Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 1082 — Mockingbird Hill Cottage

The Schedule

November 19, 2015 at 8:28 am by Claudia

11-19 early morning

I’m stealing this photo from my Instagram post this morning.

We woke up at an ungodly hour this morning. 4:30 am. What the heck??

Back story: Scout, as an almost 17 year old dog, has issues with her ‘elimination’ processes. So we now use the pretty chalkboard in the kitchen to write things like ‘Pee 6:59 pm’ and ‘Poop 10 am.’ Since she pees less often, usually about twice a day, and sometimes leaks a bit, we are vigilant about chronicling her daily schedule, which is never the same. This involves remembering when she last peed, thinking ahead 11 or 12 hours, and making sure we get her outside in time. A good night is when she pees at around 7:30. We smile and relax, knowing we can sleep normally and still be up in good time for Scoutie.

There are, however, many times that one of us has to get up at 3 in the morning and hustle her outside. You do what you have to do.

Last night, for some reason, she peed at 5:30. So I figured we could probably get up around 6 am and we’d be okay. It was too warm in our bedroom last night and both of us woke up at various points in the night. At some point later, I woke up and figured it was close to 6 am. Still dark out, but about to be light. Don was also awake and we chatted back and forth about whether we should get up. I kept thinking about Scout and knew I had to get downstairs very soon to let her outside. When I start worrying about letting her out, forget it – I can’t get back to sleep. So I got up. And Don got up.

I went downstairs and looked at the clock (for some reason we don’t have a working clock in our bedroom.) It was 4:55 am. Hence…we were awake at 4:30, yammering on to each other, deluded in our belief that it was 6 am or so.

Crap.

And to add insult to injury, Dame Scout continued to snooze for the next two and a half hours. I finally woke her up to let her out at 7:30.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Don is now napping on the sofa in the den. Scout is sleeping in the tunnel.

I’m wide awake.

Happy Thursday.

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Finds Lost & Instagram

November 18, 2015 at 9:53 am by Claudia

11-18 coffee table

Life at the moment.

Chapped lips need Carmex.

Reading glasses.

Michael Connelly’s newest, The Crossing, which I’ve just started.

The newest scarf in its very beginning stages.

In a rare reversal, Don was up and about much earlier than I. I slept in, partly because I had trouble getting to sleep last night. I rarely sleep in and when I do, I find I’m groggy for a good while. Still groggy and it’s 9:40 am.

11-18 parrish

Oh, yesterday. Yesterday, I decided to go to the antique barn and see if that Maxfield Parrish was still there. It was about three weeks ago that I first saw it. It was gorgeous and a good price. But I couldn’t afford it at the time, so I passed, thinking I might buy it in a week or so.

Well, of course, I left for Florida suddenly and was gone ten days and then I came back and it wasn’t until yesterday that I roused myself enough to go back to the antique barn. I was thinking that it would make a good birthday present – either from me to me, or from Don to me.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know what happened.

It was gone.

I searched every inch of that barn. Twice.

Someone wiser than me snapped it up.

I can’t explain the sadness I felt, except to say I cried. And then I cried again when I told Don about it. I had been thinking about it all this time, and though I knew the chances of it still being there were slim, I held a secret little hope that it would be. I could see it hanging above my desk in the new office/studio space that is yet-to-be.

I’m still sad. You know that feeling when you are absolutely sure something was meant just for you? That’s how I felt. Silly, but real, nonetheless.

As I said on Instagram, it’s a lesson learned, or rather re-learned. If you see something you want at an antique store or a flea market, grab it. We all know this, don’t we? I certainly do. But I didn’t follow my own advice. At the time, several of you suggested trying to put it on layaway. I didn’t follow through, but to be fair to myself, I flew off to Florida a few days later.

Still….

If you see it and want it and can afford it, get it.

This is one I’ll regret for a long, long time.

By the way, do you do Instagram? I reluctantly got on board a while ago, and I really love it. I don’t post all the time, but I post fairly regularly. I’ve found lots of interesting accounts to follow – everything from animal rescue organizations to farmers with gorgeous sheep to McCoy collectors to fellow bloggers to readers and friends of this blog. It’s visually stimulating and fun. I often pull out my phone when I’m waiting somewhere and scroll through my feed.

A lot of people seem to be using Instagram as a blog nowadays and sometimes the captions under the photos are rather long. If they’re too long, I usually move on to the next one. I like short and sweet. Longer is for blogs, in my humble opinion. But I’m getting used to reading longer captions (yes, even I can change) and do my best to comment when I can. I tend to use my iPhone for my photos instead of anything shot by my big girl camera, though lots of Instagrammers use professional, styled photos.

It’s a wonderful way to connect with all sorts of people who don’t blog and who are incredibly creative and interesting and with bloggers who share moments of their day that might not necessarily be covered in a blog post. If you want to follow me, you can click here or you can click on the camera icon at the top of my sidebar.

I like it a lot.

Happy Wednesday.

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Blooming: Geranium, Gone: Bed, Made: Scarf

November 17, 2015 at 8:58 am by Claudia

11-17 geranium 1

My little geranium is blooming. I thought it was done for the season.

This makes me happy.

11-17 geranium 2

I’ve been covering up the impatiens with a sheet on the nights the temperature drops below freezing. To tell you the honest truth, I don’t know whether I’m up for overwintering all of them again. I’ve done it for two years running, but there is only so much space in this cottage and I don’t know where I would put them. And I have more to overwinter this year than last.

If I had to choose just a few it would be too hard for me, as I’m a sentimental sap about my plants. I almost wish Mother Nature would make the decision for me.

Bad Claudia.

I suppose it’s because of a combination of things but mostly because I’m in mourning and I just don’t have the energy. We’re going to do very little Christmas decorating this year. We’re not even getting a big tree. I just don’t have it in me. My birthday is Saturday, but the awareness that this is my first birthday without a living parent is overshadowing the day. Last year, Dad forgot my birthday – the first time that has ever happened – and, of course, it was my first birthday without my mother. But right before he was re-admitted to the hospital we had a phone conversation in which he mentioned my birthday, “You have a birthday coming up!” and I remember thinking that he was going to remember it and it would be great to hear from him on that day.

Bittersweet.

Let’s change the subject.

Announcement: We gave away the guest room bed. It’s gone. I took some pictures of the bed and we each ran posts on Facebook saying we were giving away a good, rarely used, mattress/box spring/frame. And one of Don’s musician friends offered to take it, which led to Don and I trying to get the danged mattress and box spring down the stairs. It’s a full size, and there’s no split box spring, as there is with our newer mattress. It took some creative moves on our part and a lot of cursing. But we got it downstairs. Our friends strapped it to their car and off they went.

Now we can make that room a functioning office/studio space for both of us. Of course, each of us would rather have a room to ourselves, but that ain’t happening in a two bedroom cottage. So, we’ll play nice and share.

I just have to save up for a desk. I’ve picked one out (from IKEA) and when I can afford it – hopefully soon, please – we’ll get it. In the meantime, we can start rearranging things in that room.

11-17 scarf in progress

Scarf in progress.

11-17 etsy scarf blog

Scarf finished. It’s in the Etsy shop. Soft, beautiful yarn in a colorway called Reef. I really love this one.

Edited to add: Sold! Thank you so much! If you see a scarf you like and are thinking about it, my advice is to act quickly!

I’ve been crocheting like a madwoman. The scarves are fun to make and they give me something repetitive and comforting to do with my hands. And they bring in a little extra money, which is more welcome than I can say.

For those of you who have purchased one in the past, if you get to the point where you want to revive the basic shape, just lay it out on a flat surface, spritz it with water and play with it a bit. That’s what I do after I finish each scarf.

Forgot to add that there’s a new post at Just Let Me Finish This Page, a mini book review of Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes.

Happy Tuesday.

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The Schedule

Finds Lost & Instagram

Blooming: Geranium, Gone: Bed, Made: Scarf

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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