Aww, i love these little building follies. ANd your hydrangeas. My daughters' yoga teacher just bought me a vase full of those and I love them!

And, of course, Ernie.

Ernie is a cutie. Love your Limelights. I planted some about three years ago and they are huge now too. I love their smell and that they bloom when not a lot of other things are blooming.

What an adorable house.

Awww Ernie...so cute. Your floor looks wonderful!

It looks like a great project - but I think you should call it the doghouse in deference to Ernie.

I remember the limelights! wow they have grown. And Ernie is soooo cute!

What a great exercise space and Ernie is adorable!

I'm so sorry for the loss of your Bassets this year. Ernie is so darn cut. I'm sure he's thinking it's his play house. Too cute. It's a great space!

Oh be still my heart!!! Ernie!!! I have ALWAYS wanted a Corgi Oh, yeah. The cottage. It's perfect. Just perfect. Put in a ballet barre for me, ok? My limelights went ca-razy this year. How are the chickens?

Love the cottage, the flowers, and extra-love Ernie!!! What a great space and what an adorable helper!

Looks fabulous, and I would love a space like that.

Ernie is so adorable. Sorry for the loss of your other dogs.

jipdee...........it looks like paradise. What a wonderful
escape to haven......right in your back yard.
Your helpers are cute cute cute........both of them and it
is looking like a very professional job too.
Looking forward to the finished results.

Your cottage is wonderful, and your dog a cutie. Shortly after buying this house, I drove in one afternoon while DH and a friend were settled back watching football in my office. Friend said, where'd the dog come from, and I asked, what dog. He said the one that followed you down the driveway....

I hadn't seen it. I opened the garage door and there sat a patient Corgi, wanting in. In it came, just like it had been here before, made itself quite comfortable, eventually went to the kitchen sink and asked for a drink. It had a phone # on the collar so we didn't have it long, owners were a few blocks away and didn't know the previous owner of this house...

A very social, easy dog :)

Ernie is the cutest! Jealous of your H. Limelights- my one has done nothing. I need to move it! You have inspired me, though.

The cottage is coming along beautifully. Fun, fun, fun. So happy everything is working out so well!

Did I mention how adorable Ernie is? ;)

I love the cottage and Ernie! They are both darling! You have made a wonderful retreat for yourself (and Ernie)... Enjoy it!

What a wonderful space, and the cutest dog! I think it will become Ernie's doghouse no matter what else you do in there.

What a gorgeous space - all bright and airy but also tucked back in there with all the luscious landscaping. So lovely. And Ernie is totally adorable! (My sister and parents have Corgis - they are fabulous dogs, smart AND sweet.)

It's going to be fantastic!

Just wanted to say I've had several Corgis in my life....they are just the best. A big dog personality in a little dog body. :)

Two of my very favorite things: Cottages and Puppies! Love what you've done with your cottage. Gosh, I'd love to have one just like it for a guest house! The porch and Limelights help to make it so pretty and welcoming. You'll have to post pics when you've new workout room is finished.
As for Ernie, he is absolutely adorable! What a sweet face!
Lynn

Thanks so much for the kind comments and letting me share this project, which I'm thrilled about! Also for letting me share Ernie with you guys, he's my little ray of sunshine. I couldn't ask for a happier little guy, he has a great personality. It's hard to not look at that face and smile.

This summer was a little hard for me, I had a water sport accident memorial day at the lake. I was driving our ski nautique, pulling my DH on a wake board. The rope snapped back, wrapped up around the wake board tower. It then flew back under it and the end of the handle hit me in the head with an estimated speed of 60 mph. It opened up a 3 inch gash on my forehead, caused a massive counter coupe concussion, very slight brain damage and it damaged my hearing. I've been to many specialists and they have adopted a wait and see attitude on my hearing for 6 months, it could regain a new normal. I have a 40% loss in my left ear and a 90% loss in my right, which drives me crazy daily. Then not long after that happened we lost our last basset, my buddy who did everything with me. It was a trying time and a bit of a road to even getting back to being able to exercise again. Except for the hearing loss, a little bit of balance problems, a little memory problems and one rocking scar that I need to have removed ... I am doing much better now though. I'm back to lifting and running, being healthy and I'm thrilled to get a dedicated gym together and get all this stuff out of my house! *LOL*

Okay the space .. I had to make some concessions to make the gym very functional. First I had to keep the freezer out here .. blah, but I like the extra space it affords me in my fridge freezer. I wanted my desk in front of the windows, but it just wouldn't work. I'd rather have plenty of room so I don't need to move the bench at all. I have another olympic bar and set of plates on order, which I'm thrilled about, I did not have room for two sets in the house. No more removing plates if I want to work back to back. I need to get two more sets of the mat blocks too to go another course around the bench and under the lat machine. I need to do some painting, primping and decorating. I had to face my desk against the wall, but remembered I had my fun map in storage so I pulled it out. That is my $5 teacher deck for an estate auction, the chair was from another auction. I splurged on a little drink cooler, nice to have cold drinks at hand.

I had my DH reinforce the rafters in front of the back door so my pull up bar can go in there. Which hopefully we can get to this week. So it's not totally finished, but my gym is open for use and I can't wait to work out in the morning! :)

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This post was edited by Zipdee1 on Sun, Sep 22, 13 at 19:32

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What a space! That looks so good and an amazing place to workout. I wouldn't be able to wait to get in there either. I am sorry to learn of your accident and the loss of your dog. Such a tough summer. I am wishing you well in your recovery and little Ernie looks as though he will be a great partner in your healing. And again your cottage looks like an amazing retreat!

Thanks Louisianapurchase! Ernie and I went out to the gym this morning, it is so, so nice to have plenty of room. I was working out in a space about half this size and had to move things every time I changed exercise or when I wanted to get the treadmill out. It's so nice to be able to set up and just roll through the work out. While I would have loved to have my desk in front of the windows, the sacrifice was worth it. Now I can set up and work out on both sides of the bench when doing alternating sets. I love the two walls of mirrors too. And everything is organized, what a dream!

Doing step ups on one side :
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Then walk around to do split squats on the other, no having to move anything or change weights. Once I have the other bar it will work even better.

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Now Ernie's take on this. He says he can't understand why mom is keeping all her stuff in his Corgi Cottage, but if it makes her happy he is willing to share.

As far as the weight lifting stuff, it was very boring. First she put me in puppy jail, something about her being tripped or me getting squished .. she is silly like that. I tried to remind her how fast I can run and dodge .. but what ever. So I used this time to recharge my batteries.

Now I don't understand the whole cardio thing either .. she could just chase me, then we both would be having fun! On the plus side though .. when she got on the eliptical I was sprung from jail. I found her nasty lifting gloves and had my way with them, well until she saw me! It was almost as good as rolling dead worms outside. :)

What a fabulous work out space! Love everything about it and can't wait to show my DH. We're planning a move and one of the things we are both looking forward to is a larger home gym with a HIGH ceiling. Our dog loves to be in the gym, too. And when we dog-sit my brother's Golden, DH says she is his rep counter....... she can't get past 1, but he keeps working with her !! She's blonde ;-) Ernie just melts my heart.

Thanks Dlm! We ended up rehoming the chickens. We bought a cabin cruiser and started spending almost our whole summers at the lake. We keep it and our ski boat at a marina up there. The dogs go with us, but I was having to pay a person to come in feed the chickens and collect the eggs, which they were keeping. I had a chance to rehome them to a really good home. They lady lets them free range in a protected area during the day and she takes good care of them. I still get emailed chicken updates from her and they are still laying and doing well. *lol*

That's funny about your brothers Golden! I can't have our adult Aussies in the gym with me. If I am doing anything they deem dangerous, lifting, running on the dread treadmill, etc. They try to 'save' me .. which could include being tackled or pulled off a machine. They are nuts, but very loving. In their own way they care very much about me. I am obviously not competent to know what's in my best interest! *LOL* So for everyone's safety they stay out when I'm working out. Now I think Ernie will be fine once he grows up, he just has way too much puppy energy! There is fun to be had and games to be play. :)

Oh do I ever love your space! Of course I would use it as a quilting room, lol. I'm sorry to hear of your accident. Dh used to slalom competitively, and one time the rope broke when he was stretched out going around a bouy, holding the rope handle with one hand. He took a nasty fall and messed up his shoulder. Rope breaks are rare but dangerous. I hope your hearing continues to recover.

Your corgi is a cutie. I love that face.

Thanks for the well wishes Marti8a. I'm jealous of your quilting skills, would love to be able to do that!

What a bad time for the rope to snap on your DH, there is so much stress on your shoulders going in and out of the turns. I hope it healed up well for him, shoulder injuries can be bear to get healed completely.

With my injury, I was just very unlucky. Everything lined up perfectly in the stars that day for it to happen it seems. My DH used to compete slaloming too, for being a big guy he's still very graceful in the course. The girls and I were teaching him how to wake board, we are a lot smaller and the boat literally pops us right up out of the water. He's 6'3 and weights 230lbs (that is him in the pic with Ernie). He couldn't get up on the board the same way we did, the rope was under tremendous load between him being large and the pulling power of the ski nautique. The rope popped lose from his hands. It ricocheted back into the boat, hit the tower picking up steam, then hit me hard in the left frontal lobe. We had taken safety measures, but it was a fluke how it happened. I was just lucky it didn't take out an eye, my nose, my teeth or hit me in a less thick part of my skull.

You were indeed lucky. My dh's shoulder has never been the same. He should have gone to the dr at the time but he thought it would get better on his own. By the time he went there wasn't a lot that could be done. It damaged his rotator cuff and pinched a nerve so that now, when he holds his arm up for very long, his hand goes numb.

My dh is 6'4" and had to eat a lot of water before the boat could pull him out on slalom. At least our boat.

Wow zipdee - that is a horrific story and beyond lucky that it wasn't far more serious, although you've certainly had enough to deal with.

Just wanted to share one of my pins with you - as I said, Corgis have always been a love of mine.... along with chickens and miniature goats!

Here is a link that might be useful: Working Corgi

Marti8a, I was wondering if it was a rotator cuff injury, they are hard to get healed right under the best circumstances. I'm sorry to hear you DH still has problems with it. Dave also looks like he is drowning when he first comes up on the ski. It is very different how I have to drive pulling him verse the girls.

DLM, that is an awesome picture! :) Add in miniature donkeys and we could be sisters. I've always wanted a Corgi too. Ernie is a ball of energy, but very smart, sweet and really loving.

I was going to wait to get a Corgi, we still have two adult Aussies. My DH searched the whole South East to find a breeder that had one available, there are long waiting lists. He finally found a breeder that had someone back out when the litter was born. They sent along a picture and it was love at first sight! :)

Ernie was all of four pounds when I got him. This is us on the long car ride home.