Sunshine’s Doll House (part 3)….

So I gathered, my tools and made the best guess on the paint color for the house. I was glad to start because it gave me something to occupy my time.

The frame assembled together easily, but I quickly realized that I needed to find a solution to keeping the house square without the use of clamps. My solution was to put the front of the house on as fast as possible. I pushed my work desk against the apartment wall then taped the corners and sides together to hold them fast. I applied heavy books on the top and sides to help seal the seams between the levels and the front.

After sitting overnight, I took the house outside for the painting. I applied a white primer coat in an attempt to lighten the blue color I had chosen. The primer coat went on fine as did the blue finishing coat. 

The next jobs to complete would be all the windows, the front door and the roof with the shingles.

And away she went……

I had a car that gave up the ghost of life last June.  The Toyota had been the first purchase of my ex-wife and mine in 1993. Every day I drove the car when I didn’t have Sunshine pick-up and delivery while working on my Master’s Degree.

During the separation and final divorce, the car became mine.  I had never liked the car since it was first purchased, but it was a mode of transportation. It started having issues that seemed to tell me its days were numbered. Last June, I was laid off from my teaching job and I picked up Sunshine for our annual Florida trip.

Upon our return the car would not start and I knew it was the battery. Fortunately, A friend of mine happened to come into possession of an extra car she did not need. I borrowed the car and have since worked out arrangements to purchase it. But there the Toyota sat until I could figure out what to do with it.

I had a few people look at buying it but no one wanted it. Then I thought I would donate the car to charity. A friend of mine provided me a web address that listed all types of charities in NC that accept donated cars.  I was looking for a worthy charity.

I chose Operation Family Fund to donate my car to. Their mission is to assist the injured and families of the those who have been injured or killed as a part of the Global War on Terrorism, whether domestic or abroad, military or civilian, with financial grants for transitioning to their new circumstances and achieving financial self-sufficiency. !00% of all donations goes directly to those families who need the help.

Sunshine's Dollhouse (Part 2)

After dropping Sunshine off with her mother, I opened the box to look at my “gift.” Out of the box, poured of hundreds of wooden parts.   

After searching for the instruction sheet, I found a group of papers that looked more like a manual to program my computer.  After looking over the 17 page instruction manual, I realized that this had more attachments for me than when I bought my house back in 2001.

It also dawned on me that I was going to have to be creative in construction because of not having many of the tool or available cash resources. Since I’m currently unemployed, the one thing I have plenty of is time. I gathered the few tools I had and purchased some paint. After days of procrastination, Sunshine’s Doll House is now  underway… 

Sunshine’s Dollhouse….

I was looking for a project to keep me physically busy while I looked for a new job.  A couple of months ago, I was talking to a friend of mine about wanting to have a dollhouse for my daughter, Sunshine, to play with when she comes to visit me.  I had been pricing various wooden kits, as well as, pre-made plastic houses.  I mentioned that I wanted a dollhouse that would be like nothing she had at her mother’s or her maternal grandmother’s house.

One day my friend, in front of Sunshine, gave me wooden dollhouse in box as seen in craft shops.  Sunshine was thrilled. I was cautiously optimistic. As a kid, I loved putting model airplanes and ships together.  I understood that this was going to put model building skills to the ultimate test.  Sunshine’s enthusiasm and confidence in me was inspiring to say the least. I told myself that if I could build a wooden sailing model, with all the rigging, this wouldn’t be too hard. I mean it’s a house, how difficult could it be?

Saturday, March 12, ...

... marked the anniversary of the scuttling of the CSS Neuse. The Neuse was never able to achieve the glory that her sister ship CSS Albemarle. But serve the Confederate States Navy she did.

We fired a salute in honor of those men who served and had to destroy her to keep the Neuse from falling into Union hands.  

Quote for today...

With the reading and research I'm doing on the founding of this country, I stumbled across this quote. I'm finding many parallels.

If the liberties of America are ever completely ruined, of which in my opinion there is now the utmost danger, it will in all probability be the consequence of a mistaken notion of prudence, which leads men to acquiesce in measures of the most destructive tendency for the sake of present ease.

When designs are formed to raze the very foundation of a free government, those few who are to erect their grandure and fortunes upon the general ruin, will employ every art to sooth the devoted people into a state of indolence, inattention and security… 

They are alarmed at nothing so much, as attempts to awaken the people to jealousy and watchfulness; and it has been a game played over and over again, to hold up the men who would rouse their fellow citizens and countrymen to a sense of their real danger, and spirit them to the most zealous activity in the use of all proper means for the preservation of the public liberty, as ‘pretended patriots,’ ‘intemperate politicians,’ rash, hot-headed men, Incendiaries, wretched desperadoes, who, as was said of the best of men, would turn the world upside down, or have done it already.

~ Samuel Adams

1771 Boston Gazette essay

Hello dear blog, I've been away too long. I must say this job search right now is getting more and more frustrating.

As a student of 18th century history, I am currently reading the 2 volume set of "Cato's Letters: or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, And Other Important Subjects. I'm interested in finding out the story of the South Sea Company financial crisis of the 1720s and how corrupt government officials and the speculators ran all over the people of Britain. "Cato's Letters" were a response to the failure of the government to pay attention to run away financial speculation.  A good short history of the crisis can be found in Malcolm Balen's "The Secret History of the South Sea Bubble."

In an attempt to save my sanity, I have started rereading quotes that I use to post on my bulletin board every day as an 8th grade teacher. I found that most of my students were lost and had no clue. But everyday I'd give them a quote of the day to read and write a small article on what it meant for them. I was asked why I never did that for my blog when I didn't have anything to write that could "impact the world." I obviously had a hard time finding the right things to talk about. But the quotes might be nice to read and helpful for me to read all over again. So bear with me while I write these out every day.

"Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved." ~ William Jennings Bryant