Off

My daughter is off from school. She is on spring break this week, So we have been...
cooking all her favorite foods.
having her friends over to play cards.
staying up late.
exercising every night.
laughing and giggling.
watching all her favorite movies.
going to visit uncles and aunts.
having the sisters over.
going shopping.
eating ice cream every night.
going on a road trip to see relation in Michigan.
She wanted to work and stay home on her spring break. We have enjoyed her home.
Next week its back to college, tests, papers, stress.
We are enjoying this week together.

Snow

Last night the snow started coming down. Most schools had already called a 2 hour delay, but not mine. I kept waiting for a phone call but it never rang. For hours I got up turned on the outside light and peered out the window. I would say," It's really blowing out there." "It's really coming down out there." My husband and girls would laugh saying I was worse than a little kid. They thought I would have a 2 hour delay at least. I love 2hr delays as we do not have to make them up. Going to bed I took my phone and placed it on the nightstand just hoping. Then at 5:30am it rang! Yes... not a 2hr delay...A SNOW DAY!!!!
The day begins. I have made breakfast, shoveled the walkway, did the dishes, a load of laundry, and stirred up a batch of homemade bread to bake. Later, I plan to go shopping with the girls, nap and watch my grandson. I want to fit in a walk around the field in my snow boots too. No stress, just a snow day!

Plants

I do NOT have a green thumb. I want one because my mother and grandmother have one. They have beautiful plants all over their homes.  Green accents with blooms,  fragrance aroma hits your senses when you enter.  Me, I have one plant. I do not count the half of one that is about dead. Friends have given me "starts" off their plants and  they end up dead here. I buy plants that are so pretty and within months they meet their fate. But I have one plant that was given to me. It likes it here and grows and grows and grows. I have to give it haircuts as it winds around the plant stand my husband made in high school. It makes me smile as it gives off CO2 to make us breath easy. Sometimes I forget to water it for months. It survive as it likes it here. It's sure is pretty!

* My daughters are laughing as they say this is a lame post. Its all I could think of today!  :)

Cabinet

Tonight we drove over to the cottage to return a cabinet. My husband has been working on it for a week. Taking the door apart on the front and re-gluing it back down. Taking the sides apart and re-nailing it to make it stronger. Polishing it to make it shine again. Filling it with goodies after it was placed back in it's spot near the frig. This cabinet matches the table and chairs that came from the cottage, They belong together. They are not much to look at but to us they have history with the place. So as we carried the cupboard that was there in its place out. My daughter said, "Well this one has more room than that old one, plus it looks better". My reply was, "This one came with the cottage and belongs here. It has a history here with this place. Your dad and I feel some things that came with this cottage belong here for all time. It is part of this place". 'You are right mom it belongs here. " And so, after 3 years of waiting until the kitchen was done enough for it to return... tonight was the night and once again the table, chairs and cabinet are together in the little cottage by Long Lake.

* I love this place!!      

Dresses

So I have 4 daughters. You can just imagine all the dresses in our house. Each girl had to have dresses ( I'm just talking about long formal ones) for each special occasion. Weddings, Dances, Proms and Pageants we have them for all. Some have been shared and worn again by another sister. However some sisters are taller than others, plus others do not wear the same sizes. Then there was the line..".I just have to have this one mom". I would give in and buy it. Who can resist when their daughter looks like a beautiful angel standing before them.
Then I hear this--I don't like the one my sister wore.
It's not in style anymore.
I would never wear that.
(How are they not in style- they are long and pretty.) Well anyway the last daughter is going to her senior prom this year. And yes she wants a new one! But then I will be done with the dresses. Until she decides to do another pageant in college. Now I am trying to find a resale shop to sell  some of them. The girls have decided to keep a few, and shortened a few so they can re-wear them. However I am looking forward to having another closet empty...for real clothes.

**Have you seen the movie 27 Dresses, that is how our closet looks. I think we have more. I am not going to count them as I will not believe all the money I have spent over the years. Then again I would not trade a moment and  the memories of them smiling, feeling confident in those beautiful dresses.

Light

You would think on a Saturday I would sleep in. But ,Oh No! The older I get the harder it is to sleep in. I am programmed to wake up at 6:30. So today is no different. I wake up roll around trying not to wake my husband. Then I decide to just get up. I think my husband is glad, as now there is no snoring for him to listen to. It is still dark out and no one is stirring. This morning I decide I am not going to use electricity( maybe my bill will go down a little). So I light the old oil lamp and place it next to my computer. Here is a lamp that is over 100 years old beside a computer with today's technology. As I sit working on my lesson plans for next week. I smell the kerosene, feeling the warmth of the glowing light given to me by the lamp. It makes me feel as if I am in a log cabin in  the old days with the pioneers. How many times  has this lamp been filled with oil? How many times has it has been lit by a match over the years? How many eyes have used it to light the way for them? Finished... I take a break and call my mother who I know wakes early. Yep, she is up in 18 inches of snow at her cabin in Michigan. She has been up since 4:30 stitching on hats she is making. She is making 20 today she tells me. She thinks mornings are the best. She is using a gas lamp, as I tell her about my oil lamp. She understands as she likes to use them too. She says yes we do not sleep in anymore but we take naps later in the day. She is right. I blow the lamp out as daylight sprinkles in the room. Light...Let there be light. My day continues!         

Rugs

If I think hard about why I have this need to have rugs around my house, I guess its because my mom had them in our house growing up.
They keep your feet warm.
Catch crumbs
Place to put your shoes on.
Keep the soil and mud from entering the room.
All snow melting stays on them.
Dogs curl up for warmth.
Children play on them with toys.
They sit in front of appliances for beauty.
Slip and slide around the house on them.
Some pieces of furnature have a place of honor sitting upon them.
Its a little bit of country.

This past week I went to visit the Amish lady who makes rugs. I love all the colors! I dig through the  wooden box filled with them ooohhhhh and ahhhhing over all the beautiful designs. I buy 6.

Just for fun I count around my house...I have 22
At my cottage...I have 8
I guess I do like rugs!

To me they are beautiful