1 year ago...

One year ago on June 29th, we officially became A-frame cottage owners.

Built in 1964, and purchased from the grandson of the original builders, it was filled with all sorts of cobwebs and pink shag carpeting, but we could see it still had loads of charm.

One of the best features is this amazing view of the morning sunrise and easy access to the lake.

Over this past year, my husband has worked so hard to restore the A-frame and give the whole place a brand new life.

As you know, I've also had fun filling it with all sorts of estate sale treasures.

In the fall, when most families were closing up their cottages, we decided to replace the furnace and water heater and try using it year-round.

Aside from a few weeks in February, we were able to enjoy it even in the winter months and had fun decorating it for Christmas.

Being only 40 minutes away from our home, we found ourselves there as much as possible.

Today, on our 1 year anniversary, my husband is at the cottage supervising the installation of all new slider doors/windows.

Mother Nature will finally stay outside where she belongs.  

Happy Anniversary, A-frame!

We've loved every minute of our year-round lakeside adventures!

We can't wait to see what our 2nd year anniversary has in store!

Here we go again!

Greetings! How is your week going? While I’ve been busy at work, my husband and girls have been purging and preparing for a garage sale which happens Friday and Saturday at our house.

 They've also managed to hit an estate sale or two.

I've been on the hunt for more blowmold planters and this swan was another fun rescue and she's now quite happy nestled near our tiny backyard pond.

 Gotta love a husband who isn't afraid to purchase swan blowmolds and dollhouse furniture without his wife.  Yes.  I do have more dollhouse furniture than most people have real furniture, but I can justify my collections because I do have several empty dollhouses.  hee hee.

 No lake time for us girls this weekend, but Chris will be supervising the installation of 3 new slider doors on the lake-side of the A-frame on Monday.  

Can't wait to have slider doors that seal properly and leave Mother Nature outside.

He'll also be painting the rest of the non-sliding doors at the Aframe this deep red.  Boy, I love my handy husband!

 Be sure to take time to play this weekend, friends.
 

Picker's sale...

I had hinted on my last post that Chris recently attended a picker's estate sale.

It was advertised as a sale in which gloves and flashlights were necessary.  Imagine 20 acres of outbuildings, rusty cars swallowed up by nature and random piles of items just rotting away. 

 In addition to this chaos, there was a house and scary basement packed with collections.  These were the items that came home with him.  

Halloween 

A few more pinecone serving pieces and a set of deer salt/pepper shakers for my growing collection.

A blowmold deer planter which is now happily living at the lake.

A darling squirrel planter which is also living at the lake.

Some vintage Christmas, including these flocked reindeer.

And a few more turkey planters to add to my thanksgiving decorations.

This dirty/dusty sale went down as one of Chris's favorite picks of all time.  I think he's ready to hang with Frank and Mike from American Picker's.  Have a great week, friends.  May you find a few treasures too.

A mountain of mulch and other updates...

It's been a very busy week for the girls. 

They've been attending the Families for International Adoption Heritage Camp during the day.

 Emma is working again as a teen volunteer in Josie's classroom.

Midweek, Chris had a mountain of mulch delivered to our house.

After getting home from work and camp, all four of us weeded flower beds and hauled a zillion wheelbarrows of mulch until it was so dark you couldn't see anymore.

The yard is nice and tidy again.

There was even enough mulch left over from our HUGE mountain to give Camp Toadstool and treehouse/garden shed some fresh mulch.

In other updates, Chris attended a picker's estate sale.  He found some neat things and if you follow me on Instagram, you've seen the sneak peek already.

In the mean time, I'll leave you with a couple of random pictures of the sorts of things that were abandoned on this property. Next week, I'll share more.  

  May your father's day weekend be filled with lots of adventures! 

XOXO