Nearly All Hallows Eve!

We made it through the Hurricane with just some trash in the yard... thank fully. And life has gone on with lots of small little advances on the house in Cayce and growing closer to these 3 little beasts in Greenville.

Callie, Howie and Tippy L to R

All three kittens asleep in the rocker on the porch - Howie, Callie and Tippy

Howie playing in the water

Howie has decided he really likes to come in to play here at the little cottage. He has his first Vet appointment on Monday.

I've started back to doing a bit of quilting - these were blocks for a swap but they turned out too small as I am out of practice and my seem allowances were off.

Fall colors everywhere now

These trees are by Scott's work and we pass them when we walk together there after I go have lunch with him sometimes.

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I created this "Dotee Doll" for a swap online and will be sending her off to her new home on Friday. She was a lot of fun to make 

Last weekend we were finally able to get the rest of the shutters back up on the house and we think they looks awesome.

 The furnace at the Cayce House was not turning on last weekend so I have someone coming out there tomorrow to get it working again. I hope it is an easy and quick fix as I also have to take Greg to the Dentist later in the afternoon. He is having gas to have a tooth repaired as he hates feeling anything. 

I deep cleaned this little house today and I am flat wore out so I am off to bed now... good night!

Bracing for Hurricane Matthew

I came down to our house in Cayce yesterday so that I could clear the yard of anything that could potentially become airborne if Matthew comes this far Inland. I also had to come down to get meds for the critters here - flea killer and heart worm tablets. It's not looking like we will see much from it as of this moment but as with all Hurricanes things can change overnight or within just a few hours. I will be staying down here until early Sunday morning. Scott is staying in Greenville and replacing the thermostat on  the furnace.

Of course Piper kitty is thrilled that I am down here and is eating up all the extra "Grandma" attention. She even brought me her favorite toy so that I would repair it's belly where she had torn it open.

Cottage Weekend

Scott and I stayed at the Cottage this weekend and worked on a few projects. I rescreened storm windows and with Scott's help got most of the ones I had rescreened rehung so that we can now open windows and enjoy the cool Fall fresh air. One window we could not re-install as we do not have a ladder tall enough to reach the window and it would be too dangerous to even try. Of course I cleaned them all inside and out as well so now all this beautiful light comes inside to brighten our time indoors. It got me to thinking that anyone that battles winter blues would benefit tremendously by adding window cleaning to their winter prep routine.

A Dump Load

Scott worked at cleaning out some more of the garage and he has started installing some shop lights to make the lighting better and to update the wiring so it is not a fire hazard anymore. He has the lights in stalled and just needs to run the wire now. At each light he is also installing an outlet - ONE - to plug the shop light into and TWO - to give him safe outlets to use while he is running new wire along the wall to instal new outlets there. He will tear out the old nasty and dangerous wire as he goes along. Scott will make a trip to the dump tomorrow on his way home from work.

 Friday I did a little Retail Therapy with a trip to Kohl's. I bought myself 3 nighties, a t-shirt and a cardigan and I bought Scott 3 nice dress shirts that he can wear to work. The nighties were only $6.40 each and I love that kind... no sleeves and cheap.

Howard AKA "HOWIE"

"Callie"

 Two of the 3 Cottage Kittens that the Mother cat left with us. Callie and Howie are getting more friendly and Howie will actually let me pet him in the mornings and at bedtime. But the third kitten - "Tippy" just comes for the free food and runs if I try to pet him. I will try to get a picture of Tippy for the next post. I am hoping to catch them soon and get them shots, spayed and neutered.

Two large dinner salads with Feta cheese and some Wild Berry Zinger unsweetened Ice Tea was last Wednesday nights dinner p so delicious!

Lunch Bag Mini

Today's project was a little mini album made out of lunch bags. I have all ready mailed it off to my swap person and I am hoping she will like it. They are so easy to make and fun! I am hoping she will fill it with pictures of a happy day shared with someone special but that will be up to her.

