Meet Celestine

Hello Everyone,
  Well I hope your Labor day weekend is getting off to a great start!! I have a feeling mine is going to be interesting, you see Celestine has come to live with me and let me tell ya, this doll is proving to be a hand full already! She showed up after her trip from Canada ( Ebay ) and Immediately let me know she was sick of wearing that outfit, and she wanted her makeup refreshed right away!

So I repainted her lips and eyebrows, took the lays from around her neck and arm and promised her a shopping trip for clothes! She was not happy to have to wait till the next day to go shopping but I told her it would give us a chance to decide what kind of outfit she might like and where to find it, to which she replied, outfit?..... you mean wardrobe darling!! UH yes of course, wardrobe, silly me! :-) Now Celestine talks with an exotic Spanish sounding accent, which seemed odd since she was dressed like a Hawaiian, so I asked her about it and she told me she is from Barcelona Spain and has no idea why they dressed her in that ridiculous outfit and another thing she is not a little girl anymore since she was born in the 1960's and she would appreciate it if I would dress her accordingly! Well I don't know if she's having delusions of grandeur or what, but I'm not going to argue with her, besides she does an excellent Spanish accent, so Spain it is! 

So today arrived and we were off to shop!

When we got into the car Celestine insisted on riding here, 

Me: Celestine that's not really a good place for you to sit

Celestine: Well I have to be able to see to tell you how to drive darling, no?

OH DEAR

So we were off to Wal- Mart where we found an outfit she liked and would fit, this was no easy task as Celestine is both picky and very thin!

When we got to the car she demanded to have her new outfit put on, so I obliged her and she spent the rest of the ride home playing with the stereo, changing channels every 2 seconds, and wanting to know where is the channel with all the beautiful Spanish flamenco music?

Back home she spent several moments admiring herself in the mirror 

Then she wanted to know where we were taking her out dancing, when I said we weren't, she sighed with disgust and headed to the stereo in the living room, declaring in her exotic accent that she was a beautiful Spanish woman and she wanted to dance, to live , to dream!

UH Celestine careful with that knob......

Too late... I better go run damage control before the cops show up for disturbing the peace, I mean after all , what would I tell them?...That Celestine did it? Hee Hee

Till next time, Love and blessing to you all and a happy Labor day too!

Teresa and Celestine

Saturdays buy's and random things

HI Everybody,
  Can you believe it's Wednesday already? Remember when you were younger and older people would say stuff like, boy time is just flying by, and you really didn't know what they were talking about? Maybe this was because we were living each moment in the moment, instead of hurrying around trying to get everything done on a schedule or ahead of time- you know where your mind is always moving ahead to the next thing instead of just being present in the moment that you are currently experiencing. I've personally been trying to slow my thoughts down and bring them into the present moment, to pause and see the good that's all around me now, to realize that THESE are the good ole day's. I feel I used to do this naturally, but somehow in the last few years while we were going through some tuff things, I switched into survival mode and forgot how to take pleasure in the small things, the here and now. Life is rarely perfect for anyone, but I believe that if we take pleasure in the ordinary, we will often discover it to be extraordinary!! So in that vein of thought I took these pictures to share with you of the ordinary/ extraordinary day today :) This is my beautiful new Hugs N Kisses hibiscus in bloom, Lorraine if you see this, thank you !! Lorraine over at Flower Lady's musings posted about hers and I immediately went on a search for one- found it at home depot. It puts out different color blooms from the same plant, so gorgeous, go over and visit Lorraine at her blog to see her collage.By the way I put this out by the bird bath that I showed you a couple of post ago... which leads me to,

 Naughty squirrel,  there's no birds yet because this guy keeps emptying the feeder! Now don't get me wrong he's cute and entertaining, but a gal could go broke trying to feed these little piggy's :-)

 They just park right inside the feeder and eat until its all gone! Incidentally, I went and bought a new feeder that is supposed to be squirrel proof, I hope it works.

How was your weekend? Mine was so nice, my husband had the complete day off on Saturday and we decided to head to an auction in Leesburg, which is a town just up the road from us. There was a couple of dollhouse's for sale and lots of doll's, I didn't get the room box I wanted, but I got this little dollhouse and I just think it is the cutest little thing, I'm not sure what scale furniture it needs yet, I think  1/48 but I'm not sure. Haven't figured out the story that will go with this one yet, but give me time and I'm sure I'll come up with something, hee hee!! oooo I just love dollhouses, the possibilities are endless!!

My husband had to patch a hole in the floor where someone put a light in it. It's been stained now and you can hardly notice it.

And last but not least we got this pretty girl, she's had some restoration work but she is quite old. I think she is just lovely don't you?

She does a fine job of looking after her baby sister :-)

Well I guess that is all for now folks, please leave comments, as I love them so much, it lets me know someone is reading this and I value your input!! So till next time, Love and Blessings to you all,
Teresa

Uh Oh Grandma Hart is not feeling well

Hello everyone,
  Well it seems that Grandma Hart has taken to her bed with fever and a great deal of stomach discomfort. Victoria has spent the night trying to get the fever down and some fluids in her Mother, just as her husband Dr. Valentine instructed, but when the Dr. checks in the next day, she seems no better.

