Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Small Scale Mid-Century Modern

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Ice, sleet and snow overnight. This morning, there’s a very small amount of snow on the ground and a layer of ice over everything. My dad’s Florida car, now mine, has never seen snow or ice. It must be shocked! (I apologized to it.)

Scout managed to do her business safely and that’s all that matters to us. We’re going to sit back and wait for the temperatures to warm up. Fortunately, we don’t have to be anywhere

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I’m happy that I waited to put the tree up because we’re far from tired of it and the glow of the lights is such a lovely antidote for these dark, gray mornings. The outside lights are still glowing on the porch railings. I find it all very warm and comforting.

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Don: Do Not Read Any Further!

In my searches on Etsy, I discovered a wonderful miniaturist, Gabrielle of In the Twelfth Scale, who lives in Australia. I was drawn to her work because she had designed a modern sofa that I thought would be perfect for the Top Secret Project. I had to wait a while to place the order, as she had other commissions to finish, but it was worth the wait. This arrived on Christmas Eve:

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Isn’t it wonderful? Quite frankly, I would love a life-sized version for our den! It’s long, deliberately so, and it looks very nice in the TSP.

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I’ve begun to feel the urge to work on this project again. But I have to finish putting my office together and then I have to do all my research for Romeo and Juliet, which starts rehearsals January 12th. (We won’t talk about the fact that I don’t want to leave home for five weeks.)

Maybe I’ll be able to do a little work on the TSP before I go. Fingers crossed.

Happy Tuesday.

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Putting it Together

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If I ever say I’m going to put together a big piece of furniture from IKEA again, please stop me.

It took us over four hours to put that darned desk together and since we started at 4 pm, dinner came late. We were slightly irritable and dehydrated. Crawling around on the floor takes its toll as well…yikes. Scout was more than a bit peeved with us when we finally headed downstairs. She does not like it when we both disappear upstairs for several hours – which hardly ever happens, by the way. She ignored us the rest of the evening. So there, she said.

There’s much to be done, including renting a little storage space, which I’ve been pondering for a while. When I floated the idea to Don, he was immediately on board. We have no attic. We have no usable basement. We have a shed where mice like to hangout. And we have some things we don’t have room for but don’t want to give away or sell. I find myself longing for the kind of storage cage I used to have in one of the apartment buildings I lived in. This will make life much easier for us. My grandmother’s trunk? I will never give it away. But it’s big and it takes up a lot of real estate. Two beautiful wood chairs? Love them. Don’t want to sell them. But right now, we have no room for them. And on it goes.

We’re going to rent a space today…before the ice/sleet/snow hits overnight.

Sneak peek:

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I want to say a few thank yous.

To Cindy, a reader of this blog, who sent me this key chain:

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A timely message! Hope. Thank you!

And to Kathy, who sent Scout some tasty treats. She included some Hershey’s treats for Don and me, many of which  have been consumed already. Thank you!

And also to show you a lovely egg cup that my friends Lynne and Sean sent to me for Christmas:

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An adorable bear holding onto a lustreware egg cup with pretty flowers. (Note yet another Scoutie dog hair.) I love it. Bears have been missing from my collection, so this gift is much appreciated. Lynne and Sean live in Toronto – they are longtime friends of ours who we miss a whole lot! Hopefully, we’ll see each other sooner rather than later. Thank you.

The amount of snow that was in the forecast has changed – we’re getting much less. Nevertheless, the sleet and ice that is coming overnight is a bit alarming – especially in terms of our little girl, who has trouble getting around. Stay safe everyone.

Don’t forget to leave a comment on my post, “Sharing a Sweet Moment” where I talk about one of my favorite things: Marie Callender’s Frozen Desserts. If you leave a comment, you might win a $100 Visa Gift Card!

Happy Monday.

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Chatty on Sunday

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I blame it all on spotting those Roseville Pottery bookends in that antique shop. Remember? That little encounter got me thinking about how much I loved Roseville and its lush, flowery patterns. And, as is my wont, I started obsessing. Just a wee bit.

Last week, my steal of a deal arrived in the mail:

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This gorgeous vase in the Magnolia pattern.

Yesterday, a vase that I knew I shouldn’t bid on but could not get out of mind because it was, to me, so beautiful, arrived here at the cottage. It was late in the afternoon, so this isn’t the best photo, bear with me:

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It’s flawless. A pattern I am inordinately fond of – the Water Lily pattern. The vase is 8 inches tall. I couldn’t help it. I tried to stop myself, but I was powerless. Isn’t it beautiful?

Must stop. But I’m a firm believer in surrounding myself with the things that I love. Roseville is making me very happy at the moment. And I’ve needed something pretty that makes me smile. So be it.

You’ll be thrilled to know that we finally took the window air conditioners out of the windows yesterday. We’ve never left it this late. Don then took two non-working air conditioners to our recycling center. I also cleaned off the porch and stored the glider cushions, and dumped all the dead potted plants on the mulch pile. Don fired up the snow blower to make sure it’s working.

All this just might have happened because I read the forecast, which predicts 5-8 inches of snow for Monday night. Then ice. Then it warms up for a few days.

Crap, crap, crap.

We also spent some time in the soon-to-be-office-space, moving some of the things from my studio into the space and moving some other pieces out and into their new home in the hallway.

I also assembled one of my IKEA purchases. A sneak peek:

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It’s full of the paints and tools I use when working with miniatures. Today, we just might assemble the desk. There’s much to be done in this space, including finding a place for five guitars. And a mike and speakers and…

One other thing – if you like pine-scented candles, Target is carrying a seasonal group of Mrs. Meyers Clean Day soy candles in Iowa Pine.

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I bought three of them earlier this week. Hopefully, Target is still carrying them. They also had a cranberry scent and one other that I can’t remember. But I’m a pine girl, so whenever I find some, I snap them up. I’ve used Mrs. Meyers products for a long time, so I knew the candles would be good quality.

Ads on blogs differ according to the reader’s browsing history, but my ads keep showing Doc McStuffins  on Hulu. Did you know that the creator of Doc McStuffins, Chris Nee, is a former student of mine from my Boston University days? She was and is a terrific person. So proud of her!

Okay. I’ve yammered on quite enough for the day.

Happy Sunday.

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Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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