Karla Nathan – Page 181 – Karla's Cottage

When the dish ran away with the spoon, where did they go?

By Karla Nathan / April 21, 2012

Last week, we planned a dinner party and had some of my husband's work friends over. It was a good excuse to get the house all spiffed up, and also to buy some new silverware since we didn't have quite enough forks. Who knows where they go? Forks are one of the things that seem to slip away into the atmosphere, like lids to sippy cups, and single socks. Every once in a while, coffee cups up and vanish too.

One day, we'll have so many that I am trying to force the cabinet door shut without an avalanche of mugs. Then, a couple of weeks later, I realize that the the shelves are half empty.

I guess its some sort of Hickory Dickory Dock variation where the forks run away with the cups.

So, I hit the stores in search of some new, and affordable silverware. I didn't want to spend much, but wanted something that felt good to hold and eat off of. In the past, I've picked up handfuls of Walmart forks, that are sold individually. Or bought partial sets at estate sales.

But dang it, I'm almost 54 and I wanted a whole, brand new, grown up set of silverware!

On the other hand, I'm cheap and didn't want to pay grown up silverware prices.

I checked out Target, World Market, Pier One, and TJ Maxx without much luck. Next, I tried Tuesday Morning, and found just what a needed, a full setting for 12 people, only 50 bucks, and they were a little old fashioned looking, plus felt good to bite down on.

Part of my search required biting down on the silverware while I was shopping. My husband thought that was awful, that I'd spent the morning out at stores biting forks, but I found some that felt good, looked good and were not too expensive.

The party was nice, the company was good, and we had matching silverware to eat off off. That is the only time that has ever happened in my home. I've always been a mismatched silver setter. This was nice!

And my house is clean. Now, if only I can keep it that way till Birdsong, but I have a feeling that I'll have to give it another going over. We tend to mess things up quickly around here.

Well, I’m glad that is over

Music, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 20, 2012

The dreaded demise of Picnik occured and it was no big deal for me. I won't miss it at all since I found Picmonkey,. They are adding gadgets and tricks and making improvements weekly and its already just as good as Picnik ever was. Easier to use, even.

What I do miss, is my Sugarwings. I haven't seen her ALL WEEK, which is unusual for us. Its not easy being without her for that long. So, I have to post a photo of her to make myself feel better.

Its been a long, long, rough week, with many bad things and heartbreaks, but I am not going into the depressing details. I'm not trying to whore out my sadness for comments, so please don't think I'm one of those people. I'm just being honest about life, its an up and down process and some weeks are hardly bearable, some are joyful. That's how it goes.

But this week is ending, a new one is beginning and it will bring Birdsong buddies for me to play with. Things are looking up!

Somebody That I Used to Know – Walk off the… by PayeTaChatte

I've kept busy all week, getting the studio and yard cleaned up, played Drawsomething, and baked, baked, baked. My freezer will be filled with more cookies than a ton of ladies could devour by the time they all arrive for our little arty party weekend. Heck, I might send them all home weighing a ton each.

While I've waited for this week of hell to end, I've kept this song going in the background. I've played the original version, the one from American Idol (with darling Phillip Phillips), and the one from Glee. The only one I don't care for is the one from the Voice. (Yes, I've been watching a lot of TV too….)

You can find all of those versions of this song here.

Things are coming together for Birdsong. Well, it might not look like it, but this is in the process of sorting and organizing.

This side of the room is not quite as far along. But its getting there.

drawsomething

drawing, games

By Karla Nathan / April 17, 2012

Thanks for your kind words about Agnes Rosebud. She will be greatly missed.

No, we don't have chickens yet. I honestly hope that we don't have our new family members move in till after Birdsong, I am swamped with getting ready for that. Adding another daily chore wouldn't be much help right now. All this prep work for Birdsong has been good for me, with Agnes Rosebud gone, I've wanted to keep busy.

But I'm not ready to take on new pets after losing her.

I've also been playing this game.

These are pictures that Beth took of our Drawsomething matches. I'm not a game person and don't even know what an Angry Bird game looks like and never will.

But I enjoy the word scramble in the Sunday paper and love to draw. So, when the Other Karla and Beth told me to try this app, I gave it a shot and got hooked immediately.

You draw with your fingertip right on the screen, and then you can watch your drawing as it loads on the other person's screen and follow them trying to solve the puzzle.

The drawings disappear fast as a blink of the eye as soon as you finish the puzzle, but Beth (who solves them all fast as lightening) discovered that if you fill in all the blanks but one, you can take your time and watch the picture develop and even take a photo of it.

If you have trouble guessing the word, you can use your points to take away extra letters that try to confuse you. That is, if you have plenty of points. Sugarwings likes to use my points to buy extra colors to draw with. We own all the color palettes now, but no letter bombs to help solve clues.

Some are a challenge. Like this one. Can you guess it?

And its not that easy to draw with a fingertip, but I sure have fun trying.

Wanna play? You can reach me at my email address:

Karlanathan@sbcglobal.net

or my user name:

karkiejo

As addictive as this game is, and as much as I want to play it right now, please forgive me if I don't jump in and do dozens of back and forth games right away, because I am desperately trying to restrain myself and get ready for Birdsong instead. I don't think my guests will appreciate a studio knee deep in junk and no place to sit while I doodle on my ipad.

But, I would like to get some more partners to play with, and if you'll request a game with me online, I can play one, then keep the info and play more with you after I get everything ready around here.

Although…. there are lunch breaks when I can play…. and at night in front of the TV when I am done with work for the day…. and when I go into the house to get a drink….. and when I am sitting in the car at a stop light… and when NO, I will NOT squeeze in more games. I will go and make my kit and clean the studio!!

But I am a little hungry right now and I think the IPad is laying on the dining room table. Maybe a quick game with lunch….

Poor Twinkle

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers)

By Karla Nathan / April 16, 2012

Thanks for all of your caring comments, emails, and phone calls about little Agnes Rosebud. I'm sorry I didn't answer them all, I just really didn't want to talk about it much, but I did appreciate your thoughtfulness. And thanks for trying to make me let go of the guilt. I'm still just sick about my carelessness.

As much as I miss the tiny pup, her Dog Mom misses her even more. At first Twinkle was in a panic and searched everywhere for her. I hate to say this, and must warn you to skip this next sentence if you are squeamish, but we had to disinter Aggie to show Twinkle where she was. That really did calm Tinks down and stopped her frantic searching.

Then, she was extremely needy for a while, but now, this is all she does. No more scampering around with her little best friend, the two of them at my heels no matter where I am or what I'm doing, both looking up at me with those inquisitive, terrier eyes, wanting to know what fun thing will happen next. Will I sit at my desk? Will I be turning on the TV? Oh, heavens, could I be opening the DOOR????? Could I be eating something that has crumbs??

Yes, they were so funny and so happy all the time, and thought that any move I made was endlessly fascinating. They even appreciated my singing and couldn't wait to hear the next line of any song I made up.

But now, Rosey is gone and Twinkle won't leave her pillow. Its so sad.

I'm not ready for a new dog, a "replacement" dog just doesn't feel right. But even if I'm not ready, I think I need to get a dog for Twinkle. She is lonely and depressed. We'll see. I don't know if I could give my heart to a puppy yet.

We'll lavish lots of extra love on Tinks for now, and I'll keep my eye out for a new pet for her.

Agnes Rosebud

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers)

By Karla Nathan / April 14, 2012

Sweet little Agnes was killed by a car last week, on her 2nd birthday. I miss her terribly.

Yorkies are a fiesty little breed, and often think that they are big dogs. Well, not this sprite. She always knew she was a teensy thing and wanted to be near me to watch out for her. I let her down by not making sure she was safe, we were in the driveway, carrying stuff to the garage and she ran down the drive way, and right out in front of a car.

Here she is on last year's birthday.

