~~Happy Spring & Home Sweet Cottage!~~

HAPPY SPRING!

I'm SO happy SPRING is here! Four years ago on the first day of spring we moved into our little cozy cottage in the country! HOME SWEET HOME!

Our country kitchen is a very vintage-colorful-eclectic-cottage-combination of things I love ~ vintage 30's & 40's Universal water pitchers, fiesta, cottage china, & sentimental heirloom treasures. Lots of Red! ~

Looking at these pictures though makes me want to minimize! Hard to do when I'm adding new garage sale finds like the fruit bowl, red lid, & little teapot up there! I'll have to work on it ~~ Our sunny cottage kitchen makes me happy!

We have warm sunshine & 70's here in Texas today!

Hope you all have a LOVELY first day of SPRING!

~~Congratulations to Rosie's Whimsy!!!!~~

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my LOVELY MOM!

And CONGRATULATIONS to ROSIE'S WHIMSY ~~ the big winner in the drawing for my blogaversary give-away! I am happy to add a few more goodies seen here ~~ A Roses Apron! Easter Eggs! And I'm sending two very special little treasures made by my mom & dad. My dad carves little Loons out of wood & paints them.......My mom is a wonderful painter & has recently made little magnets from her watercolors. These will be be included with my give-away!

I am truly flattered that I received so many lovely comments from so many wonderful bloggers! I can't say THANK YOU enough! I was very surprised to hear from all of you & due to a long weekend away from the computer I haven't had the chance to catch up in answering all of you......I WILL do that before the day is over!

I hope all of you will come back for many more visits to kattz*cottage!

Congrats again to Rosie ~~ I will send your package on it's way!! THANKS SO MUCH!!

~~Happy One Year Cottage Give-Away!~~

What fun this has been! One year ago this week I started kattz*cottage blog! I haven't been the best blogger with constant keeping up but I have thoroughly enjoyed keeping this little journal & meeting so many wonderful people in the blog world. I love reading each & every comment I receive & I have learned so much from reading so many beautiful blogs!

To say "Thank You" here is my anniversary "in the pink" cottage give-away ~~ A reversible Lavender Dream Pillow, Lavender Strawberry Sachet & matching Lavender Sachet "Little Purse" all Handmade by me ~~ a beautiful Cottage Flowers photo album, Rose picture frame, a Victorian Fan, & some other sweet cottage chic treasures! All comments left between today & Sunday night ~ 3/16 will be entered in the drawing ~~ I will have a Top o' the Mornin' St. Patrick's Day announcement of the winner on Monday March 17!

I would love to meet new blogging friends so feel free to pass the word along if you'd like. I will also later add a few more give-away treasures to the 10 things pictured above!

A huge THANK YOU for all your kind words & blogging friendship!

Much Love & Hugs! ~~ Kathy

~~The 50's & a Little Marco Polo Piano~~

okay - it's not easy getting another year older, or is it? No, really, it's not so bad.

I've been another year older for a whole week now & I'm getting use to it.
Doesn't feel any different really. I can even say it - I'm 53 now ~ wow.
March 2, 1955 - but my dad reminds me almost every year - it's also "Texas Independence Day" & hey, that's important too & I usually think of that first!

I'm happy, I'm healthy, & I'm ready for every new year to come ~~ bring 'em all on. I have a happy warm cozy home & a tremendous amount of love in my life.

I had a sweet, calm, simple, celebration~ music to my ears. I was given a piece of my childhood that I've missed ~ to play the piano again. It's an amazing small size so it doesn't take up much room in our little cottage. Didn't even know they made "real" pianos this little ~ but it surely is a real piano. There are a few less keys since it's smaller but like my mom says - who uses the keys on the ends of a piano?....I never have so this one is just right for me!

I am happily sonatina-ing away on the keys every day now & my fingertips are working hard to recall Clair 'de Lune - my favorite on the piano because my mom has played it since I was a little girl.

I discovered Craig's List just recently, through my sister & from seeing other bloggers with great finds. So when I didn't want to get too serious about a piano (meaning not to spend much $$ ~ just something I could play) I went to Craig's List for the first time ever & found just what I was looking for to celebrate another year ~~ this little Marco Polo cutie just down the road - for $50. Thanks TZ for bringing music to our cottage!
It's a "cute as a button" birthday piano & I adore it!

~~BLOGging Behind & Why is it Snowing in Texas?~~

Bird Feeder/House TZ just built ~~ has been a popular place today.......

Cabo & Cookie looking out the window - wondering "What is that Stuff?"......

Walking into our Woods......fierce thunderstorm this week knocked the canoe to the ground....

Wicker "SnowChair" on the Deck.......it's crazy seeing all this snow when I'm looking for Spring!

The Woods behind our House......


Spring is suppose to be "right around the corner" & look what happened today in Texas - crazy WINTER is back in full force with Snow like I haven't seen in years. I'm SO ready for spring to be here! But if you're from Texas you will know the old saying "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute & it will change"! Which it has surely done lately - one day 80...next day 40.....it's been doing this for a month ~~~back & forth

Well the blog world has gone about it's day to day thing & I've been in hibernation mode for way too long. I spend so much time all day on the computer working on ebay that I tend to be so ready to "sign off" when I'm through ~~ with no blogging to be done. "Bad Blogger"!!

I am about to be upon my One Year blogging anniversary & although I have been a bad blogger I plan to celebrate with a super-duper giveaway!

So please DO come back & I will try to be a better blogger back on my blogging track!

~~Valentine Love from kattz*cottage!~~

I wish everyone a wonderfully Happy & "Full of Love" Valentine's Day from kattz*cottage ~~ I've been away from my blog for awhile so I think February 14 is a good day for a fresh start with Lots of Love ~~ Much Love to everyone who has visited my blog & I hope to get back on track with lots of new projects & cottage happenings!
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

~~My Little Corner of Early Spring & Hiking in the Grasslands!~~

I can't make it through winter without a "little corner of spring"! However yesterday felt like spring really is around the corner! It was 76 degrees. I went outside barefooted wearing shorts & a t-shirt. I took a little walk through our woods, moved some limbs that were down from our recent winter winds, & felt like winter is officially over!

Unfortunately I know better & it will be cold again but I really, really DO NOT like winter. I never have & would take 100 degrees any day over 40 ~ I'm definitely a summer girl! But I will TRY to be patient & wait it out because I know 2 months will fly by & SOON it will be March & officially spring! So here is my "spring corner" in my kitchen window that will tide me over until the world comes back to life again, all green & fresh & colorful!



With SPRING out of the way now, because no doubt I'm jumping the gun, I wish a belated Happy New Year to everyone. We had a wonderful first week of 2008, welcoming New Year's Eve in on the dance floor, & hiking at one of our favorite geocaching spots, the LBJ Grasslands.

Cookie & Cabo love getting to run free & lead the way all up & down the trails. A couple of years ago we placed a terra-cache along this rugged trail. The cache is wayyyyy up high in a tree & can only be found at night - we put reflector markers in the trees all along the trail to lead the way. To find it the geocacher has to follow this steep ravine which is a very sharp drop-off. Not too many geocachers have attempted this one!

Cabo & Cookie know they can't follow TZ on this one, but they surely want to & look like they think they can!
But Mama won't let them so they have to hang out with me & look sad! :-(



The Pine Grove was our next hiking spot in the grasslands - an awesome place even in winter - the pine trees are so tall & make me think of east Texas where I grew up. There is another huge pine grove on the other side of a lake in the grasslands that we canoe to for picnics - a really beautiful & serene place.

I also want share a very special new blog Glass Pond Studio, just created by my sister Linda. She makes beautiful handmade jewelry & gorgeous glass beads, lives in the Pacific Northwest, & she & her husband Bill are getting ready to move to Mexico! She will have many interesting stories down the road so check out her blog at Glass Pond Studio!