Too early for Christmas?

Rich and I were having a conversation the other night about Christmas and he was complaining about how early the stores had put out the decor and about a couple of houses that were already lit up in Christmas lights.

Much later, after visiting a few blogs that had Christmas decor already up in their homes and some with Christmas music playing, I started to think about all of it and I came to a conclusion.... we need Christmas right now. Not the ridiculous amount of presents we all buy, but the spirit, the joy, the happiness and the nostalgia.

Even if we haven't even had our Thanksgiving turkey yet.

Now don't get your panties in a bundle... just listen....

With the world in a state of shock after the stock market horrors, the horrible house market, a war going on and the threat of terrorism everyday, we're getting to the point where we need a break from all the sadness, fear and stress. Although the retailers are setting out their stuff early in hopes that they might encourage more sales (do you blame them?), to me it's a joy. Not the presents, but the season.

Yes, I know not everyone has a lot of money to spare right now, but if you're reading this you do have a computer, so look up what it was like in simpler times. Look up how they celebrated Christmas before the hoopla. Take a lesson from George Bailey.

Who is that, you ask?

Why, he's the main character in a little movie called

'It's A Wonderful Life'.

You've seen it, I know you have, but maybe you never thought about how relevent it is to our lives now. Watch it again and think about it.

Life is short.

Love the life you have right now.

Enjoy it while you're here and even if that means smiling through the sad times, you can make it work.

Make hot cocoa and cuddle up with your loved ones.

Light a fire in your fireplace or a group of candles.

Get out the blankets and board games.

I know these are all simple things, but sometimes it's hard to take the time to slow down and do it.

Think back to when you were a kid.

Do you remember the presents or the warmth surrounded by family?

I remember the warmth of my family.

I know, I know... It may be too early for the decor and the music for most of you, but seriously can you think of a happier time during the year than Christmas?

I can't.

It's the one time of year when we make the effort to be a little nicer to our fellow man, give a little more than we should to our favorite charity and hug all those family members that we only see at this time of year.

So all the more power to the people that are putting aside their gloom and doom for some much needed Christmas cheer.

Embrace the holiday spirit everyone!

If we ever needed it, we really need it right now.

Happy Thanksgiving sweet friends :)

hugs and love,

rue

PS

In the spirit of the season and the need for a little more cheer, I'm starting my holiday music now.

See you after turkey day ;)

sweetness

I wanted to share a few sweet things I purchased recently, a giveaway win, a gift and also a goofy video of our sweet Bear. First the goodies....

Some cute candy canes in a tin mold from sweet Steph....

In With The Old

The perfect pillow for the living room from sweet Shellagh ...

Ticking and Toile

A fantastic Motto print from sweet Becky....

Sweet Cottage Dreams

Darling little heart pillows from sweet Chasity & Debbie.....

The Wild Raspberry

I won this fabulous Vera Bradley bag because of sweet Andrea's giveaway (Freckled Star)....

Thank you so much Andrea :)

Last but not least is sweet D's house warming present (D's DayDreams)....
Thank you so much D!!

Now for the silly Bear video... (please ignore the goofy woman giggling in the background and using her animal talking voice LOL)

Oh and yes, I snorted. It's an inherited family trait. Stop laughing ;)

Anyhoo... This is what he looked like when he finally stopped digging....

What a goofball!

If you're wondering why I'm not getting any projects done so I can post about them, well now you know ;)

hugs and love,

rue

Birthday trip~ part 3 (the historic tour)

During the last day on the trip we woke up to banana nut muffins, coffee and.....

a gorgeous sunrise....

It was time to leave our little cabin in the woods and take the long way home to do some sight seeing. Before we left though I caught a picture of one of the many ladybugs that were everywhere, on Rich's truck .....

and during take off ;)
I also finally got a pictures of the giant rock we had to drive under to get there and leave....
Pretty cool huh?
I see you!
Heading into Lancaster, Ohio.... (remember you can click on any picture to enlarge them)
It's an unbelievably darling town with quaint little stores, coffee shops and a fantastic place to eat lunch called the 'Four Reasons Bakery and Deli'. If you're ever in Lancaster, most definitely stop and have lunch there :)

When we first arrived we parked in front of this gorgeous home....
All you Southern ladies may want to skip this part, because it just happens to be the childhood home of Sherman!!
If you don't know who that is then well you can read about him 'here', but don't tell me or I might go into a state of shock LOL

You can read more about the house 'here'. Sorry, no pictures of the inside there or here, because they're not allowed, but again, if you're in the area, the tour is fantastic.

