Elvis and Priscilla have arrived

Today I went to MFD to pick up the Elvis and Priscilla wedding set. I do like Priscilla. Elvis, well I guess it is a younger version of him. Mattel has done better in the past. I have decided not to open them as they will be cabinet dolls, hence no change in population.
Don't know if you can see the shoes on either side of the couple. MFD had more colours so I picked them up. They are for the 16" residents.











Afterwards we went to Sears and bought a dishwasher. Then we decided to go to IKEA. I wanted a specific kind of wall rack, which looks more like a dish cloth rack. But you buy hooks and hang your utensils from it. We bought a small one for beside the stove. And after measuring decided we could use another one on the other side. We have to go back anyway as the other item we saw wouldn't fit in Jack's car, so we have to either take the trailer or my van. It's called a Bravad. It's basically an island. This one has 3 drawers in it and a butcher block counter. It will be great for preparing foods, especially when we do our preserving in the fall. It has white drawers with silver trim which match with our white cupboards with silver handles! It also has silver tips on the legs.



And despite all the cupboards I have in this kitchen I still was lacking drawer space. Especially for all the plastic containers, of which I have many, at least at this time of year. Once we make the spaghetti sauce half the containers end up in the freezer. Unfortunately we are not getting the new windows. Home Depot called and said they had made a mistake on the price of them and they would be $600. more. I refused to pay that much of a difference. Besides it's "their" mistake and I have a contract with them, which they are refusing to honour. So they lose. I may go to Sears and see what the prices are there. I am pissed to say the least! So far all the work they have done has been excellent. Our deck from a few years back was courtesy of Home Depot as was this kitchen. I just want to be sure there are no charges on my c/c card before I order from anyone else.
We just made it home before the pouring rain hit. Been spitting since supper time but now the skies have really opened up. It's supposed to clear up and be nice for the Labour Day Weekend.
Hope you all have a good one.

Vivette with her wigs on

Boy each wig gives her a totally different look. I thought I would like the red the best but he sandy hair actually suits her the best. Makes her look younger. The blonde wig reminds me of Dolly Parton LOL


















And there is those wig heads. Doesn't it make you think of Area 51, where the aliens are? LOL


Here's the back view of the red wig. It has two buns.


And there is those wig heads. Doesn't it make you think of Area 51, where the aliens are? LOL





The outfit I got for her comes with a brown wig. It's all curly. She'll be a hit at the Dolton NY's Ball!

Cupboards are in!

Here's the old cupboards and believe me this is all I had! There were only two cupboards below the counter and a set of 3 drawers. We had many pieces of furniture in this room, like microwave stands to hold stuff.
This is the new cabinets in the same place as the previous picture. Really! Are you sure? LOL The dishwasher will go in beside the stove. The corner cabinet in the bottom is extra as is the corner and tiny cupboard at the top, beside the window. In this picture I already have two extra cupboards than before.










This is beside the fridge where our microwave stand was. Below is 4 drawers for utensils. I only had 3 before. They are a nice blonde wood inside and almost double the width of my old drawers. The cabinet over the fridge is new and has a pull out tray so that I can reach the stuff in the back. I need a stool anyway LOL










I tried taking a picture of the window with the cupboards on either side but with the bright sunshine it came out black so I am standing down the stairs and looking into the kitchen that way. The two cupboards top and bottom are new. I had a portable cupboard here that served as my pantry. This area will be my coffee station.

I will have almost double the amount of counter space, despite having 1.5 sinks. The half sink is for cleaning veggies etc.
The man has to come and measure and make a template for the counter top, which will be dark blue to match the floor. I was lucky and found the "exact" same pattern. The handles on the doors are silver/gray.

Jack is installing the lights under the counter that will go over the dishwasher area. We are putting ceiling pot lights over the future sink. Of course the new window still has to go in. The workman couldn't get over how bright the room was with the solar tube!

#2500 is here!

Today I received doll number 2500 for Dolton. She is a Vivette doll that came all the way from Arizona. She is a bit taller than a TK doll but has the same body. She's shorter than Barbie though. The gimick with this doll is she has no hair, well it is flocked like a Ken head. She comes with the 3 wigs that you see in the pic. The wig stand is so neat. I wondered why it was so heavy. The heads are all porcelain! I also ordered a special outfit for her which comes with a wig. This particular doll is being discountinued which is why I bought her. There is a Vivienne doll and a mall doll who's name escapes me at the moment LOL


Here's what she looks like with the flocked hair.











And here she is beside TK. Her head is much smaller but the body is the same. I guess they are very close to being the same size.

If you want to see more of these dolls check the website http://www.daeoriginals.com/ I think I may have to order more stuff LOL

The End of a Busy Day

Well I just came in from cutting the back lawn. The grass was midway between my ankles and calves! I thought I would end the day with a few pix from the garden front and back. This pic is looking out from my deck. Not much in bloom I'm afraid as the place looks like a jungle from all the rain we had this year. For the first time ever, well since I've lived here, the wild grape vine in the back is producing grapes. That is what is closing in all the spaces between the trees.

Here's the 4 o'clocks down my laneway. They are bent over from the heavy rains we've had and this year we just haven't gotten around to tying them up.











It's a little dark but here is the front lawn. That's a Rose of Sharon tree in bloom. It has pale pink flowers with burgandy centres. My girlfriend planted a "stick" from her tree when we moved here. It only blooms on one side because it is shaded by the huge Maple tree on our lawn. At one time everyone on this street had a tree like this but mine is the only one left. I tremble whenever we have a t-storm cos we would surely lose the house if it fell that way.










No my living room is not on fire LOL The paint was supposed to be peach, but I guess Martha Stewart is colour blind, cos it sure looks orange to me!!!









Time for a little R&R , gonna watch some tv for the rest of the evening.


Oh-Oh guess I won't be able to get in the living room ha ha ha!

BTW the brightness in my kitchen is from the solar tube. No lights are on yet, except the one in the "orange" living room!

I have to work tomorrow so I probably won't be around til Saturday night. I work Saturday too. Gonna be a zoo cos both draws for Friday and Saturday are $17 million each!
Have a good weekend everybody.

From the Laneway to the Deck

From the deck to inside the house.



You can the rainbow prism from the solar light in the kitchen LOL






One thing with Jack's line of work, he is an expert at moving stuff, since he moves pin ball games, jukeboxes and pool tables, he has the equipment and know how of managing all this stuff. Not to mention his own brute strength. Those of you who have met Jack and see that he is just a short person (like me) but what you don't know is how strong that man really is. He can lift the slates out of pool tables on his own. They are made of marble, in case you didn't know. He even offered to help the men unload their truck when they arrived with the cabinets. The guy just looked at Jack, who was twice his age I bet, and said "sure if you want to." He was sure surprised to see Jack carrying the same load that he was. LOL
BTW Jack just turned 69 this week!

The Cabinets are Here!

We had just got up when the phone rang. It was the driver delivering the cabinets. He said he would be here in 20 minutes! He was! LOL They came direct from the Thomasville factory in Ohio. I wondered why the driver had such an accent! LOL Now we have to fit all this in the house, somewhere! Help!

Seats are in!

Well as you can see, I have filled the cabinets with seats. This unit has 3 shelves which are adjustable, which is great as I can move them according to whatever scenes I want to set up. They are just a tad narrower (not as deep as the previous cupboards) but being white are much brighter looking, especially with all the items in them! As you can see I have not taken down the whole apartment set up set. The kitchen was always in the previous cupboard but at the opposite end. I may leave it there for awhile as that end is harder for little ole me to reach! Even though I do have a step stool, it's a long stretch over the kitchen counter.










Here you can see just how many chairs I can fit in. You have to remember to leave leg room for them sitting.

In this pic you can see part of the counter. There is a double sink there but I cover it over with boards as I never use it. At one time I had the Drysdale Beauty Salon set up here.
I plan to wallpaper the wall under the cupboards. Everything was a mustard yellow before and quite drab. Not to mention dark as you can see by the photo.

The next two pix are just long views from the end of the kitchen. To the left is the neighbour's laneway and a window. The only one that opens in the basement. I still have to reattach the xmas lights. Maybe this year I will turn them on LOL


The dolls facing you are sitting above my computer that is in Dolton. It is not online as I use it soley for the Doltonites, inventory etc etc etc. There is an ell shaped table behind them with a tv stand on top. It's about 48" long, so you can imagine the distance in between the computer and the kitchen counter. You can see the rocking chairs on the top shelf of it behind the dolls. It's where Tim's Bar is. I am still resetting that up. I also used that site for my Halloween scenes and a fashion show that I set up last year.
With no walls in the apartment to break up the living area and kitchen it really makes for a big room. The computer stand is where the kitchen would end and the living room start. Behind the wall cabinets/cupboards is a bathroom, complete with shower. At the opposite end (behind the living room) is a bedroom and off that is another smaller room which at one time was a baby room and then became a walk in closet. When I first moved Dolton down there, I tore off all the doors (I hate doors LOL) and turned the walk in closet into a sewing room. Of course we all know that the dolls have taken over every spot in the basement so I don't sew anymore LOL

Well it's 2.am. and my bedtime. Gonna have a busy day later with the cabinets arriving. We have to take inventory of all the boxes and then uncrate them. Thank goodness it is not supposed to rain! With the wet summer that we have had it was a constant worry that the skies would open up when the cupboards arrived. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Nite all!

New Look for Dolton and this Site

Well I just came online to give you an update on the renovations. It looks more like a wrecking zone in this house! Tomorrow our new cabinets arrive! Boy I hope it doesn't rain!

Tonight Jack installed the old kitchen cabinets down in the kitchen in Dolton. Yes there is a real kitchen down there. Actually it's a full apartment. We actually bought this house because of the apartment in the basement, so that someday if we needed extra income we could rent it out. That is if I ever give eviction notices to the present tenants LOL Anyway here it is. I am leaving the doors off for now. They can easily be screwed on again if necessary.


Well before I started filling the shelves with chairs and dolls I decided to have a little fun and set up a kitchen within a kitchen LOL Joy is busy cooking supper.




Well if that wasn't enough I started running around Dolton picking up bits and pieces of furniture and soon I had a whole house furnished!







Here's the living room.






Back when I only had 500 residents (waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when LOL) I used to set up little apartments like this in wall units all over Dolton. I also had shelving on the walls where dolls would sit until it was their turn to be played with or put in a scene. Sometimes I miss those days but....
So now that I've had a little play, I will be setting up chairs for the dolls to sit on. And some more of the Dh'ers can move to Dolton permanently.

New Residents

Well 5 more Venetians arrived this week. I ordered them straight from Tonner in NY as MFD isn't carrying these particular models. Took only 3 days to get here! Which surprised me.
From left to right is Russell Williams, he has blue eyes now and a fuller or thicker head of hair. I think his skin tone is a bit lighter too. Next is the 3 new Tyler sculpts. I do like her new look and of course had to get one in each hair colour LOL Danielle (blonde), Sharon (redhead), and Veronica (raven hair). Last is the new Matt. He has a ponytail at the back. His hair is more sandy coloured which I like. Although he makes me think of Tarzan LOL












Because it has gotten so cool here (60's in the day and cooler at night), and with all the friggin' rain, that never stops, my new residents were rather chilly in their swimsuits. So last night I crocheted ponchos for all the girls. Will have to dig out some clothing for George (Matt) and Gregory (Russell).
I couldn't decide which ponchos for the girls so they switched.












Here is a comparison pic of the two Russells. The first one definately has darker skin. And the new one has a thinner face. The blue eyes are a bit freiky!








I have a new shift at the booth where I am now working. Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. I think I will like that better as those two days have major lottery draws on them and will make for a busier shift. Which will make the time go faster. Plus I really didn't like going to work on Sunday afternoons. And Mondays were dead. I really like the new booth. Even with all the rain and storms that we got yesterday, it was still quite nice under the skylights. I plan to take pix of the booths to show you, next time I go to work.

Meanwhile I have been cleaning out more cupboards in the kitchen. Plus the Height's residents are moving up to Lofton as I make places for them to sit. And last night I even spent a few hours in Dolton. The old kitchen cupboards are going into the real life kitchen down there. So you know what that means! Yeah I gotta move a ton of stuff. This all takes time, mainly because I need to find areas to move everything into so we can work. The new kitchen cabinets arrive on the 20th I believe, the workmen will be here on the following Monday. They say it will take 3 days to do the whole kitchen. Then the week after that the windows arrive. So everything will be done close together. I sure hope it isn't raining when they install the windows. I think we will break another rainfall record again this month as we did in July.

My desk here in the Heights and the computer will have to be dismantled so the workmen can at least get to the window LOL Oh and a doll cabinet will have to be moved as it is up tight beside the window. I'll try to stay in touch as much as I can. But if you don't hear from me, you will know why. Although I can always get on Jack's computer.

