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You are here: Home / Archives for Claudia

Where oh Where is my Wallpaper?

May 29, 2026 at 9:22 am by Claudia

I took this picture to contrast the size of Rosie, my smallest doll in height, with the scale of the 1:12 dollhouse. I find scale fascinating. Alongside my Blythes, Rosie is really petite. (They’re all 1:6 scale.) But stick her in the dollhouse and she’s huge!

Speaking of the dollhouse, the darned wallpaper has still not moved from the Washington, DC post office. Why am I not surprised that this particular post office is incredibly inefficient? The first package hasn’t moved either. It’s been there for almost 2 weeks. For heaven’s sake, I could have driven to Washington DC, picked it up from the seller, and driven back in the same day! This is ridiculous and maddening. As much as I love the two patterns I ordered, I’m going to look again at what other sellers are offering and maybe order something else. Yesterday, because I needed something to do, I put two kits that I had on hand together. One is a demilune table and putting it together was easy as pie. Then I assembled a four poster bed and it turned out just fine, as well. I considered using it the Beacon Hill bedroom, but it’s really, really big and it will overwhelm everything in that room. Back to the wrought iron bed I already have on hand. (The kits I mention are from House of Miniatures. I have a number of them because generous readers of the blog sent them to me over the years. I’m trying to use them as much as possible in the Beacon Hill.)

A bit blurry because of the early morning light, but that’s the table. You won’t really see it because it will be behind the sofa. I’ll have a plant or a vase of flowers on it

I mowed the lilac side of the lawn on Wednesday and I’m going to mow the rest of the front lawn today. Or at least, I’m going to try! It’s fairly cool out there so it’s a good day to tackle it.

Maybe we should have a bet going as to when that wallpaper might arrive…

Given some reviews I’ve read, I’m starting to suspect the Etsy shop owner might create the label with tracking number at home, but takes several days to drop it off at the post office. Two packages in a row with the same problem seems highly suspect.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

 

 

Filed Under: Beacon Hill Dollhouse 12 Comments

Checking In on a Wednesday

May 27, 2026 at 8:47 am by Claudia

The clematis is about to bloom like crazy. Over the years, it has moved from its place in front of the boxwoods and is now weaving its way in and out of the boxwoods. This shot is from my perch on the porch, looking down.

Looking toward the front lawn:

You can see all the buds coming up from within the boxwoods. More buds than I can ever remember seeing!

I yanked lots of poison ivy yesterday. The clematis is  lush this year, as is the poison ivy – also more than I can remember seeing. It’s impossible to get to all of it, of course, but I managed to eliminate quite a bit. Then I pruned the brambles, and the picker bushes, and carted lots of buckets of cut branches to the pile by the shed. Lots of chores were attended to inside the house, as well.

(Don’t worry, I’m careful with poison ivy: I have special gloves and special pruners and they are kept in a box marked “Poison Ivy.”)

The wallpaper package still shows as “not received” by the Washington DC post office. I think this particular facility has its problems. It seems to take them a couple of days to actually scan the label. I’m used to a quicker turnaround in my neck of the woods. Anyway, it’s frustrating. Lord knows there’s plenty of work that needs to be done around here, including mowing the lawn again, but I try to space that out because of my allergies. In the meantime, I’d like to be working on the dollhouse.

Grocery shopping is on the docket for this morning. We’re out of everything.

Exciting, right?

I’ve changed my browser and search engine. Google is now 100% AI and I want nothing to do with that. It you’re not aware of the danger of the huge data centers associated with AI, you should research that. And AI is essentially theft of others’ work, not to mention the amount of people who have lost and will lose their jobs because of it. They’re really trying to shove it down our throats. Nope. I stand firm.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Filed Under: flowers 20 Comments

Rain, Little Projects, and Rain

May 25, 2026 at 8:59 am by Claudia

I’ll keep this brief, as it’s a holiday today. For us, it’s day number 3 of rain. No storms, just steady rain. It’s good for us, I know, but it’s also rather depressing.

So, we’ve been hanging around here, working on little projects. In other words, being creative and trying to keep our sanity.

I can hear a mourning dove as I write this. You know that’s my favorite bird call; that plaintive call in a minor key.

Another photo from the dollhouse:

There it is, in an empty room, waiting to be played.

My wallpaper issues continued over the weekend as the Etsy shop owner hadn’t responded with an update. But I did hear from her this morning. The post office said they had picked up the order but it has not updated since last Monday, when the tracking indicated they were awaiting the item. So she’s issuing a refund (which she didn’t have to do) and sending the order 2 day priority mail tomorrow.

She really has the best inventory of designs and with this positive resolution, I most likely will order from her again.

This was my project yesterday – the arms on my chair in the den (aka the blogging chair) were getting very worn. The fabric was tearing in places – it’s just a rather inexpensive chair from the former Pier 1, but I like it and I don’t want the expense of a replacement chair. I was using some doilies but they weren’t doing the trick. Looking through my stash of things from my grandma, I found a tea towel that she had embroidered. Might as well use it, right?

Only one cover has the embroidery, but the towel itself is a peachy color and it goes well with the colors in the chair. A seamstress, I am not. But I hauled out the Featherweight and tried to adjust the tension, which had been a problem the last time I used it. Eventually, I had to rewind the bobbin and, interestingly, that seems to have taken care of the tension problem.

In my crazily crammed creative space, I knew exactly where the Featherweight was, but had no idea where the foot pedal was. So I had to open up the closet and remove item after item until I finally found it tucked away on a shelf. I’d say there ‘has to be a better way’ but given the size of our cottage – there isn’t.

Anyway, I’m kind of proud of these covers. I remember my mom and grandmother ordering special armrest covers to go along with their chairs. They knew what they were doing.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

 

Filed Under: Beacon Hill Dollhouse 14 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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