Diamonds? Rubies? Furs?

Forget 'em!

I got what I really wanted today...


..
Manure!

Dollhouse Progress

The walls are painted and the roof is on.



The roof is painted.


A bit of wallpaper downstairs...



Windows and trims:



How do you like it?

I still have some inside work to do. I'm thinkin' maybe wood floors and a shelf or two. Hmm, now that I look at it, I'll bet it would have been cute with chocolate-colored roof and trims instead of gray.

Springtime in Northern Michigan--Part 4

At last!




Notice the open window!

VBS Project

I'm working on a dollhouse for one of the prizes for VBS this summer. It is a small, inexpensive kit that I got for half price. Nothing fancy, but I think it'll be cute.



Here's the beginning of the instructions. Notice the warning that is posted on most dollhouse kit instructions: "Don't Panic" LOL


Here's how it looks to begin with:


First, find the pieces you need to start with and sand.


Starting to take shape!



Ready for a coat of paint before going any farther.

This doesn't look so great in this picture, but it's a cute little window seat in the bay window. There are 24 microscopic nails in those 4 hinges--'bout drove me nuts! The doors are ajar in this picture so it doesn't look very neat.

Springtime in Northern Michigan--Part 3

Need I say more?

Here's One Reason

...Why I don't do very well making miniatures.

"Make Pasta"

That was the reminder that Betsy emailed me. When we were watching the food channel Tuesday evening, one of the chefs made homemade pasta. I mentioned that I had been given a pasta machine and wanted to try making some, but just hadn't gotten around to doing it. Well, tonight's the night. Can't believe how easy it is with this machine. I'll be doing a lot more of it. This machine has several disks; I'll need to find out which makes what kind of pasta.

Fresh pasta cooks very quickly, too. Yum!

What a Week It's Been So Far!

To start with, coming home from grocery shopping on Monday, I was about 6 miles from home when smoke started coming out of the steering column of the car. Yikes! So I called Dale to come and get us. The car was towed in and is now repaired. We can pick it up tomorrow. When I asked Dale what the repair cost was, he answered, "Somewhere between Ouch and Boing!" Happy thought, indeed.

Tuesday morning, I headed downstate to attend the Ladies Tea at Betsy's church. When I arrived at her house, two eager little faces were watching at the window for Grandma!

One of the things Betsy was signed up to take to the Tea was cupcakes. We had fun working on them together. Here's one tray; aren't they pretty? They were a big hit.

This morning, after we did a bit of shopping, I headed over to visit my parents for a few hours before I came home. Dale and I decided we should give my dad his flag now, even though his birthday isn't for 6 more months. Here he is with the certificate:

Here he is with his flag, wearing his Vet Chaplain hat:

And here he is with his Korea Veteran cap:

He has a flag pole in his garage that someone is going to install next week. I think he's eager to get this flag up and flying!

By the time I arrived home, my sinuses were feeling pretty crummy, so I took some meds, got ready for bed and drank some tea instead of going to prayer meeting.

Tomorrow starts big-time catch-up after being gone for two days, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed it.

What a Difference Two Weeks Makes!

These pictures were taken Monday--just 13 days after my post of March 25. Here again you are looking at where my flower bed is, and the mailbox that has gardening tools. Looks different, doesn't it? Now we've got to find time to get out and do some yard clean-up!






Sunday morning, my garden was all covered with snow still, but before the evening service I could walk out to it on bare ground and see--rhubarb coming up!!!

Spring Cleaning Surprise

I've been doing a bit of sprucing up in some of my dollhouses. Today I found something that I had found before, but forgotten about. See the little folded paper that was hidden behind the door of this bedside table?

Here's what it says:

Sweet, eh? Love you too, Betsy!

There is a downside to this mini cleaning, though. I've found that, although all my houses have Bibles in them, it appears that the little people aren't reading them; they're covered with dust.

"These two are wedded, and no man can part--dust on the Bible and drought in the heart!"

Any dust on your Bible?

Cookies

Here is a very good cookie recipe. They may look like chocolate chip cookies, but they are not. They are very, very delicious cookies with chocolate chips added. I got the recipe from my Grandma Robbins many years ago, and just added the chocolate chips upon a suggestion from a friend. You could add anything you like to the recipe instead--M & M's, nuts, whatever. (Actually, I believe nuts were in the original recipe, but I haven't been using them because several friends don't care for nuts--and it's less expensive.)

My Grandma's Cookies:

Mix together:
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tablespoon buttermilk (I use a pinch of buttermilk powder and a spoon of water)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar

Add:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup oats
1/2 cup coconut
12 oz. chocolate chips

Mix together. Make into balls, then flatten slightly on cookie sheet. Bake about 11 minutes at whatever temperature your oven does cookies best. Makes about 5 dozen.