Another year, another huge leap forward on Victoria's Dollhouse! Um. Not really. Maggie and I joke that since the box said, "Ages 13 and up" we shouldn't finish it until she's thirteen. She's eleven. We're right on track!

For the past year and a bit Mud Pie and I have been working on the Epic Victoria's Farmhouse dollhouse. At the outset I thought, "Oooh, fun I can write up tutorials! Like how to run electricity, how to ..." I don't know, build a dollhouse.

And I could write those tutorials. Because we're building the dollhouse inch by inch and learning a heap. But I'm not going to write tutorials. Why? Well, take a look and see...

Okay, so maybe assembling a dollhouse is a little more complicated than I thought.

At last. I have three down with fevers which you might think would impact my time in a bad way. Not so much.

On to the next step in building the Victoria's Farmhouse: pre-assembly. Like staining shingles and finally, finally getting out the bottle of glue.

C1 If we want a really awesome dollhouse then it must have hardwood floors and not dumb manufactured wood floors.

Well, well, well. The instructions were VERY correct in suggesting that we go through the box piece by piece and sort, number, label, and cross off every item.

I think I mentioned my childhood dollhouse experience, and my commitment to not allow the same sad fate to plague my own daughter thirty years from now. But ..

Flashback to 1985-or-so. More than anything else in the universe a certain little girl wanted a dollhouse. A real dollhouse made of wood, with real wallpaper and tiny furnishings

What is decoupage? It's a decorative technique that involves covering something with glue-soaked fabric, paper, etc. and topping it off with a clear finish.

The best thing about Craigslist is finding treasures for cheap. The worst thing: cheap treasures often need a good helping of TLC.

As promised, a post about the building of our chicken coop. No lessons or measurements or blueprints because it's been a while now. Just lots of pictures and a few words.

So in typical Me fashion, my first order of business after deciding to homeschool was to obsessively organize, plan, and pretty much avoid thinking about what I would actually be doing every day.

At long last the Rug That Would Never Be Finished is all grown up!

I needed a new bag with separate pockets for phone and keys so my keys don't, duh, scratch up my phone!

An update on The Rug That Will Never Be Finished.

How to Sew a Wool Soaker!

Step 1: Collect 100% wool sweaters. Medium to heavy weight, any style or color. Thrift shops are fabulous for this. As is your closet - finally a way to use all those "thoughtful" wearable gifts from your mother-in-law!

Step 2: Felt the wool. It sounds fancy but is as easy as...

How's that for a groovy title? Let's see how many Google search hits I get - thinking zero. Anyhow, there's something about maternal hormones, and being on maternity leave from writing, and being a wee little bit cheap, or um, frugal ... and maybe a bit touched in the head.

But I got in my craw that...

When was the last time I took a photo of my rug-in-progress? Before the finger break, I think. Anyhow, here it is. I'm probably about one third of the way through. Far enough to realize I'll need a two-inch border to tie it all together.

Six years ago when I was expecting Mud Pie, I was all out of nesting opportunities. We had a nursery (from Fish and St. Nick), diapers, clothes (we didn't know Pie would be a girl), car seats, dishes, toys, everything. So what did I do?

I tie-dyed all my prefold diapers. And a heap of onsies. And...

What is up with me? I hate sewing - loathe it - despise it. But here I am, sewing like I'm, uh, I don't even know. Martha Stewart (does she sew? Did they allow sewing machines in prison?).

Here's dress for Pie #2:

Thirteenth century ecstatic poet, Jelaluddin Rumi, has been part of my daily literary meal of late. Sandwiched in time between St. Francis of Assisi and Meister Eckhart, Rumi's mysticism is stunningly present, green and alive. Qualities I strive to live: presence, awareness of all that lives around me.

For example, today...

I'm easily bored so the excitement of that Great Goodwill Find of a Hideous Blazing Purple jacket soon wears off. I start to wonder what that purple would do to a light brown, or whether I need a hazy blue-white for snow or sky or what that Blue Blazer would do to white slacks, just because it might be cool and...