Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Warming Up a Hotel Room & Thank you

April 18, 2012 at 9:21 am by Claudia

Bless you. Yes, you. Thank you for your warm, loving comments on yesterday’s post. Since I strive for truth in my writing, I must admit tears came to my eyes as I read your comments. I wrote that post because I had to. And having to write something always signals to me that I need the catharsis that will come when the post is finished.

I post every day because it is a good discipline for me. And in a spirit of total honesty, it helps my ad income. The more hits I get, the more income. Primarily, though, sitting down and writing is a pleasure for me. I go through periods where I am full of ideas for posts and then, inevitably, I sometimes dry up. I still write. It may be a sentence or two with photos as the primary substance of the post. It may be a link to another blogger’s post. Having to come up with something is, 99% of the time, a good thing. That’s not to say that I will always post every day. But, I’ll sure try to.

I’m back in Hartford. It’s sunny and lovely. I miss my husband and dogs, but that goes without saying. I told you that I changed rooms twice last week. On Friday night, the music from a bar in the building across the parking lot from the hotel was so loud that I thought I would lose my mind. Loud, thumping bass. So I changed rooms (during my one hour rehearsal break the next day) to another side of the building. This room was much smaller and the light wasn’t as good. That night, the traffic from the I-84 off and on ramps and subsequent stop light was so loud that I couldn’t block it out, even with ear plugs in. Guess what I did the next morning at 7:00 AM? Changed rooms again. Not to my original room, though I tried to get that, but to one two floors higher with the exact same configuration. I’m sure I’ll have to put up with the bass on the weekends, but I’ll shut the windows and turn on the air conditioning. Two nights of noise is a lot better than every night.

I brought back something from home to warm up my room.

What do you think? That quilt was one of the first quilts I ever made. I pieced all those bits of 30’s reproduction fabric and then hand quilted the whole thing. I always hand quilt, which might explain why I have two large quilt tops stashed in my closet waiting to be hand quilted. It can be daunting.

I used to have this hanging over the railing in my studio.

I love 30’s fabrics. They remind me of a simpler time. I also bought more flowers at Trader Joe’s but the other flowers I bought last week were still going strong. So I found a makeshift vase.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Happy Wednesday.

Filed Under: decorating, flowers, On The Road, quilting 18 Comments

I Get Overwhelmed

April 17, 2012 at 7:40 am by Claudia

I get overwhelmed sometimes.

I get overwhelmed by the amount of things to be done around here. This is intensified by the fact that I am only home for 48 hours.

I get overwhelmed by the feelings that come when facing the sad, yet inevitable fact that my parents are fading quickly.

I get overwhelmed by all the things we need (and none of them are frivolous) and the fact that we, like so many others, are struggling financially.

I get overwhelmed by lack of sleep. Oh, for a good night’s sleep. And a better mattress. See above.

I get overwhelmed by the sadness and pain and loss so many are suffering. And by a climate in our country which seems to be void of compassion.

I get overwhelmed by blogging. Posting every day can be challenging. Is my content interesting enough? My stats (which I try not to pay too much attention to) are down. Commenting is down. But, in all honesty, I have been sadly lacking in commenting skills of late. You reap what you sow.

I get overwhelmed by competition in the blogging world and the pressure to post fresh content. Who has the neatest project? Who has the most followers? Who has been published? How many times have they been published? Who takes the prettiest pictures? When that happens, I need to pull away for a while.

I get overwhelmed by photos that are staged and pretty vignettes at every turn. They look beautiful, absolutely, and I have staged my fair share of photos. But I look around my house, which I love, and think: I simply cannot stage another vignette, nor do I have the space for one. My current vignettes: clutter on the kitchen table, two dogs on the carpet in the den, stuff everywhere that I don’t have time to deal with before I leave for Hartford this morning. I know everyone loves pretty pictures but I’m craving ‘real’ these days. I’m rather tired of everything else.

I get overwhelmed by the need to balance being with my family and working in a profession where work, when it finally comes, often takes me away from them.

I get overwhelmed by fear. On a big and small level. Let’s face it. Fear is fear and when it takes over, it’s hard to get it under control. But controlled it must be, because any decision based on fear is a bad one.

I get overwhelmed. But I know that my reactions to everything I’ve just mentioned are totally up to me. This is how I feel now. But a change in perspective, in attitude, can turn it all around. And there is so much I am thankful for.

Just felt the need to share what I’ve been feeling lately. I strive for honesty in life and in this blog.

Thanks for listening. I’m off to Hartford.

Filed Under: life 68 Comments

How to Make a Safety Gate for your Porch

April 16, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

I wrote about this for the first time 3 years ago. Since that time, my readership has increased and I thought it was worth a second visit. I think it’s a neat idea. Like many of you, we have a porch and our dogs love to be out there. Sometimes, when I’m working in the garden or mowing, I put the dogs on the porch so they can be ‘with’ me. But we had a big archway/entrance onto the porch that needed to be secured. We needed some sort of gate.

A baby gate? No, although I thought about it briefly.

Here’s how we solved our problem. Our porch has white columns and a white, almost picket fence-like railing. So we took a trip to Lowe’s and found a piece of picket fence that was a bit damaged and asked if we could have it. I think we paid about 5 dollars for it. (We had already measured the opening and knew it would fit.)

So you see how the rails extend a bit beyond the actual pickets? I had an idea. I bought a couple of these metal pieces (don’t know the official name of them) and attached them to the columns that create the opening to our porch.

If you know the name of this thingamajig, let me know, please! Anyway, I figured I could just slip the ends of the rails right into these slots. And it worked.

The gate is secured, the dogs are safe, and the picket fence works beautifully with the style of our porch. This is a great idea for anyone with children or pets.

———————————————————

Because of intermittent internet access at the hotel while they are upgrading the Wi-Fi and having to move to a new room twice in two days, I’m terribly behind in reading your posts and commenting. Hopefully, things will be better when I get back on Tuesday.

By the way, on the way home yesterday, I was asking Don my usual questions: Have the tulips bloomed? Have you seen any daffodils yet? Is there any grass growing?

Answers: Don’t know. Don’t know. Don’t know.

When I asked why, he said, ‘because I just don’t notice things like that.’

At least he’s honest.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: DIY, tutorial 14 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

Thanks for stopping by.

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The Dogs

The Dogs

Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

Winston - Our first dog. We miss you, sweetheart.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Thanks for visiting! Feel free to browse, read and enjoy. All content is my own; including photos and text. Please do not use anything on this site without permission.

Disclosure/Privacy Policy can be found in the Navigation Bar under ‘About MHC.’

Also, I love receiving comments! I do, however, reserve the right to delete any comment that is in poor taste, offensive or is verging on spam. It’s my blog. If you’re a bot or a troll you’ll be blocked. Thanks!

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