Karla's Cottage

The Halls are Decked!

Typically, the day after Thanksgiving, I delve deeply into the boxes of holiday goods that I've been waiting to decorate with. Sugarwings and I have a saying, "Respect the Bird."  Which means that we hold ourselves back from tumbling headfirst into Christmas until after the Thanksgiving turkey has been eaten.

This year, I was a bit slower, it was Monday before I got around to tackling the trees.  

I set up quite a few, slowly but surely, and by the end of the day, I was ready to kick back, eat some Thai take out and enjoy the lights.  

Thank you for all of your kind comments and messages about my health. My heart is beating as it should, the procedure worked, which is great news. I'm feeling a tad worn down but am rallying a bit more each day.

There will be some more photos of the holiday decor soon. I'm using my infirmity as an excuse to be lazy for now.  

Feeling Better

The last few months haven't been easy for me.  I've had some trouble with heart arrhythmia and have been tired and worn down.  Then, recently, I had a procedure to repair the issue and it looks like it worked!  But the healing time was rough, I had some small set backs, that slowed the recovery time.  In ten days, I had surgery, a severe UTI that sent me back to the hospital, a chest cold, then an outbreak of head lice brought in by the kids (not uncommon, but what bad timing!).  After that, a kidney infection, asthma problems from the cold I'd caught, and my back decided that I'd laid around enough and decided to attack me while I was down and out.  Every time I'd cough, it was accompanied by a small screech caused by a back spasm from the jarring cough.  

But I  had family around to help me heal, Sugarwings took it upon herself to make some mint tea, and keep me hydrated.

My buddy, Beth, brought soup from my favorite restaurant, and a tattered heart filled with things I love.

Mostly, I didn't want to do much more than nap and watch Netflix ( The Crown was exactly what I needed!).

The cardiac ablation itself went well and the recovery from that wouldn't have been so bad, if I hadn't had the other things to deal with.  A cough is worse than normal when you have had the interior of your heart cauterized.  Ouch! Add some asthma and a thrown out back, and well, like I said, it was rough. I was glad I'd pre-posted on this blog, and had a multitude of stories that felt like they were telling themselves, I didn't need to get up and go to the computer.

Things started to improve, but I'm still lazing around part of each day. My dining table is covered in semi precious beads, and as I am up to it, I whip up a necklace or two and get ready for Christmas giving.

While I'm sad that I've not been able to do all of the Christmas crafts to sell like I have in the past, I'm hopeful that I can get some done, later than normal, but maybe I'll be able to list some.  This is my absolute favorite time of year and I'm determined to create, whether I get to list the items or not. 

For now, I'm just enjoying the season.  And appreciating being up and about, ready to deck the halls and fall into all that December has to offer!

 

 

Giving Thanks

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday, with many thanks to give.

My list is so long, I don't even know where to start.  From little things that brighten my day, to the goliath, mega meaningful things that make up our lives. Itsy bitsy, or large and looming, I'm feeling very lucky on many counts.  I think I'll make a little list of some of the things on my mind right now.  

1- I successfully dried hydrangeas for the first time in my life!! Yay!! And they are beautiful, autumn colors that make me smile.

2- I feel better. I've been sooo sick for quit a while and the cure was almost worse that the problem. But I'm on my way back and actually feel almost like  myself again.

 

3- GRAND FAIRIES. Seriously, what could be better?

4- Well, the whole family does bring me a lot of joy.  And I'm thankful for my husband who brings us all together.

5- My sibling trip to Florida, I'm lucky to have extended family to love and laugh with.

6- Pupeesh!  I am so blessed that Dorothy came back to live with us after her time away with Auntie Beth and Uncle Jeff.  Honey is growing up and becoming a pretty smart dog, and seems to be more gentle with the little dogs now.  Dorothy feels safe in her own home, and I'm happy she is back.

7- Friends- BFFs who always get me and make me laugh.  The buddies down the road that I get together with for a cup of coffee and linger over for hours, and the ones who fly in from afar and gather for a weekend of giggles.

8- Did I mention family? Grown up sons are a very special thing. Ryan has become my right hand man this summer while I was so ill, and Adam can fix anything with a hug or a screw gun.  Plus, he brought a circus full of people to love into my life, he has brought a passel of ladies for us to love and welcome to our hearts.

