I'm Taking My Ball and Sayin' to Heck with It!

I'm tired. I'm sore. I'm sick of cleaning.

Last night we (the residents of the neighborhood) were informed that an inspector from the corporation that owns our houses was coming the next morning (today!) to look at the conditions of our carpets, appliances, vinyl flooring, counter tops, etc.

You all know the turmoil of the last few months and how I'm just getting back into the swing of things...

So FH was still at work last night until after nine o'clock. Holly came over here after taking a load of things to the new house and we cleaned. FH came home and we cleaned. I couldn't sleep worrying over the hobby clutter that we left on the tables and whatnot in favor of making sure the counters in the kitchen were free of clutter and the stove got it's regular 6-month deep cleaning.

I have a skewed sense of "clean." I blame my mother. Before I started having trouble walking I dusted my house once a week. I try to keep clutter to a minimum when it happens. The hallway bathroom, which is never used unless we have company is wiped down and checked every two weeks.... this is the opposite of what I grew up with. *cough* Keep in mind that even with the clutter getting nuts, FH fought the fifth and always took out the trash and ran the vacuum cleaner. Even if I couldn't help.

So this morning I have no energy but I drag myself out of bed and wait to see if our house is one of the 20% chosen at random to be visited in a three hour period.

The inspector drove into the neighborhood. He drove around. He left and I didn't notice. He. Never. Stopped.

He claims he couldn't find the property office. How stupid do you have to be to not be able to see and follow the blue and white signs with arrows on them through the neighborhood saying, "Office: turn (the appropriate direction)"??

I finally found all this out when I saw our regular maintenance crew planting a tree next door and I wandered over. They were irritated for me, since they know I've been having health issues. Especially since the neighborhood was only given a day's notice.

So for the rest of this week, excepting the daily things involving the care of our pets, putting trash in bins, and loading the dishwasher I am doing no cleaning.

Starting tomorrow I'm going to play with my minis after I wake up when I feel like it. Hopefully I'll actually get some rest this go around.

Minis tomorrow and damn the cleaning!

And I hope that idiot inspector gets replaced with someone who can read signs.

Good Heavens, More New Followers!

I chose Castor's picture for a welcome picture because he's not only adorable but he LOVES people. I know he'd be having a field day if all the lovely new followers who have joined the party today were actually here to pet him. ;-)

A warm and happy welcome to Tarkus of My Miniature Adventure! and Cate and David of Solet Luna!

Tarkus is building an adorable dollhouse and some incredible furniture. I love her sense of color and design in the rooms.

Cate and David are a married team of artists who make a variety of gorgeous things. Whimsical and fanciful dolls are just the start of their projects. Currently a stunning southwest bungalow is in the works. I'm so envious!

Please go over and say hello. You will be glad you did. :-)

A Very Special Award

Marlene at Somerset House, A project is celebrating the creation of her daughter Felicity's new dollhouse blog, Mini Vintage Home. To that end she has given me this lovely award as a thank you for visiting her blog and to let me know how much she enjoys visiting this little corner of the interweb.

Thank you, Marlene. You've made my day more better than you my realize. :-)

Oh and like I said, Felicity is a new blogger, so let's all make her feel welcome.

New and Belated Welcomes

Hello and welcome to Ara of the Addams Family Mini-Mansion! Ara is building the coolest Addam's Family dollhouse. She's even made an organ with moving keys for Lurch! You just have to pop over and see her project!

Also I would like to apologize for apparently missing some new followers in the last few weeks. I'm not sure how that happened, but better late than never.

Debie Lyons of Piskes and Poppets joined the party recently. She makes the most adorable dolls. Debie has only been blogging since March and I wish I had sent you her way sooner.

Tiffany at Mini Mischief has been blogging for a year and has all sorts of fantastic minis and projects in the works. Right now she's building a San Franciscan dollhouse and stitching a gorgeous rug.

Heather at This Little Doll House makes adorable mini quilts and has been working on a Gloucester house by Greenleaf.

Please stop in and say hello to all four of these lovely ladies. :-)

Awarded again...

