before. I thought that I might share a recipe with you for inspiration. It is something my family has always loved and I hope that your family will like it, as well: 

Chicken Casserole

1 pkg. Pepperidge Farms Herb Seasoning stuffing

1 stick butter or margarine

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom OR cream of celery soup

3 to 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (cooked)

Save the broth that the chicken was cooked in and use it to dilute the soup according to the directions on the can (one can broth to one can soup). Combine the two soup mixtures together to make a sort of gravy. Cut the cooked chicken breasts into cubes about one inch square.  Melt the butter or margarine and stir it into the stuffing. In a greased 9 x 13 pan, put a layer of stuffing crumbs, chicken and then the soup mixture. Repeat the layers and then top the casserole with cracker crumbs and dot with butter. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. No extra salt is necessary to use in this recipe. Serve with a salad or your favorite vegetables. 

This recipe is easy to prepare and delicious! You can serve it with your favorite vegetable side dish or a fresh garden salad and your family will have a wonderful meal to remember. I hope you enjoy my little recipe. I hope to be back soon with more little blog posts for you, too. 

Love and hugs, 

Charlotte

Life As I Know It Today.....

Good Wednesday to you all my sweet cottage friends! 

I am still not where I want to be with my posting on my dear little blog. I do love it here and remember a time where I wrote almost daily; or at least weekly....lol. My life has changed so much from those days. I was so very active and had so much energy, especially in the beginning. Heck, at one time I had 3 blogs going....one at Homeschool Blogger, one at Homestead Blogger and this one here. I loved to share recipes and homeschool adventures and all things decorating and such. 

Then, Fibromyalgia came into my world. My life became filled with daily "pain scales", lots of naps on the sofa during the day, wearing only very comfortable clothes...mostly pajamas...and trying to find the right doctors, medications and herbal healing methods. I spend a lot of time on Facebook visiting with friends virtually as I just don't feel like getting out like I used to. I MISS my old life, but I try to remain positive and look for God's purpose in my new way of living. My mission on Facebook is to be encouraging to others and to pray for those who request it for themselves and for family members. I take this very seriously as a way to serve my Lord. Grow where you are planted is my motto. 

My housework does not suffer too greatly as I do try very hard to work-a-little, rest-a-little every day to keep things up around here for my family and for my own sanity. I am the type of person who gets very depressed and agitated if my home is not up to a certain level of tidiness~haha. My cooking is becoming more and more simplified. I do still love my good old crock pot and casseroles, but I often find that pan-glazed meat and two side veggies are a more palatable choice for our supper now. 

I do still like to read my Bible, my poetry books and my favorite devotional books. I do still make it out once a week for Women's Bible study group. We have a very special Christian bond among this wonderful group of Sisters and right now are studying women of the Bible. We just finished our study on Esther; one of my favorites! Each week we have a little luncheon after our study and time for fellowship together. It is my church time. I am not attending regular weekly services at our church but do pray that I will be back at them sometime soon. It is just a challenge to be in a large group of people right now as I do have anxiety issues and also cannot sit too close to people due to my body pain. This also applies to sitting for too long and also getting up and down for singing. I do have several Ministers that I listen to and watch each Sunday morning and my prayer life is stronger than ever.

I just had all of this on my heart and my mind and wanted to share it with those of you who do still stop by to read my humble little blog. I do not do this to make money or to be popular; I just blog because I enjoy reading your blogs and want to share things with others, too.

Love to all and Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte

The Saturday Gazette.....New weekly update post...

I have been thinking lately of posting a weekly update of life around the cottage. I need it to be something simple so that I will keep doing it on a regular basis. I know myself well and if things seem too complicated then my chances of continuing writing them on a continuous schedule will not be good. After much consideration and planning I think I now have a few little headings that I can stay constant and faithful to posting within. Here we go with the first edition of my new Saturday Blogging Gazette. Wish me luck...lol! 

Time: 11:12 AM EST 

Weather: 40 degrees right now, expecting a high of 65 degrees; Precipitation 0%, Wind 2 MPH, Humidity 79%, Partly Sunny

Plans for Today: Not much. Maybe a little light housework, reading some poetry, playing on Facebook and You Tube, etc...

Drinking: COFFEE (What else~haha) 

Eating: I had a cinnamon and raisin bagel for breakfast this morning~YUM! 

Reading: The Bible, poetry, magazines

Listening to: Old Lawrence Welk Show episodes on You Tube; I have never outgrown them and have such sweet memories of watching them with my mom on Saturday night when I was growing up. <3 div="" nbsp="">

Family: We have news....our oldest grand-girl is expecting a little one!!! Yep, that will make me a "Great-grammy" at the tender age of 56! She just found out and is only 10 weeks along; please keep her and her new little family in your thoughts and prayers. 

Well, that is all for this week. I think these categories will be something easy for me to keep up with so that my posts will be regular. I do love to come here and write from time to time and hope to do more in the coming months. I know it has been a LONG time since I have posted with any consistency and I am sorry for that. Time just goes rushing past me and the days are gone before I know it. Hope you are all well and having a sweet Saturday. Sending you all my love, hugs and prayers. 

Stay Cozy, 

Charlotte

The Simple Woman's Daybook; My Entry for January

For Today

 I am posting a Daybook entry for the first time in long while. I used to post once a week at one time but have gotten out of the habit and am thinking that I might try my best to post an entry at least once a month. I do not take many photos anymore; it just seems to be so tedious that I tend to leave my camera in its case. I suppose it is in direct response to my deep desire to simplify my life back to the bare basics of daily activities. Maybe I will be inspired to get in more snapshots as the months go by. 

Looking out my window

It is sunny right now here in Dunbar, WV, USA. We are supposed to get rain some time around 2:00 pm that will continue into the night time. The snow we had a few days ago has almost completely melted away. There is only a little patch still hanging on in the very shaded spots around us after yesterday's temperatures in the 40s and low 50s. 

Snow a few days ago...

I am thinking

I have been in a very melancholy mood over the past few days; feeling extremely nostalgic and longing for loved ones no longer with us. I took a little time day-before-yesterday to look through a box of old greeting cards. I felt great delight, warm and endearing emotions from reading each one. I have been so very blessed with so many loved ones around me throughout my lifetime.  

I am thankful

Oh my, for so many wonderful blessings. I was especially thankful yesterday for all of my dear Christian friends at our weekly women's Bible study. It is always such a treat to get together with them for fellowship and a chance to learn more about God's word and each other. 

One of my favorite things

The beautiful Angel filled curio given to me by my wonderful cousin when she moved last year. This is her collection of angels gathered and gifted to her all through the years. Such a special and meaningful gift and a perfect addition to our living room. 

I am creating

I will be making some miniature food for my grand-girl's doll house with her as she is coming to spend the weekend with us on Friday. We will also be making some cookies and coloring together, too. We always have such fun together! I love all of my dear grands and even more as they are growing into such special young adults! 

I am wearing

My favorite, comfy old work around the house clothes. I may change into my jeans in a bit, though.

I am reading

Lots of poetry books, Ideals magazines (from long ago) and a little devotional book that my mom gave me back in 1996 entitled Joy For the Journey. I read the day's entry each night right before falling asleep. So very comforting! 

I am hoping

That 2017 will be a year of Spiritual growth for me, the year that I finally make it back into weekly Church services on a regular basis. I have been out of congregational worship with my fellow sisters and brothers in Christ for almost 3 years now. I contribute this mostly to my social anxiety, panic attacks and my Fibromyalgia pain and lethargy. I do have a three ministers which I listen to on Sunday mornings; Brett Hickey from Let the Bible Speak, Phil Sanders of In Search of the Lord's Way and Charles Stanley of In Tough Ministries. I learn so much about our Lord's word from them all, but I am feeling a real need lately to re-connect with our local church home. 

I am learning

All over again that no man is an island and I NEED the strength, love and prayers of others in my life beyond just my immediate family members. 

In my kitchen

I am planning on making a chicken casserole for our supper tonight. I made good old Sloppy Joe sandwiches with cheese for our supper last night and served them with some healthy peas-n-carrots on the side instead of our usual french fries. We are trying to eat more veggies this year. 

In the school room

Not much going on in our homeschool life right now. My one and only student is now a senior. He is attending a class in Computor Repair and Programming at the local Technical School near our home. We still do some lessons in Social Studies, Science, Reading and Language Arts here, but his Math all takes place within the studies there. I am both sad and glad that this will be our last year of Homeschool. It seems like only yesterday that our journey began...

In my garden

We are just now beginning to plan for what we will be planting this year. I am leaning toward a few tomato plants, some large bell pepper varieties, garlic, and cucumbers. We do box and container gardening so not too much will be planted, but it is always wonderful to have those fresh veggies in the summer and some to go into the freezer for winter.

Board room

What in the world did we EVER do without Pinterest??? LOL!!! I could literally spend HOURS on there looking at and pinning so many pretty pictures onto my ever-growing number of boards! I do not post a lot of original photos on there, I am usually that person who goes through picking out lovely things to post so that I can look at them later. Today I am sharing a picture that came to my attention and is pinned on my board entitled Candy Dishes. My mother collected pretty candy dishes and loved to give them as gifts. This board contains pictures of some like the ones she had and it is so much fun to find even more pretty ones out there. Here is the picture:

Post Script

Each morning I try to greet my friends and family on FB with something pretty. One of my very favorite pages to share from is Beneath the Shadow of Thy Wings. They always post so many lovely and meaningful greetings there.  

Shared Quote 

A moment from my day

The latest addition to my home office. This picture was taken by the lady who restored it in her shop, but it now sits in the corner of my home office!!! I am using it to store art supplies and a few pieces of favorite clothing. It is a real gem!!!

Closing Notes

I have really felt challenged by posting this morning. My mind has had a good workout as I took the time to come up with the material I have shared with you all this morning. I have another blogging friend who has started posting a weekly journal entry on her blog. I may try to start doing something similar; just simple details of our weekly life. I do still love to read blogs but I am not real good at adding comments as my social anxiety makes me afraid of saying the wrong thing or somehow being misconstrued by the reader. I do say a prayer where they are asked for and have my blog friends on my mind very often. I hope that those who love to write journal posts will take a minute to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman  blog and get the prompts from her at The Simple Woman's Daybook Community so that you can write your own entry. A big Thank You to Peggy for continuing to provide this wonderful avenue for our blogging experience. Hope that you all have a wonderful day!