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Thrifty Living 2012

January 19, 2012 at 9:00 am by Claudia

We’re starting a new series today – Thrifty Living 2012.

In this series, there will be five women sharing the economic struggles they and their families face in their particular region.

Each week, one of us; Brenda, Claudia, Elaine, Jen and Diane, will be featured with a topic on how we are living more thriftily in the year 2012. The rest of us will provide our own paragraph or so on how we apply that thrifty tip to our own lifestyle.

We run the gamut. Brenda is the only single family household. Claudia and Don live with their two dogs in New York. Elaine has a small daughter and grown children in Southern California. Jen and her husband have just relocated to another part of Canada and are looking for their first house. Diane and her husband live in Florida and are retired.

My story:

This series calls for an honest appraisal of how the woeful economy has affected our lifestyles, so I will be as honest as I can, while still protecting my privacy.

My name is Claudia and I live with my husband and two dogs in upstate New York, about 75 miles northwest of Manhattan.

Ten years ago, I left my full-time position as an Associate Professor and Resident Vocal Coach for a well-known theater program to move East with my husband. He’s an actor who, after having spent all of his professional life on the West Coast, found that he was getting more work on the East Coast. I was suffering from teacher burnout. Don was turning 50 and we figured it was now or never. I started to do freelance work as a Voice coach for the theater and Don? Acting is always freelance.

Since our move, we have had the usual fluctuations in income that come when both wage earners are freelancers. But the past 2 years have been terrible for us. Acting work has dried up, thanks, in part, to Reality television. (More on that next week.) Don has found himself in the same boat as so many of his actor friends, actors who have worked professionally for 40 years, suddenly facing the fact that there is little, if any, work to be found.

My work comes and goes. Theaters have had cuts in funding. Budgets don’t always allow for a coach. Something has to go and it can’t be costumes and sets, can it?

We bought a house at the height of the real estate boom and now make hefty mortgage payments on a house that is not worth nearly the amount of our loan. We’re struggling to get by.

We’ve never lived anything close to a lavish lifestyle. Our lifestyle has been extremely moderate. But now? We are having to cut corners on essentials. Every month the mortgage payment has to be made and the bills paid and we cross our fingers and hope that this month we’ll have enough.

I’ll share more with you next week.

To read the introductions of the rest of the team, please visit:

Brenda of Cozy Little House

Elaine of Sunny, Simple Life

Jen of Muddy Boot Dreams

Diane of Lavender Dreams

Early Morning

January 18, 2012 at 9:07 am by Claudia

One of my favorite moments in the early morning or evening is the time when the sky is changing – when it’s about to be dark or about to be light. The deep blues move and shift and if you blink, it all changes. They remind me of the blues in a Maxfield Parrish illustration. He always used those mysterious, rich shades of blue. It’s one of the reasons I love his work so much.

I woke up too early today. While letting the dogs out, I saw the sky and grabbed my camera.

I wish I’d slept longer as I have to drive to New Haven again today – this time later in the day because I have to catch an evening performance. I’ll be driving back home late tonight. A bit more sleep would have been most welcome. I fall asleep just fine, but somehow during the early morning hours I wake up and my thoughts start running rampant, I can’t get comfortable and eventually get up.

Those middle-of-the-night thoughts and worries can really get to you.

On the other hand, I love the early morning hours when everything is quiet, when the world is still sleeping. I grab a shawl to ward off the chill, take my little furry pals with me into the den, drink a cup of Peet’s French Roast and watch the sun rise.

I like the quiet. More and more, as I get older, I crave quiet. We’re out in the country, yes, but we live on a very busy road. In the summertime, with the windows open, the sound of trucks and cars can be too loud, too annoying. In the winter, with the house shut up tight, those sounds fade into the background. And when it snows: quiet everywhere. We haven’t had a snowfall like that this winter. I wonder if we will in this strange winter of 2012.

I’m on my second cup of coffee now. Riley seems unusually restless this morning and I can’t figure out what he needs or wants. Scout is sleeping on the sofa. Don’s asleep upstairs. I just sneezed five times in a row.

A glimpse of my morning here at Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

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Tomorrow starts a new series, Thrifty Living 2012. Five of us will be sharing our tips for frugal, thrifty living. We’ll introduce ourselves and share our personal stories over the next two Thursdays, then we’ll take turns sharing the things we do to save money in this crazy economy. I hope you’ll join us.

Snow & Some Favorite Products

January 17, 2012 at 12:02 pm by Claudia

We got a smidgeon of snow last night. Just enough to mess with Don’s midnight drive home from work. What a bizarre winter this is! No snow until last night, if you don’t count the freak 10 inches we got in October, when it wasn’t officially winter yet.

I’m happy not having to contend with shoveling and salt and all the mess that happens with a snowfall, but snow, if you’re going to come, at least cover the ground, okay? This just looks messy.

My head is spinning (just a little) from the font thing. Most of you said you liked the new font just fine, but that you also liked the old font. A few of you took the time to write me and say that my old font (Century Gothic) was more me and suited my blog. Most of you, I’d say 98%, said you had no trouble reading the old font.

What the heck should I do? I’m going to leave the new font on the blog for a while. I like it, so I’m going to give it some time, just like a fine wine, to age and mature. I loved the old font, though. Who knows? It may appear again.

I thought I’d mention a couple of products that I’m liking very much these days:

This line is carried at Target. When I was working in Wisconsin last summer and a trip to Target and Trader Joe’s was the most exciting part of the week, I tried a little sample of this. I love the texture of the cream and the scent is heavenly. I bought a big old tube of it around Christmas time just for me. Wouldn’t you know it? That darned Don is using it, too. Apparently, he’s decided to say Yes to Carrots. I wonder if it’s possible to hide it from him?

One of my Christmas presents from the aforementioned Don was this candle from Barnes & Noble. This is part of a series of library candles by Paddywax. It’s made from soy, rather than paraffin, which makes it more eco-friendly. This one has a quote from Oscar Wilde:

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”

Oh, that Oscar. Besides writing my favorite play ever, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” he was one witty guy, always coming up with a quote that makes me chuckle.

These candles are a bit pricey at $20. But both of us love the scent (which usually isn’t the case in this household) and I like to burn it in the den which sits right on top of a dirt-floor crawl space that can be a bit musty smelling at times. Besides, you can reuse the deep purple glass candle holder. Love it.

I redesigned my sister’s blog yesterday. She will be the first to admit she is seriously tech-challenged. It needed some updating. She may be seriously tech-challenged but she is a seriously talented knitter, weaver and crocheter!

For everyone who might be checking in to read a Defending the Small House post, Brenda and I are going to run this series once a month on the first Tuesday of the month. It’s a challenge to keep coming up with ideas and this change will eliminate the pressure of having to coming up with a fresh post every week. Yes, we’re brilliant, but we’re not that brilliant.

Have a great day!

Thrifty Living 2012

Early Morning

Snow & Some Favorite Products

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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