snow — Page 42

Snow, A Table & A Party

January 3, 2014 at 8:20 am by Claudia

snowymorning

Brrrr. There’s nothing like waking up at 6 am, grabbing a coat, hat and gloves and shoveling a path for Scout. Up the little hill, all the way around the dog corral and back down the hill again. Barely awake, coffee yet to be consumed, no bodily strength whatsoever. Like a wet noodle.

I came back in the door, ordered Scout outside, and collapsed in the chair.

I am just now coherent enough to start to write a post. There’s clearly a lot of shoveling on the docket for the day. I have no idea how much snow fell – several inches, for sure – but thank goodness it’s powdery. It wasn’t the heavy, wet kind that is so tough to shovel. It’s windy and cold here, with a wind chill that is taking the temp down to the zero mark. Tonight’s low will be 7 below zero. Yikes.

This is the time of year that I go into my fantasy world and pretend I’m back in Southern California with the warm sun on my face. A girl can dream, can’t she?

dhworktable

This arrived yesterday. It’s my work table for the Craft/Studio/Office room in the dollhouse. Isn’t it perfect? I haven’t decided whether I’m going to stain it or paint it. I may stain it, simply because so many pieces of furniture in the dollhouse are painted. Then again, I may paint it.

I want to tell you about two things. The first is a neat idea that my friend Dawn of Creative Cain Cabin came up with. Lucky me – Dawn asked me to co-host the party with her. It’s the Christmas Critter Felt Along. We’re going to be making 2 felt Christmas ornaments each month. Early in the month, we will post photos of the two ornaments, along with patterns and directions and a list of materials and then later in the month we will host a linky party where we can share our creations. So, by next Christmas, you can have 24 new ornaments. You can give them as gifts, or save them for your own tree. Here’s the neat thing: these are so quick and easy to make that you will be able to put them together in no time at all.

And you can make each one for about 20 cents. It’s that inexpensive. Dawn has written a great post about it today. Go on over and visit her post, and you’ll get an idea of what we will be making. So simple, yet so adorable. We will be posting the first two ornaments on January 8th, with directions and a list of materials, along with our own versions of each ornament.

I’d love to have you join in. I think it will be fun. And it takes very little time, which is a big plus for me!

I’m extremely late in posting this, blame it on the holidays, but the winner of a copy of The Seduction of Miriam Cross is Gina! I’ve already contacted Gina. I have some more reviews coming up in February, so there will be more opportunities to win.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Friends, Gifts and a Gift to Ourselves

January 2, 2014 at 9:34 am by Claudia

We’re watching snow fall, waiting for the big wallop of a storm that is going to hit us later today and into tomorrow. All sorts of warnings, wind chills of 20 – 30 below zero expected, blizzard-like conditions overnight.

Oh boy.

I had a sleepless night. Why, I don’t know. Just one of those things that happens occasionally.

tiredscoutie

Thank you, Scout. You’ve managed to capture the exact way I feel this morning.

Our friends, Tina and Noble, stopped by yesterday afternoon. Tina made the lamb costume and party hats for Scout and is immensely talented in all sorts of ways and Noble is a colleague of mine, a wonderful actor who I’ve worked with at Hartford Stage twice now. We had such a lovely time with them.

Tina, who is the one of the most thoughtful and loving people I know, brought gifts.

tinagift1

A beautiful piece of vintage Pfaltzgraff pottery. I love this design and the color of the glaze.

tinagift2

And this beautiful aqua pitcher, filled with flowers. I’m thinking Tina knows my favorite colors.

I was completely surprised by these lovely gifts. Thank you, dear Tina.

Tina brought two more items that won’t be revealed until Sunday. You’ll have to wait.