Well it is once again raining here, so I guess I'll down to Dolton. The (florescent) sun always shines down there! Enjoy the rest of your weekend everybody. And....




HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIANE!

where ever you are.

Meet Jacqueline

Well I've been rather busy these past two weeks. The kitchen cabinets are expected soon so Jack and I have been working in the kitchen. He has all the pipes in for the plumbing and two new electrical outlets installed. One of them took all day since it is on an outside wall. No plugs in this house are on outside walls since it is a double brick house and has nothing (and I mean nothing) between the walls, just back to back brick! He had to drill through the brick to even run the wiring up!
In the meantime I have been gradually emptying cupboards and trying to find places to put everything. We have a make shift cupboard for all the dry foods and canned goods standing in the front hall. And another item full of stuff too backed up against the front door LOL
I also have to empty one end of the Heights and take down my desk (it's a corner unit) so they can get to the window! Of course Lofton has been all packed up due to having the solar light and the solar fan installed. Gradually I am taking stuff and residents back up there. Oh it gets warm during mid afternoon but not that gasping heat like before. And it helps that is has rained every damn day! LOL


So tonight I decided to take a little break and play a bit. Here is Jacqueline, Miss January who I bought back on July 25th. She has finally been released from her plastic prison. Of course she immediately wanted to wear jeans "like the other girls" were.








I found her a red jacket which is too big for her tiny frame but she is happy anyway. She wants to be warm when she takes her little dog for a walk to Dolton Beach. Hah! Wait til I tell her she's going up to Lofton instead!

Our 3rd biggest ever jackpot of $43 million was won yesterday. Not by me of course! Fortunately it's being split by a group so that is good, as everyone gets a piece of the pie.
Oh and I have been moved to a much newer booth in my mall. We have 3 there. It's heaven! It's on the second level of the mall and right under a glass roof. I think I will enjoy it up there.
Well time to get supper ready. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Today's picture is of a Rocking Around the Christmas Tree Santa I found Thursday at Goodwill for four dollars. As you can see from the Jenney that is standing next to him he is somewhat taller than the Barbie's and their friends but is about the right size for the big little girl dolls that live in TuMani. In case anyone wonders --it is hot and humid in Tennessee. The heat index has been 104 the past several days and you can only stay outside about thirty minutes before you are completely soaked. I have lots of fans on in the house along with the window air conditioners. We have a big central air conditioner but it has been dead for years and didn't do much good when it was working since the rooms that were built extra onto the house don't have duct work---no air got to them---same thing with the central heat in the winter---that is why we have the kerosene heater. I worked last week cleaning a lot of junk off the porch and cutting back some of the wisteria--then a black wasp decided he didn't want me to cut any more wisteria and stung me. I haven't felt good since then and my chin just under the jaw is where he stung me is still infected---looks sort of like a brown recluse spider bite. I spent about an hour and a half yesterday on AT&T's website trying to upgrade Jaime and Gary's phones. Mine is due for and upgrade and Meg wants a phone but after messing with their website for that long to get only two phones taken care of I was completely worn out. Maybe in a few months I will mess with getting mine upgraded and getting Meg a phone. I was going to make a post on the Doll Collectors blog but my computer doesn't show the new post at the top :( Well off to sit in front of a fan for a while.

A/C Air Circulation not Air Conditioning!

These two fan items were half price at Home Depot today. Plus I got the peg board that you see behind them.
I just happened to notice it as we were looking for plywood for Lofton. My Dad installed a peg board for me in my play area in the basement at home. The old memory clicked in and set off an idea of how to use this peg board in Dolton. I only needed a narrow piece. Can you guess where I'll put it?


Anyway the smaller fan can be attached to the wall and blow straight out. I thought of putting it in the back room in Dolton Proper since the window there is sealed up and no fresh air gets in that room. Now I just have to find a "bare spot" on the wall to hang it LOL





The big two fan item didn't appeal to me at first until I noticed each fan has it's own speed setting then as I looked closer, ahah it spun open like a double ferris wheel. Well the lights of my brain lit up like a xmas tree LOL So I bought it for Lofton, now I can have air circulating at both ends at the same time. Cos the solar fan stops at night when it's dark. And even though it is cool up there, I still need the air to move around when I am!
Here it is with a side view.






And here it is blowing in two different directions. Of course it is lying down so you have it imagine it standing up LOL












I think this dual fan would be very useful in any home!