A few months ago we had four little furry kiddos, Bookie was put down in the fall, due to canine dementia. Sparkle's kidney's failed while Sugarwings was in the hospital after surgery for her broken arm.

But those two had led very full, very happy lives. Tiny Ages Rosebud was just at the beginning of hers.

This picture is when she was about three weeks old.

There is something extra special about raising a puppy from the day they were born. I've had lots of dogs in my life, and know they give boundless love, whether they are a full grown stray, or a rambunctious baby when you get them. But I've had two dogs that were born here and that makes such a strong bond. Agnes never knew any other home and I was her "person" from the moment she could waddle out of her nest and into my hands.

Being everything to a pet is a big responsibility, we had a deal that I didn't keep my end of. She gave me her full and complete heart, and I was supposed to keep her safe and treasured for a lifetime.

She was certainly treasured, but I failed to keep her safe. We have 10 acres and I tend to let the dogs run around outside with me, never alone, but I do let them out when I'm in the yard and let them visit their neighbor, Holden, who Agnes had a big crush on.

She'd never had a leash on in her whole two years. I always knew she wouldn't leave, that she and Twinkle would not run off, they'd visit their friend behind our house, they'd sniff for bunnies, they'd joyfully run back to me to tell me with bright eyes and pouncing little bodies, all about where they'd been.

I took for granted that they'd both always come back.

I shouldn't have. Since a stranger picked up Twinkle a couple years back and she was gone for over a week till returned, I vowed to be a better pet owner and I really tried to always keep my eye on them, and they did not ever go outside without me. If kids left doors or gates open and the dogs were loose, I'd throw a little hissy fit and tell them to be careful.

But I spend a lot of time outdoors, and the dogs always go with me. Never with a leash. And this time, she dashed out to the street. I didn't protect her.

In the backyard

cottage, flowers

By Karla Nathan / April 12, 2012

The chicken coop isn't the only area that has been getting some sprucing up. Sugarwing's Daddy has been helping me in the yard. It was his idea to move my old bike over to this tree, and I think it was a good one.

There are pink begonias planted in the baskets,but they are still tiny right now. Most of the Spring plants have finished and we are moving on to the summer blooms already, so these begonias should be taking off soon. Of course, in a normal year, I'd be worried about getting a late freeze, but I don't feel one coming on this year.

Seriously? Roses already?

Now, I'm NOT complaining. Just perplexed. And a little bit worried.

What a year. Winter was so mild and Spring so lovely. Will Summer be a scorcher?

We live over an aquifer and have great well water, so I'm prepared to spend the summer watering.

But for right now, I'm loving every second of this rare Spring heat. I've got more yard work done by March than I usually have done by June.

And we have had nice, new gravel spread in the courtyards and sidewalks.

Well, it started out nice and fresh… but now, it already has gopher mounds in it!!

Last fall, we took out a few sickly trees. These stumps never got hauled off, so I turned them into planter holders. I've planted lots of viney things in these whiskey barrels, so I hope to see trailing vines cover up most of the stumps in a couple of months. (the barrels are from the Home Depot and they get them from the Jack Daniels factory. When I bought them, I could still smell the whiskey!)

How is Spring where you are at? Is it weirdly wonderful there too?

I heard on NPR the other day that over 7000 temperature records have been broken for the Midwest in March and so far in April!

A home for the hens

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Hens

By Karla Nathan / April 10, 2012

Everyone around here is excited about the rehab of the chicken coop!

This old building has been through many transformations, and as good as I can guess, this will be its third time to serve as a home to a flock of birds. Its also been a woodworking shop, an antique store, a dog run, a hang out for my Jr High school age boys, and lately, a storage shed..

Now, back to being a chicken coop!

When I used this for an antique store, we ran electricity out to it, put on a new roof and painted it all a barely there, blush pink. I think the ladies will enjoy nesting in that flattering color. They will feel so pretty in the ambient lighting and soft pink walls.

