life — Page 238

Drat

January 16, 2013 at 8:38 am by Claudia

livingroom

Greetings. It’s early in the morning, the lights are on, the blanket on the loveseat is a bit mussy, confirming the fact that Scout considers it her bed.

masonjars

Over the past several days, the many inches of snow that were on the ground melted away until there was just the odd pile here and there. Even the snow you see in the photo above had disappeared.

I was happy. Frankly, it makes things so much easier around here – for me, for Scout, for our driveway. I can appreciate the beauty of snow but after many, many years of dealing with it, the bloom is off the rose, so to speak. Especially when I am handling this all by myself for a couple of months.

snowagain

This is what I woke up to this morning. Pretty? Yes. Annoying? Yes, yes and yes.

Because now I’ve got to shovel everything. And we have a lot of driveway. That goes uphill. Then I have to salt. My back is already complaining at just the thought of it.

And, though I know it is with the best of intentions, please don’t tell me we should buy a snow blower. I know we should. But it’s not in the budget right now. I am the snow blower.

That doesn’t sound right, does it?

So as I sit here, listening to Ravel’s Bolero on the radio, I am girding my loins for the job ahead. It’s not a huge amount of snow, thank goodness. But it’s enough.

One more cup of coffee. Then it’s go time.

Oh drat. The plow just went by.

What’s the weather like in your neck of the woods?

Several of you mentioned that you were disappointed that the scarf I listed yesterday sold so quickly. If you are interested in one in that color, send me an email. I’d be happy to make one for you, providing I know just how much of that particular color to order.

Happy Wednesday.

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The Day the Shredder Died

January 15, 2013 at 9:11 am by Claudia

shredder

Yes, Scout is as shocked as you no doubt are.

It’s the shredder.

The sun came out for a portion of the day yesterday and the temperature soared to 50 degrees. After mailing a package and buying some groceries, I was ready to tackle the enormous job of shredding. (There are receipts in here from 2009. Need I say more?) I plugged it in, turned on the television and merrily shredded away.

Until the shredder died.

It doesn’t work anymore. This particular shredder has been around for many years and it finally gave up the ghost. Let me tell you, the sound of a shredder’s death rattle isn’t pretty. I think I got about ¾ of the way through my pile. And that was just the stuff in the basket. There’s a lot more to be dealt with around here.

Looks like I have to buy another shredder. Isn’t it enough that I hate shredding? Do I have to fork out money for another one?

Nevertheless, I did some shredding after months of avoiding it. So I’m going to give myself a pat or two on the back.

frontdoor

It was so nice yesterday that I had the front door open for a while. It made me happy. Most of the snow melted, Scout was able to move around the corral without contending with slippery ice. All was well. But of course winter has a bizarre sense of humor and we are due for 1 to 3 inches of a ‘wintry mix’ tomorrow. A wintry mix means snow mixed with rain. Which means it will be heavy. Which means I will be pissed off.

I received a little package in the mail from my friend Julie, who lives in Canada. She and a friend were out and about and they encountered a dollhouse/miniature shop. That was a lucky thing for me because she sent me these:

sewingmachine

This adorable sewing machine that is not unlike my featherweight.

knitting

And this sweet piece of knitting. Be still my heart. Thank you so much, Julie. This reminds me that the craft room/office is the only room in the dollhouse that has not been started. Time to get going on it!

And finally, a new scarf is in the Etsy shop:

scarfpeacockblue1blog

Oh so hard to photograph, but this color of silk/bamboo yarn is the most gorgeous peacock blue. It’s a true jewel tone and I’m crazy about it! The silk/bamboo combination is incredibly soft and silky to the touch. Update: Sold.

Happy Tuesday.

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Monday Morning

January 14, 2013 at 9:19 am by Claudia

I woke early, stayed in bed and willed myself back to sleep. And then I had another one of those early morning bad dreams. I wrote about one just about a week ago. This one seemingly went on and on and when I finally climbed out of the dream and realized it wasn’t real, I was relieved. But I can’t seem to fully wake up and I’m still shaken. Maybe it would have been better to simply get up instead of getting that extra bad-dream-laden sleep.

I sat in my chair drinking coffee and thought I saw a cardinal on a tree branch through the kitchen window. I grabbed the camera only to find that it was a leaf. Another illusion. There are some life lessons in that, I think, but I’m still too groggy to process them. What to do on another wet, gray, rainy day when one is shaken by a bad dream? Take that same camera and capture some things that bring a smile to my face.

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