family – Page 56 – Karla's Cottage

Battling the mid-winter blues and dreaming of Spring!

By Karla Nathan / February 7, 2011

The other day, I was cleaning my studio and doing some rearranging, with my spring time art event in mind, and just decided that I couldn't take it anymore, I had to MAKE something. Something quick and simple, but something. This weather has had me down, and not feeling very creative, so I needed a boost and forced myself to create.

Since I'd been cleaning up, there was a pile of papers I'd gathered up on the desk, so I used them up instead of putting them away, and turned them into a mini ephemera book.

I felt a little better about winter after doing something pretty.

Sugarwings came to spend the weekend with me, and both of us are feeling that mid-winter pinch. That cooped up, sick of being inside the same four walls dread. To beat the blues, we built a fort with blankets and curtains over the dining room table.

We discussed building strategy and felt like all white was the way to go, and that we'd call it a snow fort.

The floor got covered with a couple of thick, soft comforters, and we brought in pillows, a flash light, and art supplies.

And treats, of course! We snacked away all day and didn't even have lunch.

Yes, I did say all day. We were in that fort for hours.

We spent some of the time doing cave paintings. We used markers to draw fairies, clouds, hearts, and stars above our heads on the underside of the table.

Hopefully, she'll take my warning about never drawing on anyone's furniture unless an adult says Okay, seriously.

Hopefully, I haven't created an urge in her to marker up every table she sees… But I think that she understood that this was a special place and a special time.

After a couple hours of stories, drawing and snacking, she still wasn't ready to leave the fort. So I snuck out and got a book for myself and a DVD player for her.

This is our book for Monday night's book club and I hadn't had a chance to open it till Sunday afternoon.

So, I borrowed Sugarwing's flashlight and started to read while she watched Ariel. After a while my handsome husband got home, and he crawled in to hang out, and discovered just how cozy the spot was. He ended up taking a nice long nap in the fort while Sugarwings watched another movie.

Her Hippy Chick Mommy came over for Sunday dinner, and we made some Valentines, then the two of them crawled in the fort to watch a 3rd movie. I think that if she had her way, that kid would still be in that fort right now. She did eat breakfast in there this morning.

Thanks for all the sign ups for Bird Song! There are still spots left, if you are interested please email me for a pay-pal invoice. I can't promise you a snow fort while you are here, but please feel free to climb under the tables and draw on the undersides if you'd like.

Details about the event can be found HERE.

And if you'd like to win one of my bargain bag rhinestone bracelets, leave a comment here or on the previous post. I bought a ton of them for dirt cheap and will draw a few names to share them.

A Case of the Januarys

family, Hand Painted Furniture, housework

By Karla Nathan / January 28, 2011

Each year, after taking down the Christmas tree, I feel like my house needs… something. There is something about going from full on glitz and glamour to just plain back to normal that is a little sad. Plus, the weather doesn't help. Being cooped up and staring at the rooms day after day doesn't help. Things that bug me just a little start to bug me a LOT when there is no escape from them.

Last January, I spent a lot of time neutralizing and de-pinking my kitchen, and rearranging all my pretties in their glass fronted cabinets.

This year, I thought I'd gotten off the hook easy. After taking down the tree, cleaning the rooms and simply shifting a few things from here to there, I thought I was done and past it all. I was so busy with the funeral and guests that I almost made it to the end of January without taking on a do over anywhere in the house.

I was content with my simple clean up and and it was nice just to have the tree and most of the Christmas foof hidden away for the year.

But then, I ended up watching Sugarwings for a few days while the flu attacked at her Daddy's house. And while she was here, a bug got her too. Not the bad, spewing one that was going on at her Daddy's, just a cough and fever. Enough that she was down, but not out. Lots of cuddle time and movies. But, still, I was cooped up in the house, staring at the things that bugged me.

Since I needed to stay near my sick fairy grand baby, and couldn't really start anything big, I decided to tackle the dreaded closet.

One door leads to the bath, the other to the bedroom where Sugarwings was tucked into my bed watching our new favorite movie, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." She and I watched it together twice and when she said she wanted to see it again, I simply had to get up and do something else.

So, Twinkle, Agnes Rosebud and I started tossing stuff out of the closet.

The room was too awful to show a before picture. It was crowded, and you couldn't even see the floor. I had baskets, furniture, and who knows what cluttering it up.

Where the rolling hamper sits now, was a tall chest filled with too many old clothes. I threw out 3 garbage bags of clothes not good enough to donate, and packed one boxful to take to the thrift store.

Now, why did I have all those? And why would I even think they were fit to wear?

Its easy to cling to things that I might need…. but I realized that I never would need them. And really, really shouldn't wear them even if I did think that I needed them. I had a wardrobe intervention on myself. Kind of like this summer when I emptied out that old shed. Man, it felt good to get rid of stuff that was cluttering up my life.

Oh, I kept plenty of comfy tees and hoodies, because I am smart enough to know that I won't ever dress "nice" around the house, or to most places I go. But I got rid of enough old clothes that I didn't need and should never be seen in, that I was able to do away with a whole dresser and make the room more open and pleasant.

Then, I arranged all my clothes by color, just like they do at my favorite store, Goodwill. And I recycled all the wire hangers.

What I noticed while doing this, is that I dress myself kinda the way I do my house. My keepers were lots of neutrals with soft pinks, a few flowers and lace, and a touch of aqua blue.

The space is also our laundry room. When we were newbie empty nesters, we thought it was a brilliant plan to remodel one of the kid's rooms into a larger master bath for us, and turn it into a laundry room at the same time. It is really a nice concept. As I pull clothes out of the dryer, I hang them up or put them on a shelf, there are no laundry baskets to tote into the other room, and we have more space in our bedroom because we don't need clothes storage in there. (except for Sugarwing's clothes- which I am too lazy to carry upstairs in her bedroom, we keep them in our room).

But, that was before we had one son and his family move in and out a couple times, another son move in permanently, and various other relatives come and go. A laundry room off the master isn't as easy to share as one somewhere else in the house.

We have two walls of built in shelving, (hand made by Sugarwing's Daddy, who also built my kitchen) and this section of shelving was just the right width to slide in this small chest of drawers that I painted years ago. My boy built the shelf above it to pull out and use as a folding table. Its one of my favorite features.

The room is not very pretty. It was done on a tight budget, we didn't even finish the floors, I simply painted the sub-floor white. I guess I could fill all the open shelves with matching wicker baskets and hide away the laundry paraphernalia, but I don't think it is worth my time or the expense. I did wrap an old crocheted table cloth around my ratty, rolling hamper, but that is about the extent of foofing that I did and that only took a minute, and was free to do.

For now, I am thrilled just to have it cleaned up and feeling spacious. The trick will be to not fill it back up with junk again.

Yes, I know, this was not the prettiest of blog posts… but to me, that cleared out, naked floor in the walk in closets is one of the most lovely sites I've seen in a long while! I'm glad I was struck with a case of January-itis and got this project done.

By the way, Sugarwings is better now, and back home with her father. Her poor, little Sis-star has her first fever though and we are hoping she doesn't get the spewing flu.

I'm back to the studio working on more fun projects, but every time I go in the house, I take an admiring glance at my closet.

At Disney

family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 24, 2011

So much has happened since the new year, that I haven't had a chance to show you our Disney pictures. You didn't think you were going to escape a doting grammie's photos of her baby on vacation did you?

Sugarwings was thrilled to meet some of her favorites, Mirry Pippins (as she calls her) was way up on the top of her list of great movies, so this was a real treat for her.

And of course any one who wants to hear "Alice in Wonderland" read to her over and over can't miss meeting the White Rabbit. We were walking through the park as he was making his way to the spot set up for him to meet kids and when she spied him, she took off following him just like Alice did. Luckily, there were no big holes for her to fall into.

This was a moment when we could have used Mary Poppin's nanny skills, because Sugarwings saw no reason to stand in a line to give this rabbit a hug. She was determined to get right to him.

One character that she really wanted to meet, was not there. But it looks like there are plans for a Little Mermaid attraction to be built soon. And Ariel was featured in a 3D movie that we saw multilple times. At each showing, Sugarwings had to call out, "Hi Ariel!!!!!"

