"Good Morning. I'm Balthazar......"

Tessie started out rolling her own hair to go under the dryer this morning. I painted the rollers puce just for her. I won't show you the photos of her shampooing....The words "drowned rat" come to mind....

Had I known that she was serious about using the new hair dryer, I would have elasticized the bonnet. As it was, I had to take out the thread and run some elastic thread around the edge.

When she finished rolling it, the trouble started.

I heard someone say in a very formal voice, "Good Morning. I'm Balthazar. I will be your stylist today."

He beamed at her and plonked the bonnet from the hair dryer over the curlers. He had to improvise a stand for the dryer higher than her head to get it to work.

First he suggested that she sit on the floor and put the dryer on the chair......

You know how that goes. The indignity of it all!....Tessie was in a snit before he finished the sentence. What I don't understand is, her surroundings were the same as they were minutes ago when she rolled her own hair. Her lower lip went out in a pout and she hissed through her teeth, "What kind of a salon is this? How dare you ask me to sit on the floor?!?"

Zar knew better than to argue. He dragged in her director's chair and placed it behind her easy chair. He piled a foot stool on top of the chair and her box from the other hair dryer on top of that to make the whole thing high enough.

Then he opined, "If you would have let me make you a steam powered, gear driven, dryer, you wouldn't have this problem. The dryer could have had a much longer hose.....Granted it would take longer to dry your hair and it would probably be frizzy when it was done, but it would work better."

No more words from Tessie. She just sat there, her lips in a thin, grim line and glared at him for the thirty minutes that it took to dry her hair.

He returned, with comb in hand, to finish the job. (I was still trying to figure out how he got the title "hair stylist".)

He at least was gentle....I didn't hear one "Ouch!" or "That hurt!" from Tessie. She simply sat there twiddling her thumbs throughout the process.

By this time, I was suspicious that Zar had used his mesmerizer before starting the job.

When the job was finished, he put Spike in her lap, so that she wouldn't be able to jump up or use her hands. Zar may be a lot of things, but he's not stupid.

Then and only then, he let her look in the mirror.

"It's really pretty. So different than what I usually do." murmured Tessie.

With that, I knew that something was fishy. Look at that hair do and tell me that there is even one hair that has changed.......You can't and neither can I.

"Zar! Where did you hide the mesmerizer? I don't want Tessie in a trance for the rest of the day......No wait.....She's happy, right?" I said....Then...."Balthazar, you should change professions. The way you do hair is amazing!"

Hmmmmm.....Steampunk hair dryer? Interesting......

See you tomorrow.

It Had To Happen......

Sooner or later Zar had to leave his inner sanctum and find out where everybody(I) was hiding.

When he showed up, I had just finished putting the first coat of glaze and paint on the shingles....Tessie was placidly sitting in the loft watching. For once she had a smile on her face. She was getting her way. I was working on her tearoom. This week she is calling it a tearoom because that sounds classier than Tessie's Teashop. Who knows what it will be called next. At least both of those are better than Tessie's Tease. I, at least, have her talked out of that.

He looked up at her and said....."OK, why isn't anybody working on the Clockwork Cottage?"

She smiled sweetly, and knowing that he couldn't reach her, replied,"This is ever so much more important. People need their tea."

I went on working. I tried to ignore them both. I knew that the quiet wouldn't last long. I was right.
I heard Tessie say, "Let me show you around, Balthazar."( When she uses his full name she is politely trying to keep out of trouble and his reach.

Tessie came through the front door in a hurry with Zar's outstretched hands reaching for her throat. He missed.

She managed to stay out of his way and showed him the pargeting on the front and the new roof.

Trying to placate him, she said."Now Balthazar. If you want any tea of any special kind, I will be happy to order it for you. Let's see.....Isn't it the blended Scotch teas that you like best. I have heard you mention Cutty Sark and Johnnie Walker. Those are strange names for tea, but if you will tell me where to get them, I will be sure to have them in stock."

I have the feeling that Tessie is going into bootlegging on the side. Anything to keep Zar out of her hair.

