Sunday afternoon cleaning...

I must admit....cleaning the cottage was a morose event for me.  I said goodbye to a wonder, little cottage that has been my home for 6.75 years. 

Such sweet memories that I will cherish...

Moving: Day 2

Quote of the day:  "Let's caravan!!!  Follow the turtle-top van!!!"

Random moving pictures....

Here are some pre-move pictures.....

Wow....it's here...

Tonight is my last sleep at the cottage. 

Today Sara and I moved approximately 65% of my belongings.  She was such a blessing. We had opportunities throughout the day to gab in between car/truck-loads.

 

I think the Quote of the Day belongs to Trudy.  She met up with us at 2 p.m. after my "Hey! That's my end table in the middle of the intersection!!!!" moment.  Trudy said, "I am concerned that all of these boxes say, 'Crafts' or 'Crafting'.  Honey, where is your food?" 

Thursday.....one more sleep until moving day

Although I do ♥ the cottage, there are a couple things I won't be missing....
1. Asking for something {read: my toilet tank lid and toilet} to be fixed.  It's been 5 weeks and still it's not even been attempted to be fixed...except the cupboard door that was placed over the tank.  Not. Even. Kidding.

2. Not being able to run the washer and dryer at the same time.

3. Unsupervised little people breaking my coffee cup flower pots.

4. Unsupervised ljttle people wandering about the yard...praying for their safety.

5. Un-mowed grass.....all summer un-mowed grass

A week of lasts......

This week marks my last week at the cottage.....
Yesterday I was contemplating my first neighbors.  They "adopted" me as family.  I miss them.

Today is my last Monday at the cottage.  Three things I love....deep windowsills, impatience in the windowboxes, and charming pale yellow walls throughout the cottage.

Places of residence...

After listening to a series of voicemail messages from my sweet friend Leah, I've been thinking about all the places that I have lived...and tonight I want to share with you my journey...maybe not all of my journey because I do have Bible study at 7 p.m.  So I had better get crackin'...

Rome Road, Addison, Michigan
(Blissful sigh.)  My childhood home will always hold very dear memories for me.  The 0.1 mile long driveway where I learned to ride a bike...the same driveway where I practiced flag corps routines with the red broom's handle...the basketball hoop where I could never master the sport...the pond where I spent countless hours fishing and forcing my brother to remove the fish from the hook...the pond - also - where I learned to swim and then later where I got creeped out when the fish would bump into me (READ:  try to eat me alive...they weren't piranhas...I just thought they were).  We had a fire pit and countless fires with family and friends.  I miss the annual October fire.  The creek behind the house where I caught crayfish.  The 4 acres of grass that had to be mowed which when I was a teenage I appreciated the farmer's tan.  The bus stop where I got accosted by red-winged blackbirds.  The large trees which shed their fall foliage followed by snow! snow! snow!  And more snow...  The pond when it would freeze over in the winter and my Dad would turn on floodlights and we would skate until late into the night.  Rome Road...I miss you.

Pensacola Christian College Dorms, Pensacola, Florida
Oh the inter-personal relationship experience I learned while living in the dorms...from my favorite freshman year roomies to Bah-renda! who would set her alarm for 4:30 and press snooze for 90 minutes...6 minute intervals.  You do the math!  She slept in the bunkbed above me -- a couple days of shooting (read: sending her airborn!) her into the air and she stopped setting her alarm for such a ridiculous hour.  Bah-renda...goodtimes.  Ol' Girl was her nickname.  Ol' Girl.  I forgot about being roomies with her.  Making friends with some of the sweetest people...  Talking to the boy and then declaring my love for him (outloud) only to realize his sister was in the next room visiting my suitemates.  Learning to love coffee...hot chocolate plus coffee = a slippery slope to loving the "juice."  Roadtrips with Mandy.

Glass Drive, Pensacola, Florida
I was able to live off-campus during my last year at college.  Many - many lessons learned.  I lived with the "nuns" who weren't nuns at all...they were the sweetest friends I had & still have to this day.  We aren't geographically close...but we are kindred sisters in Christ.

Church Street, Hudson, Michigan
My time living on Church Street was brief - just a year.  I lived here with my brother after I graduated from college.  We baked.  We laughed.  We learned about paying utility bills and keeping enough money set-aside for rent. 

Donna Drive, Rockford, Illinois
A lovely 2-bedroom apartment that I shared with my brother as we embarked on life in the big city.  We had the loveliest Christian landlady.  She was a gem!

Normandy Drive, Rockford, Illinois
I learned to carefully read lease agreements!  I had lovely neighbors who were quiet.  I had my first walk-in closet...(sigh)...so much room!!!

Amy's Place, Rockford, Illinois
8 months with a roommate and her silly little Buckeye-eating dog!!!  Petey-wheaty (the puppy-wuppy) would dance and do tricks every single time he saw me.  His human thought he loved me.  Both Petey-wheaty and I knew the truth...peanut butter balls covered with dark chocolate.  I'm surprised the little guy does not have diabetes.  If only Wilfred Brimley (is that the diabetes, "You check your blood sugar and you check it often" guy's name?) knew...  He would have tough competition with Petey.  I enjoyed my 8 months with Amy.  It was a lesson in interpersonal relationships.

The Cottage, Rockford, Illinois
A small 4-room cottage with 6-foot doorways and a lovely secluded place of residence.  The shade of the surrounding trees keeps the cottage comfy in the spring and early-summer...and in the fall, the leaves are just glorious!  Window boxes full of impatience (although - confession, I am on the every-other-year flower schedule...)...  Deep windowsills that afford me places to set nick-knacks.  A large bathroom with ample storage.  Use of the half of the garage offers protection for Rosie from the elements.

And soon...one more place to add to my list.  My Jeffersons' Apartment.  It's on the top level (the second level).  It has a small balcony.  It's in a safer part of town and close to the highway.  It has 2-bedrooms with ample storage.  It comes with a washer & dryer - theirs not mine which means no maintenance for me.  It, also, has a dishwasher.  {Insert Jeffersons' theme song..."'Cause I'm movin' on up...to the east side...to a deluxe apartment in the sky...}  There is a garage - another blessing.  I will be in the city limits which means....LIBRARY CARD PRIVILEGES!!!  It seems small - a library card - but living on the county side of the road and not having that small card to check out books has made me realize it is a blessing to have a library card.  :) 

A sea of boxes....

There are boxes everywhere.  Well not EVERY-EVERYWHERE....but it's close.  I will confess, I love the sorting.

Since I won't be putting up my tree this year, I am going to take pictures as I sort through my Christmas stuff.  Sorting and packing Christmas treasures are my Saturday plans.  I may need to make hot chocolate and listen to Bing!!!!!!!!!

Why I am searching for housing ~ Reason #3

Not only is there the whole safety factor...my search for housing is also driven by the fact that I asked two weeks ago for a new toilet - or at best, a lid for the top of the previously cracked-but-not-completely-broken tank...but I think this third reason is just divine...
 
Since the new people moved in the big house circa 2 years ago, I have had to visit the tire people and/or the car dealership and have a dozen {yes, friends...12!} nails removed from Rosie's tires.
 
I'm just waiting for the day when their children play in the garage and grab a nail and insert it into a sibling.  Pick up the nails!!!  Goodness.  It's so unsafe.
 
This morning when I accidentally kicked the nail and heard the clink-clink of the metal on the cement, I bent down and picked it up.  Thankfully it did not go through my shoe lest I would be {minimally} on the receiving end of a tetanus shot.  No thanks!!! 
 
So there you have - the third reason...

Moving

Sooo I have lived in the cottage for seven years.  Wow ~ 7 years!!!  Aside from living at 17234 Rome Road in Addison, Michigan (my childhood home), the cottage is where I have resided the longest.  Crazy.

It's no longer safe here.  Not safe as - arrests being made at the end of the driveway, raggumuffins walking through the property uninvited,  and lastly gunshots.

Pretty much in that order...... (sigh). 

Do I want to pack up my belongings and relocate?  Not so much but I think it will be an amazing opportunity to relocate and enjoy a new adventure in a quieter area with new neighbors who hopefully do not enjoy karaoke as much as my current ones.  Oh and it will be nice not having to wonder when the neighbor kid will toddle down the driveway and get kidnapped or hit by a not-going-the-speed-limit (Read:  30 mph) vehicle.

I have complete peace and moving. I am not dreading it one bit.  I am thankful for my time at the cottage and I will miss its sweet memories...but I carry those memories and the people in my heart.

Feeling fallish.....

3rd thought

Yesterday morning while getting ready for work, I glanced down and noticed a centipede scurrying toward my washing machine. 

My 1st thought:  I wonder if that's a centipede or a millipede?

My 2nd thought:  Good grief, if he had to buy shoes for all those feet that would cost a fortune!

My 3rd thought as he scurried under said washing machine:  I should probably kill him.

Why was my 3rd thought the one in which I wanted to take my size 8 shoe and send this centi-/millipede to be with its maker???  Why was that not my 1st thought?  Hmmmm...

After the fact...
My 4th thought, spoken outloud:  "You may reside under the washer.  Do not come out.  Please perish and I will vacuum your remains at a later date."

I suffer from Mottephobia.

This morning while getting ready for work, out of the corner of my eye (yeah for peripheral vision!), I noticed a fluttering near my bedroom ceiling.  I turned and looked and at first glance, I thought a small bird had somehow gotten into the cottage.  {In my defense, I did not have my contacts in nor my glasses on.  Astigmatism...DRAT!}  A second and third glance calmed my heart momentarily, because NOOOO - it was not a bird but rather a moth. 

Something you should know about me...I am afraid, terrified, scared-to-death of moths.  Sooo what did I do?  I did the only thing "sensible" -- I grabbed the broom {I refuse to kill moths within arm's length.  Ick!} and I put on my pink hooded bathrobe.  Not even joking.  I'm pretty sure - had my friends and/or family seen me this morning, they would've called the little men with the white jackets that buckle in the back.  Yep - yours truly would've been locked up in a padded room all because of a moth.  Seriously!!!

For the past couple of nights, I've wondered why Maggie has meowed more than usual.  At first I assumed it was because of claw.  It seemed like it would be painful.  I'd probably cry if I lost a toenail.  However -- today I'm wondering if she wasn't trying to warn me about the wretched creature of the night fluttering above my head.  Hmmmm...  It's something to consider.

Throughout my work day (and even tonight while at the gym with Lauren), I've been psyching myself up to find and destroy the moth and wouldn't you know - I've searched high and low and can't find him. 

Mottephobia:  fear of moths.  There's an actual scientific name for my suffering. 

I read online that most (if not all) phobias are associated with childhood trauma.  I'm blaming the red winged blackbirds that had nested in my cute, little bus stop at the end of our long driveway.  Those birds were soo mean to me.  They made all kinds of ruckus and would dive-bomb me.  I was in 1st or 2nd grade. 

My second childhood trauma:  I grew up in the country so there were plenty of bats that would come out at dusk.  Someone (i.e. my father) told me that I should run to the house because the bats might get tangled up in my curly hair.  30 years later and I am wearing a pink hooded bathrobe and using a broom to take out a moth.  Seriously - I think I need to go to counseling.  Again - bring out the white jackets with those cute back buckles. 

Another flyer that I am not a fan of are those flying grasshoppers.  When I was in elementary school, my mom made me the cutest pink and white striped jumper.  One Sunday morning, I was wearing said jumper and seated quietly at church.  I glanced down and saw a grasshopper stuck on my jumper.  Since church had already started, I knew screaming and running from the building was not an option.  Period.  I remember my heart palpitating and somehow I managed to get that evil thing off my dress before my Sunday shoe sent it to an early grave.  I killed one of God's creatures in church on the Lord's day and you know something - I did not feel bad about it.

I do not have a problem killing bugs.  I flush spiders and earwigs.  I kill beetles and other "crunchy" exoskeleton insects if I can step on them without hearing the crunch.  In the file room, I will start humming loudly before I step on them.  I walk out of my way to avoid startling those flying grasshoppers.  One morning, I was actually 1 minute late punching in for work because the parking lot was covered.  "Covered" is kind of an exaggeration.  There were many and I was overly-cautious.

I don't know how Pharoah and the Egyptians survived the plagues of flies and locusts and even the frogs.  Whenever I teach this story and I try to explain it so the kids will understand, it seems the girlies in my Sunday school class and myself always get ultra-creeped-out.  There were locusts (i.e. monster flying grasshoppers) every where.  {Heebie jeebies!}

Back to my current moth hunt...moths are nocturnal, right?  Well...I think I will do some online research and see if there's a way to lure it out so it can meet the end of my broom.  Muhahahahahaha (evil laughter)!!! 

I wish my neighbor was home.  He works for the pest control people and I would totally offer him the $7.50 cash in my purse if he would remove this moth from my cottage.

Ooooh speaking of the cottage & not related to tonight's moth incident -- I have started looking for other housing opportunities for 2 reasons which both involve my safety.  Adjacent to the 'hood is moving further west down my street.  (Sigh.)

Charming: picture #2

And this is why I put the tablecloth on right before company comes over and after the feline is quarantined to the bathroom.  (Sigh.)  I ♥ this neurotic,  tablecloth-compromising feline.

Charming

Super sparkly cottage

Tonight I came home after a long day at work, a trip to the gym, and lastly groceries to find a super sparkly clean cottage.  I kind of felt like Snow White.  Minus the 7 dwarves.  Oh - and there's not a wicked queen plotting my demise.  The birds in my 'hood do not respond to my morning, "Hello!"  Snow White...she had it all.  Of course, she ate a bad apple and that kind of put the nix to life as she knew it.  But she did wake-up to a handsome prince. 

Must I go through all the peril and succumb to a terrible fate before my knight in shining armor enters stage left??? 

I digress.