We did look around the back though. Here's the kitchen garden...

and this is an old bell that used to ring at the arrival of carriages....
Another plaque with Sherman on it.....
Down the street we found some more relics from the "War Between the States" or as it's referred to in text books.... the Civil War, although there was nothing "civil" about it.

Here's Sherman's Statue.

After looking around there, we then walked up the street to take a gander at some of the beautiful houses and churches...

and headed back to the car to see the next town.....

which was Newark. Here's the Court house......

and some of the old buildings.....

It's the birthplace of Heisey Glass.....

and although it's not being made anymore, they have a museum for it.....
Unfortunately it was closed, but you can read about it 'here'.

The historical society is also there......

and also the Veteran's walk.....

and a statue dedicated to the youngest soldier in 'the war'.

After that it was time to head home, but on the way was a sign that read "Chihuahua puppies for sale". When we called, there was only one left and as you already know, Bear came home with us.
As you can see he's settled in quite nicely ;)

More about him later, but that ends the birthday trip posts. I hope you had fun!

hugs and love,

rue

Birthday trip~ part two

You thought I forgot about the trip, didn't you? Nope, just busy with my actual birthday, going out of town for an Army event, taking care of our new baby Bear and reading all the sweet comments here and over at sweet Kim's Daisy Cottage. Thank you all so much for taking the time to not only wish me a happy birthday here, but also for heading over to see what I had to say there! Thank you especially to Kim for having enough faith in me to write something worthy enough for her blog. You know... I just love that sweet woman :)

Anyway.....

Last week we left off at the cabin we stayed in and you can read about that 'here' if you would like, but now we're onto the hikes we took through the Hocking Hills. Go ahead and put on your comfy shoes, get something to drink and a snack, because this is a long post. Trust me though, I cut out a lot of pictures ;)

Rich is going to guide us through, so just follow him..... (remember you can click on any picture to make them bigger)
First we have to go over a bridge....
Isn't it gorgeous out here?


This way!
Go ahead and follow Rich through the tunnel....

and over a beautiful bridge.....
Do you see the little waterfalls?
That rock looks like a face ;)
Up inside the cave you can look back at where you've been. It looks like something from Lord of the Rings, doesn't it?

You can read all about the cave on this sign....
Look at that cute cabin!
Can you imagine how neat it would be to sit on that front porch with your coffee in the morning, wrapped up in a big handmade quilt, before you start your chores?

Off on another trail.....
and through these rocks....
Up ahead is a larger waterfall....

and a river.....
Coming baby!
I told Rich that some bloggers call these places under the trees Fairy homes...
It looks like there's a lot of them here ;)

Yet another trail.....

and a little kiss captured in the shadows....
Ahem.... keep walking.....

Look at this.... Can you see it?
There's a waterfall! Let's get closer so you can see it....

There's the water coming straight down next to Rich....

You can see it better on the other side..... Beautiful right? ;)
Off to explore a little.......

and down another trail.....
Doesn't that stump look like a bear's head??
This one looks kind of like an elephant's head with the trunk trailing down to the ground......
Okay baby... we're coming....
Now we're inside a cave......
Look at the views from inside!
Be careful Rich!
There were thousands of signatures all over the inside and outside dating from over a hundred years ago up to now....
Leaving the cave.....

Look at that tree growing upside down off the cliff!
More signatures.....

and back up the stairs......

The weirdest thing we found when we were leaving was a signature with our initials. I swear it wasn't us! Isn't that strange??

The sun is setting so that means it's time to head back......
On the next post I'll show you a very strange museum and part of a historic tour we took on the way home. I hope you're not to tired to join us after the long hike ;)

hugs and love,

rue

PS Congratulations to Michelle for winning the birdhouse giveaway!

40 years old and A special gift

Today is my 40th Birthday.

I'm the same age as Sesame Street,

The Brady Bunch

and a little clothing store called The Gap.

I was born the year man walked on the moon for the first time

and my mom missed out on Woodstock

because I was in her belly.

I came into the world at the end of a crazy decade and the beginning of a strange one. I remember almost all of the 70s, was a teenager in the 80s, had both of my kids in the 90s and found the love of my life in this decade, that we're about to say goodbye to this January..... wow.

