What are you up to today? This week?

[sparklepuppies]

Yay Michelle! I know you are so proud and excited. We'll all proud and excited for you too!

[Starfire]

The tobacco smell has finally dissipated. I have stripped the anaglyptic (wrong scale) from three of the ceilings and the dining room wallpaper and gilded door surrounds from the rest of the downstairs rooms. The previous owner did a wonderful job on the wiring. It is the old copper tape that requires two runs side by side and soldered the lamps and sconces onto the tape. Does anyone know where I can find the old fashion copper tape so as to continue it in the same manner?

[sparklepuppies]

Hi Beverly, I had one of those kits, it's actually made by Greenleaf. I got mine on eBay, and I see them from time to time. I think maybe the Elect-a-Lite kits are the same, but I can't promise. They have the bare copper tape (it will need to be covered with clear tape afterwards), insualting squares for turns, and some little magnetic outlets, although I didn't use those.

[havanaholly]

This is what Bahama shutters look like:

Ours are a peachy/ boiled shrimp pinkish orangey color (I call it South Beach pink). The installers showed up a bit late and finally finished up after 1800 (6 PM; I'm a sidereal time freak); they look totally awesome and when it's earlier in the day I'll walk around the house and take pictures of all of them. The painter finished up and rehung the shelf in the utility room. He also does odd-jobs, so he fixed the deluge under the kitchen sink, fised the kitchen window so we can open it and it'll stay open, and he replaced the nasty cheap light in the bathroom the former residents left in place of the light bar they took with them, installing the gorgeous new lightbar we had gotten.

We finally opened the sleeper sofa we'd bought, to measure the mattess so we could get an upgrade, and LO! it's an innerspring, top quality mattress! The only thing we can figure is that someone in one of the condos in Gulf Shores got bored with it, changed their decor and dumped it at the thrift store. Comparable sleepers online run $3K and we got this one for $200. I spent three days cleaning and disinfecting it, the thrift store cats liked to nap on it and I'm allergic.

Leaving in the AM for one more trip to load the car, truck & utility trailer and come right back, then hopefully late next week we can gather the gang to help us load a U-Haul with the heavy stuff.

[bbawsew]

I have been changing the size on my photo, thought you guys would like to see some of my work. this was the first house that I built. It is aTiffani. I furnished it with plastic canvas furniture so that my daughter who was young at the time could play with it. Next came the yellow Whitney and since it did not have a bathroom you will notice a small outhouse beside it. hope you like the pictures. betty

[havanaholly]

Betty, your work is lovely! Thanks for sharing.

DH & I are back in Havana to return the utility trailer and pack his truck & my car with more STUFF! Next weekend we're investing in a U-Haul and have friends recruited to help us to load it. Today we ran errands, and one was to ask our neighbor if he would mow the yard for us again. He now runs the lumberyard at our local hardware store, and while DH was talking to him I found a pint of blue paint to paint the outside of our front door (those who know me know I MUST paint the front doors of all my dhs BLUE, so obviously now my RL house's door must also be blue).

We stopped at HF to use coupons to buy some sawhorses toadd 2x4s to make bunks to set our kayaks and canoe on. Because we had to buy a minimum $ amount to use the coupons I picked up a couple of polishing wheels with polishing compound and jewler's rouge ( I have a bit of silver and a whole lot of brass in desparate need of polishing! and DH has had his drill out to install drapery hardware) and a pair of tweeaers with a magnifying glass for removing the tiny ticks we seem to pick up when we hike.

[sparklepuppies]

HI Betty! Your houses are beautiful! And I love the plastic canvas furniture, what a cute idea! Thanks for sharing it with us!

[chellebelle]

Holly, those shutters look pretty cool, I can't wait to see yours.

Betty, your houses turned out really great, thanks for sharing

[Kabrina]

Betty that's a great idea to use plastic canvas furniture. I've been in the process of plastic canvasing a Barbie Dream House. It's taking FOREVER! Doesn't help that I get distracted easily with my other dollhouses. So far I have the Foundation, front steps and Living Room completed and half way through the hallway. That leaves the Kitchen, Bedroom, Bathroom, upstairs hall and attic to do . Guess it's a good thing my daughter is only 15months old. Should be finished by the time she's old enough to use it...I hope LOL

Was messing with the dry fit again for the Colonial. I'm thinking of adding a wrap-around porch to the front and right side and a two story kitchen upstairs bathroom addition to the left. Still debating on weather or not to add dormers to the roof and if I should somehow have the porch across the whole front and addition or just the front and right side. What do you think? These are very very rough sketches/cut and paste pictures but it's how I mull over ideas.

I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks

[havanaholly]

Are you going for a country farmhouse or an in-town house? The porch served different social functions depending on where the folks in the house lived.