(we still need to hang the feeder, right now, its just sitting under the bench. If we tried to feed them there, they would argue over access to the goodies. And it needs to be hung up so it doesn't get pooped in as much. They will be pooping in it no matter what, but higher is better)

We've provided a couple of mirrors so they can check themselves out. I hear that chickens enjoy looking at themselves.

There are also lots of roosting materials, an old lawn chair, and branches screwed to the walls all around like a jungle gym.

The old painting on the wall is simply for their enjoyment.

A couple of chandeliers that no longer work were hung up for more roosting, and for lighting, I hung a ceramic lamp with a cracked base that was laying out in the shed.

The bench we built to set the nesting boxes on is just the right height to store bales of straw. They slide right under it, and don't leave space for the hens to roost (and poop) on the straw.

No ETA on when the girls will be moving in. But we are set and ready to welcome them to their new home.

The building has two sides, the long, narrow one that the ladies will be calling home, and a big square room next to it that the cats like to hang out in.

This side is where we keep lawn furniture in the winter, supposedly. But other things tend to accumlate too.

I've valiently tried to not let things pile up in here, but I'm glad I let a few things slip, because this is the place I raided to find the pretties for the coop. Nothing nice, just some old beat up stuff too nice to toss and I'm glad it had piled up there for me to dig through!

I'll let you know what the girls think of it all when they move in.

Here comes Peter Cotton Tail, Hopping down the Fairy Trail

Dew Drop, family, holiday decor, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / April 8, 2012

Happy Easter! We celebrated ours early by hosting an egg hunt on the Fairy Berry Trail in the woods behind our house. Our Gypsy and Dewdrop had foofed it up beautifully, and lined the whole trail with pinwheels (from the Dollar Store).

We started out letting the baby have a few minutes to gather some eggs for her basket at the top of the trail, then the race was on.

Sugarwings was ready to hit the trail in high speed as soon as she got the go-ahead to race away.

She might have been in a hurry to fill her own basket, but took time to stop and help her little sister when her eggs fell out of her basket.

The trail really looks good, better than it ever has. What a gorgeous spring we are having!

Since Sugarwings was going to be at her aunt's for Easter Sunday, she and Fin wrote the bunny a note and asked if he would hide eggs early, and left it out in the woods with a carrot as a bribe. Fin is older and knew that (spoiler alert- if you are a kid, or just a kid at heart, don't read this!) that the Easter Bunny isn't the guy who does all the eggs himself, but he got behind the idea and seemed to forget about that.

Dewdrop was pretty pleased with her first Egg Hunt too. I don't really think that the whole "give the baby a few minutes to find eggs first" was needed. She held her own with the big kids.

And was very fond of the organic jelly beans and gummi bears I'd put into the 150 eggs out in the woods. (I didn't want the parents mad at me for handing out too much candy, but had to put something in the eggs, so settled on a couple organic jelly beans in each, and made sure to have some healthy after school snacks for everyone before we cracked open the eggs and hit the sugar!)

I loved watching the different approaches to finding the eggs. Seems like the bigger you are, the faster you go.

The smallest kids ended up finding the most eggs, because they lingered.

And Dew Drop was happy just playing with the eggs themselves, but when she realized there was stuff in them, it got even more exciting.

Sugarwings must have been watching some old movies, because she was certain that white gloves were required with Easter dresses, and kept hers on the whole time.

but didn't necessarily keep them white…

This gown has been in her dress up closet, along with the garland Aunt Sissy made for her, for years and is one of her faves. Its good to have a piece in your wardrobe that is so versatile and can be worn for tea parties and fairy walks, as well as egg hunts.

I'm looking forward to garage sale season so I can replenish her dress stock. Most of them are 2nd hand to start with and are starting to show it after years of dress up play.

One thing I've noticed over the years, is that as much as the kids like princess gowns, that are meant for dress up, they seem to prefer pretty dressy-dresses. And of course, those are much sturdier than the clothes sold in the toy department too.

And Dewdrop seems to be enjoying dressing up.

