I'm not crafty

Bookworm has read all of the Doll People books. She loves them. So do I. You can learn more about them here.

As soon as she felt it wouldn't be obvious, my mother in law had me go to her room with her, where she reached under her bed, and pulled out this!



I was so excited! I knew I had a wonderful mother-in-law, who is a keeper of all things and crafter extraordinaire, but to learn that she has this doll house kit, and she was so eager to whip up a doll house for Bookworm was so touching.....

Until I realized she expected me to make the doll house.

Ummm, excuse me? Scotty? I'm not crafty. I hate attempting any craft that lasts over an hour or so, and that is really pushing it. I love to cook, after all, I can eat that. But crafting? Applying myself to something, and doing it well so that it lasts forever? ESPECIALLY if there is even a remote possibility that my mother in law or husband will be examining it. Yikes! They are both very creative and meticulous with their endeavors. Unlike I am. I prefer to tape, wire, or glue things haphazardly together. If it doesn't move and it should WD40 it. If it moves and it shouldn't it, duct tape it. These are really the only 2 tools you need.




I attempted to whine and complain to my niece Sarah last weekend. She had zero sympathy, because apparently art majors have lots of crafty projects to get done on a deadline and they are graded....Well. That explains why I'm not an art major!

You can see in the above picture where I was at as of noon today. Minus the floor and corner brace. In other words, I had a whopping 3 pieces put together.

I had a dollhouse my mom made me when I was nine. It is beautiful. Unfortunately, the wrap around porch was destroyed by some pillows being thrown on it. The posts are too splintered to salvage, but I think I can use the scraps from this kit to replace them. Of course, we were unable to sneak a 3 story dollhouse here at Thanksgiving, due to the dogs, one of which was sick, and our luggage. So. I can't use it as her gift. Dang.



So, after 2 hours of work, this is where I'm at. I'm feeling a little more hopeful that I can finish this before Christmas. Of course, it will be nowhere near as cool as mine was. Mom papered the walls and carpeted the floors. This one is one room with an attic. I plan to stain the floors and paint the walls turquoise. That's Bookworm's favorite color. I thought of making the exterior that color, but Studmuffin and I decided that yellow with white trim will be cuter outside.

So, maybe, maybe, maybe I can finish this before Christmas. Part of the problem is I'm afraid to work on it at night because I'm afraid she'll get up and see it. It's too bloody cold to work on it in the shop, so I'm limited to working on it while the girls are in school. This means I need Studmuffin to stay on his pain pills at least the rest of this week so I can finish it.

Wait! Did I ever tell you Studmuffin had reconstructive shoulder surgery last Thursday? Translation: He is unable to move his right shoulder for 5 weeks, and it will be SIX MONTHS before he can have full use of it. Translation of translation: The man is pretty useless in helping with the dollhouse...

Typical.