Finding Buddy Bird

Late last night, I received an email from someone that was kind enough to send me a Craigslist ad about another found cockatiel. What was different about this ad is that the bird was found in my own town, just a few miles down the road. I called the number listed this morning and was thrilled that the cockatiel in question matched our Buddy's description. An hour later, I was meeting the bird in person.

With Sunny, I knew right away that it wasn't Buddy. But with this bird, it was so hard to tell. I felt 95% sure that it was him. (Identifying a bird can be like trying to identify a goldfish.) He looked smaller, was very weak, pretty beaten up, and light as a feather. The folks who found him said that he looked a *lot* better than he did when they found him a couple of days ago. He is yet to whistle or make any of the usual sounds we're accustomed to, but let me tell you....

Like Buddy, this one loves to be cuddled, nuzzled, kissed, loved, and nurtured. If he's sitting on my chest near my face, and I move my head and inch or two away from him, he walks that much closer to me again. He was pretty quick to show affection to me when I first saw him today, too, and was a little fussy when I needed to hand him back to the person that found him for a few minutes. I just could not *not* bring this little fellow home. It's so hard not knowing for sure if it's Buddy or not, not knowing how much almost two months of being out in the elements could possibly change a bird, at least for a little while. We'll know for sure as time passes if this is our Buddy, but for now I'm just going to assume that it is.

I've been pretty frazzled lately with so much going on here but today for the first time in a very long time, after bringing Buddy (?) home, mowing the lawn, and showering, I got into my pjs, collapsed into a cozy bed, and napped for hours with this sweet little bird by my side. Buddy or not, it just seems to be thriving right now on love and attention, and I hope that all the extra love and attention will help it to get back to it's healthy, chirpy self soon:)

On another note, everyone's yard sale purchases have been carefully wrapped, boxed up, and labeled and are ready to be mailed out tomorrow as planned! Thanks for your speedy payments and making my first yard sale a big success!

Sunny Delight - An Update on Buddy Bird + Future Cottage Charm Giveaway Suggestions are Welcome!

We went to view the found cockatiel on Thursday and I'm sorry to report that it was not our Buddy. I had a good cry because I was so hoping that it was him. But on a positive note, we are now the official foster family of a little lost cockatiel. We know someone out there has to be missing their baby (as we are) and hopefully we can reunite them soon. We are calling it "Sunny":) Thanks for all the well wishes regarding Buddy - he's out there somewhere and maybe with a foster family of his own:)

Thanks so much to everyone that has joined up in this years Cottage Charm Giveaway and to others that are helping to spread the word! Last year we had 40 hostesses join within 6 weeks (I started it early last year!)but this year so far, we've had 32 giveaways added in just 11 days - and there's plenty of time left for others to join! That's amazing!

This is something that I plan to do yearly in May. I think that beginning next year, I'll start the giveaway at the beginning of May to give everyone a full month to join. Six weeks was a little long, 2 weeks is a little short, but a month is just right, don't you think? So mark your calenders for May of 2009! I'm already starting to put items away for my personal giveaway next year:)

Next year, I would like to give back to those that are posting the Cottage Charm Giveaway banner on their sites even if they aren't personally having a giveaway - this really helps to get the word out and I truly appreciate it! So I may have a special giveaway just for everyone that posts the banner on their blog, as well as separate giveaways for other giveaway hostesses and everyone else, too.

I love doing this giveaway for several reasons. For one thing, it's a great way for many of us to get rid of some of our excess. There are some things that I know I could easily put in a yard sale or send to Goodwill, but how much more wonderful it is to give it to others that you know share a love for cottage style?! These giveaways are also a great way to discover other inspiring blogs filled with great ideas! My blogroll will probably double after this year's giveaway is over and maybe yours will, too! For those of you who have shops, I think it's a wonderful way to promote your shop (and that's ok - nothing at all wrong with that! I encourage it!). Some shopkeepers are so generous in literally pulling items from their "shelves" to give away. Lastly, it's just so much fun both putting together "prizes" to give away and to also have a chance at winning one or more of the beautiful giveaways!

If you have any ideas, comments, or suggestions for future Cottage Charm Giveaways, please let me know! Thanks again to everyone!

