Karla's Cottage

Doing your best and accepting your limits

A couple weeks back, I took it upon myself to touch up some peeling paint on the garage.  First, I power washed it, and saw that more paint was loose than I had thought....hmm...

No worries, It was still just a small part of the building.

But then I realized the reason it had peeled was that the wrong paint had been used.  Not the exterior paint that was on the house itself! Which was a slightly different color and that meant all of the garage and the shed next to it needed redone.  Not touched up.

So I power washed and scraped some more, and started priming and  painting.

And painting.

And painting.

Just when I thought I might start crying because it was all so overwhelming, I had a little talking to with myself and changed my attitude.

Painting a building isn’t fun, but life is what you make it, right?  This job needed done, and I am dang lucky that I am capable of doing it at my age.  I hope I will continue to be doing tough jobs around the farm for as long as possible.

Although, the job would have been easier if I was slightly taller, or less afraid of heights so I could balance on the top of the ladder.

Instead of getting help to finish, I think I will leave this bit at the peak undone as a marker of how strong you can be when you need to be.  And how sometimes doing your best is all you can do.

My family is going through some rough patches right now and time up on the ladder was also time to think.  And to know that my best and my strength is all I can offer.

 

Sugarbabies- goldendoodle pups!

We are head over heels, smitten to the core with the Sugarbabies!

All of us.

Especially Albie.  He is fascinated by them  

For now, they live in the hearth room, this is my view from the kitchen.  But I am usually in that recliner or sitting on the stool next to them, totally mesmerized.

When they are ready to run around and need more space, they will be moved to the breezeway, but for now, I am loving the continual squeaking, occasional yipping, and all of the other cute little sounds they emit. 

Although the loud squeals at 3am send me running to them in a panic to make sure everyone is okay (not as cute).  

If you would like to follow their story, I have a Cottage Doodles blog for them.  But I will also be bombarding FB and IG, as well as posting here.  

I can't get enough of the teensy, wriggly, sweetness of these 

 

And if you want to have one of these darlings of your own? They are for sale and ready for pickup end of Sept. beginning of Oct.

34 years

 

Today is our 34th anniversary.

And he is still my favorite person to go on adventures with.

He will walk in the moonlight with me.

He stops to save turtles and loves animals.  

Except rats.  He is pretty good at trapping rats.  That is a good trait in a husband if you have a 100 year old house on ten acres.

He is a dedicated pop pop.

He makes the best of my Christmas obsession.

And tolerates my even more out of control Disney obsession.

(As long as I don’t make him hang out with the mouse too)

He is always interested in trying new hobbies, like bee keeping.

And axe throwing.  

He is very supportive of his family.

And would do anything for them.

He is very sentimental.  This fallen tree was special to him, he told family stories to the grand fairies under it.  So it had to be saved and made into a table.

The dogs adore him, and he walks in the woods with them multiple times a day.

He works hard, even on vacations, he can put in a 40 hour work week.

He is always up for adding another room on our house, or another dog to our family.

Luckily, I can usually stop him.  

Unless I really like the idea of another room.

Or the dog is really cute.

He doesn’t care that I rarely wear makeup.  

And best of all?  He is hilarious.  And sometimes everyone thinks so, not just him.

He makes us all laugh.

Another 34 years sounds pretty good.

And another redone mural

While I was redoing a canvas for the Guncles, I thought I would touch this one up too.  I don’t have a before, because I hadn’t planned on painting it, I just kinda started in on it while working on the other one (previous post).

It didn’t get a big overhaul.   I changed the sign to my blog name, brightened and sharpened up some details.

Added a rosemary plant and some roses.

This hangs over the fuse box in my garage, because, well, what else do you do with giant 6’ paintings?

Updates to repurpose a canvas

Years ago, I had painted a canvas with a French market scene to use as a backdrop/divider for a booth at a show.  It was a quickie, and not meant to be too detailed.

Here is the original.  I have had it hanging in my garage, but have never really liked it.  When Guncle Randy needed a French themed mural, I offered to give it to him.

But of course, that meant that I wouldn’t like it any better when I saw it at his house.

So, I spent an afternoon brightening it and adding details.

Including his Bichon, Bella, peeking out of the window.

And his address in French, on the wall.

(the sign isn’t really crooked, the canvas has a few billows, here and there that throw off the perspective in photos)

I like it better now.  I think he will use it in his patio tent for a French themed dinner party  or maybe to hang on the garden fence?  

It is canvas and acrylic, so would be fine outdoors.  But over time, could cause moisture to be trapped behind it and the fence would rot, so that couldn’t be permanent.

Squeezing in a bit more Christmas in July

My dear Peep, Tamil, often hosts a girlfriends' craft day, and provides an interesting project for us all to do.  I recently attended one of her fun days, but didn't have a chance to make the theme for the day, a Mermaid Bottle.

Which was pretty cool.  All of her ideas are.

Instead, I needed to concentrate on A Snowbird's Song, and I finished the cards for the swap I joined.

These ladies are all a part of the collage sheet I will be giving to the ladies as one of my kits.  They will only need one photo for the project, but will have a pageful to use as they wish on other pieces.

And this one is made from trees cut from old gift wrap and layered over snowy hills of vintage paper on top of glittered card stock.

This girl (also on the collage sheet) was the last one I made.  I didn't pack well for the craft day at Tami's house, and ran out of lace and dyed coffee filters, so had to chop up and fit bits and pieces together to make her skirt.

Which I think was a happy thing, this is my favorite one! Sometimes, making do, means being extra creative, huh?

Thanks for the (as always) GREAT day, Tami!