This award appears to be making its rounds through the miniature community again. I have been given it this time by Casey at Casey's Minis.

I'm going to pass it onto nine new mini bloggers whose blogs I really enjoy:

Wendie at WendiesMiniWorld

Julie at Bellabelle's Blog

Marlene at Somerset House, A project

Mommylion at In a Tiny House

Christine at Dandelion Fair

Ara at Addams Family Mini-Mansion

Deb at Deb's Minis

Mags at Mags-nificent Miniatures

Heather at This Little Doll House

From My Stash 5-6-09

It's Wednesday, which means another nose into the minis I've been stashing since I moved out of the dorms in 1999. ;-)

This week we have a selection of miniature furniture sold by the Smithsonian Museum catalog which my mother purchased as a birthday gift six years ago. You may have seen a few of the pieces in the BD's master bedroom in this post. I decided they will not reside there, therefore I have no idea where they will go. Anyway, here are the pictures. I hope you enjoy! :-)

The bed and mirror for the short dresser:
Both dressers:

Bunk beds:

Dining room table and chairs:

Rocking horse and night table:

Sideboard and silver chest:
I've been toying with the idea of creating a room box of just a dining room and redecorating it based on the holiday or occasion. It would be fun and give me the excuse to make lots more food displays. ;-)

I think the bunk beds will end up in my "gigantic Christmasy display" that's been on the design table for years. I want a set of bunk beds for the area that is a child's room. Not sure though.

I gave up on the idea of yet another dollhouse just to house the pieces together. I have several large dollhouses already and all of them are specific projects where the furniture doesn't or will not look right.

Welcome to the Whittakers and Marian!

Hello and welcome to my newest followers:

Marian of El rincon de Lavecinita. Marian has pictures of so many lovely minis. I especially like the patio of her Mediterranean dollhouse.

and

Kate and John Whittaker of The Whittaker's Miniatures. This team of miniaturists are currently building a Harry Potter themed dollhouse and a Sweeney Todd themed dollhouse. Both are fantastic!

Please go over and have a look for yourselves and say hello. :-)

Job stuff aka Katie's Challege

Ok Katie... here you go in no particular order:

-Dairy Queen
-hostess at sit down restaurant where men my father's age (60 years my senior) would try to grab my butt (was in high school at the time *shudder*)
-Dunkin Donuts, one shift only... my behind didn't need to be any larger than it was when I started that job *cough*
-temp for secretarial work
-au paire
-pool monitor
-seamstress
-custom doll house miniature maker
-reader for visually impaired students
-logger on a geotechincal drilling rig
-lunchlady in Catholic school cafeteria [still surprised I never burst into flames ;-)]
-Hancock Fabrics as a cashier, cutter, stocker, disgruntled slave wage earner...
-pet sitter
-insurance information gatherer for a "GAP" insurance company for total loss vehicle insurance
-janitorial/custodial assistant
-tutor
-mucker (as in cleaning out horse stalls)
-housewife/super-woman

That's pretty much it. Best ever was actually the lunch lady gig. Wish I hadn't left that one. And it was after I had my degree too.

Name Thingy

Ok... I'm tired and ended up having to do some emergency cleaning in my own house when I got back from helping Holly. Here's the name thingy meaning stuff everybody was playing with today:

Kathleen

You Are Smart and Curious

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

Heh. Have they got the traveling thing wrong. The light hearted bit too. Ooh and the success bit as well. Let's see what else they have to say...

Kat:
You Are Smart and Curious You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life.
You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip.
People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life.
You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home.
You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

More of the same... same mistakes as well.

Ok... let's really throw them for a loop or two...

Two-Wolves

You Are Spontaneous and Whimsical

You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are very charming... dangerously so. You have the potential to break a lot of hearts. You know how what you want, how to get it, and that you will get it. You have the power to rule the world. Let's hope you're a benevolent dictator! You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are very hyper. You never slow down, even when it's killing you. You're the type of person who can be a workaholic during the day... and still have the energy to party all night. Your energy is definitely a magnet for those around you. People are addicted to your vibe. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.

How in the nine hells can I be relaxed and hyper at the same time? Or dependable and flaky? I'm not a workaholic in the least. And these days I feel too bloody old to party all night after a day of working on something. Serious and light-hearted. Again... did they just toss a few million magic 8 balls and "name your baby" books into a fortune cookie factory, shake things up, and waited for things to fall out?

Besides, wolves don't like to venture too far from their dens when they have cubs to care for...

****edit***
Still laughing about the "well adjusted" bit. Hah!

More Spring: Plants, Decor, and Cleaning

I've been doing chores today and trying to declutter a bit more. I think I'm winning, but I can never tell until FH comes home, glances around, and says, "wow!" That's how I know things have improved. The fact that he bothers to pay attention to the amount of housework I do in a day makes me feel good too.

For anyone who wondered about the strange posts sticking out behind the hedge in this picture, those are stakes ringed in clothesline that are protecting this little beauty:
We planted this baby redbud tree last fall before the frost set in. I wasn't entirely sure it would survive the bitter cold here given the late planting, but it has! I'm so excited!

As you can see it's barely taller than my hand, but it will grow quite a bit this season I'm sure. I was outside today with utility shears cutting away all the grass to the leaves could get light. I don't want the maintenance men to run over it with a lawn mower or decapitate the poor thing with a weed whacker. Hence the ugly stakes. I'm hoping to get some decorative fencing this weekend to replace the stakes with.

Part of the decluttering project was actually getting some craft projects either finished to a stopping point. I cut the rest of the mattresses from the foam piece and covered as many as I could with felt yesterday. I was able to store them in a zip-top bag that takes up less room than the supplies did.

I also glued the fake flowers in place on this wreath:
It came to me already bedecked in silk blossoms last summer when our maintenance men were cleaning out an abadoned (and thoroughly trashed) unit in the neighborhood. The woman had no concept of cleaning and hse had a bit of a hoarding tendancy. The boys decided they would let me go through all of her abandoned craft supplies to see what was still usable and I could keep what I wanted.

Two more "blank" wreaths came along with it. I have plans for one to become an autumn wreath and have bits and bobs for that. The other... I don't know. Perhaps something with summer time accents. I already have a winter wreath thanks to my MIL. Or perhaps my friend, Holly, will want one for her new house. :-)

Tomorrow I will be there all day helping her tape trim and showing her how to paint walls. They have until the middle of June to leave their rental house, so we're getting the painting done and some other needed work out of the way before the furniture is in the way.

Now to track down FH since it's half passed seven and he's not home yet. If I know him he's gotten into the groove of coding.

Happy Birthday, 'Bert

Our sweet Albert Wilbert is three years old now! Here's to many more! :-)

Flowers... He Tried for Beer

FH was out at our pub last evening. One of his coworkers had decided to move on and the boys took him out. I was invited but just didn't feel up to it. He tried to purchase a growler of a triple chocolate stout to bring home to me, but they were running low. Instead he came home with these:
I think he did well. :-)

Welcome, Wendie!

Hello and welcome to my newest follower, Wendie, of Wendie's MiniWorld! Wendie makes some of the most fantastic character dolls. If there are any other Terry Practchett fans out there, she's made Igor! He's fabulous!

Wendie's also new to the blogging thing, so let's all make her feel welcome. Hop over and say hello if you haven't already!

Rug Progress

I finally had some time to play with stitching my rug some more. I can happily say I am halfway done with the stitching! :-)

I'm thinking of stitching a second one when I get this one completed. I switched needles last week because the size I was using was absolutely horrible for the strand amount and the size of fabric, but at the time it was all I had on hand. So I want to see if using this new size from the beginning will look better.
I really like the zig zag pattern in the center of the rug. It's fun to stitch and just looks cool.
Here's hoping the new needle makes for much faster work on this piece. I'll post more soon, I hope.

May First

It is the first of May.

Images race through my mind: Maypoles, flowers, Beltane fires, love, Spring, new life, newly born critters racing about on new legs or crying to be fed, leaving bundles of flowers at our neighbor's door and running off...

Castor elected himself to represent all of the critters and wish everyone a happy May Day.