Cookie Feathers

Because that's what I have on my mind right now...cookies and feathers - or more specifically, cookies and our missing cockatiel named Buddy. I've recently written about how, about a month ago, hubs walked outside without knowing that Buddy was on his shoulder. It only took a second for Buddy to fly away. We searched feverishly for him, canvassing neighborhoods, putting up flyers, placing ads in the paper and Craigslist, calling vets offices and pet stores, going door to door and personally asking folks to keep their eyes open for him - but to no avail. There were a couple of sightings of him in the first week, but that's about it. Until now. Imagine our thrill when several people called and emailed us this week letting us know about a recent Craigslist ad posted by someone who had found a cockatiel matching our Buddy's description! Now, I'm really, really, really trying not to get my hopes up. This cockatiel was found about 32 miles away - which isn't unusual for a bird, but it really could be anyone's bird. Tomorrow (Thursday) I meet up with the person that found the bird so that I can handle the little guy and try to figure out if it's ours. The manager at a nearby pet store is going to kindly let us use one of their rooms. Yes, I'm really trying not to get my hopes up but I guess I'll know by tomorrow evening if our Buddy has been found or not:)

Now about those cookies...

This is the last week of school and of course, the last week of school is filled with fun activities, end-of-year celebrations, and gift giving . My oldest girl requested that I bake a couple of batches of cookies for her school party and she chose M&M cookies and Peppermint Surprise Brownie Bites. The latter are made with York Peppermint Patties and when I went shopping this morning and found that I would have to spend $7.00 for two bags of patties, I decided that I would make Andes Mints cookies instead:) So that's what I've been working on today (reminding myself that these are for the children and teachers - not me!) I'm also baking Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip Cookies to go along with some of the M&M and Andes Mint cookies for gift boxes for the teachers. I thought it would be fun to give them a nice selection of four different kinds of cookies. I'm going to be up late, I can tell!

The recipe that I used for today's M&M cookies and the Andes Mint cookies (and the chocolate chip cookies, of course!) was taken from one of the chocolate chip cookie recipes in the book Mom's Big Book of Cookies: 200 Family Favorites You'll Love Making and Your Kids Will Love Eating . Oh.My.Goodness, what wonderful cookies it makes! They turn out to be very soft and moist and oh so yummy. Not puffy, fat, and dry like many of the cookies I've made before, hehe! I will use this recipe time and time again for all types of cookies, just substituting the chocolate chips for whatever we have a craving for!

The Snickerdoodle recipe is just as delicious and is my family's personal favorite. I'll try and post some recipes when I have some more time. In the meantime, check out that book - it's wonderful!

Our New Addition + Interesting Blog Posts of Note

Everyone here is slowly getting better, though hubs was home sick from work again today with a high fever and other flu symptoms. I wish this flu would fly aleady!

The cat's out of the bag...we welcomed a new addition to our family this week. About a month ago on a very cold and rainy night, a little stray solid black kitten showed up at our door meowing her little head off. I brought her in and and quickly gave her much love and many cuddles while I could, because, you see, I'm allergic to cats. We placed an ad in the paper and I created a little webpage with "glamour" photos for folks to see pictures of her. I've used this method in the past when we found a pregnant stray dog roaming a busy street...After her pups were born and ready for homes, we did a little cottage pups photo shoot with them and they all found homes in a day! So, we got plenty of phone calls about our stray kitten this time around, too. Hubs made arrangements with an interested person to meet him at his office to pick up the kitten, but they flaked out and didn't show. Most of the folks hubs worked with, however, really liked the idea of having an "office" cat and took to our little stray right away. But that only worked out for a little while. The kitty would be left in the warehouse and, well, not having access to her litter box, she'd finally "go" somewhere...and some people weren't happy about that. I wasn't comfortable with the whole idea anyway, but for hubs sake (he loves cats), I didn't fuss *too* much - but I did fuss. Anyway, after a few complaints, I told him to bring the cat home and we'd place another ad. Strangely, I've had no allergic reactions to her in the week that she's been back, and goodness knows I've cuddled her to pieces. I don't know what is going on. The cat allergies seem to have disappeared as quickly as they appeared 7 years ago. Soooo... now it looks like we've been happily adopted by a bird, two dogs, and a cat. I've yet to come up with a real name for her. Hmmm...Goodness...I wish I wasn't such a softy. I told the kids that this is absolutely the last animal we will bring into the family.

