A Few New Things To Share

Just wanted to share a few of my latest additions to Cottage Panache! More pictures to follow! Hope you find something that you love.

Maureen

Happy Birthday Cottage Panache with "Some Kind of Wonderful!"

February marked the Second Year for Cottage Panache...how quickly time flies when you are having fun! It has been alot of fun, eye opening and have met so many more wonderful people. You know that song "Make New Friends and Keep The Old" ! What insight to life that phrase has, we should all live by that. Whoever came up with that must have had life experiences that we all go through at some time in our life.
When running a store and everything, you feel is upon you with decisions and new ideas, it is always enlightening to have people around you that want you to soar and be your best that you can be. I take every suggestion to heart and will never take offense.
I have two more rooms to finish and I know that everyone is probably saying ~ well get on with it already! What has to be done to finish these two rooms is so overwhelming that when I walk into these two rooms I just want to walk right back out.

If you've been to my shop and have seen the beautiful hardwood floor in the room staged as the bedroom. You have probably heard me describe how I had to dissolve hard, old adhesive, then scrape it up with a putty knife, wipe on paper towel and then scrub it smooth with steel wool. Getting down and dirty to do two more rooms has me in a tither!

Forget the fact that I have to redo the walls in one room - that, I can do standing and not on my knees! Therefore I must decide if this is the time to try the feat ~ and I shall! I will try to muster up the inner guru in me...get the kids to school and go directly to Cottage Panache with paint and scrub duds on to work a wonder on two more rooms! Too bad I am not 40something instead of 50something!

One of the rooms will be for lease and I'm just wondering if there is anyone out there that would do the job for a free months rent on that room!!?? It would need to be a Seasoned Lover of the Vintage and Antiques and probably younger than me and have enough free time to handle this task! I have had some people that say I should just rent one of the floor sanders and restain and revarnish! It would not have that vintage patina that I love and is befitting to the cottage so I just don't know. The other room will be a studio/meeting/classroom. I am thinking that I could do a mixed media on that floor since there is an area where the floor is painted white! Any ideas??

A New Friend at Cottage Panache! Linda Kinnaird's Jewelry is one of the lastest additions to Cottage Panache. Check out these three creative pieces, which are just a few to speak of! Everyone of these pieces are under $50!

                                Angela of Filigree  Moon ~  I will call an Old Friend here at Cottage Panache, because she joined us here after my move last Fall and is still creating her fabulous paper artistry and soldered charms and other wonderful creations using vintage jewelry. She has a keen eye when searching for that charming vintage treasure like this silver butter dish and butter knife that you will find in her spot!                                 

Filigree Moon Circus Tag

Gracie of "Lindsey's Cottage" another old friend to Cottage Panache has recently re-done her room and added some wonderful vintage pieces as well as new Spring and Easter Decor!  Don't you just love the neutral tone of that vintage Sanger Harris Hat Box! And how about this mint condition hat? Have you picked up that Easter  Bonnet yet? We have several to choose from!

As always thanks for visiting my blog and hope that might, on some sweet day make it into Cottage Panache because there is always more to come as we add daily, more treasures ~ some new ~ some old ~ some chippy and rusted ~ but I am sure that all will be............Some Kind of Wonderful!

A Wonderful Week to All!

