Office. Before. As you can see, everything is as we left it when we hauled the IKEA boxes upstairs.
We’ve decided to hold off on painting, perhaps because I hate painting, which might explain why we haven’t done the much-needed repainting of the kitchen. Every year, I plan on doing it. Every year, I don’t.
Anyway, we’ve decided to see how everything looks once we put the desk, chair and lamp together and move things around. But Don isn’t feeling well, so there’s no hurry.
On top of that, I finally hauled out the little white pre-lit Christmas tree and set it up.
And the lights aren’t working. Crap.
Maybe Christmas isn’t in the cards for us this year? Just kidding. But it does seem as if I’m getting messages from the universe to slow down and do very little.
A couple of things to mention:
• The email version of yesterday’s post went out about five hours late. I don’t know why this is happening, but it’s a Feedburner thing and I spent more hours than I would have liked to yesterday trying to figure it out. The thing is, I could pay for an email delivery service for the blog, but I already pay for enough to maintain this little piece of real estate, thank you very much, and since I have a nice amount of subscribers and I post every day, the amount I would have to pay is just something I would rather not do.
For those of you who subscribe via email, if you don’t get the post between 11 and 1, Feedburner is lagging behind and you should just hop on over and visit the blog directly. You know I post every day, with very rare exceptions. And why not come here directly? It’s prettier here than in the email, anyway.
• This book is excellent. This is the first in a series of books featuring Detective Simon Serrailler. They take place in the fictional cathedral town of Lafferton. Susan Hill is an amazing, detailed, and thoughtful writer. There are at least five other books in the series and I cannot wait to get them all. I’m about 2/3 of the way through this one and I’m taking my time simply because the experience is so pleasurable.
• I promised you some links to the blogs of miniaturists who have entered the Creatin’ Contest. Their work is amazingly detailed and I can only dream of doing what they do.
From Pepper at MitchyMooMiniatures.
From MiniModPod.
From Brae at Otterine.
From Minibase.
From Nancy at Nancyland.
From I See Cerulean. More details here and here.
And even though Elizabeth at Studio E couldn’t finish her entry due to the loss of her mother, this post – dedicated to her mom – gives you an idea of what she’s doing and it’s amazing.
As I find more entries, I’ll post the links for you.
• I took some pictures of the article in The Dolls’ House Magazine:
The photo of the fireplace is also featured on the Table of Contents page. That gosh-darned plastic fireplace that I wasn’t going to use, but one day pulled out of a box in a fit of desperation to slap some white paint over its original blah beige because I needed a fireplace. Another one of my photos of the fireplace is one of my most pinned photos.
Who’d have thunk it?
Happy Saturday.
What a lovely magazine layout. Great photos as always! I wish one of the miniatures magazines would hire you to cover some of the bigger shows.
Two more contest builds for your list: Nancy at Nancy Enge Design blog and Keli at i see cerulean blog. I am in awe of their talent.
I vote you wait until after Christmas and you are fully mended before you embark on redecorating. A coat of paint covers a multitude of flaws (kind of like a dress I have), so it’s worth the effort in my book.
I think Christmas this year will be a low key day in our home. Normally we have an open house on Christmas day from 11 to 2 with masses of food, drink and people. My parents used to call this type of drop-in party a ‘crush’. Earlier this week we had some highly distressing news about an immediate family member, so some quiet time is in order at the moment. Perhaps, as you said, the universe is saying slow down a bit.
Thanks, Barbara. I’m going to add those links right now. I’m sorry to hear of distressing news in your family. Thinking of you.
Good morning Claudia. The pictures ofyour dollhouse are beautiful. A magazine article is SO exciting. And I love the fireplace. *Smile* I’m sorry to hear Don isn’t feeling well and hope he’s on the mend very soon. The room will get done when it gets done. I used to be one of those people that had to do everything everything yesterday, but I’ve learned to slow down some. I hope you have a lovely Saturday.
Blessings, Betsy
Slowing down is a good thing, Betsy. The ankle injury taught me that. We’ll fix it up and I hope to do it by just after Christmas because I have to do some research for my next theater project and I’ll need the desk!
Morning! I need to paint some rooms too…and I have 2 sons that love to paint….too bad they don’t live here any more! We put up our tree yesterday too…and about a third of the lights didn’t work either…fortunately, we have spare strands to use. Maybe later today we can actually finish the tree! That’s quite the spread in the miniatures magazine…you must be tickled! Hope Don feels better sooner than later! ;)
I wish one of us loved to paint, but we don’t and that ain’t good! I’m off to find some lights or an inexpensive small tree.
Thanks for the magazine peek, Claudia. Hope you can get the IKEA piece assembled relatively quickly. I love putting those together, but I’ve learned to open up all the boxes in the parking lot before loading up. Too many return trips because of smashed-in corners!
No time for that, as my ankle was screaming by that point. We’ll just have to think positively!
