I wonder...

I wonder where a lot of my friends have gone.

I've found a few and a few have found me, but not as many as I had hoped. I don't know if they're still out there and I can't find them or they gave up long ago.

I know some did, but what about the others?

I'm still looking, but it's hard, because when I erased my old blog the blogroll went with it.

On that note.... 

From what I can tell, the blogroll is 'out' for the most part, but I'm not a trend setter (obviously), nor am I a fan of change as far as most things go, so I have one anyway. 

If you don't, that's fine, but how else do you let people know what blogs you enjoy? 

I've always thought it was interesting to see what people read and also find new blogs that you've never seen before, but what do I know?

So....

My old friends, 

If you happen to know of any other old friends that are still out there from the old days, please let me know. And if you're still in contact with the ones that left, please tell them I miss them. 

I really do.

And....

My new friends, 

If you have any favorites, please let me know about those too. It's nice to discover lovely blogs :)

Some of the old friends that I contacted haven't answered me back.

Are they mad at me?

I know I left suddenly with a large rant that didn't make any sense at the time, but I didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. 

I was hurt myself.

I'm truly sorry for that and I wish I could take it back.

Maybe they don't remember me. 

I understand. 

It's been a very long time.

Anyway,

I'll keep searching and hopefully one day find everyone that's still around.

In the meantime, 

thank you to those that are still here and are willing to come with me on this new journey.

It truly means a lot.

xo,

rue

My colorful little kitchen

I finally cleared out all the stuff from the projects I'd been working on (i.e. moved them into another room) and took some pictures of my kitchen. 

And by some, I mean A LOT. So, you might want to grab something to drink and a snack.

I'm not kidding.

Anywho....

 if you're a first time visitor, this is the view you'd see first, coming in from the dining room:

But before we go in and just to remind you, here's a picture of what it looked like when I first moved in:

Scary, huh?

You can see a couple more pictures and where my inspiration came from 'here.'

Anyway, come on in... 

You can see a peek of the den/guest room to the left, but we'll visit that room another day.

Here's where the cooking magic happens:

On the left is a view into the dining room and on the right is another peek of the den.

And that's Bubba coming in to see what mom is up to, on the bottom left. Or maybe to get into his Bubba nest, that's under the island.

Yes, my dog has a "nest" lol

I had to special order the floor tiles. They thought I was crazy when I asked for them, since they're usually used for schools now.

I collect old cookbooks, so they're scattered around here and there. There's actually a lot of good recipes in them.

And here is where most of the work happened:

(When I get the pictures off of my old computer, I'll share the pictures of the demo.)

The sink was found on ebay for only $175. 

The more amazing part is that it still had the original faucet.

I was ecstatic!

The above picture makes the cabinets look dark, but the picture below is more true to the colors. 

It's Behr paint in Melted Butter and Sagey. The wall color is Cotton Whisper.

Funny story... I went to buy paint for my bedroom the other day and I picked up a paint card with three yellows on it, so I could see which one would look better. One of them turned out to be the same yellow that's in the kitchen. I chose the lighter one called Whisper Yellow though. I figured Melted Butter in a bedroom was just wrong lol

The laminate was taken out and I had the white tile put in. You should have seen their faces when I asked for just plain white tile in my kitchen and on top of the fact that I wanted bullnose tile on the edges, "Like my grandmother had". These are the same people I bought the flooring from. 

Yes, I'm pretty sure they think I'm nuts.

Oh well, they wouldn't be the first ones.

You can see my 1960s percolator peeking out from under the cabinet. It makes great coffee!

My grandfather's baby bowl:

I love this butter dish, so I thought I'd give it a moment of fame.

I love my sink. 

Can you tell? 

Just in case you weren't sure, here's another picture of it:

HA!

Moving on....

Here's the view coming in from the downstairs or the side door:

Straight ahead is the original ironing board cabinet and the white thing to the right of it, is where the iron sleeps. 

And yes, I actually use them. Vintage linens have to be ironed.

Here's a closer look:

Pretty cute, huh?

Here's the breakfast nook that was so sad looking when I moved in:

 I lifted up the table cloth so you could see how I painted it.

Pretty racy, huh? ;)

When I was underneath the table painting, I went to paint the underside of the table and found this:

"Phooey to you"

My guess is a child, that lived in this home a long time ago, wasn't too happy with mom at some point lol

Anyway, I couldn't paint over it. So, there it stays :)

And there's my 1950s Hotpoint fridge:

Can you believe I found it on craigslist for only $100?

Neither could I.

If that man ever looks up what this fridge normally costs, I'm sure he'll faint.

It still works perfectly.

Lastly, here's where I keep my keys and below is a kitchen prayer.

"God bless my little kitchen; I love its every nook,

God bless me as I do my work~ wash pots, and pans, and cook.

May the meals that I prepare be seasoned from above,

With Thy great blessing and Thy grace, but most of all, Thy love.

As we partake of earthly food, Thy table before us spread,

We'll not forget to thank Thee Lord, who gives us daily bread.

So bless my little kitchen, God, and those who enter in,

May they find naught but joy and peace and happiness therein.

Amen"

I hope you enjoyed the tour :)

Until next time,

rue

Goodbye, hello, and spoiled rotten

Alas, after 12 years, my apple computer died.

It was a Friday afternoon when I was told I needed to upload a new server and when I did, the internet stopped working.

After a couple of hours of trying to fix it, I finally called Apple.

It turns out that my computer was so outdated that there was nothing they or I could do, except buy a new one. Sigh....

I have to say though, 12 years is a long life. I never had a PC that lasted more than 4 years, so of course I went and purchased another Apple product.

And here she is....

Isn't she pretty?

It's definitely going to take some getting used to, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

Now, because I'm sure my computer story probably bored you to tears, I'll give you a dash of cute in the form of Bubba, who is just a touch spoiled.

He made himself at home on top of a blanket that was folded on the daybed that I also use as a couch in my den, after one of my daughter Annie's friends had stayed the night.  

And what does a momma do? Cover him up with a throw of course.

It's not like I could tell him no. Look at that face!

Snug as a bug in a rug and very spoiled rotten :)

Until next time,

rue

The cozy blog

Today I spent some time looking up old blogs that I used to follow, so that I could re-add my favorites and I discovered something...

Blogging has changed! It was already in the process when I quit, but even more now.... 

a lot more! 

Quite a few of my old friends stopped blogging completely, like I did, which is sad, but as you well know, I can't really say anything.

I did it. 

I understand.

Some of the other blogs that I used to follow are now basically businesses. There are ads everywhere and they have over 50,000 followers or more. It's weird, because I remember when they had just a few hundred. Good for them! I'm glad to see people that I watched grow from a little place on the web to a major one. It's nice to know that they got what they wanted, but then again.... did they? I wonder, do they miss the connection they had with their readers?

I would.

Then there's the few blogs out there that haven't changed at all. Now those are the ones that make me feel all cozy. 

You know the ones... in fact, you'll find a few of them on my side bar ;)

Anyway, as I was catching up with one of my favorites, The Cottage Nest, written by Jen, I came across a post called 'The Good Old Days' and it really hit me... I missed logging on to see the coziness of my friend's personality coming through. I think it's a little sad that everything is so impersonal.

"Here's a chair that I redid"..... 

"Here's the kitchen that I redid".... 

"Here's this all white house"....

While we're on the subject, why is everything white? Is color against the law now? That trend started about 6 years ago (or more) and I was hoping it would be over by now. Not because it's not pretty sometimes, but because it's basically the same no matter what blog you click on. It's honestly like being on one long blog with different names. Now if that's who you really are, well then that's great! But don't fall into the latest trend just to get readers. That's never a good idea, trust me.

But I digress....

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with all of what I just mentioned, except for the fact that there's really no story to any of it anymore and there isn't any personality. Which I think is sad, because your home, your life, your blog should be a reflection of YOU, not what the latest trend is, unless you're a professional interior decorator.

And that my friends is what this blog will be. 

I decided it today. 

Not that I could be anything but me ;)

I can't promise that you'll never see an ad on this blog or that you'll see every waking moment of my life, but what you WILL see is a reflection of ME. I don't care if I have zero readers or a hundred, that will never change.

I miss the 'cozy blog' and I plan on this being one. I hope you enjoy it, but mostly I'm hoping it will encourage people to be themselves again. 

Nothing is more important than being who you really are and following your dreams.

Dreams are important after all :)

rue

P.S. 

What do these pictures have to do with anything? Nothing at all, but I thought you might enjoy my little rant more if there was something cute or pretty to look at ;)