family – Page 42 – Karla's Cottage

A bookclub Christmas party

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 22, 2013

Before I left for my quick, Florida trip, I hosted our book club's holiday gathering.

This year, I am throwing myself whole heartedly into every opportunity to celebrate the season.

Lots of baking, lots of parties, lots of fun!

I'm hosting 4 gatherings, plus our family get togethers, took the girls to a play, attended a few parties, went to the Festival of Trees, and have Christmas lights burning brightly from morning till night.

When I had to have my decorations up before Thanksgiving, I thought it might be too much, that I'd be tired of all of them by the time the main event rolled around.

But nope, I've revelled in them and hate to see it all come to a close soon. It will be hard to pack it up and say goodbye to all of my twinkle lights and sparkly pretties till next year.

So for now, I'm soaking up as much holiday cheer as I can cram into myself, and into these two. We've done cocoa parties by the light of the tree and read Christmas stories galore.

Of course, I've had to pay the price of all this gallivanting and fun.

My shopping isn't done yet!

Oh, I've made a few gifts, like these trees I sent to my sisses. But for the most part, I've tried to make the holiday more about precious time together instead of presents.

Although, as the big day approaches, I'm starting to worry about my lack of presents under the tree, and really do need to get a few wrapped for the children, of course. I'm doing gift cards for the adults in our family, so they don't feel left out, but for me this year, it's about the joy not the gifts.

What an improvement!

cottage, family, redos

By Karla Nathan / December 20, 2013

Not too long ago, the handle of the kitchen sink faucet broke off in my hand. The sink wasn't even that old, maybe 8-9 years or so.Luckily, I have a very handy son, who was able to replace it for me.

A small redo can be just as messy as a big one, I had to clear the counter and remove everything under the sink, and all those bottles, jars, canisters and other things were piled up on the dining table. So, while he was at it, I had him go ahead and replace the sink too.

AND the bathroom sink, AND ucky looking faucet in there too!

My boy was here working, his tools were out, and the kitchen was pretty much wrecked for the day anyway. It was a good time to go for it and replace it all at once.

With the well water we have, there is no amount of scrubbing that will keep the build up away. So, things age fast around here.

(funny, out in the studio, I spend a lot of time patina-ing and distressing stuff to make it look older, but I'm not as fond of my appliances and such getting old and distressed)

I went for a deeper sink, and it is wonderful. I also upgraded the spigot. So, the costs were blossoming….

But so worth it! Adam did a great job, and while we spent a bit on materials, he did all the work on the "love donation" fee schedule, so that balanced the costs.

I think I'm going to like the dark, rich color of the new faucet too. It looks good with the dark floors in the kitchen.

Seems like I spend a lot of time at that sink, washing, chopping, cleaning. And it's soooo nice to have it all new and improved. Thanks, son!!

A Black Velvet Christmas with the Guncles

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, guncles, holiday decor, Travel, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / December 18, 2013

Our "Black Velvet Christmas" weekend at the Guncles was FAB.

Yep, that is the best word for it.

Except, the word should be written like this instead:

FAB!!!!!!!!!!

The home was colorfully filled with magical Christmas displays.

Tucked into every nook and cranny.

Not to mention that the house was also knee deep in gifts, that the guncles had generously bought and beautifully wrapped for their guests.

Fantastic, fresh seafood was fixed for every meal.

There were lots of pups waiting for cuddles.

A glamorous dinner party set up in a garden tent, where we cozily dined on lobster tails while a soft rain fell outside.

It was fun to have a reason to get gussied up.

I don't think I've ever been invited to a dinner party where my Handsome Husband put on a tux.

There was a complete bar set up with fresh limes from the garden.

And while it was rainy during our big dinner party, the rest of the weekend had perfect weather.

Especially since, back home in Kansas, the temps were in the 20s.

I loved being outside in the sunshine.

It was good for my soul to see fresh, blooming plants in winter.

And to share such a warm, welcoming weekend with good friends, old and new. Karen and I were already pals, and I enjoyed meeting her husband.

Randy and Kevin are top notch hosts, offering up more than just their home, they open their hearts up to their guests too.

And those guys are pretty lovable themselves.

They were overly generous with their gifting, but the best gift of all was them sharing their this haven of kindness, giving, and caring that is their home.

I'm very lucky to have married into this family. What great guys.

Thanks, Randy and Kevin!

