My Haunted Dollhouse

I got a dollhouse kit for Christmas....

Here I will record my progress.

I opened the box... got out the plans and reviewed them...
and compared all the parts with those listed in the instructions.

The front door was split so I called Real Good Toys in Vermont and they immediately sent me out a replacement door.

This is the box and the first step was attaching the middle floor to one of the walls. I used my weights to hold it in place as the glue dried.

Next I added the bottom floor. These floors are hardwood, so I don't need to carpet them unless I want to.

And then the other side was added. I used 2 inch masking tape to help keep things squared up while waiting for them to dry.

I then added the front left panel of the house. Again my weights hold it in place until it dries.

The left front of the house is glued together before adding it directly to the house.



So I start by adding the two floors to the sides of the front addition and weight them down for drying.

After they dry I add the addition to the front of the house.

I am really getting excited and cant wait for the next step but it is VERY important to be patient and wait for the glue to dry so that everything is squared up.

















I add the two porches and glue the rails. When they dry I install them onto the porch, holding them in place with masking tape until dry.



Next I painted the window frames and top of the roof.

DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

"'DARK SIDE OF THE MOON™' is composed of six veteran musicians, each having more than 20 years experience in the entertainment industry. You can be assured that a performance from 'Dark Side Of The Moon™' will surpass your expectations."

Here I am, after the show, with the whole band and the guitar they all personally signed for me!
Bill "THE PIGMAN" and me with the autographed guitar...
Steve B - Lead vocals, percussion
Tim - Lead guitar, guitar synthesizer, vocals
Melissa and Tim
Dan - Bass, backing vocals
Jeff - Drums
Doug - Keyboards
Steve P. - Saxaphone, rhythm guitar


It's been no secret...
I love Pink Floyd...
that is why I follow these guys...
they are really that good!

SHUT UP and BOX!

HELLO FELLOW OHIO BOXERS...
ARE YOU TIRED OF ALL THE WHINY COMMENTS LATELY???

I AM... SO I MADE ME A T SHIRT AS SUGGESTED BY A PIONEER BOXER I KNOW...


A SHUT UP AND BOX T SHIRT....

IT IS SO FUN WORKING IN A PRINT/EMBROIDERY SHOP WHERE YOUR IDEAS BECOME A REALITY....

OH YEAH... I DO KNOW I HAVE ALL CAPS HERE.....:)

MUM's QUILT for the POOR KITTIES!

This is the quilt made for the SAVE THE KITTIES raffle. It is 76" X 90" and is a MAINE made, hand tied quilt made by my Mum and her sisters. Their maiden name was YOUNG. The back of the quilt is filled with little animals running... (through the woods to the next letterbox perhaps)...
This is a close up of one of the squares. See the Kaleidoscope effect?Many thanks to my new friend 1SG for enhancing the pictures to true colors...
The BIG picture... My bed is a California King and as you can see it fits very nicely with a small overhang... The top of the quilt shown here is actually cut from the same fabric as the back but each piece is duplicated to make it look like a Kaleidoscope...

The YOUNG sisters will meet tomorrow to work on their next quilt(s)... I have asked them for a picture to post so you can see the faces behind these wonderful women...

SAVE THE KITTIES!

PAYPAL has been set up under my e-mail address of gayle1111@gmail.com.

APPLESAUCE and ONXY

Let me tell you about my BFF Hope, also know in my letterboxing world as SNAPDRAGON...

About two weeks ago, one of her beloved cats (Onyx) showed up at her door with a broken leg. Well, her cats are her babies and she was extremely upset by this. She took him to get his leg fixed and brought him home with a very large vet bill of over $1000.00 dollars...

A few days ago, she had another of her cats (Applesauce) show up at the back door with you guessed it- a broken leg!!!!

She expressed her concerns and sadness... and some of her letterboxing friends and I decided that we needed to help her out.

I was telling my Mum in Maine about the Kitties...

My Mum and her sister meet every Wednesday to make quilts... They make quilts for unfortunate people who have lost their home to fire... for people dealing with cancer... for people staying at the Ronald McDonald house... for soldiers from Maine returning from war... just to name a few...