 Dr. Valentine decides it's time to pay a visit to Raven the gypsy woman, so he makes his way to the old servants house which is actually on his estate where Raven and her little girl Romney live. He remembers the day he found them camping on his property in the wagon that they were calling home, of course he was moved with compassion when he realized the woman and her daughter were on their own,so he quickly made a deal with her that she could stay in the old servants house and pay rent with fresh eggs, yarn and of course herbal remedies for his patients. It seemed like a win/win situation for everyone and so far he's never regretted it, Oh he's been questioned around town about the strange gypsy woman and her blonde,blue eyed child, but the Doc knows people are always curious and suspicious of that which is different. He arrives at the house and knocks on the door.

 Raven answers and invites Dr. Valentine in, after he carefully explains Grandma Hart's symptoms and tell's Raven he believes it is a case of the dreaded and sometimes fatal influenza, she consults her huge book that she call's the wisdom of the Ancient of days,all the while little Romney watches her Mama carefully, as Mama always tells her it's important for her to learn the old ways, the things that have been passed down from generation to generation

 Next Raven consults her Herbal remedy book and begins to mix some things together from various bottles and jars

 She sets the medicine on the table and explains the instructions for use to Dr. Valentine and then she does what she always does every time the Doc has gotten remedies from her, she speaks these words, Oh Ancient of days, you have sent your word and healed us of all our diseases and all of our destructions , and then she places her hands on the medicine and begins to speak in a language that the doc doesn't understand. The doc is always in awe, because there seems to be some kind of tangible power in the room as the gypsy woman speaks and so far the remedies have worked in some of the most difficult situations when nothing else has. Pretty soon the doc is on his way.

 Dr. Valentine goes back to Grandma's and administers the remedy as instructed and sure enough the next day, much to every ones relief, grandma is as right as rain, they all gather in grandmas parlor to visit and grandpa serenades his beautiful bride and says a silent prayer of thanks. Even the puppies are happy to see grandma better. As they chat and laugh and visit the day away, both the doc and Victoria think to themselves, what a blessing it was the day the gypsy woman came their way.
Till next time,
Love and Blessings to you all,
Teresa


P.S
I seem to have left poor grandma and grandpa hanging with their house only partially done, poor things, looks like I better get to shopping and decorating before they lose all patience with me!! hee hee

A Few Treasures and an Update on the Gypsy house

Hello Everyone,
  OK, so I just have to know, does it seem like time is just flying right by at the speed of light for anyone else besides me? It's already been a couple of weeks since my last post and it feels like it was just a couple days ago! But anywhooo, I thought I would just check in with you all and have a little chat, care to join me? The weather here has been hot, humid and rainy for a couple of days now, so I decided I should clean the ashes out of the fireplace and put the lovely scented candles back for a little ambiance, what do you think?

 Turn The lovely lady fountain on for sound and

 There you have it, a little ambiance and romance for the soul! so now that the mood is set, I thought I would show you a few treasures I found last week. Some were purchased at Goodwill and some came from a estate sale where honest to goodness, there was so much stuff you couldn't even take it all in and the prices,surprisingly enough, were amazingly reasonable!! First off was this lovely pair of antique cherub candleholders that were $ 16.00 for the set, had to have those since I love cherubs, Yeah ;-)

 Next was this lovely real stone grape cluster for $2.00, not sure if the stones are amethyst crystals or purple Jade but I love them, so weighty and prettier in person.

 These glasses, a set of 6 for 49 cents each, so sweet don't you think?

 Ok not a good picture of this totally girly beautiful goodness of a bracelet that I paid one dollar for, it still has it's 19.99 price tag on it! Anyway, its dangly pearls and citrine colored rhinestones, ever so pretty!

Then there was this little bird bath for $5.00, hope to attract some birds to this living room window but there is not very many bushes on this side, so we will see if it works.

 And finally, here are some updates on Raven and Romney's house, it now has it's wood stove in the corner and it looks like Raven has a pot of stew on to cook as we speak, yumm. It seems Raven has been very busy and has hung a picture by the table, made some herbal remedy's for the hutch, filled the urns on top with dried herbs, upholstered the seat there behind Romney and unpacked her lovely candleabra that she inherited from her own sweet Mama.

 Raven has moved the bed in to the bedroom and hung the mosquito netting over it and covered it with her grandma's quilt. She has a lovely tapestry with a unicorn hanging over her dresser, there's still things to do, but she's settling in quite nicely.