I don't have anything else interesting on the housefront to write about so I thought I'd take a stroll around other cottage and country blogs to see what's going on. I hope you enjoy these links as much as I have!

At A Storybook Life, look at this fabulous *$2* cupboard that was painted a deep, rich red! This just goes to show that (1) great finds are out there (and the hunt is so much fun!) and (2)a little paint goes a long way!

Look at this darling cottage apron that Chris at Cats on My Quilt made. I've never worn an apron, but the more I see, the more I think I'd love to collect them for the charm of it:)

I just love this little powder room at Cottage Bethy's place. She recently painted it and the once gold light fixture that was in there. The fixture is now a fresh and airy white. I especially love the white mirror. Great job!

If you'd love to see a cottage bathroom in the making, please check out Cottage by the Sea. They've been working hard on their bath and it's always fun for me to see these kinds of projects come together. Someday...SOMEday, we'll be putting our bath back together, lol!

Speaking of thrify finds, look at this sweet little cabinet Kim from Daisy Cottage found recently at Goodwill for $10! Again, gotta love the thrill of thrifting!

I just discovered Tiffaney's blog at Folded Gingham and love how she has redone her fireplace. She says she is "olding up" her new house (like what I'm trying to do with this relative "new" nearly 30 year old house of ours). She painted the mantel a really pretty pear green and replaced the granite tile with brick. It turned out lovely...check it out!

Well, I guess that's it for now! Gonna go check on my sick hubby!

Be It Ever So Humble, There's No Place Like Home

Often times it's so easy for me to fret over everything that needs to be done to this little house. I could probably fill up a notebook. Older houses are a lot of work, and ours isn't even old old...just about 30. I am such a homebody and for some reason, no matter how down I get about the work to do here, when I'm gone, I can't wait to get back home. Today I won't go into all the things that drive me nuts about it or the myriads of things, inside and out, that need work. (I believe in the past I've referred to our place as a slightly glorifed shack, lol...not far from the truth...if you only knew!) Instead, I thought I'd share some of the simple things that make me glad I have this roof over my head:)

This is our morning view from our living room window...about 6:30 am. Many homes on our street have paved drives. We have gravel and I wouldn't have it any other way. It reminds of the country road I grew up on which for many years was gravel.


This photo is for my mom in California...we were just talking the other day about how it's turning colder and she asked me if our gas fireplace gave off heat or if it was just decorative. I'm so happy to say that it makes our little living room and kitchen just as toasty as can be! The bedrooms don't get as warm as the main living areas, but they don't really need to be, either. They are comfortable enough for sleeping, and I've always heard that you should sleep in a cooler room anyway. We all use goosedown comforters, so we snuggle down in them and stay nice and warm:) We also have central heat that we set at about 69 or 70 at night, so it won't get colder than that. Anyway, I'm thankful for our fireplace. This photo was taken around 6:30 this morning as well and I intentionally didn't use a flash...this is exactly how our fireplace looks in early morning light.


You may have noticed the pillow on the hearth. That is one of our two dog beds. Usually we have two flanking the fireplace (one for each dog). Actually, they aren't real dog beds but are large chenille pillow shams stuffed with large pillows. I was really frustrated over the fact that the store bought beds were (1) so expensive (2) didn't match our decor or style and (3) couldn't be thrown in the wash when dirty. I had this pair of creamy white chenille shams in storage and decided to put them to good use. They've been wonderful! The dogs love them and so do I. When they are soiled, I simply remove the shams and toss them in the wash. You can put a pillow protector on the pillow as well and wash that when it gets dirty. When the pillow itself wears out or gets too flat, just by another inexpensive pillow:) I often move them around the room, depending on where the dogs want to nap. This morning, Penelope my beagle wanted to nap close to me when I was on the couch. So I brought her little chenille bed over and plopped it on the floor. Minutes later, she was in Doggy Dreamland...


Speaking of chenille, a few months ago I bought a chenille quilt that I just adore. It has puffy dots all over it and little bobbles on the edges. I bought it to use as a tablecloth for a very special party in which I served soup. I thought that it would add a lot of texture and "grandma-like" warmth to the table and it was just beautiful! After the party, I washed it and now it graces our bed. Because our dog Penelope is sometimes naughty and naps on the furniture when she knows she's not suppose to, I keep a sheet on top of the quilt most of the time. I found this particular sheet at Goodwill several months ago and loved it for it's color, pattern, and feel (it's SO soft!) I thought it was just too pretty to put *under* the quilt, lol...