9- A fireplace to sit next to and read.  We are loving our new room, and the roaring fire with two leather chairs to relax in and warm our toes.

10- Circus tricks and those who do them.  Not only entertaining to watch, but fun to try.  What an exotic and interesting lifestyle my family has taken on.  Yet another reason to love the new room, with the apparatus hanging from the ceiling.  And I've enjoyed trying a sample of them myself.  

Happy Birthday, Dewdrop!

Last week, we celebrated this goofy little sweetie's special day with a trip to Crown Center and Kalidescope.

We saw, a play, "Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer" to kick off our holiday season. I've got plans to take all the kids to see "Peter Pan" at the community theater and "Cinderella" at Kansas University. Plus, a breakfast with Santa and a slew of cocoa parties in front of the tree.  I'll host an ornament party also, and try to make every bit of this month as jolly as I can.  I simply adore this time of year!

We make sure that Dewdrop's birthday is all about her, but she is excited about the upcoming season too, and is happy for her own holiday to mark the start of the festivities.

 

Seawitches

Our Sister Trips to Sarasota always include crafting time.  And lots of Halloweenish witchy things too.

This year, we turned some black hats covered in sheer fabric into seawitch hats.  I dyed them before I packed, and threw bags full of goodies into my suitcase for doctoring them up. (witch-doctoring, I mean)

I whipped mine up fast, thinking I would be using it as my beach hat all week, since it was so comfy and soft, plus had a wide brim to keep off the sun.

Once it was shell and flower laden, it wasn't nearly as comfy.  It tended to list to the heaviest side.  So, not a good sun hat, unless I wanted to tie it on like a bonnet.

While they didn't end up being our full time beach hats, we still got to play around and wear them sometimes.

And they made great silhouettes against the sunset.

And some of our condo neighbors told us they liked them too.  And we overheard others whispering, as they pointed at us, "Those are the ladies that turn into witches!"

Of course we do!  Being a sister seawitch is the BEST!

a sorry attempt at sand scuplting

The sand at Siesta Key was the perfect texture to play with.  I decided to make some Halloween pumpkins from it.

Bobbie found this fish part that made ideal teeth for a creepy smile.

And a barnacle covered shell made a good, warty looking nose.

They were easy to make and I got cocky.  Sissy and I missed our pups and I thought I'd make us a little sand Yorkie.

Well, a ball for a pumpkin is a little more simple than a dog's face. I had a cute one done, and its muzzle kept falling off.

After trying to rebuild the snout a few times, I gave up and pretended it was a kitty.

To give her a Halloween feel, I threw in a witch's hat. I should've made a seaweed broom to go next to it, huh?

There is something to be said for sitting in the sand and building stuff with it like a kid. I sure missed my grand fairies, while doing it, but sure had fun on my own. 

 

 

Seashell fairies and a day that turned into a Stephen King horror story

In October, I got to spend a few days at the world's prettiest beach, Siesta Key.  And in appreciation of my wonderful time there, I left a little fairy near the waves as a thank you.

Honestly, it is a beautiful, beautiful place to be, and not just in my mind, it is always winning America's top beach lists, like this one.

Of course, are there any BAD beaches on Florida's Gulf coast? I'd be surprised. There are grains of sand in every type, and as much as I love the powdery, cool sand of Siesta, I enjoy wiggling my toes along other shores too.  This fairy was made as a thank you to Turtle Beach, a little way south of where we stayed in Sarasota on Siesta Key.

We had more to be thankful for there than just a pleasurable stroll in the sand.... we were grateful to get home safely!

In the search for more shells than we'd been able to pick up where we were staying, I looked online and saw that there was a slightly deserted area at Midnight Pass, south of Turtle Beach where shells were abundant, if you didn't mind a bit of a walk.  So, we drove to the end of the road, and took off walking along the beach, down the sand to what looked like the end of civilization and filled our bags with pretty shells.  We also lost track of time, and realized it was getting late as we headed back.  So we trudged through the sand back the way we'd come.

And we trudged.

And trudged.

Then trudged some more. And I regretted my decision to not bring a water bottle thinking it was a pleasant day and we were only going on a short walk.  (Kind of like a 3 Hour Tour).

We hadn't picked a landmark when we left our car.  So we kept on a trudging and tried to find where we'd parked it.  We were getting a little worried, tired, hot, thirsty and bug bitten by then.

