Well, It's been a good two weeks before anyone has heard from me, so for all you know I could be dead. This is not likely, as I don't think ghosts are capable/have interest in writing blog posts.
Luckily for all you out there, this is not the case. I’m just so sick of Microsoft Word after having to write a dozen or so essays for final week that I’ve been trying to stay away from it as frequently as possible.
Speaking of final week, I would like to say it went swimmingly. I won’t know for certain for about two weeks or so, but I honestly think I did really well in everything, including math. Surprise!
So, I got out of school officially on Friday. After watching King Kong and swooning over Adrian Brody, I can officially say that what I will miss the most from school is everyone from the dorm. Second comes the newspaper and cherry turnovers, but the coffee here is actually worth drinking, so I think it’s a fair trade. But, honestly, to have some space to do what I want to do is very, very welcome right now.
And I have been doing EXACTLY what I want to do. It’s been fabulous- I’ve only been home four days, yet it feels as if time has stood still, I’ve been so busy and so engaged. Thus far, I’m halfway through The Hobbit, which I’m reading again so I can only be more pumped for the movie (YAY!!!). I’ve also worked a day at the toy store, Once Upon A Time, and got to catch up with my favorite co-workers. I’ve been drawing, playing with Pippin, and gardening too.
I’ve become obsessed with gardening. I guess you can blame it on the beautiful May weather we’ve been having, but I just can’t pull myself away from the great outdoors. Today alone I gardened for close to six hours, doing the garden, digging the weeds (who could ask for more?) The vegetable garden had better thrive this year with the amount of time and effort I put into it…
We planted some catnip already, and I tore off a leaf for pippin after I dragged him outside (he was feeling lazy today for some reason). I crumbled it up and offered it to him, and he started eating it. And rubbing it. Then biting my fingers in demand for more, but of course I didn’t want him to Over Dose. After all, he was already beginning to go loopy and show signs of being on a Kitty High. For example, he started to attack the garden hoe, and after finding out that it wasn’t moving (at all), he laid down in the dirt I had freshly dug up and rolled around. Officially caked in mud, he began to look around, all paranoid, and ran in circles around my legs.
Also, while gardening, I made a new friend! His name is Sméagol, and he’s a little snapping turtle I found while gardening! (I named him Sméagol because when I first found him, I was calling him Precious, and then I found out he was a boy, and Precious just wouldn’t do for his manly stature.) He’s about the size of a small walnut, and in fact I thought he was a walnut when I accidently flipped him upside down. He’s SO CUTE. Anyway, I released him to the wild creek behind my house, so maybe he’ll survive and join Mikey as great kings of the Snapping Turtles. (Mikey’s a snapper that Christine and I found our freshman year of high school).
That said, I hope I didn’t release him to a horde of hungry cats, like Pippin. As everyone should know by now, I adore my baby boy, but sometimes he can be a pain.
For instance, he never comes when he’s called because he’s too busy trying to catch (and sometimes succeeding) baby birds. Also, he likes to play tough, and that means viscous scratching and biting. Also, he likes to get in my dollhouse and rearrange the furniture, sometimes by letting it fall on the floor to forever be lost.
So, today I made a huge sacrifice for my baby. I packaged all my miniatures up, and put them away.
But before I did so, I had to take a final look at my favorite, most radically expensive hobby.
And now for a tour!
These are images of the nursery/bedroom. It’s located in an addition to the house that I got for Christmas a few years back. It’s on top of the shop, which you’ll see below.
I got most of the things in the house from Once Upon A Time, where I’ve worked for the past five years. This room has one of the exceptions from that rule: the baby cradle I got from a toy shop in Ohio, where I stopped with my boss on the way to a miniatures show. The cradle actually rocks back and forth- it has amazing detail painted on it, much like the armchair behind it. These pieces are from a miniature maker called Bespaq. A majority of the furniture pieces I have in the house are made by Bespaq, although a lot of it I got on sale (thank goodness-- as I've said before, dollhouse furniture is expensive!).
Also in this room is my Edward Tulane doll, the dressed rabbit doll who is on the armchair in the back. I got him at the miniature show. I fell in love with him immediately- he looks exactly like I imagined Edward Tulane would, from my favorite book by Kate DiCamllio.