In the background there you see my goosedown pillow with a red polka-dot pillow case. It might as well be my teddy bear, it's so cozy and comforting:)



Another thing that brings me great pleasure is having a "home-y" smelling home. I LOVE the smell of cinnamon so a couple of weeks ago, I bought two cinnamon brooms. It's wonderful walking into a warm house that smells like someone is baking snickerdoodles:) I put one in our ( incompleted, wall-less but cottage style) bathroom and boy does it smell yummy. Now after every shower, I crave a cinnabun:)


Finally, I'm happy that we have a secluded view from our dining room table. On the other side of those trees is our neighbor's house, but you'd never know it looking out our window. When we lived in an apartment a few years ago, we had neighborhood children coming up to our dining room window to watch us eat, so this is a refreshing change to say the least. This window wasn't here when we bought the house but hubs and a friend knocked out the wall and added it about a year and a half ago. The difference is amazing and now we have a weeping willow to look at instead of a dark wall.


Well, those are a few positive things to say about this neverending project house. Every house has something nice about it, I believe, and if you can't find it, then look for the potential, for there is always that:)

Have a great Saturday!

Love Your Critters Day

Most would say that part of what makes a house a home are all those loved ones that live within. I agree. This house just wouldn't be a home without my longtime childhood friend and husband (who still treats me like a princess after all these years and I don't know why), my beautiful three daughters, and my sweetheart dogs, Penelope and Cara Bella. Yes, I'm very emotional and reflective this week but I thought I would use this to my advantage and just go ahead and pen my thoughts.

Last weekend, while perusing Craigslist for inexpensive finds, I ran across an ad in the "free" section. Someone needed to find a home for their five year old dog because they just found out they were pregnant with twins and didn't think they could handle the added responsibility. That in itself didn't upset me so much, but it did bother me that they touted the dog as being great with kids, easy going, that it would be happy lying at your feet. HOWEVER...if they didn't find it a home by the end of the month, they would send it to a kill shelter. ARGH!!!!!!! The real kicker? This poor dog had been rescued from a no-kill shelter by them...it had been there for a couple of years before he was finally adopted. They mentioned in their ad that he had had a rough life. Yah, tell me about it!

I'm really soft hearted when it comes to animals and this just broke my heart. I did email the person asking them to reconsider sending the dog to kill shelter and told them that I would gladly help place the dog. I have very minor experience quickly placing dogs...Back last spring, I found a pregnant (dumped) dog weaving in and out of heavy traffic and picked her up and brought her home. I decided to keep her until after her babies were born and old enough to go to new homes. When the time came, I created a webpage for them and then placed an ad in the Sunday paper. The puppies were placed within a day and the mother had a new home within two days. We got so many phone calls from people interested in the mother, too, which really happily surprised me. Anyway, I offered to the Craigslist person to help create a page for their dog and they kindly told me that they would consider it if no one replied to their ad by the end of the month. Apparently, several people *did* reply because I got an email from them letting me know that they had found the dog a nice home with a big yard - and they thanked everyone for their concern. Makes me wonder if other people were saddened by this ad as much as I was...I'm glad it all worked out, though.

I should mention that the people we placed the mama dog with last year ended up calling us a month later to ask us if we could take the dog back for a while. They loved the dog but were having a difficult financial time and needed to get back on their feet. I told all the families that adopted our dogs that if they changed their minds or if something came up, to please bring the dogs back. I'm glad this family wasn't too proud to do just that. They told us they would call us back within a month or so, but we never heard from them again.

If you're interested reading about the mama dog I rescued last year and/or seeing the webpage I created for her and her babies, I will gladly share the link. In case you're wondering, that sweet mama dog was placed with another family that wouldn't give her up now for anything in the world... She is now our very own precious and irreplaceable Penelope Brown. Thanks, Penelope, for helping to make our house a real "home".



Puppy Page
Penelope's Story

***Because I'm feeling mushy, I thought about declaring this a "Love Your Critters Day"...but then again...shouldn't that be everyday?:)***