We got to the park early and it wasn't too crowded yet. It was nice to explore a bit and let our fairy princess run about. Once the place filled up, we had to keep her close. She likes to run, though, so we found a playground in Toon Town for her to play in for a while.

She made a few friends there, mostly boys. She was wearing her dress over her head part of the time and asking boys if they would marry her. I think she thought the filmy net of her skirt felt like a bridal veil.

I hope this isn't how she plans on meeting her prince charming someday…

We ended up carrying her through most of the park. She spent a lot of the day on her Pop Pop's shoulders. I took a few turns of holding her too. It made me not feel as bad about missing time at the gym to haul her 30 pounds around for a few hours.

Plus, I love any excuse to cuddle her.

We only spent one day at the Magic Kingdom, and two nights at the hotel. I think that if we go again, we'll take a bit more time to explore. Saying goodbye wasn't easy for me. I had waaaaayyy too much fun!

An odd trip to Nebraska

family, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 23, 2011

What a relief to be home. And to a clean house. I took time before we left to spic and span up the joint and de-christmas it. There is nothing nicer than coming home from a rough trip to a welcoming, cleaned up house filled with little dogs happy to see you.

Not only did I de-christmas it all, I rearranged all the funeral flowers too. Kind hearted friends had sent a couple of dozen floral baskets to the funeral and all of them got delivered to my house afterward. So, we distributed them between family and the local nursing home (where Ardell used to live until he met and married his wife who worked there-a long, odd story that you probably don't want to hear).

I don't know about you, but if I lived in a nursing home, I'd be depressed when a truckload of flowers left over from a funeral got delivered. Just a reminder that time is short in those places. Kind of a poke saying
"another one bites the dust".

Or maybe they just enjoy having pretty flowers around and don't think about it like that.

I know that I am enjoying the freshly rearranged flowers. I prefer a less formal look, and took all of the stems out of the baskets, trimmed up the ends and plopped the posies into vases and pots to sit all around the house. Many of the flowers had gone brown, and lots had been given away, but I still ended up with at least one vaseful in each room, the dining room and kitchen each got 3 or 4.

Some people had sent baskets of growing plants too. Those all got re-potted. I also rearranged all the furniture in the living room, but am not thrilled with the new look…. It might need a tweaking now that I am back home and have more time.

Our trip was certainly memorable.

We had my father-in-law's coffin loaded into my brother-in-law's truck. Then, a caravan of us followed the body up highway 75 to Nebraska where Ardell wanted to be put to rest next to his parents.

Seemed simple. And his widow wasn't left with a lot of money, so driving the body ourselves was going to save the cost of having it transported.

But not all goes according to plans, does it?

We stopped along the road after my BIL pulled over, thinking he just needed to stretch his legs, only to find out that his truck was as dead as the passenger it was carrying. had broken down.

We were in the middle of nowhere, on back roads with no cell phone reception, so it was lucky that we had kept together. We were able to pull them with our own truck. We were also lucky that the next small town we came to had a Chevy dealership.

The day was snowy and freezing cold, one of those below zero Nebraska days where the wind whips across the corn fields and right into your bones. So, I'm glad no one had to walk, and that we didn't have to pull them far. It could have been much worse.

There was talk of loading the coffin into the back of our truck and leaving the broken down truck behind to be repaired and picked up the next day, but the garage promised it to us by that afternoon, so we stuck around and killed time while waiting.

The first store we went in had a sign that said " Antiques" but I found out that was an old sign that the new owner hadn't taken down yet. She said the town used to be ALL antique shops. Used to be. Now there were none.

We did find a thrift shop where everything was 88 cents. Everything! And with plenty of time, you could really dig through the stuff, not just glance over it and leave. Its easy to overlook some nice things at thrift stores if you don't really take your time to look through it.

I got some shirts, and we found Pixie Pie some books, plus spent some time sitting on the floor of the shop reading them to her. Sugarwings wasn't along on the trip, which turned out to be a good thing, she isn't as patient as her cousin is.

The guys played cards, we explored the town, we had some lunch, and we laughed a lot. The situation was feeling pretty absurd to us. But all worked out well, and we were back on the road in about 4 hours.

