games – Karla's Cottage

A twist on traditions

By Karla Nathan / December 30, 2024

One word describes our Christmas- Fun. From the endless variety of mocktail and specialty coffees Sugarwings made, to the games and dances we did, to the parties and plays we attended.

We had laughter, silliness, and togetherness.

Plus kazoos.

After the huge bathroom remodel and foundation catastrophe, I was behind in my work. When you’re in retail, the last quarter of the year takes over your world, and I had taken a huge break from the stuff I needed to do. It took some energy to ramp up my inventory and be ready for the rush.

So as Christmas neared, I still hadn’t started my shopping. Plus, I’d just spent an unplanned chunk of cash on the home repairs.

My solution? Presents under the tree for only the two teens, games with prizes for everyone else. Prizes were gift cards, cash and socks.

Soooo many socks.

An exception was made for the dogs, it breaks their hearts to see gifts unwrapped and not get one of their own.

One year, they did not receive anything to open and they were so sad, I promised to never leave them out again.

So of course, they each got a little something just for them.

Everyone else had to win a gift, but I had plenty to make sure all got a couple. Most games were of the red cup variety, seen on tic tok. This reindeer game was a little different, and kinda hard.

The dogs found these antlers in the woods, and Sugarwings wrapped them in lights. Then we used glow stick bracelets as rings, turned off all the lights and started a ring toss.

But the highlight of the night was our dances!

We paired off and made up interpretive dances to our favorite holiday songs.

I got to be Rudolf and Rich played both Santa and Prancer. He was pretty good. And we did it with a straight face, a major accomplishment.

I might have just stumbled upon the best way for us to do Christmas. Experiences, not gifts. Except for missing my boys, it was about the best holiday I’ve had.

Sometimes ya gotta break a few rules

cottage, family, Food and Drink, games, Halloween treats

By Karla Nathan / September 17, 2024

Sugarwings and I have a strict rule.

You can drink cocoa any time at all. But you cannot have a cocoa party unless you sit in front of a glowing Christmas tree.

Then I saw this teapot at Homegoods, and our rule loosened up.

It inspired a Halloween themed cocoa display.

Complete with a glass cauldron to hold our spoons and rat poison additives for deliciousness. (We did not use the jar to hold any foodstuffs, it’s just for fun)

We got some skelly cups to drink our potions from.

With skelly napkins to mop up drips of blood. I mean, chocolate.

We invited a little witch to join us.

Then added some mood lighting.

The new rule, in addition to the Christmas tree rule, is that cocoa parties can only be held with the proper ambient lighting, ghostly paraphernalia, and a scary movie on the tv.

Scenes from the reunion and one from the past

family, games, Ryan, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / July 26, 2022

Before our big reunion began, I decided to go through old albums and pull out Nathan, Neibaur, and Nichols photos that I could slip quickly into another album to pass around. Not my typical style, usually I love making pretty albums. But I was in a hurry because it was a last minute plan. And a single, edited book was much better than stacks and stacks of books filled miscellaneous photos the guests wouldn’t be familiar with, like the kids’ old friends or our neighbors of the past.

I came across this oldie from our home in Arkansas. I don’t know the occasion, or who took it, but I felt it like a jab in the heart. It’s not a good photo, but it is a great picture. Adam is a blur because like his daughter, he is in constant motion. Ryan is wearing his tee shirt from his army man Halloween costume and has the “Footloose” haircut that he always insisted on. I have on a matching tee and shorts that my mom sewed for me, the wallpaper behind us was some my sister helped hang in this very first house we ever bought.

So many memories in one snapshot.

And so much love, too.

I love this photo and will never tuck it away in the dark again, this one goes on display. But it also started the reunion on a shaky note for me. The people coming to visit were all favorites of Ryan, he enjoyed hanging out with this group, and I sure felt his absence when I was with them.

Also, Ry died at 42, and was my good buddy, we had such fun together. But this picture reminded me- he was my baby. My little guy. The majority of my grief is about daily things I miss about my grown up son and best friend. When it hits me that I lost my baby, it’s a death blow to my heart, so I don’t dwell on that aspect of it.

When people started arriving to the party, my sister-in-law wanted to sit with me in Ryan’s apartment and reminisce about him. I have to admit, that was the highlight of the week for me. It means so much when people honor my Ry that way.

He is not forgotten.

Good friends, good lodgings, and goofiness

family, friends, games, guncles, Travel

By Karla Nathan / September 9, 2018

Foofy, gorgeous, girly, Karen, is also an avid hunter and outdoors woman. She turkey hunts at Rawhide Camp Outfitters

It is in a beautiful setting, on a bluff overlooking a bend in the Missouri River.

And it just so happens to be a hop, skip, and a mini jump, down the road from my favorite flea, at Sparks, KS.

Since flea market season and hunting season do not coincide, she stays at the camp in August to go shopping, and is kind to invite some friends along for the trip. This is my second year there with her and I hope, not the last.

Some Birdsong friends, local and from far away, gathered to enjoy the hospitality of the home. We were all spoiled by Tracy's cooking, did some crafting, some shopping, lots of laughing, and maybe drank a bit of wine…

Angie gifted us with a vintage craft pack, and Beth made up a Flea Market Survival Kit, with wet wipes, mints, and tissues.

The home is owned by a super nice family, some of whom came by to visit.

The rooms are filled with trophies, and has a distinct hunting theme.

There are "sheds" everywhere. I was going to say hundreds, but I'll bet it is more like thousands.

This guy was our crating, buddy and watched over the table we worked at.

You can tell by the surroundings that the place is probably more used to Turkey and Deer Hunters than Vintage Junk Hunters.

I thought it was pretty clever, to use one of their empties for a soap dispenser. And to top off the popcorn with a light bulb when there was no lid for the jar.

And yes, there were plenty of empties…. NO, these were NOT ours. Like I said, we were daintily sipping wine.

And honestly, not that much wine…. goofiness sometimes just occurs when the opportunity arises.

And then it escalates a little bit.

Well, maybe more than a little.

See?

This is the room that Guncle Randy and I shared. I am lucky enough to have been a guest in the Crown Royal Suite two years in a row. I felt like a princess.

The views were dreamy.

I had a feeling that I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

It was the best!! Thank you Karen, and thank you to the Whetstines for hosting this fun filled getaway!!

A Woodland Scavenger Hunt for a Birthday Party

celebrations, family, flowers, games, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 31, 2018

My son and his family now have a 13 acre home in the woods, and I think Sugarwings loves it out there more than anyone. So, when it was time to plan a party for her 12th birthday, this is where she wanted to have it. She suggested a nature walk as part of the activities and I made up a scavenger hunt list (spelling her name) for the kids to take on the walk.

Her dad mowed the trails ahead of time, and we walked along them to explore the woods.

It is a pretty time of year and there was a lot to see along the way.

Sugarwings stapled the list to sandwich bags for the participants to fill with their finds.

I was struck by how beautiful the trails were, and what a wonderful piece of property he'd found. He has been working on cleaning it up and making it a retreat for yoga, permaculture, and other workshops in the future and I'm looking forward to seeing this land become a growing business as well as a home.

And to watch the grand fairies grow up in the woods.

Even more so, after seeing how some of the "city kids" who came to the party reacted to being there. Many seemed unsure of how to handle themselves walking along a trail and few were able to find the items on the list.

All of my family spends so much time connecting to nature that it didn't occur to me that some kids were uncomfortable in it and happier on their iPhones than running through the trees.

One thing I noticed that made me happy, was that every kid did find a "TREASURE" from the list on the bags. They might not be used to woodland walks and seeing the details in nature, but they could still connect enough to know that an acorn, a rock with sparkles on it, or an empty snail shell was truly a treasure to find and keep.

And it made me so happy to know that our grand fairies, while they love screens and devices, like most of us in this world, still love being in the woods and the magic of finding a leaf with a hole in it and peeking through that peephole.

Happy 7th Birthday Sugarwings!

celebrations, Dew Drop, family, Food and Drink, games, Sugarwings, We're having a party

By Karla Nathan / August 16, 2013

Sugarwings turned 7, lost a front tooth, and started first grade. It has been a VERY exciting week.

Her mom threw her a party over the weekend, so she could celebrate with a few friends.

She had asked for a pinata, and I thought we'd make one together, but time was short, so we enhanced one instead. I found a colorful donkey at Walmart, trimmed its long ears, and used one ear to create a horn.

And of course, it needed glitter. Who doesn't? We spritzed it with glitter spray and while wet, doused it with even more flakes of glitter. Then, a mane and tail were created from curled ribbons.

Much more fitting for the Princess Party than a plain, old donkey! And with every whack, a cloud of glitter floated down onto the kids below.

And I think it was more fun than the one I would have made. This was sturdy cardboard and held up through a ton of whackings. I'd have made paper mache and it would have met an early death.

Her mom proved that you can go gluten, food coloring, and dairy free and still have the most wonderful birthday cake ever. It was rich, moist and wonderful.

The guests loved it.

After cake, there was some fun with a colorful parachute, and then they were off to the park pool.

It was a sweet, little party. Nothing elaborate or expensive. Just plain old fashioned fun.

I think our fairy girl was pretty happy with it.

I know I was!

Bubble Art Fun and not so fun

family, games, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / June 25, 2013

Sugarwings came to spend three days with me, just the two of us. My husband and son were both out of town and her mommy was working. So, we were on our own and decided to plan lots of activities, wear lots of princess dresses, do some baking, and go to a movie. It was a weekend plan jam packed full of things we love. She is here a lot, but it's rare that just the two of us are on our own for such a stretch and we decided to make the most of it.

Plus, I'd been feeling awful from an infection that set in after gum surgery and I was hoping to have enough things planned ahead of time, so I'd get some downtime to rest (during movies, mostly). To start our 3 day weekend, we saw Monsters University in 3 D, then grabbed some supplies and went to play outside.

On Pinterest, I'd seen some bubble ideas.

You add dish soap to a half cup of water, blow bubbles with a straw, then drizzle food coloring over the top, and place paper into the bubbles.

The effect was so cool, I made enough pages to do a journal. Won't they make good backgrounds?

After a sparkling lemonade break, we decided to use up the colorful bubble mixture we'd made.

We cut the end off a water bottle, and covered it with a sock. Then dipped it into our sudsy, food colored waters, which by then had all been dumped together, mixed and played with till they were all the color of the bottom of a creek.

So, we squirted the little bits of food coloring that were actually left over after the painting, onto the end of the sock, and got some really colorful bubble snakes.

And even a bubble heart!!!!

That flew away in the wind.

And splatted up against the side of the house. Too bad it didn't leave a heart shaped mark.

The food coloring all came out of the princess dress when I washed it that night, so there is hope for the siding of the house. At least, I figure the sun will fade it over time.

Bright green bubbles were taking over our courtyard.

More floated over to land in the flower beds. I'm hoping the dish soap helped with the aphids on my mini roses.

At this point, I figured maybe we should move away from the house before our home started to look like something that the Cat in the Hat made when he had Thing 1 and Thing 2 try to clean up while Mother was away.

We were laughing and running and blowing, while covered in soapy, colorful fluff. Then, it turned ugly. Sugarwings, inhaled instead of blowing and that hit her pretty hard, she choked, got sick, and soon I was covered in barf instead of foam. (you're welcome, about me not having photos of that part of the adventure)

She was pretty upset and so was I, it really scared us. She was fine, but shaken. Not as shaken as me, it was terrifying to see her choke like that, and we spent a lot of time, cuddling with me patting her on the back.

Day 2 of our adventure wasn't quite as exciting. She woke up with an earache and wasn't up for doing much.

We wanted a toned down activity that was still fun, so picked up Mr. Fin and Clover and took them to see Monsters University with us again. The rest of the day was laid back, and mostly consisted of movies, luckily there was a Cinderella double header on TV. Even though my grand fairy wasn't up to her usual self, she was healthy enough to insist upon wearing her Cinderella gown while watching the shows.