 She's hung her lace curtains and gathered some herbs to dry in the upstairs window( upstairs because you can't close the door if they hang in the kitchen windows ) Ok, well that"s all for now folks, Will update you as Raven and I make progress with her home, Also being a gypsy and all, Raven is an excellent story teller, you'll have to come back to hear the story she's planning to tell Romney about a beautiful young blonde lass that wondered into the camp one day a few years ago.........Till next time, Love and Blessings to you all,
Teresa

Raven and Romney's House

Hello Everyone,

  Well it's been quite a while since I've posted, so I decided I better check in and let everyone know I'm still here!! Sometimes I just don't have anything very interesting to share, you know it's just the day to day stuff, not so inspiring :) But I have been working on something recently that I thought I would show you today...
       Do you know what this is?This is a wine box turned gypsy dollhouse! I found this box at the flea market for $12.00 and after discussing it with my husband, decided it would make the perfect little rustic house for Raven and Romney, in case you don't remember, Raven and Romney are the gypsy's that are living in an old servants house on the Valentine estate, you can read about that back a few posts. I turned the box up sideways and put feet on it so it could open easily, then my husband made a shelf to serve as second floor. (matching the stain was no easy task!!) The windows, shutters and doors are just pictures I found on the internet and printed out and then I used Modge Podge to paste them. Jerry made me a little overhang for the front and we put the shingles on and stained it gray to resemble weathered wood. I added flower boxes and vine and voila! The gypsy house is born!! I'm really rather pleased with how it looks considering it's humble beginnings.

 This is the top of the box where it's stamped.

 I still have a lot to do on the inside, so I will update you later, but I thought I would show you what's already been done. As you can see it's a small house, but after living in the caravan, it seems quite spacious to Romney and Raven ;)

 I still need to get a stove and pictures and pillows for the bench behind Romney, so this is just the beginning

 Here you can see Raven's herbal remedy book that has been passed down through her family and her mortar and pestle for making her remedies that she sells and supplies to Dr. Valentine in trade for rent ( as well as eggs from her chickens and yarn from her sheep)

 This is the bedroom area and I don't have a bed yet but you can see her spinning wheel here

 The windows inside are the same as the ones outside, I still have to make curtains, but here you can see some herbs hanging in the window to dry and is that naughty cat trying to figure out a way to reach the bird cage? Hmm very suspicious!! I will show you updates in the future as this little house unfolds :)

 Okay well on another note, I don't know if I've mentioned before that my husband, Jerry is an auctioneer and about 2 weeks ago he was auctioning this little shadow box and bought it for me, it's now hanging in my kitchen, such a sweet man!!

 You've seen my boudoir doll before but the teddy bear and the little German? russian? girl and that bride doll are little treasures that were also a gift from the husband recently and so I thought I would share those with you also.

 These are sitting on the floor in my bedroom, I think I need another glass cabinet what do ya'll think? Well that's all for now, so till next time,
Love and blessings to you and yours,
Teresa

Strange Happenings In The Ideal House

Hello Everyone,
 Well it seems something unusual is happening in the Ideal household, shall we go have a look?
   Hmm, the children are playing in their bedroom, nothing to unusual about that.

 Tommy wants to go outside and ride his bike, Tammy decides to go outside too, but when Tommy ask her if she would like a ride on the handlebars she says no because someone has to take care of her pumpkin......Tommy rolls his eyes, girls are so weird!!

Mother calls Tammy to come inside and practice her piano, Tommy follows and aggravates his sister by threatening to take the pumpkin, finally mother tells Tommy to stop bothering his sister she needs to practice!! Father doesn't know what to think?!

That night at the dinner table Father tells Tammy to stop playing with her pumpkin and eat her dinner!

After the children have left the table and gone to get ready for bed, Pete asks Patti if she has noticed  that Tammy is playing with a pumpkin? Well of course I've noticed says Patti, how could I not? She takes the silly thing everywhere! Don't you think this is odd behaviour asks Pete, didn't we just buy her skates, a new doll, books and several other toys for Christmas? Well you know how children are and if she's happy playing with a fall decoration, whats the big deal? Well it just seems a little odd, says Pete, have you asked her why she is playing with the pumpkin? No but I will dear if it makes you feel better answers Patti.
 Patti heads upstairs to tuck the children in.

When Patti gets upstairs the children are already in their beds and Tammy has got her pumpkin in the bed with her. Tammy, says Mother, don't you think its time to put the pumpkin away with the other decorations until next year? Oh No Mommy , you can't do that, how will the fairy God mother find it if it's in the attic? Cinderella needs her coach to get to the ball Mommy or she'll never meet prince charming and then she'll be stuck with the wicked stepmother and sisters forever!! OH I see says Mother,  understanding finally  dawning.  Mother gently explains that Cinderella is a fairy tale and that its just make believe and there is no such things as fairy God Mothers and magical pumpkin coaches, but try as she might, Tammy is not convinced and insists upon keeping her pumpkin ! Oh well sighs Mother they are only children for a little while and she settles down to read Tammy's favorite bedtime story, Cinderella once more. As the children drift off to sleep Patti thinks to herself, Fairies indeed!!  If Only!!

Mother heads back downstairs to tell Pete why their daughter has been dragging a pumpkin around when suddenly out of no where this thought just pops into her head....

She knows just what she needs to do, so she tells Pete she will be back in a jiffy and grabs her purse and heads out the door

Mother is back in a flash with her prize, and she quietly makes her way into the twins bedroom, where she will make the switch.. the toy coach and horses for the pumpkin!!

Back downstairs, Pete congratulates her on being such a clever Mother, I just don't know how you think these things up says Pete! Meanwhile upstairs............

Good night sweet children, pleasant dreams!!

Till next time, Love and blessings to you all!!

Teresa