In case you didn't already know...

I moved over to typepad. Seems like I lost a few readers in the transition. Bummer! The new blog is : www.littlelovelies.typepad.com! See you 'round!

ABC's of Me - B

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ABCs Of Me

Blogging has been sparse for me lately. My craft room is in overhaul, so not much is being done there. We have been readying our lawns for a sprinkler install that Aaron and his dad are doing starting this afternoon. I have been reading and re-reading the last Harry Potter. We have been squeezing in playtime with the cousins before they leave on Friday. I have been simultaneously planning a high school reunion, family reunion and Handmade Parade.

So you, see blogging hasn't been the first thing on my mind lately. When I saw the idea for the ABCs or Encyclopedia of Me posts that people are doing I thought it was kinda cool. Cuz you all are dying to know more about me, right? HA. Whatever, you are stuck now.

Mmmkay. "A", right?

Accident-prone is the first thing that popped into my mind. I am so so so so very accident prone. The house we lived in growing up was a two story and would take those stairs two at a time regularly. When I was in a big hurry I would take them three at a time. Yeah. I am 5'6". Bad idea. THUNK THUNK THUNK @((!^#$ was part of my daily routine. Several times a someone would hear the thunks and the swear word and know that I was coming or going. Sadly, when I go back to my mom's house it is automatic to try to tackle the stairs two or three at a time, to the family gets treated to the thunk-swear even today.

The first time Aaron heard it for himself (we had all told him stories of it) the look on his face was clear: I married her?

Ahhh. Good times, good times. Thankfully my accident-proneyness never yielded more than some stitches (though the stitches story is more stupidity than accident) and a broken toe. Oh, one year we were sledding on Christmas day and I was sledding down a hill and hit a brick on my butt. I'm not sure what was worse the pain or the embarrassment. I was in 7th grade and we were sledding with the jerky neighbor boy, so the embarrassment was pretty significant.

My mom thought that maybe I should have had stitches for that one, but since the cut was literally where the sun don't shine, there was no way my little 7th grade self was going to go to the ER and have someone stitch me up, there. Oy, I am blushing thinking about what might have been...

(That pic is from Hawaii 2 years ago, I am not uber-pregnant now. Aaron was soooo irritated because he knew that the bird owners would want money for holding the balloons and dorky me thought, noooo they would say up front if they wanted money! HA. they wanted 10 bucks for that pic!)

The one where Pheobe gets sick of talking about what to do next and talks about PBS instead.*

Your comments on the last post about staying or going were very helpful, so thanks! The numero uno reason that I would like to move to Typepad is to reply to comments directly to the commenter. Since someone said that wordpress offers the same feature for free I may look into that. I just got this here blog-thing where I like it, so I am hesitant to move. Funny how I am putting waaay more thought into this move than I do our brick and mortar moves. What I have to weigh is whether or not, at the end of the day I am going to want to move to Typepad anyway. Because if that is going to happen anyhow, then I migt as well move now, right?

Geez. Have we had enough of the stay/go discusson? Me too. Lets move on.

Aaron and I have been watching the new PBS mini-series, Simon Schama's Power of Art. Three words: Ah. May. Zing. I am so disapointed to find that we caught it on the tail end of the series and that next week's look into Rothko is the last one. We saw David and Turner and both were extremely fascinating. It is as much about the art as about how Schama presents it, which is brilliant. Actually it is probably more about Schama and his presentation because I am looking forward to the Rothko episode as much as I was the Turner though I am not as much interested in Rothko's work. I am, however, eagerly waiting to hear what Schama's commentary on the work is.

And now I leave you with my Club Little House submission. I had planned on doing a 4th of July picnic/fireworks show. Well that evolved into a Day at the County Fair. There is a fair poster, blue ribbon (you can decide what you won it for), a blanket to watch the fireworks show on and a firework. The firework has a long end to attach to the back of a dollhouse, so it really looks like a fireworks show.

*Not a real Friends title, but it sounds like it could be, dosen't it? Of all the Friends, I think Phoebe would be the one to watch PBS.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?*

VS.



I am a perpetual cheapskate, but I think I might have to be done with blogger. I want to be able to reply to the comments I recieve from all you cool people and get comments from those who email me to tell me they can't leave a comment because blogger has some sort of grudge against them. Was that a run on sentence? I feel like it was...but I digress. I am looking into typepad because, well, everyone has typepad, so it must be just peachy, right? The only thing that bums me out about typepad is that it costs moola and I am cheap.

