Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Shop Update

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Warning: Blatant plug for Etsy shop ahead.

I’ve spent the last couple of days crocheting, taking photographs and listing new inventory in ScoutHarper, our Etsy Shop. It’s time consuming, but it’s awfully fun. I’m so excited to share with you our new Flower Scarves.

These beauties are made out of 100% cotton – which means they can be worn year round – indoors or outdoors. They can be looped around the neck or worn as pictured. Meredith gets more compliments on this scarf than anything else she has made. People stop her in stores and ask about it. How can you not smile when wearing this:

Not that I care about these things, but isn’t this orange the color of the year?

I love these scarves.

When you buy something from our shop, it comes in a pretty package (hand wrapped by yours truly.) Barbara, who bought one of the Obsession Scarves, even wrote a post about it, which made me very happy. We have great feedback from our customers – it’s so rewarding to read that customers are happy with our creations.

Also in the shop are 3 new Obsession Scarves (with more coming.) One is in silk and bamboo, and the other two are in a bamboo blend, which is very lightweight (perfect for spring and summer) and baby soft.

That deep, rich purple on the right is a color I used to wear all the time, along with red and black. I look good in jewel tones – but now that my hair is grayer, I find I can wear other colors as well. Anyway, I say that because I want a scarf in all three of these colors. As well as all the flower scarves.

But they are for others to enjoy. If you’re interested in reading more about the new inventory, go to the sidebar and click on any of the photos in the Etsy widget or click on ScoutHarper at the bottom of the widget.

Have a wonderful Monday. I’m going on about 3 hours of sleep, so I may have just hit my peak for the day!

Picking Up

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It’s sunny, a bit warmer and what am I doing today? Besides crocheting, that is. Picking up dog poop from the corral and picking up rocks in my front yard.

Oh, yippee.

Nothing like dog poop and rocks to put a spring in your step and a song on your lips.

I have much to accomplish in the next less-than-a-month. Suddenly I’m hyper aware of everything that needs to be done around here before I go to Hartford. I think it’s time to make some lists.

There is yarn everywhere in this house, but especially in the den. That’s because the den is where I sit and blog and sit and read and sit and watch television and sit and crochet. There’s a box of it on the desk (that I crop out of all photos like the first one in this post.) There’s a bag of it on the floor right next to the desk. There’s a tote full of yarn next to my chair. I’m crocheting like a madwoman.

I’m aiming for a shop update tomorrow. Obsession Scarves are being purchased almost as quickly as I list them. I have 3 for tomorrow and more in the coming week. Meredith has crocheted some wonderful flower scarves and I’ll be listing them tomorrow as well. Wait ’til you see them – they are so summery, so fun!

How is your day going? Any plans for this Sunday?

Adventures in Hot Chocolate

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You all know about my love for hot chocolate during the winter months, don’t you? I’ve written about it many times. I even shared the ultimate in hot chocolate with you when I was working in New York City last year. This rich confection was a treat from the City Bakery:

My favorite? Ghirardelli’s. Umm-ummm good!

But Ghirardelli’s is a bit pricey. I usually find a way to validate my purchase: “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I rarely eat out, it’s cold outside. I deserve it.” But as winter is winding down, I couldn’t quite justify buying another tin. I started drinking Mandarin Orange Spice Herbal Tea in the afternoon. Very nice, but not quite the same as hot chocolate. Yes, it has a pleasant taste, it’s hot, it’s in a mug…but it’s not chocolate.

So, I found myself at Trader Joe’s the other day and happened upon a display featuring their tins of hot chocolate. Perfect, said I, perfect! Because we all know part of the allure of Trader Joe’s is the great prices. The price turned out to be considerably less than Ghirardelli’s. Yippee! And why not try another brand? I was expanding my horizons. I was proud of myself.

Fast forward a few days. Don left for work in the late afternoon. I feed the dogs at that point, make some tea or hot chocolate and sit down in the den. It’s a peaceful time that I look forward to. The dogs sack out after they’ve chowed down. The house is quiet. I usually read some blogs and sip on my beverage of choice.

Ah! This was the time to make that hot chocolate from Trader Joe’s. I warmed up the milk – actually, almond milk – and read the directions on the label which said to add 2 tablespoons of cocoa to warm milk. Hmmm. Ghirardelli’s instructions were to add 4 tablespoons. I figured I’d split the difference and use 3.

Off I went to the den, mug in hand, dogs at my feet. I got settled, opened up my laptop and proceeded to take a sip of the hot chocolate.

My mouth felt like it was on fire.

My taste buds were screaming. It felt like someone had dumped pepper in the mug and mixed it with the hot chocolate. It was bad. I almost did a spit take – had I been in a movie, I guarantee the director would have made me do one. What happened? Had I dumped everything into a mug that had something else in it? Unlikely. Was this a bad batch? Had someone, God forbid, tampered with the hot chocolate, like the Tylenol scare of so many years ago?

I ran to the kitchen and dumped it out. What the ???

Then I grabbed the tin for a closer look.

It was ‘Spicy Hot Cocoa.’

Spicy? Who the heck drinks Spicy Hot Cocoa? Well, obviously people do, but not me! When I told Don about it, he imagined the spices to be cinnamon and cloves; gentle, warm, comforting spices. Well, there’s cinnamon in it, for sure. But the main spice? Cayenne Pepper.

Yes, you read that correctly. Cayenne Pepper.

No wonder I ran to the kitchen, mouth on fire.

I immediately found some sort of generic brand of hot chocolate buried in the pantry and proceeded to drink it. I had to erase the sense memory of that nightmarish taste.

Lesson learned. Read labels more carefully. And pay the extra $3.50 for Ghirardelli’s.

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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