New Rules!

This morning Tessie got up. She made toast and coffee.  I could hear her banging around the cottage. 

I kept wondering what she was up to... After all, it was only 4:25AM. 

She usually sleeps until at least 8:00AM.

I immediately thought that she was up to no good...

As I approached the cottage, she disappeared.

I went searching for her and next I found her and Spike sitting on the top of her new dressing room...

She started with, "Why is my dressing room not finished? I ordered it a week ago and you have NOT been working on it for a couple of days now."

With that, she disappeared once again...

So I went looking again.  This time she was on the front porch of the potting shed.

She seemed to be inspecting the soon to be grapes.

This time, she started with, "This potting shed is a mess and you haven't done a thing to it for a couple of weeks now."

I couldn't argue with that. I have been trying to avoid it for at least that long. I have been working on my workroom.

Her parting shot was, "I am not a happy camper!"

I couldn't help it. I started laughing.... Not a good thing when Tessie is mad.

I came in here and started writing everything down that she was saying...

She's right.  I have been taking a vacation from working for her. 

She came in and heaved a heavy sigh and sat down on the tape dispenser. 

 Would you believe that I apologized? Actually I did.  She is right. I have been doing everything that I can to get out of working for her... It doesn't do any good.  She is very hard to live with when she is in one of these moods. And she is right. When I go off on my own, she just turns into an old grouch.  Tomorrow I am going to start doing things her way for a while.  We shall see if that makes a difference. 

It probably won't. She will probably just become more demanding.  You did notice that I just said "for a while".  Back to work on her dressing room. Bright and early tomorrow.  See you then.

Kota and Me VS Tessie...

This morning Tessie came to me with one of her propositions, where only she gets the advantage...

She called me into the workroom. I looked up to where her voice was coming from.  She was in the doorway to the box that is designated as hers.

Amare got the one like it for Christmas..

She has changed her mind. It is now to be a Mid Century Mod room box. 

She dug out all of the mid century furniture that 

that was in the townhouse.  She now wants a Mid Century Mod Living room.

As soon as she did, Kota laid down on the pile and refused to move.

He wants the box for a bed.

I grabbed Tessie and told her that if she wanted grapes on the potting shed, she should be working on the leaves.

Then I wrapped her up in the leaves and told her to get to work. She is still glairing at me.  Not a happy camper.  She thought that she could get me to work on both at once...

I am not working on either one and at this rate I may just give Kota the box.  At least he is not whinging and whining.

As of this moment, I have gotten a lot done on cleaning up the back porch and NOT doing minis. 

The back porch is more important to me.  I want a place to sit outside and work once in a while.

As for Kota, he is happily sleeping on all of Tessie's furniture and not one leg has been fixed.

He's my excuse for not doing a living room for Tessie.  And she is wrapped up in vines and can't even get her mouth open to complain... I wonder what she would do if I told her it was poison ivy?  It's not, but don't tell her that.  I might just use that as an excuse not to do vines. My other excuse  for the living room is, I can't fix the furniture.  Kota needs a place to sleep.  And he found one.

Back to fighting the problem. 

See you tomorrow.

A Day in the Life...

I put Tessie to work tearing the leaves off of the vines that came with the potting shed this morning.

Then I put myself to work outside planting and watering things in the back yard.

I came in the house about 10:00 AM to see how she was doing...

She was watching TV and eating pizza.  I took it away and told her to go back to work if she wanted grapes on the potting shed porch.

She pretty much ignored me and kept munching on the edges of the crust that she was eating.

I told her "No leaves, no grapes!". Then I went back outside and continued planting lavender in pots.

I should know better than to check on her when she is in one of "those" moods.

I found her sitting in the ring box, trying on rings as hats.  This one wasn't half bad, but I am not giving up my rings just so that she can have new hats.  She has enough hats for an army already!

I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and put her on the porch.  I wrapped her in vines and told her to get back to work.

She had the nerve to stick her tongue out at me!

I just told her again, "No leaves. No grapes!"

After that, I just went back to work and forgot about her.  She has been pouting for hours.  I don't think that she has taken off even one leaf.

Oh well.  No leaves. No grapevines! I am not going to tell her again.  If she really wants grapevines, she is going to have to get to work. I am NOT going to sit there and take those all apart!

I am going to go get ready for bed.  As far as I am concerned she can just sit on the porch and pout.

I hope that you have a good night!

See you tomorrow!

I Almost Didn't Have Witches Here...

Remember that I lost the use of my oven last week and had to go out and order a new one?

The new one will be delivered Friday. 

Today I was supposed to have the Wednesday Witches here...

It almost didn't happen.  Kota would have been in a better mood if they had not parked their brooms on my porch. 

They did. 

When they landed, I had new stories to tell. In the middle of getting ready, The garbage disposal started leaking out the bottom...

Walter installed a new one several years ago. I figured that he could do it again... He did, but it didn't leave me with a whole lot of time to get things ready.

About fifteen  minutes before people were going to get here, I discovered that the microwave that I was going to warm up the rolls in was not working!  Walter called after a couple of people got here.

I was about to call him. 

Come to find out, all I had to do was push a Reset button on one of the outlets.  Everything was all right after that.

We all had a good time.  We all ate too much.  Fun day. I found two small garden structures to finish.

After they left, Tessie reported to me that she had found the trim for the tower window in her new potting shed. It still needs to be painted white. Now we can finish.  We were both very happy that the missing piece was found.  back to work on  the potting shed tomorrow.

See you then.

Snoring Some More.....

I tried the greenery that came with the potting shed kit... I think that it is going to get torn apart and used leaf by leaf. 

It is not terribly realistic in it's present state.

Tessie keeps whining, "But there are no grapes."

I guess if it is a vine in Tessie's world, it should have grapes on it.

Here we go again.  more work for me.

All I have left to do inside is the potting bench and lots of accessories.

All Tessie has to do is stand back and watch.

One of these days, I am going to give her a hammer, saw and a pile of wood and tell her to build it herself!

For now, I am working as fast as I can...

While Tessie and Kota nap all afternoon. I have tried to wake them several times.  They both just groan and go back to sleep. 

At least Tessie doesn't try to bite me when I try to wake her up!

I am going back and start cutting leaves off of the vines.  Then I will have to find something that at least looks like mini grape.  Remind me to tell Tessie that they aren't edible!

Back to the potting shed.

See you tomorrow.

The Party's Over....

 I am back at work full time.

First of all, I am going to make a few purses out of poster board.  I am using the old school method.

The blue surface that I am working on is my thigh.  It is the most convenient method of curving poster board. 

The smaller the instrument that you use, the more curve you get in the poster board.  I would usually use the pen with one hand on each side.  That makes a more uniform curve. 

I have enough Tampex tubes left to make barrel purses.  The curved ones like this, don't need Tampex tubes. Therefore, when I just want a curved side to the purses, I am going back to the old method.  If you looked at the "Purses" section in the sidebar, You will see a lot of different shapes and sizes.  The only ones that I really need the tubes for is the barrel.  The other ones can be made like this, or with the foam core method.....


I got the pergola on the potting shed.  It looks pretty good for a fixer upper.

I still need to put a second coat of gray around the bottom edge. I see some spots that I missed!

Tessie is keeping A close eye on my work... She pointed out that I was missing spots 47 times and counting...

The party broke up about four this morning.  By the time I got up, Zar was in bed reading a book and everyone else was long gone.

I checked. Everyone was in their rightful places. No stragglers anywhere.

I am still looking for the old bag of leather. Still hoping that I didn't throw it out by mistake!

I am going back in and do some more straightening in the workroom.  It has to be somewhere in that room...

Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow.

I May Have Solved the Mystery...

I tried.  This morning I went over to SAS and bought another pile of leather.  This came to about $6.00.

My theory being, if I replace something that is missing, I will surely find the first batch of things that I bought...

Great theory. It didn't work. The original leather is still missing.  Yes. I did look.  It is just in a good hiding place.  The only other place it could be is in the garbage... I hope not!!!!! So much for mystery #1.

