Mockingbird Hill Cottage

I spent the afternoon working on the door to the dollhouse. It’s pretty much done, though I have to do a bit of finishing work because it doesn’t fit perfectly. The door (which is actually 2 doors glued together) are from the replacement kit that Barbara sent me. The original house had no door. Greenleaf dollhouses are dicey on fit to begin with, but since the replacement doors were from a newer kit, the fit isn’t exact. I’ll try to tweak them, but frankly, I’m just thrilled that I got them in there! And that my leaded glass insert worked.

No doorknob yet. I’m looking into that. I wanted the outside of the door to be stained and I applied 4 coats to get it to the color I wanted. I could have painted it dark gray like the trim, but that was too matchy-matchy and I thought it deserved a rich wood finish.

Since Greenfield doesn’t supply any hinges and miniature door hinges are notoriously hard to install with all sorts of stories about damaging the wood, I went with a suggestion that I found on the Greenfield forum. Insert a piece of chamois or fabric or Tyvek between the two halves of the door and then insert it between the molding/trim and the wall. I used Tyvek from an old envelope. It worked. Not beautifully, but it worked. I very seldom open the door on Hummingbird Cottage since I’m usually looking at it from the big opening, so I’m fine with it the way it is. I’ll add some touch-up paint where the trim doesn’t quite meet the door.

This is why I don’t like this brand of dollhouse. They are less expensive, which is great, as dollhouses can be expensive, but the savings is shown in cheap plywood that is splintery and components that aren’t uniform. Every piece of trim that is to be used around the windows and doors is uneven, narrower at the top or the bottom. It’s annoying. Everything has to be sanded and when you sand, you risk making the piece too small, as large chunks of wood come off. So you have to try to fix things, which results in a lot of extra work. If they provided the windows and doors as inserts already installed in frames, I’d like these kits a whole lot more.

Complaints aside, I think a little more tweaking will make them look even better. Baseboards are next, but I usually hold off on them until I’m sure of furniture placement. I don’t install one long baseboard on walls where there will be furniture, as the furniture is then too far away from the wall. (It’s why I don’t like the baseboard heating in my real life house.) Once I know where everything should be, I cut the baseboards to fit around the furniture. So, that can wait.

Now, the bedroom. And, of course, gathering more and more bits and bobs for the living room and kitchen. I love decorating the rooms, it’s my favorite part of the process.

Hang in there. Last night, I had my first really good night’s sleep in a long time. Sigh of relief.

Stay safe.

Happy Thursday.

 

 

Well, we spent two hours on the phone with the company that is helping us select a new supplemental (to Medicare) insurance policy. For those of you who aren’t aware of it, the Screen Actors Guild, which is one of Don’s unions, told us we would have their union policy, (which was through Blue Cross) and I quote: “for the rest of our lives.” It was a great policy.

This year, they broke the news to union members that they couldn’t afford to do that any longer. Basically, the ‘rest of our lives’ was a lie. So now we have to scramble as this policy ends on December 31st. The company that is guiding us through the process is quite good and I liked the woman we spoke with, but the end result is that it’s going to be more expensive for us. I’ll have to buy a separate Dental Insurance policy, our deductibles will be higher, Don’s treatments for macular degeneration may not be fully covered as they were before.

We can’t afford these changes. But we have no choice.

I am so, so angry about this.

At the end of the conversation, we were both so upset at the realization of just how much is changing that we vowed to take a break and not deal with it until we get the info in the mail.

They promised us and they broke their promise.

I don’t know what we’re going to do. 2020 has been just plain awful.

In other news: we’re going to change the day we start using the dumpster as we now realize it’s going to rain nearly every day for the next 5 days. We think we’ll have them deliver it next Monday instead.

I did another dollhouse update video on Instagram. Just posted it yesterday. So it’s there if you want to see it.

What else? I’m going to work on said dollhouse today and try to finish up on the sanding of the front door, etc. I need to order the wood for the baseboards. As it’s going to rain today, going up to the office/studio sounds like a good thing to do.

As always on Veteran’s Day, I salute all of our armed forces, past and present, including my dad, who fought for four years in WWII.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

Woke up at 4 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Frankly, I read too much about the antics of the GOP and OM. When will I learn my lesson?

This morning, the first thing Don and I said to each other was no more news except vote count updates. That’s it. And, of course, anything President-elect Biden has to say. That’s a given. OM is going to make the next 70 days as difficult as possible but we have won. And that can’t be changed, no matter how many silly lawsuits he files.

If you don’t follow her already, I suggest you follow Jessica Yellin on Instagram. She’s a former CNN reporter with years of experience and she deals in ‘News, not noise.’ She has an update this morning that puts everything in perspective and it calmed me down.

So, I’m taking back my life once again and tuning him out. The less air we give him, the sooner his detestable flame blows out.

Today, we have a phone call with an organization that is helping Screen Actors Guild members change their insurance to a different policy. They’ve changed things at SAG and the policy we had, which I loved, is too expensive. So they’re offering a variety of policies. It’s a pain in the ass, frankly. And I’m so sleep deprived that I hope I can take it all in.

We have some chores to do outside over the next few weeks, not the least of which is emptying out the shed and ruthlessly throwing things in the dumpster that is arriving on Thursday.

We’ve had an unusually long and sunny warm spell here but that will change in a couple of days. It’s been lovely, truly, but I miss cooler nights, so I’ll be glad when things get back to normal.

I forgot to mention Alex Trebek yesterday. We were so saddened to hear he’d passed away. We watch Jeopardy every night. I grew up watching Jeopardy, starting way back when Art Fleming was the host. It was a nightly ritual at our house. And it’s been a ritual ever since. I rarely miss it a show. Alex was a kind, gracious, and slyly humorous host and I could always tell he was that way in ‘real life’ as well. Such dignity and grace. He will be greatly missed. Both Don and I had to take a deep breath last night before we started watching the show; the first time we’ve watched with the knowledge that he’s no longer with us. Rest in Peace, Alex.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.