Dilly Dally

What we have here...is a failure to communicate!!! 'My bad!!!!!!! Every once in a while, I don't write to those I should...people think I've dropped off the surface of the Earth. I don't e-mail, snail mail, send cards, write in my diaries....I have three....personal, garden, and dollhouse.....I don't call people very often either. No reason, just closed mouth....which my family would say "that's a good thing", since I can be a motormouth at times.

So, to the Garfield. My silence has not meant I'm not working on it, but the work is pretty slow. The life size garden has the priority right now and, boy, does it need hands on in there.

Since seeing what Gina ( More Minis. blogspot.com ) did to the 3rd floor gazebo instead of a tower room, I have wanted to do something very different to the house. Since most of the structure is done, I had to find some place to create a new look. I've chosen the porch roof. To be more specific, there will be NO porch roof, at least, the way it was intended. In the Greenleaf directions, the porch roof is slanted. In the photos above, you see a triangular piece of wood slanted down from the side of the front porch. It is to hold the roof in place. Well, I cut it off...flat against the walls. I am not going to have a slanted roof on the porch...it will be flat, with railing all around the perimeter of the porch. It will resemble a "Widow's Walk", though it is too low to be have that purpose.

I have taken the wood pieces to the roof and filled in the tabs with spackle and sanded them flat. I will paint the top of that wood the same brown I am using in the trim pieces and the underside ceiling of the porch a creamy color, yet to be picked out. In fact, all my basic house colors need to be picked out.

I have a "what to do first?" list:

1. Finish the siding

2. Paint the exterior

3. Paint the porch floor, ceiling, roof

4. Prepare the porch trim pieces-sanding, dry fitting, painting

5. Install the 3 doors- the front door, the side door, and the 2nd floor doors

6. Get the exterior windows ready

7. Place the stone on the tower-I'm practicing on a scrap piece of wood and I still need more practice

8. Prepare corner trim pieces and trim to go under the roof of the porch ( like a cornice, but a flat piece )

9. I KNOW I've missed something

I'll try to be more talkative from now on...kick me if I take too long.