In the past, she has been irritated by Grammie trying to put her in fairy clothes, but I have a feeling that its growing on her now.

Not only did our Gypsy add pretties to the trail this spring, I started some plantings out there. Around the fairy tree house, I planted some Virginia Creeper, which I hope with cover the over hanging branches eventually and make it feel more enclosed.

I also planted some variegated and plain vinca, and some ivy. We'd spent a day edging the flower beds up by the house, pulling up vines that were growing beyond their borders and straighting the rocks that lined the beds before we had new gravel delivered. Instead of tossing all those vines, I filled two wheelbarrows up with them and took them down to the Fairy Berry trail to line the walkways.

It feels good to have fresh gravel everywhere! We did the driveway and sidewalks too. And we PAID someone else to do it all. In the past, I've spent weeks with my wheelbarrow and shovel spreading gravel from the pile we had delivered. But I discovered that the labor cost of having it spread was only $250.

Seriously?

I spent weeks of back breaking labor to save $250? I know I'm cheap, but I am NOT that cheap. Its not worth my time (or back) when two guys with rakes and a bobcat can do it in one day!!

And now, everything looks so fresh and clean, like the ground does after a new snow. Of course, it will be a matter of days before weeds peek through, and I noticed this morning that we already have a gopher mound.

I hope your Easter is a blessed one and that your basket is over filled with chocolates!

Birdsong 2 Classes

bird song art event

By Karla Nathan / April 7, 2012

Birdsong weekend was a LOT of work, but I planned ahead, baked ahead and froze treats, and even made up a written time line for what I needed to do when. I'm not normally that precise, but I found that it sure made it easier for Beth and Karla to pitch in and help if all the info wasn't up in my foggy brain. They could look at the time line and help with chores.

Being organized kept me on track too, and I was able to have plenty of time to relax, enjoy the group, and even have some time to create.

This is Lisa's class project. I was excited about doing it, but wanted to use some of my own elements, as well as change out the fairy kids to my little Dewdrop.

And look at what perfect paper Lisa had in her stash for this class! "Gypsy Song", just what I needed for a Dewdrop creation. Her mommy is quite the Gypsy.

Beth's class was a fun one too, although I didn't get to sit down to work on it then, she was generous enough to bring the kits a week early and we both sat and made up some collages from them.

My two are on the left, hers on the right. We gave them as door prizes during the classes.

One of the classes I taught was a made from scratch mushroom with a Charlotte fairy living under it. I'm not sure whose this one is, but didn't it turn out nice?

I pulled a dumb move at one point during class. Suzanne was holding up a mushroom/fairy concoction and I asked her if I could take a photo of her with it, telling her how pretty it was. Well, after posing, she politely told me that it was my own class example that I had complimented!

We all howled for a while over that one.

My last class was a necklace, and I was very pleased to see so many of them completed for the artists to wear home that night! There were a lot of beginners in the class and I know it was a little complicated, but I was proud of their results.

I will be in CA attending Kim's Tiffany event, then meeting Sugarwings and my handsome husband for a couple days at Disney! I've pre-written some blog posts for while I am away, so please stop by.

Sprucing up the Fairy Trail

Dew Drop, fairies, family

By Karla Nathan / April 6, 2012

The girls pitched in to help me get ready for Birdsong. Its still early yet, but the weather was so good, we decided to spiff up the Fairy Berry Trail. I hired these two as my Fairy Designers for the job.

In the fall, I put away the decorations we use on the trail out in the woods, so the girls loaded the wheelbarrow full of pretties and head out into the woods to replace it all and foof up the trail.

Of course, they needed to be dressed properly for the job!

This will be the first year that Dewdrop is old enough to play out on the trail, I hope she likes it.

Since she has spent a big chunk of her life living in a yirt in a woodland, so playing outside in the trees has been an every day thing for her!

The trail is looking prety, lined with pinwheels down its whole length. We are hoping to plant some vines and flowers out there this year too. And spiff up the tree house (to the left).

Author name: Karla Nathan