Domed glass frame ornaments

antiques/junking, Dew Drop, family, guncles, holiday decor, how to's, Sugarwings, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / December 15, 2013

While out junking, I found three of these domed glass ornaments for $1 each. (I wish there had been more!!) They were pretty as is, but I had other ideas for them. First step was to find just the right picture of my little fairy princesses, then back it with heavy paper, and cut out the images.

After that, I pried off the the back of the frame. That was harder than I thought it would be, but it ended up coming off okay.

Next, I covered the existing cardboard circle with very old, gold wallpaper on the front/sheet music on the back, and added the girls to it. Dewdrop is layered over Sugarwings, with a wadded up piece of paper under her to make her image a little higher than her sister's image.

Since the glass was domed, I wanted to take advantage of the space inside and have the pictures at different levels.

Next, I added millinery flowers to their hair, and glitter pen sparkles to their dresses.

On Sugarwing's hair posy, I added a rhinestone. And then slid the word, "joy" under Dewdrop's head.

Bunched up lace and ribbon were glued over Sugarwing's skirt, and a silver pipe cleaner tree was put into Dewdrop's hand.

I took a snip from the pipe cleaner, and bent it into a V shape, and trimmed the fringe, so that it was all shaped up neatly. Then, I cut another snip off of a pipe cleaner, and trimmed almost all the fringe off of it right down to the wire, and glued that into a hole poked into the picture of Dewdrop's fist. Over that, I glued the V shape, faux tree, so that the piece glued into her hand looked like the trunk of the tree.

Next, I ran a bead of glue around the circle, dumped a bunch of sparkly glitter on the center of the circle, and rammed the piece back into the metal frame, under the glass. It wasn't much easier to put back in that it was to take out. But it went in, and the glue will hold it.

The glitter is loose, and makes me think this looks like a snow globe.

The other two that I bought were turned into gifts for Guncle Randy and Guncle Kevin. I made up a couple of pretty boy angels on black velvet for them.

Our trip to visit them in Florida involved a fancy dress up dinner party that was themed, "A Black Velvet Christmas."

I had some gorgeous, old black velvet to cut up, and used it for the background plus cut some up as ribbons.

The old watch face is ringed by tinsel, to make it Christmassy.

Foil leaves and sparkly snowflakes were tied to the ribbons.

The angels in both are vintage, and the feathers are from my hen, Sophia. She had such pretty, silver colored feathers, that were just perfect for the angel wings. This handsome guy got his suit foofed up with silver stripes, and a boutonniere with a rhinestone center on his lapel.

When I get back, I'll have some pictures to show of the guncle's FAB holiday home. They always do it up right. I'll probably come home about 10lbs heavier too, they cook every bit as good as they decorate, and these guys love to spoil their guests!

Theatre Lawrence, Shrek the Musical

Dew Drop, fairies, family, parties

By Karla Nathan / December 13, 2013

Nope, that isn't a Christmas Elf, it's Princess Fiona.

We went to see Shrek the Musical at our community theater and of course, I thought it would be a good idea if we all got Shrekked up a bit.

My husband, surprisingly, already owned this bilious green shirt. And Dewdrop only wants to wear her pink gown all the time, but did agree to have a green skirt over it. I found a $3 top at Goodwill for myself, but went to 5 stores before I could find something just right for Sugarwings.

And I think that her leafy, green dress from Kohls is a perfect balance of princess and ogre, with the green leggings and shirt underneath to keep warm. It was only 6 degrees out that night, and I was glad that boots were suitable for the girls instead of princess shoes, or they'd have frozen their toesies.

The theater itself was warm and cozy. It is a brand new building, and something our town should be very proud of.

The show was cute as can be, as entertaining for a 3 year old as it was for a 50 year old. Well, 55, to be honest.

Afterwards, the cast came out to visit, and Sugarwings was thrilled to see Mama Bear and the Sugarplum fairy up close. Dewdrop was down for the count though. By the time the show had ended, she was snoring away in my lap with her own sugarplums dancing in her head.

For this little one, the highlight of the evening was getting to meet a real princess.

And dancing on the stage with the cast to the last song. Which I tried to stop her from doing, not realizing that all the kids were invited. We have this tradition in the movie theater, that when the show ends and everyone else starts to file out the door, we all go down to the very front of the room right by the screen, and dance to the credits.

While Sugarwings is always mesmerized by a movie, unspent energy builds up and accumulates in her tiny body while watching the show. So, we let her blow some of it off before loading her in the car.

And when I saw her take off for the stage at the end of Shrek, I didn't realize it was by invitation, I thought she was just doing what she does at the movies and figured she was going to add herself into the plot!

