Things have been a little crazy at the Colonial Cottage! Check out the video at the end of this post!

I know summer can be a little hectic, but this summer has been over the top for me.  hence, that is why the  CC has been a little less bloggy.  So we started off the summer with swim team for two. Both my kids were  on the local swim team, which they loved but it was 3 days a week and I did not want them worn out before a two hour practice, so on those days we kept it low key. Then we would squeeze activities in on the odd days.  We did this from June 7th to August 7th.

ready at the start

back stroke

Also this summer almost my whole family (i am from a family of 8 kids) decided to vacation nearby.  We were at the mercy of everyone elses schedules for about a month.  Don't get me wrong it was great to spend time with everyone and to reconnect with everyone but we were also looking forward to some family time. Just my husband, the kids and I.

Well a couple weeks ago my sister called and said she had rented a cottage in maine (the same place we would rent as kids) and offered us an extra room for a few days.  We were headed to Damariscotta ME. later that week so we decided to go.  I have very fond memories of the cottages, and was looking forward to a little me time. 

the floating dock in the morning

All was well until the day we were leaving. I was laying in bed in the loft at the cottage. My husband thought it would be funny to "surprise" me by throwing a T-shirt over the railing at me to get me out of bed.  Well, I just saw something black flying at me and I jumped up. Only problem was that my arm was trapped under the blankets.   Being the trooper that I am (ha ha) we still continued on to my mom and dads.  My son tried to catch turtles and learned to skip rocks.  My kids went to the whale back midden which is where the local indian tribe put all their oyster shells I guess Harvard now studies that area. We also went out to eat at the pemequid lobster coop (best seafood ever) and watched the lobster boat races from our picnic table. We had so much fun in their little town and were very sad to leave.  

The prettiest little turtle pond 

 whale back midden 

Lobster Boat Races

 So I went to the doctors since I got back, and he said partial dislocation of my shoulder so No more driving, swimming or biking but also no more carrying laundry baskets!    I have 2 1/2 weeks more in the sling and then I go back to see if I need an mri and/or surgery. My husband is being a real trooper as I am pretty limited with only one arm, and the kids are being great too. I guess the fact that my husband is unemployed and home does come in handy! This typing with one hand is for the birds though!  I hope everyone enjoyed their summer and is as ready for back to school as I am!  9 days and counting. Oh and I have another giveaway coming soon so keep on reading.

Maura

Oh and before I forget this is what my son has been up to.

Hip Hip Hooray for Me!

I know, I know I really should not be cheering for myself but after 10 days with no dryer and piles and piles of laundry building up I finally tamed the beast and fixed my dryer!

The story goes like this. About 10 days ago my dryer stopped heating. I noticed after I put towels in and ran the dryer 3 different times thinking I had forgotten to turn it on each time. Well after ordering a new heating element and replacing that my dryer still would not heat (Boo Hoo). So this time I bought two new parts a thermostat and a thermal cut off fuse. (I forgot to mention I don't have a parts store nearby so I had to wait for the parts to arrive via snail mail.) I first changed out the thermostat and I still had no heat but as soon as I changed out the thermal cutoff fuse I could smell the heating element going! It kind of smells a little when you put in new parts so it is a good idea to let the dryer run a few minutes before putting clothes in there so they don't stink when you take them out.

Why am I so excited you may ask. Well for two reasons. First, my husband will be out of work on july 30th and I am trying to be frugal these days and I also love the fact that I spent 85$ on parts to repair it and I would have spent 150 just to have someone come out and look at it. Second I love that feeling of knowing I don't have to rely on someone I do not know, to tell me what is wrong with something (kind of like when I bring my car in to be repaired). Dryer repair is not as scary as it looks. This is actually the second one I have fixed. The first was at my last house and the heating element went on that one.

I know it sounds crazy but I have never been so happy to see a load of laundry in my dryer!

We have a winner!

Sorry I am a half hour late. I was having dinner with the neighbors and just remembered about the big giveaway. So I asked the king of colonial cottage to pick a number from 1-18 and the lucky winner is #2!   B. Fox of bekafox.blogspot.com She is also a new follower. Beka I will be in touch tonight! I hope you have fun picking out something cool at CSNstores.com ! To everyone else thanks so much for being a part of my first giveaway and for following along with me at A Colonial Cottage! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

CSN GIVEAWAY!

Today is the day. I am doing my first giveaway and CSNstores.com has so nicely offered to send one of my great followers a 40$ gift certificate.  Now I am sure you must be thinking what can I do with a 40$ gift certificate, Maybe you need a little money to put towards a new sleeper sofa.  If you are like me and enjoy cooking you can order a some cool cookware or you can add some ambiance to your home by adding some new lighting. It is up to you to decide. CSN has over 200 stores to choose from, so there is something for everyone.  I looked at quite a few things CSN offers and was amazed at their selections. I need a new baking mat- for all my breads and cookies so I think that would be my first choice!  But this giveaway is for you guys so have fun checking out all their goodies!


As with any giveaway there are a few restrictions. First off this giveaway is open to US and Canadian readers only.  There may be shipping charges or in the case of Canadian readers, international fees, for certain products. So choose wisely.

Mandatory Entry: You must be a follower of my blog to enter this giveaway.  So click the little follow button, leave a comment telling me that you follow my blog, and you're automatically entered! Check out CSNstores.com and let me know what you will do with the 40$ gift certificate if you win.

Want another chance to win? 

- Blog about this giveaway. Leave a comment indicating that you've done it and post the link in a comment for me to see!


This giveaway will be open until Saturday May 15th at 8pm Eastern Time.  Be sure your blog or profile has a valid email address on it so that I can get in touch with the big winner.
The king of my colonial (my husband) will be choosing the winner at random from all the entries. Good Luck to everyone! I can't wait to hear what the winner gets with their gift certificate!