Tessie is amazing. He was suddenly very happy to hear that she would be stocking his favorite "tea". So much so that he agreed to help her show off the pargeting on the end of the house!

Tessie zapped herself onto Zar's shoulders and then started pointing out all of the details and describing what he wasn't seeing....His mind was obviously still on tea.....

The last I heard, after Tessie got her feet on the ground once more was Zar asking,"And how soon will the special order of Scottish tea be arriving?".

Things are back to normal. Tessie always lands on her own two feet......and ready to run, once Zar figures out what just transpired.
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.

The Chinese Food Was Good......

Today was the Tucson Miniature Society miniature show and sale. The show part was great. Lots of nice displays. The sale part was not so great, at least not for me. I woke up with a headache this morning and it stayed with me.

I couldn't seem to find anything to get really excited about. I bought some silk ribbon for the classes. Then I wandered around all of the tables carrying on conversations with people that I have known for years. That part was neat. I enjoy seeing mini people from years back and catching up with them.

On the way out to eat lunch, I bought a book called Indian Basketry. After lunch, I came back and took another spin around the sales room. I managed to fine some tin snips and pliers for Zar.

When I gave them to him, he thanked me profusely and started opening wine bottles with them.....I thought he wanted them for the time machine?

Next I found the prize of the day. Tessie would not be happy if I didn't bring her a present. She is now the proud owner of a little gray rabbit. She immediately pushed Spike off of the couch and grabbed the bunny. I think that Spike is not a happy bunny, as the saying goes. The bunny and Tessie are both happy bunnies. But then that's Tessie. Next week it will be a turtle or an aardvark.

My last purchase of the day was a bunch of mini magazines. That should keep me busy for the rest of the day. That is, if I can get around the headache to read them. Yup. It's still here.

I am going to go work on getting rid of it now.

See you tomorrow.

A Deal Is a Deal......

This morning I had to do major surgery on Tessie. She is fine now. her old bones were getting very weak and her right shoulder just plain wore out! She could no longer lift her right arm.

We had a long talk and she agreed to a short nap whilst I took care of everything. I won't go into painful details other than to say that she has a whole new skeleton and lots of new muscles. She is already healed and has her vim, vigor and argumentative nature restored once more.

As soon as she was back from the nap, she started in. "I'm sick to death of this pink apron! I'm not putting it back on! I need something new to wear!"

I told her that I would make her a deal....If she would help me clean out the Clockwork Cottage so that it was workable again, I would make her a new one with material of her choosing.

I don't think that she has had a look at the cottage lately..... She agreed.

She said that, since I had been working on all kinds of quilt things, she thought that a patchwork apron would be appropriate.

She is standing in front of a photo from that darned Luxe magazine.

I have a feeling that thing is going to be all kinds of trouble. She likes this kitchen and wants one like it in one of her new houses......Yup. She read the blog the other day when I said that I had a Harrison kit under the bed....She went and looked at it. Now she can't decide which one of the kits she likes better. She is under the delusion that she has a choice! She seems to think that a new house is a foregone conclusion. Anyway, that's the apron.

Most of the apron is glued together. I hemmed the bottom and two short sides of a piece of fabric about the size of an index card with glue. Then I simply folded back hems on three sides of the bib part to fit her chest. I cut a waistband from some matching red and some shoulder straps from the same material. I turned in the long edges of the waistband with glue and folded the straps in half the long way. The straps, I trimmed with scissors to neaten them.

The only sewing was running a gathering stitch along the top edge of the apron. Then I glued one edge of the waistband to the skirt of the apron and put the bib on the opposite side centering it. I put a dot of glue on the waist band and wrapped it around her. Then I did the same with the ends of the straps. There is enough glue on them to keep them on, but not enough that they can't be easily pulled off. There you have it. Instant apron. Almost.

She is trying for lots of brownie points. Look at the cottage now!

She even got Zar to help. I heard her tell him that if he didn't want to be a toad, he would help big time! It seemed to work.

Besides, I think that Zar wants his cottage finished.

