Domestic Goddess, I am not.

These days, the world seems populated with a great many lovely domestic goddess types. They take a number of forms--there are the mama goddesses who start making their children's sublime halloween costumes in August, the Martha Stewartish mavens with perfection to burn, the DIY set circled around their coffee tables handcrafted from old wooden canoes, the fabulous foodies like my good friend and all-time favorite cook over at Jaunty Gourmand, and certainly many more varieties I haven't even noticed yet. Hit the "Next Blog" button up in the header ribbon few times, and I'll bet you dollars to decorative doodads you'll hit upon a domestic blog in five clicks or less. They're a prolific demographic group.

Well, before we move any further, I feel it is my duty to admit it: domestic goddess I ain't. Now, domestic novice--that monicker smacks of accuracy. I bought my lovely little Bramble and Rose Cottage back in July 2009, moved in in mid-August and proceeded to do, well, very little for the next sixish months. Not for lack of interest, you understand, but time constraints and ignorance of almost all things fancy-pants left me just scratchin' the ol' noggin. Hell, I don't even subscribe to HGTV! Sure, I can embroider and bead, decorate a room if you give me a few months to mull it over, even cook a halfway decent meal, but delve much deeper into my well of domestic knowledge, and you'll hit bedrock in no time.

So today, with winter on the wane (Wane faster...FASTER!), my favorite pair of seasons--spring and summer--nearly visible on the horizon and a heap of motivation in my back pocket, I'm ready to get my education on and make Bramble and Rose Cottage the monument to domestic mastery it deserves to be. And, to hold my feet to the fire, I've decided to document my stories and projects here, so you can laugh at my follies and thrill at my victories. Let's hope there will be some victories!

Will I successfully grow anything other than weeds? Can I master my sewing machine once and for all, after a couple of half-hearted and failed attempts? What will happen if I try to mount a trellis on my front porch? How the flip do I light a grill without sacrificing an eyebrow? All this and more will be revealed in time as you follow my hijinks, live and lightly edited, from the Bramble and Rose.