Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: Cottage Farewell Edition

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life
Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

This has been the week of lasts.  We're moving on Saturday (IN TWO DAYS) and so we've been painfully aware of all we are leaving behind and ticking off the last things as they fly by.

The last birthday party.
The last family dinner.
The last sleepover.
The last lullabye of the tree frogs.
The last swing on the rope swing.
The last arrival of the daffodils.

And as the time narrows down, things like the last load of laundry, the last use of the oven (sob--oh Mrs. C!), the last stripping of the beds, the last changing of the toilet paper roll...

We're even mourning things we didn't even particularly like.  The last run to our particular grocery store.  The last trash night.  The last Saturday morning being awoken by the incessant barking of the dog down the street.  The last scrubbing of the toilets.

But, getting back to the point: this is the last time I will be blogging from The Cottage at Wits' End.  Next time we meet, I will be a vicar's wife, blogging from Wits' End Vicarage.  Who knows when that will even be?  We're planning on changing from our ancient PC to a laptop so who knows how long that transition will take?  Then there's getting things unpacked and the desk set up...sigh...the tasks ahead seem monumental.

I'm keeping the address here.  At least for now.  I don't think I have enough traffic to warrant tackling that just yet.  Maybe if things take off after we're settled and I finally have time to get back to my old blogging schedule, but for now I'll just leave things as they are for the most part.

That being said, I've managed to find some contentment midst the chaos and tears this week.

Pretty

With all the packing going on, pretty has been a little difficult to come by.  But this is the color of the bathroom in the new house.  I feel like I should be focusing on the cottage for this last PHFR and thus feel like I'm being a bit unfaithful by posting this.  But all of the changes we've made to the cottage have been or the benefit of our tenants and are just so hopelessly beige.  I can't in good conscience post pictures of all of the beige and try to pass them off as pretty.  It just isn't in me.

Happy

Meet Calvin's birthday present.  He turned 12 last week (and I didn't even create a blog post celebrating him or anything--bad Mommy) and got what he declared his best present ever, a guinea pig of his very own to moosh and pinch and love.  This is Isabella Poopenschmirtz.  If you know Phineas and Ferb, you probably know where her name comes from.  Calvin is a big, big fan (as you can probably tell).

Izzy is our second pig.  Redheaded Snippet already has her sweet Bessie Moo and the two of them have already provided hours of entertainment and affection.  They're becoming known as Messie Bessie and Dizzy Izzy.  Guinea pigs are surprisingly (at least to me) nice pets.  They're docile and playful (at least the ones we have) and are more interactive and social than other rodents.  The pigs will sit on your chest and nuzzle you or take a little nap and they seem to know their owners.  Rats, mice, hamsters or gerbils don't usually do that.  And maybe my kids are just really on the ball about cleaning their cages or something but the mess and smell really are negligible.  These pets are Mom Approved.

Funny

Calvin strikes again.  He got ANOTHER Lego kit for his birthday--Star Wars this time.  One of the things he loves doing is completely ignoring the instructions and striking out on his own, making modifications and improvements.  For example, this is Anakin's hair on Ben Kenobi.  And, apparently, that makes CHUCK NORRIS.

Real

Our house is looking more and more bare as we have the luxury of being able to move things into the vicarage whenever we can get a load together.  And the dining room has becoming the main transporter room.  What you see here is the last of the boxes waiting to go before we begin transporting furniture.  And poor Redheaded Snippet who still has to do homework even though her world is turning upside down.  This is right after she had finished sorting and packing her entire life into boxes.  Inexplicably, her room was the first to be finished.

Well, that's all from the Cottage.  Here's to years of happy blogging from the Vicarage!

Until then...