We won't talk about the fact that Tessie can't wait for me to finish it so that I can get to her new house. It is inevitable. I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will settle for the Magnolia......I fear that she will and then about half way through the build she will change her mind and want to add the Harrison on to one end!

Please don't let her see this. I plan to put parental controls on the blog immediately following this entry.

See you tomorrow!

What Do You Mean, No New Clothes?

Tessie is extremely irritated with me. I told her that she was going to have to get along in the new clothes she has for a few days. I need to do other things right now. She is trying everything that she can think of to ruin the ones she has, so that she can force me to make new ones.....Not going to happen!

I decided that I have to get back to work on the Clockwork Cottage, if it is ever going to be finished.

I worked in the bathroom this morning. The water boiler needed a place to sit by the bathtub.

I got to work with some illustration board and some wood. Measure. Cut. Measure. Cut. I finally got the form the way that I wanted it to look. Here you can see the basic construction.

Some might ask why I didn't use wood and get all fancy. I go by a rule that I learned working at restoration. A lot of the rooms/ buildings that I worked on were built by very smart people. If it looked like a duck and walked like a duck, it was a duck. In other words, faking it is not against the rules. If something gives the desired effect and can't be distinguished from the "real" thing, it's OK to use it. Just don't tell anyone about the slight of hand. They will never know. I am telling you so that you can give yourself permission to do the same thing without guilt.

When installed, it looks like it belongs there. At the time these tubs were being installed, there were no bathrooms. People had to make room for indoor plumbing wherever they could.

In my Grandma Daisy's house the bathroom had been squeezed in behind the kitchen in what had once been a pantry. It was not really a great place for the one and only bathroom but it was convenient for the added plumbing in an old house. When I stayed the night there, if I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I had to stumble down a steep flight of stairs half asleep.

Having to add a hot water boiler in some baths was another inconvenience and they had to build make shift places to put the tank. Zar's bath was probably once another bedroom, as was his workroom. Many of the old houses needed more space and add ons didn't necessarily make sense, when it came to location of rooms.

I temporarily put up a few pieces of wood around the entrance to the workroom to see if it would be possible to disguise the opening. I think that it will work quite well with some three board shelves hung on the door.

Tessie came bouncing in and watched the installation. Before Zar or I could stop her, she jumped in the tub.

"Turn on the hot water, Zar."

"Get out of the tub. Are you out of your mind?"

"I want to see if these stupid new clothes will shrink. If they do, I will be getting some different ones."

I had to intervene before Zar was tempted to either scald or drown her. I pulled her out by the scruff of her neck and firmly told her to go home.

She stomped off muttering something about hoping that there were LOTS of mud puddles after the rain that we had last night.

I am sure that I will be making new clothes soon. She is going to win this one......I am just not sure how soon it is going to happen.

"Tessie!!! Get away from that mud!"

See you tomorrow.

Clothes Make the Woman........

Well.....I made the bow smaller this morning. Tessie made such a fuss and, let me tell you, if she ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

I had to make it smaller twice and it still wasn't quite how she wanted it. She made Zar stand behind her and re tie it until it was almost worn to a frazzle. She had the dogs and Theo watching from the front to see if it looked right.

Finally, Zar refused to re tie it anymore and Tessie stomped off to her favorite dragon to test it out......She was right.....And we all know how Tessie loves being right.

The skirt was about the same width as the old one, but no lace at the bottom, so it didn't give as much when she got on the dragon. She refuses to ride side saddle.

She made the statement that "Hiking my dress up to my elbows in order to ride is NOT lady like!" I have to admit she is right. I just made it to her specifications. She forgot that part.

Now she is insisting on another whole new outfit. It must be dragon ride-able. It must be lady like.....No split riding skirts. It must still be white. That's the only thing that she now likes about this dress. The white is like the old one.

After all of that work yesterday, the ungrateful wretch wants me to start over. In fact, she is marching back and fourth across the desk with a newly made sign. She will stop and rant at anybody that will listen.....she is now whining that the first outfit that she had was just fine. She hasn't liked anything I have made for her since!

Zar and the animals just left me alone with the madwoman that is Tessie.

As they did, Zar turned with a grin and said to me,"It's your turn!"Sometimes he is just plain mean!

I guess I will go handle it now.....Someone hand me the scissors, and a needle and thread! I promise not to sew her mouth shut.....Maybe just a little glue?

See you tomorrow.

Another Door Opened......

This morning my friend Debi wanted more information about the new workbench. Luckily it still had it's original tag on the bottom. It is from a company by the name of FIGI out of San Diego CA. The copyright on it is 1999. It is in pretty good shape for probably being ten years old. I didn't show you the other two sides yesterday because one has a permanently open drawer and the other had a very boring door......Today I discovered that the boring door opens to a lot more tools. Saws, hammers, and chisels abound! Not so boring after all.

Zar refused to let me put it in the workshop until I put a top on it, so I went to work. It was pretty straightforward. I cut two pieces of foam core that were 1/8" shorter than the top. I glued them to two the inside on opposite walls. Then I cut a top to fit the hole out of 1/8" bass wood. Here you see it as I am ready to glue the top into the hole.

After the glue dried I took a stylus and scribed the lines of the wood pieces to match the ends and did other scratching to match the grain of the wood in the other pieces. I put a bit of spackle in the cracks at the end of the board and then I painted it to match the rest of the top.

Zar is very happy with the new work surface.....I have a feeling that he secretly wants to keep the large work bench set up as a bar. I am going to have to start hiding bottles or he won't get a lick of work done.

Tessie, for some reason, is becoming a tool aficionado. Perhaps she thinks pitching in and helping finish the Clockwork Cottage will bring about the beginning of Spiderwort Manor more quickly.

I will let her keep thinking that. Six hands are better than four, not that Balthazar is all that enthusiastic about helping. I have to twist his arm. He would rather invent than work on his own home. Right now he is working on the Steam computer once again. He says that he can't seem to get the pressure high enough to get it running. I wonder if he has ever stopped to think that my big computer works without steam.....

Anyway, I can now officially put the new workstation in place and he won't have any excuse not to work on the house. I don't think I am going to hold my breath until he starts. It could be hazardous to my health. Back to the grindstone!

See you tomorrow.

Garage Sale Jackpot!

This morning I hit the garage sales on the way home from town. I actually only left the car at two and only one was really worthwhile.

These were my finds. The first was this stool. It was sitting beside another just like it but obviously very old. The lady told me that she had had this copy made of the old one in hopes that she could salvage the other one and have a pair. The other one was not really salvageable. This one is perfect. It needs stain and finish and I will have a beautiful copy. I paid a whole TWO dollars for it!

I got the book on top for a dollar. It is full color and lots of neat ideas for mini rooms and even some real size how to's that have possibilities.

I pitched in another doller for this. I thought it might be too big, but I got it home and made Zar stand next to it for size. He is soooooo excited! Look at all of the tools. I am going to have to fill in the top of the bench, but other than that it is perfect for the mad scientist that builds things. He is planning on making the drill steam powered.....Most of the other tools will only work if he works them.

It was actually a pencil cup for a desk. It sure saves me a lot of work. I won't have to hunt for tools for the workshop. They are all right there. The scale is perfect!

Tessie broke up the party, but couldn't manage to talk Zar out of his drink. We may have to send him to rehab if he doesn't cut it out.

When Tessie saw the vice on the corner of the bench, she got a gleam in her eye and said to Zar, "See, if you put your finger in here, and I turn this handle, we can see if it works....." Zar may be a little tipsy, but he's not all that stupid. He told her, "You can put your own finger in there! I'm not doing it!" Maybe there's hope for him yet.....

We are going out to lunch and a movie. I have to go get ready. You can stay and witness the argument if you want. I am leaving now.

See you tomorrow.

100,000 and a Table....

Well....The blog hit 100,000 last night. I wish I knew who was the 100,000 viewer. I would do it like the grocery stores do it with the 1,000,000th customer. They would get a prize. There is no way to tell so I guess I will have to come up with another way. I can see it now. People are going to start commenting that they were the one. I will let you know when I figure out how to do it.

