my A.D.D. hobbies

What a crazy couple of weeks I've had! First, we moved the kiddo to a new apartment in College Station. The really neat thing about this complex is that all of the apartments are stand-alone houses, and each house comes with parking spaces for each of the residents. Score! She no longer has to deal with downstairs neighbors, their marijuana smoke seeping into her place, or parking a block away. Baby is happy. Momma is happy.

I'm still dealing with some headaches from the crash a few weeks ago, but they seem to be coming a little less frequently. This has given me some time (and motivation!) to continue working on my dollhouses. Last weekend I started planking the porch. I used the hardwood floor strips that came with the Dura-Craft kit, and was really pleased with them.

This title sounds like a Nancy Drew mystery, doesn't it? So if you read my last post , you know that I've had a concussion since Wednesday evening. At first, I was all "woohoo! long weekend! I can do mini stuff for 4 days straight!" Unfortunately, I had no idea what a concussion actually entailed.

It's been a while since my last update, but I have had quite a bit happening. I went to a mini-retreat last weekend, and we worked on a Tuscan room box. We stayed up late, giggled, drank lots of wine, and generally had a fabulous time. In spite of working on it 4 days straight, I still have a lot of work to do so I'll post pictures later. This week marks 14 weeks before my big Half-Ironman training event. Since I've been sporadically training (i.e., not at all), it's crunch time... not a moment more to procrastinate! I went out Wednesday for what was supposed to be a 20 mile ride. It was hot, but I had on my cute sleeveless jersey, bike shorts, and two ice-cold bottles of water. I was having fun, and looking forward to pushing myself to see how quickly I could get the mileage in and get home.

I have done it again. This officially makes house/kit number seven! I think the most fascinating thing about this house is it's history. I found it on Craigslist (of course) and when I arrived to pick it up, I asked the seller what its story was. She said she used to own a bar and one day it just showed up there. She asked around but no one knew where it came from or who had dropped it off. A mystery house! I just can't help myself. There's just something about a cute little dilapidated house that I can't turn my back on.

It has been a while since my last post, but there hasn't been much going on in the land of my dollhouse. I was out of town over the July 4th weekend visiting my daughter, and other than that I've just been steadily plugging away at my painting job. Speaking of which....

Lots to talk about today! We'll start with a plan I've come up with for the flooring. I found this flooring to go in the tower, probably to be installed on the top floor. I've cut a template from a paper towel to be sure it would fit, and it's going to be perfect. The gap in the floor panels will be covered by the flooring, and from what I understand it's a pretty common feature of the Dura-Craft kits anyway. The starburst design will be stunning here. I have also purchased hardwood flooring to go in every room in the house. I've decided I'm going to cut some of it into a herringbone pattern (similar to this floor ) in one of the rooms. Maybe a checkerboard stain pattern in the kitchen, and probably at least one other room with some sort of parquet flooring. The porch will also be planked. It will be stained, most likely a walnut color (my favorite so far) and finished with a high gloss Tung oil. Now, for the balcony. The kit came with plain d...