By the  way, instead of finding a substitute, I am thinking of going back to the old thigh rolling method of curving poster board.  I will tell you about it tomorrow.

I did get some work done on the  potting shed and I think that I know why someone gave it to Goodwill....

I glued in all of the railings and posts... Then I started to add the pergola....

It must have been disheartening to get the thing dry fitted to this point and find that the side top rail was an inch too short!!!

I wonder how many of these kits were abandoned because of that one piece.  I didn't have any wood that size and I imagine that a lot of people wouldn't have it in their wood pile.  My wood pile is better than most... I had to use three pieces of wood pieced together to match the diameter of the piece of wood that they used. 

Anyway, I now have a piece that is long enough.  All I have to do is paint it and I will be back in business...

Back to work.  See you tomorrow!

Back to the Future...



OK I am right back where I started.  Tessie sat in the new potting shed smelling the daisies, while I went back to work.

I got all of the porch pieces painted... She smelled the flowers...

Now all I have to do is figure out where all of the pieces go.






While I was doing that, Tessie was collecting plants from the houses of all of her friends...

While they were still partying.

Sometimes I wonder how she manages to keep her friends.  She gets away with a lot of "borrowing..."

I talked her into returning everything with a promise to do the same plants for her.... That could take some time.

I did manage to get her mind off of pilfering and on to other things. I found a bunch of fancy findings and other things that can be used for decorations on purses while I was rummaging around a couple of days ago.

I sat her down with that and promised to make her a couple of purses with the findings that she picks out.  It won't take long and it will appease her.

Then I can get back to the potting shed.  I hope that she is satisfied with a couple of purses and doesn't want a whole store full of them again... We did that once before.  She got the shop of her dreams, then she decided that she wanted her cottage back in original form. No more purse/hat/shoe shop.  Oh well at least she has her home back and I can sleep at night without her waking me up and whining at me.

I am going back now and am going to try to figure out where all of those horrible little pieces go.  Wish me luck.  See you tomorrow.

Here We Go Again!!!

As usual, I leave and the party keeps going for another two days...

Notice the shower tower. Tessie is the only one that has used it so far...She snuck out and told me that was the only place that she could get any sleep.  She borrowed Zar's couch throw and I think that she may go back in and catch a few more hours. I don't blame her.  The party was still going strong when I left. She snuck out and told me that was the only place that she could get any sleep. I think that she may go back in and catch a few more hours. I don't blame her.  The party was still going strong when I left.

Meanwhile, I finished the floor of the potting shed.  I cheated. It is some stuff that I got from Home Depot several years ago.  Shelf covering or something of the sort.

I just decided to take the easy way out on the floor.  Nobody ever notices the floor anyway.

The last photo is a shelving unit that I am building for the potting shed.

I got the wood at Walmart.  They are now selling bags of Jumbo Popsicle sticks.  They are just the right size for building shelves and other small items of furniture. The dimensions of the bookcase are, Seven feet tall.  Four feet wide and the popsicle sticks are 1" wide.  All I had to do was cut them to size and glue them together!

I can't remember how many were in the bag, but a lot for the price I paid.  I will have to look at the price the next time I go over there.  They were about $3.00 and that is a LOT of finished wood for that price. I plan to make another shelving unit and a potting bench, before I am done and I am sure that I will still have a LOT of wood left.

Anyway, here I go again!

See you tomorrow!

One More Day!

I didn't get a lot of mini-ing done today.  I got the stitches that you see on the needle done for the rya rug...

I cast on a second blue and green sock...

I waved at Tessie as I flew by a few times.

April and Amare came over and we did kid things. That was more fun than doing grown up things like minis.

Tessie doesn't understand me having a grandson that is more important than she is.
Oh Well....

Tomorrow is my 10th anniversary of the blog.  I have done it every day for that long! I did miss a couple of days, but I went back and filled them in and apologized.

I will have done 3,650 entries and a few extras here and there.

I think that I deserve to play a little here and there.

I have to clean off the worktable in the bedroom before I can do any minis tomorrow.  I will be back tomorrow, but I may just take some of the day off to have more fun.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

I Have All of the Pieces...

Now all I have to do is put them together in the right order...

OK... I have to paint and do other things too, but I am ready to start!

Tessie and I decided that we are going to let an owl or two take over the little tower on the roof.

Please note that I did paint the inside of that and the door and the walkway around the perimeter. So I did get something done today.

I found more of the little bonsai trees. The wood(wire) part has been painted, so all I have to do is add greenery.

And I also have to do something with the bottoms.  I think that there are a few more around here someplace.  I am sure that they will turn up sooner or later.

Tessie found the bones of some trees. At least that's what she calls them.  There are also some dried weeds from the back yard and some large boulders. Well, for someone her size they are boulders!

Anyway, we are on our way to having one building for her outdoor paradise.

I am going to stop for today.  There is going to be freezing weather tonight and I have to make sure that the plants are covered.  I protest! I want summer! Now!!!

See you tomorrow.

You Did It Before and...

You can do it again! That was Tessie, when I told her to get out of the way so that I could work on her new potting shed...

I think that she was referring to the first project that I did after she moved in.

She sat in her favorite chair, with her alligator, on her lap and I painted the whole bottom floor of her cottage around her and Friskie.

For those of you that don't know, I know that Friskie is spelled wrong.  I had to name him that. It was the name on his bowl when I got him.

The new potting shed is a different matter. It is a much smaller building and if she is in the middle, I am NOT going to be able to paint around her.

I am lucky if I can get a paintbrush inside.  Especially if it has wet paint on it.

I did manage to get a base coat of gesso and one coat of light cream inside and out, before she moved in...

She is holding one of the wire bonsai trees that she intends to put on shelves on at least two walls of the shed.

She put that outside... Then she settled in with a good astrology book.  She can't possibly expect me to paint around her if she is sitting in the corner like that! No way! No how!

I may just have to lock her in the workroom and do the painting in the bedroom if she keeps up. Maybe, I can talk her into perching on the roof and watching. She has done that a few times. It gives her a better view of what is going on and keeps her out of the paint.

I am thinking "brick floor". If I do that, she will have to move out completely!

Wish me luck. I am going to need it!

See you tomorrow.

I Need A Gazebo and a Potting Shed...

 Since I said that Tessie couldn't cook in the tree tops, she has taken another turn... For the worst.

She now wants a Gazebo and a potting shed in the trees. It is at least a little better idea than a barbeque in the trees...I just happen to have this kit that I bought at Goodwill.

It's a potting shed with all the bells and whistles.

Now all I need is a gazebo.

The bells and whistles have to be put together...

I took all of the bells and whistles out and sorted them when I got the kit.  They were all there.

It should be interesting to see if I can remember where everything fits.

I have the two glass gazebos that are sitting in the second tree frame. Neither one is large enough to fit everything that Tessie wants to put into them.  I may just have to make a gazebo that will stay in the house until she wants to go outside.

Until we quit arguing about what is going in the gazebo, I am not lifting a finger to make it.  She is going to have to make a lot of decisions fast if she wants to play in the garden this summer.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Tessie's Trees. Ltd.

The problem is solved... Kind of...

I added a Ltd. to the name of Tessie's shop.  Then I introduced her to the new shop that will be an addition to the potting shed.

It's that wedding box that I bought a couple of months ago.

I told her that she could have as many trees and ornaments as it took to fill the shelves in the shop.

She liked the idea, adding, "We can always add another  room onto the shop part."

I added a, "No way Tessie!".

"This is it! No additional space for more trees unless YOU build it and make the trees. My fingers are already sore after six trees.

She did admit that this was the only building with a skylight to keep the trees growing.

 Meanwhile Kota came in to add his two cents to the conversation.  He simply thinks it's a good place to rub his chin when it itches...

Unfortunately, then he went around to the back...

He found all of the extra pieces of yummy wood that would make good chew sticks. 

After I took the photos, I grabbed the potting shed and all of the yummy wood and put it back in my workroom and locked the door. 

Thank goodness Kota hasn't learned to open doors like our other cats used to.  The kit is safe until I choose to work on it. I have to work on the She Shed today.

See you tomorrow.