Isn’t seeing photos of your dollhouse in print wonderful? There is something special about being able to touch the pages with your photos on them, flip through them and even smell the ink. The article looks very good, nice layout and pretty colors. I’ll see if I can get a hold of it at my bookstore.
Thank you for all the links. Somehow I seem to have missed a lot of blog updates lately. I’m going to have to do a marathon blog reading I think ;-)
It’s a pretty wonderful thing, indeed, Josje. I’m very flattered and thrilled. I think you’re going to love those links – enjoy!
My mantra truly is “what doesn’t get done today, can wait til tomorrow”. Which means in a week or two I will, hopefully, have it done. ?None of it is life or death, so the pressure on ourselves surely isn’t necessary!! I have decided and declared that working at my own pace is how things will be. I had way too many deadlines when I was working and had young kids. This is my reward for making it through all of that craziness for (too) many years.
The magazine spread is beyond words. You must be so proud! Isn’t it funny how things come about? That little plastic fireplace….. and look where it is now!! Kind of a fairy tale ending, for sure.
I almost tossed that fireplace, but it was a gift from Don, so I didn’t. And now I’m so glad I didn’t!
I’ve only been using the e-mail as a reminder to go to your website, Claudia. As you know, until recently, the reminders were there by noon or so most days. And now I keep all the sites I want to check on a daily or almost-daily basis in my Favorites list anyway. That makes things even easier. So please don’t go putting your own $ into any upgrades or anything. In fact, the suspicious part of me is wondering why your e-mails are being delayed so much recently. Could it be a Feedburner ploy to encourage you to upgrade? Hope not – but you never know. Have fun setting up your “new” room… ☕️
Oh no – Feedburner is free. If I have to upgrade it would through a different company. Feedburner is owned by Google and they haven’t been doing anything with it for the past few years, so we are often having to cope with some glitch or another.
Claudia, Sure hope Don is starting to feel better. I love all those cute photos of your doll house. It looks so real in most of the photos. Hope you are staying warm there. We have a very pretty and sunny day…but it is chilly. Blessings to you, xoxo,Susie
It’s very cold here today – windy and frigid. But it’s going to get warmer tomorrow. Have a great weekend Susie.
Your dollhouse is adorable. Love the decor and the charming fireplace, congrats on the feature. I’ll have to check out the other links. Maybe I could start something like this on a smaller scale. You make collecting and decorating with miniatures so appealing and fun!
You’d love it, Diane! It’s a lot of fun and much less expensive than decorating in real life!
I’m so very glad that you’ve begun the Simon Serrailler books. They get progressively darker, but Hill is such a fine writer that I eagerly await each new volume in the series.
It must be the week for non-working lights; John had to make a light run the other day when we trimmed our tree.
She is an amazing writer. I have to go into the city on Monday and I’m almost done with this one, so I’m going to go early, visit The Mysterious Bookshop and the next two or three in the series. I like reading them in order, and I must admit, I want to immerse myself in this series!
Claudia Claudia Claudia…..
Oh mercy me ! Those doll housing are really something else. A hobby I cannot take on but want to each time I see a new doll house post. SIGH
I know! I have The Top Secret Project going for Don, but really, we have no room for any more dollhouses!
I’ve been putting off painting too..although I really need to do it…Spring would be a good time…lol…The magazine layout is really nice..so many pictures…I had a look at those links…oh my..what wonderful things they have done…Best wishes for Don to feel better…
They are so talented, Nancy! I hope you’re hanging in there, friend.
The article looks amazing, you should be so proud.
Hugs to you,
Mere
Thanks, sister!
Hi Claudia! I am going to try and hunt down a copy of the miniature magazine so that I can savor Caroline’s house up close and personal. It is so much fun and I love all of the delicate and the feminine atmosphere that you have infused every corner of it with. Congratulations to you on this beautiful article.
elizabeth
ps. thank you for your compliment regarding my doll’s house. I wasn’t part of the contest but
( like Pepper’s ) mine was a complimentary build along. :)
Whatever it is, Elizabeth, it’s fantastic! You are very talented. I’m thinking of you this holiday season without your mother. It will be hard for both of us, I know. I hope you have little moments of joy and peace.
I think I will need to hunt down a copy as well, the pictures look beautiful, everything is so well put together and the colors are lovely. I’m sorry to tell you this, but I LOVE painting! If only I could paint the walls of our rented apartment, I would go crazy! We’re living with my husband in a 400 years old original Dutch house, so one really has a lot of little walls and corners in a small area to work with. It is a lot of work of course and the best thing will probably be to take some time when you feel like it :) Thank you for sharing my blog and I hope Don feels better soon!
Oh, if only I could magically transport you here, Susi. You could paint to your heart’s content!
Just catching up on the some blog posts this evening. Its been quite the whirlwind couple of day since getting here and not in a good way. Knowing you just went through this, it really is so hard. I’ve but that book in my list, it does sound so good. Need some sleep so heading to bed in a little bit!
hugs,
Linda
I’ve been thinking of you, Linda. I know this is very, very hard for you. Praying for your brother and your mom and YOU.