The Cottage on the Hill

Well, I did it. Today, hubby and I went out to the furniture store and he picked out a recliner for his Christmas present this year. *Gulp* I hate making large purchases, but for a whole year I was determined to buy him a recliner for Christmas this year. It's a nice recliner. It's not one of those big, bulky, ugly ones that just scream "this is a man's chair." It's one that looks like a regular chair, but does actually recline. It has Queen Anne cherry legs and a really nice navy blue upholstery. I also like it because it's small. Living in a cottage with less than 1000 square feet makes me wary of large pieces of furniture. This will fit nicely in our living room. The recliner is being delivered on Thursday! Hubby will be at work when it arrives, so I'll be the first to try it out. Perhaps I'll take a nap in it. ;) Merry Christmas, Hubby!

All I want to do is declutter! That seems like all I've been doing. I tackled the refrigerator today. However, my decluttering efforts have been hampered. People are just too generous! :) They keep giving me stuff. I just received 4 garbage bags of clothing from my little sister! I kept some of it, but the rest I'm attempting to sell at www.geocities.com/seamstresslady/thegarmentbag.html What else can I declutter? Hmmm...I think I'll tackle the lower cabinets in the kitchen this late afternoon. I've written out 95% of the Christmas cards (the rest will be given in person later) and mailed them out! It's nice to be ahead of the game right now. :) I'm still behind on Christmas presents, though. Hubby and I like to be done before Black Friday, but it hasn't happened this year. But, really I don't have much farther to go!

My goldfish follow me. We have a 55 gallon tank set up in our dining room, which is in the center of Taigh Beag. In it are approx. 24 goldfish. We're not exactly sure because they aren't still long enough for me to count them. They range from an 1 1/2" long to 7" long. We have plain gold, white and gold, and black and gold fish. And they FOLLOW me! If I'm in the bathroom, they're at the left side of the tank, watching me. If I'm on the phone or in the kitchen, they're at the right side of the tank, watching me. Right now I'm in my brother's room and when I peek around the corner, they're peeking back! If I sit in the front of the tank, they go nose to nose with me. If I stand in front of it, they swim back and forth along the top looking for food. So, who's in the goldfish bowl now?

Taigh Beag is a chocolate-free zone. I can actually hear the gasps as this post is read. How can that be? What's wrong with chocolate? Frankly, I'm not too fond of anything that has addictive chemicals in it. Choc-aholics are real. Many women will tell you how they're addicted to chocolate and have chocolate cravings and feel unsatisfied unless they have something chocolate every day. Is it a candy or a drug? *smiles* But that's not really the reason why Taigh Beag is a chocolate-free zone. The real reason is neither hubby nor I can eat chocolate. It's not that we won't, it's that we CAN'T. "Oh the horror! How can you live without chocolate?!" I hear people exclaim (usually the ones with uncontrolled addictions to the brown stuff). We can live without chocolate very easily, especially when it can harm us so. In fact, now that I'm pregnant I actually crave chocolate, but as soon as I smell it or eat it, it's discusting to me. I guess tha...

That's right! Hubby's in Pennsylvania this weekend, so I've been playing. I rearranged the bedroom and gathered stuff to get rid of on ebay. I'm co-hosting a baby shower today, and picking up a cradle for my baby due in late April. Things are going to look a bit different when hubby arrives home on Sunday! I still have one more piece of furniture to move out of the bedroom. We have a bench with storage under the seat. It holds our extra bedding. But since baby is going to be in our bedroom until my brother moves out of the nursery, I need room for the cradle and changing table. So far, I have a spot for the cradle. I wonder how it's going to hit hubby when he sees the cradle in the bedroom! It's just starting to be real to me that we're having a baby, but has it hit him yet? ladyscott

You are Sally! Which Peanuts Character are You? brought to you by

Hubby pointed out some unused space under the stairs in our basement and asked me if I'd like a pantry there for my canning. Would I?!! I'm so excited to be getting a pantry! I can hardly wait to fill it with goodies. Oh, I wish I had more time to can! Since, I'm working, I spend my home-time cleaning and trying to catch up on sewing.

We've been getting the house buttoned up for winter, and the yard tidied. I still have a few plants that need to come out of the ground and enjoy the sunshine inside the porch. Today would be the day to do just that! Indoors, I've been a cleaning feind. I've also been staring at some of my collections and wondering what part of them needs to go. With a baby coming and my brother living in the only other bedroom in the house, I feel a little squeezed. I feel this need, this desire to declutter! Then I look at my bookcases......it's so hard to part with books. I think the best place to start with my modern paperbacks is to pray first and hold each book in my hand and ask that still, small voice, "is the edifying to myself and my family?" There is a house for sale just 3 doors up the road from mine. Hubby and I let his parents know. We'd love for them to live nearby. We used to live really close together, but then hubby and I moved. It's such a...

I'm currently on the downward slope of a cold. Being pregnant, I can't take anything for the cold (which doesn't help "cure" the cold anyway and can actually prolong it, in my opinion.) I'm a fighter, though. I get a cold, I fight tooth and nail. Here's what I do: LOADS of Vitamin C. If you cut me open while I have a cold, I'd bleed orange juice. This time, I've taken it a big easy because I don't want to injest too much Vit. C in case it's bad for baby. First twinge of a sore throat, I start gargling nearly every hour with either listerine or warm salt water. If it's really bad, then hydrogen peroxide. At least 2 steamy showers a day. Steam facials often When I'm not pregnant, before bed I drink a small shot of Scotch. LOADS of caffine free teas! Warm, wet compresses over my sinuses Blow my nose as often as needed with lotion-rich tissues Plenty of rest Sniffing Vicks Chicken Soup Although, with this cold, I've decided.....

I'm starting an at-home business. Mending/Alterations/Sewing. To accomodate this business, I'm turning the enclosed front porch at Taigh Beag into my "customer service" area. It'll have a small desk, chair, bench, and a fitting room. I've finally decided on a decorating "theme" for the room, too. Since it's a porch, and walled in knotty pine, with large windows almost all the way around with great views of bird feeders, I'm going to give it an outdoor/birdie feel. I LOVE chickadees. Hmmmm....now I just need to come up with a name for it? ladyscott

The Master Bedroom closet is now organized. I bought shelving and hubby installed it. It's such a tiny closet that only hubby uses it, and with the shelving, we have space for all his clothing! No more hanging piles of t-shirts on the floor. No more overnight bag filled with socks and underwear. We have a tidy, organized closet! Today, I organized the laundry area in the basement. Originally, it was an obstacle course over dirty laundry and boxes of fabric. There was no path to the machines! The dryer was piled high with fabric that often swallowed up the dryer sheet box. On the floor were scatterings of detergent bottles (one of them was empty). I do have a hamper, but there were piles of clothes all over the floor, somewhat separated into lights, darks, and whites. Now, there is not only a path to the machines, but a wide open floor space in front of them! The machines were cleaned off, the empty bottle recycled, the fabric folded and put away and the laundry picked up...

I have started a new goal! Get organized by Christmas. Almost every day, I have one special chore I must do that'll help me get more organized. Yesterday, my chore was to go through my cedar chest of vintage and antique clothing. I did and layed them out nicely, and found a pair of shoes and a dress to give away, along with a man's hat. Today, I plan on reorganizing our recycling and garbage system. Organization is not only good for keeping the house tidy, but it helps all who live in it know what's expected and what to do. When a house is unorganized, no one knows where things need to go, or where they need to go isn't organized enough to allow them to go there. Here are some examples: Annie is upset that once again her husband left his laundry in a heap on the bedroom floor. She finally blows her top and yells at him to do away with his dirty laundry. He yells back at her that he would but he never knows what to do with it. One day the hamper is in the bedroo...