Back to my super sparkly cottage.  "How did you get a sparkly clean cottage, Angie?"  You did ask this, right?  Well....there's this really sweet gal at my church who was in need of some camp spending money soooo since I don't have children for her to babysit, I hired her to clean the cottage.  Nothing too terribly white glove-ish...just clean the bathroom and the kitchen, wash the windows (inside and out) and dust.  She did a marvelous job!!! 

Lemon verbena and Murphy's Oil Soap assaulted my olfactorious organ (i.e. my nose) when I threw open the door.  Technically I didn't throw it open, it was more of a twisting of the unlocked doorknob -- all the while praying that I didn't drop the precarious perched bags of groceries and my purse.  (Sigh.) 

The cottage is soo clean!!!  What a wonderful blessing.  Hiring this out was a very sensible thing to do...because now I can focus on Saturday's birthday & thank you stamping event. 

Weekend

While I wait for my flat iron to heat up, I thought I would blog about my birthday weekend. 
First - I think it's absolutely wonderful that I had the opportunity to take Friday off and spend the entire (ok, so it was nearly the entire day :)) with Trudy Anderson.  She's such an encourager.  We gallivanted from garage sale to garage sale picking up little odds and ends.  I think I spent a whopping $6 which I am sad to say that our coffees cost more than my combined garage sale purchases.  We both determined that we are no longer fickle when it comes to treasures procured at garage sales.  I got 2 books, a skirt, a scarf, and a magenta plastic tote which I use to store my homemade laundry soap, hangers, and other glass canisters.  It works like a charm.

My washing machine decided to make an awful KER-BANG sound, followed by a faint billow of smoke coming from the outlet.  Thankfully the loud KER-BANG was the fuse blowing - yeah, no electricity to the dangerous outlet!!!  But the smoke...that scared me silly.  The owner of the big house came and confirmed that there was no smoke in the attic and the fuse was probably blown.  [Turns out that the antiquated wiring had fried - DANGER! DANGER!]  The entire situation brought the cottage wiring under scrutiny.  My neighbor will be re-wiring my humble abode.  {Insert Doxology!}

It was a big weekend for the neighbor - as he also mowed the front AND back yard.  Glory be!!!  The cottage is no longer surrounded by enough greenery to convince the small children that they may, indeed, be on a jungle safari.  (Sigh!)

Saturday was a day spent with Sara...we gallivanted from Meg's to a new thrift/resale to our favorite thrift to lunch at Chipotle to Gordman's to Ross and finally Red Mango.  Birthday shoes were procured by yours truly and Sara left with 2 super cute dresses.  Fun was had by all!!!

After talking with Ginger, I was feeling guilty about the birthday treats and merriment so I went to the gym where I was greeted with a loud "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" upon scanning my member card.  Awww...the guys at the gym knew and acknowledged my fabulous birthday.  :)

Yesterday was Mother's Day and church and whatnot.  Again - another great day in my birthday weekend.

Today, Monday, is back to the grind.  It's my first 5-day work week in the month of May.  Yeah me!!!!

Have a fabulous day!!!

Glory be!!!!!!!!

I came close to breaking out in the Doxlogy.  "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" when I saw my neighbor mowing the backyard.  He never as in ever, ever, ever mows the backyard behind the cottage.  Today he did.  He mowed the whole thing!!!

Spice cabinet. Organized. Check!

I love that I have today off.  And here's a little secret.....I really don't have much on my schedule which makes it even more fabulous.  My list of things to do contains 4 to-be-checked-off items....

1.  Drink coffee.   Check!
2.  Go to the gym.    Soon....
3.  Organize my spice cabinet.  Throw out questionable spices and make an inventory list of what I actually have so I am not pilfering through the bottles each time I want to try a new recipe.  Check!
4.  Meet Rhonda at 5ish to thrift.  :)

Pinterest made me do it!!!

The cabinets under my kitchen sink were in need of some TLC. 

Several weeks ago, I was perusing Pinterest and saw an inexpensive way to organize cooksheets & baking pans.  Use a metal contraption intended to sort and store lids. 

Last night I went to red bull's eye and bought said contraption.

How I organized my cupboard:
1. Cleared everything out of said cupboard.
2. Determined that my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer will need to remain out of said area.
3. Measure, cut, and place drawer spongy liner.
4. Place new metal contraption in cupboard.
5. Place cookiesheets, muffin pans, and cutting board in slotted contraption.

TA-DA  --- Organization at its finest!!!

6.  Place toaster oven, extra bottle of dish soap, and rolling pin back in cupboard.

Lastly I secured cuphooks (2 of them) to the inside of the cupboard door.  I, then, attached a plastic magazine holder to the cuphooks.  Inside the magazine holder -- aluminum foil, gallon-sized ziplock bags, parchment paper, and Saran Wrap!

P.S.  I had to switch the toaster oven to the other side -- because the magazine holder was a large one.  Sooo my cabinet technically looks like this but is a little different.  :)