Mockingbird Hill Cottage

If I had any nails, I would be biting them. This is a big day. Since we won’t know anything until tonight or even later, I’ll be busying myself with chores around the house, including a little dollhouse work.

Speaking of chores: Doug gave us (several months ago) their wireless router set-up, which was relatively new, as he had upgraded. Doug is the tech guy in that house. At the time, I was overwhelmed with things to do, including losing the tree in the hurricane, texting for Biden, etc. I’ve had the box with the router and a couple of satellite pods upstairs on the chair in the office for a long, long time.

(Our router was over 9 years old and kept cutting in and out and should have been replaced a long time ago.)

Yesterday, I decided to set it up.

It was not as simple as I had thought it would be. After removing the old router and connecting the new, I kept getting a red light, which meant it was not connecting to the modem. I tried everything. Finally, I called our cable provider but I was on hold so long (“We are experiencing a high volume of calls…”) that I hung up. I texted Doug and his suggestion was to call Spectrum (cable.) So I called again and after a long wait was connected to a very helpful guy who made sure the modem was working – it was – and had me try a few things. He finally suggested that I call Linksys, the maker of the router. So I did. Endless time on hold, getting hungrier by the minute, and finally a guy came on the line who was enormously helpful. He helped me to set it up. Since it had been used by Rick and Doug, it had to be reset and registered online and he had to keep checking all sorts of things. Same thing with the little satellite, which is in the kitchen. This took a long time. All told, I spent about 4 hours getting everything to work. The gentleman at Linksys was incredibly calm and patient and serious, and – in true Claudia fashion – I made him laugh a couple of times. (Don and I always go for the laugh.)

Anyway, after it was over I was exhausted. But, it works! And the connection is so much better and now we can use our phones in the kitchen which has always been a dead zone. Thank you Doug and Rick. And thanks to helpful tech consultants at both our cable provider and Linksys.

I’m the tech person, for want of a better word, in this house. I put things together, I figure out how to set up the Smart TV and the remotes. I do all the computer and WiFi set ups. Don doesn’t do so well with that, though I suspect he could. He knows I’ll take care of it. On the other hand, he goes up on the roof, shovels the snow, nails down a tarp on the shed roof, etc. We balance each other. I have no complaints.

I have one thing to share with you, which was a wee splurge. I saw this on the Etsy site of Tiny Dollhouse NYC and I marked it as a favorite. I looked at it every day. It was one of a pair and one day I noticed that one had just sold, which left only one remaining, so when I got some ad income at the end of December, I went for it. It’s for the future Beacon Hill dollhouse.

This chair. It’s made by one of the foremost miniaturists in this country, if not the world, June Clinkscales. I admire her work so much. This is a heavy, solid chair (the heaviest miniature I own) and it is impeccably made. It has a curved back. The fabric is toile. I’ll take more photos when I can get more light – it’s awfully cloudy and gray around here – but isn’t it exquisite? It looks awfully good in this room, but it’s earmarked for the Beacon Hill. My first piece for that project.

This is a real collector’s item and I’m very proud to be its caretaker. Oh my heavens, I sigh with pleasure each time I look at it.

I got some baseboard trim in the mail yesterday, so I’ll start to add that to the bedroom and living room of the English Cottage. It involves mitering corners, which I’ve only done once before in Don’s studio. I also have two beds arriving today!

By the way, in case you didn’t see it, I did another IG video a few days ago on the Modern Dollhouse because I realized I’d neglected to mention it. You can see it on my Instagram account.

Don released another single today – this one is Guess I Still Get Crazy. On a personal note, this is one of my top four favorites that he’s written, so I’m thrilled. He’s been singing it for years but has never recorded it. This one is a collaboration between Don and our friend Rob Edwards. Rob has his own recording studio back in San Diego. (Rob’s the one who sold me our big oak coffee table and helped us find our Craftsman rental when we were living there.) Here’s the link.

Hang in there today.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.