Real Life Thursdays.

If you carry on following my blog you will come to realise Thursday is my day for RL house cleaning, I'm not going to bore you with moans, Urghh cleaning, as I love to clean, I know, I know I'm sad but I even do it for a job. That's one of the reasons I am a bit hacked off at my workshop kitting out being put on hold because of "The Wedding" but hey we've only got one child and it will be the most important day of her life, but it also means in the workshop I have no where to store stuff.
I am also a demon for lists, if I make a list for what needs to be done that day I can then justify my mini time, Thursday's list is long and I usually end up finishing it on Friday, that way when we come back from the Lakes on Sun  night I can start the week with a nice clean tidy house. Today all my list got done, BIG tick! but then I went to work and cleaned again and was pooped, because I didn't do much yesterday I was determined to do something, big mistake! Trying to cut a piece of material on the backside so pencil doesn't show, so therefore working in reverse, when you are tired this is not recommended, and then I cut a piece off that was meant to stay there so had to start again, lost time, I eventually got there but it was slow going. I'll post piccies tomorrow but I had a total re-think about the hall way, I was going to put  a wall  under the stairs with a door etc. where we all store junk but when I got the stairs in place it shouted "PC corner" as in a modern home, will have to see what I can find tomorrow for printies for a PC. If you know of any sites give me a prod (I know Jim's). Talk about  a project taking on a life of it's own? 
See you tomorrow with piccies, worked hard today so tomorrow is mine, he he he

Followers.

Hello to Debbie, welcome to my crazy world!

Murphy's Law.

I knew I shouldn't have voiced this morning what I planned to mini today, Murphy's Law, it got to 3.30 when I had to go to work and I had got zilch done! OK I'd done plenty of RL stuff but no mini-ing  :-(  best laid plans of mice and men and all that. Tonight I am determined to crack the back of the stairs and landing with carpeting. I'll not ask you wish me luck as it did no good this morning.
Fern is slowly, and I mean slowly, improving but is still very poorly.
See you tomorrow.....

Latest Piccies.

As promised, some progress piccies. I am hoping to get the rest of the carpet on the stairs today and get them fixed in the box.

 Wish me luck!

I Did Mini.

My days seem to be resolving around getting Fern better,  although it was good news this morning she is still not out of the woods and my day seems to be spent cooking chicken, boiling rice and making gravy so I can get her to eat something. I did do some mini-ing today, quite a bit actually, but have not taken photos yet, tomorrow I promise!I papered the box, put the Minton tile floor in and made a start on the carpeting, ( I found the material I had in my stash) but carpet was started tonight after work (I work 4pm-7pm) and when I got home I was pooped so gave in to the urge to slob and did just that.Had a good day at work, but it could have started bad, as my new supervisor rang me this afternoon to say we all had to go on refresher course and the reason for that is because a handful of cleaners are c**p. I was vindicated this afternoon when supervisor came to see me and asked if he could use my workstation as an example of how things should be.. Backhanded compliment or what?  Days like that I think it may be worth it? I never do things by half that's why I strive to improve with my mini-ing, I get great pleasure in doing something and then seeing faults and resolving to do it better next time.

See you tomorrow...... with piccies, (I know everyone likes piccies!)

Finally Good News.

We got Fern's blood test results this morning and her blood count is up to 16, it should be 32/50, but considering a week and half ago her count was 2!! it's looking good.

Emma sent me an E-mail last night of her wedding cake/s

She wants them on a multi layer cake stand, I did tell her they will be stale by December but she said no problem, they've already been eaten.
Off to do some mini-ing.

Monday Morning Blues.

I really do hate Mondays, I never seem to find time to mini on a Monday apart from  my 1/2 hr a day, it doesn't help that we couldn't go to the Lakes this weekend because of how Fern is, I am like a bear with a sore head. I did manage to find some Minton tiles and print  them out and some wallpaper this morning, I will hopefully get time to stick them in tomorrow, Tuesdays are usually quiet days so quite often I can spent most of the day on me. ;-)
Fern was back at the vets tonight for more blood tests, results tomorrow, but the vet was impressed with her progress and things are looking up.
See you tomorrow.....

Monday Morning.

Monday morning, urghhh. I'm with Sir Bob Geldof on this one......
"Tell me why I don't like Mondays?"

Another Mini Day.

This is the wine crate I am turning into a "Hall and Landing" 
Room box.

