The Cottage on the Hill

My dear mother has a copy of "We Survived and Thrived." It's a collection of essays/articles from "The Good Old Days" magazine about how people lived and loved living in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. It is so interesting to read how people made do back then. I envy that they could get a hold of flower sacks and make dresses out of them. I love how they could keep a sweet little house with bits and pieces. It's so refreshing to read that even if their house was weather worn and worse for wear, the mother at least kept it spotless. Then I think, "what in the world is our problem today!" If these people could live happily by the skin of their teeth, then why can't we? If these women could rise to the challenges of life back then and not only survive, but thrive, then why can't we? I plan on rising to the challenge, myself.

I got this from Stephanie's blog. Aprons--y/n If y, what does your fav. look like? Yes. Mine is a black and white vintage print with a bib front and a pocket. Baking--Favorite thing to bake? I bake a lot of cookies. Hubby likes them for his lunches. Clothes line?Yes. Donuts--Have you ever made them? Nope. Everyday--One homemaking thing you do every day? Dishes. I am the dishwasher. Freezer--Do you have a separate deep freezer? Yes, but it isn't hooked up. Garbage Disposer? Does the dog count? Handbook--What is your favorite homemaking resource? Hmmm...I like vintage books, my grandmother's house, my aunt's house, and Candy's blog. Ironing--Love it or Hate it? Or hate it but love the results? Hate it, rarely do it. Junk Drawer--y/n? Where is it? Yes, kitchen cabinet drawer. Kitchen--color and decorating scheme. A soft green with yellow trim. Kinda garden-themed. Love--what is your favorite part of homemaking? Having a comfy home to live in. Mop--y/n? Yes...

Finally, I'm making myself sit down and type about my Plastic Elimination Week. Plastic Elimination Week begins on September 8th, 2008. The purpose of this week is to reduce, replace and eliminate plastics in our homes. Whether your purpose is because you feel plastics are bad for our health, or bad for the evironment, or you want to reduce the use of oil-based products, or you just want to declutter or make things more pleasing to the eye, then please join me and spread the word on your own blogs and websites. Those joining are encouraged to make comments and suggestions on plastic elimination either here or own their own blogs. Participants are also encouraged to find ways to have the plastics they are discarding recycled or reused rather than just tossing them in the trash, which defeats part of the purpose of this week. Throughout that week, I'll be posting on how I've been reducing, replacing and eliminating plastics around the house. I'll post ideas on how you...

Woah, have I been busy! This past week just flew by, but it was a good week. We had family to visit in the first part of the week. Then, I had cleaning and projects to do along with a rest period to keep my milk supply up. Wednesday, I spent all day shopping and running errands. Thursday, I took my Dad and Bubby and BabyGirl to the local zoo. Friday, we went to the farm next door and Bubby played for 4 solid hours! In the evenings, we walked back to the farm to watch Daddy work on the bins and silos, getting them ready for the harvest season. This morning, I opened up my fridge and heard rustling. In the back, a plastic bag was moving. Hubby and I were invited to a lobster shindig last night, but I couldn't go....had to get the kiddos to bed. So, I sent hubby and he returned with 3 live lobsters. I recognized the blessing, but really wasn't thrilled. So, before 9 am this morning, I hauled up my stock pot, put it on the burner on my grill and got the water boiling. ...

Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots. ~Hoosier Farmer (Taken from www.homeliving.blogspot.com ) I sometimes tease that the only way I'll have clean floors is when I teach my family to hover. :) I clean my floors nearly every day because my hubby is a boot-wearing man. I can always tell when he's been home and what he did because I can follow the dirt and mud-clump trail around the house. You may be insisting that I simply can't be all sunshine and smiles over this. To be honest, it is a challenge of grace to be a cheerful wife when I'm mopping floors again and again. I admit that two days ago I felt a bit down when I loving placed fresh bath rugs on a sparkling bathroom floor only to have big, muddy footprints, dirt clumps and sand all over it within half an hour. You may think my husband's horrible for not taking his boots off. But, you need to remember a few thing...

My sister-in-law has been giving me extra catalogs of homeschooling stuff. It is all a bit overwhelming as I look through them. So, this winter I plan to finally read Well-Trained Mind and start working on curriculum ideas. I've also just purchased The Way They Learn by Cynthia Ulrich. My SIL says it'll help me understand how best to teach my son. He's obviously not a child who would do well under a public school setting. He's very hands-on. I can see him doing well under unschooling conditions. This winter, I also hope to go through my fabric supply and just sew sew sew. What I can't use for myself I'll put on Etsy. I'm also spreading the word that I'm hosting a Plastic Elimination Week starting September 8th. I'll post more about it, later, but please consider spreading the word through your own blog about it. I'd like to get as many people involved as possible. I think it'll be fun and interesting. As for the sickies, Bubby is ...

I have no clue why Bubby and I both get colds in August, but we do and we're fighting colds now. Bubby's on the mend, and I'm just starting. I've been taking large, but safe doses of vitamin C and cod liver oil. I've been drinking plenty. I've also been taking in extra kefir. Hopefully I can kill this virus and be well soon. Mostly, I hope Baby Girl doesn't get a cold.