Maureen

Emily's Amazing Grace

This is a picture of my daughter Emily, the day after we received record snowfall for our area. Why am I now showing this so late after the fact, you may be asking! Well  it just happens to be the most recent picture of her smiling and happy. But one week ago today (Tuesday, March 9th) after school she went to the park to take some shots for her Photo-journalism class. (She is way behind because for the past weeks she has been battling Mono!) Monday and Tuesay she was feeling like herself again and was able to complete two full days of school!
So anyhoo, on Tuesday at the park she had a slip and a fall while balancing on the monkey bars while taking a photo! Moms don't let your little girls play on them as you don't realize just how dangerous they are. In fact don't let your little boys on them as well! I promise that I will never laugh at another FHVideo or the like on the telly as I know all too well what damage can be done. You know what I'm talking about - it's how they fall that seems funny at times and it is usually a guy that falls and straddles that bar - right? I had just called to tell her that I was on my way to pick her and her friend Savannah up at the park. Of course she pleaded to stay a little longer, but I was already on my way. After a long drawn out OOOKAAAY  - I heard her begin to scream - help me Mommy - oh it hurts -and then -I'm Bleeding!!! I was only a minute from the park but it seemed like it took me forever to get there and I had no idea what was happening to her. So I finally got there and noticed as I was shuffling her into the car that the backside of her jeans was already saturated with blood - she was worried about getting blood on the seat - but I didn't care! I don't want to go into too much detail but I took her to Cooks Urgent Care/Emergent Childrens Care. The attendant behind the counter saw how white Emily looked and saw the desperate look that I'm sure I was wearing, bringing immediate attention to our emergency and came right out of her area to take Emily back to be trioged. The waiting room was full and so was the parking lot. I was so thankful that she had the ability to scan the line and to take notice of our true emergency! Emily was in so much pain and had lost alot of blood. On top of that - the x-ray revealed that she had also fractured her tailbone as well.  Now if she thought that it was hard to sit through a whole class at school because of Mono ~ how on earth will she fair sitting in those hard chairs! The donut that they sell nowadays is a blow-up one to take the pressure off while sitting, which is in now way helpful like the foam ones that they sold when I was 26 and had broken my tailbone! If anyone knows where I can get a nice foam one - please let me know! I don't know who the smarty was that came up with the blow -up ones but sorry - they are worthless!!! I'd like to have my money back! Well, Emily is healing and it was by the Amaxing Grace of God that it wasn't worse and Thank God that she has this week off for Spring Break! Thanks for listening to my lastest woes ~ I promise the next post will be more upbeat.
P.S. Please keep those girls and boys off those spindly monkey bars!!! They should be outlawed!

Blog Issues!!!

Still dealing with the blog issues! I don't know how this happened. I think blogs are under attack! Sound Paranoid?!! You be the judge. It all started after my post about Cupcakes On The Run!  Hmm - could it have been... a Sugar Attack!!!  Or ~ perhaps Mad Cow Disease!   Oh no no no,  I think not!  So I decided after several attempts to consult the Blog Gods, where I noticed mention made of the error bx ___!  It differed in both alpha and numeric, and so I trudged on seeking the evidence that my blog was still alive ~ resting from it for days between!  But every time I returned to my quest of the blog gone wrong ~ it was still SICK! I Then on one dreary rainy day (yesterday!) decided that for once and for all I would prevail over the blog error! I was so exhausted and needed to put on my thinking cap! I was then enlightened while consulting my blog fairy ~ Filigree Moon, (Angela!)  With her many troubleshooting ideas, I recalled the mention of  problems ensuing after others had tried to update IE (Internet Explorer!)  Hmmm ~ So without haste I tried again to download the update for IE8.  Many previous attempts failed to complete. Determined that this would be the day that I would prevail over the BLOG ERROR! I chose update one more time ~ success ~ but now the real test. Try to sign into my blog with the navbar ~ yet more success ~ and now to try and leave a comment on another's blog ~ YES ~ Eureka!  The rain stopped and out peaked the Sun! (I'm not kidding ~ it really did!) So, the moral to this story is - If your blog is ailing - don't give into that error ~ fight back and update your internet explorer ~ it works just like chicken soup!

 p.s.          Let us here from all who have experienced the same thing or something like it! If not, I hope that you never do.  Thanks for allowing me to babble!

Maureen                                                              

Random!!!

Oh my goodness - I have been so frustrated! My button to post on my blog has not been working! I also have tried to post comments on others blogs and I have become so frustrated that I am ready to just ditch the blogging scene! So this is going to be my last attempt. If it works ~ great! If not, I guess that anyone that cares will just consider that I must have just fallen off the face of the earth!!! Well here goes nothing! I am crossing my fingers cause I have lots to say!