This is it with it's floor/ceiling added.
I seemed to have spent the whole day painting. First I gave the outside of the box 2 coats of toffeecream emulsion and then I gave the inside a coat of diluted PVA glue in readiness for papering.
Then I started painting the bannisters, I swear I could've finished the RL ones faster but they're done now , phew!
Tonight I've been making the front door and internal doors and frames. Even more painting. 
I'm going to have a look in my stash tomorrow for something suitable for carpet on the stairs and landing, I don't really want to go out and buy something as I was hoping to make everything with stuff I already have, see I said I was Scrooge. The hallway floor I am hoping to cover with Minton tiles printed on the PC.
Once I've got the wallpaper and carpet in it should be nearly finished as it only needs a few accessories.
I also updated my Webshots page today.
Another productive day.
Fern hasn't been too well today as all the drugs is taking have upset her stomach and she hasn't wanted to eat which isn't good when we are trying to build her up. Hopefully tomorrow will be different and she's back at the vets to see how her blood count is, fingers and toes crossed.
See you tomorrow....

Fern up date.

Forgot to say, Fern is quite a bit better today and sat in her usual spot, instead of her basket, while I made their food and later on, when Steve went to take Bramble for a walk, she was quite indignant that she was left at home. Progress!! all in all a good day.

Back in the swing of things.

I've spent the whole day mini-ing, bliss. I've made real headway with my room box, I got the ceiling/floor in and used my new saw to cut the wood! The staircase I had was too short so I had to put a return on to extend it, wasn't too difficult but I hate waiting for glue to dry and as I haven't decided what I am putting in the box yet I couldn't make any accessories while I waited. I've just got the last bit of bannister to put on and it's finished. Tomorrow I need to give the box a coat, or 2, of emulsion but I'm not messing around in the garage tonight looking for paint, apart from anything else, it was the start of our Autumn Season on Thursday and the days have definitely gone Autumnal, cold first thing and last at night. Today has been glorious but it's a bit chilly now so it's better to stay in doors. Off to fit the last bit of bannister.
See you tomorrow.....

Back To Minis.

Considering I started this Blog to talk about my minis, for obvious reasons, not much mini-ing has been done this week.When I got up this morning I resolved to put that right so after some RL stuff that had to be done I made a start. First thing was to up-date my Webshots page, which with being on a Forum for 12 months, had been badly neglected. That has now been done if you want to take a look, more will be added over the weekend but, hey, Rome wasn't built in a day!
I am lucky enough to have a workshop attached to the house to do my mini-ing in, although most of it gets done at the dining table at night, but the workshop gives me somewhere to keep my growing arsenal of tools and my stash,  which grows by the day. Today was the day to take the bull by the horns and tidy it before it got that bad that I couldn't get to my work bench. The workshop is a conservatory but without the double doors leading onto the garden and the intention was to put kitchen units round it so I had somewhere to store things but just after it went up Emma announced she was getting married so it has gone on the back burner for the time being. I don't usually make New Years Resolutions but I am this time, to get my workshop kitted out. I'm one of these people who likes things tidy, everything has a place and everything in it's place, I know, I know, I'm sad but I can't work in chaos, although my workshop looks chaotic, I know exactly where everything is and God help the person who moves something! With playing with my new "toy" last night there was sawdust and bits of wood everywhere so that is all gone and everything is as spick and span as it can be, given my lack of storage.. The good thing about all this burst of activity is I've now decided on my next project. When I was tidying I up I came across a wine crate under my work table,( I have 4, crates that is, not tables) that is 24"x12"x4", when I was first given it I had no idea what to use it for as it is an odd shape, but today it suddenly hit me that if I stood it on it's end and put a floor in half way up (Xmas room boxes) I could make a hallway, landing scene as I have some spare stairs knocking about, and yes! I do know where they are, so tomorrow I am going to make a start.
As a foot note, Fern is again a little bit better today but considering how things were this time last week when we had just got her back from the vets after her blood transfusion and didn't know whether she would last the weekend, life looks pretty darn sweet.
See you tomorrow.....

Birthday prezzie to self arrived.

I don't know about any one else but I'm a complete sucker for tools and gadgets. Don't get me wrong, I don't just buy tools willy nilly for them to end up at the back of a cupboard or in a dusty corner somewhere, I always weigh up the pros and cons before spending my hard earned pennies. I'm a bit of a Scrooge really, that's how I came to make stuff for my dh as I objected paying for something that could be nearly as expensive as it's real life counterpart. I digress, I'm getting side-tracked and going off on a tangent, I'm always doing that! Since I started doing a bit of woodwork I have wanted an electric saw, especially since I started using Basswood instead of Balsa. I have a hack saw and a razor saw and we have a jigsaw in the garage but it's a bit too bulky for miniature work and then about 18 months ago I saw advertised the Exakt Saw which seemed to fit my criteria. Only problem was it was nearly £100 and I couldn't justify spending that much, no matter how much I tried persuading myself, so when the E-mail came on Friday saying it was half price I had to take them up on their offer. I've just spent the last 2 hours "playing" I did have a mishap though, don't believe all they tell you about self healing cutting mats as some cuts it can't self heal, DOH. I can't wait to start my next project so I can try it out properly, I'm in 2 minds as to what that will be as at the moment I can't seem to settle to anything. Watch this space.......

Exakt Saw can be seen here, really cheesy advert
                                                                    

www.jmldirect.com/Exakt-Saw-PE2299/

 Fern's slightly better today, I think I am going to being saying that for weeks

.

One poorly dog. Arrrgh!

 I made the mistake of picking up last nights make this morning as I was having my coffee, so I lost an hour of RL housework, because then I had to finish it. It's not entirely finished as I am waiting for an item from E-Bay to make it complete. I did receive a tri-pod for my camera from there today so hopefully I can get better photos of my minis, providing my battery is fully charged.

 See you tomorrow....

Why does mini-ing make you lose track of time?

OMG! It's nearly midnight and 

1: I haven't posted, and...

2: I've completely lost track of time! I mentioned last night that I had a make on the back burner which was formulating in my head, well,this morning it all fell into place, talk about sleep on it. I said last night I wanted green but could only find black but with a quick " Google" search this morning, I realised if I changed mediums I could have what I wanted. Came home from work and set to and it all went together, really, actually better than I expected! Not quite finished but well on it's way and I am quite pleased with it. Nothing will get done tomorrow as Thursday is my day for RL cleaning of real house, bummer! but we all need to get real sometimes.

 Update on Fern, she is a "cm" better today, this is going to be long haul, and I could have cried this afternoon because she took herself outside to do what dogs do all by herself!! Progress. We will get there by hook or by crook, I will not give up! I am a tenaciousness little terrier!!

 See you tomorrow.....

The Best Birthday Present Ever......

Today's my birthday and this morning I got the best present ever, Fern got out of her basket to greet me when I came downstairs. She has been ever so slightly better today and not as unsteady on her feet, the vet said it could take months before she's back to full fitness. As for other prezzies, zilch! although to be fair, with wedding preparations in full swing, I did tell Steve not to bother with anything. Our daughter gets married on 19th December so that has to be the priority at the moment, Steve and Joe (future SIL) are going for suit fittings on Friday and I have the Ascot ties to make yet, luckily there are only 3 to do. I did order a birthday prezzie to myself on Friday night which I hoped might arrive today but no such luck :-(  I think that was a bit of retail therapy as Fern had just been taken ill and I got an E-mail about something I've had my eye on for 18 months that I was informed was 1/2 price, so I just had to take them up on the offer. More about that when it arrives but I can say, if it stops me slicing my darned thumb with the Exacto just once it will be worth every penny. I've not done any mini-ing today as I had RL stuff to deal with, some of which was retail therapy for every day clothes before I end up walking around in rags, I HATE shopping but it had to be done. I've got an idea formulating for a small make that shouldn't take long but at the moment I am sourcing materials and can only find black and I would rather have green, but hey ho, that's how life is. We can't always have what we want. See you next time......

Welcome.

A big hello and welcome to my new followers!

Finally some good news.

Fern went back to the vets tonight and had her blood tested again and the good news was it hadn't gone down which means she has stabilised. Hooray!! She's got a way to go yet but is on the right side of it (huge sigh of relief) but the down side is, albeit a minor one I can put up with under the circumstances, the huge amount of steroids she is taking are making her incontinent, poor little thing gets so embarrassed about it. I hate it when the Fur Babies are ill as, unlike your kids, they can't tell you what's wrong.

I did some mini-ing last night and in my daily half hour today I finished it, without any guilt pangs.

Sorry about the ropey photo, I've only just realised that when my camera needs charging the photos aren't always good.

WOW!!

No that doesn't stand for "What an Orrible Weekend" although it could do!I had planned to post on here at 8pm every, hopefully, day but I've just switched my laptop on and felt I had to put fingertips to keyboard to say a big "Thank You" to those of you who have joined me. I went to bed last night having just started my Blog and woke up this morning to 10 followers, I know most of that is down to Karin posting on her Blog, (Thanks K) but even so you could have all stopped by and then passed on so many thanks to all who took the time to read and to comment and even decide that my funny little thoughts could be worth another look. I hope I won't dis-appoint! Fern seems a little brighter this morning and even wagged her tail at me when I came down this morning, so perhaps there is still hope, I'll let you know. I did some more wicker work last night but I'll post about that later, again many thanks for taking the time to read and feel free to comment, I love feedback, good or bad as it's all constructive.
BTW, on my profile picture Fern is the snooty one on the left and the cheeky one on the right is Bramble.

Lousy Weekend........

and I don't just mean the weather.
Most weekends find Steve and me in the Lake District at our static caravan but this weekend Steve was standing as Godfather for our new nephew so we stayed at home and with what occurred it was probably a good thing that we did. 
We got up on Friday and let our 2 beloved spaniels out to do what dogs do first thing in the morning and the elder of the 2, Fern 8 years, passed, instead of urine, what looked to be pure blood. Panic stations, get her to the vets, which Steve did where she promptly collapsed, she was rushed through and put on oxygen. To cut a long story short, 3 hours later we got a dog home with the diagnosis that her immune system had gone wonky and was killing her red blood cells and she had a 50/50 chance of making it through the weekend. Her best chance was a blood transfusion so at tea-time we took her and our other one, Bramble aged 3, back to the vets and Bramble donated some blood. At 10pm we picked her up from the vets but boy do we have a sick dog on our hands. It's doubly sore as we lost a spaniel, Bracken, about 10 weeks ago due to old age, he was 15, and we are still getting over that. It's heartbreaking to watch her, just led there in her basket, looking so poorly. On a brighter note it is now early evening and she is still with us. Fingers crossed.


Talking of brighter notes, as you can imagine I haven't felt much like doing minis this weekend but I did do a bit and the result has given me something I can do at the van at weekends without having to cart loads of stuff with me. Wicker work! this is my first attempt

and all I need is some wire, card-stock, wire snips and crochet cotton. Perfect to do at the van.

To Blog or not to Blog?

Why start a Blog? I can't answer that one other than the fact I kept a diary from the age of 9 until I got married and then stopped and I now feel the need to share my all consuming hobby with others, without being interrupted. I tried Forums for a while but decided they weren't for me as you encounter people, who in real life, you'd run a mile from and it all became too time consuming and therefore gave me less time to "mini". With a Blog I can post as and when I want without having to answer to, or appease others, well that's the theory anyway. I hope you'll bear with me while I find my feet.
I have one dolls house, which I acquired about 8 years ago, from a promotion in the Daily Mail newspaper. As a child I always wanted a dh but Santa never came up with the goods so when the Mail offered their promotion it was too good to miss. You had to collect tokens from the newspaper everyday, I think it was 40, and then you just paid p&p of £34.95, then they offered furniture for all the rooms on the same deal. Fast forward 3 months and there I am, with the long wished for dh and furniture, and not a clue what to do with it! Then, disaster struck, I got made redundant, I now realise it was a blessing  in disguise as I had been un-happy in my job for a while and it gave me the push to get a new job. What it crucially gave me was a lot of time on my hands and, therefore, internet time. Suddenly, a whole new, mini world opened its doors to me and I realised what I could do with my dh.  Printies were my first revelation and wallpaper, bags,boxes you name it were suddenly at my fingertips.
From that day on there was no stopping me and it brought out my creative side from my child hood, I was always the child waiting for the empty washing up bottle for the "Blue Peter" project!! There is nothing I won't try at least once, although I can't say I am brilliant at things more "Jack of all trades and master of none" but I do know that what I mini brings me great pleasure. :-) 
Most nights will find me watching TV and with another mini creation in my hands and I try to make at least half an hour during the day to mini, without feeling guilty!!

 All my creations can be seen here
http://community.webshots.com/user/chellebracken