On the wall above the bed are four of my favorite prints, the seasons set, from Belle and Boo. While I certainly couldn’t afford real copies, I’m glad that my dollhouse people could enjoy as much of the artwork as possible.
Next we have the Patisserie. This is below the nursery/bedroom. A lot of the pieces in here were gifts, including the table and chairs (from one of my bosses), the pie table in the back (for my birthday from the store), and one of the display cabinets (for my birthday from Aniene).
I was undecided on what I wanted this store to sell, seeing as I would have to fill these extensive cases with small things. I originally played with the idea of a general store, which gave way to a toy store. After consideration of the amount of cabinet space, however, I went with patisserie. Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind again and It will change businesses. Then I’ll just be left with a ton of miniature cakes (which always make me hungry).
Next we have the entry way. It’s a bit fancy- pants, a ‘bit’ being an under exaggeration. The blue and white theme, and the entire spark that led to my re-obsession with dollhouses, is from the tall cabinet by the door and the buffet. In fact, the dollhouse couldn’t have mattered to me less, seeing as I was fifteen and “way too old” to play with my dollhouse.
Well, blamo. I saw these
pieces and I had to have them, and of course, I had to re-wallpaper a room to match. It was all very “if you give a cat a cookie”- esc.
Note the exquisite harp set. Yeah. That was a Christmas present. A very, very, VERY nice Christmas present from the toy store. The cat bowls in the gold stand just had to come home with me when I saw them in the store. The fire place just kinda found it’s way into the already over-crowded room. In the display case next to the door is a small collection of teapots which my mom got me started on when I first got the kit the dollhouse came in. My mother has an extensive collection, so my dollhouse needed one too. Some of them are from Mom, others I made in art class last year.
The next room is my all time favorite. It’s the only room in the house that I consider to be finished- although I keep finding more stuff to put in it! The black stove is the one of the only original pieces of furniture I
kept after the great re-decorating spree of 2008.
The table and the sink are pieces my boss got at a craft show. I absolutely adore these pieces- the old rustic look is so cute with the rest of the room! The corner cabinet I found at a show, the kitchen accessories are from a mixture of locations, including the toy store, mom and dad, and the miniature show. I absolutely love the chicken and the black and white cat reminiscent of Hezzie- not to mention the orange cat breaking into the cabinet in the corner!
These next two rooms are going to be joined into one as soon as I get the funds and the patience to keep Pippin away. The library and the study room, which was originally another bedroom. A lot of these furniture pieces I got for my birthday this past year, when I was making a roombox for a competition in the store. My theme was “Sherlock Holmes’ Office”, and I had the brown chair and piles of liquor bottles everywhere, not to mention the occasional skeleton in the closet (literally).
The bookcases were then painted and re-painted, so now they have a hand-painted fox chase scene on the bottom (compliments of yours truly). The coo-coo clock in the corner was from the show, and the one bookcase that’s actually filled with stuff is the result of many attempts at using alternatives to glue, such as double sided tape and blue stick.
Then we have the bathroom, which is in a too-small room, yet is too small of a set for another room. I just love the wallpaper and the motif across the furniture set. These bathroom pieces were ordered from the show. The handles look like cranes, so that the fountain-head piece comes form the head of the crane, through its long neck. Pretty sweet, yeah? Makes you wish I had a bathroom that was that ridiculously fancy in reality… The prints on the wall are another set from Belle and Boo—I couldn’t resist, their just too cute.
This large room is the sewing room. It’s an awkward shape, with the slope of the roof being really steep. I kind of like it this way, I just wish it was easier finding pieces that would work with these accommodations.
A lot of the furniture from this room was a gift from my favorite/only brother for a wonderful surprise Christmas present. The sewing machine was the other original piece of furniture, which my parents got me long ago, before the house was even finished being built.
And there we have it. The whole she-bang. I’m sure I could continue to describe the minute details which no one wants to hear, but all-in-all, its my grand jewel, and I’m very proud of it. Although it’s a bit empty in places, its going to have to wait until Pippin grows up and looses interest in attacking fragile and expensive things (unlikely to ever happen), not to mention I need to pay for part of my college tuition. Alas, some things are necessary in order to make ends meet.
*i apologize if the set-up is messed up. It's late, I'm tired, (i love you darling!), so I'm just going to worry about it tomorrow.