The weekends Events

Friday evening we loaded up all the shutters - those completed and the remaining that had to be done and headed for our house in Cayce. Saturday I scrapped and scrapped with a scrapper that actually worked so much better than the ones in the tool box up here at the Cottage and began painting. By Saturday night I had two coats of elephant grey on all but one set of the shutters. I finished with the second coat on those on Sunday morning. 

 While I was painting shutters Scott was sanding the roof trim boards and preparing them for me to paint when I had completed the shutters. It was a bit of up and down on the ladder but he got one side and the back of the garage sanded before a glitch in the works occurred.  We decided we wanted to add some shutters to the garage windows and to the side of the house and drove to Home Depot where we found they no longer carry wooden shutters. Well the truck started acting weird and then the check engine light came on. Luckily we got back to the house that night (Saturday) and Sunday morning Scott went to one of the parts stores so they could hook the reader up to the truck to figuer out what was going on. Turned out to be the #4 coil was miss firing. So Scott replaced that Sunday morning while I painted.

 Just before we left we got two of the shutters hung back up on the house. Scott said it took a lot longer than he thought it was going to as it took a lot of time to drill into the brick even with the hammer action on his fancy drill. I think they look fantastic... only 8 more to hang. I am going to check a couple ReStores for wooden shutters as I have the sizes written down on a piece of paper in my purse.

 These two were waiting for us when we pulled into the yard. They've been named Howard and Tippy. Callie kitty showed up a bit later for some dinner. The 4th kitten disappeared several weeks ago. I am hoping to be able to catch these 3 soon and get them shots and spayed or neutered. I actually coaxed Howard inside last night but he was having none of it and spent his time in crying and trying to get back out... oh and farting a lot. Stinky boy! Ah the Natural defences that animals come up with. P-U!

As September Creeps Away

AH FALL!!! It is slowly creeping into view. It is still quite warm but we are starting to feel Mountain Breezes and seeing leaves falling from the trees and I am SO HAPPY.

Fall always gives me such a sense  of calm and I find myself reminiscing a lot.  Memories or my Grandma "putting the garden to bed". Tee Pees of  pole beans being drag to the pole barn to dry. Corn stalks being tied together for Fall displays and Apple Cider being pressed.

The smell of  molasses cookies and the beginning of "soup season" with the first batch of Vegetable Beef going on the stove as I walked through the door at the end of a school day. Grandma and I sipping tea and eating one of  the soft molasses cookies that everyone in the family remembers her baking all the time. My Grandma worked from just before sun up until lunch. After lunch she watched "Her Stories" - As The World Turns and The Young and The Restless.  After they were over she would take a nap until I returned from school.  AH MEMORIES!



Last week I did a bit of clean up in the yard here at the Cottage. You can always tell you've worked hard by the stains on your socks and the dirt on your legs at the end of the day. I decided to set some of the chairs that are normally on the porch in the area I cleared in the woods so we could sit out there sometimes.

One of our favorite Pizza places in Greenville, SC. 

I so enjoyed the "Harvest Moon" and went out and did my best to get a few pictures of it. It was just so beautiful but we had some cloud cover so it was hit or miss with waiting between clouds to get a good shot.

 Scott and I enjoyed standing in the front yard in our pajamas watching the moon dance among the clouds.

Today I created these cute little beaded snowmen charms. Super easy to make and will make some wonderful additions to some Holiday projects.

 I also got 4 out of the 10 shutters painted and am planning to finish painting the remaining 6 tomorrow while Scott is at work. These are the shutters that go on our house in Cayce.

 I will also need to get some laundry done and the house cleaned and some packages ready to get mailed and pay bills... and and and... well you get the picture. Fridays are just crazy days! See you next week!

Scratch Off Art

Here is the video I did for my You Tube Channel explaining how I did the scratch off art. It is SO EASY!