sparklepuppies Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Have a good and safe trip Holly! We are taking a similar trip next week... To Houston. All the in-laws have moved out there separately over the years - SIL, FIL, then MIL. Leaving only us still here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 No mini-ing this last weekend. Been under the weather with some sort of allergy thing and concentrating on anything small was very difficult. The newly designed single gothic bed kit I requested from SDK arrived yesterday and I am itching to get started on it. Also ordered some 1/24 sized canopy beds for another project. The tower stairs for the MTC are awesome and are now ready for the finished painting. Will wait though until the tower is finished so that I can add the stairs and the landings at the correct height. I have been looking at several of my mostly completed (but still a bit to do!) and a few completed projects that need to have some repair work accomplished and I really have to attend to them up so that I can move them out of my workroom. It is beginning to resemble one of those hoarding TV programs Brady, our recouperating boxer still needs to be walked on leash and is getting impatient to go out and run with the other dogs. Only another two weeks and hopefully an all clear from the doggy doc! One piece of good news. Saw the eye surgeon yesterday and now having gone through six surgeries over the past year for a detached retina, he says I am ready to have the synthetic oil removed. Not sure how much the results will be an improvement but I am hoping that at least the retina will stay put this time. He seems satisfied with my progress and indicated that the slight "tilt" in my vision can be corrected with glasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 No mini-ing this last weekend. Been under the weather with some sort of allergy thing and concentrating on anything small was very difficult. The newly designed single gothic bed kit I requested from SDK arrived yesterday and I am itching to get started on it. Also ordered some 1/24 sized canopy beds for another project. The tower stairs for the MTC are awesome and are now ready for the finished painting. Will wait though until the tower is finished so that I can add the stairs and the landings at the correct height. I have been looking at several of my mostly completed (but still a bit to do!) and a few completed projects that need to have some repair work accomplished and I really have to attend to them up so that I can move them out of my workroom. It is beginning to resemble one of those hoarding TV programs Brady, our recouperating boxer still needs to be walked on leash and is getting impatient to go out and run with the other dogs. Only another two weeks and hopefully an all clear from the doggy doc! One piece of good news. Saw the eye surgeon yesterday and now having gone through six surgeries over the past year for a detached retina, he says I am ready to have the synthetic oil removed. Not sure how much the results will be an improvement but I am hoping that at least the retina will stay put this time. He seems satisfied with my progress and indicated that the slight "tilt" in my vision can be corrected with glasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chapchap73 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Great news about your eyes, Starfire, and I am happy to hear Brady will be able to be out with his buddies soon. It's so hard when they want to be up and about and can't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Beverly, that's wonderful news from your eye surgeon! Family + WW III in the same sentence just doesn't bode well, Holly. Hope you have a pleasant trip! I've been slaving away in the garden. It's gone from weeding and mulching to adding many new plants (hurray for 50%-off sales) and moving flowers and bushes that thought they'd found a forever home. (After I'd moved the two baptisias, I learned that they don't like to move. They have multiple tap roots, and I think I managed to damage most of them. The beautiful little bushes look to be dying, but I have my fingers crossed that they'll revive.) I try to get out early in the day and spend anywhere from 4 to 6 hours doing the grunt work. I'm about 2/3 of the way through spreading 44 bags of mulch, to give you an idea of the scope of this adventure. I'll be sooooooo glad to have the heavy work finished. I don't mind watering and weeding, but these major tasks are killing me. While in recuperative mode after the day's gardening, I've been working on the blog for our trip to France. It's still rough, but it's up, if you're interested. http://dobardsinfrance.blogspot.com/ Kathie ... who has all kinds of ideas for the Pierce/Bohemian Inn but just hasn't had time to spend with minis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovecats Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I need a vacation! Work has been really busy lately. I just got done today taking my one week of on-call for the month. I worked a 15 hour day on monday which sucked but my consolation is that it was all time and a half ( for the holiday)...all 15 hours!!!! plus i got 8 hours of regular pay since it was a holiday!!!!!....AND my raise should start with my next payday!!!! next paycheck is going to be sweet! Just in time for my camping trip! I am really looking forward to having 6 days off! Hoping the snow will melt some more before we head out into the mountains! I have really been hit by the mini bug lately. I wish I could spend more time working on my projects, but glad i'm finally working on them again. I'm really motivated to finish the Foxhall. I really want to get it decorated so that I can enjoy the house, furniture etc. instead of keeping everything packed away. I have most of the interior trim to finish, some of the rooms still need flooring and i have to decide how i'm going to do up the porches and foundations. I've got a great idea, but it's going to be a time consuming project :whistle: ....oh and i need to install all of the interior light fixtures. so lots to do, but really it's coming along nicely. i'll update photos soon! I've spent alot of time posting on the doll boards so that has taken me away from my mini projects as well. I do stop by this forum alot to look at the eye candy! It's nice to see all the progress everyone is making! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklepuppies Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 I got home today from a week long trip to Houston to visit the in-laws. Fun, but I'm happy to be home. A couple of years ago, I built my niece a Tennyson for her birthday. So I got to do roof and trim repairs on it this week. She said they had to wait for me, because a professional wouldn't know what to do (she's 8). She was so cute. She was so excited to have me there. She told me over and over how much she enjoys it and that it is well played with. That made me glad. We also got to go to The Vintage Dollhouse. She has only been to Hobby Lobby for dollhouse stuff, even though this store is only about 10 minutes from her house. She was precious in there. Her mom will probably kill me now. But we had so much fun. (And I got some stuff for me too ) We usually drive, but this time we got to fly. Which is good, because I'm not sure our vehicle would make it. But, my sweet MIL gave us her SUV while we were out there, a 2008 Honda CRV. So, not only will we have a reliable car, but we will be a 2 car family (3 if you count my daughter away at college, which doesn't count) for the first time in over 7 years!! How wonderful is that?! Down side is that it needed to be driven home, and no way the boys were going to give up flying (1st plane trip for 1, 2nd for other) for a 15 hour drive. So my poor husband is having to drive the whole way all by himself. We left super early this morning, which should have put him home about 11pm, but within 15 minutes, on the way to the airport, we got stuck in 2 hours of traffic (to move about 3 miles!), so that puts him 2 hours behind. I feel so bad for him, especially with me home already. I picked up the dog, and cleaned up a little, but I can't start on laundry because he has all the luggage! I'm still working on catching up on everything here. Can't wait to look through more Spring Flings! Me and my 2 nieces and my nephew looked at several the other night. They were amazed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kabrina Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Tracy it sounds like you had a wonderful time. I love that you've a got a niece who's a miniaturist in the making. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chapchap73 Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Congratulations on your new car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklepuppies Posted July 9, 2011 Share Posted July 9, 2011 Yes, Kabrina, she is a cutie, and she really does love and appreciate that house. I wish I was closer to them. Thanks Sarah! We are so excited. I still can't believe she did that. She had to go buy another car for herself, so that was a big sacrifice. (She bought the same car, just a newer model!) Well, it looks like Brian won't make it home tonight. He is just too exhausted, and is still over 4 hours away, so he is stopping for the night. I feel so bad for him. We got less than 5 hours of sleep, and he's been on the road for almost 17 hours. Yikes. I'm pretty exhausted too. As soon as I know he's settled somewhere I'm heading to bed myself. I did bathe the dog and cut the grass this evening though. So at least I was a little productive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovecats Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 I may do a bit of mini-ing today. had to stop gluing trimwork as i ran out of quick grip adhesive. need to make a run to the store! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muriel Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Had a lovely day today! It is my 30th on Tuesday, so today we collected my friends and family together for a meal. There were 20 of us including Natasha. It was the first time some had met Natasha, so that was great too. A friend I haven't spoken to in a while was unexpectedly also in town, so was able to join us at short notice. Had a great lunch and one of my friends had made a delicious Carrot Cake for dessert. We do regularly meet up with College (Grade 12 and 13) friends, but don't often get them all together. There was only one missing today, so was very impressed with them all being able to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Today is cleaning day......yep, cleaning greenware. And working on another doll of course. I don't have time to do housework, and wouldn't know how to do it anyway! I would rather sweep the floors of my dollhouses than the real life floors.....LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Our local Boilermaker15 k race was this morning so the run up has had the whole area sort of out of cinque (sp?) Anyway we are now in the second day of rehab for Brady our boxer. Three times a day he has to be walked for 20 to 30 min. Since where we live does not lend itself to safely walking (no sidewalks and wild traffic) we load up both of the boxers, drive 10 minutes to the park, do our thing, reload up and drive home. Its like preparing to take kids out somewhere. Water? Check! Leashes? Check! Pooper bags? Check!, Treats? Check! Drivers license? Check! Paper towels? Check! Anyway I am really pooped out myself in all this heat. Hopefully All this additional walking will be as good for me as for Brady. Now if I can convence Cindy that the motorcycles really are not great demons out to get us and she really does not need to pull me all over. Sigh, I would rather be miniing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chapchap73 Posted July 11, 2011 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Happy belated birthday Muriel!!! You are handling turning 30 much better than I did; I was a complete wreck :lol: Beverly, mini-ing really does sound like more fun :yes: Have you tried a harness with Cindy? My dalmatian used to pull terribly, until we rigged a harness for him. We had a long leash that we passed over his chest and under his front legs "armpits"? then through the hole in