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Monday Morning

January 14, 2013 at 9:19 am by Claudia

I woke early, stayed in bed and willed myself back to sleep. And then I had another one of those early morning bad dreams. I wrote about one just about a week ago. This one seemingly went on and on and when I finally climbed out of the dream and realized it wasn’t real, I was relieved. But I can’t seem to fully wake up and I’m still shaken. Maybe it would have been better to simply get up instead of getting that extra bad-dream-laden sleep.

I sat in my chair drinking coffee and thought I saw a cardinal on a tree branch through the kitchen window. I grabbed the camera only to find that it was a leaf. Another illusion. There are some life lessons in that, I think, but I’m still too groggy to process them. What to do on another wet, gray, rainy day when one is shaken by a bad dream? Take that same camera and capture some things that bring a smile to my face.

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Jumping Jacks

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The fishmonger. Don thinks the fishmonger looks like him, so he is on permanent display in the kitchen.

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MRiley'sgarden

Riley’s Dish Garden

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My parakeet lamp

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A sweet lamb

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Beautiful teacups

That helps.

What do you do to shake off a bad dream?

Happy Monday.

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Cheerfully Creative Clutter

January 13, 2013 at 9:17 am by Claudia

I seem to have taken over the den with all my paraphernalia . (My husband might say that I tend to do this will all the spaces in our home.) From my station in my blogging chair, this is what I see (no editing or staging, of course):

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The coffee table: A basket full of stacks of books, papers, a Scrabble game. A catalog from a company selling miniatures. A catalog from Garnet Hill. The remote. 2 DVDs. (This week we’ve received preview copies of two movies, Silver Linings Playbook and Argo through the Screen Actors Guild and yesterday we received 3 more that are available for download on iTunes. I think I’m watching some movies this week!) My eyeglass case. My agenda. Quilting supplies: thread, air erasable fabric marking pens, a ruler, an old dog food measuring cup that I use to trace circles on my quilt.

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The desk: the usual things plus two books, an obsession scarf due to be mailed out tomorrow, a quilting hoop and The Quilt. Handquilting a queen-size quilt is an awkward operation. I constantly have to move layers of fabric around in order to get the hoop readjusted and find a way to get my left hand under the quilt. It’s big. It’s bulky. I’ve quilted 3 rows of blocks so far. Yesterday, Scout and I took the day off. We were exhausted. I sat in the chair hand quilting. In the evening, I moved to the sofa. We watched old westerns all afternoon: Wagon Train, Bonanza, The Big Valley, The Rifleman. And then I watched Ironman in the evening. I’d never seen if before. I like Robert Downey, Jr. He’s never boring.

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And in this corner: yarn and lots of it. You see what I mean? All sorts of things. Add to that all the stuff on my chairside table and ottoman. I’ll spare you that.

As I looked at it yesterday, I liked seeing the cheerful clutter. Then I wondered what Don would think if he was also trying to exist in this space. The truth is that he would be just fine with it. He always says that he likes seeing creative clutter. He thinks it makes a home come alive.

I think he’s right.

I’m off to visit all the links from yesterday’s post.

And I’m linking this post to Elaine’s Sunny Simple Sundays.

Happy Sunday.

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A Favorite Thing #19

January 11, 2013 at 8:00 pm by Claudia

It’s that time again! Time to share some of our favorite thing with like-minded souls. To discover what fellow bloggers collect or covet or just plain love. Welcome to A Favorite Thing.

Let’s look at some highlights from last week:

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Jeanmarie of Mrs. D Crochets shared Guideposts magazine, founded by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, the famous believer in the power of positive thinking. Jeanmarie believes in positive thinking and the Law of Attraction – as do I. Her subscription magically starting appearing in her mailbox in September. She has no idea who sent it to her but she sure appreciates it.

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Deb at Just Cats shared the wonderful garland a blogging friend sent her. Beautiful tabby cats carrying plum pudding. I love this! And I can’t imagine a more perfect place to display it in than Deb’s home.

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Sandy, of Delightful Eclectic Abode shared her love of dogs. Look at that face! And the underbite! As a certified dog lover myself, I totally understand Sandy’s feelings.

My favorite thing this week is Roseville Pottery:

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I have a modest collection and some of it is shown in this photo. Some pieces have been found at auction or on eBay or in shops, others have been given to me by a fellow blogger. I love the lush look of Roseville. The curvy lines, the flowers, the wonderful colors. It can be expensive, so I only buy a piece every once in a while. I have some beautiful pieces on my dresser in my bedroom, as well.

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Isn’t it gorgeous?

Now it’s your turn!

You can link up anytime from this evening through Sunday. Make sure you enter the URL of your post. If you’re unsure how to do that, just click on your post title after you’ve published it and copy the information in your browser address window. Come back here, paste the URL into your link entry and there you go! If you have any problems, drop me an email and I’ll help you out. Please link back to this blog on your post. That way, those that read your post and are interested in reading more can do so.

One of my concerns about link parties is that the very reason for them has somewhat gone by the wayside. They’ve become so big and there are so many of them that many bloggers don’t take the time to visit any of the other participants. Link parties are a way to meet new bloggers and share with each other and the only way to do that is to visit each other. So, please, take some time to visit everyone over the next few days. No rush. Stop by, introduce yourself, and leave a comment. It’s the neighborly thing to do. It’s also nice if you leave a comment here, as well.

Have fun!

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Monday Morning

Cheerfully Creative Clutter

A Favorite Thing #19

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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