The Good News is that my dear pen-pal friend had a baby girl on Oct. 7th! Madeline Elizabeth is the baby's sweet name! Miracles never cease! Both mother and baby are well. My house is clean! Not fully tidy, but clean! My mother came over again to give me a hand. I was also able to clean out the bedroom and start preparing the room for baby furniture. This afternoon, after a short rest that I need, I want to tackle the pile of mail and paperwork. This evening, I promised hubby I'd work on his caftan. As for my sewing projects, the living room, porch and bedroom all need new curtains. I haven't decided what to use for the LR and porch, but the bedroom, I'm thinking dark blue velvet drapes with gold tie-backs and tassles. I'm also going to be making my father a Santa suit. He really wants one for Christmas and it brightened his day when I told him I'd make him one. Do you have any sewing projects?

If there's one thing I've learned so far with pregnancy, it's that I'm always altering. My body, mind, clothes, diet, choices, priorities and now...my schedule are all being altered. I've been lamenting the neglect of the upkeep of our little cottage much due to the exhaustion I've been experiencing. Therefore, I've decided that I need to daily judge how best to schedule my time. If I'm having a good, wakeful morning, I need to get as many chores done in the morning and leave internet until the evening. If the evening sees me bright and chipper, internet will have to wait until a time I need to sit and relax. Movies are a no-no except when I'm exhausted, but need to put off going to sleep. With these and several other guidelines, let's hope that Taigh Beag can be a tidier, sweeter, more relazing atmosphere for all. ladyscott

1. How did you come by your nickname, "Ladyscott?" "Lady" is to remind me to be a lady, and "Scott" is my clan name. 2. Are you a Christian? Yes, I am a born again Christian. I attend an Assembly of God Church, however, I don't agree with all AG beliefs (ex. I don't believe women should be senior pastors.) 3. Are you "dresses only?" No. I don't necessarily believe in dresses only, but I do believe in femininity and that a woman should look like a woman. I do enjoy and PREFER wearing dresses, but have been known to wear pants occassionally. 4. Do you believe in long, uncut hair? This goes along with a woman should look like a woman. While I don't pinpoint my belief on "long hair only," I believe a woman should have longer, feminine hair. My hair is just past my waist and gets cut twice a year. Anything longer tends to give me headaches and become a tangled mess.....sloppy is NOT feminine. And fra...

With rain, wind and chilly temperatures, autumn has finally arrived. Thankfully, the Lord has provided us with this cozy little cottage. I also felt a wave of peace today as I thought about paying the first heating bill. I'm sure we can afford it. God ALWAYS provides! Hubby wanted soup tonight, so I made a homemade chicken soup with dumplings. I'm a fluffy dumpling maniac! Perhaps I'll post the recipe in my Cottage Kitchen blog. But not tonight. I'm exhausted.

Ok, I've had my fun. I want to quit my job and return home!! Call it pregnancy hormones. Call it nesting. Call it overwork and exhaustion. Call it what you want. I YEARN to be home. Today was my first REAL day off in over a week and I realized just how MUCH I miss this little cottage. I MISS taking my time and cooking a REAL meal. I miss baking dessert. I miss carefully planning a grocery list. I miss regularly cleaning my house. All these FLEW out the window when I took this job. At first, I kept up pretty well, but of course being pregnant can slow a lady down. Now, work has just CONSUMED me to the point where EVERYTHING is suffering. I haven't touched sewing in 3 months. My house is a smelly mess. I'm struggling with keeping up in my faith (I've often skipped church, been too tired to read the Bible and even too tired to really pray). Even my relationship with my husband is waning. I'm too tired. It's easy to blame it on my pregnancy, but is ...

SPIRITUAL BEAUTY - You are calm, peaceful, and content. Introverted and quiet you know everything about yourself. You never speak without thinking and every decision you make is well thought out. Since you know yourself so well you aware of your strengths and your shortcomings, which gives you the advantage of easily learning from your mistakes and improving yourself quickly. You may or may not be religious. If you are religious your faith and convictions are solid and no one can sway you from your beliefs. What type of beauty do you possess? (20 questions + 7 results + pretty pics) brought to you by Quizilla

It's also annoying ads in the comments section! Please ignore any existing ones, and please forgive the word verification that I've added when you post a comment. It is a necessary annoyance to keep the even more annoying spammers at bay. Thanks!

That pizza and nachoes eaten quickly during pregnancy is NOT a good idea. Blah.....