I'm glad they let the kiddos do this, what fun for them to be right in the middle of all the fairy tale characters. She had such a good time dancing with the Ugly Duckling, that all the photos were a blur, she was putting everything into the dance, with gusto.

My dear friend, Jen Unekis, was the featured artist, and her work was hanging in the lobby. There was an opening night reception for her, and it added to the festivities.

Here are some more photos of our visit with Shrek at the play. I am thinking I should get season tickets, this was such a wonderful family night out!

Cheers!

Holiday Home decor temptations

cottage, family, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 8, 2013

This season, I was a tad bit worried about the Christmas decorations staying where I put them.

Between the dogs and the Grand Fairies, I doubted that any of it stood a chance of surviving till Christmas, since it went up so early.

But the little girls have been ideal. Dewdrop is enamoured of it all, yet doesn't mess with it.

Much…

I think the trick to keeping little fingers off the vintage and hand made pieces that I want to use, but not have destroyed, was to give them their very own tree.

Sugarwings and I started this tradition when she was tiny. I gave her a pink tree and a basket full of decorations to put on, take off, play with, do as she pleased.

Now, Dewdrop is enjoying the tree along with her. And is pretty good about not getting into the other decor.

I also think it helps that I make a big deal out of the way the house is decorated and pick them up to show them individual things and talk about them. The Grand Fairies feel included, and enjoy the pretties around the cottage, I want them to feel like our home is fixed up for all of us, not that it is just a big pile of Grammie NO NOs.

Kind of like what we do in the studio. The girls have their own tables, and cabinets full of art supplies that belong to them. They have learned to, well kind of, keep curious fingers out of my supplies. I like to show them what I am working on and tell them about it, but I am also trying to teach them to respect my things and to use their own.

Of course, Dewdrop is barely 3, and Sugarwings has an ongoing story happening in her head that requires lots of interesting props to act out… so, it's a challenge and a gamble to set out precious things within their reach.

But worth it. If something breaks here and there (which it has), it's only stuff. I hope that I am showing them how good it is for the soul to have the peace and calm that pretty surroundings can bring to you.

And it means a lot to me to have our home all Christmassed up.

I think they like it too.

Now, if I can only convince the Twin Terrier Terrors that none of it is meant for them. Those dogs are infatuated with it all.

Wish us luck!

Reunited

cottage, family

By Karla Nathan / November 24, 2013

Years ago, my Sissy used to make teddy bears. Really, really cute ones. She made all sorts of them and had an agent who sold them for her. But she gave some to family too, and when my boys were just little guys, she made them each one. (I've added the foof, the bears were just plain for the boys, of course)

Now that my sons are adults, and one is a father, the bears have been passed along to the grand fairies. But one has been missing for months. I've looked high and low for it, but it was no where to be found. Who knew what those girls could have done with it? Both kids are busy bees around here, hauling crap from their toy stash to various parts of the house or yard, or even out to the woods.

That bear could have been anywhere, including their mom's house or car.

Then, I decided to give my closet a fall cleaning and reorganize it. (this is my new coat from Victorian Trading!)

When our boys grew up and moved out, we did the smartest remodel project ever. We used an empty bedroom to expand our closet and bathroom, then moved the laundry room right into our closet. Perfect for a couple of empty nesters. We could take clothes right out of the dryer, and turn around and put them on a shelf or hanger. We no longer needed laundry baskets or even a chest of drawers. All of our things stayed right in the same room. It was great!

Till we started having people move in with us. Over the years, we have hosted many, many, many long term guests. Some for weeks, some months, some for years.

An empty nester laundry room isn't quite the same when your nest is over flowing, not empty.

But, back to the long, lost, little pink bear. (yes, my son has always had a fondness for pink, I'm glad he ended up with two, tiny, pink loving daughters)

The fuzzy pink bear turned up during the laundry room reorg!

Way, way, back in the corner, squished under a cabinet, she was hiding out! I squealed when I found her.

(please do not ask how often I clean behind or under things. You don't want to hear that, just know that I was quite brave to reach my arm under the cabinet to explore what was lurking under it)

To celebrate the bear's reunion, I cleaned them both up and brought them out to the studio to hang out for a while, before they are once again cuddled up by the two grand fairies and drug into games of hide and seek and who knows what else.

Nathan Family Fairy Food Forest Fall Update

family, flowers, Food and Drink, Nathan Family Fairy Food Forest

By Karla Nathan / November 2, 2013

I hate to see the garden season come to an end.

This year was special with the creation of the Fairy Food Forest that my son and our Gypsy designed and grew.

We had some delicious meals plucked from its mounds.

