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Taking A Little Time In The Day For Me (Win a $100 Visa Gift Card)

May 4, 2015 at 9:00 am by Claudia

Like all of you, I do a lot in the course of a day. I write and maintain two blogs, I read a lot of books because I write book reviews, I work professionally as a coach for the theater, I take care of the house, garden, make things… you get the picture. I’m not a mom of human kids, but I have a 16-year-old dog named Scout – the apple of my eye – who needs a lot of attention and care as she navigates her world. On any given day, depending on the amount of things that need to be accomplished, I can easily get overwhelmed and feel like I’m not doing anything as well as I would like to.

As I’m writing this, I’m trying to finish a book that has to be reviewed in two days. I’m cleaning up our two acre yard after a long, long winter and preparing the garden beds for spring. I’m digging. I’m planting. I’m mulching. I’m preparing to coach a production of Kiss Me Kate  that starts rehearsals in a few days. I’ve got a list of Things to Do that seems to be a mile long.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that I believe in treating myself. I do it every day. I take long bubble baths. I take time to read for pleasure. I watch old movies. I cuddle with my husband. I cuddle with my dog.

And I have hot chocolate almost every day, around 4 o’clock. This is a ritual I’ve come to love.

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Hot chocolate along with a little treat, of course. I’m here to say that my sweet tooth is alive and well. One particular combination that makes me a happy camper is that of mint and chocolate. I can’t resist. A longtime favorite is Pepperidge Farm® Milano® cookies, in this case Mint Chocolate. I’ve been a fan for years.

Milano certainly encourages me to pause and take a moment just for me. Hot chocolate, a Mint Chocolate Milano  and a good book sounds like the perfect recipe for savoring the moment.

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Excuse me while I take a bite.

I’ve found that if I don’t allow myself a little respite from the responsibilities of the day, everything suffers. And I can often get through unpleasant tasks (like shoveling snow!) when I know a treat is waiting on the other side.

Work, then reward. Sounds good to me!

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I think I’m going to have to hide these from my husband.

If you leave a comment on this post, you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card. Do you take a moment or two for yourself in the course of a day? What do you do to treat yourself?

Entry Instructions:

No duplicate comments.

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  1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
  2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
  3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
  4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 5/4/15 – 6/30/15.

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Filed Under: life 167 Comments

A Year

April 24, 2015 at 8:32 am by Claudia

It’s been a year – today – since my mother passed away. A whole year, yet an instant.

4-23 mom dave me

My brother, my mother and me. Dave passed away in 1991.

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Mom and me.

4-23 thegirls mom gram me

My grandmother, my mom, me, and my little sisters. For those of you who know her, Meredith is on the right.

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Dad and Mom when they visited me in San Diego for the first time.

Thank you, Mom. I love you. I miss you.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: life, mom 78 Comments

Potpourri: Heat, Flowers, Cups, & Jeans

March 19, 2015 at 9:24 am by Claudia

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Don went to Trader Joe’s the other day, so I gave him orders to come back with flowers. I even took the time to show him photos of the specific flowers I wanted – alstromeria. He passed his test with flying colors.

Fresh flowers are very pricey around here. Our local supermarket will have a price of $12 – $15 per bunch. I just can’t pay that much money when I know that the price at Trader Joe’s for the same amount of flowers – actually, more  flowers – is $3.99. No can do. I got two bouquets for much less than the price of a supermarket bouquet. Pretty good deal!

Not long after I wrote yesterday’s post, our furnace guy came over and replaced our thermostat. He was pretty sure the power surge blew out the thermostat. The replacement, which he thinks might be better, is unfortunately not  digital, like the one we had. That means that I have to put on my glasses to read it and fiddle with the dial. Ah well. As soon as he put in the new thermostat, the heat started to come through our baseboards and all was well.

The driveway and parking area were very icy, so I salted everything so Don could get out of here and run some errands, one of which was this:

3-19 cups

Yep. We decided we had to get the other three cups and saucers. They needed to be together. I love this Susie Cooper pattern so much and after I learned more about it and her, I loved it even more. For now, they are living on this yet-to-be-filled-with-books shelf. I’m thinking some sort of tole tray would be pretty behind them. What do you think?

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More flowers.

Today, I get to go through the depressing ritual of buying new jeans. Yuck. But since a largish hole has appeared quite near the crotch of my current jeans, methinks it’s time to replace them. After all, I mustn’t reveal too  much.

Don’t forget: today is the last day you can leave a comment in order to be entered in the giveaway of Hush Hush, Laura Lippman’s latest mystery. Click on this post.

New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: antiques, flowers, life, winter 42 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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