Ardell was safely delivered to the funeral home, and had a nice send off the next day in Madison on what had to be the coldest day I've ever vountarily went outside in. Arctic and icy, but the Nebraskans didn't seem to notice. I figured that if little kids and a 90 year old aunt could take the wind chill to be there for the short, graveside service, I should buck up and not complain.

It was an interesting stay in Norfolk. Did you know that hotel rooms start at about $38 a night there? And that you can take a dozen people out to dinner for only $120??? That included appetizers, wine, beer, and ribeye steaks too. (we ate at the Grainery Family Diner) If you ever need a getaway, to somewhere friendly, affordable, and with beautiful snowy scenery, I sure recomend seeing Nebraska. Personal service every where you go too. Everyone we met seemed like a next door neighbor ready to lend a hand or advice or a smile.

But I don't reccommend touring the countryside with a cargo load like ours. Leave the dead relatives at home if you decide to go.

Thankful

family

By Karla Nathan / January 19, 2011

Well, I think its time things start to get back to normal around here.

I feel like I've been in some sort of limbo, between nonstop holiday fun, then a week's vacation followed by wrapping up and sending hundreds of purchases from my Boutique sale. After barely catching up and getting settled back home, a big snow storm hit and then, the bad news about my father-in-law.

This weekend we will be driving the body up to Nebraska where he wanted to be buried. We are also taking his favorite recliner to the nursing home there, but no, we won't be strapping him into that. Although, I do think he might have enjoyed it.

So, I won't be back into my routine for a bit. Thanks for all your messages and kind words, sorry I haven't been able to answer them all. But I read and appreciated each one.

Its a sad time when someone dies suddenly. Its a realization that hopes are cancelled, relationships will never improve, this was it, all there was. Potentials never fulfilled, reconcilliations never made.

My husband's family is amazing. Caring people with sharp wits and the capacity for deep love. All of them came together to be there for each other to celebrate their sibling love and honor their father.

He was not an easy man and like all humans, had his flaws. But I will love him forever for creating this diverse and adorable group. They are all wildly different people with opposite religious, political, and lifestyle views. But all enjoy each other's company and accept the huge variations of their beliefs.

In his last years, my husband's father learned to show a softer side with these two great grand children. Pixie Pie and Sugarwings got through to him.

Sugarwings knew he loved her and that she could make him smile by singing the Nebraska fight song for him. Her memories of Grandpa Ardell will always be good ones.

Even though our home was filled with laughter and fun with all the relatives visiting, she picked up on her Pop Pop's underlying sadness and when he tucked her in at night, she told him, "When I grow up I will go to school and be a doctor and make sick people better. Then your daddy won't die, Pop Pop."

Yes, families aren't perfect. But there are perfect moments in each. We had a lot of those this week. And I am thankful.

A Good bye

celebrations, family

By Karla Nathan / January 12, 2011

Yesterday, my father-in-law died suddenly.

Today, family from all over the country is flying in. My husband has the best family, and we will have a wonderful gathering, all 7 of the kids, plus most of the spouses, together- talking, laughing, sharing memories.

The group is quite varied. About as many different religions as people. And as many different outlooks on life. But one thing they all have in common is a deep love for each other.

I'll be away from my blog for a few days, and won't be opening up the Bird Song event on May Day weekend for sale till after things get settled. Because I'll be busy enjoying the blessing of this close group of people coming from far away to be be together for this farewell.

Now, I'm off to freshen up beds and do some baking with Sugarwings to make our house welcoming before we start airport runs.

At the Gunkles/ 40% off in the Boutique/ and a May Day announcement

celebrations, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 7, 2011

Any trip we make to Florida has to include a visit to the Gunkles. (Gay Uncles) They have a home filled with magical decor, vintage treasures, sweet puppies, and lots of love.

Plus great food and laughter!

The guys are such good cooks, we never take them out to dinner as a thanks for having us stay with them. Instead we get fresh seafood for them to fix for us. This time lobster! Last time we were there, we had lobster tail on the grill with some fish too. When Sugarwings saw it cooking, she asked what the fish was and Gunkle Kevin told her it was flounder. So, she looked at the lobster tail and asked if that was Ariel.

