House Stuff

Some people have been asking about pictures. I plan on taking my camera with on the day we close to get some good ones for everyone to see. I thought about taking it with me on the day of the inspection but I didn't want to tempt the fates in some way. Since we found a major electrical issue with the inspector that morning, I'm glad I didn't. The problem was bad enough that we could have walked away from the contract with no penalty... but it's currently being repaired so no worries.

I thought about starting a blog for the house repairs/remodeling but decided against it. You all will just have to keep watching this space for that. I've got enough trouble posting here about minis and fiber, so at least there will be something interesting (hopefully) here. ;-)

We close the day after Valentine's, which I thought was kind of neat. FH is taking a half day at work so we can celebrate, steam off some ancient wallpaper, and have the locks all re-keyed. I will also be loading the car with as much fragile stuff as I can since we have to drive up there anyway that day. Why waste the space in the car? :-)

Once we have the keys I will probably only have time to post the "before pictures" and then I'll be gone for about two weeks. Between trying to get out of the rental by the end of the month and moving the internet connection to the new house, I doubt I'll be on-line very much.

I'm going to get off here and get back to work. Catch everyone later!

Castor

The vet called today and told us Castor's blood work is perfect. So now we're deciding whether to run a different blood test for pancreatic problems (which is pricey since the sample would have to be overnighted to Texas) or wait a month or so for the steroids to get out of his system and do an endoscopy with sampling for biopsies (also pricey). Note that it's likely that we'd end up doing the endoscopy anyway, so that's probably what's going to happen.

For the moment we're in a holding pattern because frankly there is no money for anything other than regular bills and moving. Not to mention Tempie will need her teeth done again soon. At least waiting on the drugs to get flushed from his system will buy us time to save and cut corners.

Right now Castor is doing his level best to keep me from packing. It's not interesting enough and I should be paying more attention to him. I guess I should get back to administering belly rubs and head scratches.

Screeching Halt

Castor is going to a new vet today. The edges of his ears are starting to crumble, which is a sign of impending liver failure. Given the use of steroids to keep his irritable bowel condition under control, I cannot say that I'm shocked.

At this point I'm unsure of what the outcome will be. Several years ago Confetti's liver began to fail for some unknown reason and we were able to help it heal with the use of some specific drugs that took strain off of the organ so it could function easier. I'm hoping we can do the same for Castor, but I'm concerned that any new drugs will greatly upset the delicate balance his guts need to work properly. For example the old vet and I added an antihistamine to his routine to deal with his apparent allergy to the dust in this house's furnace. The poor kitty had been wandering around with half-closed eyes and sneezing his little nose off. Once we added the new medicine we suddenly had a bright-eyed kitty who was much more himself but whose tummy and guts were less than pleased.

In case you're wondering, we're not changing vets because FH and I are upset with the old one. It's because the old vet is located 10 miles east of our rental house which will become 25 miles south of home once we move. The new vet is only 3 miles southwest of the new house. Location, location. The new vet also happens to be a cat-specific clinic and has quite a bit of diagnostic equipment at their disposal. So today Castor and I are going to drive the 17 extra miles to the new vet's office and hopefully get some good news.

I will update this post once I know more. We won't be leaving here until around noon our time, which is two hours away.

**UPDATE**

We are waiting on bloodwork to run. Castor did very well at the new vet and won himself some new fans there. :-)

More of the Same

I've started packing the office. I'm running out of room in the living room to stack boxes, so I'm hoping I can make some room for boxes in there.

Currently FH and I are listening to the Saint vs. Vikings game and puttering around.

I guess we'd better get back to it.

A Break for Tea

Today was the first day I have been able to sleep in for a bit and not wake up still sick in about two weeks. Lucky me it was also the day where I had no particular place to rush off to.

I heard a muffled voice coming from a certain shipping tube and went to investigate. Madeline had traveled with me to the a couple of Stitchers' Guild meetings and she had not made it back out of her "traveling pod." She quite likes her pod since it keeps her from being injured while in transit and it much warmer to and from the car.