They get together to sew once week... because that is their family tradition. Their mother taught them to sew quilts, as my Mum taught me (at the age of seven) ... and so when I told her of the Kitties... well she offered me one of the handmade quilts by the YOUNG sisters. (Their maiden name)
The quilt is HANDMADE, in the state of MAINE, by my Mum and her sisters...and it is 76" X 90", the pattern is a Kaleidoscope Windmill pattern done in shades of purple... which is very royal looking... It will sit on top of a KING size bed well... but Mum calls it a QUEEN size quilt, so it hangs down around the edges...... now IF you have a smaller bed then it will hang down the edges and keep you even warmer.

*******And so I will offer chances on this quilt for a donation of $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00. ALL PROCEEDS will go to save the kitties!

I will write your name and contact information on each ticket you buy all tickets will be put into a container, shaken not stirred and SNAPDRAGON will pull the winner on SUNDAY December 21st.

Please contact me at gayle1111@gmail with QUILT in the subject if you need more information. I have set up a PAYPAL account under this e-mail address if you want to donate. Please include your name and phone number contact in case you win...

The money will be given to the VET for the bill.

The drawing will be the week before Christmas OR when the VET is paid off... whichever comes first... That way the quilt can be given as a Christmas present if you wish...

PLEASE TELL EVERYONE...

My Mum and her sisters recently donated 2 quilts for a fund raiser for my nephew's Dad, who is a self employed drywall carpenter, in Maine, with cancer... the raffle quilt took in $1000.00 and the second quilt was to be auctioned off in a silent auction tonight at the fund raiser auction and supper...

My Mum has made everyone in my family at least one quilt (some of us have a couple) and then their is the "under the bed box"... Quilts made for us, after she is gone, that are safely tucked under her bed... We know they are there and will be there for comfort after she has passed away... many years from now...

We all love these quilts...as I am sure you would too. I wanted to make the quilt for this cause because Hope is really my BFF... but my Mum and Aunts are all retired and work much faster than I do... They spend their summers collecting cloth at yard sales, from donations given to them and when it is on sale... this is their life long goal... to spread the love through their Maine made quilts... They never sell their quilts... although they have been known to barter for items, to help others...

You see my mother and her sisters have had cancer or have cancer now and so they know the hardships of the terrible disease... This is their way of spreading the love...

So SHARE the love and take a chance! You will not be sorry you did...

Please pass this message on to ALL your friends.

You can give out my e-mail address: gayle1111@gmail.com to anyone who wants more information...

Thanks so much,

BONE YARD RECORDER (and grandmother of grand kitties...)

I LOVE HOCKEY MOMS...

Just a couple of pictures from AM...

Joe Biden is here in town so I thought I would show my NON support... I made myself a tee shirt showing my love of Hockey Moms and I embroidered my cheek pocket with the VOTE McCAIN PALIN logo...

If you want one just let me know...

The FBI has us all locked in right now... but I have been seen in the front window like Granny requested...

It is over now... the Sharp shooters were on the roof across the street from my shop... I waved when I saw then spying on me with their binoculars... they saw me and they laughed... We were restricted to the sidewalk in front of our shop... behind yellow caution, DO NOT CROSS tape.... actually it was keeping the other people out...

After the people started leaving we went out to look at all the hats, buttons and T shirts they were selling... I didn't buy anything... more fun to make my own...

Just havin' a little fun, that's all... BYR

GET OUT THE MAP

It was raining hard when I woke up this morning... I looked at the weather radar and saw a large green rain blob heading to the area...so like any red blooded American letterboxer... I grabbed my keys, 25 clues, my and got out the map... I threw in the Indigo Girls CD and was off to another adventure in letterboxing history... heading for Delaware.

I could not get that childhood rhyme out of my head...

If Mississippi gave Missouri her New Jersey, what would Delaware? Idaho, Alaska. ...

I was on my way and soon out of the rain... wishing for a familiar voice to say "Good mornin' sunshine.."

