The ache for home lives in all of us,

 the safe place where we can go as we are 

and not be questioned.
-Maya Angelou

 

I love that: the idea of home as a safe place where I am not questioned. Today I'm longing for such a place! (There's a huge back story that I'll skip here. You're glad for that, trust me.)

So. News! The bathroom in my little place is framed and ready for electrical, plumbing, walls and floors. And fixtures. Lighting. Tile, perhaps. Then mirrors, rugs, and decorations. In other words, I've barely begun. But it's so much fun working on this little place!

I am more excited about the cabin than ever. Seeing walls going up is thrilling! Everyone who's come over has looked at me with crazy eyes and asked, slowly and with feeling, whether I intended to put the bathroom in the middle of the cabin? I mean, did I realize that it's facing folks as they walk in the front door? That it slices the cabin into two separate living areas? That no one makes design decisions like this?

Yes. Why, yes, I did. Come on in.

This weekend the electrical goes to the cabin and in the cabin. I'll be moving in right away. (Having lived in Freeman House for three months without power or water, this will be a cake walk!) It will be a relief to be near everything: my chickens, the garden, the before-now-unattended cabin, and the peace and tranquility that come with being near the woods in the center of exactly nowhere.

Grateful today for my walls, however placed, and all the unquestioning quiet they afford....

Cottage Cabin Project #1: Lose That Loft!

There are elements of intrinsic beauty 

in the simplification of a house...
-Gustav Stickley

 

Work on the cabin is underway! Project Number One? Remove one of two lofts- the one over what will be the living room area- to take advantage of those 12-foot ceilings.

And what a difference that made!

With that extra loft cleared away, plans are to build the walls for the bathroom this week. It's taken me awhile to settle on an arrangement for the cabin. Non-negotiable? A full bathroom, a full kitchen (with my I-will-never-part-with-this-awesome-thing! oven), and room for my books. 

Some girls are all about the closets. Me? I'm all about the bookshelves. *wink*

I'm still trying to decide exactly where I want my windows- and what style/size. And where in the world am I going to stash a water heater? I'm working with 360 square feet, so options are limited. So many decisions! I wish I could throw open the doors and walk you through and collect the many suggestions and ideas. Part of me is concerned that once I cut holes in the outer wall, decide on room placement, etc.,, some shockingly brilliant and perfect idea will come along and then what will I do?

Wonderful, happy worries!

Your New Year is off to a pleasant start, right? Hope so.  -Brin

New Year's Day

 We will open the book. Its pages are blank.  

We are going to put words on them ourselves.  

The book is called Opportunity 

and its first chapter is New Year's Day.

- Edith Lovejoy Pierce

 

Here's to us. To open books. To blank pages. To the words we'll find, string together like twinkle lights, and light up the world.  Here's to Opportunity.

Happy New Year's Day. -Brin

Coming Soon! Magic: Turning Milk to Mozzarella

If you've been around for awhile, you may remember last year when I fell hard for homemade cheese. Hard. Remember this white farmhouse cheddar? Oh my goodness. To die for!

That's one reason why I'm excited to say that the kind and talented folks over at the New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. have asked me to be a guest blogger on their site as I chronicle my adventures making cheese at home. We're going to be conjuring up some fantastic mozzarella, and I'd love if you'd join me!

Stay tuned as details are soon to follow. Oh what fun, huh? -Brin

The Chickens Get New Digs

Although I'm a few weeks away from settling into the cabin, my chickens have settled into their new space nicely. Even the new chicks. (I ended up with 10- not the seven I originally thought- when a "missing" hen walked up one day with her three chicks in tow. It was thrilling.)

They've been such a joy to watch. There's nothing more relaxing than sitting out here in the evening with some tea and seeing them playing, scratching, and chasing bugs. So far it appears they like the new digs.

A few of them are apart of the family, now, and have been named... mostly the outlandish-looking ones. This beautiful brown, black, gray, and copper-colored fella is Benn Gleck (haha!), seen above on the left and below on the right. It's my favorite, followed by Bethsaida, Beulah, Beatrix, Beauregard and Baby Haskins.

 The fuzzy white one is Baby Haskins, the obvious offspring of Haskins, this rooster below who follows me around like a puppy but flies at all my visitors if they get too close. (Which I secretly love. Pet attack rooster? Oh heck yes!)