Once I opened the lid I asked her to please repeat what she had said. "Today would be the perfect day for you to indulge in a real cuppa with the treats from Wendiekins. It's horribly icy outside and really you've just got housework and packing, so you really ought to relax for a bit. Besides you've been ill and need to rest."

Now I'm not one to question a witch-in-training on how she knows it's icy outside when she's been in her pod for a few days. I know better. Even though she's not a full witch yet, she's got talents or else Ezzie would have never invited her cousin to come train with her as an apprentice.

I reflected for a moment on my skating trip to and from the mailbox, decided perhaps Maddie was correct, and took my new teapot out of its box.
And since my mother taught me manners I prepared a place for Maddie to join me while the water was boiling and the milk was warming.
I pulled a desk and chair out of the Big Dollhouse, dug out a teapot that is nearly the same color as mine, and put everything in the random Halloween bag I put together for fun last year. Ezzie's cat decided he would come investigate since it was more interesting that sleeping in the storage box. And as luck would have it I hadn't packed the tea tray from Wendie so Maddie could enjoy an éclair.

So here we sit, enjoying our tea and treats and Maddie say, "I told you so."

We will get back to packing when we're done.

Packing Blues

As of today I have packed 95% of the books in the living room. Art is safely boxed up in his original packaging and my matrushkas are wrapped in a box. In order to be done with the living room bookcases I need to get more bubble wrap (for the minis and family photos) and box up the remaining books. [Incidentally since the picture of Art was taken for the archived post a total of six mini settings are residing on the living room bookcases.] Once that's done I need to finish packing the closet and I will be finished with all available non-essentials in this room. Of course being sick since Thursday hasn't helped any...

Today I hope to finish the living room, get some cleaning done, pack some of the office, and pack a bit more of my craft closet. Of course we all know that sturdy paving material can be made from good intentions. We'll see what happens later.

I did decide that I'm going to cheat a bit and not remove all the glass from my framed pictures. Before any of you panic, let me assure you that since this move is not cross country I plan on carrying boxes of picture frames in our car to the new house. No jostling on a moving van, no movers in a hurry to be done for the day. All fragile items are going to be shifted into my craft room once all the furniture is pulled out of there to keep it safe from overzealous movers. In fact, my house plants and all of the animals will be shut in that room as well on moving day. I'm quite certain that Confetti's irritated growling will keep anyone from opening the door, especially once they see the "Do Not Open," sign over the handle.

Tomorrow the quilters from the stitcher's guild are meeting to discuss our big project for the year. That will be a nice break from the insanity.

Treats From Wendiekins!

This week has been absolutely insane. Almost every night we've been leaving early and coming home late. But on Monday night I came home to this:


This picture is making me hungrier than I already am. I have to find breakfast on the run today.Isn't this the cutest little tea tray!?! I adore it!

I'm so close to being able to sit at the computer for a cuppa with Wendie! Now I just need the world to slow down long enough to do so. :-)

Thank you again for brightening my day, Wendiekins. xx

I'm off again for another long day. :-)

Offer Accepted

There has been an agreement on the offer for the house. Now we just need to do the sit-down stuff with the bank and wait for the inspections.

I'm going to get back to packing.

The Waiting Game

...is getting really boring.

Best Laid Plans...

I had planned on both playing with minis today and doing a blog post about the project(s) but instead I'm venturing out into the blizzard to look at a house that FH and I like last evening. I'm taking a friend with me who has a business history with kitchen remodels to tell me what she thinks it would cost us to update the neglected kitchen in what is otherwise a fairly nice little house. That will determine whether or not we are done with our search or if it will take us longer.

However I did manage to get the pipes to the washing machine thawed yesterday. Hoping they haven't refrozen already since I won't be here to monitor the space heaters.

