Changes at the Cottage

Hi!

Last week was spring break.  Unfortunately, it was like 45 and raining every day.  We decided to take a last minute trip to Chicago.  We took the Amtrak Train (about a 3hr ride)

The boys on the Train.  Madam Lu sat with us for some of the time.

The rest of the time she attacked the boys!  The sirs amused themselves with books...no electronics on this trip!

It was cold in Chicago too, but when you are on vacation the temp does not matter.  Outside the Field Museum...they have a special horse exhibit, which we did not even see, come to think of it!

This is um, some famous palace in Africa...I was going to remember its name....

Just like "Rexy"" in Night at the Museum...except her name is "Sue".

This is the next day.  We went to the Museum of Science and Industry.  This is the bottom of the only WWII German sub that exists in the USA.  Sir and I saw it a few years ago when it was still outside the museum, but now it is in a basement...it is HUGE!

Madam Lu LOVED this faux-cow.  She spent forever rubbing its nose and talking to it?

OK, this looks nasty, but Sir E is milking a faux-cow....so its totally fine!

Sir E and Sir M are train engineers!

An ice-cream before we caught the late train back home!

Madam Lu and I fell asleep right away on the train...

Yes, this is how the Sirs slept.  Sir E was sweaty and took his clothes off...while Sir M was apparently frozen and buried himself under 2 coats...

Your mistress spent the rest of spring break cleaning up unmentionable's from Heinrich...who apparently caught a virus at the kennel and pooed it all over the house....repeatedly...for DAYS!

Sir was off work today...and such a lovely day...so are you dying to see what has changed at the cottage???

This tree had to come down.  It was growing on the roof, did not let any sun shine on that whole end of the house, and it was a MESS all year.

Some of my daffodils made the ultimate sacrifice, but it really is much better.

Sir with a chain saw.

This was the tiny load.  The next load is like 3x's as crazy.

So, now you can actually see this end of the house...I am still thinking of what to plant here???

Pictorials: Sirs' Water Closet Update and Madam Lu's Birthday

As you all know, I have been working on the striped masterpiece that is the Sirs' bathroom.  I showed you pics of the hand drawn stripes last time.  We also discussed Sir L's vehemence towards tape.  So, your Mistress spent HOURS hand striping the first color...Kensington Blue...I decided I would hand paint the colors and then go back and tape before the final coat of white...thus only taping once and ensuring the exact stripes I desire.  I am such a good little compromise-r!

Imagine my dismay, when returning home from an outing I found Sir L in said room with the TAPE...oh. my. fill-in-your-favorite-expletive-or-not.  He decided to "help" and realized that it was just too hard to paint stripes without tape.  I will tell you, dear friends, that I gaffawed.  Really?  Truly?  After the...lets call it a "heated" discussion in which tape usage was basically forbidden???  Really. Truly.

So, this is the wall behind the toilet.  It is not totally done, I still have to TAPE over the colored stripes to do the final coat of white and clean everything to my exact vision.  Still, you can see some progress.  I think it will be very boy-manish and hopefully they will not outgrow this look for a LONG time (as I never want to do stripes like this again!)

Dastardly Wallpaper Update: This is what I have left.  Sir was supposed to tear down the beds so I could complete the paper last week, but somehow ended up immersed in MY bathroom project. (having a hard time letting the tape thing go) 

You can see where I tore off the top layer of paper around this closet.  I can not remove the second layer without the paper-removing-potion, and do not want to soak their beds, so...um, hopefully Sir moves the beds this week? (obviously, I'm still feeling a bit irked)

Have you ever wondered what happens to a ceiling fan when a 6yr old plays Tarzan with it?  It becomes another project Sir could have worked on instead of using the forbidden TAPE. (still slightly irritated...) 

And now on to Madam Lu's birthday cake.  2 Rounds...I think mine are 10".  I found a pattern of sorts online.

Before you judge...I have no idea why I do this every year.  My only reasoning is that some day, the kids will be grown, sitting around a camp fire late into the night, cracking up about the horrid cakes "Mom made us for every birthday".  Thus we begin Madam Lu's foray into birthday cake humiliation...The globby, stripe things have a tiny striped texture and it is supposed to look like fuzzy fur...Madam Lu LOVES kitties...oh, heck, I'm not fooling anyone...it is pretty aweful!

