Our Little House in the Big Woods

September 22, 2016

Annual Dollhouse Show.

Each year, we attend the Annual Dollhouse

Show in September. It's such a treat to

meet others who are passionate and very

creative about their own dollhouses.

I save all year to put aside $100 just to spend

on whatever I'd like to add to the houses we have.

This year, it was the 20th Anniversary of the club

that puts it on and it was another great show. My

haul above looks small but it's quite a bit of stuff

for the very small sum of $21 altogether. Over the

years, I've collected so much so there wasn't as much

that I needed in terms of big items. Tons of smalls.

Left picture: I loved this tiny bouquets for the planters.

Right picture: a sweet print to frame and a metal tea set.

Left picture: pretzels, cinnamon buns and donuts. Yum!

Right picture: festive wreath, jump rope, tea towels.

Left picture: watermelon, fruit, baby items, ladybug leaf.

Right picture: stained glass, photo album, musical notes.

Left picture: flower basket, eggs in a basket, turkey.

Right picture: stitched rose, festive sign, wallpaper sheets.

My best find of the day was this sweet gazebo

that one of the members was selling due to her

impending retirement from dollhouse crafting due

to her declining health. I know this gazebo is a

kit that sells for about $110 plus shipping and tax.

But I scored it for a tidy $15. It's just like the

one I envision having in our back yard, one day,

down the road. For now a dream but at least

my dollhouse will have one to enjoy. Not a bad

haul at all for a total of $36 for the day. Perfect.

Our big move from living in a small hamlet out to the country was just over a year ago now, our home for just over 26 years. We originally bought this beautiful little piece of land to build a house for our growing family. Then we realized how much of a pain it would be to move our very established kids out of town, when their activities were keeping them grounded and everything was so close. Plus they really didn't seem all that keen about leaving town. So then we decided to just hold on to it, working on it a bit each year and once the kids were gone, we'd then build a "tiny" cottage, just for the two of us. Space to live, space for our creative pursuits and space for a grandchild or two to visit. Fast forward to 2016 and here we are, in the country, surrounded by immense and incredible trees, lovely and quiet neighbors, wildlife that intrigues us and space for all who live and visit. It's not quite a "tiny" cottage but it's not a mansion either so we're happy with the extra room we have without the "mega house" expense. Two of our kids and one grandkid live here too, again, not part of the plan but we're happy, they're safe and everyone has their individual space to chill out.

We were going to give ourselves one year to see if we liked it and if not, then we knew we could move back to town, back to our old house. So many will share stories of how hard country living is, but too date, we've not had any struggles. At this point, we honestly can' imagine moving back to the hustle and bustle of hamlet living. Plus we leased out our house to a lovely family who would love to stay beyond the one year we all agreed to start with. I think that's one thing that has made it easier ~ if we suddenly hated country living, we know we'd have a home we love to go to.

But for now, life in the country is amazing. We had a really mild Winter and that was going to be the deal breaker. There are many rumors abounding in relation to this year's coming season. It's scary to think it could be the "worst Winter on record" but we'll deal with what comes. At least if we get snowed in, we have a lovely place to be. I'm actually hoping we get at least one cold, snowy time so we can hang out and not go anywhere!

Move: ours was directed by us and it was long as we did it in spurts. But it also gave us a chance to get rid of the stuff we didn't want. Next time, I'd hire a moving company but for this big move, it was good to do it in the manner that we did. Our next move would either be back to our old house or out to our paradise island on the West Coast. Not something we need to think about now. Always good to have plans though ....