[Kabrina]

Ummmm...hadn't thought about that. So far when I see it I see it on a lot of land, with a garden and someplace it snows in winter. The house has been added onto as years go by and it'll be filled with all of the items I'd love to own myself. So I guess it would be more farmhouse?...i saw the cutest chicken coup on a farmhouse dollhouse yesterday. Here's the dumbest question ever...could I have a chicken coup with this house if I want to have snow at Christmas? What do people do with the chickens in winter?

[chapchap73]

Kabrina, it's mini-world..you can have whatever you want :lol: My mom and dad's chickens stayed in the coop in winter and were fine.

[Kabrina]

LOL Thanks! Can you tell it doesn't snow here except in a blue moon? I think in my entire life it's snowed 10 times if that and it's never even enough to make a snowman or last more then a day.

[havanaholly]

We've been fighting a "bug" DH acquired, probably the same one I had earlier in the week, when we were here in Havana before; so we might not get back to Seminole before tomorrow or Monday. I put the last of my hanger clothes into my car and packed more boxes of glassware & china. I also want to try to fit my grandparents' Seth Thomas wedding clock and the railroad clock MIL gave us into this load.

All this was after running errands yesterday AM including returning the utility trailer to our friend and arranging to have him help us pack the Penske truck next weekend, then finding the Penske place (after several fruitless attemps to find one of the U-Haul dealers!) and rbuying more boxes and reserving the truck for next weekend, then heading back to the grocery store to buy a little more food for this trip. We stopped at the local hardware store to ask our neighbor who works there if he would please mow our yard again and I found a can of blue paint for the front door.

[grazhina]

Ah moving, such fun.

DH and I made a short stop on the way back from the Aztec show in Ohio to see out youngest granddaughter. She's 4 1/2 months old and just learned how to flip over from her back to her tummy. Somebody has to turn her over when she starts to fret and wants to roll onto her back again, she hasn't figured that part out yet.

We brought several bags of goodies home from the show, and USPS, UPS & FedEx will be arriving with more. I started taking pictures & measuring things to add to the website, but my son is moving into the dorm on Saturday morning, so I'm kind of busy. Right now I'm sitting here making system image discs to backup his laptop in case of crash. Last night I realized I should probably get him a couple of flash drives and maybe some clean discs and once again remind him of how important it is for him to backup all his school work.

Yesterday we drove to the campus to pick up his books, as he wanted to browse through them beforehand. He has no idea what one class he signed up for was about. The class he wanted was full, so he had to settle for another one. He wanted to pick his books up last week at campus #1, but they said they had already shipped his books to campus #2. Yesterday we drove to campus #2, only to be told the books were still at campus #1.

[havanaholly]

Grazhe, the granddaughter is just beautiful!

On the way back to Havana we stopped at one of our favorite thrift stores and bought more furniture! Some of it is to replace 30+ year old stuff that our kids grew up with (and it shows!) and some of it is for functions we had already planned to buy, but this way we don't have to get all new. Tomorrow DH picks up the rental van and first thing Saturday AM friends are supposed to show up to help us load it.

[KathieB]

We spent the day in Columbia. Lloyd's appointments at the VA were good. His lung function has improved and his bloodwork was spot on. He picked up his CPAP and came up with about a bajillion reasons why he didn't think he needed one. Doctors in the pulmonary and sleep clinics both jumped all over him. I hope he gets used to it pretty quickly or it's going to be a battle to get him to use it regularly.

Then we hit Petco for dog food, Hobby Lobby for minis (bought 5 pkgs of flooring and some 50% off jewelry findings for bezels that will make great serving trays and baking pans), went into Best Buy but left when nobody there seemed to care to help me figure out what I was looking for. Then went to Golden Corral for early supper. Not my first choice for a special dinner, but it is Lloyd's birthday (76) and he was drooling for the "three kinds of shrimp" that they've been advertising. He loved it, and my steak wasn't all that bad. We got home around 6:30 and friends came over with a pineapple upside down cake (his choice).

Meanwhile, I've been cleaning out papers in the office/library, trying to get it tidy enough to let the cleaning lady in. Now that's messy! :lol:

[chapchap73]

Oh Grazhina what a beautiful baby!! I can't wait to see some new eye-candy. I spent the day at an amusement park with the kids and husband. It was a little bit too young for my older one, but he still had fun he just doesn't want to admit it Still waiting for the new cord for my laptop. Got one but had to send it back as it wasn't working properly. They said by September 1, but with the hurricane coming this way who knows. Have to spend tomorrow doing all the things necessary to get ready for a blow, putting away lawn furniture, stocking fridge and making sure we have gasoline for the generator and propane for the barbecue so we can run the fridge and cook on the grill. The last time we had a big hurricane come through that I remember was Gloria way back in 1985! Our electric was out for a week :angry: I am hoping it misses us, but it's not looking too likely

[grazhina]

Since you asked, Sarah, here's a picture of one happy baby.