Why pay for a service when you can get perfectly mediocre service for free, right? Hmm. Maybe I should rethink that one. Anyway, you typepad fans out there, sell it to me. Should I stay or should I go?

*Is it weird that song lyrics amd movie lines fit so well in my daily life? Probably, but it is fun. I am so lucky to have a husband who always knows what I am talking about when I insert a movie line into our conversation and can do it even more flawlessly than I.

6 years...

:: four apartments :: one house :: three cars :: millions of smiles :: a few tears :: bunches of good jokes (and only a few bad ones) :: two babies :: one fish :: dozens of movies :: oodles of evenings talking :: several seasons of geeky si-fi tv :: loads of patience (on his part)

:: 2,190 days loving each other ::

6::21::01

We tried...

really
really
hard.
Turns out popsicles keep tears away and kids from running off.

Wish we had thought of it about 45 minutes earlier...

It's Party Time!*

Sweet Table Settings: Check

Pretty Birthday Girl: Check

Uncle Aaron on Trampoline: Check

Party Crown: Check

Uncle Rhys enjoying tea with the kiddies: Check

*Said in the same manner MC Hammer says "It's Hammer Time!"

Shop, Stop And Stroll

My creation
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies.

Not only was this a completely cool name for a show, it was a completely cool night! Of the few shows I have done so far, this one was the best and by far the most fun. I'm sure it had a lot to do with the fab gals I was with!

What is even more exciting is that now Handmade Parade has a home! The owner of Coffee Garden in Scramento wants to do Handmade Parade with us in October and even said we could have a bigger crowd this time around! So now, we are in the process of getting together our amazing talent for the show, so if you are interested please e-mail me at handmade_parade@yahoo.com for all the info!!

Milestone

Milestone
Originally uploaded by astragalus.

We passed an important milestone last night. The "kid with a gaping hole in his head and needs to get stiches" milestone. As the kids were getting ready for bed Monkey was sitting on the arm of the couch and slid off right into the handle of the DVD cabinent. No roughhouseing, no running, falling, jumping. He just slid right into the cabinent as he was trying to help and turn off the dvd player.

That's whatcha get for helping, kid.

I took one look at it and realized stiches were needed and scooped up him and peanut and we were on our way. 5 hours later and one traumatizing sewing experience later we were home.

The ER nurse was particularly bothered by sewing our monkey up because he had one at home same age, same name (who looked remarkably like our monkey, too), so he was really brokenhearted at having to participate in our boy's pain. We all shed a few tears together.

Our monkey was a serious trooper, though. Once it was over they gave him toys and stickers. He even shook the nurses hand and the docs hand and gave them stickers to prove he harbored no ill will towards them.

When all is said and done he'll have a kick'n pirate scar over his eye to show everyone.

When Nothing Else Fits...

When Nothing Else Fits
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies.

My shoes always will! Thank goodness for that!

Tomorrow my neice and nephews are coming over to play and make homemade corndogs (maybe this is why only my shoes fit...). I don't know who is more excited about this me or the kids. Probably me. They are too busy being tired and grumpy at the moment. I accidentally squashed Peanuts foot with my chair and I refused to let Monkey have Corn Pops for dinner. two nights in a row. I am SO mean.

Lookie what my friends are up to!

Flickr Friends
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies.

I have some pretty fab flickr friends, no? Look at all this fabulousness!

I am hopefully going to have this uploading deal figured out soon because I have soooo many things to show. I made the dollhouse fireworks the other day, and man did they turn out CUTE! The quilts are only slightly less cute because I can't figure out the whole binding thing. Someday. But all in all the sets are super super cuta and I can't wait to see who gets them in Club Little House.

I have also been a decopauging fool the last few days and have an impressive pile to show for it. It makes me pretty happy I must say. There is a Sac Craft Mafia event (Stop Shop and Stroll) on Saturday night so I'll be selling the stack of goodies there.

But for now I am getting great inspiration off of flickr!

Vintage Photo

Vintage Photo
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies.

I wonder if we all had cool cameras like these if we wouldn't stll be using film...It's wierd, but I miss my film camera. I miss the click of the shutter. I miss wondering if the picture turned out (but I don't miss the frustration of getting a picture back that I had hoped would turn out well, but had actually turned out garbage).

I know there are fancy pants cameras that simulate all the fun of film without the frustration of not getting the shot you want, but I can't afford even the cheap versions of those cameras right now. Besides I have two killer film cameras that belonged to my father wasting away in the closet.

My Dad was a hobby photog. His subjects? Moi and my siblings, beaches and flowers in Hawaii, classic cars... About a year before he died he gave me his old Pentax camera and extra lenses. One Christmas he sat down and showed me how to use it and all the effects that it could create.

I hardly listened to a word.

Not because I am an ungrateful brat (at least not at that moment) but because I was paying more attention to how excited he got explaining something he loved to me. He would get all giddy and happy that we were interested in something he loved (his other love was math, and I am sorry, but we did NOT share that one) and try and teach us years of skills in a half an hour.

Now my Dad ws one of those guys who could actually learn years of skills in half an hour. It really must have chapped his hide that none of us kids were like that. Actually I take that back, my Marine brother is like that, but his interests didn't include photography as much as trying to figure out how to tap a keg when the liquor store forgot to give him one. A good skill to have, yes, but not really one my dad could relate to so much.

And so my Dad was left to teach me everything he knew about photography and telescopes (another love we shared). Today I am the proud owner of dad's cameras and telescope and sitting here wishing I had paid more attention to what he was saying when he explained these things and less attention to how much fun he was having explaining it.

Actually, I don't. It really was more fun watching him enjoy the moment. Besides, I can download the manuals of the internet, right?

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies.

Till i win the war between my camera and the computer I'll be creating mosaics. Lots and lots of mosaics...

bugs and glitches and such

So I am using a different computer for my blogging and whatnot and have just discovered two very disturbing facts. #1 - this computer eats my itunes. I just bought 3 albums on itunes, got my recipt and poof! they are gone never to be recovered. I want to call Apple and cry about it but I am about 90% certain they won't give a rip. And disturbing fact #2 - this computer won't let me upload photos. This is so sad because my pink birthday party was last night and I have some fabulous pictures. Cute pink decorations and grown men hula hooping. I know you are really sad to be missing out for the time being. IT (aka Aaron) is working on it. We better figger it out soon cuz we can't afford to go buying a new computer!!

Happy 4th!!

Thanks so much for the sweet birthday wishes. We had a pretty laid back day since the real birthday party will be on Saturday.

Hope you all have a great 4th! Please think of/pray for my Marine brother who is currently in Iraq for his third tour. He has been there a week today, and will be there for 8 months. Here he is with his wife Ashley last July.

Happy To Me!

On my sister's second birthday we took her to one of those make your own bear places and she went around the store saying "Happy to me! Happy to me!" As a result we named her teddy bear Toomee and frequently will say "Happy to me!" Instead of Happy Birthday to each other.

Today is my birthday, so "Happy to me!" We aren't doing much today since I will be having a big party on Saturday (yes, I still give myself birthday parties). I did take the kids to have cupcakes for breakfast and to the zoo in celebration. I forgot the camera, which is a huge shame becuase the bakery I took them to was adorable. These are the cupcakes I made for Monkey's birthday, I haven't made anything special for myself today.

I am celebrating the rest of the day by cleaning house and watching the history channel. The Presidents is on and I am a sucker for American history. This week has been chock-full of entertainment for me. It just now occured to me that its probably because of the 4th. Duh.

So. Back to our trip. On Tuesday we went to Disneyland, which was actually fun despite the fact that it was the middle of June. We didn't have to wait in line longer than 30 minutes, though my Monkey just couldn't understand why he had to wait in line at all. It is suprisingly difficult to convince a 3 1/2 year old that he does, in fact, have to wait in line like everyone else. The last straw came after a particularly long wait for a ride that ended up breaking down just before it was our turn. We gave him the choice of seeing Mickey or waiting for the ride to work again and he chose to leave the line and see Mickey.

I won't go into detail about what transpired during that wait. I'll just leave you with this picture and the knowledge that we packed it up and called it a day right after this.

My family assured me that Monkey was very well behaved for a 3 year old in a theme park for 8 hours, but I still have my doubts.

There's No Place Like Home

I am soooo glad to home! We had a great trip, which was only a teeny bit exhausting with 5 little ones and two unruly dogs. The chaos was like nothing I have ever experienced. These 5 munchkins woke up and hit the ground running each and every day. They didn't stop until they passed out each night. They were all pretty much a blur for the entire week.

We took them to dinner at the marina in Oceanside, looked at the boats, and made complete messes of ourselves with ice cream. When we got home we tried to get them all settled down for bed, but that was a complete failure. At one point my monkey was so tired and wanted to go to sleep soooo badly, but his cousin was playing cars on the race track that was on monkey's sleeping bag-while monkey was in it. Poor monkey couldn't cope and wanted to call it a trip then and there, but I managed to calm him down and get him to sleep in the dining room in his little beach tent.

In the morning all was forgotten, probably just as much because we were going to Disneyland as because he got a decent nights sleep (sort of). Tomorrow I will tell you all about Disneyland and why you shouldn't take tired children to theme parks. Oh wait, you all are smart enough to know that already...

Dollies

The 15th came and went, full of packing, cleaning (the car, my house is shameful), and Father's Day planning. We are suprising Aaron with a sushi lunch and a round of golf at a la-de-da course with his best friend, who is celebrating his first Father's Day. The best part is that Aaron truly has no clue what we are doing and once we get to lunch he'll think that the fun os over, but oh no, there will be golf, too. Oh and more sushi with the fam tomorrow night. It will be good to give him all this great food before I leave for two weeks and he tv dinners it until I return.

So all that to say, I decided not to list my dolls until after I get back, since if I did, I wouldn't be able to ship anything for two weeks anyway. Just to get you all giddy and excited here is a teaser pic of the Mama doll, all done. She's sewn up now, but I am too lazy, ahem, I mean busy, to take a pic of her.

Gotta Get 'em Dones

pack
clean out the car and take it to the shop
go to the thrift store to get beach towels, books, lap desks for car )and probably a half a dozen other things completely unrelated to the beach or our trip)
find portable DVD player and kids tents (they are sleeping in them in the hotel room)
sew up last minute totebags for neice and nephews


buy:
snacks for the road and the beach (cheaper up here than down there)
alcohol (cuz I'll need it to recover from the 6 hour drive)
an attitude adjustment for monkey
aspirin
bandaids
sanity
muzzle
swim toys

Ok, so the new 'tude, sanity and muzzle I can't really buy, as much as I might want to. Today has been particularly trying and included me leaving a full cart of things in the middle of Target while I had to wisk my child back to the car. If you were at the Target in Elk Grove and heard money having dino-raptor temper tantrum, I apologise. 10 minutes later after he got his consequences he was giggly and cute. You would have never known that he had ever had a melt down.

Is it just me or are three year olds bi-polar? I just remind myself that it is just temporary. Temporary. As in not forever....right??

Who needs a vacation?

Me me!! Ok, I don't really need one, but I would like one. Preferably one that involves the beach. That would be great. Well, next week and the week after I will be getting my beach vacation. Sort of. Next week the kids, my mom, my Granny and I will be driving down to Oceanside, CA to visit with my brother who is a Marine stationed at Camp Penndleton. He is going to be shipping out for his third tour in Iraq in July and we are going to go down and spend some quality time with him and his family before he leaves. Then, less than 24 hours after I get back from Oceanside I'll be hopping on a bus with 40 high school kids and go back down to San Diego for summer camp. The second trip I'll be on my own for.

The beach vacation I had in mind involved a cabana on the beach and nonstop "grown-up" drinks, but a sandy beach blanket and the occasional diet coke will do ok, too. My kids haven't ever been to the beach and I am quite excited about taking them. I am bummed that Aaron has to miss it (dang work). We live far enough away from the beach that our next beach trip will be just as exciting for the kids and I plan on taking millions of pictures.

That delightfully geekiny picture of us is from our trip to Hawaii 2 years ago. I was rather pregnant with Lily, so the jetski guy made us promise about 100 time that Aaron wouldn't go faster than 20 miles per hour. It was fun even at the crawl we were driving at. We had spent a day hanging out on a sandbar about a mile from the shore. The water was waist high, which was weird seeing as we were so far from shore. All the non-pregnant folk got to wind surf, go tubing and speed on their jetskis. A trip that should definitely be done again in a non-preggo state.

We did get to "deep sea walk" ie: wear positively freaky helmets 10 ft under water and walk through schools of fish. Most fabulous. Though if you thought too much about the helmet and what might happen if it stopped working (nothing, really, we were only 10 feet from the surface) it was pretty scary. I need to dig up those pictures, we looked like we were from 10,000 Leauges Under the Sea with those helmets on!

Anyone have a trip of a lifetime planned? Or, if not the trip of a lifetime, a trip of the summer? Do tell, I love to live vicariously through others.

The names are cut out and folded up...

Monkey drew out one name...

and Peanut wanted a turn so I let her pick out a name. Her one name came out as two, so I figured what the hey, we can have three winners!

Sarah was the first name drawn, so she is the dollhouse set winner and Sonya and Jenn were Peanut's picks, so they will get surprise goodies! email me with your addresses! littlelovelies @ yahoo.com

little lovelies faves of the day

little lovelies faves of the day
Originally uploaded by littlelovelies.

I will be dreaming of these things all weekend. Aren't they all so lovely? Yes, yes they are. Man, bloggers at large are so freaking talented I can hardly stand it. Really. I can't.

Last weekend was super busy, so I am hoping to relax more this weekend. Probably won't happen though. We might go down to the homeless camp again on Saturday evening and maybe after church Sunday we can go to the zoo. There is a new penguin exhibit that my monkey is crazy for.

But for now, I am going to pull out needle and thread and continue on my little family 'o dolls. I'm crossing my fingers that I will have a few done to show you next week.

Thanks for all your comments of Wednesday's post! You are all definitely going to be in the dollhouse 4th of July picnic drawing. You can still comment today, if you want to be entered. Monkey will draw a name tomorrow morning!

Dollies in progress

Wow! You are all so very sweet to me. Thank you so much for helping me put CODL (crazy old dollhouse lady) into perspective. And thanks for your comments, you are all definitely entered into the drawing for the dollhouse 4th of July picnic I am making! If you didn't comment yesterday you can still comment there till tomorrow and be entered for the picnic. But we don't need to talk about yesterday's haps anymore ;) just say hi.

Soooo moving right along to these little dears here. Above is the mama doll to my first family doll set, she is coming right along and quite cutely, too. Below is a Peggy doll with cat eye glasses. She kind of looks like she's heading up a caper, doesn't she?

All the little dots on her apron are french knots. I am very much in love with french knots right now. Once you get the hang of them they are so very easy and so very fun to do. I highly recommend them to everyone.

I don't care how sweet their digs are over at google, blogger is lame right now. I am not really yelling at you guys, blogger is. I swear. Thanks for the link, Monica! Love your new look, BTW!

A New Blog and A Really Big Rant

So my friend Amanda just started her own blog called Daily Diner. It has great meal planning ideas and recipes and is loads of fun if you need to make a menu in a hurry. Be sure to check it out and say hi!! Oh and I chose this pic because it makes me happy and I am GRUMPY right now.

And now for the rant.

I took the dollhouse back today. It didn't fit my furniture and was a little too fragile for my kids to play with, so it really was the best thing. Well I get there and tell the lady these things and she starts looking it over and telling me that I broke the roof (one end was loose, as it was when I bought it), put in all these dents and basically broke it to bits. It was still in the condition I bought it in and the whole time she kept telling me I did these things. I assured her that I didn't and the whole time she is telling me I am lying.

My stomach churned and I couldn't believe my ears. If she had told me "Oh, I'm sorry we don't take returns (which apparently was their policy)" I would have gracefully said, ok, and walked away. It was my fault that I made an impulse buy I understand these things. But instead she said, "You are lying, you broke this house, but I'm going to do a return for you anyway." Gee thanks. I felt like if I said never mind I'll just take it and leave I'd be admiting to a crime I didn't commit.

She runs my card, shaking her head, sighing and saying, "I can't believe this. That house was perfect. Absolutely perfect." So I got my money back, but my dignity is on the green shag carpet of the store. I really feel like a huge jerk, even though as soon as I got home I looked at the pics I took and all the offensive dents she blamed on me are there clear as day. I know I didn't damage that house at all, but she made me feel like I threw it down a flight of stairs before returning it, and then tried to scam them.

What makes me even more mad is that the store was crowded and I know that I am going to be the topic of the morning. The lady who bought a perfect dollhouse and then broke it and lied about it. Whatever. I shouldn't care. I know I didn't do anything wrong. It just hurt my pride, really. I callled Aaron, bawled about it in the phone and he was sweet and said all the right things.

I've learned two valuable lessons. Impulse buys aren't worth it and when buying a vintage dollhouse, point out any and all flaws beforehand and make sure you tell the person that you know they are there, just in case you have to return it. Ugh. Lesson learned. The hard way.

In honor of a hard lesson learned, I think a giveaway is in order. I am doing the Club Little House with Inspire Co. and I will make one extra CLH set for the winner of my Ranting Drawing. So leave a comment here between now and Friday and on Saturday I will draw the winner's name. I have decided to make a 4th of July Picnic, complete with quilt, picnic basket (what I had gone into the offensive store for in the first place) and fireworks. Yes I said fireworks. There will be perfect little dollyhouse fireworks! So, friends, comment away!

Over the weekend we started a garden. My plan was originally to get a wheelbarrow and plant our little garden there, but wheelbarrows are expensive and I had already made one impulse buy for the week, so there you go. We planted our garden in the bups above. I was good and I labeled all the cups, but then in their excitment to plant all the cups and seeds got mixed up, so we'll just be suprised when they grow.

This is a lesson in patience for all of us. Monkey has been pretty disapointed that flowers don't just appear when you water the ground (me too, son, me too). When they do appear he'll be pretty excited. I have to be patient when he asks 5,000 times a day to water his "planets". Hopefully my kids will have a greener thumb than me. I swear my house is where bad plants come to die. Though some hydrangea I got last year which I thought I murdered, has sprouted back to life and is quite lovely. I guess there is hope for all of us!

The Queen Mum

No, we weren't robbed over the weekend. It is the mother of all craft WIPs...my office. I am ashamed to say that this is a good day. It certainly is no cozy workspace for me. Someday, when my brain gets rewired as an organized person, it will be clean and lovely and will rival the best of the best. Until then my poor little office will remain a perpetual WIP, much like the people who use it, I suppose. Aaron did give me the ok to go shopping for stuff to reorganize, so that will be on the horizon one of these days. I feel like I won't be able to truly takle it until I have a whole weekend to devote to it. I want to be able to pull everything out and do it Clean Sweep style-keep, trash, sell/donate.

I think what I really need is for people who aren't attached to my crap-er-stuff to come and tell me to clean up my act (any volunteers?). Aaron says that the only thing that will solve my problem is a match. He's probably right.

Thanks for checking out my Etsy shop, guys! I am doing dolls this week so that on the 15th I can actually put up dolls. I just love making them! I love drawing them and dreaming up their little outfits and fun little details. I just finished cat-eyes for Peggy. Too cute if I do say so myself. I'll show her off tomorrow, maybe.

little lovelies handmade on Etsy!!

oy. I am not a very good shopkeeper, am I? Click above and it will take you away to shopping bliss!

WIP Week Continued

WIP week is back with a couple of embroideries I am working on. Above is the Retro Baby, which will be framed and below are some samples to send someone for a project that may or may not work out...

UPDATES!!

The shop is open and ready for business! As I was loading stuff in I even got a sale! Thank a million Linda!! From now on the shop will be updated with new things on the 1st and 15th of every month.

The dollhouse is going back tomorrow with not a single regret. It is just too fragile to be a child's toy and I really really want my kids to be able to enjoy it and when I put my furniture in it the scale was waaaaay off. I should have realised that it would be too small for my stuff. I can't afford the furniture that goes with those houses and, again, the kids couldn't play with it. So off it goes and I am completely fine with it.

We interupt little lovelies handmade to bring you this:

(WIP week will return tomorrow at its regularly scheduled time)

I went into a dollhouse shop to look for picnic baskets for my Club Little House submission and came out with this. However, she may have to go back when I show Aaron and tell him how much I spent on her. You see, we have a lovely "fun money" system. We get a set amount each paycheck to spend on whatever we want, but above and beyon we have to tell each other and make sure the purchase makes sense. Well, here we are the day after payday and Claire's fun money is gone (shocking) and in no way shape or form does this little metal darling make any sense. It is the epitome of a impulse buy. I have been hemming and hawing over dollhouses for ages and I gave into the urge without truly thinking about it.

Isn't she so sweet, though? If the Cleavers had a daughter this would have been her dollhouse, I am sure of it. To be honest, what I really love about it is the outside. The inside is fun and all, but in my dollhouse o' dreams I would be able to "wallpaper" the walls with all sorts of fun scrapbook papers and paint. Plus, I think I wanted something more sturdy for the kids. I want a dollhouse they can touch and play with and this isn't it. The roof is rather precarious.

