WE FOUND THE ONE - ONE YEAR LATER

I'm beginning to think I'm not cut out to be a blogger! I find it difficult to remember to take plenty of *before* pix & even more difficult to put into words what I'm doing & thinking about this little cabin.

But not today. Today I know what to write about. You see, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of finding this little place we now call home.

I readily admit it's not heaven: there is an extraordinary amount of traffic for being out in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors! Our closest neighbors are cattle. . . . on two sides of us there is nothing but cattle. But yet cars & logging trucks come speeding by. . . .

The owner of the nearby bovine doesn't live on the property; he leases it from a very, very nice couple. I have to admit that the renter is not a very good cattleman. Time after time his cattle have gotten out of the pastures and into the street. And into my yard. And one time his longhorn moseyed up to my van! I was not happy. Not happy at all. Sometimes my sweet hubby just puts them back into the pasture himself. Other times the not-so-very-good cattleman comes and takes care of them.

Yesterday evening I called to tell him it looked as if he had a dead steer in the pasture. He said it must be the one that had recently gotten into the pond & I told him I didn't know about that - but it most definitely was down. Then he asked if there were any other dead ones! What's up with that? How would I know? I didn't go looking for dead cattle in the pasture! I merely called him because we have our windows open & I didn't want the eventual bad odor coming into the house! Fortunately for him, he quickly came and hauled off the poor thing.

I said all that to let you know that I know we don't live in heaven. It's not even the Garden of Eden. But it is still perfect for us!

Last year, Oct 24, 4:18 PM is the day & time I sent the following text message to our kids, "We found the one!" (Yes, I really have saved that text in my cell!)

And a year later we're still saying, "We found the one!". . . . the perfect place for us!

This is the porch in front of the guest/laundry room. Originally, way back when, it was the detached kitchen so as not to burn down the entire house if a kitchen fire got out of control. The place has gone through several transformations . . . not all of them for good! But we love it anyway.

One year later & we're still loving it!

THE REASON FOR MY ABSENCE

Here's another reason I haven't blogged much the last couple of weeks. I was asked to take photos of this wonderful family over at Diamond B Ranch Since I am not a professional photographer, it's taken me a while to edit the photos. It's been a very, very fun learning experience! The best kind! And if you're in the area, be sure to try their yummy, healthy grass-fed beef!!!!

In the meantime, hubby has taken down the ugly wall board from the world's ugliest and smallest bathroom and will start putting up beadboard tonight! Yay!

NATURE ROOM REVISITED

It's been almost a month since I've posted anything & for that I apologize. Life has gotten busier & busier & on top of that I changed things up a bit in the Nature Room. I still have a cozy little corner, but even that has changed, as well as some of the counter space across from it

Here is one photo of the end of that counter which really represents my serendipitous life. I would not at all be able to *plan* a decorating scheme! I'm happiest using what we love. . . what we have. Vases & prints were thrifted. Shelf was pulled from a garbage pile & refinished. The piece of French drain pipe was dug up from the yard at the old house; & the mushroom given to me by a young friend. . . .

I got the idea for the twiggy drawer pulls from Recaptured Charm I think she has the dandiest of ideas - and these pulls work really well in here.
There is nothing at all special about this except that it works for us!

Today is hubby's & my 41st wedding. How will we celebrate? By eating organic grass-fed steaks that were partial payment for a recent photo shoot, as well as organic fruit & veggies. AND by tearing out ugly wall board from the guest bathroom in preparation of putting in the beadboard! Yay!

Oh. And I've been thinking about changing all the colors of the Cozy Little Cabin.

And in case you don't click on the above link - - - here's a wedding pic from August 2, 1969!

INDEPENDENCE DAY - 2010

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

Ronald Reagan
40th president of US (1911 - 2004)

COZY LITTLE CABIN COZY LITTLE CORNER

Here it is - a glimpse of the Nature Room. I thought I was done, but then hubby discovered $80 bead-board on clearance for $10. . . so one wall, that's been giving me fits, will hopefully soon be covered in bead-board.

In the meantime - here's one little corner of the Nature Room

This little corner is full of memories. In fact, most of the cabin is filled with memories. Is your home like that? Do you look at a corner & smile just because it's filled with things that are special to you, even though they might not get a second glance from someone else? That's how the Nature Room is. . . every corner holds a memory.

The chair was my grand-dad's that mama recovered years ago.
The bookcase was hubby's parents'.
The little peek of the deacon's bench (to the right of the chair) came from a tiny little church that hubby's dad once preached at. In fact, he was preaching the Christmas Eve sermon when hubby decided to make his appearance! I wonder if the Preacher Man broke any speed laws getting to the hospital??:)

Oh what else is there? The shutters were bought on a street corner in Magnolia, TX for $3. The antique/junque shop would drag some items to the corner sidewalk & offer items for $3. Whatever was out there was $3. I would go past this on my way to my friend's house in Plantersville, so the shutters remind me of Melissa.

On the shutters are some of my favorite nature photos & couple of wasp nests. I hate wasps, they are so aggressive & their sting is so painful . . . but I like their abandoned nest with the little hexagonal cells.

You can't tell, but there's pieces of driftwood & a piece of petrified wood on the top shelf. The PW came from my grand-dad. . . I think he gave it to me when he stayed with our family when I was a child.

And the Shiner Beer calender covers up the electrical box! My uncle used to work at the brewery & he was married to one of my favorite aunts. She was my mom's sister & oh, how they would laugh! Laughter is important to me. It's real important.

So tell me about your special "cozy corner" as Mary Engelbreit likes to call them. What makes them so very special to you?

Alrighty - that's about it for today - thanks for stopping by!

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!