Author name: Karla Nathan

The treats just keep on rolling in!  Hope sent these for our goodie bags.

Look at how pretty they all look together.  Each delightfully decorated match box is filled with presents too.

Heidi, has sent  these lovelies for us, and they were not only wrapped up beautifully,they came with a hand made card, and a sweet fabric rose for me.

Thanks, Heidi!!

Jeri decorated a small bag for  us, then added trinkets and papers inside each of them.

The generosity in blogland never ceases to amaze me!  I have a full list of sponsors on the side bar of this blog and of Birdsong.

My teensy story for Romantic Homes is done and turned in, I'll let you know when it appears. I'm honored to be in that magazine again.  Here is how I foofed up the treat cabinet for the article. Its not quite how I'll have the goodies displayed for Birdsong, but close. 

It feels good to have so much ready ahead of time, and my family was nice about helping with the set up, and patient with our garage redo, with all the items from it stored (in the way) out in the detached garage.

By getting the house ready so far in advance, I've been able to relax and  teach our little one how to play pool, and have Sugarwings come to stay for Easter weekend.  Its not easy to be a non-procrastinator, but it sure is worth the effort!

Sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking time to read them.  And I'll chose a name from commenters to give a Birdsong memento to later on.

 I'll be busy getting ready for BirdSong this week, please forgive me for not answering comments.  I'll be taking the time to read them, tho!

The two attic guest rooms are all aired, fresh linens are on the beds, and I'm ready for my guests.

During Bird Song, my pal Lisa who is teaching will be staying with me, as well as another good friend, Sherry.  I'm not sure yet, but another friend  might be joining the slumber party too.

I wish I could have invited more friends to stay, I love company. But it would be too hard to treat guests well, while trying to take care of the whole workshop, meals, and everything else that I'll be whirring around doing.

I've warned the ladies staying here that they'll be on their own, I'll be zipping about taking care of students all weekend.  But they are the sort of people that I know will be able to make themselves comfy and at home and I won't have to worry about.

Both of the guest rooms are in attic areas that we "reclaimed".  Finding unused space and claiming it as living space is a cost effective way to make your house bigger, especially if you can do some of the work yourself.

All of it was done on a shoestring budget, but we sure got a lot of bang for the buck.  We have lots of company, so extra rooms are good  to have.

Each room has a rose theme, mostly because I can't resist buying anything rosey at garage sales, and I paint roses on too many things, like this desk and the shutters.

And this chest of drawers.

There is an extra twin bed in Sugarwing's room too.

Notice that the chandelier is missing its shades?  It once had decorated shades, trimmed out in fabric roses.

But one night, while tucking my fairy grand baby in, she said, "Grammy, can I tell you something?"

I said of course, and sat on her little pink bed next to her, and she told me that when I left the room, the light became a monster. 

I said, "A monster? Honey, there are no monsters at Grammy's house. I don't allow that."

But she insisted and pointed at the shades. So I took one down and brought it over to show her.  She said it was pretty and that she liked roses.

 I asked if she was okay and understood that they were just lamp shades, and she said, "Yes, these are pretty.  But when you leave the room, they are monsters."

Well there is no arguing with that.  So down they came.

  

Sorry I won't be answering emails or comments, but I will be taking time to read them.  And I'll chose a name from commenters to give a Birdsong memento to later on.