Sophie and Olive are too busy to come to the blog right now...

Too busy playing with all of their new toys! Based on their good behavior Monday at our picnic (and their joint attempt to not drive Kitty completely crazy) I picked up every mini toy that I could find from my old collection and brought them home. I have never heard so many "thank yous" or never before actually seen two mini dolls literally jumping for joy on my desk. As you can see Olive quickly claimed "Teddy" and the Radio Flyer. I was afraid that she would run the wheels off of the wagon! Our Sophie is a bit more reserved (but I did see her do a little happy dance when she thought no one was looking!). She went first for the beautiful frilly dress and the large stuffed bear in the red basket until the treasure chest full of jewels caught her attention. Sophie is definitely going to be our mini princess. As you can see the girls had the toys scattered all over my desk - or at least this side - because once Olive heard that there was a "mouse" on my desk she wouldn't go anywhere near the other side. I did try my best to explain that it was a computer mouse, but she just looked up at me with those big brown eyes and smiled as she said, "Teddy and I will just stay over here if that's okay."
I think I will need to pick up one of those $1 wooden chests from Michael's the next time I go by there or I'll probably be stepping on mini toys before too long. This is embarrassing, but I injured my foot in a fall this weekend and ended up in urgent care and had to have a tetanus shot (b/c my last one was in 97 and they only last 10 years). So I would definitely rather protect my feet at this point.
I wonder what colors the girls would like their toy box painted?

New layout and Memorial Day celebration pics

Here is today's layout picture. I imagine this to be what Kitty wants the nightly till to look like after the saloon opens. As you can see I have yet to age the register itself. A fellow Greenleaf member suggested that I use burnt sienna paint, which I bought a while ago (59 cents @ Michael's - you can't beat that!), but just haven't gotten around to using it.And here is a pic to show you today's mini Memorial Day Celebration. Kitty spread out a lovely red bandanna as a picnic blanket and I served up a mini supreme deep dish pizza and a case full of cold Coca-Cola bottles, which everyone seemed to really enjoy. As I was snapping this picture Kitty was giving the girls a short history lesson on why we celebrate Memorial Day. Here is a good place for information if anyone else cares to look http://www.thememorialdayfoundation.org/. And nobody knows it just yet, but while I was at my own real Memorial Day celebration today with my family I picked up some new minis for everyone from my old collection. Sophie and Olive - and even Kitty are going to be very excited tomorrow!

Sophie and Olive's Dresser Adventure

I came into the spare room this evening looking for any dirty clothes (it's laundry day) and I realized that Sophie and Olive were not in the saloon where I had left them. I asked Kitty if she had seen them and she said "no" and that she didn't really care where they were as long as I kept them quiet. Hmmm...seems our two newest mini members may have been causing some trouble.On the other hand Kitty appeared to be enjoying a few of the minis that I brought in from my old collection - a sewing box full of different colored thread and scissors and also the old Singer sewing machine. I also noticed that the piece of brown cloth that she had actually came from my REAL sewing box and I was about to ask how in the world she got it out when she started quizzing me on the saloon construction. "When exactly are you going to be putting the doors and windows in? And look at this floor - why, it's only half finished! And if you expect me to be looking after children then I would expect some help around here. How about a bed? Or some play clothes for Sophia and Olivia - do you expect them to keep their nice dresses clean?" So I decided not to ask her about the brown cloth and just sort of backed away slowly as she continued her tirade.

As you can see I found Sophie on the dresser looking in to the fountain. How she got up there I'll never know - given that it's a 5 drawer dresser! I told her the barrel didn't look too sturdy and that I preferred for her to admire the fountain from the ground, but she either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me. She did ask if I thought there were any fish in there - which reminds me - I did bring a fishing pole and tackle box home from my old collection, perhaps I should put those up for now.

I followed a trail of scattered jewelry across the top of the dresser to my jewelry box where it appears that someone must have been having a pretty good time playing! And I suppose it's not only Kitty who is unhappy with their current sleeping arrangements. Olive must have got tired after making such a mess with my jewelry that she crawled into the bottom drawer and covered up using a Kleenex as a blanket. As cute as she looks cuddled up in there I think it may be time to invest in some mini toys for the girls.

New layout pic

I think this one is cute, especially because to me it almost looks like the oil lamp is lit in the picture. The lamp itself and the fiddle both came from my old collection at my Mom's house. The fiddle is missing a couple of the little tuners (or whatever they are called) at the top, but I think I can mimic that shape with some sculpey and you'd never know the difference. The bowl full of apples is my Mom's and unfortunately she won't let me keep those because they belong in one of her displays. The tiny books are also hers, but she had so many that I don't think she'll miss a few. I was excited to find the fiddle because as I've said before I'd like to have a little band playing over in the corner of the saloon once it's finished and this will be one less thing for me to buy! And I'll probably have some pics of Sophie and Olive later today - I've been watching to see what kind of personality that I think they will bring to my collection.

Sophie and Olive

Since I don't have a lot of money to spend on minis right now I thought I would start doing different setups and start taking pictures to show the ones that I do have to everyone. I also took a trip to my Mom's today and brought home a few of my treasures from when I was a kid and was constantly collecting miniatures. Now I wish I had never stopped! I only went through one box today, but I still have an entire room of stuff at my Mom's so there's no telling what I might find to go with the saloon. So here's my first attempt at a staged sort of setup. The chest of course is the one that I stained and the Southern Comfort is the bottle that my Mom bought me. The wine rack with bottles and the spittoon both came from dollhousesandmore.com. The cards are printies and the dice were from my old collection. And now I'll introduce two new dolls. I actually found these two hiding in my Mom's curio cabinet and needless to say they are now mine. I'd like you to meet Sophia and her baby sister Olivia - or Sophie and Olive as they affectionately refer to one another. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of these two. Olive is waving to you by the way :)

Not really a post, but a question...

Here's a question for any readers out there: How do you make comments show up under a post without having to click a link to view them? I know blogs like caseysminis show comments, but I've never figured out how to do that. I just figure if someone took their time to write me a note then I want it to show. P.S. I am still working on my dollhouse as money permits. I tried to talk David into letting me use the wooden shade in the bathroom for material. I think if I just take the top off and cut the strings out then the wood pieces would be just about the right size to turn into clapboard siding for the outside of the saloon (amazing what you start to see once you start working with minis). Oh well I'll just keep trying...

Reading suggestion: The Other Boleyn Girl - Phillipa Gregory

I have no new mini news for today, but I wanted to share a book suggestion for anyone out there who loves to read like I do. I just finished The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory and it is a wonderful book! I am a fan of historical fiction to begin with, but this was a real treat to read about Henry VIII, the Tudors, and the Boleyn's. England must have been quite a place in the 1500's. As a sister myself I also love the way Gregory writes about how a sister can be your biggest rival and at the same time you love her none the less. I think any set of sisters out there would find meaning in this book. And just imagine being engaged and getting married at 14 or younger and even having babies - when most girls these days are still playing with their dolls! Even more incredible to imagine is as a woman having no free choice and everything about your life being dictated by your husband or other male family member. I wrote down all of the books that Gregory used as reference and I'm going to see if I can find any of them at the library (so now I guess I'll have to pay my library fine!) And I'm also going to see if I can find any of Gregory's other books. And yes, I'll probably give in and watch the movie now also, but I'm almost always disappointed by movies that are based on books :( And totally off topic - here's a silly picture that I took. Who says you shouldn't play with your food? Enjoy!

My first doll for the saloon!

I've been broke lately so I haven't been able to buy many supplies to work on my dollhouse, but I wanted to show you my new treasure. I got this porcelain fully poseable doll from ddsgiftss on ebay - http://stores.ebay.com/DDs-Gifts. You've got to check out her store - the dolls are beautiful and the prices are great. Purchase price, shipping, and insurance all total I paid a little over $13 for this doll - I think it's a fabulous bargain. Especially since most of the dolls that I've looked at start at around $50. Her dress is really nice material and her hair is great too. You can pose her arms and her legs (she doesn't have knees so the legs don't bend, but with her dress being so long you really can't tell when you sit her down). She has full porcelain legs, which is something that I really wanted b/c if she's working in a saloon then she's probably going to wear something a bit shorter! I already had her name picked out from the moment I bought her on ebay - Kitty, which is short for Katherine. Funny thing was when my Mom saw the doll the first thing she said was that she looked like Kitty from some western movie/show that she used to watch (I can't remember the name of it right now). So now I know her name is perfect! Here are some pics of her posing around the dollhouse.

Downstairs checking out the wooden floors.

Checking out the view from an upstairs window.From the side porch. Kitty was delighted with the pink umbrella that I brought home from the bridal shower that I went to this weekend - it went well with her dress. She also is expecting me to fill the wooden chest with more dresses for her!

And here she is sitting on the stairs. You can see a bit of her cream colored high heels in the picture.

Now once the saloon is open Kitty will have to invite Tessie from Casey's Minis over for a drink!