snow — Page 53

Surrounded by White

February 11, 2010 at 9:18 pm by Claudia

We dodged a bullet here at MHC. We only got a few inches of snow. It was windy and cold but no crazy amount of snow, thank goodness!

Between the snow and priming the dollhouse, I have been in a sea of white. I finished priming the outside and am now starting on the inside. It’s not all that exciting but I listen to NPR as I paint and paint. The unfinished wood really soaks up the primer. You can see light coming through some of the seams – the previous owners didn’t do such a great job of putting it together. I will hide that with molding…but that won’t happen for a while.

See the chair on the right in the photo below?

It was very, very inexpensive. I thought I would play around with it a bit. It’s a work in progress. I’m not sure what I will do next.

It is in the process of being shabbified, of course. I like it like this but am considering a pale aqua wash over the white. What do you think? Am I headed toward the French/Nordic look in the dollhouse? Is that what is happening? There is so much gorgeous design out there in blogland that I am exposed to on a daily basis, who knows what might come out of my subconscious?

As far as the outside goes, I may go with a creamy white. Yes, I know it isn’t the cute original blue color, but painting an already assembled dollhouse isn’t easy. If I was building this from scratch, I would be painting as I go and that would be much easier. Maybe it will be white with a neat trim color. Oh, my mind is just buzzing with ideas!

I want to mention a little gift I received from my friend Carol. Carol has a booth in Heidi’s shop and she gave me a little bag of miniatures. They are so tiny that I couldn’t get a good photo of them. I know Carol reads this blog and I wanted to say thank you, Carol! You are so sweet and I appreciate your present very much.

Little Buttons

February 10, 2010 at 12:11 pm by Claudia

As I drove back from Providence on Sunday, I managed a quick stop at one of my favorite antique malls. Unfortunately, it is now a former favorite. It used to have so many wonderful booths, but has been very disappointing the last couple of visits. Most of the booths just have a lot of junk (and not the good kind) and look like someone just dumped stuff in the middle of the floor. It seems like no one cares or bothers to keep them fresh. Maybe the economy has taken its toll?

I did find one little treasure – antique aqua buttons on a beautiful card with amazing graphics:

Aren’t the graphics lovely? The button card has snagged a coveted spot on my reimagined bulletin board:

We’re having a big old snowstorm today. Right now, we are in a lull – the afternoon promises high winds and blizzard-like conditions.

Scout is on snow patrol.

A Not-So-Good Night

January 28, 2010 at 2:57 pm by Claudia

We’re suffering from sleep deprivation today at MHC. Our dog, Riley, is a rescue who had a tough life as a young dog. He also had heartworm when we adopted him and had to go through all the grueling treatment for that disease. He has a very bad hip – most likely hip dysplasia. Because of that, he has trouble navigating at times. Even though he is about 7 or 8, he walks like a much older dog. Lately he has been falling while trying to get up the steps – from the den to the living room, or up to the second floor. It all started with one specific fall where he landed on his tail end after trying to get up the two steep steps to the living room. Clearly, he has suffered some trauma to his left hip and trying to deal with stairs just exacerbates it.

So, husband and I have been trying to figure out a way to keep Riley from the steps and help him climb them when necessary. We’ve finally decided he can’t go up or down the stairway to the second floor until he shows signs of healing. Since we (Scout, Riley, husband and I) all sleep in the same room every night this presents a problem. I volunteered to stay downstairs with Riley and sleep on the sofa in the den. Husband would have none of it. He wanted to get our Aero Bed out of the closet and inflate it, then install it in the living room and we’d all sleep there for the night.

The reality? The Aero Bed is too small for two very tall adults, every time one of us turned over, the covers were pulled off of the other, it was cold because the bed was on the floor, our charming clock which chimes on the half hour and on the hour kept us awake half the night, the dogs were thoroughly confused by the whole thing, and at 4 in the morning we were still awake. At 6 am, Don suggested I go upstairs for a couple of hours to sleep then I could come downstairs and he would go to bed for a couple of hours. And that’s what we did.

When I came downstairs, I was shocked to see a lot of snow on the ground. Seriously, I had no idea there was any snow in the forecast. I think I’ve been so worried about Riley that I haven’t taken in the outside world.

Tonight, I will sleep on the sofa and share the den with Riley. Tomorrow, Don will take a turn.

Anything for our boy.

Surrounded by White

Little Buttons

A Not-So-Good Night

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives