Car wash

I'm going to try really hard to write a little bit everyday for the SOL challenge...what I am trying to say is that I am going to write about whatever comes into my mind. It may not be about the cottage this month. Today I took my youngest daughter to Ft. Wayne for her appt. While she was busy I decided to go to the car wash, as my car was filthy. I have never been to one that did not have an attendant. Well I got my gas, paid for the wash then pushed the buttons. The door opened, I went in slowly as it said and the door came down on my trunk. Then the washing started not hitting my car. I then tried to get out of the car wash but the door would not open. I went froward and back inside the thing, panicking by now thinking I will not be on time to get my daughter. Finally the door went up and I was free. Upon getting out and seeing the huge dent in my trunk I pulled around to talk to the gas station attendant. She was nice enough, took pictures, the car wash door was a mess and out of commission. However the maintenance man said he was not coming in until morning. I told my husband they will probably hit it with a sledge hammer in the morning and say it was my fault. I do not have much faith in our system or people after last summer being rear ended and the fiasco we went through. Anyway I made it home, my husband said stupid things happen everyday (he did not yell at me). And...me, well it will be along time before I ever go in another car wash. I'll get out my bucket and old rag. Anyone want the FREE car wash they gave me?

Chores

My husband has worked outside in the cold all day. After eating supper he usually goes outside to do our few chores. Tonight I told him to keep his feet up in the recliner and enjoy the warmth of his snugly blanket, I'll go outside and do the chores. First I took the scraps from the house out to the chicken coop. I save all the fruit peels and outside lettuce leaves as a treat for the hens. I enjoy going to the coop. I talk to the girls and they are always happy to see me. They cackle and I giggle. We are friends. I see 2 brown eggs in the nest. I thank them giving them each a feather rub and say good night. After taking the eggs inside,wash dry, then put them in the carton in the frig I go back out. This time I get a scoop of dog food and head out toward the fenced pen. Chippy is waiting wiggling her hind end. She is happy to see me too. She goes right in to her bed of straw, turns around and puts her paw up to shake goodnight. As I close her gate and put an extra cement block in front of it I can see Chippy's eyes smiling at me. I know she is already thinking of how she will get out of that pen. She is Chippy Houdini! Great dog escape artist. Next its over to the wood stove, I open the door and instantly feel the red coals burning. I throw in about 8 split logs then turn around to look at the stack that is left standing. I think to myself that it may last until the end of the month, then we will be stacking more. Last its back to the garage with Brownie at my heels. She has already followed me every step in this night feeding. What a good friend she is to walk under the night stars. I close the garage door and give her a small scoop of dog food and a dog biscuit. She is the keeper of the property. All day she guards the house from squirrels and at night she will bark if she hears a car. Going back into the house I smile at my sleeping husband. Glad he slept...glad I did the chores.

Sign

Going to my grandparents house one would get a treat entering the bathroom. As you would sit on the toilet and look forward you could read many signs. Some were funny, some were serious. To me they were fun to read. When I asked grandma about them she said, "Oh your grandpa picked those up different places we vacationed". That is when the house was a cottage. Once it was a home they still were on the wall. When grandpa passed away I never saw those signs again. They were replaced by flower pictures and a mirror. When I went up north to my parents outhouse it had bath pictures in it, and some funny signs the grand kids had given them as gifts. They made me smile as I remembered my childhood readings. Fun as you are sitting. That summer grandma passed away and there was an auction. I bought many treasures that I may write about at different times, but when I saw a box of junk held up above the auctioneers head I caught a glimpse of something familiar. There was a bathroom sign. I don't know what happened to all the others, but there was one... and I bought it. On a piece of pine it read, Early to bed early to rise fish like hell and make up lies. I can remember reading that one and giggling as we were never allowed to say the "H" word out loud at home. But there it was on my grandparents wall. Now it will hang in my outhouse waiting for me to find more signs to join it. All funny ones for people to read as they are sitting! I hope visitors enjoy the walls of my outhouse.

Attic

This week my husband has been working on the space in the cottage that he calls the attic. In the cottage it is where a peak in the roof line goes up and so it really will be a space to store maybe a few sleeping bags and some blankets. In our house we do not have an attic. I wanted one but the design of our home did not allow it. So instead I have a storage room. What I mean when I say I wanted one, is that I loved going into the attic as a child at my grandparents. It was a secret place that grandma only let me go in with her very rarely. In the upstairs back bedroom there was a small little door. A door just right for a little girl with an imagination. That room had shelves and boxes lining it. There were old pictures and toys up there that my father had played with when he was a boy. She would let me hold them and look at them, but never could I take them out of the attic. They were forever banished to that room. Sometimes I would go into that room when grandma wasn't looking, open the door and just stick my head in and look around. I never stepped a foot inside as grandma might call for me and I would not hear her. I didn't want to get in trouble, just look at those toys sitting on the shelves. When they sold the old farmhouse I wondered what happened to those toys? Then at my parents house when I was growing up, we had and attic in our room. My sister and I shared a room. When we were teenagers I wanted my own space so I moved into the attic. I put a mattress in there and slept for a few weeks until my dad said the bats maybe moving in. A few weeks ago my mom had me go through the little door to the attic to get something out of it. Yeah, bat poop all over, but looking around I saw boxes and old toys... memories of long ago. I still love attics. My new attic is not a room but I do hope to put some memories up inside it for someone to find... someday.

Painting

We are painting and staining the inside of the cottage. With each coat it looks brighter and cleaner. It looks so nice. What I really liked was that we were all together over there, working and talking,talking and working. It was just fun. The girls said they like winter but they can't wait for summer so they can play in the water again. My husband and I just smile as we just enjoy being around them listening to their giggles. We enjoy being inside learning more about our daughters as they chat and talk with us. So... as we paint and stain all the rooms we will continue to learn more about our kids and they will learn more about us as our cottage gets closer to moving into.

Missing

Yesterday was Christmas. We all opened our packages,looked everything over,played with toys and then went to to cottage. Mainly just to make sure it was still there. It was,standing small and sturdy as we had left if. When we opened the door you could smell all the car siding my husband had put up on the walls. It smelled like fresh new wood. I love that smell. We looked it all over walking around in each room. Missing the fun we have had here. Then down to the lake shore we went. Sticks had washed up on shore. The water was making clapping noises as if to say, " Yeah, you are back!" There were no foot prints by the shore. The shoreline was taking a break and enjoying the quiet. Looking around the property I think each one of us had a comment that said, " I miss this place." So... today we will return to paint some walls and make memories because we love and miss our little cottage.

Missing

Since the crops have been coming in off the field for harvest and since I added two tutoring jobs to my day, we have been missing the cottage. Our #2 daughter was home for Thanksgiving so we went to show her our accomplishments and updates. She was amazed and loved how it is looking. We are missing it. We walked to the waters edge to see the the view. She said how peaceful it looks this time of year with all the docks on shore and the stillness of the water. We are missing it. The neighbors came over for a visit and catch up on talk. We are missing them. We are missing the work, the chats, the grilled food, the togetherness...the cottage.
I hope to return soon!