Meantime, right after it hit 100,000 Walter walked in and handed me this! My very own Casey's Minis tee shirt. Then he handed me a second one. Maybe that is so I can be wearing one while the other one is in the laundry......

The photo in the center is not to clear in the picture. It is Tessie holding the beaded needle nosed pliers that she uses to pinch people that annoy her. I have to take them away from her quite regularly, but somehow she always manages to get them back. Under the photo it gives the blog addy and then it says 100,000 and counting.

Now to the table. I finished it this morning. Remember the raw table from yesterday? Today it has aged about 100 years. Be sure to poke the picture.

I used Golden Pecan Minwax stain on it first then to give it depth, I went over it with Early American before the other one dried. That way it sunk in some places more than others. I wiped it as I went to achieve the effect that I wanted.

After that, I took an emery board and and Exacto knife to it and knocked down the edges and corners. Then I went back in with the Early American and re stained places. I put a coat of satin poly on it and rubbed it in with my finger That gave it protection, but no shine.

I used some of the rub in stuff that I found at Michael's several years ago in the scrapbooking department. It no longer has a label and I don't think that they carry it anymore anyway. It is kind of like rub'n'buff, but less oily. It is almost like a combination of powder and cream eye shadow. Anyway, I put that in all of the corners and cracks (dark gray and a bit of bronze) to make it look old and used. The last step was to drill a hole and glue in one of the bars from a bracelet fastener. I coated that with the grease and grime too. It was shiny silver before I got to it.

As soon as I put it in the workshop, Zar set up a bar on it. He says that he is just following the directions in the photo where I found the table. Tessie brought cheese and bread. They are there now. I think that they planned this because they knew I was going to the museum tonight. Everywhere I go I keep hearing whispers about the party tonight and the mini people aren't talking about the one at the museum. They weren't invited. I hate it when they do this kind of thing. I will be cleaning mini party food out of the rug and wiping wine stains out of the curtains.

Remember how the house in "Weird Science" looked the morning after the big party, with the missile coming through the roof? That was my house after the last shindig that those two threw!

There is still no sign of Spike and Theo is following Tessie around like a puppy dog. We are going to have to have a talk about re purposing pets!

See you tomorrow with a party report.

Liar, Liar!

I went over to the museum this morning and set up a bunch of classes, now through March. That took up most of the morning.

I am going to be teaching a class on getting started in miniature making and choosing tools to get started. Then there will be three basket classes on the different ways to make them.

The Wicker Bassinet class that I proposed turned into a vignette with a few other pieces to go with it. That one will wind up being a 6 part class since I opted to teach it once a week for three hours at a time instead of trying to cram it all into one or two sessions.

The last one we planned will be an intermediate wicker chair. That one will be a three part class. It will be more complicated than the bassinet.

I chose to teach in small spurts rather than one long class because I believe that you retain more if you do it for a couple of hours and then go home and think about the things that you did before you start trying to cram more stuff in your head. I feel that if you stuff all of the information in your brain in one session a lot of it falls out and you lose it. I know that works better for me.

Anyway, about the table that I started yesterday. I lied. I didn't get it done today. After the morning at the museum, I came home and waited for the TV repair man and cleaned up the kitchen. It was a complete disaster area after the past few days with Luxie. You should see the sawdust.....No.....Strike that. You shouldn't see the sawdust. Anyway, now that I have the class schedule settled maybe things will get back to normal. I still have to do some planning, but now I know what I am planning for.

I did put the table in place so that Zar could see if it was going to work, size wise. He was pleased.

Tessie showed up. She hopped up and sat on the table. Theo was trailing her. I think that, for the time being, Zar has resigned himself to having Tessie in the secret workshop. After all, there really isn't anything that she can get into right now. It probably won't be long before she is banned again, because he is talking about setting up shop as soon as the windows are installed.

I am still looking for Spike. Funny thing. When I was wandering around calling his name Theo showed up a couple of different times. It makes one wonder........