Don't think I won't get out my furniture and snap a few pics before I be good and carry her off back to the store. I let all the teeny tiny goodness in the shop get the better of me. At least I can say that she was mine for 24 hours. Besides, the guilt of not having discussed it with the hubs first is killing me, lol!

...sigh...

PS thanks so much for all your sweetness about the shop opening and the kitchen. Be sure to check the shop in the morning!

PPS sadly there won't be any peggy dolls because they had a ruthless encounter with a three year old and sizzors. It was a sad time for all parties involved. All is not lost, but they will not be in doll form as expected...

A WIP of the Shop Variety

I almost forgot about this WIP! The little lovelies handmade June 1 launch date is looming ahead all too quickly. I have plenty of fun stuff to introduce to you, though most of it will be familiar things that I have talked about with you all before. I am working on Peggy and Cecelia dolls and have been toying with the idea of little family doll sets. The baby that monkey requested has been embroidered and is just waiting to be stuffed with fluff and sewn up. Daddy dollie is still in the works.

Since I made the Mama doll (formerly Lola) she has been a staple in my kids day. She is a perfect size to clutch and carry around the house. Right now we have a playtime ritual of putting our dolls to sleep and giving them kisses. We have two AG dolls and Mama doll (who is a perfect size to be a doll's doll...) and all get lined up and kissed by peanut, covered with a blankey by monkey and drift off soundly to sleep.

This morning, in preparation for the June 1 grand opening over at Etsy I made a colossal list of things I need to do, starting with getting a postal scale so I can weight things and mail them off from home. Two kids, several packages, a line at the PO and unhelpful counter staff is a hell that I hate to enter, which explains the growing mountain of packages that need to be mailed out. I realize that if I am going to have the least bit of success with little lovelies handmade a postal scale or baby sitter will be in order. I think the scale will be cheaper.

This Unfinished Life of Mine

Little factoid here for ya-I was going to name this blog My Unfinished Life and feature all the works in progress in my world. I decided that since an alarming number of projects 'round these parts don't get finished (especially the home improvement variety) maybe that wasn't such a great idea. We reach a functional stage and it sits in home improvement pergatory until pennance is served. Right now we have a functional, but unfinished bathroom, a functional, but unfinished kitchen and a functional, but unfinished backyard.

Speaking of the kitchen...here are a few pics of where we are at right now. We need to fill in that hole in the wall that was once upon a time an ironing board (unless I can talk Aaron into making me a new one), paint, put in baseboards, redo the lino (sad story there!), replace the light fixtures, etc etc etc. We'll be truly finished the day we put a for sale sign in the yard, lol.

Since I have such a large number of WIPs right now, I dub this week, Claire's WIP Week. Everyday this week, I'll feature another WIP. And next week, I'll show off the finished products. Except the kitchen, of course. I won't be finishing that beast in a week.

Family Dolls

Thanks for all the great ideas on what to name my dolls! Several of you suggested your own Grandmother's names and the I thought "duh, I have grandmother's too!" So I decided to name this doll Peggy and my more mischevious ones (which I have yet to make) Cecelia after my grandmothers. Peggy is my mother's mother and was a PE teacher and librarian before having eight (yup. eight.) kids and staying home. When her kids were younger she taught piano until about 5 years ago, when she retired (somewhat reluctantly).

Cecelia is my father's mother and when she was young (and now) she had amazing movie star looks, and a mischevious side. As a young bride she had a crochet string bikini, which she swears she never actually wore in public. She was very trendy and had all the latest styles. Her dresses from the 50's were to die for! It was her amazing 1955 all lace wedding dress that I wore when I got married. Oh how I loved that dress.

So, this little Peggy Doll has a plaid skirt, sweet angora sweater, button flower in her hair and a flower brooch given to her by an admirer. This surely is during her librarian days, I'll have to make a PE teacher Peggy next. But first I am going to make a baby and boy doll for my kids then a Cecelia doll. Because they are all hand embroidered they take awhile to make. I actually started this one on Saturday at the Maker Faire and finished the embroidery last night. I probably won't sew her up until I finish some more.

Oh, and I might give her some cat-eye glasses. I haven't decided yet.