October 2019 – Karla's Cottage

I never get tired of Disney, but it is even better with grand fairies!

By Karla Nathan / October 31, 2019

We had quite a trip for Khya’s 18th birthday and Dewdrop’s farewell party.

All of the kids were “the perfect age” for Disney. Some old enough to be on their own for roller coasters, no one needed a stroller, all could stay out late.

There was some rain, but not enough to bother us. But enough to make the crowds lighter.

My husband even joined us for most of a day at Animal Kingdom.

And while he is not a fan of the parks, he seemed to have a good time.

We took a ride on the new skyline just to enjoy the views.

The other two days were a later start, not going to Magic Kingdom til the special event, Halloween party at 4 pm.

The lazy days by the pool were ideal. I am used to being at the parks from open til close, and having long, lingering days to enjoy til it was time to visit Mickey, might be my new favorite way to go.

While I was spending a lot of time pretending that my skull wasn’t pounding in time to the African drums, I still was honestly having the best days ever.

Lines were short, the weather was comfy, and I had my four girls nearby.

Who knows what the future holds, with Dewdrop living in North Carolina full time, Sugarwings growing up, the big girls’ mom and my son splitting up?

But I do know that I love them all so much, and I will always be here for them when they miss their Grammie.

My husband has retired, our budget is changing, the kids are moving on, our family is divided. Some people have shown how little they care when times are tough.

But I have had a blessed time and know how lucky my life has been. It wasn’t so much that I got to go to Disney with them as much as I got to share special memories and time.

No matter what changes are ahead, I will always have that.

Mickey’s Halloween Party

family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / October 30, 2019

We went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party while in Florida. Dewdrop was Cinderella, Sugarwings – Tiana, and myself – a fairy godmother. The blue one, Merriweather.

I made the hat, added sparkling tulle and a vintage blue rose.

But, with my black eye and vintagey dress that was a blue/gray, I am afraid I looked more like a Haunted Mansion ghost than a fairy godmother.

The headband wasn’t great on my achey head, so I ditched it.

While not everyone guessed Tiana, the grand fairies were clearly royal.

Even though the hairstyles didn’t last after a wild night of spinning on teacups.

That party is such fun, we went twice. It is a ticketed event from 7pm-midnight, but you can enter the park at 4pm. Crowds are less than regular park days because the tickets are (slightly) limited. Our first night was a little rainy, and seemed much less crowded. Many rides were only five minute waits. But the shows got rained out.

It didn’t rain the entire time, but got a little heavy toward the evening. We had ponchos, and powered through. The weather was warm, not hot, it really wasn’t bad to be rained on. I think it was more pleasant than the days I have been there when it was 100 degrees or higher.

It certainly wasn’t too chilly for Dole Whips!

We also had Jack Skellington pops. And there were generous trick or treat stations where they gave out handfuls of candy bars.

My luggage was much heavier after packing all of that loot.

Since the Villains Spectacular was rained out on our first day, we watched it twice on our second trip.

Sugarwings and I ended the night at the Monsters Inc Ball, dancing til midnight, while the others rode Space Mountain.

As the two of us left for the bus ride back, she was pensive and snuggly. I had told her that with her grandfather retiring, this might be our last trip. She thanked me for taking her and said that she didn’t know what her future career would be, but she would be sure to make enough money to take her grandkids to Disney.

A walk in the woods

family

By Karla Nathan / October 27, 2019

One of the nicest things about the house we just sold was all of the work my son had done out in the woods to create trails, campsites and bonfire areas.

My husband kept the trails mowed to show the property, and after all of the effort my son had put into them, they were easy to maintain.

The bonfire area had gotten a little overgrown, but still is really cool. There are little surprises of art made from nature found throughout the trees.

And interesting twists and turns that make you want to see where the trail leads you.

Our grand fairies spent a lot of time out there in a hammock or tent, often sleeping outside.

They might not have lived in the house long, but I am glad these girls will have childhood memories of running free in a forest for a summer.

Bye bye babies!

dogs, puppies!