See you tomorrow and I promise to finish the table. Progress, I must make progress.....

Zar's the Star...

I have been sadly neglecting Zar and the Clockwork Cottage lately, but I ran across a photo on the Steampunk Home blog http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/ that changed that.

I found this workbench that had been changed into a bar. It seemed perfect for Zar's workshop. There were no measurements, so I decided to make them up as I went along. It wound up being 2X4 feet and about 3 feet high in mini.

I made it from scraps of wood that I had around and just guessed at sizes.

Luxie had it cut out in no time.

I put the top and legs together in one corner of the gluing jig and the bottom shelf and sides together in another corner. After they dried, I slipped the shelf in place and then put the bottom runner on the legs.

It is looking pretty good so far. The legs are a bit narrower than the original, but It's pretty close otherwise. Zar put his seal of approval on it.

I still need to rough it up a bit, add stain and hardware. That is going to have to wait until tomorrow. I need to get my house in order and do more of the work on the prototypes.

See you tomorrow with the finished table.

A New Pet for Tessie.....

The feud still continues between Tessie and Zar. She will do anything she can to get his goat.....No pun intended. She seems to have figured out how to zap into being, a baby tiger. I guess she couldn't manage a grown one.

I found her in the computer room playing with him this morning. She has named him Theo, after Vincent Van Gogh's brother. He is really cute, but I fear that this is not good news for Balthazar. He is allergic to cats. I think that Theo is in that category, even tho he's not a house cat.

Unfortunately, Tessie knows about the allergy. She played with him for a while until he got bored with the yo yo. Then when Zar came in she tried to get Theo to go into attack mode. He would have nothing to do with the man carrying the big stick.

Tessie got him to take three steps forward then he ran and hid. He took up residence in Spike's bed.....Hmmm...That reminds me. I haven't seen Spike for a couple of days. I wonder if there is a spell to change a pit bull into a tiger?

While I am here, I want to show you my new toy. You probably already have one of these, but it is new to me. I found it in the scrapbooking department of Target this morning. It is made by Fiscars, the same company that makes all of the great scissors. It is an ergonomically correct craft knife. The barrel is kind of triangular in shape and "fits the hand". I am going to try it out for a few days and then I will let you know how it works. We shall see....

Only one other thing. Right this minute I have counted 99,312 hits on the blog! When it hits 100, 000 I am going to have to come up with a way to celebrate. I never in a million years would have thought that I would make that mark!

See you tomorrow.

Don't Triffle with Tessie!

I grabbed the camera and went after Zar and Tessie after you left yesterday. Zar threw Tessie on the handlebars of the Steampunk bike. That part, she seemed to like. She thought that all was forgiven and it was fun......Then......Zar bypassed her cottage, his half finished house, and headed straight to the basket that carried them to the museum.

He unceremoniously dumped her in the lounge that she had insisted on taking to the museum. He said "This is where you belong, Tessie! You are a basket case!" Then he picked up the Mesmerizing Machine, but she was to quick for him. She poofed his racing form into her hand and shielded her eyes. The crystal spun to no avail. It doesn't work unless you can get the subject to stare at it....Come on! You can't seriously believe that Tessie would stare at it, now that she knows what it can do to her memory banks.

She quickly summoned the Black Dragon. He came swooping down into the basket and picked her up.

Poor unfortunate Balthazar was snagged at the same time. Now they are flying madly around the family room. Zar is hanging on for dear life and Tessie is trying to poke his right eye out with her thumb to make him let go.

Please excuse me now. I think that I shall have to go separate the two of them and put each in a different room to cool off. I don't want to have to wrap both of them in bandages like tiny mummies. I already have a mummy in the Archeologist's Office. I don't need two more.

Where did I put that fly swatter?

See you tomorrow.

I Want That.....

And that, and that, and one of those and two of those.......The list went on and on this morning. Tessie was incessant in her "I wants". I knew that the peace and quiet couldn't last 24 hours after the outing to the Mini Time Machine.

