life — Page 188

Take a Seat

May 3, 2016 at 9:57 am by Claudia

Weather forecast? Rain. End of story.

Don. Simply stop here.

A bright spot yesterday – a package arrived in the mail from Elf Miniatures in England.

By the way, I want to clarify something: none of these links are affiliates or partners or anything other than companies I’ve ordered from and like very much. I understand affiliate links and I use them on the book blog occasionally, though I earn next-to-nothing from them – just enough to use as a credit toward a future book purchase! But I’ve seen a lot of affiliate links lately on other blogs and I must admit that too much of that sort of thing turns me off. Does every post have to be the result of a partnership?

So if you see a link to a miniature site or source here, it simply takes you to that site. I get nothing from you clicking on the link, except satisfaction in recommending a good source. (There’s a source list up in the navigation bar, also – under Dollhouse.)

Back to Elf Miniatures, an online company I really like – fast delivery across the ocean, great customer service, and a fabulous inventory of all things miniature. I ordered 3 items.

5-3 shelfverticalfromside

Well, I meant to order two. I got three items because, for the second time, I ordered two of something; this shelf unit, which is reminiscent of the IKEA units that are so popular. I have one in real life. Anyway, getting two of them is okay by me. I’ll use the other one in another project

I want to use this for records, but it has quickly dawned on me that I have to get a lot more albums! Oh, my heavens! Where am I going to get them all? I can purchase some through Etsy. I could make them, I suppose, and I’ll try to do some of that. My friend Susi, of Minibase, did that for her award winning Record Shop. Click on over at some point and see it. It’s incredible. She has even posted a very helpful tutorial on the subject of making albums.

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See? I’m going to need a lot of record albums!

Also in the box that traveled across the ocean:

5-3 chair

5-3 deskchair from distance

This oh-so-cool desk chair.

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I love it. I can see the gentleman who uses this studio swiveling between a computer monitor and the keyboard, completely into his creative process. I bet you can, too.

Still going back and forth about the legs. I was just about to paint them silver/chrome yesterday afternoon when I decided to hold off. Today, I like the orange. Tomorrow? Who knows?

I mentioned that I made a preliminary stab at a mixing board. Really, what I did was build a three-dimensional housing for it, like I’ve seen in many home studio photos. It’s made out of mat board.

5-3 soundmixingboard

There it is. From here, it looks okay.

5-3 soundmixingboardclose

From here, the top is clearly one-dimensional. I’m not thrilled with that. I can probably fiddle with it and add some elements that give it dimension – like a knob and silver bits that function as those slides. The jury is still out on this one.

5-3 viewonarainyday

A rainy day view of where we are so far.

I have to do some work on the outside. I have a few more elements on order. But I’ve got about seven weeks, give or take a day or so, until Don’s birthday. So I’m in good shape, I think.

Blogkeeping: I usually have the volume on my computer turned all the way down because I dislike suddenly hearing something I didn’t plan on hearing. But lately, I’ve had it on a few times when an ad or two on this blog started making itself known via sound. I don’t like that. And, in fact, ads are not supposed to automatically play. The visitor to a site is supposed to be able to turn it on if he or she wants to, but otherwise, it should be mute. So I have my ad company looking into it and, if I have to, I’ll stop all video ads. My apologies. I’d rather earn a bit less than have intrusive sound on the blog.

Happy Tuesday.

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If Only

April 29, 2016 at 9:09 am by Claudia

4-29 about to be lilacs

So close. I expect them to pop any day now.

My plans to head into NYC were changed when the director of the project (whom I have never met) decided he was going to ‘pull back’ on the accents the actors were using, so he wouldn’t need my help. That’s fine, though I lose some potential income. I laughed a little, however, because asking an actor to pull back on a dialect or accent without telling them specifically what to change or how to change it is problematical. You have to give them specific sounds to change so that they’re not put in the awkward position of having to ‘soften’ something. Oy.

I worked on miniatures for a bit yesterday afternoon. Today? Mowing day. At this time of year, the grass grows so quickly that we have to keep on top of it.

4-29 about to be lilacs2

Yesterday, we were on a trail walk. Don starting talking about how wonderful it would be to live in a small town where the pace of life was slower, where you knew everyone and shopped for your food daily, where children could play outside and be safe; basically, where you could hide away from the horrors and politics and stress and pressure of the world.

I said “That’s Three Pines! That’s why everyone who reads Louise Penny’s books about Three Pines says they want to move there.” (I’ll add Mitford, as well.) I described Three Pines to him, hidden away in Quebec, not on any map, a haven for all, with spotty cell phone and internet coverage, if any. A bistro, a bookstore, a bakery, a general store, and a green in the center of town where children play.

We’ll leave the murders that are the basis for the plots out of the picture.

I second him on that wish. In the meantime, we can limit our time online (we do), we can limit our exposure to 24-hour cable news, we can choose when and how to engage. We were saying that we often think it would not matter one iota if we ever knew about most of the stuff we read online or hear on the news. Much of it just sparks more fear, more worry, more stress. There’s something to be said for the bliss of not knowing. (I’ll add that of course I believe that being informed about certain things is necessary and important – you know that.)

Sometimes, I have a strong desire to live off-grid somewhere, or move to a small town in Italy, where the pace of life is entirely different than it is here. Heck, my mother was Canadian – if Three Pines really existed, I’d be moving there.

Ah well.

Today marks six months since my father died. A bittersweet day. That, and the realization that Scout would never lie in my ‘tunnel’ again led to me starting the day in tears. Mowing is just the thing I need today!

Happy Friday.

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Reading on Sunday

April 17, 2016 at 9:42 am by Claudia

4-15 succulents

I’m getting to the blog a little late today. Sometimes it’s a treat to allow myself to read for an hour or two in the morning – which is what I did today. The book I’m reading isn’t even all that great – it’s what I’d call “mystery-lite”, but it’s interesting enough to provide a nice respite on this Sunday morning. A cup or two of coffee and a book to read spells perfection to me.

I’m going to be doing a lot of work outside today. As of today, I think we’re past the very cold nights that have been the norm. The temps are hitting the 70s today, with abundant sun, so it’s time to rake the leaf mulch out of the garden beds. Huzzah! Yesterday, I went to Lowe’s to buy a child’s rake because our regular leaf rakes are too wide to maneuver around delicate new growth. It’s something I should have done long ago. It’s a cute rake, by the way, bright yellow.

I read the most interesting article in the New York Times today. It’s about Mary Beard, who is a professor at the University of Cambridge, a prolific author and an authority on ancient Roman culture. She has become an outspoken critic of internet trolling. In her case, as she is seen on British television frequently, the trolling started out as mean barbs about her appearance, written through the vehicle of social media. She was nearing sixty with naturally gray hair and this, apparently, was all trolls needed to generate negative comments about her appearance.

“When you look at me on the telly, and say she should be on ‘The Undateables,’ you are looking at a 59 year old woman. This is what 59 year old women who have not had work done look like. Get it?” -quoted from the New York Times article. (The Undateables is a British reality show. Oy.)

Bravo. I love this woman. She also responds to this sort of thing with dry humor, which is always more effective than anger. There’s nothing wrong with getting work done or coloring one’s hair, of course, but for those of us who choose to look the way we are at this point in time, it’s unbelievably refreshing and affirming.

That brings to mind a lot of things, many of which I have written about in past posts, so I don’t really need to go into it again. All I know is I want to know more about Mary Beard and I applaud her wholeheartedly.

Have a lovely day – I hope the weather is spring-like in your neck of the woods.

Happy Sunday.

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Take a Seat

If Only

Reading on Sunday

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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