I took the day off yesterday and nursing is back on track. Here's what I did. In the morning, I nursed every 2 hours instead of every 3 to help build up my milk supply. In the afternoon when Bubby went down for his nap, I curled up on the sofa with Baby Girl and just let her nurse and sleep as she pleased while I watched two shows (The Fanny Crosby Story and A Midwife's Tale...both are good but the latter had nudity in it that I was completely unaware of). In the evening, she nursed every 2 hours as usual. Stress is what did it. They always say don't upset a pregnant woman, but that should extend to nursing moms as well. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to this, though. Not only do I have so much to do, but I want to do so much. I mean, even on my "day off" I scrubbed floors, did laundry, sewed a quilt, made a peach pie, cooked dinner on the grill, harvested from the garden, scrubbed the bathtub, paid the bills, organized a grocery list, walked the do...

Summer days shouldn't be gloomy. It just isn't right. Yet, today is a gloomy day. I'm a bit glad, though, because it helps give me a day off. With it being rainy, I don't have to work in my garden or hang clothes out to dry. I kind of need a day off because I need to work on my milk supply. My poor daughter ended up gulping down 2 ounces of formula last night. I was feeding her every hour in the evening, but it was obvious very little was coming out of me. In between feedings, I hand-extracted milk (I do have an electric pump, but I get better results by hand) and I got very little (less than an ounce) and it was really watery. The poor dear was so very very hungry. So, I caved and gave her formula, but spent a good portion of the night hand-extracting to make sure I keep making milk. And I put her on to nurse at our usual nursing times. I'm not sure why my milk is wasting away. I nurse on demand around the clock. I don't pump. I eat a varied, healt...

Hubby paid me such a charming compliment yesterday and I don't even think he knew it. It was the evening and we were resting in the living room. The house was cluttered and untidied from a very busy weekend. I looked around while nursing our sweet daughter and said, "I have a lot of work to do tomorrow. It's amazing how messy this house gets in one weekend." (I promise, it wasn't complaining.) Hubby sprung up from his chair and said with so much emphasis and excitement, "But, Honey, you don't understand. This house is lived in!" (We had a previous discussion about how people today are so busy chasing that dollar that they buy these expensive houses they can't afford, then work so much that they're only home to pick up their mail and go to bed.) I suddenly felt a weight off my shoulders. My husband doesn't mind if things get untidied or worn out because it means we are living in our home and loving it. Of course, that's no e...

Here's one of the reasons I'm so busy! I'm a do-it-yourselfer and I'm currently making a unique seating area in the basement play room. As I said before, lightening ruined our TV upstairs and we can't afford a new one just now. So, using some stuff around the house and discounted fabrics at JoAnn's, I'm making a nice love-seat opposite our downstairs TV. I'm starting with storage bins of baby clothes. That's the base of the loveseat. On top of that is a sheet of plywood leftover from a project hubby did this spring. The plywood is being painted a farm and construction scene on one side and then another scene on the other side for Bubby's train sets. The plywood also acts as the base for the seating, which will be outdoor canvas pillows. I bought a few yards of outdoor canvas marked down at JoAnn and the rest will come from some sail cloth I've had laying around for years. To cover the bins, I have outdoor canvas that I'm going to ...

I improved the inner view of my kitchen window at least with two lovely flower pots I got on clearance at Walmart. My son decided to harvest tomatoes that weren't ripe yet, so I have them in the window hoping they'll ripen up so as not to waste them.

When I recovered from yesterday's stress, I was in such a good mood and had energy, again. I've come to the conclusion that it's ok to have a good cry and even a small pity party, so long as you have the discipline to get up when your done and get on with your life with even more strength. To do this, your good cry needs some good prayer with it, too. I had a good night's sleep and was able to get out before 7 am this morning and pull up a big patch of weeds at the end of the garden. I'm thinking today's project might be looking into improving the play area down stairs. Now that our TV upstairs has been broken, the TV in the basement is getting more use. (We can't bring the basement TV upstairs because it's HUGE and it doesn't fit in our TV armoire.) If it doesn't rain, I'm going to get outside and do more garden work. When I was in Scotland, my host's house had a lovely garden. It was neat because their beds were down about 2 or 3...

It's been so busy this summer and I'm starting to feel the weight of it. There's just so much to do and so much getting piled on top of it. I can't seem to keep things straight any more. Even my efforts to keep things straight are just an added effort I have to find time for. I'm always multi-tasking. I blog when I'm on the computer for something else that I'm waiting to download, for example. Things have really come down around me recently and I've tried to keep my chin up, but the stress has murdered me physically and worn on me emotionally. It was the last straw last night when we arrived home from visiting my ailing FIL and found that the dog peed on the bed. I could have sworn I shut the door to the bedroom before I left! It was already after bedtime and I was stripping the bed and doing laundry and redressing the bed. Then, my daughter decided not to fall asleep and when she finally did, my son woke up screaming from a bad dream. I didn...