his collar. (Hope I explained that right) When he pulled, it tightened up under his legs in the front which he did not like at all. I did not have much of a problem with him pulling after that. We got the idea from one we saw in the Foster and Smith catalog. Worked great. I don't need one with Gibbs, he is such a good boy, but I have the idea in reserve just in case :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 We got home Sunday to find we have no telephone landline. ATT had taken over our home phone "service" this past year; suffice it to say that it took two days and a very late night call to find a phone number that reached a human being to request repairs (DH had located the problem was outside of our house and on their equipment). Storms had knocked out all the neighborhood phones and all but ours were fixed. Well of course no repainman showed up when promised, so DH had to call again LATE Weds PM. Since we're on dial up we have had NO internet access. Meantime on the trip we got a call on the cell from our realtor that the tenant from Hell had finally vacated the house and we could come for another inspection and then do the close some time this past week or next week. Thursday AM I got a call on the cell from the phone repairman that he was on his way. Immediately after that the realtor called and DH answered it, could we meet her at the house that afternoon to do our inspection and do the close 1100 yesterday AM? So the ATT repairman showed up at the front door as we're shuttling suitcase and stuff out to the car. I don't know if we have phone landline back yet or not, as after the close we had to open accounts with the electric coop and the water utility and meet with the locksmith at the house by 1400; by the time we got all the locks changed and all the utilities in our name and stopped in Milton, FL, for supper it was after 1900 and DH was looking really seedy, so we spent one more night on the road in Crestview, FL, and will head on home today to begin to pack the camper and the truck to begin the move. Kathie, with my inlaws you'd be amazed what mixes with "family"! I'm back doing psych nursing, this time with the "other" DIL (who is also an RN). It's WWIII, and DH & I are arbitrators (sigh). Because the tenant did take everything he said he would we discovered that we shall get to repaint the interior, so I've been having fun figuring out a prettier color palette. I really hate the funky gray el cheapo carpet that's in the livingroom, the smaller bedrooms and, for some wierd reason, in the tow clothes closets in the master bath; I'd prefer tile like is in most of the house, or even hardwood like is in the bedroom (although I'll like it better when I get it CLEAN! that'll be my first order of busineww before buyiing paint). The room DH wants for his office used to be the little girl's bedroom and where her bed was the carpet is 10% covered with a dirty pink substance I suspect is chewing gum. Oh, this is going to be SO much fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chapchap73 Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Yay Holly's back!!! I'm sorry to hear your new place is going to be that much work No phone line is the absolute pits! Sending hopes and prayers that the new house cleaning, move and everything goes super smooth from now on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Its the pitts when you walk into this kind of situation, Holly. Glad you finally were able to take possession. We had something similar when we purchased our house as it was in foreclosure due to a bankruptcy. We think the husband went on a rampage leaving kicked in doors, broken windows, certain appliances removed. etc. We negotiated a settlement through the bankruptcy court and used the money to help pay for the large renovation and additions we had planned from the beginning when we bought the place. We finally got around to doing a energy audit and the results came back earlier this week. DH has agreed to have work done to add additional insulation and weather proofing on the older part of the house's upper story as recommended but is considering the rest. We have know for a number of years that we needed to replace the old furnace which works fine but it is not as efficient as the newer ones and parts are getting harder to find. Although the company doing the work has a hvac line DH is not comfortable letting them do that portion and has asked the local company we have used for years to provide info so I am pretty sure we will use them. They are local and have always been very customer oriented. They did all of the hvac work when we did the addition and renovation work when we moved in and they have worked to keep the old system plugging along since. The past week has been really busy what with having to walk Brady down in the park several times a day to build up the leg muscles. It is quite hot except for the early morning one so the rest are slow. I have added Cindy and walk them both at the same time but it does take them a while to settle down and walk nicely without pulling. My poor arms are several inches longer now! lol!!!! One good thing is DH has been doing some walking with us although he is really limited in the distance so far. As a reward I got tickets to a show out at our local (but large ) Indian casino resort and we were out there last evening. They get some pretty big names and I think getting him out of the house has re-energized his interest in life and he is already planning to see a couple of future shows. I have also been shopping for local garden product and we have been enjoying a lot of fresh corn, lettace, tomatoes and strawberries. I have been serving a lot of salads since it has been so hot. I am scheduled for what I hope will be the final eye surgery to remove the synthetic oil the first week in August. The surgeon is quite positive this go around that there should be no further re occurrance of the earlier problems. I keep looking at all of my ufp and just do not have much interest or energy to get on them. Sigh!!!! I do need to take some additional pictures and get them loaded to my albums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 