By Karla Nathan / October 24, 2019

We had one puppy longer than the others, until his family could get him after a trip. The others left at 8 weeks. Here they are on the last night that we had most of them. It was a sad night for me.

Keeping this little cuddler for an extra two weeks, sure made him dig even deeper into my heart.

Ryan watched him while we went to Florida, and his new people picked him up while we were away.

His family is happy to be getting him, and have been very thoughtful and appreciative about him staying longer. They brought us biscotti!

A few times.

And it was delicious.

Another new owner, my pal, Shan, brought scones and coffee.

And the spotted girl’s mama sent flowers!

Keeping Wally longer was a mixed blessing. It eased Sugar and me into the separation.

But, having just one puppy is a lot more work than having a bunch of them. He got lonely. So, I spent extra time with him, and I fell even more in love.

They were a wonderful batch of babies.

I have raised a lot of dogs over the last thirty years and have never had a litter like this. Some of it was the pure doodle-ness of the breed and the calm, sweet nature of both parents.

The rest was the fact that I started training them really early. If we ever have pups again, I will be working on training from the very beginning. It sure pays off.

Recently, we have had some major life changes, some good, some bad. We also went through some pretty rough times.

Trying to restore the other house and not lose too much money on it was grueling. Knowing that these snugglers were waiting at home for me made the whole job easier.

No, that isn’t right. That job was not easy in any way. I think what I mean is these fellas gave me something to smile about when everything seemed hopeless.

I feel really good about the families they went to live with and I know those people realize they got very special dogs to love.

We visited our table again

cottage

By Karla Nathan / October 21, 2019

Matt has the resin poured on our table around the rocks I laid out.

There will be no white under it, that is the frame he needed for pouring the resin.

I thought it was a little more crystal clear than I expected. He said it would be simple to add a little cream swirl coat to the bottom.

He was able to make the legs from lumber left over from the slab. That was good news, we weren’t sure if there would be enough or not.

We are in Florida right now with the grand fairies when we get back, the table will be delivered!

More pictures of that house

family, redos

By Karla Nathan / October 18, 2019

This is my favorite room at the house we had bought for our son's family. Think of the possibilities for this space!!! Oh my, I loved sitting there and enjoying the view.

It is a giant room. With French doors that open into the kitchen and bedrooms.

Personally, I would have painted the panelling, but everyone stopped me and said that some people like panelling and that I should leave that up to the new owners. So, all we really had to do was clean the windows, mop, and repaint the ceiling which was dingy.

Two of the bedrooms opened onto the sunroom.

And the kitchen.

My husband scrubbed those windows until they gleamed!

The area under the sun porch was inviting too.

It also ran the whole length of the house. What a great spot for entertaining! The family had used it for musical evenings, with the stage on the patio and seating in the yard. This house was meant for gatherings.

Honey's favorite part of the property was the pond. She ate her weight in frogs each time she went out there.

It was a sweet, little pond. Even with half of the frogs gone.

The Grandfather Tree is Almost a Table

cottage, family, redos

By Karla Nathan / October 15, 2019

Over a year ago, my husband's favorite tree fell down. He called it the Grandfather Tree because he took the grandfairies for walks in the woods and stopped to tell stories under it.

We found a guy to slice it up, then stored the stack of pieces that weighed hundreds of pounds in our garage where they were very much in the way. When they were starting to dry out a bit, we found a craftsman to haul them off to a kiln and plane them down.

This is Matt, the artist who is creating a table and mantel for us. Here are the final pieces he has to work with. We have a few more, but these were the best.

His shop is full of pieces he is already working on.

And beautiful piles of lumber waiting to be transformed.

I decided to go with the live edges turned inwards, so if I wanted the table to be more traditional looking for a dinner party, I could cover it with a cloth. Matt built a water tight frame, and layed out the wood for me to come by and do a river rock scene down the center. I had lots of semi precious stones, crystals, and polished river stones in neutral tones.

He will pour resin over it all. It will be translucent with a shimmer of pearl. Of course, the black and white material on the back will be gone, so this will be mostly transparent.

