I must say I am so pleased.  I just had to share this.  Sweet-pea and I sat down this evening and worked on a piece of doll house furniture — a dresser.  With a mirror and everything!

We used match boxes for the drawers.  My husband carefully removed a mirror from a compact I had.  Last night at work we had some excellent boxes that were going to be thrown out.  They were heavy cardboard, but not corrugated.  Very smooth and sturdy.  Just right.

We cut out a “frame” from one end of a box, into which we could glue the drawers.  Then we cut a piece of box to be glued onto the back.  Finally, the mirror was glued into place.  For the pulls on the drawers, we used a needle to punch holes (carefully now!) into two places on the front of each drawer.  We took a little piece of raffia and drew it through and tied in the front.

Isn’t it great??  ~:-D

Lynn

then what’s a blog for?

I just had to share what I found earlier at the thrift store.  I met my mom and my sister and, together with my daughter and my niece, we had the best time just looking at all the stuff there. 

I know it’s hard to see, but I found two very pretty skirts in dark gray/black and then one beige linen skirt.  The three shirts are not necessarily to go with the skirts in the picture, but just three shirts that I liked.

The coat?  Oh man!  I needed a new coat and this coat was worth the trip to Wake Forest, was worth the money (15 dollars).  It is so Victorian.  It is so me.  ~:-D

I love the way it hangs.  I love the cuffs on the sleeves and the big pockets.

I love the big plum-colored buttons.

You had to see the coat up close so you can see this pattern.  It doesn’t always look this bright.  It is a soft velvety fabric.  Under the light of the flash, the contrasting color patterns in the fabric show up well.

By the way, here’s a trick to getting off that marker that thrift stores use to write on things.  It’s easy on most dishes, etc., but may be a bit trickier on fabrics.  On the label in this coat where the price was written, it worked like a charm:  take a couple of drops of essential oil (I use lavender) and drop directly onto the ink.  Let it sit for a bit (not too long for a fabric label) and then wipe off.  I would be careful putting directly on fabrics as opposed to the label, but then I would probably not buy something if the price was written directly on the fabric.  Hope this helps you.

I’m so happy,

Lynn

I was thinking yesterday about The Year of the Doll House – my commitment for 2008.  There are already mothers out there joining me for this, making their own commitments to play dolls though 2008.  I am so excited!

It has been about two weeks since I decided to commit myself to this doll house adventure, and so far it’s been easy.  I just wanted to share that.  Easy!  Yes.

I don’t want it to seem something complicated.  Life is complicated.  Playing dolls is not.  But playing dolls — I believe — can help a girl to handle the complicated things that will come her way in life some day.  

I’ve learned a lesson raising four children.  It’s a lesson that has thrilled me at times, but sometimes has been painful.  Children do what they see their parents do.

The day before Christmas, I woke up feeling very overwhelmed.  I am working outside of my home right now after all (just a season, I tell you) and it’s easy to get overwhelmed.  I was thinking, how will I get the gifts wrapped, or even finish buying the few things I need, and rest well tonight, and enjoy Christmas Day, knowing that I have to be back to work the day after Christmas??  I had a deer-in-headlights moment and did a totally abstract thing.  I hung up my new 2008 calendar.  It was probably meant to be.  The quote for the month of January 2008 was exactly what I needed to see.

It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.  Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)

I held that thought close.  I decided to pick the sweet, simple things out of all the thoughts swirling through my mind and focus on them.  Playing dolls with my little sweetie-pie was one of the first things to pop into my mind.  The second thing was how much I wanted to see my mother and my sister (and how much they wanted to see me), so wrapped gifts were not as important as I could build them up to be.  The important thing was me having a soft and sweet spirit and enjoying the important things.  I decided just to relax and enjoy the days ahead.  After all, my daughter is watching, and so are my sons.

The Year of the Doll House is all about playing.  It’s about doing something simple.  In doing the simple things, though, we often paint such a larger picture that it’s hard to see the whole masterpiece at one time.  The Year of the Doll House is about doing a sweet, simple thing, and doing it day by day.

There’s a precious thought that a dear friend shared with me recently.  It keeps coming back to me in all that I do.  It’s helped me to focus on the sweet, simple things.

“…precept upon precept; line upon line…here a little, and there a little:”  Isaiah 28:10

Precept upon precept and line upon line — little by little.  That’s how big things are built.

Lynn