The Cottage on the Hill

I'll be off line for a while because my computer died and we can't afford a new one right now. But please stay tuned....I'll try and be back soon! ladyscott

My hutch is here!!! Hubby was able to get the hutch today! It's such a cute hutch, hand-made so you won't find it in a store. We got it in it's place in the dining room and hubby watched me with such amusement as his little wife scurried hither and thither pulling out the boxes of items that will find a home on the hutch. He grinned and praised me as I eagerly explained where and how I plan on putting everything. On the top shelf (tentatively....it will change eventually): Ginger jar, 4 reproduction 18th century wine glasses, matching tea pot and sugar bowl with 18th century scene on them 2nd shelf: My collection of handle-less tea cups, 2 or 3 of them being antiques (I'm not sure about one of them) and 4 stoneware thistle goblets 3rd shelf: My collection of tartan and scottish tea cups and saucers Bottom shelf: my white platter, white soup tureen, white gravy boat with dish, white salt and pepper shakers Drawer: extra table linens and aprons Cabinet: my 12 place se...

Yesterday evening, 1/2 an hour before I was supposed to start dinner, the power went out. Blech....I have an electric stove. Thankfully, my brother left behind some seasoned wood in the shed where it was dry. Everything else is completely soaked in rain. I set up our re-enacting folding grill and thankfully had enough water pressure to fill our copper mucket with water. After some time in trying to get the wood to burn hot enough to boil the water, I was able to make shrimp alfredo. Re-enacting sure has helped me in this area. I can cook just about anything outside if I can get decent wood and enough coals in the fire. Of course, hubby and I kept ourselves occupied in the evening. No matter what time of day it is, the dining room is always dark (especially when it's cloudy and rainy outside). So, hubby started a puzzle by kerosene lamp and candlelight. I did some handsewing by the picture window, and when the rain subsided, I went for a bike ride. The power was back on a...

I did it. I was a bad girl and went to the estate sale. I walked out with a book dated 1816 from London, and two vintage dresses. One is a sage green organza, and the other is a thicker cotton wiggle dress, both from about the 1950's, although the green one might be 40's. I spent $15.00. I tried on a riding hat, but it didn't fit, and a pair of shoes, but they didn't fit well enough to spend $5.00 on them. My pond is just about ready to flood. We've had so much rain! I suppose I should displace some of the water in buckets because if it does flood, there goes my strawberry patch! Today, I picked my first ripe strawberry of the season and gobbled it right up! Now, I have to buy netting so the birds and that silly rabbit doesn't get my precious berries. Harvest has begun!

Just playing with a photo program!

Hubby announced yesterday evening that he'd like us to run up to my grandparents' house Friday morning and pick up the hutch and tables! Hurray! I'm so happy, but I'm not holding my breath. Hubby could be called out for some work. So, I just wait patiently. It is so gloomy, cool, and rainy out....a nice break from the heat and humidity we've endured. However, the gloom is starting to get to me. I'm a cheap-skate in some ways. I hate running electricity during the day, but this gloomy weather forces me to. It's cool enough for a long skirt and long sleeved top, perhaps even a cardigan or light sweater. I'm supposed to clean the church today, so it's work clothes for me today. Getting back to the hutch and tables, I know where the hutch is going, but I haven't decided on the tables, yet. One of them should go in hubby's hobby room, and the other in my sewing area. However, I've been using a large, metal teacher's desk. Then ...

Now that the garden is in and the yard tidied at the cottage, I have time for indoor work. This weekend, my mother is coming over to help me paint the kitchen and possibly the bathroom. (Hubby will be away this weekend.) In fact, it works out because this morning hubby asked when I was going to paint the kitchen. Yesterday, I finished recovering the chairs for our tent. They turned out well and I'm inspired to do a bit more upholstering! My urge to sew has returned. DH has requested that I FINALLY finish his new banyan and matching weskit for re-enacting by next weekend! UGH! Crunch time, but I think I might be able to manage. He's also in dire need of another pair of fly front breeches, not to mention that I have stays and a gown to finish for a customer that same weekend! Exactly 6 more months until my birthday! Also, since it's June, it's time to start thinking about Christmas. We spent so much money the last few Christmases, I'm thinking of making mos...

I am departing from my normal shpeals on my cottage and am reviewing the movie "Finding Neverland." Overall: Good movie. I don't recall swearing, there is no s*x (Barrie kisses his wife and not even on the lips once), and no violence. The acting was great, the costumes lovely, and the scenery breath-taking. The movie was interesting, especially if you like the story of Peter Pan and are interested in it's conception. It is a compelling movie, but I wouldn't call it entertaining. It keeps your interest. The movie is a sad movie. However, I may add it to my DVD collection if it goes on sale at Walmart. Johnny Depp played a Barrie wonderfully and the children were excellent actors. Questionable material from a Christian stand-point: 1. Barrie's marriage breaks down throughout the film. 2. Neverland seems to be a replacement for Heaven. 3. There is a Victorianized conversation between Barrie and his friend that people suspect Barrie of using the boys wron...

My husband and I have a vacation home. It's a tent, a good-sized tent the requires similar rules to cottage living as Taigh Beag does. Everything needs it's place. You see, we're living historians, or re-enactors. We re-enact the 18th century. We own this tent, behind the gentleman with the horse: In it, we house a full size four poster bed, a full size dining table with 4 chairs, a side table, a carpet and floor cloths, and numerous trunks. We have running water in the form of a cistern. Next to it is a teapot on a hook with a candle under it for warm water. We even have a bathroom behind the bed in the form of a chamber pot and a bucket of water. The only thing missing is the kitchen, which has to be outside. Hubby and I have a system when it comes to setting up our tent. He and I get the tent up, he does all the pounding of the stakes. He helps get the bed and table together and then leaves the rest to me while he goes and helps our master and mistress set up...

No, no, I'm not harboring some repressed depression. I do enjoy the occassional gloomy day. I really hope it rains and brings us some relief from this sweltering hot weather! The humidity really makes it unbearable. I caved in and carried the other air conditioner from the shed, up the stairs and into the living room. I even managed to put it in the window and get it all set up! Now I feel like I have Rosie the Riveter bicepts! It is just too hot to be without it, especially since the living room has a huge west-facing picture window. Even with the shades drawn, it boils in here. Now, perhaps the heat won't get the better of me. It did yesterday, and I ended up taking a 2 hour nap in the air conditioned bedroom. My doggy joined me and we dreamed away. It felt good, but I would have rather gotten things done. I did manage to work on re-covering ladder back chair cusions. Hubby found this beautiful dark royal blue and gold fabric. I'm covering our chairs and his o...

Friday evening, our friends from PA and NJ visited our new home and had pizza before settling in at the re-enactment event. The general concensus was that it's a cute house, suitable for hubby and I, had loads of potential, and that we should build up when we add on, not out. I was pleased to be hostess again in hubby and I's new home. Although, I'm not sure we'll stay forever. I wouldn't really mind, and hubby's pretty sure we're staying put. But there's a certain house we're really interested in and keeping an eye on. It's an original colonial house, exactly what we've always wanted, with acreage. The owner is sickly and we're seeing if she'll sell. But this won't be for years. She's not THAT sickly and plans to live there until death. There is a rabbit haunting my garden! I saw him today, sitting in front of my tomato plants, so I walked outside barefoot and in my nightgown (luckily, it's fairly private back th...

At six o'clock this morning, my husband suddenly shouts my name. I snap awake to see him scrambling out from under the covers. I look at the clock....ooops. I slept in and never woke him for work. He thought it was funny! So, needless to say, we had a late start. The thunderstorms in the middle of the night didn't help much either. They scared the dog, so we had her come up on the bed and all she did was hog the bed and covers and wiggle and shake during the storms. I have LOADS to do today and I don't mean laundry, although laundry is on the agenda. I have to hand wash hubby's embroidered waistcoat for the event this weekend. Off I go! ladyscott

I know what you're thinking. Lye soap? Doesn't that burn? A re-enacting acquaintence of mine makes this in the time honored tradition, that is the old fashioned way with homemade lye and over an open fire in a 300 year old cast iron pot! The recipe itself is from the 18th century...a family tradition passed down. This lye soap is the best soap I know of! It's soft, smooth, lathers well, and is great for many things. I use it to wash myself, hubby uses it to remove grease or when he's gotten into some poison ivy. I also use it for laundry, particularly whites. It is unscented and made from pure, natural ingredients, AND it's American made! www.nosweatsoap.com

For some reason, I'm full of life today! It's about time! :) I did go back to sleep after hubby left for work. I feel so bad for him. He didn't get home until 11 pm last night and had to get up at 5:30 am to go to work this morning. They're expecting more thunderstorms. Hopefully, they won't be too bad. Although, the overtime money is welcome, I hate having hubby so tired and worn out. Laundry is getting done, and I mowed the yard for my first time ever on a riding lawn mower, and it's not even automatic transmission! Ok, so I didn't do the best job in the world, but it's done (except for trim, but I don't know how to run the weedwhacker). I even successfully backed it into the shed! I watered the gardens too, cleaned the pond and put trash liners in the garbage and recycling bins. I still have dishes to do, a steps to sweep, dinner to think about, a car loan to pay at the bank, and if I have time, I'll clean the church today. If not,...

Now there's a lovely title. :) Every time I step outside I remind myself to write about this, and then I forget. Well, not this time. I live on top of a hill, but my house sits on top of a little hill-ette that looks over the farm next door. I love just sitting on top of that hill-ette and watching the rye sway in the breeze. The waves of shades of green are so beautiful! The patterns it makes are breath-taking. Maybe I'm just easy to please, or enjoy simple things, but I'm so glad he decided to plant rye instead of corn. Thanks to the warm weather, the rye is taller than me now! ladyscott

The weather has taken a turn for the better. No storms, but it's still windy out. After hubby left for work, as tired as I was, I decided not to go back to bed. Instead, I've been a cleaning freak today! I scrubbed down the walls in the kitchen, swept and vacuumed the floors, cleaned the bathroom AGAIN, worked some more on the basement, organized some of the clothing in their boxes in the bedroom, and started work on the motif I'm hand painting in the dining room. (more on the motif later) I was so eager to leave the house and get to JoAnn Fabrics and Walmart to start working on the porch, but I had to wait for the insurance gentleman to show up and evaluate the property. He came and was very pleasant and as soon as he left, I was out the door, completely forgetting that my mother was supposed to come over to visit. Thus started the wandering. I tried getting ideas in the fabric store, but I didn't find anything that really struck me. I began second-guessing my ...

I grew up in an old HUGE farmhouse. It had 11 rooms, with a huge living room, giant kitchen, and big dining room, library, 1 1/2 bathrooms, 5 bedrooms and a sitting area upstairs. It also had a garage, loft, 2 porches, and a partial basement. There were 7 of us in this house and I loved it! I believed that when I grew up, I wouldn't settle for anything other than an old large house, something colonial, victorian or a huge farmhouse. I scoffed at cottages. How could I live the way I want in a cottage. Before my husband and I got married, we house hunted to see where our nest would be after we married. All the big houses were either too much, or needed so much work we wouldn't have been able to live in them until the work was done or they wouldn't give us an affordable mortgage for it. Time ran out and we ended up in a mobile home. I could handle that. It was only temporary until we got that big house! Then it happened....hubby decided we should buy my brother'...

Lately, I've been more and more patriotic. Maybe it's because my husband and I have reached an American Dream in purchasing our own home and a bit of land. My husband is so proud and humbled at the same time to have a house and land, a good job, a wife and the potential for a family. I AM proud to be an American! I am also eager to buy American made now. Here are some websites that can help us buy American made products: www.madeinusa.org www.howtobuyamerican.com http://buyamerican.com www.usstuff.com www.usamadeboutique.com www.buydirectusa.com ladyscott

I am a charter subscriber to this magazine! I just love it! It's got great ideas for living small, lovely articles and pictures, great garden ideas, and cute craft ideas. I was upset when Victoria went under, but Cottage Living is a great substitute, even if it isn't as elegant as Victoria was.