I found her having Zar help with getting her from place to place on the net, picking things out. First she went to Pat and Noel Thomas' website to pick out a house. She liked the last one, but I think it's a little out of her price range. If you want to see the house, go to http://www.thomasopenhouse.com/about.html

Next thing I knew she had found John Davenport's book on furniture making. She couldn't find a website with his pieces.....She announced that I could make some of that.....Dream on Tessie, my girl. If you want to look, here's where she found that. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Making-Miniature-Furniture-John-Davenport/dp/0713483105/

The last thing that Zar helped her with was Aquisto Silver Co. http://www.acquistosilver.com/ She zeroed in on his magnificent silver chandelier.

That was all I could stand of her shopping for one day. I was afraid that her next step was to learn how to use my credit card.....Remind me to hide it in a safe place when I go to bed at night.

She was hanging over the top of the computer, gazing at the chandelier and Zar tried to get her down. When he couldn't, I succeeded and told him to deal with her.......He did.......

As they left the room I heard, "Watch the hands, buddy! Put me down!!! This is outrageous!!!" I am now quietly leaving the computer room and dead-bolting the doorto keep Tessie out.

See you tomorrow.

Making Amends.....

That's what Tessie has been doing ever since I forced her to put Zar back in his own skin.

I was asked to teach at the new Mini Time Machine(Museum). I have been working on a prototype all day. Tessie is hovering around handing me supplies and tools. I appreciate the help, but I fear that she and Zar both have ulterior motives.

They volunteered to pose with this. It is the official invitation to the museum opening. They seem to be under the impression that I am going to take them along. After all, it is a mini museum. I keep trying to tell them that it is for big people to view miniatures. Then she said." That is just absurd. I don't go around viewing big people's things without their permission!" I reminded her that she does it every day, "That's completely different. I have a right to look. I live here." I guess she has a point. I really don't have a good argument for that one.

Anyway, I have to get the prototypes done, so I am cutting this short. No. You don't get to see them yet. Someday soon though.

See you tomorrow.

My Favorite Mini.....

Yesterday, on the Greenleaf Forum, someone asked everyone to list their favorite mini, excluding dolls. I wonder why they didn't want dolls? I got around that by answering that Tessie is my favorite mini and she is not a doll. She is a real, live witch. Just ask her!

Anyone that doesn't read the blog probably thought that I was stark, raving, mad. No comments please.

Tessie was very pleased with the answer. Don't tell her that I have a couple of other real live favorite minis.

They live in the back yard. I simply call them the "Hummers". There are three hummingbirds that live very close and are in the yard all of the time. If I am outside, they will buzz my head, missing only by inches. The first time one of them did that, it scared me half to death. Now I am used to it.

There are other hummers that come to visit, but these three are residents. I took the feeder down and brought it into the house to refill. The momma bird hovers by the kitchen window about 6" from the glass watching to see that I do it correctly. When I take it back out and hang it up they are on it immediately.

I have tried to get photos of them. A blur is mostly how they turn out. Here you can see them both, but just barely.

Momma seems to enjoy perching on the barbed wire wreath that I have hanging on the post. It about 6 feet from the feeder and the window. This is the only good photo that I have gotten of any of them. OK, so it's not great. You try getting a photo of a birds that flap their wings hundreds of times a minute.

Now back to the real minis. When I got home from the mini meeting yesterday, I was very pleased to see that the whole front of the house was plastered. Zar had stucco on his hands and even on his shoes. The hypnosis was wearing off and he kept trying to avoid looking at the crystal....The silly man thinks that holding up a used library card will protect him!

Tessie finally let him go with a warning....."If you ever try hypnotizing me again, YOU will be toast!" I don't know if that means she is going to stuff him in her oven or something worse. Probably the something worse option.

Let's just say he has been put in his place. I think that he is still trying to figure out a way to make her forget the secret room, but it won't be by putting her in a trance. We shall see what he comes up with to take the place of the crystal.

Tessie is hanging on to that for dear life and the last I saw of Balthazar he was cowering in a corner of the secret room, by the dumbwaiter, chewing his nails. Lesson learned for now.....

See you tomorrow.