And fresh flowers popping up all over. The wild flower mixes held varieties that attracted good bugs to eat the bad ones, and some plants were meant simply for bugs to eat, to them them away from a plant we might have wanted to eat ourselves.

This year was just a start. My son says it is a five year plan. This was the basics, more trees and edible shrubs will be going in next spring.

And our baby trees will grow tall and produce for us.

There are swales down one side, that trap rainwater so that it is saved in the garden, not washed down the hillside to the creek. Next spring, more swales and trees will go in on the other side.

I'm hoping for more arching structures of vines too. Peas, then beans, then cucumbers all climbed these one after each other. I think the veggies liked the arches as much as I did.

The kids loved planting and picking food too. Both girls knew they could eat tiny, current tomatoes and mini strawberries whenever they saw one ripen. The yard was organically planted, so no nastiness needed to be washed off before popping a tasty treat into their mouths.

It was nice to see little girls playing outside in the dirt and eating produce right off the plants.

Our kitchen garden, fenced off from bunnies, was a success too. We are still pulling up carrots and beets.

And we have about 4,000 cardoon plants. Those seeds really took off and I'm not quite sure what to do with them.

Sadly, we got very few large tomatoes this year, although we had small, salad sized ones daily. I'd have liked some big, slicing tomatoes for sandwiches and some for making sauce to freeze too.

The raccoons seemed to like the few big tomatoes that ripened. Unless I picked them green and brought them in to finish, the animals beat me to them.

Even with a guard gnome.

This week, we had our first hard freeze. Before we'd even had a light frost. In Kansas, you just never know. Last Thanksgiving, I was picking fresh tomatoes. Some years, we are done before October.

Before the cold snap came, I was able to get these farewell pictures taken, and my kids planted some cool weather crops that weren't even affected by the freeze. We fixed a big bowl of salad greens up last night. It was lovely to have fresh lettuce at Halloween.

I wonder how long it will be til we are picking apples off this tree?

At the base of it, the kids have planted companion plants. It's a whole different look than what you'd expect from an orchard. I'm learning a lot about it all, but I still have issues with what looks like weed problems to me.

I did my best to pull up grasses and baby trees, as well as some other pesky things that I knew we didn't plant. My son said it was unnecessary. You just "chop and drop", cut off the tops and leave them on the soil for nutrition.

I was worried about seed heads on the things we didn't want growing there. He says it isn't an issue.

But I wonder how the good things know to reseed and the bad don't? Seems to me like grasses need to go before they go to seed. But he explained that, over time, the fruit and nut bearing trees and shrubs and other forest components work together and fill in so that things you don't want don't grow. Or if they do, it's just a bit here and there. Apparently, it's not a perfectly manicured look. It will be wild and unruly, and well, look like a forest.

For now, while the trees and all the plants are small, we are using the mounds for our garden veggies too. But as time goes on, they won't work there and we'll have to move them back to the "kitchen garden".

All of it has been quite the learning curve for me. Luckily, our Gypsy has a thumb so green, it's practically neon. And my son has a deep love of growing food for his family.

The bounty is barely beginning. Thinking about the years to come is quite exciting!!

What is the best part about the long descent from Fall to Winter? Thinking about the holidays!! I hope you'll join me here at the Cottage for my Christmas workshop where we will make 4 projects in one day. Details in the previous post.

ps- if the weather and the garden cooperate, I'll be serving fresh greens from the food forest at our holiday luncheon on November 23!

ghosts and giggles

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 30, 2013

We did some early Halloween celebrating at the county club's Ghost and Giggles event. It's such a cute evening out, they have games set up for the kids, a clown, balloon animals, and great food.

And creepy names for the foods, like Mummy Fingers, Monster Eyeballs, and Frank's Green Goo. Dewdrop was excited to get her plate till I started to recite the names for her. We call her the world's hungriest baby, but she wasn't going near her food when she thought it was really monster stuff.

The clown's show made up for the scary decor and spooky food titles. She was mesmerized.

Sguarwings was so excited by it all, she was mostly a blur, darting from one event to the next.

The club had piles of candy out for kids to help themselves, and I was pleased to see that our little fairies didn't try to load up on it. I filled my pockets with Smarties…. I didn't see the girls even go near the treats table. Maybe the spooky skeleton kept them away.

They were much more interested in the bowls of toys that were also self serve. Sugarwings treated us to a puppet show with her loot.

I went as a witch. My son said I looked so good that someone might just drop a house on me.

He didn't go with us, he had a DJ job that night, and went as Thoth and fabricated this mask for his costume.

Sugarwings wanted to wear the Halloween costume that her mommy bought for her, but I asked her to save it for her school party and trick or treating, so it would be special then. I didn't tell her that I wanted her to wear the princess gown I'd bought for the Renfest so I could get some of my money's worth out of it.

Not that it was too pricey, TJ Max and Marshalls have elaborate, well made costumes for a decent price, her gorgeous, velvet dress was $32. It was a very good quality. So was Dewdrop's and hers came with a cloak too.

But even at only thirty bucks each, I felt like I needed to get two events out of the dresses!

This year's party seemed a bit subdued. When I mentioned it to my husband later, he said it was because of the KU game that night, not a lot of people made reservations.

A game instead of dressing up like a witch, and watching a magic show with a couple of pink princesses? What was everyone thinking? That never would have occurred to me.

A Gnats and Brats Wicked Weekend

Chandeliers, cottage, family

By Karla Nathan / October 27, 2013

While my sisses were visiting, we had a couple of big days out. We saw Gravity in the 3D Imax (wow), shopped, shopped, and shopped a bit more…

…had a last minute idea to go see Wicked, and were able to get three of the last seats available for opening night. (not the best seats, but we enjoyed the play. Bobbie was the only one who hadn't seen it before, too bad we were so high up, she still hasn't really seen it)…

Sissy brought us all matching bittersweet orange scarves to wear and we were proud to look like triplets all weekend.

…and we ate way, way too much good food. I think the best meal was at the Nicklaus Golf Club. My husband was working there that day and we met him for lunch. Their food is always yummerific.

For the rest of the time Bobbie Sue and Sissy were here, I had the little grand fairies to care for, so our adventures had to include the girls.

Beth came by and joined us for a craft day.

Which was nice, because I hardly ever get to spend time with her any more.

And we had a Renfest day with both girls and our Hippy Chick.

But a lot of the time, was just hanging out around the kitchen table. Drinking coffee, talking, and swatting gnats. I had a trap made for the gnats, by filling a glass with an orange segment, covered in vinegar, with Saran Wrap over it. Then, I used a toothpick to punch holes in the wrap, so that gnats could get into the cup. They are attracted to the scents, and get in through the holes, but can't smell their way back out again. It works pretty well, but we had way too many flying beasts for this to catch them all.

With little girls running around under foot and bugs buzzing our heads, I started calling this our Gnats and Brats Weekend.

I finally told my sisters that I wasn't going to treat them like company any more and I hung up a fly strip from the chandelier. (classy)

And the fly strip wasn't getting all the pests either. I put the vinegar trap under the fly strip, so the smell would draw them in, and then the ones that didn't go into the cup would get caught on the strip. To get them closer to the strip, I had to stack a kid's chair on the island with a salad spinner on top of it.

I'd thought about using a crystal bowl upside down instead of a salad spinner, thinking that would look nicer, then I realized that nothing would make this look nicer.

This was a nasty, bug encrusted fly trap in the middle of my kitchen.

It reminded me of the time I was reminiscing with two very dear, old friends. We were talking about how far we'd come in our lives from our Trailer Trash roots. (my sister hates it when I say I'm trailer trash, because she thinks Mom and Dad would spin in their graves to hear it, both worked hard to provide a good home for us. But the truth is, long after Sissy grew up and moved out, I lived in a trailer with Mom, and after that, I kind of lived in a succession of one trailer after another for a few years)

But back to my friends….

We had grown up together, and supported each other through our parents' divorces, and had all had some rough times that we faced together.

So, we were congratulating ourselves on leaving the land of trailer parks behind, and being proud of each other for living in homes without wheels now. (I've lived in a total of 5 mobile homes myself, and was lucky to have a roof over my head and wheels under my feet at the time)

And then, Sandy said, "Wait, Debbie lived in a really nice double wide, does that still count?" (Sandy and I had some crappy trailers to our name)

And we all burst out laughing, remembering how much nicer Debbie's trailer was than ours, but still knowing that yes, a trailer is a trailer.

As I was planning my gnat entrapment, and trying to dress it up, I figured you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. A fly trap is every bit as ucky hanging from a chandy as it is from a bare bulb. A double wide is a trailer, even if it is a nice trailer.

And you can take the girl out of the trailer, but you can't take the trailer out of the girl. I'm glad I had years of poverty in my past, years that taught me to appreciate what I have, years that taught me to scrounge, save, and be creative, look for deals, do it myself. Years that make me a practical person who knows that gnats are better stuck to goo than dive bombing your company.