Sister Kyoya

Huck: "The back of the house. The whole thing is missing." Me: *facepalm*

Huck: *brushes his hands off* "There." Me: "Huck, what did you do?" Huck: "Well I didn't figure she would want someone aimlessly wandering into her house so I put up her door." Me: "But how are you going to get out?"

Angel: *snoring softly* Me: "Goodnight Angel." Angel: *SNORE* Me: "Woah. I think it is a good thing that this is a one person house. I don't know if anyone else could sleep through that..." Angel: *Snore* *snore* *SnOrE* *snooore* *snort* *snoRE* Me: "Wow. Maybe we should think of soundproofing the house."

Angel: "All tucked in. Thanks for your help Huck. See you in the morning!" Huck: "Goodnight."

Angel: "Stockings in a stocking for a mattress and another for a pillow will work just fine." Huck: "This one would be a soft blanket" *rubs it on his cheek* (By the way, these were clean, unused socks from my fabric stash, not ones that people have worn.)

Huck: "Is this the box you wanted?" Angel: "Yes, thank you. You can put it in the corner if you would be so generous." (This is my favorite holiday tea that I forgot to have Hubby look for this year. )

Angel: "Sugar and spice and everything nice! I will try to do my best to love it and take care of it. I can bake everyday filling it with happiness and good will. I will try my very, very best." Me: "Well about your rent..." Angel: "Oh sugarplums! I need a bed! I can't possibly sleep on my new floor. I might get a sliver." Me: *still talking but not being listened to* "It would be a mortgage really and quite reasonable at ten cents a month..." Angel: *talking to herself* "I'm sure I saw an empty tea box somewhere. I doubt anyone would mind if I used a small stocking to snuggle under."

Angel: "Helooo! I'm home! Finally my first night under my own roof!" Me: "You didn't care a few days ago." Angel: "Well that Tsuki fellow said I need to have a home or I couldn't have delivery pizza." Me: "Do you even eat pizza?" Angel: "No, but Hana said that there could be holiday things I can order and have shipped to my house. Like crates full of tinsel. Enough candy canes to line the house. Or pounds and POUNDS of glitter!" Me: "I'm not going to be paying for that." Angel: "'Tis the season of generosity..." Me: :| Update: House is glued and tape removed. Just the surface glue is drying. And the spray bottle is being used as a weight. I'm just relieved that the side walls are flat.

Angel: "Are these walls to regulation?" Me: "Would you know if I didn't tell you?" Angel: "No... but it seems to be the right thing to ask." Me: "Then sure." Angel: *squints at me* "Well you did do some assembly so I will trust you are knowledgeable on such matters." Me: "Well, you get what you pay for." ;D

And I have some big gaps to fill. This is the center wall that was 3-4mm shorter than the exterior wall. I even tried to hold it together but I needed to put the side walls on. Oh well, I can just fix it this way. It is helping me relax too so that's good. I forgot to take a pic of it finished, but it worked nicely and easily.

...and just wipe away the excess with you fingertip.

This is a 30ml Syringe with 16Gx1.0'' Blunt Tip Needle (Luer Lock) in case anyone is interested. I found that standard wood glue flows through this nicely although the syringe is really massive capacity wise. I originally had these to 'bottle feed' our foundling kitten but she has long outgrown needing them. Basically squirt the glue down in an even line...

Good to know the syringe idea works. Carefully squirt a line then smooth it out/remove excess/ shove it in the gap just by wiping it with my fingertip. Same way it works when caulking a tub. Glued walls & floor but I would like to reinforce them with more glue.

Tama: "Do I have to tickle you first?"Bree: "Nooooo..." *scampers off while giggling* Angel's house finally has a proper name! Been trying for a few days to think of something original other than "Christmas house" and finally decided on Gingerspice Lodge. By evidence of the massive pieces of tape, the main pieces are glued. My OCD did not like having to use so much tape but better that than the pieces popping out of place with the glue drying. The floor and ceiling pieces are daunting trying to figure out how to glue the length without making a massive mess. That was the single part I had no confidence in and was causing an emotional meltdown. Knowing the pieces don't fit perfectly did not help any. It is probably dry by now since it was finished about 3 hours ago but I'm going to leave it taped until tomorrow. I'm contemplating taking a blunt syringe (left over from our kitten's 'bottle feeding' days) and use it to accurately fill in more of the gaps. I'm just not sure if the wood glue will go through the needles. It might and I think it is worth trying. Especially if it works and would stop the remainder of my OCD anxiety about the structural integrity. (This is not a mild anxiety but one that literally is leaving me so tense my muscles are hurting.) I believe I am past the worst part of construction since all of this had to be done at once. I have bought many dollhouse kits but this is the first to be glued. This is mostly due to my stupid OCD freaking out that everything will go wrong and it paralyzing me. So once the residual nasty emotions stop I'll be able to be a lot happier about it.

Bree: "Das done!" *claps* Tama: "Hey get down from there before you break something!"

This is what I mean by warped. And it *has* improved after getting wet and being taped overnight. Hubby is home today so he is going to help me get the house glued. I just need to make sure to use really long pieces of tape to hold it until the glue dries. It all sounds so simple but my OCD has been brutal since last night. I've gotten stuck at this step before, ridiculed with overwhelming and crippling anxiety about not doing it right with the million probable things that could go wrong, realistic or not. It is taking a Herculean effort to get past it.

Dry fitting was unavoidable. See how straight the side walls are? They weren't when Tama was grouching at me. They had a bow in them that made them stick up about an inch to an inch and a half when laying "flat" on the table. In a panic after even tape couldn't hold them in place I came to the forums. Quick solution: get them wet, hold them flat to dry properly. So I took the cat squirt bottle and squirted the inside of the bow, rubbed it in. It nearly instantly started flattening out. It was easy to see that the two sides of the plywood were very different woods that would dry at different rates. Quickly before they dried I taped them all together, hoping that the sides would dry more to the shape they need to be. Now I'm trying to decide if it would be better to leave it until tomorrow before gluing so they can dry completely.

Tama: "Mommy you are procrastinating again." Mommy: "..." Tama: "You said you wanted to hurry up and get the house assembled and it is still in big pieces." Mommy: "I needed to take a little rest... But I found a stove for Angel!" Tama: "I'm happy about that but we need a building to put it in." Mommy: "Yes Tama." Tama: "How are we going to decorate it all cute without the walls standing up without Hana holding them? Her arms will get tired." Mommy: "Yes Tama." Tama: "Santa won't know where to put the presents if we don't have the tree up." Mommy: "Yes Tama." Tama: "You told me you wanted to get it all glued together before Daddy got home." Mommy: "Yes Tama." Tama: "Are we going to start gluing now? Please?" Mommy: "Yes Tama." Sometimes I need a small swift kick in the butt from Tama to stop my OCD worrying about how everything can go wrong if I don't do it *perfectly.* Tama doesn't play those sort of BS games, especially when it gets in the way of Christmas fun.

Hana: "Frosted windows... I need to look up on Pinterest on how to do those. And frosting. I think we can use calking? We are going to need to make some huge pieces of candy..." Mommy: "Please don't drag me through Pinterest AGAIN. I want to actually get something done, not idea chasing. You are on Pinterest way too much." Hana: "It is impossible to be on there too much. How anyone ever thought of anything before it existed is beyond me." Mommy: *mumbles* "Says the girl who came from a fantasy world..."

Angel: "Now we need to preheat the oven and bake the gingerbread to the perfect doneness. You don't want a half baked house." *snicker snicker*

Tama: "Mommy I'm all done sanding these little pieces." Mommy: "Uh, Tama those were just the punched out pieces from the windows." Tama: "We can make a bookshelf from them. We learned that from helping Po with his library." Mommy: "Hmm. Good thinking."