One More To Go

Well yesterday while I was at WM, they had a big one day sale on the Muse Barbies. There were $4.99 each. Since I didn't have the blonde Top Model or the one with the wig, I brought them home with me. *grin* So my next resident will be doll #2500! I can hardly believe it myself.

The wig is neat cos it is held on with a clip so you could put it anywhere on her head.

I didn't know the other Barbie had black hair underneath!

Ohhh don't look behind you girls, there's a big Spider......man!

Settled in

Well as you can see Marissa has found a spot in Venus. This is my temporary set up as I start taking residents back up to Lofton. I am totally rearranging Lofton and I don't want too many of them up there getting in my way!

Anyway Marissa is standing behind the Daniel Hechter Barbie in the red sweater. As you can see there is a good mixture of residents here. The Silkstones are in the stand in the background but are mostly hidden. They have their backs to me as they are mad cos I haven't paid any attention to them. LOL Their turn will come! I think I need to be cloned LOL

I'll be heading to Dolton Proper for the rest of the night, mainly cos I have laundry to do.

Stay cool everyone.

Meet Marissa, I mean Mrs. Magisterium!!!

Today I went to MFD to pick up my latest resident. Mrs. Magisterium Coulter! AKA Nicole Kidman. Since I already named one of my Brenda Starr dolls Nicole, I decided she could be called Marissa, her movie character's name. I haven't seen the movie.
So meet Marissa Nicole Kidman!

The first picture was taken under my solar light. It's after 5:30 p.m. and the sun is at the back of the house. You can see just how bright the kitchen still is. The second picture or bottom pic was taken with a flash. Notice the shadows! Although you can see the doll in a bit more detail.

Marissa told me she didn't want to wear her boots, "too damn hot" were here her exact words. I kid you not folks LOL
But the boots are neat as they unzip all the way to the ankle. Makes them easy to get on the doll, well unless she is grumpy from the heat LOL
I was in such a rush to get out this afternoon that I closed up the house and forgot to put the a/c on! So I guess Ms. Kidman had good reason to complain!

Blue Moon

That's the song I am singing cos my kitchen has the glow from a Blue Moon. Of course the sun is now at the back of the house, but you know the temps have only gone up one degree celcius inside since I left the house 4 hours ago.

Didn't get much groceries done, just what I wanted for supper LOL

Hit WM and decided not to buy the second Bratz gal with the dresser set. The drawers don't open it seems. I'm sure I will purchase her at a later date. This new Ken caught my eye. Doesn't he look a bit like Elvis? Speaking of Elvis the big Elvis festival is on this weekend, 3 hours north of Toronto in a town called Collingwood which is more known for it's ski resorts and Blue Mountain Pottery. Thousands flock to this event every year. They have many Elvis impersonators who perform all weekend.

As you can see by the enclosed picture I also bought another Birthday Gal. I wanted the brunette but she is still $20 @ WM and $15 at Mattel. I got her at Winners for $9.99 She was the only doll there! Winners is like the American Tuesday Morning stores. Although it is more geared to clothing, there is lots of other goodies if you go to the back of the store and look.

So now I am only 3 residents away from the reaching the 2500 mark. I am sure I will not stop at that number.

Oh I also found some sunflowers at WM. They are hard to find around here. So now I will go out and plant them.

Before I go I will give you an update on Lofton. Yes it's pretty warm up there as it should be with the hot sun beating on the roof. But it is no where near the stiffling heat as before. At least it is breathable!

And I almost forgot T.G.I.F. everybody!

Okay One More

Just before I head out I wanted to show you the roof.

Guess I should have used a flash. Anyway from left to right is the hydro pole, the fan is behind the solar dome, then there is an air vent. This part of the roof faces SW and is the hottest side.

Now I better get going or I will be stuck in friday rush hour traffic and I still want to hit WM!

Man it's Bright in Here!

Don't know if you can see the beviled light inside the dome. Last night I could see prisms on the dark ceiling. Today I saw them again. Hopefully they will show up in the pictures. Jack has already plastered the ceiling around the light, where the old fixture was. We will have to paint soon. It is so bright in the kitchen that the hallway has also brightened up. Even at a 7 a.m. this morning it was dazzling in this kitchen!



Here you can see the reflection of the prisms on the cupboards. That is "all" the counter space I have in this kitchen! Now you know why I disliked it so much. The sink will be moved under the window (to the left of this view) and the dishwasher will be built in where the sink is. On the left is the outside wall and to the right of the toaster is my stove! And that is it!!!!!






Here is the rainbow reflecting on my floor. It is a mottled blue with bits of gray and brown in it. No that's not dirt LOL But it certainly hides the dirt. I was so lucky to find a countertop in the exact same colour and pattern, even with the brown spots! LOL

I tried to take a pic of the dome but it is so bright that it makes the rest of the room look black. No flash was used in any of these pictures. And it's only 11 A.M.









Fan update. It's running full tilt and is it ever cool up in Lofton!!!! Yippee
I have to go out grocery shopping so when I get back it will be much warmer out with the afternoon sun. It will be a good time to go up and see what the temperature is like in Lofton!
Stay tuned!

I Need Sunglasses! LOL

This is my new solar light in the kitchen. Currently it is overcast and downpouring with rain and just look at the light coming through. I will need sunglasses on a sunny day. This dome is only 10" in diameter. The first picture was taken without a flash. The solar light is so bright it made my white kitchen look black in comparison.


Here I used the flash. Again it is so dark outside with heavy cloud. Imagine how bright this is going to be with sunshine!











This is the tube that comes from the roof through the attic to the kitchen. The standard length is 4' which is exactly the distance I had fortunately, otherwise it's $45 a foot more!!! Yikes.

Here's the solar fan in the roof. It just fit between the beams!










Here you can see it spinning. Again remember it is heavily overcast outside, yet the fan is still spinning about 10% it's speed. Imagine how fast it will spin when there is sunshine! Since it is located right over the stairs, I can open the pull down stairs and it will also suck up the heat from the house!
Since this is run totally on solar power, both the dome light in the kitchen and this fan will cost me "nothing" in electricity!!!!

Now it's time for the adults to play! These 4 buddies got together to check out the new pool. Gavin Ogilvie just dove into the water. Patrick Dempsey is waiting his turn. Derrell Webber is on the slide and Colomb Teague is watching from his cool spot in the water.

Problem Solved

I spent most of the afternoon dodging t-storms and downpours visiting various locations and spending money like mad, ordering things for the house.
The designer has finally come up with a lovely kitchen for us. The cabinetry will be here in 5 weeks. Lots of time for Jack to do the plumbing etc and for us to remove the old cabinets, which are going into Dolton Proper....eventually!
Last week I visited a showroom which sells solar lighting. On their website they also advertise a solar fan. Today I ordered the solar tube for my kitchen and I ordered the solar fan too. Problem solved for Lofton. Now I will be able to play up there most of the year, cos the fan not only will blow out all the heat in the summer but it will also circulate the cold air in the winter. I imagine midwinter like January and February will still be too cold to play up there but that is okay.
For a very long time I have wanted a bay window here in the Heights. So today also I visited the people at Home Depot who do that. I saw the 'exact' window I wanted! And it can be tinted because the afternoon sun shines in this room and makes it rather hot and too bright for the residents LOL I may also get a bay window for my kitchen too. The kind I want won't protrude out too far to affect the vehicles in the laneway. But I will know for sure when they come to do the measurements.
All in all I am getting very excited about these home improvements for this place. I guess we were meant to stay here after all!
Walmart was on my route between stores so I just stopped in to browse around the toy department. I found this Bratz gal with the bedroom vanity and closet. Isn't it cute!!! I think the floor lamp lights up. Will know better when I open it. They also had the brunette with a different vanity. I think I will go back and get her too, cos I am sure these items won't hang around long. Even at $30, the furniture is worth it to put in a doll house.!
Well I better get back up to Lofton and start clearing the area for the workmen. They will be here on Thursday! Thank goodness I took down the doll houses and removed all the dolls previously. Fortunately with the rain today it cooled down the roof so it's not too hot up there.
Catch you all later.

Garden

Yesterday I took a few shots of the garden (back yard mostly) but with the brilliant sunshine the pix all looked washed out. So tonight I went out and took these.

The yard looking in from the laneway.















These roses are actually a hot pink or fuschia!







Pink section. I have both roses and portulacas here (in pots) aka moss rose.















This is an orange geranium. But it looks like a rose.




This the front by the steps to the house.

Venetians Group Shot

With the hot summer weather we have been having I am desparately trying to find space for all my dolls. As you know Lofton is in my attic but it is so hot up there I am afraid of damaging the dolls by leaving them there. Even the furniture is soft to the touch. So gradually I have been pulling them down and inserting them in every space I have all over the house! Well it's just temporary as when the cooler weather arrives they can all go back up to Lofton again. Here's a group picture of one corner of my dining room. I have 115 Venetians (or Venusions as they should be called). I still have about 30 Doltonites to bring down. Hmmm I wonder if I need my bathtub LOL
Anyway, as I mentioned it's pretty hot out although there is a nice breeze blowing. No humidity yet so that is good. But it will build as the rest of the week is supposed to stay in the 80's F.
Can you believe I still have dahlias yet to plant!!! I just don't know where I am going to put them all!
Hope you all are having a great Tuesday. Stay cool everybody.

Jaime and Meg went to Tullahoma Saturday to see a couple of their friends --Amy and Julia---Amy has spent the night with us before and they needed to check on her as she was assaulted by a German Shepherd mix last week and he took chunks out of one leg, one arm, her back and the back of her neck. Luckily the dog was a pet and had its shots up to date or she would be taking rabies shots now. They went shopping as there is a strip mall that has an outlet store (Jaime found some new work blouses , socks , and jewelry) and a Goodwill. These are the ladies that came home with her left to right---Mulan, Hillary Duff, Lea/Kayla , a Malibu or Hawaiian Skipper I can't remember which (this skipper has painted in teeth but at least her boobs don't grow) and Electra Electra has climbed up in the TuMani Apartments and the others are waiting for a good bath especially poor little Skipper. Once again Jaime came home with a migraine but this time we think it was from eating either Japanese or Chinese food (there were no signs posted as to it being MSG free so she probably got a big dose of it and I know it gives me migraines)I was going to cut grass this morning since the humidity was low but all I got finished was the weed whacking but that actually needed doing worst.

As promised here is a picture of my walking doll. She was named a "saucy walker" when she came out she walked (with your help) and turned her head from side to side and her eyes would also turn from side to side---it was hard to sneak up on her when I was little cause she was always turning those eyes and even Jaime and Meg thinks she is spooky as she will still turn her eyes if you try to sneak up on her. When she was new her hair was bright red and her eyes were blue but with age her hair has become dark auburn and her eyes have turned grey. She is not the oldest of my childhood dolls but she is the "Queen Bee" of TuMani.

Then I have a picture of Eric Delko and Calleigh Duquesne from Miami CSI they moved to TuMani because of way too much crime in Miami along with Marisol Delko Caine and her husband Horatio---Marisol is Eric's sister and survived breast cancer and then was shot on her wedding day. She almost didn't survive that so they also decided to move from Miami to TuMani.

Today's picture is of two of my older big little girl dolls--the blonde on the left is Jennie (Swingy) and redhead on the right is Aimee (Baby First Step) They were made by Mattel and the funny thing is if you look at their faces and hands close you will see that they look like the little Kelley dolls (I mean before Mattel started making the football headed ones ,etc) Jaime bought them the construction hats--thank goodness she didn't buy them any tools cause they can get into enough trouble without tools. They pretty much boss everyone in the house around except for my Saucy Walker doll who is some what older than them. I will try to take a picture of her and post it before long. She is going to be 56 this coming Christmas. She spent much of her youth in my mom's wardrobe especially if any little cousins were coming to visit. Then later she spent some time on the closet shelf in her box wrapped in a pillow case to keep her clean. She lay on her back with her sleepy eyes closed so long she got to where she didn't want to open them. Once we got her to open her eyes about thirty five or so years ago she has been sitting in a infant booster seat on top of my hutch in the bedroom so she can see everything that goes on. I take her down a couple times a year and clean her with cold creme and brush her hair and give her clean clothes. She was made by Ideal. Haven't had much time for anything lately with Vacation Bible School last week and then I have all the outside work to do as well as the inside and this week everybody has the creeping crud. It has been sort of cooler the past couple of days but the humidity is high. This morning I took a couple of minutes and visited the residents at the Crossings and they let me know they thought I had been ignoring them all spring. I told them I hoped to see them more often soon. I desperately need to make guy pants as a whole bunch of mine are in their BVDs. Has anyone noticed that Hobby Lobby has put out their Christmas decorations already. I think they are getting a little ahead of themselves.