Gunkle Randy sets up elegant dining in the back garden. This year, they'd had a freeze and told us that it looked awful. To me, they were wrong, any time there is something blooming and some green left in January, its quite beautiful to me! Plus the layout and design of the yard is so interesting and full of little surprises stashed amidst the plants. Its always a treat to sit out in the gunkle's garden.

Even better when there is a big plate of fresh seafood in front of me.

He makes a mean mac and cheese too. With chopped peppers, onions, white wine and dijon.

This little guy didn't care for Sugarwings, but the other dogs cuddled up to her. Bella, the Bichon especially took a liking to her.

So much so, that the two girls decided to draw with markers on each other's heads. Well, at least that was Sugarwing's story. That Bella drew on her head too. They both did it to each other.

We'd brought WASHABLE markers that were supposed to be invisible unless used on the special Color Wonder paper that came with them, but the Crayola company needs to change the label to say that the colors will show up on dog fur too. And that they don't wash out. At least not all the way.

Just ask Yella Bella.

Ollie managed to avoid any of the marker play. He's not a puppy like Bella, he was interested but kept his distance while the two girls drew on each other.

One of the best things about the garden was the fruit trees.

Nothing tastes better than fresh orange juice and lemon-aide that you get to make yourself.

I ate way too much good stuff while staying there. After the holiday treats and the vacation food, I'm afraid to wash my jeans. You know, how you wear them a couple days and they stretch out to fit nice and comfy, but if you wash them, they shrink up and become way, way too tight? It might be a while before I can wash mine again, if I want them to zip.

Christmas goodies were everywhere we went on the trip. And decorations were still up all over. I was so glad that Randy and Kevin still had theirs up, they have such a flair with decorating, and their house is so festive.

Its extra special to get to be at a family member's home while it is all decked for the season.

Although, I am sick of my own holiday foof and ready to see it go, I loved being at my bro's home and seeing his.

When I got home from the trip, I walked into a house still overflowing with not only my Christmas decor, but the holiday mess from opening gifts and having lots of company. I didn't have a chance to clean before I left, and it was a shock to come home to such clutter after staying at Randy and Kevin's perfectly clean and decorated house.

(all of these photos are from their lovely home)

Not only was my house messy, it was dusty and just felt deserted. I vowed to never go out of town and leave a dirty house behind again. Its worth the extra effort to pick up and spiff a bit before leaving. The end of a vacation is sad enough without being depressed about coming back to an unwelcoming house.

And it hasn't helped that my furnace bit the dust while I was gone. The house was freezing cold too. There is a repairman here now, and I've got my fingers crossed that its a simple repair and that we'll have some heat soon.

Luckily, the studio has a separate furnace, so I'm staying out here till the main part of the house warms up. Its a good excuse to avoid cleaning it or taking down the Christmas decorations too. I'm not ready to face all of that yet.

So,I'm hanign out in the warm and toasty studio and I'm slowly but surely packing up all the purchases made during my BIG clearance sale. Thanks so much for shopping with me!

I'm going to extend the sale for a few more days. If you want anything for 40% off in the Boutique, please use this link to go there to shop.

There are big plans for redoing my Boutique and the less I have in it, the easier it will be to redo. I'll be making new labels and categories, so will be starting from scratch.

I'm also working on setting up the sale site for my "Bird Song" art gathering on May Day weekend. I've had lots of inquiries and promise to have the sign ups ready soon. Sadly, we've lost Dawn of the Feathered Nest, she had to drop out as a teacher.

But, the timing was good for asking my friend, Debbie Dusenberry to join in her place. Her fabulous store, Curious Sofa, is closing this weekend, and she will be branching out into different ventures (and you can still shop online with her). I'm so thrilled that she agreed to do a class at my workshop!!!!

Things are really hectic for her at the moment, so I told her not to worry about photos of her project yet, just a YES was all I needed from her. I have a feeling that anyone who signs up for the classes will agree with me. We'll all be happy to learn from her, no matter what she teaches!

Thanks for all of your interest. Its going to be the BEST, with Lisa and Carol as teachers too, I'm feeling pumped about the weekend!! Plus, Beth and Mary Green will be setting up vintage goodies for sale.