Get Ready For My first GIVEAWAY!

I am so excited to be able to do a giveaway this week. Stay tuned and I will let you know all about it in the next day or two!

Maura

A sweet little beside table

I have actually had this project done for two weeks and I am just getting around to posting about it.  I found  two dark side tables on craigslist a few months ago. They were pretty solid but also had some damage to the top. This is what they looked like before the new coat of paint. As usual I remembered to photograph them after I had started priming!

Now here it is after first coat of paint. Don't you love the pull out tray?

And finally here it is at home in my bedroom. I got some new hardware at Lowes to spruce it up even more!

Oh I almost forgot to tell you how much I love the vine detail across the top. I am debating about getting a black paint pen to fill it in. What do you guys think? Should I leave it as is or paint it?

Happy Mothers Day to everyone ! Thanks for your input.

Maura

Disney Week at Fingerprints on the Fridge!

Rachelle over at Fingerprints on the fridge is having Disney Week at her blog. Goodness know I LOVE DISNEY.  We went this past january and also two years earlier. I also went around age 10 and after graduating high school.  My husband is job hunting now and we are hoping he finds something soon so we can go again this january.  So today is day 1- packing strategies.  Rachelle already talked about using ziploc bags to pack an ensemble for the day and I have done that for both of my kids trips. It saved so much time in the morning because my fussy daughter had already picked the outfits out at home so there was nothing to complain about!   One of my favorite packing ideas and money saving ideas is to pack an extra suitcase (if flying on southwest). I fill it with bowls, cups, spoons, snacks, cereal, juice boxes, travel coffee mugs,  ground coffee, and #2 filters. and any other breakfast/snackie items I may need.  I don't have to spend a ton on snacks at the park and It saves about 30$ a day on breakfast. My kids always have cereal in the morning anyway. It also save a lot of time as we don't have to do a sit down meal for breakfast either.  Then at the end of the trip I use the empty suitcase to pack up our souvenirs.  I hope this helps anyone going to disney for the first time or anyone just trying to get more organized for their trip.

Have a great day!
Maura

My Colonial Cottage

So Ann Nicole at oursuburbancottage.blogspot.com is having a party today. What is this party about? Its a  How I Met My House Party!  I thought what the heck I just need to finish a painting project, mow the lawn and make dinner...so I think I will join in.

I met my home about 4 year ago. We lived in a cute suburban town in New England and wanted to stay in that town. However we had out grown our 1850 village colonial and decided it was time to look for a new home.  We knew from the start that we wanted to pay no more then we could afford, so we chose our max price and stuck with it.  We put our old house on the market .   We found our present home after looking at many newer homes which were at the top of our budget and I did not feel like we were getting all that we wanted.  Our wish list included: 4 bedrooms, a fireplace, at least 1/4 acre and an area for a playroom for the kids.

After looking at all the newer homes we finally stepped foot into our present home. It is a colonial and  was built in 1973.  It was love at first sight but definitely not love at first scent.  The realtor who showed it to us made a point to tell us that one of the upstairs bedrooms was the cats favorite room. Now the house was empty at the time and when we went upstairs to take a look the smell of cat urine was overwhelming.  I tried my hardest to look beyond the smell and found that I loved the bones of the home. Yes, the carpet was disgusting,

 and yes the wall paper was dated,

 and yes the yard was a little smaller then we would have liked,

  but it was still 1/4 acre so it fit the bill.   So we put in a bid on it and the owners accepted,  but we did put a contingency in the contract that we needed to sell our other home. Time passed and the contract did too.  However  two days after the offer on our new house expired,  we sold our old one. We talked to our realtor and she suggested we make another offer on the new home and after  a little haggling  we had a new offer accepted which was almost 10,000$ less then our first offer. We were thrilled and relieved at the same time.

We lived in a hotel for 10 days while we had hardwood floors installed in our new home and were so excited to return to a fresh and cleaner smelling home. They actually had to remove the subfloor from my sons bedroom because the cat urine was so bad.  Anyhow it has been four years and we are still in love with our house.

The floors look better,

The wallpaper is gone,

The yard is still a work in progress.

  We are still working on the inside too!

 I am from a family of 8 kids and my home is always full of family and friends.  Family members are always calling and asking  if we have any openings in the spare room.   My sister got married two years ago and we actually had 11 people staying with us plus my family of four, thanks to many aero beds, couches, and the double bed in the spare room.  I hope you all enjoyed the story of how I met my house. I can't wait to read about how you all met yours!

MAURA

Free Starbucks

Just got back from starbucks with my husband (work from home day). Today only you can bring in a reusable mug and get a free fill up! I guess it is for earthday/ tax day. If you like starbucks, why not get it free today!
 If you want to learn how to get more items free check out my new blog- gotnotcentsatall.blogspot.com, It is all about saving by using coupons and such!  Let me know what you think!

Could this week get any worse?

Well my son went in for another check of the nose this week and He is in good shape. Still swollen inside the nose but it is healing . So my sister came over last night for dinner (which was awesome- chicken picatta) and while she was here my daughter stubbed her toe on the coffee table. My sister thought this was so funny as I have always stubbed my toes-  I never wore shoes as a kid, if I did not have to, and my toes were always hurt. Anyhow my daughter woke up this morning to find that she can't put any weight on her foot and her toe is red and bruised. So It is back to the Drs again to  have her foot looked at today.  The pediatrition is not going to believe this. UGH! I will let you know what I find out later.

Maura


Follow up: Just got back and the toe is just bruised and sprained but not broken- Thank goodness!