Monthly Archives: February 2020

Daffodils, Veggies and Fish – Oh, My!

Listal

Yesterday was a productive day for us.

Greenwood Collision called us in the morning, saying that the part we needed for the Vette had FINALLY arrived (it was ordered in November) – so we took both vehicles there to leave the Vette to be fixed (after my husband insisted we stop at the car wash to give it a bath before we left it with them.)

We then drove to Fort Smith to leave our tax stuff with our CPA, Mike Schluterman, at Lawrence, Schluterman & Schwartz LTD. They will call us when the returns are ready to sign and send. I LOVE it when we can dump the stuff on Mike and we can be sure all will be handled competently.

On the way back we stopped for groceries, gas, and a couple of other things. I fixed lunch when we got home. We got a text from our friends, saying they wouldn’t be able to bowl last night, so I decided that, since it was a GORGEOUS day, I wanted to go back to town and buy spinach and head lettuce plants.

I spent a happy couple of hours getting the weeds out and then planting the spinach and head lettuce. I spread things out more this time (though my hat stays off to Mel Bartholomew of Square Foot Gardening.  In MY garden, things tend to grow too closely together, cutting off oxygen and resulting in spoilage. So this year, I’m planting one plant in each square and will see what happens.  (I went out this morning to take pictures. When I was out walking Molly earlier, there was just a very quiet sprinkle from the sky. When I went out to take the pictures, it was a steady rain, so I was glad I took my umbrella.)

To the early spring garden, I will add sweet onion sets. Then I’ll watch those until it’s time to plant tomatoes and yellow squash, and whatever my husband would like me to try.

On the way back from taking pics of the garden, I got a couple of pictures of my daffodils, stubbornly blooming even though it will probably freeze twice this week. I can and will cover the plants in the garden, but I can’t cover the yard, so I hope they can ‘weather-the-weather.’

 

 

The last thing I did yesterday was clean the aquarium.  The fish seem happy and healthy, although they don’t say much.

Running the TWO filters has lengthened the amount of time before I need to change the water again. The new, stick-shaped aerator we’re using now makes ME happier, and the change to the glass beads instead of gravel is much nicer.

So there you have my yesterday. Today is an inside day. All will depend on when the rain stops, or if this is an all day thing.

I hope that YOU are staying warm and dry and happy.

 

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Filed under Family, Gardening, Housekeeping - Maintenance, Seasons, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds, Thoughts on a ________

Snow Goon Mailbox Decoration

One of the many Snow-Goons created in Calvin & Hobbes comics by Bill Watterson

 

Even though we are having mostly spring-like weather here in Arkansas this year, we wanted to be sure to honor one of our favorite cartoonists, Bill Watterson.  I’m really hoping that we can get through this month and half way through March without more ice or sleet or snow, but I AM smarter than my daffodils – already blooming and probably soon to have their beauty cut off by Mother Nature…

We had fun with this one, particularly because of the 3-D nature of the piece. We had to make his arms and hands, welding them carefully to the two pieces without blowing holes through the sheet metal. This is one of our larger, more bulky mailbox decorations and we smile each time we put it up.

 

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Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, metal art

Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

info@cj-caldwell.com

I tried a new recipe from Claudia J. Caldwell a couple of nights ago, and my husband and I think it’s a keeper and will enter our regular rotation of ‘good keto recipes’

I received an email from her, offering this recipe. You may need to go to her Facebook page and sign up to receive emails in order to get it. I’m really glad I did, and am trusting her more and more to give us recipes we will enjoy.

The recipe gives you 6 servings at 1 gram of net carbs per serving. We had a salad with it. I may tweak it a bit and include some spinach and mushrooms in there next time. Delicious!

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At Dusk

“At Dusk” -Julius Sergius von Klever via Dr. Cyril Thiaudiere PhD -LinkedIn

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Thoughts on a Saturday 2-15-2020

The sun is ALMOST shining today and it’s warmer, so I’m a happy camper.

We just got back from running errands. We have two main things on our list today –

THING ONE – getting a replacement collar for the shock collar we use rarely with our 94+ pound yellow lab, Amber. The shock part is still working, but the collar is too short now. Once we get one we can use, we’ll start working with her again in the yard. We need to be able to take her to the vet, for example, without worrying about her pulling my husband or me down and making us face surf on the ground. Our biggest problem is that she minds well when we are by ourselves. She looks at us as if she has never seen us before and is totally deaf when we are out in public.

