Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Life in our little cottage in the country

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A Perfect Present

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Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the wonderful birthday greetings! Between the warm greetings on this blog and on Facebook, my cup of good cheer runneth over.

My birthday was lovely and quiet. Well, not quite so quiet when Don put on some music in the evening and we all danced (and I mean the dogs, as well!) Don and I went to our favorite local tearoom in the afternoon and had some hot chocolate with big old homemade marshmallows. Ummm good! In fact, here was my menu for the afternoon and evening: cheese and crackers, hot chocolate, pancakes and eggs for dinner with apple pie for dessert. A day of comfort food favorites.

Now for my present from Don. I saw this in Heidi’s shop when I was helping her out during her Holiday Open House. In fact, I went by it a few times before the light bulb clicked on in my decorating brain. I was tired of the rolling desk chair I had in the studio. It was from IKEA, wasn’t very sturdy and I was getting tired of the cover which was lovely, but was now seeming a bit too flowery. And since my sewing table is at the top of the stairs, rolling of any kind could result in a quick trip down the stairs, if you know what I mean. I told Heidi I loved the chair, she told Don and now it’s mine!

Isn’t it beautiful? Heidi got it at an auction. It’s as if it was made for this space. The puff is artfully covering up a bit of nail polish spilled by a previous owner. It doesn’t matter to me because the chair will be tucked in most of the time. Some details:

I’m in love. 

There it is in its new home. Dare I say this? I think the studio is finished. I do. In the past 2 months, I’ve added the cabinet, the vintage feedsack shoe bag, my vintage dress form, Letitia, the newly trimmed chalkboard, the rediscovered and newly painted shelf (which you can see in the photo) and now….the chair. And all of it was very inexpensive and in some cases, free. This space was definitely done on a minuscule budget.

It really is a room in itself now. It’s pretty. It inspires me. Don loves it. I love it. C’est fini!

Oh, here’s my pie from the local bakery:

They decorated the pie! That’s a first – what a smile that brought to my face. I always have a birthday pie. It was yummy.

Elyse sent me a little something for my birthday which I will share with you in the next post.

Hope your Monday is a terrific one.

Forgot to add that Margaret B. of The French Bear is the winner of a copy of Outside the Ordinary World. Congratulations, Margaret!

Studio Projects & a Celebration

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The studio fluffing and sprucing continues – inspired by the addition of Letitia. Remember when I made the chalkboard for the kitchen? I had an extra board that I painted with chalkboard paint and I ended up drilling two holes in the top, threading twine through the holes and hanging it in the studio.

Well after the arrival of the cabinet and the dismantling of most of the design wall, I wasn’t sure where to put it. I was considering shoving it in a closet when husband’s words rang in my ears…”why don’t you use the doors to hang things?” Well, I don’t want to use every door (there are 3 of them that open onto the studio) but I started eying the door to the guest room/office/music studio. I found some trim that I had on hand, painted it to match the shelf and the re-imagined bulletin board and glued it to the sides of the chalkboard. Then I threaded some pretty aqua ribbon through the holes. And now it hangs on the door.

By the way, have you tried those fabulous Chalk Ink Wet Wipe Markers? Oh my gosh, they are so much better than chalk. I suppose they are what restaurants use on their chalkboards. I’ve been on the lookout for some and found them the other day at Michael’s. I see much chalkboard writing in the days ahead.

I also painted the shelf I discovered in the shed. It now has a home just above the sewing machine table. (Why I didn’t take a photo of it before I hung it, I’ll never know.) Because this little area is a niche under the skylight and can be dark, I had to fiddle a bit in Picnik.

Excuse the cord. Now I have a place to put stuff that used to clutter up the table. Another view:

Now, if only I could find an attractive version of the lamp on the left. Any ideas or recommendations?

This morning I spied this little one in our back yard. (I also put her on my photo blog.)

She was looking at me through the kitchen window. Look at those eyes. This is why I am a vegetarian. This is why I am against hunting. And though that may not be popular, it is a very big part of me. I’m proud of it.

And it’s my birthday this weekend. I’m celebrating me.

Friday at MHC

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I woke up this morning, sleepily came down the stairs and discovered some ‘elimination problems’ from a certain male dog. Yikes. Nothing like cleaning up before one’s first cup of coffee. Poor Riley. No more water late in the evening, my friend. Our boy is very sensitive, so when something of this nature happens, he feels very badly. We are learning to be loving in these situations because he is doing the best he can. Any angry, loud reaction only bewilders him and accomplishes nothing. So in the midst of all the cleaning, I was petting him and saying “It’s okay.” Because it is.

He is a special boy, our Riley. He came to us for a reason and I truly believe that.

What else is new? I’m still nursing my lower back. I’m crocheting like a madwoman. I’ve got a book review coming up next week. I’m writing a recommendation for a former Boston University student who wants to go to graduate school in Speech Pathology. (That’s what I should have done – it pays better than what I do. And it’s steady work.) I helped Heidi at the store the other day. Her Holiday Open House is this weekend. I moved Maryjane’s banner to a new place in the studio:

I like it.

You know I have a photography blog, right? The link is right over there on my sidebar. My goal is to post one photo each day. So far, I haven’t missed a day, although a few times I forgot to post until late in the day. I like this idea of a daily snapshot of my life. Some photos are better than others, but here is one of my favorites:

A milkweed pod in my back yard. There is a challenge in this daily posting. I’m learning to see beauty in the everyday, to look beyond the obvious, to try to become a better photographer.

Oh, and my birthday is in just over a week.

Have a lovely Friday. I’ll be cleaning.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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