Betty's corner of the world: My Mom's Cottage

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My Mom's Cottage

My Mom was born in Mexico in 1919 ..She came to Texas when she was four years old where she was raised, went to school, met and married my Father...then they moved to California where we were raised ... She was a wonderful Mother to us five kids and was always so much fun to be around .. I think she enjoyed mothering since she was raised by her father since her Mother died when she was just a little girl .. about 6 years old .. She worked hard cooking, washing, and even rolled tortillas every single day for our family .. Back in those days our moms didn't drive so if we went anywhere we all got on the bus or the street car or 'walked' .. We never had babysitters because our mom took all five of us everywhere she went... There was really no such thing as "day care" ..pre-school ... nannies or any of those things ...not in our neighborhood anyway ..lol ..Our home was full of music and loud kids ..Our friends were always welcome and there was always plenty of food to feed anyone we brought home ... actually in those days we would go from house to house on our block with our friends and all of our mothers always feed us all... It was a great time and since we stayed close to home after school and on weekends us kids really did get to know and bond with our Moms ... Weekends were nice cuz you could stay in your PJ's and sit on the floor and watch TV all day ..or go out and play marbles, jacks, ride our bikes or skate..etc. ... we'd stay outside playing "statue maker" .."hide and seek" .. or "Mother My I" until it got dark... We really didn't join any after school sports or clubs because there really wasn't money to join those things ..and besides we had our brothers and sisters and our friends to play with .. For me and my siblings .."Those were the good ol' days" .. just as for my kids and grandkids .."these" are their good ol' days. for them. :^)
One thing I forgot to mention is that my Mom was such a huge help to us in high school because she was studying US History along with us .. It was a very exciting day for her when she became an "American citizen" .. She was so happy to be able to vote and always impressed how important that privilege is for us Americans .. She voted until she no longer really knew what she was voting for.

Here are a couple pictures of my Mom's little cottage that she lives in now ..it's right outside our back door ..and as you can see, it started out as a garage ...These pictures were taken a few years ago ..but I'm sorry to say it does not look this cute today ..but I'm working on it. ..It's actually all "pretend" .. the window pains are just 'tape' that I put on the plain glass .. The window box that you can hardly see is a 'chicken feeder' that I hung ..and the picket fences are just pieces of fence that I leaned on the house .. I love the purple flowers .. I bought a little bag of seeds from a little girl at a yard sale without knowing what they were ...I planted them .. and "waala"!!
The screen door is just a screen door and I wired the frilly things on it to make it look cutesy .. they are really plant hangers.
All that cute stuff has been stripped off to paint the house ..so it's very plain this year ..but like I said .."I'm working on it".

4 comments:

Tallulah's Antique ClosetApril 29, 2010 at 1:09 AM
Hi Betty, I think the garden in front of your mothers cottage looks just nice. Im sure in time you will get it back in shape. I think when I am out there working in the yard I still do enjoy it. And it not really work I luv it. Belive it or not the weeding also. Have a good day...Julian
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SueApril 29, 2010 at 5:56 AM
Betty, Enriqueta's little cottage is adorable. I know you say it doesn't look like this right now, but I bet you on well on your way to making it just as nice. Hope her health is okay now, and that you and your husband are enjoying beautiful weather this spring. It is finally nice here. I worked out in the yard pulling weeds and edging some of the beds yesterday. Still so much more to do- and no hubs to help this year! I hired a teenager to help yesterday and this should free me up. My back still aches, though!! LOL
hugs, Sue
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Manuela@A Cultivated NestApril 30, 2010 at 11:40 AM
Sounds like you had a lovely childhood! Your Mom's cottage garden looks just like a cottage garden should! I'm sure you'll be able to whip back into shape in no time. Cottage gardens are supposed to look disheveled!

Manuela
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Gwendolen ElaineJune 16, 2010 at 9:47 AM
What a lovely story.I always enjoy visiting your blog.I hope you and your family are having a wonderful summer:)
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BIRTHDAYS

January, February and March are our "birthday months" ... We have so many birthdays at this time of the year that it makes your head spin ... Although every single one of them is so important, we sometimes just can't celebrate each one like we should .. But we all know we are special and that we are loved by our big family.

There have been all kinds of parties and celebrations, some are big and some may be having pizza at our local pizza place ..but we always have fun.

One of the celebrations that stands out in our family memories is the one where my son-in-law invited about 20 people over for an early brunch since my dauther Jennifer works nights he knew she would be sleeping ... he had us all stand around her bed and outside their big picture window were everyone could look in and she could see everyone outside. ...Well, she woke up to a bunch of "fire crackers" that he lit outside the window... Oh yeah! ...It was not pretty when she jumped up out of a dead sleep ... Saying .."what the hell"!!!! along with a few other words #@%$$#&**##@!!!! .. especially when she raealized that there were 15 people standing around her bed.. she wanted to kill her dear hubby ..but she laughed and has never forgotten her 40th birthday ......So that tells you what kind of a family we have ... there's always something that is good for a laugh ...and it makes for great dinner stories.... So I am saying ....* HAPPY BIRTHDAY* to all of us who will be or has been celebrating a birthday .... I love you all ..and I am blessed. :^)

So that gives you an idea of what kind of a family we are ...

A Birthday Gift From Louie & Yoly

A GIFT FROM RITA

What a wonderful surprise I got today when the postman left a package at my door! .. I was having a regular day doing what I do ..then I found a package on my porch .. I had no idea who it was from .. then I saw that it was from my niece Rita Reade ..I can't tell you how thrilled I was shen I saw what she had sent me ..."A beautiful bag full of trinkets" ....I just love every single thing in the bag and the bag is a treasure in itself .. and guess what? .. It's not even my birthday!... I don't think I've ever gotten a gift in the mail for no reason at all .. and don't you just love getting packages in the mail? .. Thank you soo much Rita for all the beautiful things and for making my day soo special... I love you ... Hugz ...Tia Betty

Yard sale weekend

Last Saturday was a city wide yard sale in a near by beach town called Morro Bay ...it's about a 15 minute drive from our town ...I went with two of my daughters, Julie and Jennifer. ..They picked me up at 6:30 am ...we wanted to be the "early birds" so we could get the best "prizes" ..of course everyone else had the same idea ... Tina, our oldest daughter also followed in her car with cousin Pam ... we had to take two cars to have enough room for our treasures ... good thing we did take two cars because they were both 'packed' when we came home ... It was such a fun day. One of the things I bought was a service for 12 set of Spring looking dishes .. but when I put them on my table they just 'didn't work for me' ..so Tina is going to try to sell them at her yard sale next weekend.... You can't win them all.