Mockingbird Hill Cottage — Page 631 — Life in our little cottage in the country

Off to a Not-So-Good Start

January 16, 2019 at 9:42 am by Claudia

Here’s how our day started off:

We woke up at 5 am. Way too early.

Later, as I walked toward the loveseat Don was sitting on, he cleared everything off the sofa so I could sit down next to him. Except, it turns out, his glasses, which I promptly sat on and broke. This evoked much crying on my part. He needs his glasses. They are also glasses with expensive progressive lenses. (I broke the frame, not the lenses.)

Later, I saw a shield bug stuck on a spatter guard in the dish rack – how it got in the house I don’t know – and as I tried to free it and put it outside, I ended up unintentionally killing it. I feel very badly about that because I do my best to save all the bugs that get in the house. It bothers me.

I cried some more.

We have a dangerous winter storm headed our way on the weekend with several inches of snow, ice, and wind chills of 20 below zero.

I’m edgy and worried about that and I can’t stop thinking about Don’s glasses. He said it was his fault for leaving them on the sofa but I think it’s my fault, which has resulted in both of us feeling guilty.

Maybe I should go back to bed and bury myself under the covers for the rest of the day.

Ah well.

I’m going to take a shower and go for a reset for the rest of the day.

Happy Wednesday.

Hibernating

January 15, 2019 at 11:01 am by Claudia

Just because I like looking at this cabinet. I pass it countless times a day because it’s at the bottom of the stairs, with the bathroom just to the right. Can’t miss it. It never fails to make me smile.

Now I just need that Sleepy egg cup. Still looking. Still slightly obsessing over it. Regular egg cups are pretty and I like them, but figural egg cups are whimsical and happy-making. They are still my first love, they’re just harder to find nowadays. I think I got into collecting figural egg cups in the nick of time. I managed to scoop them up before they disappeared. I still see them occasionally, but not nearly as much as I did in 2002 – 2005.

It’s friggin’ cold here! The kind of cold that makes you want to hibernate inside the house all day. I didn’t get around to my closet yesterday, as I was washing sheets, cleaning the house and the bathroom, watering all the plants, and doing some research. I think I’ll start on it today.

The weather forecast is saying there’s potential for a big winter storm on Saturday and Sunday, with lots of snow and ice. Let’s hope that ‘potential’ fizzles out. I wouldn’t mind a bit of snow, but snow and ice? No and no and no. Other than that freak snowfall in October, we’ve been pretty lucky so far. Can we just keep it that way, Mother Nature?

We watched part of Bruce Springsteen on Broadway last night. We’re going to finish it tonight. I cannot say enough about this show. It’s just Bruce, telling us about his life and career in his poetic words and images, both spoken and sung (accompanied by acoustic guitar.) It’s amazing. I’m not a big Springsteen fan, by the way – I mean, I like and respect him, I just never listened to a lot of his music. But you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy this filmed version of his recently closed Broadway show. I have friends who saw it live and raved about it and now I know why. It’s on Netflix and I recommend it highly. It’s honest and touching and funny and powerful.

I’m reading the newest James Lee Burke – The New Iberia Blues. It was published last week. Excellent, as always. There’s none better.

That’s it, my friends. Winter brings too much time indoors, a sense of hibernation, no flowers in the garden, no critters running around outside. It gets a bit harder for me every year, though I try very hard to find beauty in the stark landscape.

Happy Tuesday.

Flowers, Sears & Movies

January 14, 2019 at 11:00 am by Claudia

Thanks for all the wonderful comments about Sears (and other beloved stores) and for sharing your memories. I shop online, yes, but sparingly. I rarely buy clothes online, as I want to try them on. I prefer to hold a book in my hand before I choose it. And I’ll be the first to say that mall shopping makes me tired and cranky, and my eyes hurt from the lights, and the sheer amount of territory to cover is too much. I miss the days when you could walk into a department store that wasn’t connected to a mall. But those days are gone.

My cousin left a comment as to the Sears Modern Homes that were sold as a kit. She thinks our family cottage was a Sears home. Interestingly, I had just had that same thought right before I read her comment. I know that my grandfather and his sons built the cottage themselves – I’ve seen photos of them building it. I wish we could ask my dad or my aunt about the kit they used. That comment from Eileen led me to look at all the different house models that Sears sold and I think I found one that might have been the model for the cottage Not sure yet, but it was so much fun to look at all the designs.

It’s that time of year again. My parents’ 40+ year old sansevieria is blooming again. There are five of these flower stalks nestled among the plant spikes.

The scent is heavenly.

Hey, Mom and Dad. Thank you.

My decluttering mojo has been missing for the past week or two, but it’s back. I’m going to start tackling the closet in our office today. Wish me luck!

We’ve been watching screeners of movies and television series that are nominees for the SAG Awards. So far, we’ve watched The Wife, Vice, The Favourite, BlackkKlansman, and Beautiful Boy. Tonight, we’re watching Can You Ever Forgive Me? We received a copy of Black Panther, as well, but we’ve seen that twice. I’ll refrain from commenting in case you haven’t seen these movies and plan to, but I will say that my favorites so far are The Favourite and Beautiful Boy. Though I liked certain aspects of each film, including some wonderful performances, there were serious flaws that keep me from giving them a rave.

We’re grateful to have the opportunity to watch them this early in the game. Normally, we’d wait until they hit the small screen.

Okay. Have to get a move on!

Happy Monday.

Off to a Not-So-Good Start

Hibernating

Flowers, Sears & Movies

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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