DH is getting excited and after supper last night he took us to Lowe's and Home Depot to look at & price appliances, ceiling fans with lights and mailboxes (they also took their mailbox!). I have begun collecting paint chips. We're looking to start the move Tursday, packing out the RV with a first load and setting up to live in it at a nearby campground while we clean out the remains of three cats, a dog and two destructive children (did I mention we have to replace window screens and repair the kitchen window?). There are ADT stickers in the livingroom window & back door, but there's no sign of any sort of security system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muriel Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Oooh, a blank - if somewhat battered - slate to start with! Just the sort of house I'd like, so long as I have a bit of money to start painting and doing floors. So glad to hear that the sale has finally gone through for you Holly Beverley, sounds like getting out to exercise Brady has been good for you and husband too We're packing slowly. This'll be my 12th (at least) move in 30 years, not counting to and from university each summer for 4 years. For none of those have we ever had a moving company, but for this one we've decided to save and go with one. We're doing all the packing, but they'll do the carrying to the lorry/van and then into the new house. We're currently in a flat one floor up, and the lorry will have to park 30m away, so that extra carrying makes it worth while for us. Another big plus is that they are providing all the packing boxes/paper for fragiles/hanging clothes boxes and are taking apart wardrobes and beds and putting them back together again at the new house. They delivered the packing material and will collect it again when we have unpacked. This means we don't have to spend hours going around stores asking for old boxes to pack our stuff in. They are all very sturdy brand new boxes - they even provide the tape to close the boxes with! About an hour ago I received an email from the company asking if I could give them a ring so they could go through tomorrow's move with me. I was quick to ring them to point out we're moving mid August, not tomorrow! They apologised and said they'd got emails mixed up and yes, we were booked in for mid August, not tomorrow. I'm going to make a patchwork quilt. I just wanted relatively simple 6" squares sewn together in a rainbow colour pattern. So have been trying out different patterns on the computer, single rows of colours, double rows, straight lines of colours, curved lines, starting dark or light, going red,orange,yellow,green,blue,purple or reversed, etc. With Chris' help decided on curved lines like 1/3 of a rainbow, two squares for each row of colour and starting with red in the top left. BUT then couldn't quite decide whether to make the quilt single/twin sized for baby/child room or king sized for our room. Then thought if it is for our room it'll have to have some elephants on it. I've got lovely material, which never got used for the wedding, and I was going to use it for curtains/bedspread, so thought what about putting patches on that instead?! Then I can leave the elephants to show, along with other squares here and there that have nice patterns on them. I'll have to take a big picture of the material and use Paint program to put coloured squares in and see what I think then. I'll post a picture when I've done that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 You could also use your elephant print and the solid colors and do curved blocks, like the Grandmother's Fan or the Wedding Ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfie Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Have the big kiln ready to fire and it's now too hot to fire it! LOL Oh well, at least it is full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selkie Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Have the big kiln ready to fire and it's now too hot to fire it! LOL Oh well, at least it is full. So good to see your posts again BTW. Been missing you. Your work continues to be fantabulous !!!!!! Just curious about the comment above and a former one where you mentioned not being able to fire in the winter. What do the seasons or temps outside have to do with using a kiln? Is it the sculpting or firing process (or both) that is weather specific? Someday I would love to try sculpting and firing but know nothing about it so I'm just being nosey. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muriel Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Well this is the general idea of what I wanted to do with the elephant material. Chris doesn't like it so much cause it is too random - he's a mathematician who likes order! I too like order, but also randomness sometimes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparklepuppies Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 Ugh! I'm trying to get myself motivated to be productive. My daughter moved into an apartment this weekend, and we are making the 3 hr trip tomorrow to bring the big stuff she needs. She packed her stuff up this week, but since then we've thought of more stuff, so I gotta start gathering all that. A lot of it is stuff in the extra room, where a lot of my dollhouses (6) are hanging out. At least 3 are going to have to be moved to get to everything. And I am also taking her the cabinet that is full of dollhouse furniture, so I'll have to find a new place for that stuff. Have I said Ugh! yet? I also need to go get my dad's truck, and I guess while I'm on the same exit, I should stop by the outlet mall and pick up school shoes for Lawson. I would rather not do that on a Saturday, but school starts in a week, and I'm running out of time. If I knew what time I'd be back tomorrow I could do it when I drop off the truck, but... And I have to pick my boys up in less than 5 hours, 25 minutes away (opposite direction of course), then head to mama's for dinner then off to Stone Mountain with family visiting from Jacksonville. Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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