Simply Curious

THE DOLLHOUSE CASTLE

*Drooool*

This site is for all those people who think that dollhouses are toys for children. I'd like to see it in person, and I understand that it's on display - but it's closed! Time for some window peeping . . .

Have I mentioned Puzzle Pirates?

It's got repetitive, addicting games. It's got a pirate theme. It's got a very complex economy and a lot of things to do. You can run a shop, sail the seven seas, work in town, work for the Navy, play card games, participate in brawls and tournaments, etc, etc . . . I've only explored one small portion of it, and am amazed at how BIG this game feels to me. And there's updates. And when you read their message boards it's not full of posts from players complaining about the game and its owners. It's full of useful information!

I fear for Realm. I really do. It got hacked again, and now there's 'major security issues' that have forced the owners to physically remove the server from its normal location (as well as take it offline) so that they can try to address them. Or so they claim. The last update they tried to implement a few weeks ago (the first in many months) proved to be buggy and they took it down. The code is so old that hardly anyone knows how to write it. Not to mention the many, many patches that have been added to it over the years. It was one of the first online role playing games, released when Sierra was in its heyday in the mid 90's.

So, while waiting for it to come back up, I've been indulging my pirate fetish. And working a bit on my miniatures. Soon I'll be posting about my new shrinkray!

This is my Christmas present to my grandparents. This kitchen island came with the house, and my grandmother's been wanting it tiled ever since she found out it wasn't a true butcher block surface.

With the right tools, tiling is really very easy. The hardest part was figuring out which pieces needed to be cut to make everything fit. Fortunately, my brother-in-law's best friend owns a tile cutter. (how's that for bizarre relations?) I took the tiles up to my sister's house over the weekend and he cut them for me. Everything fits perfectly! I have to wait 24 hours before I can add the grout, and then I'll be done.

She had asked other relatives to do it, and they all hemmed and hawwed and found excuses not to. She finally complained to me, and, well, you see the results above.
Sometimes, the best gift you can give someone is your time. I have plenty of that to give away.

Oh yeah. Happy Halloween. This year's pumpkin is based on the rare "worth 5 million on the Trading Channel" shocked face pumpkin on the Realm. It was a good, easy face to do, and I get to make jokes about it on Channel 1. The realm graphic was blatantly stolen from Bored's web site.

If you're easily grossed out by medical photos, don't look. If you've put up with me and my braces for the past year and are curious to see what changes have occured, well then, by all means, take a look!

The Willowcrest is now back in the basement, where it was born. It was a high school graduation present, and I spent the following summer and part of the fall down there, putting it together and doing my first kit-bash when I enlarged the kitchen and bathroom. I had just joined my first miniature online group - Small Stuff, I think it was, and had been learning a LOT about different techniques for decorating.

I had wanted a house that looked like the beautiful victorians we drove by on our way to Harrisburg, PA, but with decorated in a contemporary style. It was going to be MY house, no dolls in this one, just stuff that I wanted to own life size. Of course, I dressed a modern doll, and then she took over the house, and both wove themselves into one of my stories. I'm not sure if I've forgiven her yet for that.

My favorite part of the house is the brick facade. The siding that came with the house warped horribly when I painted it, so I smeared wood putty all over the side of the house and drew lines in it to resemble bricks. Then I painted it. I was incredibly pleased with the results.

I wanted a big stained glass window over the tub in the bathroom. The first one was ok, but I wanted a bay window, and had to wait a few years before I felt confident enough to try it. It was only recently that I was finished that section of the house.

I had too many ideas, and only one house. The bedroom turned into a Pool room, and then a study. The attic went from an attic to a guest room to an office to a bedroom to a, well, you get the idea. I feel I'll be much better off sticking to room boxes. For now, I will finish the house, empty. Perhaps give it to my cousins, or to some neighbors. Possibly donate it to charity? Who knows. My other dollhouse will not leave my possession - it means too much to me. There's so much work to be done on it! At least this one has a definite theme! I've only one room completely finished in there - the kitchen. And considering I just stole the kitchen table for the shelf and haven't installed the doors on the bottom of the pantry, it isn't finished after all.

My room looks so bare now. I'm painfully aware that the only things hanging on the wall are a mirror and my Middle Earth Tapestry. I was thinking of using floating shelves to display the dolls I've finished. Now to go and find some . . .

Pumpkinglow.com The site for pumpkin carving patterns


It's that time of year again! This is one of the best sites out there for free carving patterns. I did Calvin and Hobbes in the wagon last year - now to decide on this year's pattern!

Virginia Bowman Estep

This is a picture of my great, great, great aunt. Technically, my mother's grandfather's father's aunt. Amazing how looks can be passed down this far in a family!

Watched Treasure Planet this afternoon for the first time. (Yes, I know, I'm running a teensy bit behind on my movie watching!) All's I can say is, wild. They make Muppet Treasure Island seem normal. (Still one of my favorites!) What you have is 18th century clothing in what, the 28th century? Robots and all sorts of space creatures, a lady captain who'd make a fantastic Salamandastron Hare if Disney ever does the Redwall series (ooh, I hope not Disney! some other company, please!) and a funky little Flubber wannabe shape-shifter. No Squire Trelawney, no treasure brought home, and Jim Hawkins jumps abruptly from punk kid to naval graduate.

Now, Treasure Island has been one of my favorite stories for a long long time. I remember first reading it after my aunt gave me a Commodore 64 game based on it. The game sure was a lot easier to play after I knew the storyline! R.L. Stevenson is right up there on the shelves with my Tolkien and Twain books. (hmm, that sounds alphabetized, it just happens to be the authors I like enough to buy in hardback!) Great stuff, even after all this time.

I tend to be rather critical of the movies, but I do have a few favorites. Charlton Heston and Christian Bale starred in one several years ago that I consider to be truest to the book. Fantastic acting, great setting, you can almost feel the steamy humidity of the island. I think it was a TNT Original? I'll have to look it up. And corny as it may sound, my other favorite is Muppet Treasure Island. The costumes are beautiful, and Tim Curry's delivery of Long John Silver is out of this world. He's not good, he's not bad, he's just looking out for himself and woe to those who interfere or fall into his schemes.

I don't know where to put Treasure Planet. it was . . . different. In a bizarre kind of way. A Stevenson meets Star Trek thing. The graphics were quite nice, kind of sparkly and deep. I'm sure the effect was much better on a large screen. I did laugh during it (first time this week?) so that had its positive points, but . . . hmm. I guess there was just too many levels in it, aimed at different audiences.

It was just . . . wierd!