We're taking my son up to the dorm in the morning, and since they think Irene will hit Portland, the university wants all the students checking into the dorms tomorrow. It will be a madhouse, but Jake's supposed to be there at 8 AM, so he should be squared away before things get too hectic.

I was fine when my other 2 kids went to college, but I'm hyper over this one. The fact that he went through thyroid cancer this year doesn't help any, I guess.

[havanaholly]

It's special when that last chick leaves the nest. You'll both be fine!

[CheckMouse]

I haven't been on the forum for about 2 weeks because my job is running me ragged. When I logged on today there were 162 new entries since my last visit! Been busy catching up with all the news!

Grazhina, your granddaughter is adorable!

Holly - sounds like your move is almost complete. Makes me tired reading your posts - moving is so much work.

I've been working at the County Fairs this month - 4 of them back-to-back. These run 5-6 days each, 12-13 hours a day. For three of them I worked for Bath Fitter (remodeling company) in their booth so though the hours were long the work isn't hard. In the last one, ending yesterday, my DH and I had a double booth at our local County Fair. The second booth was with a new product line, launching a new business. Lots of stress getting this all put together.

My minis are crying for me to come back -- I keep glancing at my small worktable in the living room -- can't take time yet to work on anything. :no:

[havanaholly]

We picked up the "new" livingroom furniture yesterday that we bought last Thursday. They didn't want our old livingroom tables, however (!) so off into Milton we went to a much smaller thrift store we hardly ever go to, and they were totally thrilled to get them. An awful lot of small church ministries in the FL Panhandle will have thrift stores to finance their charitable projects.

Now we are unpacking boxes, and I'm getting all my dh and craft books unpacked and shelved. I have found three duplicated books so far, one of them a dh mini how-to. Once we finish and I see what there is I'll be offering them in the Trading Post.

We ate lunch and supper in the new house yesterday, but until DH hangs the rest of the curtains we're not ready to live in it full-time. Since we're headed to St Joseph Peninsula State Park on the Gulf next week for our week after Labor Day beach trip (taking DS#3 with us this year will be logistically interesting...) we've decided to wait until we get back to take DS home to change our address and move on into the new house. Since we bought our stove and washer used, I've been anxious to try them out and still have to test the oven and broiler units on the stove.

[grazhina]

My son has been at college since last Saturday, and he hasn't called once. I guess that means he's doing fine.

DH said maybe he lost his cell phone, or is laying in an alley somewhere - gee thanks fella, said I.

I called him on Sunday to see if he got the cable to hook his laptop to the internet, he said he did, but was having lunch with someone.

I keep having dreams set in dreary dormitory style hallways - but his not calling is still a good thing.

[havanaholly]

Grazhe, he's starting new classes and making new friends; calling the folks isn't exactly #1 on his list of "must-do" things.

[Muriel]

How's your settling in going Holly?

We're doing well, slowly getting there. The garage will be our hobby room - for Chris' wargaming table and my dollhouse building, but first we've had to sort it out. When we arrived it was full of furniture and boxes of items we (my family - mum, sister and me) had in storage. So we sorted through all the boxes to see if there was anything we didn't need anymore and put the rest in the attic. The idea is to convert it into a proper room, so we're currently exploring whether we can financially afford to do so. Not looking too good, but have mostly got quotes from companies that will only do the whole thing. We'd rather they just did bits like bricking up the garage door wall and putting in a window, putting in some sockets and a light, and knocking through a door into the house. I'm sure we could do the decorating, floor insulating, skirting boards etc. So will have to see if we can find a local builder to just do the bits we can't do ourselves. In the meantime the hobby stuff is still in boxes spread around different rooms in the house, along with the shelves and desk to go into the garage. Everything else is unpacked and put away.

Working on the garden too, have pulled out a big ugly bush and trimmed all the other stuff back considerably. I don't think much work was done in the garden for the last few years! Means we have a big pile of branches waiting to go to the tip. There's three or four tall evergreens between our garden and the neighbours, and he said he'd trim them back sometime this fall, so we're waiting until that is done before we hire a skip to take all the branches away. I am enjoying having the garden, as is Natasha. She likes lying in her pram watching the trees. We had a hot spell last weekend and really enjoyed that (having had a rubbish cold summer).

Natasha is 5.5 months old now! She's so cute. We get lots of smiles and laughs, especially when she's tickled. She's started weaning, prefers the fruits (especially mashed banana with baby rice) rather than veggies, and doesn't like lumps much at all. She's also found her thumb to suck and is ever so cute when she does so! Before she'd often like her bottle to fall asleep, but now she'll have that for a bit, then switch to her thumb before falling asleep.