life — Page 285

“M” Day

January 16, 2014 at 6:00 am by Claudia

another sunset

This particular sunset graced us with its beauty a few weeks ago. Stunning, no?

I’m writing this post early because the delivery company just called and instead of the promised three hour window, they’ve given us a four hour window starting at 9 am. Yikes. That means we have to get up early and I have to pour some coffee down my gullet so that I can think and move my muscles and then we have to:

Move the queen mattress downstairs
Move the split queen box springs downstairs
Take apart the old bed frame – move it downstairs
Remove my homemade headboard and stash it somewhere until I can remove the vintage fabric I used
Pause while I vacuum under the bed
Assemble the new bed frame
Attach the headboard
Move all things that couldn’t be moved until the last minute out of the way

I’ve already moved a lot of the things in my studio into the spare bedroom and I’ve taken anything down from the walls that might be in the way, including the painting and sign that hang on the landing, my mantel shelf in the studio, everything hanging on the wall in the studio, the curtain on the window in the studio and my shelf with all my egg cups which is precariously close to where these guys will be maneuvering the mattresses.

Poor Don. I’m the one in the family that thinks all this through ahead of time and I’ve been talking, talking and talking about it – especially today. In the meantime, in the midst of my obsessive planning, Don found out he is filming a small scene in the television show Elementary and most likely that will be happening on Friday. He’s dealing with travel plans for his departure during the first week of February for 2 months in Boston (jealous) to do The Seagull with the Huntington Theatre Company (a company I used to work for in my Boston days.) It’s been a crazy day. (I’m writing this on Thursday because I won’t have time to write a post tomorrow morning.)

I’m trying the ad over the header, as you can see. It’s a bit jarring to me because I really, really am particular about the look of my blog. But I have to hope that the ad will make enough of a difference in the long run that I will think it’s worth it. Thanks for your support, dear friends.

Okay. Love to you all and Happy Thursday.

UPDATE: After all our work, dismantling everything, etc. THEY BROUGHT THE WRONG SIZE. They brought a King mattress. I am beside myself with anger. We’re waiting to speak to a supervisor.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

A Thank You and a Wee Bit of Panic

January 9, 2014 at 8:59 am by Claudia

Still120

My dear blogging friends and readers, you are the best in the world. I’ve said it before and I said it repeatedly to Don yesterday. “I have the best readers!”

And he agrees.

Thank you for tuning in to American Experience: The Poisoner’s Handbook Tuesday night. Between the congratulatory comments here on the blog and those on Facebook, our cup runneth over. Again and again yesterday, I read your comments out loud to Don and he was simply delighted. He was amazed and grateful that so many of you took the time out of your busy lives to spend a couple of hours watching The Poisoner’s Handbook.

Don is a wonderful actor. He can do anything; he can move from Farce to a show-stealing and wildly funny Doolittle in Pygmalion to Shakespeare to the gravitas of Dr. Charles Norris. Though I’m pretty sure I’m his biggest fan, I’m not alone. He is highly respected by his peers and directors love working with him.

Yes, he is tall – over 6 feet 4 inches tall. The period look to the costumes he wore added a little bulk, as well. He’s an imposing presence on stage and on the screen. And yes, that was his wedding ring, the one I put on his finger, that you saw in the hand washing scene. (It gave me a little thrill, too.)

I, along with you, was fascinated by the subject matter. I found it riveting. PBS does this kind of thing so well, this mix of documentary, interviews, still photos and re-enactments. The production values were excellent, the design and look of the re-enactments were true to the period; it was simply wonderful. Edited to add: If you somehow missed it, you can watch it online at pbs.org.)

And now, Don has a message for all of you:

I am so moved by the wonderful relationship Claudia has with you, her readers and co-creators and family of Mockingbird Hill Cottage. I heard all your wonderful comments and great observations regarding the PBS program I was lucky to be a part of. I thank you each and every one for your kind words and insights. You make it all worthwhile.

Love,
Don

Thank you, thank you, dear friends. You made our day.

In other news: When I ordered our new mattresses, I was told that delivery would be on or around January 29th. Yesterday, I received a call saying they will be delivered next Thursday, January 16th. Yikes. Now I’m praying that everything I have ordered; a new headboard, bed frame, sheets, mattress pad, dust ruffle, arrives before the mattresses. I thought I had more wiggle room and it turns out I don’t. I surely wouldn’t have been quite so casual about the whole thing had I known they were arriving sooner rather than later!

There are other challenges. We have to rearrange the bedroom to accommodate the bigger bed. Then we have to coordinate everything else: moving the furniture out of the hallway studio (and where do we put that?), clearing space in and around the stairway downstairs, deciding where to temporarily stash our current mattresses that day because the delivery guys are going to take them away for us. There is so little space in this cottage that there is a domino effect for every move. If this moves, than that has to move. If I put this here, where do I put that? Needless to say, my head is spinning. I ordered everything, including the mattresses, online. The only thing I haven’t ordered is a blanket. If any of you have a California King mattress, can you answer a question for me? I don’t seem to see any cotton blankets that are that size. Am I to assume that King size blankets are used instead? That’s what I had to order for the bed coverlet, which, thankfully, has already arrived – I got it for half price at Garnet Hill. (That quilt on the bed that I made? Too small for the new bed. I will have to fold it up and place it at the foot of the bed.) I feel like I’m choreographing a highly complex dance. Help!

Just kidding.

Or maybe I’m not kidding…

Happy Thursday.

Thoughts on a New Year

January 1, 2014 at 9:10 am by Claudia

coffee

Did I ever share this with you? Don gave this piece, made by a local artist, for my birthday.

He knows me very well. Just this morning, he tried to initiate a conversation before I’d had my coffee. He quickly realized his mistake with the words, “We’ll talk later.” Wise man. (I have this hanging on the side of the cupboard by the kitchen window.)

Anyway, happy 2014 and all that. We were reading in bed by 10:00, asleep by 11:00. Yes, what wild partiers we are!

We had a dusting a snow yesterday afternoon, in preparation for the big storm that is going to hit us tomorrow and Friday. I haven’t checked the updated weather forecast, but I’ve heard anywhere from six inches to over a foot of snow is on its way. Oh boy.

Thoughts on the New Year:

I’m not one for choosing a word for the year. There are too many words going on in my head at any given moment and I’m not about to lock on to just one. Doing that would eliminate too many exciting possibilities for the days ahead.

I’m not one for making New Year’s Resolutions. I move forward with the same thought in mind that I had the previous year, and the year before that: to be a better person. That’s it. It I can accomplish that to a small degree, I’m very happy.

I’m also not one to look back with regret or to ruminate about things that have happened or not happened or choices that I’ve made or not made. Whatever choice, I made it. It took me a while but I’ve learned an important truth. I take responsibility for all my choices, good and bad, knowing full well that I shape my life. It’s no one else’s responsibility to make me happy, including Don. It’s my responsibility. Though I try to do my best, I make mistakes often. I’m a work in progress.

Anyway, I refuse to be a victim. I am the author of my life and the lessons I have to learn and re-learn can be painful, but are ultimately freeing and will help me to do that very thing I wrote of earlier: be a better person. And I have much, much more to learn – I need to break some patterns of thought that keep me from moving forward in certain areas of my life. I need to change those thoughts to positive, empowering ones.

It’s a challenge I embrace.

I plan to write more on this subject in the near future. It’s something that’s been on my mind lately.

Housekeeping:

I was busy doing other things yesterday, so I had no idea that my host, Bluehost, was down for a few hours until Dawn called me in the early evening to tell me. So if you tried to get to the blog and couldn’t, that’s why. It happens with every host at some time or another, including Blogger. It’s back up now and I was probably better off being blissfully ignorant of the whole thing!

I wish for all of you a very Happy New Year, with blessings and joy and love and happiness and everything good for you and yours.

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

“M” Day

A Thank You and a Wee Bit of Panic

Thoughts on a New Year

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives