The Cottage on the Hill

Every stay at home mom needs at least one. A fellow stay at home mom friend. A partner in crime. A bosom companion. A woman who will cheer her on while she's ambitiously vacuuming cobwebs. A woman who will text her a challenge to stay off of Facebook for the week with her. A woman who will encourage her to donate another 25 items to Goodwill. A woman who extends grace when she's having a bad day. A woman who understands her desperate need for a good chocolate or coffee NOW! I have three such friends:  my sister, my mother, and my mentor. I sincerely hope you can find at least one other lady who's either been there or is in the trenches of stay at home motherhood right now to be your confidant. This also works for career moms, too. , Find a peer, another career mom, and be each other's cheerleaders! On sale right now for half price.  Only $12.99! This blog post shared in the linky at:

This year the kiddos didn't want the usual 99 cent cardboard Advent calendar with the gross chocolates inside.  Neither did I, so I had to come up with something with more variety since I have a non-chocolate eater, and inexpensive. So, off to the Dollar Store I went and this is what I came home with, a felt and glitter tree and a variety of candy "ornaments." There is one ornament for each day of Advent and the children take turns who gets to choose an ornament off the tree as their treat. It isn't as religiously instructive as I'd like, though before they get to choose an ornament I ask them a question about the Christmas story.

Sorry.  I don't have a pic of  my real basement, but it isn't pretty and finished. I am thankful for it, however.  It holds a man cave, a play area, laundry, utilities, a pantry, and a corner where I can sew. It helps make this little house all that much more usable for our larger than average family. And for that I am thankful! Please like my facebook pages to get great deals on Black Friday for  Usborne  Books ,  Essential  Oils  and  Herbs   .

As small as this house is, I am forever thankful that it has a dining room. It truly is the heart of our home. It is used for everything from meals to homeschool to projects to parties. The room is small, 9x15, and it also serves as our library, so it can get tight, but without it this house would absolutely not work for us.

Living in a small house with a large family poses some challenges, and sometimes I get frustrated that we don't have more square footage.  But, there are aspects of this house that I do appreciate, even in their imperfect ways...or perhaps because of them. Today, I am thankful for my little stove.  It came with the house and is an inexpensive basic apartment model electric range.  There are absolutely no bells or whistles so it has challenged my cooking skills.  As you can see there is no oven window.  I have learned to rely on my sense of smell and perhaps a bit of instinct to let me know when something is done. There is no preheat setting, timer, clock, temperature gauge. And it is small. I chuckle to myself when I see small families who eat out most of the time drooling over big 6-burner ranges with double ovens.  I make most of our food from scratch and I can all on this little range. It reminds me of the little cookers used in the 1930...

A frivolous purchase for one on a very tight budget, but they were marked down to only $1.99 for the bunch at Aldi!  I couldn't pass them up for pocket change!

It's is high time I learned! I'm not doing so well right now.  Still working on tension  That little crochet ball is supposed to be a flat circle!  I'm not making anything yet.  Just working on stitches.  I think I need hands-on help.  The book is just a big, confusing pictorial stress-fest. My mother was an avid crocheter in her 30's.  She could crochet at lightening speed and often made these adorable crochet Christmas trees for people.  I never got beyond learning how to make a chain. My sister can crochet and has made stuffed animals and a retro cherry pot holder to decorate my kitchen. I am probably going to have to call upon their assistance.

I renewed an old friendship over the weekend.  My sewing machine and I got back together after a long separation.  Spring, summer, and harvest take away so much time.  It was nice to tackle a small pile of fleece and turn it into useful items. First, I made 3 pairs of "Cozy Pants" as we call them.  I made this moose pair, a brown pair for my youngest, and my oldest boy got a pair in fisherman print.  (The picture won't upload for some reason). We have long winters here and days at home where sometimes only Cozy Pants will do. Not one to waste a scrap of fabric, I whipped together a pattern, pulled out an old cloth diaper from the box of them I saved for just this purpose, and made myself 3 rudimentary cloth pads. Here are two of them.  Nothing as fancy finished as the ones sold online, but they'll do.  I just bought snaps to sew onto the wings and they'll be ready for next  month's visit. The last bit of the moose fabric was turned...

I apologize for the blurry photo as my better camera is on my phone which is currently being used by my potty training toddler to keep him securely on the potty and not running around in the bottom buff. Never mind that, though.  Look at this!  I found True Ladies and Proper Gentlemen Edited by Sarah Chrisman in Victorian Trading Company !! I have read Victorian Secrets by Sarah Chrisman and really enjoyed it.  I love her way of writing, her intelligence, her experiences, and how her book challenged me to think outside the box. I look forward to reading her newest book:  This Victorian Life. While I am not a Victoriaphile (is that a term?), I do enjoy history and understanding the past, regardless of the era.  One thought that really struck me in Victorian Secrets  is that the Victorians weren't necessarily strict prudes so much as they valued their privacy.  Not everyone lived in sprawling  mansions, and even those who did...

Yesterday evening was a quiet time in my chair watching The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer while mending my snow pants and my youngest's winter coat.  Nylon fabric and chicken fencing don't go well together.  Nothing a little embroidery floss can't fix. I love that movie.  I love Cary Grant's comedy.  I love Myrna Loy.  (One of my chickens is named Myrna Loy!) I love the scenery, the vintage rose-colored-glasses perfection, and I love the glamour shot of Shirley Temple when she wakes up.

I'm back, Cats and Kittens! Let's start anew, shall we? First, let me explain why I stopped blogging.  I partly ran out of time.  And I mostly ran out of ideas and inspiration.  (cue violins)  My precious family went through a time of serious trials over the last 6 years.  We endured the Mister's career training away from home, and the subsequent serious illness with multiple hospitalizations it caused.  We also had 2 more children (which I blogged about on here as the youngest is now 3.5) and I suffered a serious case of post partum depression.  Mister decided to return to his previous career to save his health, but it meant a pay cut on top of the all the debt accrued from such a long term illness.  As such, our poor little cottage on the hill deteriorated.  On top of that, with hopes of moving, I kept many things and our house became quite cluttered. For the past year, I've been slowly working on decluttering and making plans....

My family and I have started a new beginning!  You can follow us on our adventure HERE . The first post is HERE . I'm not sure if I'll continue this blog yet, or not, but the other blog is pretty much daily posts, so if you have me linked up in a sidebar or blogroll, please consider updating it to the new blog. Thank you, and please join me!

1:Do you sleep with your  closet doors  open or closed? Open.  My bathrobes are inside. 2:Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel? Sometimes. 3:Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? All over the place. 4:Have you ever stolen a street sign before? Nope! 5:Do you like to use post-it notes? I have them, but rarely use them. 6:Do you cut out coupons but then never use them? Yes. 7:Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of a bees? I think I could handle the bees better than the bear. 8:Do you have freckles? No. 9:Do you always smile for pictures? Usually. 10:What is your biggest pet peeve? The inability to keep my house to my standard of clean! 11:Do you ever count your steps when you walk? Sometimes. 12:Have you ever peed in the woods? Yes. 13:What about pooped in the woods? No. 14:Do you ever dance even if theres no music playing? Yes. 15:Do you chew your  pens and pencils ? No. 16:How many people have ...

I had a small basket of Cara Cara oranges and tangerines getting past their snacking prime.  I hated the idea of throwing them away, so I started pouring over my cookbooks for a recipe for an orange cake that uses just the juice, not the rind.   In The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Cooking (The Southwestern Company, 1986) I found the Brazilian Orange Cake. The cake is made with orange juice (freshly squeezed from my thin-skinned citrus), eggs (separated, but both parts used), flour, sugar baking powder and vanilla. The recipe does not indicate the use of any sort of frosting, so I made my own out of heavy cream. I whipped the cream with a bit of cream of tartar, powdered sugar and vanilla.  I topped half the cake with the whipped cream and shredded coconut and left the other half I left just the whipped cream. It was moist, soft, delicious, not very orange-y, and a hit.   There is nothing like a homemade cake.

Sunbeams pour into our south and west windows this time of year. Even on days of single digit temperatures, the sunbeams warm the house nicely. I wish I had to a cat to watch enjoy the beams. For now, my toes had the opportunity.

Dishwashing Gloves, Scrubber and Drain Sieve for $5.00 at Big Lots! Washing dishes is a little more fun now. (And yes, that's my countertop.  Original 1950's...came with the house.)

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer My favorite Shirley Temple movie. They don't make them like that anymore...I mean both Shirley Temple and movies.

Everyone is shocked.  Everyone is aghast.  Utility bills in this area are going up up up like crazy!  Complaints are pouring in to the companies and the government and Facebook news feeds, but in the meantime, the bills must be paid. It is the season of lay offs, too, and a very cold winter to boot. So, it is a time to revisit those old ideas for saving money.  I have a load of laundry hanging on the lines in our (thankfully heated...thank you so much, hubby) basement instead of running the dryer.  It isn't much, but it's a start.  I'll have to start taking quicker showers instead of lounging until the hot water runs out.  It was my one luxury, but now that I have my basement room-of-my-own, I can do without the loooooong showers. Have you had to cut back?  Do you have any frugal ideas to share?  Please comment, if you do!

Spoon can be purchased through Milk and Honey Luxuries I've discovered something recently.  Allowing yourself to do something for yourself actually helps you NOT become selfish! *forehead smack* Really! I spent most of my life in the uncomfortable paradox of deferring to the other party while still remaining rather self-centered.  That eventually leads to a boiled over pot of resentment and entitlement. Add to that the self-giving life of young motherhood and I was beginning to forget who I was and what I even really liked or wanted to do.  I ended up not wanting to do....anything...at least until somebody did something for me! Thankfully, hubby picked up on my desperation, a friend encouraged me to speak up and validated my need to refill my tank, and some opportunities arose to...as cliche as it sounds...find myself.  I gave myself permission. And I am so much better for it!

There's a color from the Atomic Era that started standing out to me, recently.  Teal (or turquoise...shades within that color family)! And I've decided to give teal a chance. My kitchen is a cute Atomic blue, cherry red and white with chrome trim. But my basement retreat I hope to transform into a softer 1950's color scheme. Pink, Teal and Cream (with maybe a lavender velveteen thrown in there). I plan on trying teal with a lamp for my workstation.   So, off I went to Aunt Katie's Attic (no, I'm not getting paid to advertise for them, but it is my asylum, currently.  I go there to unwind.) but I did not find what I was looking for.   Ebay didn't yield anything I really loved, or they were too expensive. I am browsing Etsy right now, but again, price is an issue. Teal is popular at Target in their teen line.  I may settle for that, but I want a gloriously large lamp, not a desk lamp. There's Goodwill.  I could try...