egg cups — Page 50

The Proliferation of Lists and Shoulds

November 9, 2015 at 9:48 am by Claudia

Because they make me smile:

11-9 smile1

And smiles have been in short supply recently.

11-9 smile2

Under the topic of Things that Irritate Me: Any headline or blog post that says something like “10 Essentials You Should Have in Your Home.” Or on the Huffington Post today, “10 Books at Garage Sales You Should Never Pass Up.”

Really? According to who (or is it whom)?

Stop with the ‘shoulds.’ I am stubborn. If you tell me I ‘should’ do anything, which is really just a way to write what you think is a catchy, can’t-fail post or article title, I will not read it. In fact, if I’m feeling a little surly, I will look at your list and do the opposite.

And I’ll add, though I’ve said this before, the list trend in blog post titles irritates me, as well. Also on the Huffington Post today: “18 Annoying Things I Don’t Want to Hear About Your Child.” Stop it. Or I will counter with “18 Annoying Things I Don’t Want to See or Hear From You.”

If there’s a list, I won’t read it. I know many readers are drawn to that kind of post and more power to you. That’s just fine. This is just my opinion. I think it irritates me for a couple of reasons. Writers have clearly been told this is a good way to get readers. So EVERYONE is now doing it. My eyes glaze over. Who knows? Maybe stats show that this is indeed a sure-fire way to get people to read a post. Since I’m not in this for the stats, and – again – since I’m stubborn, I will not go there.

Another reason? The tendency for everyone to assume the title of ‘expert’ simply because they have a little writing space on the web. Just because I love decorating my home doesn’t make me an expert on the subject. I know what I like, but surely that’s not what everyone likes. I wrote a series of posts on living in a small space a few years back. I was never entirely comfortable coming up with ‘rules’ for small spaces. Again, I know what works for us here in this cottage, but making a list of rules for others to follow is not me. I’m not an expert. I just know what works here.

I often consider deleting those posts from my navigation bar. Maybe today…

Just because I’ve worked with coding and designed this blog and my other blog doesn’t make me qualified to be a blog consultant. I almost started a little side thing to help others with blogging questions a few years back, but it never felt right and I’m glad I didn’t follow through. I don’t know enough about graphics and design. I know what I need to know for my purposes but not nearly enough to qualify as an expert.

Humility can be a good thing.

Okay. Enough of that. It just feels good to talk about something other than grief.

I asked Don to make breakfast for me yesterday and he did. French Toast = comfort food. Oh, was it good! He’s been great; checking in with me to see how I’m doing, listening to me when I need to talk, holding me when I need to cry. I’ve been a little testy at times. I admit it, I don’t have a lot of patience at the moment. I’m working on that. But he understands and for that I am truly grateful.

I hope you’re all well on this Monday morning. Thanks for being there on the other end of these posts. Thanks for reading my words, awkward as they may be at times.

Happy Monday.

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Back at the Ranch

October 6, 2015 at 9:12 am by Claudia

I’m back at the ranch after a long day in NYC yesterday. No, I didn’t go to the book signing – for a couple of reasons. My morning bus was an hour late getting to our local station. We have no idea why and the reason was never given. This resulted in a couple of panicked phone calls from me to the Stage Manager explaining the problem. I knew yesterday was the only day available for individual sessions and they were to be held in a room that had been rented from 12 – 5 – allowing for 10 straight sessions of 30 minutes each. There was no wiggle room.

By the time I got in the city, I did another 14 block speed walk and, incredibly, I somehow managed to get to the building (with a full bladder), up the stairs, stop in the bathroom, and then alert the stage manager to my arrival by 11:59. I was exhausted already and the day had barely begun.

After my sessions were over, I was tired and I knew that even if I caught the 5:30 bus I wouldn’t get home until 7:30. If I had stayed for the book signing, I wouldn’t have arrived home until at least 11:00. I also knew how excited Don was about the arrival yesterday morning of a box containing his new CD and I felt I should get home in time to celebrate that event. When something like that happens, you can’t wait for your loved one to get home to tell them about it. So I speed walked another 14 blocks and headed home.

And when I walked in the door, what do you suppose was propped up on my table in the den?

10-6 CD

It’s so exciting! I’ll unveil more of it at a later date, but trust me, it’s equally as cool when the sleeve is opened. And the mastered tracks sound fantastic. Huzzah!

(I’m so glad I decided to come home early.)

4-16 doc egg cup

4-16 dopey egg cup 2

Do you remember these guys? There’s a whole set of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs egg cups that were made for Disney Enterprises in 1937. I’ve always said I wanted to collect them all. Recently, I saw two separate auctions on eBay for Sleepy and for Snow White herself. I bid on both of them, but kept my bid low because, let’s face it, I’m not comfortable spending too much money on anything at the moment. In each case, I was the high bidder for a while, but eventually was outbid. I was sort of heartsick over the whole thing, because they don’t come up for auction that often – especially Snow White – and it just wasn’t a good time for me to do anything but put in a low bid. Sigh. In the end, they went for what I consider a reasonable price…which makes it all the more frustrating! Ah, well. I hope whoever won them appreciates them. (I know they would have been happier in my cottage. I just know it.)

I’ve learned it’s always a good idea to set a limit on an auction and I always do. It’s too easy to get caught up in the excitement of the bidding and you can end up paying far more than you wanted to!

I just finished X by Sue Grafton this morning. I forgot how much I like the Kinsey Millhone series. I’ll write a review tomorrow. Now I have to decide what to read next.

Oh, reading…you keep me sane. You really do.

What are you reading at the moment, dear friends?

Happy Tuesday.

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They’re Taking Over The Bookshelves

April 29, 2015 at 9:13 am by Claudia

bookshelves10

Remember when Don and I installed these bookshelves and this little wooden egg cup (a gift from Don and Scout) held center stage?

Well…now that I’ve got the bug again, but mostly because of the generosity of my readers, this is what it looks like:

4-29 eggcups on the diagonal

The entire shelf is full of egg cups.

4-29 eggcups in a row

There are the set of four wooden egg cups (3 are on the shelf below) and the yellow ‘man’ egg cup from reader Barb in Canada. The blue chick egg cup from fellow blogger Linda, the rooster egg cup from fellow blogger Susie. Recently, I bought the little boy and these two egg cups:

4-29 man&woman egg cup

I don’t know anything about them save for the fact that I really like them. Marked Japan.

And on Monday, a package arrived from reader Judy, who lives in Washington. Imagine my delight as I unwrapped these:

4-29 egg cups from Judy

4-29 hankscraft egg cup

This is a vintage Hankscraft stoneware double egg cup. I’ve always wanted one of these. Is it just me or is the design vaguely Art Deco?

4-29 chick egg cup

I love this sweet and sunny egg cup with a little chick. The inside of the cup is a lovely sky blue. Marked Japan.

4-29 blue egg cup

Lovely. No mark, but it’s definitely stoneware.

4-29 green-blue egg cup

And isn’t this the prettiest color combination? Marked Japan.

Judy, thank you. I love these additions to my collection.

Boy, have I been blessed. I don’t take it for granted, believe me. Thank you, one and all.

• By the way, another round of emails went out the other day purporting to be from me. All of this is from the email hack that happened a few months back. Ignore them. They are not from me. One of my readers thought they might be tied in to the WP issue I referenced yesterday. Nope. Just more crap from the hackers. I always receive a copy of your post comments via email, so if you’ve ever left a comment, you’re in that list of email addresses. I’m sorry about that. But we are all familiar enough with these emails that we do ignore them, right?

Never click on anything in any email, unless you are absolutely sure it is to be trusted. If you look at these emails, you can immediately see that they are a sham and not anything that I would write. I get them all the time from friends who have also been hacked. They usually go to spam, which is where they belong.

I hope I never have to write this warning again. I am well and truly tired of the whole thing.

• I’m under the weather today. I’ve been feeling extremely sinusy and/or allergy-ridden, as has Don, but in the last two days it has morphed into something that is almost like a cold. But it isn’t. Last night I barely slept, and I’m congested and coughing and, more than anything, annoyed. I want to work outside, and I did yesterday, but now I’m paying for it. Don made my coffee for me this morning and I’m sitting in my blogging chair feeling sorry for myself.

Waaah. Enough already.

Happy Wednesday.

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The Proliferation of Lists and Shoulds

Back at the Ranch

They’re Taking Over The Bookshelves

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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