What is that?

Opa, who made her amazing window cornice last year, made her a kitchen this year.

And it is AMAZING!

Grandma 'Beck got her a camp chair that is an exact miniature of mine!  The perfect throne to open gifts!

A classic pink Radio Flyer tricycle.

Oma found the feather boa laying around...Madam Lu felt it really completed the outfit!

At least she knew what the cake was supposed to be...she kept meowing at it.

I added two huge tubs of chopped fresh strawberries to the cake batter, so it was edible.  With determination, she blew out both candles and after cake did some dancing.  She was delightful and entertaining for the entire party!

Leeks and Greeks and Peeling Wallpaper Stinks!

I AM BACK!  Your mistress is back and alive and healthy after a long break.  My apologies!  So much to catch up on...

In my absence, the Cottage has had two birthdays.  Sir E turned 8 last week and Madam Lu is 2 today!

I cut off his long locks the night before his big day.  I really like this Sir with short spikey hair much better!

You may remember Sir M's Colonial Flag cake?  Well, Sir E got a more modern take on patriotism!  The cake was not that great, so I won't go into any more details on that.

We went to Takaoka of Japan to celebrate.  A darling friend watched Madam Lu for us because baby on a hibachi grill is not as tasty as fillet.

Today is Madam Lu's special day, but her party is not until Sunday, so to be continued on all of that...

That is the family update.  Now onto the remodeling....

Just to remind you of what we started with in the Sirs' room...

I would honestly say that just taking down those dark and dreary curtains made a huge difference, but tah-dah...the wall is all clean and ready to be filled and sanded....yippee!

Another before

And after the peel. 

A close-up of what I am dealing with.

Surprise!  After the layer of dark plaid is peeled, I am left with some seriously old lighter plaid. 

Which, even after scoring the heck out of, and dousing with paper remover stuff, still only comes off inch by inch.

I am left with the area where the Sirs' bunk beds are located to peel and then on to the wall repair.  I am thinking of painting their ceiling a light gray?


Their bathroom is looking splendid...the new floor is done, the new vanity and granite counter are installed.  I am working on my template for striping the room.

Right, I have no idea why this pic is turned, but actually the stripes are vertical.  They have also led to a bit of controversy here at the cottage.  Your Mistress wants to tape and stripe the whole bathroom in such a manner.  Sir L, however, has declared that he will not spend $900 on tape and I must make my stripes much, much bigger.  The B's will be blue and the G's will be green...the stripes not labeled are staying white.  I tried to compromise by limiting the spaces I will be striping, to no avail.  Yesterday I saw some free-handed striping in an AMAZING cottage and so now I am thinking of just free-handing them.  I do love the natural and organic look of free-handed stripes, but for some reason I was thinking more crisp and precise for this room.  Alas, I may need to give in on this one, friends.


So, I am wondering, have you tried Greek yogurt yet?  Well, it is lower in sodium than regular yogurt, so I gave it a try.  OH.MY.  It is gooooood.  Really.  Gooooooood.  I am not sure what makes it Greek, but I really enjoy imagining Brad Pitt playing Achilles in the movie Troy, eating it next to me!

Tonight I am making something with leeks.  I have not ever cooked with them before, but I love the way they look and they sound so earthy...I will let you know.....

With this I say goodbye, for now, but I will not be on break again for awhile, so expect to hear from me more regularly again!

Love, The Mistress of the Cottage

Cottage De Haven is on Break...I will be back as soon as possible!

Please excuse my lack of blogging.  I have much to share with you, but a dire health situation has come up and I am on break until I can catch up with laundry, cleaning, etc.  Thank you for understanding and don't forget about me...when I come back you will be inundated with stories and pictures from the cottage!

Love, Mistress of the Cottage

The Plague at the Cottage

Hello dear friends!  Have you been wondering..."Wonder what has been going on at Cottage De Haven?  Have not heard from the mistress there in ever-so-long."  It is a sad but true tale of woes that often accost cottages such as these...the plague...

Over two weeks ago, I noticed that Madam Lu was even more...oooh, lets say 'demanding' than usual.  She cried at the drop of a fruit loop, wept when I casually mentioned she smelled like a toxic waste facility, and wailed when I asked her, very nicely, to put the sharp sewing scissors down. 

As my previous experiences are all with raising male heirs, I was quite perplexed.  The child has all of her teeth, but perhaps she is getting her 12 yr old molars?  A quick swipe in that slimy mouth proved that we do not need to consider braces at this time.  A few days later, Sir came down with a mysterious illness.  He was bedridden but not fevered.  What could it be?  Malaria in February did not seem likely.  Typhus, the ague, consumption....all ruled out.  This does, in fact leave only one illness....the dreaded plague.

And so, your Mistress has been working tirelessly nursing the sick back to health.  Sir was a heap of pathetic, writhing and loathing.  Madam Lu would not be convinced to snuggle in her sick bed...her symptoms were only apparent in her mad desire to scream and cry at all times.

Now we come to the part of the tale where the Mistress of the Cottage realizes why her skills lean more towards the demolition, decorating, gardening, cooking-type services and not towards the nursing type.  My friends, I am not a nurse.  I am neither sympathetic, nor particularly thoughtful when it comes to a sick man without a fever.  My advisement of "take some damn Advil and get out of bed" were not appreciated.

Miraculously, Sir's plague was cured just in time for him to go back to work.  I am pretty sure it was one of those ethereal miracles.  Last week was spent trying to catch up on all of the menial tasks that got put aside whilst I was donning the red cross.

Then...I noticed a slight scratching of my own throat...a dull, pounding pain in my cranium...and realized that I was a victim of that thing we nurses fear most...I had transmitted the plague.  And so, I spent this week in bed, with strep throat, alternating between crying, sucking pop-sickles, and eating Advil like Juno's lover eats Tick-tacks. 

Today the Mistress is back from the plague and is ready to tackle some projects!  Next weekend we will embark on our yearly snow-ski trip, so there is much to accomplish before we go.  Lets hope I can hang up my stethoscope for the season! 

    

Kitchen Before and After: Phase 1

Were you worried?  Do not be... I have been quite busy!  To begin, I am still, yes, still, working on the art room.  I am getting very close to being done.  When you see the pics, you will understand why it took so long...I hope!

In the meantime, I finished painting the kitchen cabinets...finally.  This took EVEN LONGER than I anticipated because my original coat of white was a different color than my new white (really).

What can I say, the kitchen looked exactly like the rest of the entire house...

We DID replace the faucet right away...also a new dishwasher

Just to get the whole picture of, um, browness!

Sorry, no before of this side of the kitchen, but it was...brown.  Heinrich is helping to demonstrate the striking difference the white cabinets make!  I love the set of black cabinets...they add contrast to the rest of the kitchen and help the fridge to blend a bit better.  The fridge was ours (the original was, um, brown).

Ok, so you can see, the butter from the family room trickles right into the kitchen.  The double oven is not super attractive, but it works amazingly...at least it blends a bit better with the white cabinets.  Above the ovens in that super tall cabinet, we have tucked away the microwave.  It is a great place to hide it!

I am not going to apologize for the sun, because it is glorious today, but it does make it difficult to take pics.  I painted the window red (the same as the fireplace) for a bright pop of color.  It works for me.

Did you notice all of those cabinets on top?  Truthfully, I don't even use them because I have plenty of space in the rest of the room.  So, the kitchen is far from perfect, but at least it is functional.

  So, this is just phase 1...which means it is not my dream kitchen...but at least it is bright, cheery, and livable now.  I have many grand plans, much to Sir's chagrin, so stay posted!

With the kitchen complete, I have started peeling wallpaper from the chamber of Sir E and Sir M.  Let me tell you...underneath that navy and red nightmare is ANOTHER layer of wallpaper...OH.MY.STINK.

Sir has layed the slate in their privy and grouted.  It is gorgeous!  Next he will be carving out drywall and shaving the studs to put the vanity in (did I mention that the boy's vanity space is a "freakish" size).

Here is my completed bead project...to be sewn onto a pouch or something...

Sir spent about 5 hours blowing snow.

AAAND last, but not least, the Blizzard of 2011 was SPLENDID!  We have been playing outside alot!  The cottage is adorable in her winter coat!

Sir E and Sir M on the toboggan run.

Madam Lu and Esther hiking in the 12" snow layer.