The heart is a gemstone and it will be at the head of the table where my husband sits. Under the table, the grandfairies will be woodburning special messages and we will have a list of all the grandfathers who came before us.

Matt is making tapered, square legs from the leftovers of the wood, and I will paint them a distressed white.

This has been over a year in the making, but at this stage, things are moving fast. The resin is poured and the table is ready for the sanding and polishing. I will have it delivered in time for A Snowbird's Song. This will seat about 12, so I will put my existing dining table (that seats 12 also) in to the hearthroom for the party, and will add another table in the living room so everyone will have a place to sit and enjoy their meals.

A Custom Loft Bed Clubhouse for Sugarwings

family, redos

By Karla Nathan / October 12, 2019

This was Sugarwings’ room at her daddy’s house. Last winter, we found the rug at World Market, my son cut it to fit and installed it like carpeting. He also built this loft bed/ club house for her.

Both grandfairies hung out under there with a stack of pillows, sleeping bags, games and books.

He is quite the carpenter, this is the closet he built for her. The trim work over the two doors is beautiful.

One of the reasons working to get this house on the market was so heart wrenching, was seeing things like this.

We thought this would be the home they raised those fairies in and the custom work their dad was installing was going to turn the place into a masterpiece.

The loss of the potential for this home and of the happy plans for the future really stabbed at me.

Perfect patients

dogs, puppies!, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 9, 2019

Our vet seemed very surprised by how calm the litter of puppies were during his exams last week.

They all sat quietly or napped while waiting their turns.

He mentioned more than once how quickly it was all going. There wasn’t a wriggler in the whole bunch. When he needed to look into their eyes, they looked right up at him. They stood still for listening to their hearts and palpitating their tummies, or whatever that was.

The only issue I had was in hauling the seven pups in and out while they were poured into two crates. Luckily, I had a helper who is probably stronger than I am.

In the last year, there have been many times that I have said, “I could not have done that without her help.” Sugarwings has grown up to be someone I rely upon.

And how cute is this? She didn’t know I was picking her up at school to go to the vet with me, yet she was wearing a shirt that said, “Trust me, I’m a Dogter.”

As a reward for being such good patients, and to stretch their legs after being stuffed into boxes, I took them out on the trails in the field.

A Quick and Attractive Fix for a Soot Stained Mantel

how-to projects, redos

By Karla Nathan / October 6, 2019

This is the downstairs den in the house we have been working on.

Here is how it looked in the Zillow listing when we bought it. It didn’t need a lot to get it market ready, fresh paint, two matching light fixtures, and a mantel tweaking.

While living there, my son had done some customizing to the fireplace to fit a piece of art work he had built in. After taking that out, it needed some trim and paint to restore it.

Also, there was a dark, sooty blob above the doors. I used black concrete stain to blend the rest of the bricks to match. This is a “during” picture.

The bricks and mortar to the left are done, the right are not in this photo. Doesn’t the black wash (Is that a term? Like white wash?) update the hearth? I think this treatment drug the fireplace right out of 1972!

The rough hewn and live edge shelves in the corner were installed by my son.

We repainted the ceiling, which the previous owners needed to do ages ago. And all of the trim was freshly painted.

Behind that door is a giant, walk in storage area. I cut notches in a rug to make it fit over padding glued to old linoleum, repainted the ceiling and the shelves. This was the last thing I did, and I used up all of the odds and ends of light colored paint that I had left.

It seemed okay for a closet, and at least that made it clean.

You know one thing that brightens a room that most people don’t even notice? Repainting the air vent covers. Over time, with gas heat, they can discolor. So can the area around them. Cleaning and repainting is a small thing to do, and I will bet you no one even notices that I did it. But I will also bet you that they can feel that it was done, even if they don’t see it.

The house feels much fresher and cleaner with the vents tidied up.

One thing I did not do that bugs me, is that I left the shelf under the windows the same as the walls. Not that it looks bad, I think the unbroken color is a good choice. But as a painter, I know that eggshell finish wall paint isn’t as durable for shelves as a satin or semi gloss. I could do a quick, clear coat over it to ease my mind.