THING TWO – adjusting a door knob assembly so that the door to the guest room closes and stays closed, rather than opening with the nose of a dog or cat.

I told you that we don’t really celebrate any holidays like birthdays, Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, etc. My husband was raised without big celebrations and I don’t want him to feel obligated to get me something just because of the calendar.  When we find something we think the other will like, we get it and give it, regardless of the day.

I have also told you that I’m a very happy, spoiled lady who is treated better than I deserve 99% of the time. Two examples –

He bought me these earrings a couple of weeks ago. I just love them. They gave me some trouble trying to actually get them into my ears, though. The post is curved and didn’t want to go through the hole in my ear. I kept trying. I finally decided to wait until my earlobes were completely happy and THEN try them. I wore them yesterday!!!! My husband was a bit disappointed, saying they were ‘small,’ but they looked pretty. I tried to get a pic of them with me wearing them, but I wasn’t able to.

TODAY I opened a package in the mail to find these –

The picture doesn’t show how sparkly they are. They are called, “sidewinders” or something similar because you see the whole circle while they are in your ear, not just an outside edge. I will put them on and try to get a picture. Fingers crossed!

See what I mean about being happy and spoiled?

After several days of running like a nut, I’m fairly caught up today.

I am planning to –

  • Bake a loaf of keto bread
  • Get back into exercising – with my elliptical trainer in the garage plus a session of yoga later today.

I hope that YOUR Saturday is a fun one!

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Filed under DIET!, exercise, Family, giving, Housekeeping - Maintenance, love, Thoughts on a ________

The Art of Joya Cousin

Joya Cousin – LinkedIn

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The Wonderful Art of Bethany Kerr

Bethany Kerr Fine Art

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I Found My Desk!

I told you that I FINALLY made myself quit procrastinating and got the tax prep for 2019 mostly done. I then went through the file cabinet drawers for our stock records and found something ELSE that should have been a long time ago – updating our stuff and making sure that our records agreed with our broker’s. As I was working on those things, plus getting things ready to put in the local shop for St. Patrick’s Day, I ended up ‘losing’ my desk.

I love this desk. It’s impractical, but I love it. It has a top that rolls down so you can’t see the top at all. (I had so much STUFF on it – that was impossible) :0)

It also has a bunch of little drawers, nooks & crannies, slide-out trays, etc. It even has a KEY to lock it, though I never use it.

Today was the day I was going to do two things:

THING ONE:  Go onto our broker’s website and see if I could download and print what we needed to finish our taxes.

THING TWO:  FIND my desk again.

_______________

My desk is FOUND again!  As usual, I threw away a bunch of stuff, put things back where they belonged, found new places for some of the stuff…

I was able to download and print our tax stuff, so I’m in the process of going through the packet one more time, making sure I have everything included – with the backup receipts needed, and then we will drive to Fort Smith Monday and leave it with our wonderful CPA who makes sense of all of it and hopefully tells us we don’t owe anything.

As soon as I finish going through the tax stuff, I’m planning to dive into the book I’ve been reading and enjoy!

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob, Organizing/DeCluttering

It’s 29 Degrees F and…

This was taken at the same time I took the photos of my daffodils blooming, even though it wasn’t the middle of February.

 

I took this photo this morning. It’s 29 degrees out there and look at this!

I was out walking Molly when I saw this, and I have to tell you, my heart simply filled with joy and hope. Cheesy, maybe, but absolutely true.

“Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!” – Robin Williams

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Happy Valentine’s Day 2020

If there ever comes a day where we can’t be together, keep me in your heart. I’ll stay there forever.” —Winnie The Pooh

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Our Leak

 

 

This shows you the piece of pipe that the plumber cut from about 2 feet or so down. It was pretty heavy PVC pipe and was squashed under the weight of a pretty big rock. The plumber said he thought the pipe just finally ‘gave up.’

 

 

The is the yard mostly put back together now. We will add some bags of potting soil to the hole when things dry a bit and then spring, warm temperatures, and sunshine will do the rest of the repair.

The rock doesn’t look very large in the photo, but it’s at least 18 inches long about about 12″ wide. It is so heavy it will take my husband and I to roll it, end-over-end until we can roll it off the civilized portion of our front yard.

We will find out tomorrow what kind of ‘adjustment’ the water department lady can make. I hope it isn’t so much we have a real problem paying it.

Fingers crossed!

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My Valentine’s Day Present to ME

When my husband and I first got married over 50 years ago, it used to hurt my feelings that my husband didn’t get me a present or do anything special for occasions, like my birthday, Christmas, our anniversary, Valentine’s Day, etc. I talked to him about it and discovered that HIS parents never did anything, so he grew up not looking at one day any differently than the next.

 

Then I went through a period where – though my feelings were a bit hurt, I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want him to feel OBLIGATED to get anything for me. He has said he would rather treat me well EVERY day, rather than getting me flowers certain times of the year and calling it done.  He gets me things when he finds things he thinks I might like, or calls me over to his computer and asks, “Do you like this?”  No special occasion, just doing a really nice thing for me, like the beautiful, sparkly earrings I showed you on another post recently.

 

Finally, I got smarter. I realized that holidays were special to ME and that their celebration was MY problem. So I started treating myself to something totally useless that I fell in love with for each occasion. It’s always something that I can’t ‘justify’ spending money for, but gives me joy. I was on the net, looking for wonderful examples of wooden sculpture to share on the blog and found this. I immediately fell in love and saw it was for sale from Crate & Barrel. Even though it cost a bit more than I usually spend, I said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Dear Linda” and hit the put-it-in-the-cart button.

He arrived today and I think he’s beautiful. His beak, legs and feet are brass and the wood of his little body is smooth as silk. I have him sitting in front of my keyboard now so that I can enjoy him when I’m at the computer, as I spend about one-third of my day here.

This is probably an unorthodox way of handling my problem, but it sure works for me. I showed the sweet bird to my husband, hugged his neck, and thanked him. :0)

 

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A Challenging Day

Jeff Jett via LinkedIn

When we got up this morning, I thought it would be a quiet day.

It’s cold, gray, and rainy today, so I have to fight wanting to curl up under my throw in my recliner and nap the day away.

We had our quarterly bug spray at noon. If you’re looking for a dependable, wonderful group of people to handle all your bug spraying needs, try Tri-Hill Pest Control in Fort Smith, AR.  Their phone number is (479) 782-2847. They come treat our home quarterly. At one point, we had lots of scorpions. YES! It was really awful. They got them under control for us. Now supposedly spiders are overrunning everyone, but we haven’t seen even one – and NO scorpions. Since it’s rainy. our wonderful sprayer said he would schedule a return visit in a day or two to treat the outside.

Before he arrived, I got a call from our water department. We had gotten several bills lately that were higher than usual. We thought it was probably leftover charges from when our son was home (our bill usually doubles) – and then we had a leak in our well house that our plumber came and fixed, so we thought it might be leftover from that. I just paid the last bill, so I was surprised when the lady at the water department called me, saying from our usage, we must have a leak somewhere. She said the company had been trying to find the source and that something ‘pinged’ when they passed our house. She suggested that we contact a plumber.

I called Travis Hawkins, our long-time wonderful plumber. (479) 461-8347.  I actually got to speak with him directly, rather than having to leave a message. He is so good that he stays quite busy. He told me that as soon as the rain stopped, he would be over and try to find the source of the leak. I just noticed the rain had stopped – at least for awhile – and Travis was driving up the driveway. Have I told you that I think he is worth his weight in gold?

My husband showed him a place in the front yard where we had standing water. The whole yard is wet, but this was almost like a shallow lake in comparison. We now have a big hole in our front yard. Travis actually found the source of the leak – a big PVC pipe that runs across our front yard. There was a humongous rock or boulder between the soil and the pipe. He has gone to the hardware store to get the supplies he needs to fix where we can SEE the pipe just caved in on itself. (Apparently, this is another perk from living in one place for over 30 years. – they use different, stronger stuff now.)

The lady at the water department said that when the leak is fixed. we should bring the repair receipt in to her office and she will adjust our bill. I’m not sure what that actually MEANS, but we will be grateful for whatever help she can give us.

Otherwise, I hard-boiled some eggs and made a keto sausage/eggs/cheese back for our dinner tonight. I also did a Windows 10 update on my computer, then FINALLY figured out how to do a backup of the operating system with the recent changes, then backed up my data.

It’s not even mid-afternoon yet and I’m exhausted.

I’m glad we don’t usually have days like this.

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The Art of Niki Firmin

Niki Firmin Pet Portraits – Millie

 

 

Niki Firmin Pet Portraits

 

 

Niki Firmin Pet Portraits – Alma

 

 

Niki Firmin Pet Portraits – Jess

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Live

Scary Mommy Tweens and Teens via Linda Orell

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I Win

Cindy Pasqualini

I am bestowing the “Champion Procrastinator” star upon myself today.

Pro

And what did I do to win this “honor” you ask?

I’ve been planning to input our data for January onto my spreadsheets for taxes for three days now. SOMEHOW I have found things that were more ‘important’ to do…. so the pile of receipts sits.

Please don’t send me kudos for the star. I bestow it upon myself over and over, usually when I’m feeling guilty – finally.

Soon it will be time to input information for FEBRUARY and I haven’t even begun the year yet!

If YOU also have this ‘honor,’ maybe we should start a club so that we can commiserate – or cheer each other on in our efforts to put it off just one more day.

Let me know and we’ll start the club – one of these days VERY soon… :0)

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Poor Stupid Daffodils!

Our weather has been really strange this winter. We’ll have a cold snap, then spring-like weather, then cold again – then a pretty snow, then thunderstorms. It’s no wonder my daffodils are confused.

 

“Friendship is a shiny thing, a steady beam of light
A lantern on a lonely street, a song far in the night
A smile, a touch of a loving hand, a quiet moment on a hill
And, oh, what a happy little child bringing home a daffodil” (Unknown)

 

 

 

“A host of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.” ~ William Wordsworth

 

“For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.” – William Wordsworth

 

“A house with daffodils in it is a house lit up,
whether or no the sun be shining outside.” ~ A.A. Milne

 

 

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Victory!

Fifth Estate

I have worked all day, but I have finally done the majority of the work needed on our tax prep. The spreadsheets I made helped a LOT. They are all totaled and printed now, and I have the supporting documents in ordered piles now. I just finished saving the spreadsheets for 2020.

I’m doing a small victory dance now – since all is ready – as soon as we get a few more documents – to bag it up and take it to our CPA. HOOOORAAAAAY!

Soon I will start entering the data for January 2020 on the new spreadsheets. I’ve also figured out some time-saving things I can do to make getting the supporting documents in order more quickly next time.

I figure I’ll have this down to a science by the time I’m about 106….

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Sand

Moonbeams and Mayhem via Scarlett Kirwan

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Feisty Fish

If you’ve been following my adventures with trying to keep my aquarium clean, you know that I officially discovered that goldfish are known to be ‘prolific poopers.’ I only have three goldfish. They are in a 5-gallon tank. I don’t want to get a larger tank. I don’t want to ‘off’ any of the three fish, so I’m experimenting with things that might make it so I don’t have to completely clean out the tank every week.

I got a new filter, and that has helped. I got 2 or 3 more days out of that. Today I put the new one back in, but also put the OLD one in, too. I am hoping that the TWO filters, plus changing the filter inserts often, will do the trick.

When I put the fish in after everything was clean, they bunched up in the corner, wriggling their bodies and opening and closing their mouths, hoping I would feed them again.  I caved and gave them a couple of soaked flakes. They had no comment about having a clean tank…

 

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Buried

Alamy

Happy Sunday!

I am trying to find my way out of a huge pile of STUFF regarding trying to get our records ready so that we can dump them on our wonderful CPA. If you are in the Fort Smith, Arkansas area, I highly recommend Lawrence, Schluterman, & Schwartz, LTD, CPAs in Fort Smith. We have used them for years and trust them completely. Their address is 2411 S. Waldron Road, Fort Smith AR 72903. Their phone number is 479-484-7211.

That said, I truly hate tax prep. Today I will total the spreadsheets I’ve been keeping for each deduction category and see how it goes. I’ve really been trying to act like an adult this year, entering the data for the month soon after it is over. Hopefully, I can finish prepping in record time.

IF THAT IS THE CASE – I will make myself start new spreadsheets for 2020 – yes, I am aware that I’m already behind – and I will make every effort to be a good girl and get caught up.

Have a wonderful day!

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A Beautiful Day, Except…

i.pinimg.com-originals

We are having a truly gorgeous day today – particularly for February. The sun is shining brightly and it’s 59 degrees outside!

Yesterday we not only saw the small herd of 6 deer beside the road on the way to town, but also saw a roadrunner when we got home.

Getty Images

This one above is not the one we saw, but the picture gives you an idea. He was up on our deck railing, eating the handful of seed we try to leave in the “bird” feeder we made from a shovel.

Shovel Bird Feeder

Shovel BirdFeeder and Friends on the Deck Railing

He seemed quite comfortable eating brunch as we watched. Two squirrels and a rabbit rounded out the wonderful display of nature.

Our doggies have LOVED the day, wearing us out with letting them out and back in again over and over. (They have to go out separately, since our lab, Amber, is jealous of our elderly cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, Molly, and tries to hurt her.)  We are getting our exercise today playing “doggy doorman.”

Amber

 

Molly

I got the ingredients for keto chili in the crock pot early this morning – at my husband’s request – so we’ll enjoy having that ready to eat for dinner tonight. I also cut up a HUGE container of strawberries because my husband lives for his ‘cakes, ice cream, and strawberries’ each night.

This would be a perfect day except that it’s February, meaning I need to get our paperwork organized for our CPA to do our taxes. I have kept spreadsheets on the various deduction categories this year, and I have made myself enter the data each month, so I think it will be mostly a matter of checking things over, totaling everything, and printing the spreadsheets, then adding the appropriate backup for each thing.

Stock records to confirm as we wait for the company to send us the official records, filing, updating, and THEN opening the spreadsheets for the records for 2020 are also on the list.

If all this paperwork were done with a swish of my magic wand, I would be the happiest of women….

 

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Family, Lewis Art, Lewis yard art, Mother Nature, Thoughts on a ________

Precocious

First Grade Fun Times via Yolanda Vanveen

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Sass

etsy.com*

*Even though a comma and an apostrophe are missing. I felt this was too good not to share…

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When Wood Comes Alive – Part 2

 

 

Carved By Ramsey

 

Giuseppe Rumerio – Webneel.com

 

Will Dunfee

 

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A Beautiful Sight

On the way to Lunch Bunch this morning, we saw a group of SIX deer standing beside the road. Happily, they didn’t move as we drove past. I wish I could have gotten a pic of them, but someone was behind us on the road, so we couldn’t stop.  This picture I found on the net gives you an idea of what we were fortunate enough to see.

 

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Thoughts on a Friday 2-7-2020

Timeline Photos via Cindy Pasqualini

There is a bright, round shape in the sky lighting up everything around here today!  It’s 34 right now and is supposed to get to 50. You can’t ask for much more for a day in February!

We are about to leave for Lunch Bunch, our every Friday celebration of friendship. Usually there is Linda, Kay, Kay’s husband, my husband, and me. Sometimes relatives of ours join us. Sometimes other friends. It’s good food and good conversation with hugs and laughs with caring friends.

After Lunch Bunch, my husband and I will go to Ft. Smith to leave another donation with the Veterans Thrift store. This time it’s a lot of clothes, shoes, and purses.

Today’s Project – scrubbing bathrooms. We have two full baths upstairs and two half baths downstairs. Since I’m a lousy housekeeper, they all need work.

I’ve been trying to get up to my art room, but time and energy run out before I can get there. When I get things a bit more caught up, my priorities will change.

I hope you have a glorious day today, too.

 

 

 

 

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Ahhhhhhh!

Getty Images

I just got home from having a massage. Ahhhhhhhhhh!

It has been two months since I had one. I had to call and reschedule the original appointment because of my food poisoning episode. THEN the rescheduled massage was canceled due to the roads being dangerous to drive because of Mother Nature. The subsequent appointment was canceled due to my wonderful massage therapist getting the flu. So TODAY – when I looked out the window and saw our yard covered in WHITE – I groaned.

I dressed and came downstairs quickly to look on the computer to see if Greenwood Schools were canceled. If the buses won’t run, WE’RE not going to drive. I couldn’t find any notices, so when I took Sweet Molly out this morning, I looked around and saw that it was the PERFECT snow – the yard looked pretty, but the porch and sidewalks were free of ice. HOORAY!

The driveway had some snow, but the snow tires on the truck weren’t really needed. The streets were clear.

My wonderful massage therapist laughed as I groaned as she found all the places that needed her so desperately. She is really good. I felt limp as a noodle by the time she finished. I tried just saying, “Good Night,” hoping she would just leave me. No luck there.

I’m home now and will eat lunch soon. I have to say that having a massage is one of the best ways to start a day!

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Calvin and Hobbes Wisdom

sayingimages.com

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Reminder of Spring

On the eve of possible rain/sleet/snow here, I thought I would share a nice reminder of spring –

Beautiful Objects Around Us via Martha Kirkendall-Ghearing

 

Beautiful World

 

Beautiful World

 

Soul Alchemy

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When Wood Comes Alive

Kiwi Bird – Crate and Barrel

 

 

My Modern Met

 

 

Simpson Artworks

 

 

Wayfair.com

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