Winter weekend at The Cottage

 Winter colors.
Old insulators sitting on the window ledge in the sun room, reflecting sunlight.
A 'crystal' snowflake hangs in the window.
Little touches all around The Cottage.
Decorations for Christmas and the winter season.

 The tree is up, lights twinkling.
Old ornaments dusted off and hung on the branches of our Noble Fir tree.
A live tree. The first one that we've had in many years.
The fragrance is wonderful, filling the house with that Christmas smell.

 Lots of wood chopping going on.
We began the weekend with little snow on the ground.
A snow storm later, the snow is beginning to accumulate .
It is snowing now.
Softly coming down, like drifting powdered sugar....covering the branches and rooftops.

 We're keeping the wood stove burning and staying toasty and warm.
How wonderful this wood stove has been.
Little did I know eight months ago just how warm and efficient this wood stove would be and how much we would come to love it.
I love to watch the fire crackling away as the house gets toasty warm.

 Spencer cleared some snow off of the walk way.
He grabbed the propane burner out of the barn, and away he went.
Not only did he melt the snow off of the sidewalk.. he practically got the sidewalk dry.
Next year we will be replacing this sidewalk, and there will be even more cement to clear snow from.

 Our electric pressure cooker.
An early Christmas gift to ourselves.
Gee.... why didn't I get one of these years ago?
How fast can you make dinner?
In the blink of an eye with this baby.

 Teriyaki chicken.
Easiest thing ever.
Chicken.. pineapple tidbits...a bit of Yoshida sauce.
Twenty minutes later... ta-da... dinner.
Teriyaki chicken over rice.
Now I'll have lots of extra time.... I just might go build a snowman.

 Not to be left out.
Rowdy tore into a box.
He loves boxes.
Just don't put a box down that you don't want recycled into mulch.

 I worked on the stairs this weekend too.
I've been trying to keep working on house renovation projects.
So, now that I'm stuck inside because of winter, it has given me an opportunity to get some of those  inside projects caught up.
One more thing we can cross off the list.....once I finish, that is.

 There are quite a few more stairs to go before I can consider this job finished.
I'm deciding if I want to paint numbers, or a quote, or stencil on the stairs.
Hmmm.

The sun sets on another week at The Cottage.
Winter is here.
Christmas is on it's way.
Looking forward to the coming week, full of promise and a few projects too.


Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm grateful to have been able to do some canning this past Fall. We are really enjoying those jars of garden goodness.
~I'm grateful for being able to embrace the simple things in life, and working on simplifying everything in my life. Making time for what matters.
~I'm grateful for cheesy-tatoes.
Comfort food for a cold winters night.