I had the inside scoop on the location of some wonderful WOM boxes in the area and the anticipation of great boxes, in great places, with great clues was very exciting... my heart was fluttering with anticipation and I once again had a smile on my face... I bet those oncoming cars, and people who did manage to pass me by and look over, had NO IDEA what could cause the plain old Maine Country girl to have such a big smile on her face...

I visited many places and saw many signature stamps from my boxing friends, I laughed at myself to see I had already been on one trail with Granny Butterfly earlier this year, the day before the OHMAZING RACE, but we had missed a coupla stamps and I really wanted to find "The Little Red Truck"... seems everyone had this one but me... It was simply beautiful in the woods... I hiked over the river, or stream, and through the woods, up the hill and back down again... not remembering what boxes we HAD found and what were missing... I knew it was at least one... the elusive "Little Red Truck"... now the clues were great, but the signs in the area had been vandalized. This trail, as beautiful as it was, had been somewhat abandoned in the past, but wait what is that? A tree had fallen over the old path, the clue sign was laying on the ground and the rangers had wrapped orange ribbons around all the trees to guide me to the last boxes... long story short... I made it to the "LITTLE RED TRUCK"... forgot my red ink, so it is a black truck for now... maybe I can photoshop it red... when I got to the MOUSETRAP box there was a big old log inviting me for a visit and I smiled as I sat there thinking about my past year of letterboxing...

I am a Maine Country girl who has been transplanted in Ohio... I love Maine, but I have finally taken root in Ohio and it is all because of my dear letterboxing friends. I know it may be hard to imagine how such a talkitive girl could have been so lonely... I am the President of the County genealogy chapter here, I am on the Cemetery Board in my township, speaking up for the dead. I am their voice now... I teach people how to care for headstones, and bone yards, and help them with restoration of such places too... But I came up short with TRUE Friends... you know, the ones who will take my FREE HUGS ...

And then I found letterboxing... I got a phone call... it was from JENNY, Jenny was a friend of mine... kinda like my kid... anyway Jenny knows me and my interests and says she is in a cemetery in Cincinnati and she has found a letterbox... she thinks I might like this little hobby and tells me to investigate it... so she tells me website to check out letterboxing...

I have made REAL FRIENDS, people who care, people who call me up to say hi, people who end their conversations with love ya...
and know you know the rest of the story, or should I say the beginnings of my addiction...

But it is a good addiction. I am getting in better shape everyday... I am becoming FOREVER YOUNG... and as I sat there pondering my life, and what the future might hold, I counted my blessings, and decided to follow the advice of Lee Ann Womak... The minutes flew by and the day was ending... I still had a couple of places I wanted to go...

As my day ended, I headed towards Radner, I wanted to get there before dark, I stuck in the Indigo Girls CD, to sing along with the chorus'...
And what song should start up? GET OUT YOUR MAP!

For your boxing adventures... I suggest a little INDIGO GIRLS music... you can change up the lyrics to suit yourself... here are the words I heard as I drove off into the sunset...

The saddest sight my eyes can see...
is that big ball of orange sinking slyly down the trees.
Sitting in a broken circle while you rest upon my knee...
this perfect moment will soon be leaving me
Suzanne calls from Boston, the coffee's hot, the corn is high,
And that same sun that warms your heart,
will suck the good earth dry...
With everything it's opposite,
enough to keep you crying,
or keep this old world spinning with a twinkle in its eye...

Get out the map,
get out the map and lay your finger anywhere down...
We'll leave the figuring to those we pass on our way out of town.
Don't drink the water,
there seems to be something ailing everyone.
I'm gonna clear my head...
I'm gonna drink that sun...
I'm gonna love you good and strong
while our love is good and young.

Joni left for South Africa a few years ago...
and then Beth took a job all the way over on the West Coast.
And me I'm still trying to live half a life on the road...
I'm heavier by the year and heavier by the load...
Why do we hurtle ourselves through every inch of time and space?
I must say around some corner,
I can sense a resting place.
With every lesson learned...
a line upon your beautiful face.
We'll amuse ourselves one day
with these memories we'll trace.