But, my oldest daughter, Heather, and her fiance, Henry, came into town this past weekend for a short visit. They had made plans to attend the festivities at Galveston's Mardis Gras, so they decided to drop by our house beforehand, for dinner.
While organizing the master bedroom closet, Deputy Dave found a wand for Heather which we glued more gaudy things to so it would really stand out.
Deputy Dave had also found this incredible gold crown for Henry to wear for Mardi Gras. These additions made their Mardis Gras get-up even more fun.
Another reason for the kiddos to stop by our house on their way to party in Galveston besides eating dinner together? They needed to drop off the dogs, of course! Two more Australian Shepherds for us to enjoy overnight.
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| Tux, the old guy, in Deputy Dave's lap is the BEST Aussie EVER! Dunk is the other Aussie --- Dunk is Howdy's offspring. Last visit, Dunk attacked Miss Speckles, but this visit he was supervised in hawk-like fashion. |
Tux is the most lovable Aussie on the planet, or so it seems. He is rather large, but a big baby.
Dunk is over two years old now, but he's like a toddler, always looking for trouble. The good thing about him getting to spend a couple of days with us is...I was able to take a few trips into the backyard with him so he could be around the chickens while I stood nearby with my bamboo stick in hand.
Since his last visit found Miss Speckles in his jaws, nearly killed, it's great to do a bit of re-training while we can. He didn't even look cross-eyed at my chickens with me on guard. It was good to get in a bit of chicken-attack rehabilitation for Dunk.
I can attest to the fact that it's not easy to get your house ready to sell when you have five dogs in the house. Everything comes to a stop. You can't really clean properly or paint or dust or keep the floors glossy; you can't do much of anything with five dogs on your heels.
However, I did get to spend time in Stefie's room organizing a few things for packing. She's away at college, so I get to do all of this by myself. Ya!
Both of my daughters have numerous China dolls that their grandma Helen had purchased for them throughout the years. Each time they received one of these dolls, they'd come to me with dread, "MOM, we don't want these dolls, but she keeps buying them for us, even though we tell her we don't want it! She doesn't hear us because SHE loves the the dolls so much, but we think they are super creepy! They can't go in our room, we don't want to see them or them to see us!"
Too many horror movies my dears.
Regardless, the dolls remained hidden or packed away. After the hurricane hit our house, I decided to put out the dolls for all the little kids in the family to observe and enjoy. It's also been a good lesson in that not every doll is for play-time, some are for display. Display dolls, fun stuff!
So, the girls don't want to necessarily get rid of the dolls on a permanent basis, but they don't want them in their rooms at any of our homes; therefore, the dolls are being packed away, yet again.
As I ready them for packing, I look at them and have to agree...they are beautiful, but also a bit creepy.
And I can finally take a picture of HALF the gameroom upstairs! All the rooms upstairs are much easier for me to paint, scrub, organize, etc. because the ceilings do not tower above me; I can actually reach everything easily.
We will be having a yard sale and the stuffed animals below will be added to the goodies that will be sold. Stefie has carefully decided which stuffed animals she wants to keep, which ones she wants to add to the playroom, and which ones she is willing to kick to the curb.
Geez, it's always difficult to kick a stuffed animal to the curb AND that is the reason stuffed animals are a CURSE!
I have no problem getting rid of stuffed animals. They collect dust. They are clutter buddies. They make you feel guilty about wanting to get rid of them. They sit around taking up precious space and seem to be proud about looking ragged.
It's almost as if the stuffed animals have some kind of magical power that says, "My internal stuffing contains every good memory tied to me and if you throw me out, then you will lose a happy moment, FOREVER! HAHAHAHA" --- (Evil laugh of a stuffed animal).
I guess it's easier to start kicking when those memories are tied to old boyfriends you'd rather forget. Curb, get ready for some company!
6 comments:
I had to smile at your post. My mother makes porcelain dolls. So my daughters have a collection. They think the same thing. CREEPY! I have them put up. They also have stuffed animals every way. Those they are not ready to get rid of. Three have moved out on they own but some how I still ended up storing them for them.
I kept my stuffed Humphrey Horse until my Granny couldn't patch him any more. ;)
Have a great evening!
Michelle --- when I was growing up, my next door neighbor built a little doll shop in a nook inside her garage, with a kiln and everything. I'd sit with her for hours as she made her porcelain dolls. She was amazing at it. She also sewed and after hand-painting on their little faces, she'd sew these elaborate dresses with bonnets and laced-edged bloomers. I can't even express how beautiful those dolls had been and how I wished to have been able to buy one from her. She began to sell them in local boutiques around town and began to get so many orders that she couldn't keep up. Sad part...she was a severe alcoholic and the stress made her crack. But, I know some of her dolls are out there in someone's house and if they ONLY knew how treasured each one had been in her hands as it was created, they'd love it even more. I think she initialed their heels, I wish I could remember. So beautiful talent. Our dolls were mostly bought at Crackle Barrel after the grandmother would eat and look at the dolls and go into her second childhood purchasing mode that my kids proved. It's like my sister at Christmas, after our mother had bought her a "Limited Edition" Barbie, my sister said outloud, "Gee, I never KNEW that I was into collecting Barbies...until this very moment." We all went into hysterics and my mother got the point. Unfortunately, the China doll purchaser didn't understand that her teenage grand-daughters did not suddenly want China dolls all over their room...it flat out scared them. Too much CHUCKIE!!
Lana
Linda --- Stefie has a stuffed animal, "Toffee" who is a little dog and she slept with him, even during her first year away at college. We have all been thoroughly threatened to not touch Toffee and he has a place of honor in her room on a shelf. Sometimes, it is well worth the patches to keep them around!!
Lana
We had a time culling Hayley's dolls and stuffed animals. What we couldn't sell we put in a box and gave them away to the little kids that came to our sales. They loved them, and I was glad not to have to just chunk them in the dumpster.
Love Henry's necklace...
Vickie --- we might do the same thing. I might keep a box of them hidden and the good little garage sale kids that are dragged along with the parents might get something free as they are leaving. That would be fun. And Henry is styling!
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