Julie at http://www.keepersathome.blogspot.com/ had this, so I copied it and Tag, you're it. 1. Who is your man? The Dashing Gentleman Above 2. How long have you been together? 8 years total, 6 years married. 3. How long dated? A year and a day...then we got engaged. 4. How old is your man? 34 5. Who eats more? Not sure. 6. Who said "I love you" first? He did. 7. Who is taller? Him 8. Who sings better? Me 9. Who is smarter? He's got more common sense and "street smarts." I've got more book smarts. 10. Whose temper is worse? His, but I'm a close second at times. 11. Who does the laundry? Me. 12. Who takes out the garbage? Me. 13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me. 14. Who pays the bills? He makes the money, I write the checks. 15. Who is better with the computer? Me. 16. Who mows the lawn? Him. 17. Who cooks dinner? Me. 18. Who drives when you are together? Mostly me, because we take my truck. 19. Who pays when you go out? Him. 20. Who is m...

I enjoy being productive and I look forward to a productive week. I'm considering doing away with my 1/2 an hour of exercise in the morning this week in favor of getting chores done so I have time to take my little 'uns outside and get some yardwork done. There's so much to do in the garden and I want to start landscaping and turning beds for next year's plantings. I'm sure all that heavy work will suffice for exercise. :) Other plans for this week includes going through ALL of my son's toys and organizing them. I'd also like to pull up all the boxed books in the basement and find homes for them as well. I'm also considering turning the smaller walk-in closet into the re-enacting closet...but I'd have to find a home for the coats living in there now. I'm also going to try my hand at beet kvass. My neighbor gave me a bunch of beets from her garden. Those are my main projects for the week on top of my regular tasks and working on Bubby's q...

This line from the movie, "Little Women" popped into my head today: Laurie: "What do they do all day." (possibly paraphrased and in reference to the Little Women next door.) I always have a smile at this scene because his tutor gives him some silly line which basically means he hasn't the faintest idea. Then, I began thinking of all that Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy did: They made their own clothing. They kept the home spotless. They worked and did charity efforts. They tended the gardens. They educated themselves. They indulged in their own hobbies. They played and imagined. They took care of each other. They did so much! I bet they rarely, if ever, flopped into a chair and moaned, "I'm bored." They accomplished so much and were never idle. Spare moments were spent enjoying nature in a refreshing walk or scribbling away stories, or playing music, or painting, or enjoying children or reading. No TV's. No sterios. No video games....just pure activ...

While my last post was about all the ick-stuff that happened to me last week, here's the good that came out of it! Friday: Hubby came to my rescue and was so loving and supportive I fell in love with him all over again. I also got to spend a relaxing afternoon at the farm. Monday: I got to visit with my FIL who's house I passed to get to the place where I had to get hubby's boots. We had a lovely visit and he got to see the grandkids. Bubby cheered him up...they're two peas in a pod. Tuesday: My father went with me and we had a great time chatting away in the car and he loved spending time with his grandkids and daughter. Wednesday: The rain kept us home and indoors so we all got to play together, even the dog! We had a grand ol' time. Thursday: I had the pleasure of figuring the problems out myself and getting them fixed (with a little help from hubby). I like learning new things and using tools and hubby's such a great teacher. So, when it rains, it p...

I'm just shaking my head and laughing. Granted, the laugh may sound a little like old Hollywood insane-asylum laughing, but I'm at least laughing. Friday, I'm driving hubby's truck and it breaks down. I'm stuck in the swealtering heat and humidity with a hungry 2 month old. Thankfully, I was smart enough to grab hubby's cell phone and he came and rescue us. Monday, I was to drive 80 miles round trip with a 2 year old and a 2 month old to pick up boots for hubby. He desperately needed new boots and I volunteered for the task. Well, I get all the way up there and they are closed! Tuesday, I went back up and got the boots. Wednesday, rain and lightening like you wouldn't believe. Our basement (which we spent over six grand waterproofing) and garage flooded and we were struck by lightening twice. The second strike broke our TV and tripped our well pump. We got the well pump to work, but I have no water in the kitchen and only hot water in the washing mac...

I like laying out my progress on this blog. It keeps me motivated, especially since my sister reads my blog! Last week, I only did actual work-outs for three days (1/2 an hour in the morning and walks later in the day). The last 4 days I had to really tone it down. My body was letting me know I did enough. It's important to listen to your body, but not let it be an excuse for not doing what you should be doing. In my case, I had to remember two things: I'm barely 8 weeks post-partum and I'm still nursing. I tried to exercise, but my body said, "NO!" I needed sleep. Today, I did 30 minutes of The Firm and hope to follow it up with an evening walk, but it's stormy today. I have noticed one thing, though. I don't mind hubby seeing me undressed even though I have extra pooch and poundage because I know I'm working on it and so does he. He doesn't find me unattractive, anyway. Even this morning, I took my measurements in his presence and we c...