Bird Nest Cottage

Knee Replacement Surgery Report...

This is Mr. Bird Nest reporting in on Gretchen's knee surgery she had at 8:00 a.m. this morning.  We had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to be at the hospital by 5:30 a.m.

The hospital she went to is St. Francis Women's Hospital in Greenville, SC.  They are terrific and if you have to be in a hospital this is a good place to be.

Now for the report......

__________ Gretchen survived and will be ready to shop on E-Bay as soon as she can get home on Thursday and drag her laptop to the bed.  She won't be able to drive for 8 weeks.

Mr. Bird Nest

Knee Replacement Surgery

   

My desk at Bird Nest Cottage is going to be empty for a few days.  Monday, March 30 I am having knee replacement surgery on my right knee.  I should be home by Thursday and I'll look forward to seeing what all of you have been up to then.

For anyone who is interested, Mr. Bird Nest will publish something Monday afternoon to let you know how this procedure goes.  I'm very sure that tomorrow will be a pain free day as long as I get to keep my morphine pump.  After physical therapy starts, your guess is as good as mine.  I'll have a private duty nurse, my wonderful DIL Noelle for two days.

Thanks for all your well wishes and prayers.  When I began blogging almost a year ago I never thought I would end up meeting so many wonderful friends with such caring hearts.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen

Game on...

 

We recently got a Cracker Barrel restaurant about 6 miles from our house.  Since they all have checkers games inside and outside, I decided we needed one for the screened porch. 

 

I used milk cases from my Daddy's dairy to place the checkerboard on.  The round of wood is something I bought at Lowe's or Home Depot so we could use the crates as tables.  I just painted on a checkerboard and we're good to go.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen

Antique Table...

  

Our youngest son Chris stopped by with our grandson Carson this morning.  Carson made a b-line for the toy guns we have and wanted to engage in a gun battle with his Papa or Dad. 

   

A week or so ago I helped Chris and Elizabeth rearrange the furniture in their living room.  Elizabeth had done a great job, I just fine-tuned a few things.

One of the things we did was to move the piece of furniture that was in the foyer.  I had the cherry drop leaf table above that I thought would look great there.  It would just need a couple of lamps and a big mirror over it.  The table came from my great uncle's house and I've had it for about 40 years. 

If space allows, I have a 2 sets of 2 chairs that would look great on either side of the table.  I don't know if they will have room for them but here they are.

 

 

I love that my boys appreciate antiques but especially when they are things from our family.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen

Award Program...

 

Mr. Bird Nest was off from work yesterday, so he was able to go with Noelle, Chloe and I to Nicholas' award program at school.    

This is Nicholas's best friend Jackson to the left and he and Nicholas won the top two readers award in their class.  I think they both read about 128 and 130 books.  Jackson beat Nicholas this time so Nicholas has to get reading more books.

I think Nicholas gets the reading bug from my side of the family.  My grandmother, mother and I were always reading.

 

Chloe just loves going to Nicholas school.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen

New Wreath...

 

I made this wreath to go on the front door but I have to wait for the little birds to be born and fly away.

 

I found these sweet little bird houses at Hobby Lobby with a gift card Noelle (DIL)  gave me for my birthday.  Elizabeth (DIL) gave me the little watering cans a couple of years ago for Mother's Day.

 

I think this will bring Spring to the front of the house.

 

This is my very rudimentary drawing of the banquet I want built.  I hope you can understand it.  The bench won't cover the whole wall, only about 3/4 of it.

 

This is the wall where it will go.  Mr. Bird Nest has his work cut out for him.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen

Looking for ideas...

 

I've been looking for some ideas to change a part of my kitchen and I think I've found it.  A banquet something like the one below, but bigger.

 

I'm going to give Noelle and Rick my black hutch and the banquet, table and chairs will go on that wall.  This is what I'll be designing the week I have to spend in the hospital.  The next week Mr. Bird Nest will be off to take care of me and hopefully build the bench and extras I come up with.

I also want a real girly chandelier for above the table.  If you see any, let me know.

What do you think?  I figure Mr. Bird Nest will be feeling all kinds of sorry for me and that's when I get what I want.  Yipee!  Shhhh.  Don't tell him that's how it works or I'll have to have the other knee replaced to change the kitchen cabinets.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen

I need to get a life...

 

I was gathering some things from my linen closet to take to Goodwill and found this yellow coverlet.  Being in an eternal state of boredom, I decided to make it into a tablecloth.

 

Of course it wasn't long enough to reach the floor.  I put it on the table and pinned it so that the length would be equal all around.

 

Here it is all done.  Yes, that boredom reaches way into the night and I hemmed it all by hand while I watched HGTV last night.

 

I moved one of my Bird Nest Cottage signs to the back door.  I'm working on a new wreath for the outside of the back door but I've got to get some supplies today.

 

I just can't have enough pretty colored Easter eggs.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen

Why it's called "Bird Nest Cottage"...

 

This happens every year and I shouldn't have been surprised when I saw the birds building their nest.  I was hoping to put something different on the door before they began building but oh well...

 

Now I have no choice but to wait until the eggs hatch. 

I used to have ferns hanging on the porch until a few years ago.  It got so crazy being dive bombed by birds building nests that I gave up on the hanging ferns.

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen

Blooming now in my yard...

 

As you can see my Confederate Jasmine is in bloom now on our arbor.  I cut it back a lot last year because it was so huge.

 

It should cover the entire arbor by the end of summer.

 

I moved these stones over here on Friday. 

 

This is Candy Tuft that I planted about 10 years ago.  It only blooms in the Spring.

 

On the right is our Yoshino Cherry tree and beside it is a Dwarf Magnolia.

Spring is my favorite time of year in the garden. 

Thanks for reading,

Gretchen