Ho! Ho! Ho!!!

I usually don't start decorating for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. I avoid the Black Friday shopping mania like the plague. It is probably a good thing to do this year with all of the flu germs floating around.

Anyway, this year I made a small exception....Pardon the pun....Tessie has been begging me to do another holiday on the porch. Since I am not decorating for Thanksgiving this year and also not cooking, I decided that we would just skip turkeys made from gourds and the falling leaves. I know that Tessie won't help rake the leaves afterwards and she would just chase and harass the turkeys. Christmas was the next logical choice.

I went to work this morning and dug out a string of thirty six chasing lights that I purchased a couple of years ago at K mart. They were for one of those plaster villages that are popular. I never got into those, but they do have a lot of useful accessories. As soon as I got the lights up around the eaves, Tessie "helped" unravel the tinsel. Then, living dangerously and walking a tightrope(porch railing), she helped me string it along to cover the cords of the lights.

It's too bad you can't see them too well in the photo. They even have a control for how fast you want them to chase. Really cool.

By this time, Tessie was really getting into the spirit of the season and decided that the cushions on the wicker shouldn't look so summery. I found her on the floor with the cushions for the chair. She had already finished the settee. She wrapped the cushions like little packages and secured them on the back with masking tape. Not to neat, but no one will see the bottom and it will hold for the month that it needs to be there.

Red and green. That's the ticket. Nice and traditional. None of the chartreuse and hot pink that I have been seeing everywhere this year. Shades of the sixties!

After she finished those and got them back where they belong, we hung a wreath on the door and curtains to match the pillows in the windows.

She put a sled beside the front steps, just in case....Yeah. Right. It's going to snow on Christmas Day in Tucson. As long as I have lived here it has only snowed once on Christmas. Sometimes it's even been known to be hot enough to wear shorts and a tee shirt. Then there was the year that it snowed on Easter, but that's another story. Oh well. Let her dream.

She even put out a plate of cookies and a cup of hot chocolate for Santa before she went back to her place to clean up. Then she had the nerve to accuse me of eating them!

Tessie has high hopes of being on Santa's "nice" list.....Maybe we should take a vote on that one. Naughty or nice? Hmmmmmm........Let's see. On one hand, how many times has she gotten the better of Zar with trickery this year? On the other hand, she is very, very kind to the animals around here. But then on the third hand.....No. Let's not go there.....

Let's just say "You had better watch out, Tessie! Santa is watching......There are 33 days till the 9(counting Rudolph)tiny reindeer start tap dancing on the roof."

See you tomorrow. P.S. Sorry this is so late! We just spent 4 hours at the vet. Widget is OK but needs some work done.

Surely He Can't Be Serious.....

I put up the Halloween decorations this morning. I must admit to cheating here and there. I have decided to leave the windows without curtains. That way I can put in fabric matching the season. I opted for the skeleton material for Halloween. I simply cut one piece to cover both windows and masking taped them to the back. When Halloween is over, I rip that off and do another piece to match the next holiday.

It looks pretty good from the front. The main thing is, Tessie approves.

Tessie raided the Witches' Warehouse once more and we had more than enough to fill the porch.

Here you can see the whole thing. I used some sparkly black mini trim for the swags around the top. Tessie found all of the pumpkins. The ones on the lawn are a string of four that go with the Halloween villages that you see at Michael's and other craft stores. They actually light up. It's kind of hard to see in the photo.

I dug up the skeleton that you see in the corner....No. I didn't really "dig" him up. He was in a drawer in the workroom.(Notice that I am calling it the workroom again. I need to get in there and straighten.)

Zar is back....Poke the photo. I don't think that Tessie is falling for the false nose and glasses. As I said before..."Surely he can't be serious!".

How gullible does he think she is? And why would she want to invite a stranger with a big, bulbous, pink nose and fuzzy wrought iron eyebrows to her party anyway? He has to be kidding!

I may still add a few more things to the scene before Halloween gets here. If I do, I will show you how I do it.

Right now, I am going back to watch the fun. I want to see how long it takes for Tessie to kick him off of the porch. I am surprised that she even let him get that far. Maybe it was so that she could kick him farther when she does it....

See you tomorrow.

Tomorrow We Decorate....

Essentially, I have finished the porch. I need to paint the inside of the windows and door, that are actually on the outside of the box....Confused yet?

This morning I got up and went to work. When I started on the roof, Tessie even joined in and handed me shingles. I hate to admit it, but sometimes she can be very useful.....When she is in the mood.

I just used about 200 of the HBS bag shingles that I had on hand. That will probably put me short when it comes to the houses that I need them for, but HBS has more.

Anyway, I glued them on with Aileene's Fast Grab white glue. Love that stuff for shingles. It sticks right away and you don't have to tape them.

While those were drying, I cut up wooden strips from one of those printed Japanese scroll calendars and painted them for the slats in the under porch area.

As you can see, I scrubbed some black over the brown to make it uneven before gluing in the slats.

That took an hour or so. It always seems like it is going to take less time than it actually does.

Then I stained the roof with Early American Minwax stain. Hey! While I am thinking of it, did you know that Minwax has a web page with lots of real sized furniture and accessories that can easily be scaled down to mini size? http://www.minwax.com/projects/ Cool stuff. There is also another site that has even more.... http://www.buildeazy.com/fp_start.html All you have to do is divide by 12. Have fun....OK back to the porch. I finished the roof by going over the edges where the shingles over lap again with the stain. That gives them depth.

I was on a roll, so I decided to keep on keepin' on. I dragged out a bunch of landscaping material. I put some white glue where I wanted the grass to be and thickly sprinkled on railroad greenery. I put some bushes in front corners with reindeer moss.

Then I found the hose that I have been saving for many years, for just the right project. It fit perfectly on the left wall.

Tessie has shut up about the swing. As long as I leave the wicker in place, I think it will be OK.

As you can see, Zar is still trying to worm an invitation to the party. And I do mean worm. He wants to be invited in the worst way. He has been hanging around for the past hour. Tessie still won't let him on the porch. I heard her say, "If I'm not welcome in your secret workroom, you're not welcome on MY porch. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, you rat. I know what you have been doing to keep me out!" It went on from there, but it got worse and I am a lady, so I shan't(one of my grandma's favorite words) repeat it.

I wonder why nobody uses "shan't" anymore? It is ever so much easier than saying "shall not". I seem to be wandering off the subject a lot today. I guess I should stop rambling and go see about decorating the porch for Halloween. Tessie has already started.

See you tomorrow.

A Little Bit More.....

I didn't get a whole lot finished today. There were other things besides minis that needed to get done.


When I finally got around to it, Tessie was there on the porch, bored and watching. She was bored because I wouldn't let her help and watching, hoping that I would mess something up so she could say "I told you so!"


In this photo, she reminds me of me when I was little. I remember standing on the bottom railing like that and pretending that I was tall. A few inches makes all the difference when you are a kid. She has worn the broom down to a nub sweeping the porch, again and again.


As you can see, I have painted the panels in the porch foundation dark brown. I am going to do some sponge painting over that to make it uneven. That will give the appearance of empty space below the porch. Then I will put in the lattice work. Shades of my grandma's porch.


Here's an end view. I put in some molding under the roof line and on the edge. Next step, shingles.


Zar dropped by to see how it was going. Tessie wouldn't let him on the porch. She claims that he has dirty boots and she would have to sweep again if she let him up there. I think that she is really still mad at him for all of the tricks that he has pulled to keep her out of the Clockwork Cottage.


I think that he had an ulterior motive for stopping and playing nice. One of her sisters told him that there was going to be a big Halloween bash with lots of bug beer and spider punch. He has taken a liking to that stuff.


Tessie has already started pilfering decorations from the Witches' Warehouse. I guess it is her prerogative, as part owner of the store. I am still wondering how she gets out of working there. The other two sisters put in all the time and she has all the fun. I have asked about it a couple of times and she always quickly changes the subject. There is definitely something going on there.


I have to chase everyone off of the porch and get back to work now.


See you tomorrow.