In other news, and this item is a biggie for us, we bought a new bed! We have a list of things that need to be fixed and/or taken care of around here. It’s sort of a Wish/Must Be Done List, which we’ve written on the kitchen blackboard. One of those wishes has become a necessity and that’s a new bed. We’ve had our queen-sized bed for almost 18 years. It’s been uncomfortable for about 5 years now and we wake up with sore hips, sore backs, sore everything. Plus, it’s too gosh-darned small for the two of us. Don is almost 6′5″ – I am just under 5′9″ – Don’s feet touch the very end of the mattress and I constantly complain about being pushed to the edge of my side of the bed.

We have a small bedroom. But, I think we can rearrange things to accommodate a California King-sized mattress. It will take some creative thinking, but we really need a bigger bed. King-sized won’t do it, because the length of the bed is the same as a queen. But a California King is four inches longer, so that’s the ticket for us. And it’s not as wide as a king, but it is 12 inches wider than a queen, that’s 6 for me and 6 for Don.

That means we have to buy a new bed frame and linens and a headboard, a necessity because of the slanted walls. We went back and forth on this purchase but, in the end, we realized that the quality of our sleep is important and that the investment will pay off over time. It will probably arrive towards the end of the month. Good luck to the guys who have to get it up the stairs. I’ll have to clear a lot of things out of the hallway studio before the delivery – as always in a small house, space is at a premium, including the space in which to maneuver a mattress.

Cannot wait.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

A Christmas Memory

December 23, 2013 at 8:50 am by Claudia

chair&tree

After two days of rain and temperatures that soared to 63°, we are left with a few mounds of snow.

That’s it. It’s muddy, it’s raining, and it definitely is not going to be a white Christmas. It will get colder by Christmas day, but no snow.

As depressing as that might be, it is not comparable to some of the terrible weather conditions many of you have had to deal with; ice storms, power outages, just plain horrendous weather. We had a conversation about that on this blog’s Facebook page yesterday. My heart goes out to all of you and I pray that power is restored and the damage, if any, is minimal. Stay safe.

tree

Speaking of snow, I have fond memories of one of our first Christmases here in the East. After having lived in San Diego for eight years (me) and off and on his whole life (Don), we made the big move to the Eastern part of our country many years ago. We rented a little cottage, even smaller than this one.

On Christmas Eve, the weather report predicted a blizzard for Christmas Day. My West Coast born and bred husband was excited, to say the least. We had everything we needed in the house, the presents were bought, the tree was decorated, the four of us (Don, me, Winston and Scout) were safely nestled inside our cottage. Our neighbors called us on Christmas Eve morning. They were headed down to Princeton, NJ for Christmas Day but they had decided they should leave early to dodge the storm. They were taking care of our other neighbors’ dogs. Would we mind taking over those duties for a couple of days? Absolutely not, we said.

It was a huge blizzard. White-outs. Snow swirling everywhere. Many, many inches on the ground.

After eight years in San Diego, this Midwestern girl was thrilled. Don was, too. We had to shovel a path outside the door and take the dogs out on leashes, so we could see them and keep them safe. When it came time to venture next door to feed and let out our neighbors’ dogs, we slogged through snow drifts that seemed a mile high, falling down, laughing, pushing against the wind that threatened to keep us from our destination.

We felt like kids again.

I remember that day every year at this time. It was magical. The wonder of it all still stays with me. I think we lose a lot of that wonder as we grow older. I know that in my case, after years of big snowfalls in Michigan, then in Philadelphia and Boston, I got sick of the whole thing and couldn’t wait to move to San Diego. Familiarity breeds contempt. I’d had enough. And though I loved San Diego, after eight years there, I missed the seasonal changes that are part of living in this climate. I missed the wonder that can come from watching the leaves turn vivid colors, seeing the green buds of Spring transform the landscape and watching snow blanket the horizon as far as the eye can see.

Of course, I complain about all of the above. Leaves need to be raked. Spring brings rain and mud. Summer’s humidity can be oppressive. Winter’s snow needs to be shoveled.

I’m human.

But, if I take a moment to remember that particular Christmas, I’m a kid again. And that’s a good thing.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Snow, A Table & A Party

Friends, Gifts and a Gift to Ourselves

A Christmas Memory

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives