IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR

This is cozy little cabin decorating at its simplest! We spent Friday afternoon & all day Saturday out of town with our grandchildren. My hubby went to Boy Scout Twilight Camp with our youngest grandson & had a blast! The girls & I stayed home & watched movies & played many, many, many hands of "Go Fish". Our son, his wife & our oldest grandson went out-of-state to get all registered for college. It's hard to believe he's old enough for college - but it's true.

We got home late last night & I hadn't really made a lot of plans for my sweet mama's 89th birthday. We had gone out for a fabulous shrimp dinner on Wednesday but I wanted to do something a little special for today.

Soooo - I made a special lunch for her: salad, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans & lemon cake (thank you Pepperidge Farms!). We had balloons & a card for her & this simple, simple flower arrangement.

Directions (as if you need them) ;)

Empty bottles and/or jars
Peel N' Stick type of numbers/letters. These are nothing fancy, the inexpensive kind you buy at the discount store or hobby store. They're the type you use to put on a mail box. These are 2" high.

1. Wash jars, scouring off glue if necessary, and dry.
2. Adhere numbers!
3. Fill with flowers or even candles!

Could anything be easier? I'm thinking "1776" w/flags for the 4th of July!

I have very few creative bones in my body & blatantly stole the idea from the very creative Candy at Junk Sophisticates & thank her once again for sharing her great ideas. I love all the things she has embellished with sticky numbers & letters!

I hope you all had a great weekend & I wish there was some way to let you know how much I appreciate you sharing your creativity with me!

Happy birthday, mama. We love you!

See y'all later in the week,
Vera

PERILS OF INSOMNIA

This is what happens when one tries to fiddle w/a blog design in the middle of the night. I woke up around 3 AM & decided to just play with the new design options from google. But this is not what I want. The design and colors are not right. And since I never *saved* anything, I thought I was just trying it on for size & could just revert to my old design. But wah, wah, wah - - - it's not true. My old design, lovingly designed by my daughter, appears to be gone. Gone forever. And here is this. . . . just something I was messing around with in the middle of the night with just a few hours sleep. And not liking it. Not liking it at all.

You know - I was just fiddling around w/it. Just enough fiddling until I got tired enough to go back to sleep.

I bet this will keep me up for the rest of the night!

RHINESTONE COWBOY

I so very much apologize for being gone for over a month! This little cabin & its yard are taking much work, plus I had a few days of needing to cater to my almost 89 year old mom. Not to worry - all is well with her now. There were meetings with United Way, drumming up donations for our little food pantry, Good Samaritan. Add to that a holiday weekend, etc., & I've gotten so very behind in blog-land! But life has been, and continues to be very good!

In spite of that I have been busy & the Nature Room is almost done, having gotten inspiration for dealing w/a long wall over a counter, from this photo (if this is yours, please let me know so I can give you credit)

I also got much needed inspiration from Recaptured Charm

& I promise I will soon post pix of the room! I think it will be my most favorite spot in the cabin!

I have also gotten inspiration from so many of you who have mastered spray painting, turning your ugly ducklings into the proverbial swans. I can't remember all who have inspired me, but I can remember this one - White Spray Paint!

Here's an example of one of my very own UGLY ducklings!

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This seemed like a good idea since I'm not a jewelry person, preferring truckloads of mulch or pea gravel, or better yet a new camera lens. Because of that quirk in my female personality, I don't actually own much jewelry. Except for my wedding ring, 99% of it is just cheap costume jewelry & that suits me just fine. I had this old bust that I thought I could use to drape the necklaces on, but as you can see - - - it's just plain, down-right UGLY!

Oh - but I'm not doomed. The bust is not doomed. The necklaces are not doomed to live in a tangled dresser drawer mess because I have been reading your blogs & looking at your transformations & I knew immediately what needed to be done: white spray paint to the rescue!

!

Isn't this so very much better? I now have my very own "Rhinestone Cowboy"! LOL

Please let me know of your latest painting project - I'm always in need of inspiration! And you have no idea how much you all have helped me in putting together the little cabin!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMANDA

Happy Birthday, Amanda!, originally uploaded by Vera*Smith@cozylittlecabin.blogspot.com.

There's been an extra washer & dryer on the porch since we moved in the end of January. Friends of ours house burned down & they were going to need them. So we held on to them until they were ready for them! Yay for Mark & Mary Beth - they moved this past weekend & Mark's son & friend came for the appliances!

With those gone, we no longer have an excuse not to continue with the painting! Hubby took adavantage of the good weather & was able to replace the attic door. All in just a few hours! He's my home repair super hero!

Other than that, not much got done on the cozy little cabin this past weekend, after-all - it was Mother's Day weekend! AND my daughter's birthday! She was born on Mother's Day - how wonderful is that? I can't imagine ever getting a more wonderful MD gift than that - - - but I wouldn't care if hubby at least tried!

Amanda wanted an homemade cheesecake & can you believe it? I've never made one? I've made plenty of blender cheesecakes - but never a homemade, bake in the oven cheesecake. I have to admit - it turned out pretty good for my first try.

Here's a collage of Saturday & Sunday, using bighugelabs.com Mosaic Maker.

Have a great Monday & I'll be back later!!!

WHY I HAVE GRAY HAIR

The cozy little cabin came with some ramshackled rain gutters. Hubby has already replaced the ones in the front & is in the process of replacing the ones in the back.

There is one part that is difficult to reach with just a ladder. So, being the problem solver that he is, he has improvised.

Not only is the ladder on a picnic table but a kiddie picnic table that's at least 20 years old!

Some people blame their gray hair on their kids. I got mine from being married to this guy for 40+ years!

GARDENING INSTEAD OF DECORATING

Good morning Sunshine! Once again I've neglected blogging in favor of gardening! I've transplanted some day-lilies & have been falling in love with my hydrangeas even thought they are not yet blooming! I've never had enough shade to grow them, so we've planted quite a few here...knowing there should be more than enough shade!

This is a scene that greets me every morning that the sun is shining. Admit it - it's hard not to get up & get outside before the heat hits! Speaking of - today's predicted high is 91. :(

I saw a quote the other day, "God made rainy days so gardeners could get housework done" Fortunately/unfortunately there's no rain predicted until the middle of next week!

I promise I'll be back before then!

Happy Mother's Day!

WEEKEND UPDATE

Oh - I'm so sorry for being gone so long! But I promise I have very good reasons. And you'll be proud of me.

For one - I spent a lot of time earlier in the week tending to a little stray dog. It appears that after all is said and done she has decided to go back to her pack. . . as we haven't seen her for days :(

I also spent a lot of time finding the perfect porch ceiling blue, which by the way, is Martha Stewart's, Porch Ceiling Blue C-26!

Porch ceiling is now painted.

Walls are now painted.

Trim is also painted!

The porch posts have one coat of sealant on them . . . leaving them all natural looking! Beautiful!

All of the porch that can be painted, is painted! Yay! The breezeway part still has appliances on it, waiting for a friend whose house burned down, to come & get them. Once they are gone, we'll get it painted & then I'll be able to really start decorating the porch, treating it as another room.

Here's a pic of a well-deserved glass of wine I enjoyed on the front porch swing. We just moved the plinth at the end of the swing, using it for a little drink table. Shortly after I shot the pic it started raining. Finally! After two days of swamp-like mugginess, it finally rained! What a joy the smell of rain is on fallen leaves. And the sound of rain on the metal roof & the screen door slapping shut. Shrimp fried rice & a glass of wine. This is front porch dining at its best! And this is where you insert a very contented sigh!