I was kind of ready for a down day myself, I'd been feeling pretty rough all week after the post gum surgery infection. But when she woke up on our third day together, asking about Bubble Art, I knew she was feeling better, over the earache and the choking scare.

We were both ready for more fun.

Game on!

PS- Don't forget that Google Reader is closing soon! If you are
reading this from that site, you need to make a change real quick or
your list of blogs will be gone.

I've tried Feedly myself and basically all you do is sign up and it
will import all your Google Reader sites in the click of a mouse. Very,
very, very simple.Bloglovin is another good one.

You can also follow my blog through Networked Blogs and read it on
FaceBook that way. There is a list of different reader site buttons on
my sidebar that you can click on to follow me in.

Hope I'll still be seeing you around!

Dew Drop, fairies, family, games, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / April 23, 2012

I had some much needed Sugarwings time over the weekend, and as always, she brought lots of smiles to our house.

She helped me with some sugar cookies, although she doesn't realize that her batch never made it into the main pile of goodies. I wouldn't call myself a germ-a-phobe, (then again, some people do think that), but I'm always really careful about stuff kids bake. I separate the dough, give her some of her own to work with and do whatever disgustingly fun stuff she can think of to do to it.

I think our littlest fairy will be enjoy baking with us too. Dewdrop got out of the tub the other day, saw me making cookies, and ran naked as fast as she could to her play kitchen to get a spoon, and zoomed to me demanding to help!

Sugarwings and I also played dress up with the wedding gowns I found in a closet and got out to sell at Birdsong.

(bad photo, sorry)

The train was her favorite part of the gown.

She also helped me with my latest obsession, Drawsomething.

She likes to add the finishing touches to my pictures.

On Saturday, I took a break from working on Birdsong set up, and spent the entire day with my handsome husband.

We cleaned our old, beat up pontoon boat and got it ready for the lake. On the way there, we tried to save a few bucks by filling the tank at the gas station instead of paying Marina prices.

He wasn't quite sure it was worth the effort, but did it for me. I'm the cheapskate in the family. But hey, that extra dollar a gallon adds up!

We also ran errands around town, went out for a sushi dinner and saw Hunger Games (my second time, and I'd be happy to see it a third time)

Beautiful weather, accomplishments made, great company, good food, and a handsome man by my side. Not a bad weekend.

He's a pretty hot grandfather, huh?

There was even time to play a few more games of Drawsomething.

Not as many as I would like, though.

If I didn't have Birdsong to get ready for, I think I'd be playing this game way, way too much!

By the time I'm set up for Birdsong, I hope I still have energy left to play, but I have a feeling I'll be doing more of this!!

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….

Piles of Pretties

Books, games, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / October 18, 2009

Thanks to everyone who has signed up for Artist Class using my code! I hope you enjoy all the tutorials, it looks like a good range of classes and lots of fun.

I've been working away on the Grumpy Fairy book.

The hardest part about glittering the book pages is simply space. The pages need to be seperated so they don't stick together, so I need to spread them all out. Funny, that even a large studio isn't big enough…. I have one table filled with jewelry making projects, one with book pages, two with pre-bella set up, and another with an assortment of odds and ends that I am working on.

So, I've moved into the kitchen and am filling all availalbe spaces there too! My kitchen cabinets are covered with hand dyed bottle brush trees and the dining room table has more book pages.

My little Sugarwings and I had a fun Girl's Night, and I had plenty of opportunites to be the wicked witch. Luckily I was wearing a hoodie, so I could pull up the hood, cackle and offer her an apple. She'd take a bite, fall over, and I'd have to quickly switch to a Dwarf's hat (a stocking cap) and cry that Snow White was asleep and wouldn't wake up. Miss Snow White would then lay still, looking beautiful, and trying not to giggle until her Prince Charming would kiss her face.

And who got to be Prince Charming? Twinkle. She was happy to lick Sugarwings face every time Snow White would lay down on the floor.

About 40 times. I think the movie was a hit with her. Usually, we play Wizard of Oz over and over. But now, my flying monkey arms might get a break for a while, maybe we'll play Snow White instead of Dorothy for a bit.

Back to my tables full of piles, and piles…..