After all, you can't have too many bodyguards. Or friends. Even they're 10 inches tall and have feathers. A girl who lives in a cabin in the woods needs all the help she can get, eh?

Happy Monday, from Millicent, Miss Marple, the chickens and me. -Brin

Finally, A Home

She woke each morning with a glow of hope,
not because a new dream had been born,
but knowing the one she carried
inside her heart would last.

-Jodi Hills, An Imperfect Life

 

The cottage-cabin. It arrived early Friday morning, before the fog settled and the sun chased the drizzle away. The days I've hoped on for so long are here. It's time to turn this tiny, shell-of-a-building into a special little home.

I'm showing you the before because we will hardly recognize this little wooden thing when we're through. It will have heavy paned windows, reclaimed trim, a screen door, a porch, some paint, stone steps and walkway, fireplaces, and a garden with a very special front garden gate. Don't forget lots and lots of trailing roses and delicate herbs and sweetly-scented flowers. Just you wait. It's going to be a dream...

No. Wait. 

It already was.

Are you ready to get busy? We have a lot to do here! First off: the inside, and how to fit it all in. I've just downsized from 1,500 square feet to 356 square feet, after all. We're going to have to get creative if we're going to fit all our books, yarn, dishes, clothes, paintings, furniture, and animals in there!

Here's to the dreams we carry, lasting. -Brin

Delivery Date

I spoke with Mr. Cabin Guy today. The little wooden home is scheduled to be delivered December 17th! I drove away and smiled as I swatted at tears. Good, happy news. What a Christmas!

Time to get back to simplifying and packing. You wouldn't believe the scaling down that's happening over this way in the last few/next few days as I make room for new memories in a new home.

Are y'all ready for another house adventure? We'll have a lot of work to do!  -Brin

Seeds of Promise

One of my goals for this year was to buy a plant forever. By that I mean, buy or grow a plant once, and begin saving seeds in earnest. No more buying the same plants, year after year.

I got my dried, seeded herbs in their seed packets yesterday, all ready for spring planting. It was satisfying, somehow; a reminder that life will go on, despite what we're facing as a nation... and as a people who love God.

I am thankful, this year, that we have the promise of a hope and a future. A firm footing. A rock, an anchor, and a sure place. Those are seeds of promise I can save in my heart, at Thanksgiving and always.

Happy, happy, happy Thanksgiving. I hope yours is full of rest and contentment. -Brin

THANKFUL Sale

Just a note to say that all my hand-knitted House Helper cloths are on sale for 20% OFF through Friday. Enter the coupon code THANKFUL at checkout for your savings. Thank you!

Perfect Spot for a Cottage-Cabin

 

Think I've decided on just the spot for the cabin:

What do you think? 

-   -   -   -   -

Can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving?!  -Brin

Closed Doors and Beautiful Windows

                                                                      Source: nezaposlena.tumblr.com via Brin on Pinterest

I think about my little cabin/shed all the time. Although this is a tough time across the nations, and not an easy time to birth a dream, I remain hopeful. Perhaps closed doors will bring beautiful, open windows. 

Today I online shopped heirloom roses and plump love seats, dreaming of having both nearby. I can hardly wait for a place of my own again. I've felt so anchor-less since Freeman House, you know? Just thinking of owning a place again, however small and humble, brings such excitement and contentment to my heart.

(Stuff aside, we will see Your goodness in the land of the living, God.  Cabins, couches and roses are sweet, but Your love sustains and lasts. Thanks for understanding our need for a forever home... our need for constant beauty. Until You bring both, our hearts yearn....)

I guess where some find their home and their strength in people - loved ones, I suppose- mine has always come from a sense of place. I told God just now that I'm sorry, and need help driving the tent pegs of my heart at the feet of the unchangeable Man instead of changeable circumstances. I'm working on it. It's a process.

Over this past and coming week, I'm packing up the small house and awaiting the time I can call for the cabin. I'm still a few dollars short from paying the delivery fee, but am scheming and selling with the best of desperate girls everywhere. Where there's a will, there is always a way.

Here's to those closed doors, and our hope for beautiful windows instead. Love- Brin