As the sun was setting, we came across a couple who told us we'd walked way, way too far past our car and needed to turn around.  They said the easiest way back was to follow the Yellow Brick Road.

?????

And then showed us the way through their condo complex, which was actually a side walk with yellow bricks that led to the road, which led us back a mile or more to our car. Much easier than walking through the sand.  And much better than walking the wrong direction.

(this is a preliminary sketch for my art journal, not done yet)

Here is the co-inky dink part- I live in Kansas, and if you've read my blog, you might have noticed that I'm a big fan of Yellow Brick Roads and all that goes along with them.  This guy who helped us lives in Florida, but was actually from a town nearby me in Kansas.  

And he told us that we'd walked by Stephen King's beach mansion down at the tip of the key.  Well, it was Halloween week, and we'd been totally immersed in "Fright Fest" on AMC, including a day long Stephen King marathon the day before! Here we were lost in the dark, practically trespassing in the yard of the king of horror.

But that wasn't the end, as we finally neared our car, and thought the saga was over, we heard a terrible fight and a woman screaming for help in the clump of  trees on the other side of the empty parking lot.  We were in a isolated area, at night, creeped out and tired.  But we called 911 and locked our doors, waiting for a policeman to come and save the poor screaming woman, whose cries stopped as a man drove off on a moped.  We didn't hear her after that, and hoped she was safe. The officer sent us on our way and went looking for her with a high powered flashlight. 

I hope she is okay.  I tried to look up Sarasota 911 reports but had no luck.  We went back to our happy, cozy, Siesta Key condo on the sand, hoping for the best for that poor woman who had screamed with such fright. And our own trek through the sand as we searched for our lost car in the dark for hours didn't seem as bad any more.  We were safe and I sure hope she is too.

 

 

Witchy Hats at the beach

I found these black witch hats on clearance at the Victoria Trading Co's outlet store for $1 each.  Since we were going to the beach, I decided to dye them ocean toned.  

I tried Glimmer Mist in blue and gold, but it didn't seem colorfast.  It stayed on my hands much, much better. Not good for a hat, we'd have had blue faces.

So I rinsed that out and covered them in spray glitter.

Then found this spray acrylic paint. Perfect!

We are going to drown them in seashells and ribbons to create Sea Witch hats.  I'm glad I did the prep work ahead of time, so that we could concentrate on the fun part.

A quick trip to the Renfest

 I adore going to the Kansas City Renassaince Festival and most years, spend at least a day or two there during the season.

But drat it, this year, it got away from us.

Sugarwings and I popped in the first weekend it was open, thinking we'd be back more later with the rest of the family, not knowing this would be our only visit for this year.

It was a very fast walk through, with less than two hours to spend there, we were only able to hit some highlights.  She won a friend to wear on her shoulder at the arcades, and named him Pascal, after Rapunzel's salamander.

She danced with the fairies around the Maypole and once again, I got a photo of her "in flight" with both feet off the ground.

She tends to fly when she is with her fellow faye.

Most of our time was spent talking to various fairies.

Or petting dragons.

Our time was over in a flash, but lots and lots of fun happened during that brief blast of time.

A Herb bouquet

Our book club was lucky to have the author  of last month's selection speak to us about her experiences.  Robin wrote "The Feast Nearby" (a very interesting story and even better when we had tales directly from her).  

The book was about local and fresh foods, so I brought her a posey of herbs as a thank you for coming.  My herb bed is still hanging in there, and I was able to pick a handful to wrap up.  

This is a sweet way to gift fresh flowers or herbs to someone special if you don't have a vase to give along with them. I gather up some plants, and trim the ends.  Then dampen paper towels, fold them up around the bottoms of the stems.  I slip a sandwich size baggie over the towels to keep the wetness on the the plant, and fold pretty paper of some kind over the bag to hide it. (for this I used a book page with a bird picture on it)

 Tie it up with a matching ribbon or two and the flowers will stay fresh for a day or so from the saturated paper towels.  

I know I do ok with bringing buds to buddies in the spring when they are so abundant, but fall is also a season to be generous. You have a last chance to give from your gardens and flower beds before bloom time comes to an end. It might not be too late to get creative with a bundle of greens.  Herbs that have bolted and blossomed, a branch with leaves beginning to turn, or a precious handful of the last of the flowers in the garden all make a nice gift.

Who will you take a posey to?