What do you do when it's over 100° out,

your granddaughter's birthday is in two weeks & you are completely insane? You remodel a dilapidated, log cabin "playhouse" into an enchanted doll house fit for a Princess.

This "playhouse" has sat in our backyard for several years. We got it from the neighbors when they moved, as it's made of solid wood & very heavy & they didn't want to take it w/ them. We had to rip out a fence section in order to move it from one yard to another. It's sole purpose has been as a giant toy box...to corral all the outside toys that 5 grands, of all ages, accumulate. Basketballs, footballs, baseballs, bats & huge bouncy balls....ride-on toys, soaker guns, plastic tea sets, pogo stick, slip n slide, sprinkler toys.....wagons, picnic basket, pull toys, dump trucks, etc etc etc. But it's all gonna get condensed into one huge bin that we'll store on the side of the shed & I'm converting the log cabin into a charming, pink doll cottage. Where Caralyn can have tea parties & play house & get away from her brothers. ;o)


Here's a before picture of the outside. The canopy you see is only temporary...we just put it up to provide some shade while we worked. We've replaced the roof & the floor, shingled the roof, painted it white on the outside & pink on the inside, wired in a porch light & inside light & rehung all the doors & windows, adding hardware. All that's left to do is paint the floor, paint some odds & ends decor, spiff up the "garden", lay stepping stones & decorate. Fun! Fun! Fun! At least, from here on out it will be, but it's been pure hard work up til now.


These aren't true before pictures of the inside, cause we had already emptied it of the 2 foot pile of toys. No lie! It was knee deep in toys! I put the shelf in there for them to keep it organized but of course the shelf was completely empty & the floor was a sea of toys. It reminded me of the show Hoarders. My grandkids are hoarders! LOL

The vines kinda scared me when I first saw them...reminded me of the Stephen King flick Creepshow, where the plants are taking over everything.

Wait until you see it! It is still totally empty but already so flipping cute that I can't stop thinking about it. These two are gonna have such fun in it!!!! (Rudy is a willing participant in all tea parties, games of patty cake & dress up LOL)

I'll share w/ y'all lots of pictures of the Enchanted Doll Cottage after it's all completed...I can't wait!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Oh my gosh...I don't know about y'all but I'm ready for some cooler weather! We've had temps over 100° for 2 weeks now!

Even my decor is protesting the heat. *grins*

Jodie from everythingvintage asked for a copy of Jolly Josie Jolly (she resides at the top of my fridge, in an attempt to keep me from overeating) so I thought I'd share her w/ you all as well. Not sure where I bought her but it was about 10 years ago & was the first cabinet card I ever purchased. Love the little doggie in it! Be sure & click on the picture & then click on it again, to enlarge it so that you get the best quality copy possible.

Stay cool! I'm trying but w/out much success.

Redecorated the top of my fridge...

While piddling & puttering the other night, I had an idea. Wouldn't my old, tin pie safe (an ebay find from years ago) look great on top of my fridge? It's been a printer stand for awhile now & it works great for that but it never gets the attention it deserves. It goes completely unnoticed under the printer! So I pull out the measuring tape & measure to make sure it will fit, unload the printer & the scads of printer paper stored inside, hauled a nightstand out of teh garage & up the stairs to set the printer on (last thing I needed was another project in need of paint but I was on a mission), cleared off my fridge, wiped it down (YUCK!!!! Been way over-do for that!) & went to town decorating it. (why do all my ideas involve a lot of work? Why do I have to be so industrious in my head? LOL)

Can't show you the before as I always start projects & forget to take before pictures as I'm very easily side-tracked & don't want to break the momentum. I wouldn't have shared the before pictures w/ you anyway...they were that bad. ;o)

Please overlook my popcorn ceilings...I hate them! But doesn't my fridge look nice?


The pie tin barely fit...it only cleared the ceiling w/ a couple of inches to spare.

It's from 1904....love it & will never, ever part w/ it!

Not only does it look great...it stores lots of dishes inside.

My grandmother's sugar bowl is safe & sound in here.

Love these ruffly pedestal bowls!

It shares the space w/ an apothecary jar, filled w/ a doily made by one grandmother & hand-written recipes from both.


This cherub print is from an art book from 1913. There were several prints in teh book...I should scan them some day & share them w/ y'all.

And this cabinet card is of a "fat" lady in the circus....Jolly Josie Jolly. As offensive as it is, it serves as a daily reminder that I need to watch my weight.

While going through my silver stash to decorate with, I came across a couple of old silver trays. One is Swedish & is engraved Nojafaltet's Hederspris. Hederspris translates to special...maybe it was a restaurant tray pointing out the special of the day. ??? But it dates to 1941 & has incredible patina. The second tray is almost as good a find as the first...it's an award tray, given in 1961 for Interior Decorating.

How can I completely forget about such great things??? It's been years since I bought them...why are they still in a box? *rolls eyes* Don't answer that question! I already know it's cause I have too much stuff. *sigh*

Missing Daddy!

Hi y'all! Hubby has been away on business & he's really missing home, the dogs, moi, etc. I can only send him a 15 second video via phone so I'm posting a couple of videos I took last night. Enjoy them, Dear...we miss you!



I never could coax Baby into playing. :(



I really miss him too but I'm also enjoyng my alone time. I spent the evening drinking wine, listening to The Cranberries, Melissa Etheridge & Sheryl Crow.... grazing on gourmet cheeses, proschiutto, blueberries & crackers..... while piddling, puttering & having a do-nothing good time. For dessert? Chocolate pudding served in a teacup. ;o)

But I'd still have more fun if he were here enjoying it w/ me. Except for the complaining he'd be doing about the chick music! Chick food he'll tolerate but he draws the line @ chick music. LOL

I love you, Chris!

Well "Hi there!"

Hi y'all! It's been too long since my last post, hasn't it? I don't see how y'all do it! The blogging & the cleaning & the art & the visiting other bloggers & the grands.....I know y'all have all the same balls in the air as I & yet, you must be much better jugglers. LOL

The only true excuse I have is that I went on our first ever 3 generational trip w/ my mother & daughter last weekend! What fun! Although I didn't get any pictures as proof. It was a low-key weekend...no make-up, etc & neither my mom or myself want to be in a picture next to Shilah, who is stunning w/out make-up. I love her dearly but I could almost hate her for that. LOL We rented a lodge suite on Lake Granbury w/in walking distance of the town square.... which as you locals know is absolutely charming! We loved the set-up so much that we have booked a larger suite & are going back, w/ the whole family, @ the end of this month. I cannot wait! It's gonna be sooo much fun. The lodge has a private boat dock, beach & a pier that encircles the swimming area of the beach. It was soo nice to walk the pier at night!

Sadly, my baby mourning doves had left the nest while I was gone. I miss them! I keep my eye on the feeders, hoping to see them but let's face it...they all look alike!

I have been busy practicing photos...composition, aperture & all that other crap that I know nothing about ;o) & I really liked this shot so I wanted to share it w/ y'all.

I've also joined a couple of awesome swaps & wanted to give you a heads up about them while there's still time to enter. Linda @ A Swap For All Seasons is having an incredibly fun Christmas swap...advent matchboxes! It's a big endeavor but oh what fun it will be!

And Karla is having another tag book swap...this time it's Dorothy. I'm an even bigger fan of Oz than I am Alice so "woo hooo!" Karla does a wonderful job putting together all these tags into a "book"....I treasure my Alice tag book & it holds a high place of honor in my studio!

Temps have been in the 100's for over a week now....I hope y'all are cooler than I am! Have a great weekend!