Alleviating Cupcake Theft......

"You have to do something about the open windows in the tea shop! Do it now!!!" That was Tessie wailing at me about 3:30 AM. I have said before that some of my best ideas come about that time of morning.....I am now of the belief that Tessie helps out by whispering in my ear to wake me up with ideas.

I was not about to get up at that time of night/morning to fix her windows, but it stuck in my mind and I couldn't get back to sleep.

It seems that Tessie set up my camera to take photos of proof of theft. She caught Zar sneaking away with one of the strawberry cupcakes behind his back. He swore up and down that he didn't do it.......Sorry Zar. You are busted!

The tea shop building came without windows and I am not of a mind to spend a lot of money on it, so I went the old fashioned route. "Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without." I decided to cheat. Shhhh......

I held up a piece of paper to the odd shaped windows and traced them. Then I went and got some illustration board from my stash.

While I was at it, I also picked out some heavy poster board, some scraps of plastic packaging and some #3 white Perle cotton.

I cut out 3 of the window shapes from the illustration board and fitted them to the windows, trimming them where needed.

I numbered them to the window that each fit into. Then I drew the shape for the inside of the windows and cut that out.

Next I took the Perle cotton and some white glue and edged both the inside and the outside of the window frames. Then I painted them with gesso on the side that would be showing. In the first photo you see these steps from left to right.

After they dried, I painted them to match the rest of the building. The outsides will be antique white and the insides plain old white.

Tessie couldn't wait until I finished them to show you. I fitted the first one in place and stuck the plastic behind it. It still needs to be treated to not look like plastic.

She was satisfied, but did suggest iron bars. I told her that wouldn't be very inviting for regular customers and she had to agree.

Then she turned and looked at me and straight faced she said,"You are going to put in a door, aren't you? I need that done today too." And then....."No more free cupcakes for anyone!!!"

She marched inside, picked up the Steampunk water gun, perched herself on the director's chair and aimed it at the door.

I doubt if she will have any trouble with looters for a while. I am finishing the windows and the door as fast as I can. She may decide to turn it on me if I don't finish today....I don't even want to know what she has it loaded with this time.

Someone please tell me why I armed her in the first place.... What was I thinking?

See you tomorrow.

Sidetracked Over and Over......

I am still cleaning in my pigsty of a workroom. I am now "deep cleaning". That seems to be the only way. I need to get rid of some stuff, in order to keep the rest.

Two steps forward and one step to the side. It doesn't help that Tessie is working with me.

After about an hour of cleaning, she happened onto a couple of tables that I bought from Miniatures.com. These tables are much easier and cheaper to buy than they are to make and besides I love the style.

At about 10.00 a piece, they are a real bargain. It would take me hours to turn out something similar.

Anyway, Tessie found them and immediately grabbed one. "I want this instead of that silly low boy thingy that you put in the tea shop. This is a real work table. I will have room for everything on this, including the espresso pot that you are going to make for me. I am tired of talking Zar out of his all of the time. I want my own." And then, "Yes. I am going to serve coffee as well as tea. I really need it!" she whined.

So off I went. I found some stain and started it. I didn't tell her that I ordered it a couple of weeks ago with the tea shop in mind.

She picked out the Golden Pecan shade of Minwax that you see in the photo.

Next I will use several coats of Deft Satin spray varnish, with sanding between coats.

She zapped it into the tea shop and approved of how it looked. She zapped it back to make sure that I finished it before I went back to work on the room.

She also zapped the hanging shelf back. She is trying to decide if the green shelf looks OK with the natural wood. I assured her that it was fine.....I don't want to build another shelf unit.

She rummaged around in the workroom drawers and found two locks.

"Tessie, what in the world are you doing?"

She hung one on either knob of the hanging cabinet...As she did, she replied, "This will keep certain people from eating the cupcakes and cookies when I am not in the shop!"

About that time, Zar showed up to see what we were doing.

She turned to him and said, "You are just in time to get the message. This cabinet is where I am keeping the goodies in the tea shop. It is to protect them from the likes of you, Balthazar!"

She waved the key wildly under his nose and hissed, "This is the one and only key and I am keeping it on my person at all times! Now go away!"

I was trying hard not to laugh at her.....She knows as well as I do that Zar is good at anything mechanical.....He will have those locks open in a heartbeat if he gets hungry.

Let's just wait until she gets the cakes and cookies in stock and see how long it takes for the cabinet to empty when she is not around.

I imagine that there will soon be a cauldron boiling with a spell to turn the cupcakes into snapping turtles if he tries to eat them.

I am going back to work now, secure in the knowledge that Tessie will be occupied for several hours, putting up safeguards to keep Zar out of the food.

See you tomorrow.

Family Feud.......

This morning I got up in the cold and promptly bundled up. Walter went to set up for winter last night and the burners on the furnace wouldn't light. I am freezing. I know it's only 63 degrees in the house, but it was 36 degrees outside. When I started moving around....It didn't help. I was still cold.

I grabbed Mookie and hid under a blanket for a while, but nothing was getting done. I put on a jacket and went for it.

I dragged out the $5.00 mystery building. If you poke the photo and look closely through the top of the right hand window, you will see Mookie staring at me. He was disgruntled for losing his cozy lap.

The first thing that I did on the "shop"(Let's call it that for now.) was to saw out all of the crosspieces in the windows. They were way to thick to be in scale. Next, the shutters went away with very little effort. A hammer and a flat head screwdriver did the trick. Whoever put the shutters on put them on backwards and with some really weird glue. It stuck them up there, they were easy enough to get off, but the glue liked the building and wanted to stay. It took elbow grease and an exacto to get that off.

Mookie settled in and by the time I was done with those, he was fast asleep inside. I had to wake him up and kick him out. I needed to move the shop around and figure out how the porch would be held up. It cantilevers out over the base with no visible means of support. It was lacking something.

Anyway, as soon as I got Mookie out, Tessie moved in! She looked out the window at what I was doing and immediately started directing.

"That post should go farther to the left."

Then, "You do know that this would make a lovely tea shop for me to run, don't you?".

I ignored her and went on working.

"We could call it Tessie's Tease. T-e-a-s-e"

"That's not how you spell teas, Tessie." I told her. I know what she thinks of as tea.....She mixes up concoctions of strange herbs and spices and tells people that they are tea so that they will drink them. They are really potions. I have never once heard her speak of them as potions.

She makes things like Sleepy Tea. It puts you right out. You should not be standing when you drink that one.

Mookie tried to get back in to take another nap. That lead to an altercation. Oh, lets just call it what it was. It was an out and out fight over territory.

Need I say, Tessie won? She did.

I guess I am now making a tea shop. I am going to sit her down in the cold light of day(literally) and tell her that she either lets me spell the words correctly or it will be turned into a cat bed! After all, this will keep her mind off of Spiderwort Manor and is a lot easier to work on.

I hear her out there messing around in the spice cabinet. I had better get back an see what is brewing now..... I am NOT drinking anything she stirs up! That could be dangerous.

See you tomorrow.