As soon as I get project ideas settled and menus priced, I'll open it up for enrollment.

Hiccups, glitches, and bumps in the road on the way

family, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / January 6, 2011

We're back! What a trip. Not everything went as planned, but all was good. Sometimes you just have to roll with it and let it all turn out which every topsy turvey way it will.

No matter how carefully you plan the details, life happens and changes develop. There is no use pouting or being sad. Instead we looked for the good parts and made the most of them.

On the first leg of our journey, our free hotel room disappeared and we had to stay elsewhere. We found a room nearby at a good price, and it was fine, just not the freebie, 4 bedroom guest house at the ritzy country club we thought we'd have. But the friends we met up with and the fun we had made up for any inconveniences along the way.

Then, in Hilton Head, where these shots were taken, our ocean view room disappeared too. We stayed at a great resort and were able to get a half price room, but we had a roof top view instead. Our plans of tucking the fairy in early and toasting the New Year while sitting on the patio,sipping wine, and watching the ocean didn't happen.

But Sugarwing's comment about the ugly view of hotel roof tops and parking lots as far as the eye could see- "Why would anyone do this to our world??" was so funny and heartfelt that it will be 1,000,000 times more memorable than any glimpse of the ocean that we could have had.

And the hotel was still on the beach. The weather was chilly, but that didn't stop Sugarwings from running headlong right to the waves as soon as she saw the water.

If we'd stayed in a room facing the water instead, I might have missed that awed look on her face as she walked over the hill toward the beach and saw the Atlantic waiting for her.

While the weather wasn't perfect, it was plenty good for a Kansan, and good enough for me to decide that there is no place better to be on New Years Day than a misty beach with my fairy grand baby!

I think this little sprite agreed with me.

We'd packed a portable DVD player and a stack of movies for her to watch during the driving parts of the trip, and it stopped working as soon as we turned it on. So, I pulled out my magic phone, looked up children's DVD players online, and then found the closest place was to buy one, and 15 minutes later, she was engrossed in the adventures of Pooh and Piglet, and we were only out $99.

Which, if you've ever travelled with a 4 year old drama princess, you will understand that is a small price to pay for her entertainment. And the sanity of the adults in the car.

Her only souvenir from Disney World was a balloon, she isn't a child who demands anything or needs to shop. When we took her to the Disney store in our Orlando hotel, she ran straight to the coloring books and crayons set out for kids to play with and was content to make pictures. No thought at all about the merchandise around her.

And one of her favorite things at Disney was chasing bubbles in the dark.

I think she has her priorities straight in life. So, I don't think it hurts to spoil her a bit by treating her to a new pink princess DVD player.

My husband's vacation got cut short and at our Baltimore layover on the flight back, he rented a car to drive to VA to work. I flew the rest of the way with Sugarwings on my own and was so happy to have that "princess computer" as she called it. Although she was perfectly happy pretending that the seat belt was a snake and my fingers were baby snakes, I am old, tired and was ready for a break. The DVD player was much more important to me than to her.

Disney, and all of the rest of the trip was fun, but it was the little things that were the best about the trip. Laughing with family, visiting friends, watching the joy in Sugarwing's face as she fed the seagulls from this restaurant in St. Augustine.

Yep, feeding pigeons and seagulls meant as much or more to her than any ride at Disney. Here is a couple seconds long clip of her laughing at the birds. See what I mean? Kids know that its not what you spend, its what you do that counts.

Happiest of holidays!

celebrations, fairies, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / January 3, 2011

What happens when two little cousins get matching ballerina dresses for Christmas?

Well, they are asked to pose for a picture, of course.

But soon, they just can't contain their happiness about the new outfits…

And the dancing begins!

PS- to shop at 40% off in my Boutique, you need to use this link:

http://www.karlascottage.com?code=happynewyear

A year in pictures part two

Books, celebrations, family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / January 1, 2011

This is the book that I made for our Hippy Chick from all of my favorite 2010 images of her and Sugarwings.

Before I wrapped it up, Sugarwings wanted me to "read" it to her over and over. Of course, being the drama queen that she is, she loves any story that she is the star of.

And if she is a princess in the story, even better!