So the question is..... Do I feel that old?

No.

In fact I feel like I'm still pretty young until someone asks me what year I was born and I have to say 1969. Then I remember my mom saying "Think how I feel" LOL

What have I learned?

That life goes by in the blink of an eye and if you don't remember to appreciate the little, as well as the big moments, they'll be gone before you know it.

You never know how long we have on this earth, so tell your loved ones how much you love them while they're here and while they can still understand what you're saying.

Love can be found at any age and marriage can be fun if you're with the right person.

You need to keep a sense of humor no matter what.

That friends will come and go, but there's a reason for every friendship.

Speaking of friendship....

My special gift came in the form of a request. Kim of Dear Daisy Cottage ....

asked me to guest post for her. I think most of you know she's the reason I started blogging in the first place, so I think it's the perfect 40th birthday gift that she chose me to do a post for her.

Love you Kim :)

Go see what I have to say by clicking 'here'.

Happy Birthday to me ;)

hugs and love,

rue

Birthday trip~ part one

November 12th is my actual birthday (more about that tomorrow!), but Rich took me on a surprise trip last weekend as a birthday present. We stayed in a cabin in the Hocking Hills for two nights with absolutely no distractions and it was fantastic!

We arrived late the first night, but this is the view I woke up to the next morning....

The back door of our little cabin....
and a simple vase of Fall foliage....
along with the view was perfect.

Every morning the owners brought us coffee and homemade muffins...
They were delicious!
As I was looking through the brochure magazine of things to do I found this quote.....
Love that!

It was gorgeous out.....

so we decided to check out the property.....

Rich had noticed this building from our porch....
It turned out to be an abandoned barn.

Let's take a look inside....
Animals don't live here anymore....
Off in the distance is an old house.....
It looks like it's been abandoned for a long time.
Of course our minds started to wander about the old kitchen that was used to cook meals ....

The sink that washed many a dish and maybe a baby or two.....

The living area where a family or a couple enjoyed each other's company after the chores were done....
by the hearth where they warmed themselves during the cold winter seasons....
The walls that at one time kept out the elements...
are all falling down....
How sad. I wonder why they left it behind....
to die all alone in the woods.

Ah well... it's a mystery we'll never know the answer to (sigh).

On back to our little cabin in the woods.....
and time to get ready for an adventure. I'm coming baby :)
The rest of our trip will be continued soon, but today I want to say Happy Veterans Day.....

Remember to thank the members of our military today for their service in protecting this beautiful country of ours....

God Bless our Troops and God Bless America!

hugs and love,

rue

An introduction....

Bear.....oh Bear.......
I want to introduce you. Are you awake?
Everybody, meet Mr. Teddy Bear.....
He's a little sleepy right now, but he said to say hi ;)

Somebody else is not happy with our new baby .....

but he's here to stay :)
More about Bear and where I went with Rich this weekend, coming soon.....

hugs and love,

rue

Been busy!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long, but there's a lot going on here at PB&J Cottage!

Before I get into that, I want to say thank you so much for all your sweet birthday wishes for Annie. It was an emotional day for me and Rich, since she's getting so grownup, but we had a wonderful dinner out that night as a family :)

So what has been going on here?? Well, the clean up after the floors being redone as well as putting everything back is taking longer than expected and we've started yet another project that has to be done before Christmas......

Yep! The fireplace. We took a good look at it one night, because our curiosity has been getting the best of us to see what was under all the paint. It turns out that the brick above the mantel really wasn't brick at all, but some sort of weird wallpaper. Underneath is a little bit of mold, so it's a good thing we're pulling it off!

Then I started chipping at the paint that was falling off the mantel.....
and we found really smooth brick and intricately carved brick, so we're taking it all off.
Oh and that's not all! We knew that the tile in the middle wasn't original and with great trepidation we decided to take one off....
Sure enough, it didn't belong!
Here's what it looked like a few days ago and we're still working at it.

As soon as we're finished I'll be sure and show you what all our hard work looks like.

In fact I'll be posting pictures of all our progress very soon, but I'm taking a small blogging break until next week. I'll let you know more about the break when I come back ;)

Before I end this post though, I just want to say how sorry I am for all those affected by the tragedy at Fort Hood yesterday. God Bless the soldiers, their families stationed there and all the victims of this horrific event.

Be back soon......

hugs and love,

rue