Trader Joe’s

Still Life While Sipping

October 13, 2014 at 8:17 am by Claudia

still-life

Still Life On The Dining Room Table. I ran out to get a few things yesterday at the usual places: Target and Trader Joe’s. The alstromeria I bought when I first came to Harford finally bit the dust yesterday (it lasted three weeks!) I wanted to buy some more flowers and though the bright orange plastic pitcher I had been using for the flowers on the dining room table was an interesting choice, it had lost its allure. Looking for a cheap vase that I could reuse at home, I came across a large canning jar at Target – $1.99. Hello! You’re coming home with me.

I have another bouquet on the kitchen peninsula.

sippingchocolate1

This vase was purchased when I first arrived – $3.99. I can always use vases back home.

Oh, you’re wondering about that tin?

Would you like to see a close-up?

sippingchocolate2

As a well-known hot chocolate aficionado, you can imagine my delight when my eyes zeroed in on this tin when I was shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Sipping Chocolate. Well, I wondered, how is that different than hot cocoa?

I felt it my duty to read TJ’s description:

Not quite a hot cocoa. Hardly chocolate milk. Oh no. This is a chocolate experience meant to be sipped and savored…a European delight. One taste of our Trader Joe’s Sipping Chocolate and you may feel like you’ve been whisked away to a sidewalk bistro in Rome or Barcelona. This decadent chocolate elixir has been crafted in the European style using only the finest ingredients. Immerse your taste buds in this rich bittersweet chocolate. Simply add milk or water to enjoy this velvety smooth sipping chocolate at home.

You’re coming home with me.

Verdict: It’s really, really good. And it does have a wonderful bittersweet taste, which I really like. $3.99, if I remember correctly. I’m going to make some for Don when he comes to visit. Update: We’re delaying until next week. Don doesn’t have enough time off and we have realized it would be next to impossible to pull it off.

Sad.

After being pretty much exhausted all day long, Scoutie rallied and did her running thing in the park last night. Oh, that girl! She simply amazes me. It’s truly magical. I had to run to keep up with her during last night’s adventure. Imagine!

three-cranes

This is the view out my window this morning. Not one, not two, but three cranes.

Try not to be jealous.

Thank you for all the wonderful anniversary wishes. We truly appreciate them, my friends.

New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page about my professional work with actors, words, and Shakespeare.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

An Escape from the Cottage

March 15, 2014 at 9:16 am by Claudia

pinktulips

Smile.

whitealstromeria

Another smile.

pinkalstromeria

And another big old smile.

You’ve probably gathered that I did indeed make my trip to Trader Joe’s yesterday. Yes, I bought some food but the first thing I did was grab three bouquets of flowers. $3.99/each. You can’t beat their prices and the bouquets aren’t skimpy, like many I see. At this time of year around here, a bouquet like the one above would easily be $15.00 or more. Hello. It’s a no-brainer.

Driving to either of the Trader Joe’s that are closest to our house takes about an hour. This time I was adding in IKEA which is in the same area as TJ’s but a bit further south (both are in New Jersey.) So that means I have to calculate a driving time of 2 hours round-trip, Scout’s mealtimes and, ahem, elimination needs, and I have to move quickly once I’m in those stores. If Don was here, I would have been able to be quite a bit more leisurely about the whole thing. But…I did it. It was so good to get out of the cottage and on the road. And I clocked in at just over 4 hours. Excellent job if I do say so myself.

IKEA kept cropping up in my head because I had seen a lamp that I liked – you guessed it – on several blogs. I thought it would be perfect for my sewing table. I’ve never been thrilled with the one I’ve been using (also from IKEA) and I have plans to transfer that one to the desk in the guest room/studio/office. But I was unsure of the dimensions and, for some reason, IKEA didn’t include that information online. So I just bit the bullet and went there. I always have fun at IKEA, but there were the usually crying toddlers and big groups of people taking up the whole aisle so that I couldn’t get past them. And my eyes started to sting from the lighting.

I digress.

Here’s the lamp.

lampclose2

It’s powder coated in white with neat darkish brassy looking accents and a fabric covered cord. I really love the look of it and it seemed perfect for the sewing table. I figured that if I didn’t like it there, I would use it on my bedside table. (It’s called the Ranarp, if you’re interested.)

I really like it. And, like everything at IKEA, really inexpensive, which suits my budget rather nicely.

lampsewingmachine

I suppose it would be a good idea for me to actually do some sewing after all of this work in the studio.

I also got a couple of cooking pots for the kitchen and two sets of these:

towels

I need them and the color is self-explanatory, don’t you think?

Then I came home, accidentally knocked over Riley’s Dish Garden, which now needs some work, put something in the refrigerator overnight that should have been put in the freezer, and dealt with an insanely hyper Scout for about 4 hours. She pushed every last one of my buttons.

Ah well. If you play, you pay.

Or so they say.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Chatty on Friday

March 14, 2014 at 9:16 am by Claudia

shadowhat

• Weather-wise, we were fortunate compared to some of you, who I know got lots more snow. We got a lot of rain, then sleet, flash freezing and ice, and a dusting of snow. The ice continues to be a pain in the tush for Scout. That poor girl has to navigate a dog corral that one moment is squishy and slippery with mud after a 57 degree day and the next moment is full of treacherous ice patches because we had a flash freeze. This morning she stopped right behind an ice patch that was outside the kitchen door and just stared at me with an expression that said, “I have to deal with this again? Enough already.”

I get it, my girl. I echo your sentiments. I have more than had it with this bizarre winter. I feel like most of the time Don has been away, I have been putting all my energy into coping with the elements. Chopping ice, shoveling snow, figuring out how to get the ice dams on the roof to melt, trekking through four foot high snow drifts to rake the roof, salting, clearing several feet of snow to find the downspouts and gutter extensions, worrying about the weight of snow on the roof.

I might not be cut out for the role of a pioneer woman.

• I’m feeling a bit stir crazy here at the cottage. I’m contemplating a trip south to IKEA and Trader Joe’s. I need a change in scenery. TJ’s has the best deals on fresh flowers and heaven knows I could use some around here. And sometimes I simply need to take a jaunt through IKEA. Today might be the day.

• I’m reading The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith. It’s a very well written mystery that got great reviews in Great Britain when it was published. Then it somehow got out that Robert Galbraith was really J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. She wanted to publish something under another name, free of all the expectations that would come if she published a new series under her own name. She is a wonderful writer.

1796979_10151885171576364_1516316272_o

• The Seagull by Anton Chekhov opened Wednesday night in Boston. Here’s a photo of Don with Kate Burton (a wonderful actress and the daughter of Richard Burton.) Now all the rehearsals and long days are over and Don can settle into the run of the play.

I love Chekhov. I was in The Three Sisters when I was an actress and it remains one of my favorite experiences. I’ve coached several different productions of Chekhov’s plays. He was such a wise man, so attuned to the complexities of the human spirit. And very funny, as well.

Check out those mutton chops on Don!

scoutiecloseup

• My girl with a look in her eyes not unlike the look she gave me this morning. She’s a beauty. And a handful. She misses her dad. We would go visit him, but he’s staying in an apartment that is only reached by stairs – a lot of them. She just can’t handle that many stairs these days. And she’s too big to carry. So we have to stay here. If only there was an elevator there! There is Don, in the city where I lived for many years and still love, and I can’t be with him. (And no, we really can’t afford a hotel.) Ah well. It’s frustrating, but Scoutie’s health and well-being has to be our top priority.

• On a very sad note, my brother-in-law lost his mother yesterday, just two weeks after he lost his brother. Gracie was a wonderful woman who was the proud matriarch of her family. Loving, strong, wise – she was a role model for everyone. At what one would consider an ‘advanced’ age, she was helping build houses for Habitat for Humanity. John adored her, as did Meredith and my nephews. Rest in peace, Gracie. You will be missed by so many. We are blessed to have known you.

That’s all for now.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Still Life While Sipping

An Escape from the Cottage

Chatty on Friday

claudiahillsparks

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives