Nelson's Country Store

I have this way cool store in which I sell gifts and home decor that caters to those who love country things.
Every time I step into it I am greeted with the smell of wonderful scented candles and that musty smell of antique walls and furniture.
I play music (which I sell) that is reminiscent of all different era's that bring back pleasant memories.
The CD's play in an antique reproduction stereo that sits near the old glass case in the center of the store which has atop it an old country register and baskets of sweets.
Candles are lit and lamps are aglow.
In holidays and winter we hand out warmed cider spiced from my own recipe.
Behind the front store is another old house that we have converted to feel just like an old farm house kitchen.
Farmers tables sit in the middle next to an old wood burning cook stove.
Jams and jellies and mustards made by the amish are for sale on the country cupboard.
Chickens abound in every shape and size.
Dishes and baskets and throws and quilts are everywhere.
The next room over is a victorian/cottage space.
It is warm and bright with vibrant florals and fluffy feminine things for those less rustic in their tastes.
Dolls and tea sets and roses and lace are only a few of the delicates.
On certain days you will find Cindy, the neighborhood beauty asleep on the white antique bed on top of the intricate floral quilts.
But lest you misunderstand....Cindy is the neighborhood cat.
A gray fluff ball whom everyone adores.
Moving to the next room I create a very different atmosphere with spicy colored walls and rich colored linens for any table setting.
All sorts of placemats and napkins and towels plus rugs and curtains.
It has a very warm and earthy feel. Golds and reds dominate.
The last room of this house is the bathroom which houses our best seller of soaps and lotions that are made from (get this) goats milk that is gotten from the goats this woman raises on her property.
It is a fragrant and sweet little space.
On the whole, this store of mine is a creation that makes you feel things.
This is what I hoped to create.
It is what I enjoy about other stores I have been to.
I want an experience.
I want to give others an experience in feeling harbored, parented, serene, and most of all leaving with a gift in hand that will please them and myself.
What better way to do all this than to take them back to the sights, smells, and sounds of a home they remember.
Vanilla's and apples and cinnamon spice.
Melancholy melodies and jumpy little jives.
Creaky wooden floors and flames in the stove.
No matter how young or old the person who enters those doors there is not a one who does not relate somehow to something within.
Some traditions just won't die.
So, I feel good to have contributed something.
The responsiblity is more than I would have dreamed but I do it.
I cannot drop the ball.
I miss my freedom and I'm tired a lot but this is the job that I have been given to do. I am isolated, ironically.
Meet so many people and yet feel so apart.
Many envy what I do and ask me "Isn't this so much fun for you?".
I wish it was more.
I have many, many good days but there are so many more that are not.
Fulfilled dreams do not a happiness make in all cases.
And ooh gosh does it make me angry when a smart/snide person will occasionally haggle with me on prices like they were poor and I was rich when we are both neither and we both know it.
Money? I haven't made any yet.
Not to keep.
It all goes back into product and debt.
I will not see any for a few years I imagine.
But meanwhile, Nelson's country store is here on Main st Corvallis.
Something I did.
(I) did it.
And its for you.
With love from Rebecca Nelson