*grumbles*

Pipes are frozen again. They thawed out well on Sunday but now they're solid again. It's currently 14F (-12C) here and we're going to have snow dumped on us again. The "highs" this weekend will all be in the single digits... which I rather think makes them not count as "high."

I had intended on posting something fun today, but instead I have to babysit the pipes and makes sure they don't warm up too quickly. Then I get to go look at a house with FH and refill our drinking water jugs at the store.

For now, I think Confetti has the right idea.

New Year, New Idea, New Blog

Here's the background: FH bought me a really cool new teapot for Yule. It has a infuser basket that sets inside the top and lets me use loose (real) teas.

I was chatting with Wendiekins on Facebook the other afternoon (evening for her) and the subject of teas came up. Ok really I was whinging about not having any loose tea to try out my new teapot and then the subject evolved into wishing we lived closer so we could occasionally meet for tea and mini fun. (Drat that Atlantic Ocean!)

Then it hit me: the Internet! That electronic critter that we all use to post our projects, make new mini friends, and communicate over long distances in real time... The Internet could let us have a tea party!

So now Wendie and I have launched a blog (and a Facebook Group of the same name) called: Mini Madness Virtual Tea Party (Top Hat Optional) where we hope our friends will join us for tea parties on a global scale. Imagine sitting at the computer with a cup of tea (or whatever) and knowing that even though your friend is thousands of miles away they're doing the same thing...

Currently we're still in the planning stages, but we will update everyone soon. For more information, please come visit us at either location.

Shabby Chic in 1 inch scale, pt. 5

Many of you may recall that last February I was working on this Shabby Chic roombox and that I wanted a different container for the room. Originally I had planed on using two hats boxes to make a round room, similar to one I had seen in an issue of Dollhouse Miniatures several years back.

I had a stroke of inspiration that not only allowed me to be incredibly lazy in my efforts to re-room Shabby Chic, but also gave me an excuse to play with some really nice scrapbook papers.

Here's the original room in the old setting:
I started with a standard display case for a football (an American football, not soccer/real football). I had a piece of thick craft foam that was cut to fill in the hole for the ball, which allowed for me to use a paper floor.
Then I used the scrapbook papers to hide inserts of foam-core craft board. I thought about painting over the wood to make it white, but decided against it.

I was able to add a second window to this room, but right now I still cannot locate the remaining pieces of the fabric I used for the first set of curtains. I also need to find some scenery to put behind the windows and figure out where I stashed a thin strip of veneer to put across the top of the window dressings. If you look closely there is a frame of foam-core board behind each window. I did that so the standard dollhouse windows would sit correctly against the glass side.
The furniture is all strategically placed to allow the box to lift off the base without disturbing the layout and without any wall decorations to catch on the furniture.

I added a few more minis that fit the theme and plan on adding more as I find or make them. Petunia has migrated from the Trading Post into this room. She seems to fit better in here, but I am giving serious thought to making her a "sassy" room to live in. For a better definition of sassy, visit my friend, Marsha's, blog. Until then, Petunia will reside here in much more girlie surroundings.

I wish I could say this is the last of the Shabby Chic room, at least as far as posts go. However until I get the curtains to match, find the veneer strip, and get a few more things in there I think there will be at least one more post in the future. Especially since the dress form still irritates me...

The best part about getting this project going again was it provided me a great excuse to take a break from the holiday cleaning and play. The empty display case and all the papers kept migrating around the living room and dining room. It became necessary to stop cleaning and play long enough to consolidate everything into its present form.

That's all for now. I've got multiple mini irons in the fire, so to speak. I will try to get pictures soon, but I'm balancing miniatures with the house hunting. ;-)

Welcome!

I must apologize for being extraordinarily lax in welcoming new followers for quite some time.

So many new faces and honestly I don't recall who was the last to be formally welcomed.

Therefore I hope this greeting will suffice in making everyone feel welcome in my little corner of the internets.