Five Things

How Fun! I've been tagged by The Litter Box House to write five unknown things about little old me:)I've been writing for quite a while now about this house remodel and cottage style but very rarely reveal much about the girl behind the scenes. I did write a couple of other entries about this One Woman last year (you can find them here and here), so I'm going to try to come up with five things that aren't even on those lists (if I can!). Here goes!

1)For a couple of years, I ran my own web design business. I taught myself HTML somewhere between the births of my last two children (born 15 months apart!). I was highly attracted to the design aspect of web design, but the coding end - and I only could create webpages by hand coding - was very tedious and everchanging. It didn't take long before I lost the time and desire to keep pace. After we moved into this house 3 1/2 years ago, I gave up the business and spent more time on a more hands on design project - this house! Here are some of my favorite site designs (these aren't the official sites, just the designs I created(... Coffee Shop, Primary School, and Photographer.

2)I had all three of my children in three completely different settings: a hospital, at home, and at a birth center(the birth center was just a quiet and comfy birthing suite in the back of our doctor's office). They were all textbook births, all three labors lasted less than six hours each, and somehow I was able to live through them all without pain meds and without strangling my dear husband. My last child was born at 1 am and by 7 am, hubs and baby and I were sitting down to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

3)For years, I felt it was very bizarre that someone named "Anita Stockman" worked at every Wal-Mart, K-mart, or any other big store I visited, for that matter. I was in my mid-twenties before I realized that it wasn't "Anita Stockman" that was being paged to aisle 12, but "I Need A Stockman on aisle 12". Lol, I made A's in school but can be very, *very* dense at times. Hmmm, and there was the time I tried to send several rolls of quarters up the air tube thing at the bank drive thru. I just couldn't understand why they-would-not-go-up! They started to go up...they tried to go up...then down they would come. Then I'd push the SEND button yet again. Finally, the teller, who sounded quite exasperated, told me that the sign says "NO ROLLED COINS!!!". How embarrassed I was when I had to then take those coins into the bank and face the teller in person. So, yeah, I'm a little ditzy, but I'm trying:)

4)I know most renovation bloggers don't talk about religion, but I would like to say that I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. My family and I spend time each week preparing for and attending five different Bible based discussions at our local place of worship called a Kingdom Hall. On the weekends, we participate in a door-to-door work where we share encouraging thoughts from the Bible with those in our town. We don't participate in holiday activities or get involved in political affairs, but we are very interested in what the Bible teaches about the times we're living in and what it says about the future. Incidentally, my not taking pain meds during childbirth has nothing to do with religious beliefs - that was strictly my personal choice at the time:)

5)And lastly, I'm in the process of creating and building up inventory for an online cottage shop that I have a goal of opening this summer. I'm not going to spill any details right now, but I'm having loads of fun creating my products so far. I've reserved a domain name, an Etsy shop, and a shop blog to keep everyone updated when I add new items. Anyone else thinking of opening a store anytime soon?

Well, that's it! I'm going to tag a few folks now...it was difficult choosing who to tag, there are so many lovely cottage and renovation blogs out there!

I tag Pink Cottage,
Prairie Rose House,
Folded Gingham,
The Old Painted Cottage,
and Under a Blue Moon.

Oh, by the way, it goes without saying that one thing about me is that I love thrifting. Everything you see in the photo above came from a thrift store (except the boots). The whimsical black and white wallpaper, the skirt, the green sweater...Yes, I'm a thrifter through and through!