Renovation Update: Bay Restoration Fund Act

Baby steps people.  We are finally getting started on our journey towards our home renovation!

We received word that we were approved by the St. Mary's County Health Department for the Bay Restoration Funding Grant. There are still a couple of documents that need to be sent in for review, such as tax return info from last year, but this is still a great first stepping stone! Once everything is in order, we will be able to get started on installing a new septic and mound system.

Based on our income from 2012, they will determine how much of the Grant funding we are eligible to receive. If collectively we've made less than $300,000 in 2012 alone, we are eligible for 100% of the Grant funding. Let's just say, we are certainly going to receive the full 100% of the Grant.

From there, we get to choose from a list of five Advanced Treatment Unit (ATU) Vendors to determine what the best style of tank is for our home. Then we can finally call our excavator [which is still yet to be decided] and get to work. I don't want to jinx myself, but I may be seeing light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's just a glimmer!

A Quick DIY

A perk of having a super old house? Super old and durable bushes, plants and trees! Especially when it's a beautiful, big lavender bush:

I know I shared this photo before/recently, but it's just so pretty!

After blooming all summer long, I noticed that the lavender was starting to fade, so I decided to do a quick DIY project. I simply cut several handfuls of the calming scented blossom, gathered them into manageable quantities, and then tied them up with some ribbon I had around the house.

And voila! A lovely little air-freshener to hang around the bedroom, or whichever room you use to relax. I highly recommend planting a lavender bush if you ever get the opportunity.

Independence Day at the PBC

Did everyone have a happy and healthy Fourth of July? We sure did! It was certainly more low-key than years past, but sometimes the impromptu visits from family and friends and quiet evenings at home are the most memorable.

Here are some photos from our Independence Day at the Point Breeze Cottage and how we decided to celebrate our freedom and the land that we love.

During a last minute search for a red, white, and blue scarf for little Harper, all I could come up with was this red and white polka dot ensemble. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it worked! 

I never thought I'd be a dog lover, but this little beagle stole my heart!

This was the best "posed" shot I could get of her with the American flag...

Bubba's older sister [who recently welcomed twin boys into the world] brought her family down to relax at PBC for the holiday. Proud big brother and sister, Jake and Nora, decided to take a dip in the Potomac River under the watchful eye of Uncle Bubba.

Of course, Harper didn't want to let them out of her sight either...

My favorite picture from the weekend. Little Miss Nora, cuddling up with Uncle Bubba for some downtime and a Princess movie in between swimming, dinner, a walk around the neighborhood, and fireworks!

Does she look like Droopy here or what?! Harper was over it all by the end of the day.

I wish I had of captured more pictures to remember what a nice and relaxing day we had, but these will have to do. Sometimes it's better to live in the moment and take a mental photo rather than keeping a camera in  your face all day. :)

I hope everyone out there had a great Independence Day too!

We Have Wildflowers!

I posted last week to let you all know that my wildflower garden was finally starting to bloom, even if it was only a couple of flowers. Well, we now have a sea of beautiful wildflowers! I was so excited when I got home, I begged Bubba to weed-eat the yard so it would be clean enough for me to take a couple of photos. Lucky for me, it needed to be done anyway, so Bubba obliged and I waited patiently with my camera. Of course the clouds rolled in and the sun disappeared by the time I made my way to the backyard, so the photos aren't perfect, but you can certainly see the lovely pops of color!

Here is a quick look back at the journey of our wildflower garden:

We went from this hideous shed...

...to this open patch of dirt/land...

...to a framed-in bed of dirt...

...add in the DIY birdbath and spread some wildflower seed...

...and then you wait. And wait. And wait...and then one hot day, out of the blue, it finally blossoms!

Yayyyy! There aren't many clean lines or too much structure with this flowerbed, but I'm still so happy with it!! It's not completely filled in and lush yet, but it's everything I was expecting: low-maintenance and so pretty.

Birthday Bliss

Today is one of my favorite days of the year, my birthday!! I've been pampering myself and relaxing, but I did want to share a couple pictures I've taken in the past couple of days, just because they're pretty. Enjoy!

While trimming back my rose bushes a couple days ago, I found a beautiful little birds nest with these three eggs.

My sweet beagle, Harper, about a year and four months old, helping with yard work.

The lavender bush was in full bloom and filled with bumblebees.

Another view of the lavender bush.

Starting to get the porch ready for the 4th of July!

Patience is a Virtue: Wildflowers

I'm not sure if it was the two tornadoes and heavy rains and the insane humidity and heat we've been having, but something has finally spurred my Wildflower Garden to life. Just when I was starting to think that my idea for a low maintenance flower bed was going to peak as a weedy mess, I spotted them. A few lone blossoms in a sea of green!

In case you missed it, an old shed in the backyard crumpled and left quite a mess. We cleaned the area up and decided to block it off and create some low maintenance curb appeal. Considering the shed was hideous and once it was gone, there was still a hideous open spot of dirt, anything would would be a step up. A couple of bags of wildflower mix and several weeks of watering and rain later, we finally have our first signs of color!

Keep the Curb Appeal Coming...

Renovation Status Update: We are making extremely slow progress with the County and the bank(s). {at least it's something though...} In July we will be applying for a grant that St. Mary's County is offering to residents in critical areas {check} for a new innovative sand septic system. After speaking with a couple Health Department officials, this seems to be the route we need to take.

We've also researched all of our options for financing this project. Now we have to decide who we are going to go with {offering the best rates}, and how soon we can get started.

Next on my check list is to call Dave Decker Plans LLC and schedule an appointment for him to come out to the cottage and draw up our addition {or second story} plans.

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Ok, so in the mean time, we're working on boosting our curb appeal. Bubba took the initiative to freshen up our fence in the front yard with a fresh coat of white paint {pictures to come soon}, and it looks GREAT! That was one job I was MORE than willing to hand over to him. I'm all about painting inside the house, but a white picket fence? I'll leave that to Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, or in this case, Bubba Hill!

More up my alley was the flower basket I added to the gate of the fence. I found this cute little metal basket with a flat back and knew it would be perfect for the fence. It just needed a little bit of spray paint and a couple of screws. 

Oh, and of course some flowers too! I grabbed a couple buy one-get one portulaca's from a local flower and vegetable vendor, Betty Russell in Clements, and the project was complete. It turned out so cute, now if only I could get the flowers to bloom out a little more...

I threw a couple of the extra portulaca's in a pot and placed them on stump by our "driveway". 

Waterspout UPDATE: Actually a Tornado!

Ok, so you know how I told you that we here at PBC survived another waterspout? I was wrong, we survived a TORNADO!! I knew it felt awfully scary...

The National Weather Service (NWS) ruled that the storm we experienced on the night of June 10, 2013 was in fact an EF-0 tornado. I've never really understood the reasoning behind using a zero for rankings when it has no value, but I digress...that's an entirely different conversation. Anyway, they declared that it was actually a tornado and part of their decision to name it as such was because of the damage further up the street where a trampoline was shot into the air and became lodged in the top of a tree. You can see a really cool map and read all about this incident at the National Weather Service Website.

And here is a picture I was able to snap of the trampoline dangling from the tip-top of the tree!

Oh and don't forget the Derecho that came through last Thursday, June 14, 2013...a report I saw on the Southern Maryland Weather facebook page stated that the NWS confirmed that as the storm came through Coltons Point, it produced a waterspout that then formed ANOTHER tornado once it reached land. Two tornado's within a four day time frame?! Crazy.

I'm sure it doesn't seem crazy, or even newsworthy, to the residents of Oklahoma or Texas, but we live in Maryland people...We rarely get tornado's, let alone two within one week in the same neighborhood. We were lucky in the fact that we didn't sustain any serious damage, but our neighbors up the street weren't so lucky. They had a tree from the neighbors yard on their other side completely uproot and land on the roof of their house. Everyone was fine, but it left quite a mess! Again, these were EF-0's, so they weren't extremely serious, but I'm still thankful to the Big Guy for keeping us and our home safe. Check out some of the damage from tornado #2 in CP:

I will try and get a picture of the tree on the roof and update once I do!!


***Update! Here is the picture of the neighbors with a tree on their roof:

PBC Survives Another Waterspout

We were expecting some pretty heavy rains yesterday evening here in Southern Maryland, and boy did we get them. Around 8:30pm the thick clouds finally gave way and drenched Colton's Point. Just as I was making my way to the bedroom to read I asked Bubba to mute the TV because it was the loudest rain I'd ever heard in my life. And then it sounded like the porch was going to rip off, and I'm pretty sure the house was shaking/rattling. We flipped on the local news stations and saw that we had a tornado watch in full effect. I got nervous and wanted to head to the guest room in the center of the house, but withing minutes the howling and rattling stopped and the rain slowed down.

We never lost power or had any other cause for concern. But then I got a couple of worried text messages and phone calls and started to wonder if the rest of the neighborhood had seen something we didn't. Luckily, it wasn't much, and there was very minimal damage, but it appears that a waterspout did make it's way down the top half of Point Breeze Rd. and across the Point onto Beach Rd. You can read about it on the local fire departments website, HERE.

I quickly snapped a few pictures as I left for work this morning:

Beach Rd.

Top of Point Breeze Rd.

Top of Point Breeze Rd. (if you head straight ahead in this photo, you'll be on beach Rd.)

Top of Point Breeze Rd.

Top of Point Breeze Rd.

The only damage we sustained: My garden decor/bird, who had been sitting on my porch railing, fell to the ground.  Honestly, I think this so-called spout shot off into the River once it got down in front of our house, so we were pretty lucky!

Cottage Improvement Chronicles: Flower Garden UPDATE

A little less than a month ago, I shared the story of our "Dead Shed" with you, as well as our plans for the revitalization of the spot where it lived. To make a long story short, we have an UGLY spot in our backyard that needs to be made pretty. Easy enough, right? Right...

So, we've cleared the spot, tilled it up, bordered it with old bricks and drift wood, planted wild flower seed, and are waiting not-so-patiently for the first signs of "bloomage". In the meantime, I decided that it needed just a little something else to make it a true oasis for the wildlife in our backyard. A bird bath! Yep, that's what it needed, it would add height to the space and give all the wandering birds a place to cool down.

After a little browsing, I realized that a decent bird bath is not cheap. And then it hit me, why would I buy a new bird bath, when everything else in the garden was a DIY project constructed out of things and materials that we already had? I decided I'd make my own bird bath...While perusing Pinterest one day, I stumbled across the cutest idea for a home made bird bath from Eclectically Vintage...

I mean, seriously, how adorable is this set up?! It got my juices flowing, and I rummaged through our cluttered garage in search of an old step ladder, the bottom pieces of a couple flower pots, and some smooth stones.

Stones? Check...we use to collect sea glass and unique rocks from the beach in a basket on the front porch, and I had a baggie of store-bought stone left-over from my boot rack project a couple months ago.

Flower Pot Holders (I'm sure there is a real name for these things, and I just don't know it...)? Check! I couldn't believe my luck, something told me to peak under the back deck and there sat two perfectly sized plates from pots in a pretty sea-foam green and your typical stone color. Thank you, former landlord...

Old Step Ladder? Negative. But I did find an old work bench, a weather worn stump, a big plastic barrel that I bought last year from Lowes that was filled with flowers, and a vintage plant stand left by the landlord that I had spray painted and kept on the porch. Not as rustic or cute as the step ladder, but hey, it all worked for me!

After some serious placement and replacement of all the pieces, I finally found a set-up that I was satisfied with. I even found a cute little bird decor piece from a yard sale to complete the DIY project. It's certainly not as cute as the pictures and inspiration I found on Pinterest, but I'm REALLY hoping that once the wild flowers come up it will look nice and give the birds a save haven.

Curb Appeal Pt.II

I just wanted to share a few more pictures of the cottage's curb appeal this year. The weather has finally started to warm up, and everything is in full bloom!

I'm always sharing pictures from the front of the house, so I thought I'd switch it up a bit.