She ventures forth...

 Holy Smokes! Has it really been a year!! So much has happened! We moved again, survived Covid, and now live right across the driveway from 10 of our grandchildren! I have finally unpacked the shop, the Big Guy put up some new to me lighting and there's even a window in my shop being replaced. It's getting a little late, but I just wanted to hop on and let you all know that I'm still kicking and sassy as ever. So stay tuned for pictures and the goal of the next two weeks to give myself more actual work area. My grandchildren are on vacation and I always like to make a few changes while they're gone to surprise them when they get back. I hope all of you have stayed inspired by your minis and have made good use of the time inside. So I will say goodnight for now but will see you soon! Oh, and Mr. Skellie says Hi too!

In Memory...

Many of you will remember the blog post about Mr. Skellie learning all about masonry from a gentleman named Joe Freeman. Joe and his employees took a few minutes out of their work to explain their methods and to pose with Mr. Skellie. We never knew how much was involved in building a brick wall. Sadly, Joe passed away this past weekend and I wanted to share this news with you. Rest in peace Joe, you were an artist with bricks and mortar.

Mr. Skellie helps with a build...

It's been a busy weekend for Mr. Skellie. The Big Guy has been building out the inside of an enclosed trailer so he can take his tools to different places to help people. He came in the motorhome and asked for Mr. Skellie's help and of course he jumped at the chance. Bill had drawn out his plan for the inside and Mr. Skellie scrutinized it for any mistakes.

Other than the fact that there didn't seem to be any place for HIS tools, he approved and allowed Bill to move forward. Good grief, this guy runs Bill's life too! He just likes being around Bill because his tools are bigger than mine.

He was admiring Bill's staple gun and even got to shoot a couple of staples!

Now you know he's going to take credit for the entire build...He was helping with the orbital sander but kept giggling and said his butt was getting numb

so Bill put him to work with the hand sander.

He helped build the new storage space for Bill's levels

and wanted to have a go at the chop saw but almost got chopped in the process!

Way to give a person heart failure! Bill was finishing up some of the large pieces and Mr. Skellie decide to play hide'n seek....can you find him?

I think he was hiding to avoid clean up duty personally. Once we found him,

we set him to work with the broom as there was quite a bit of sawdust to sweep up.

He was tuckered out when he got back to Motorhome Central and he went to bed before we did! Both of us had to wear earplugs because the little guy was snoring so loud. I am slowly on the mend and haven't been out because my cough sounds downright scary. Oh, and the latest news is I wanted to surprise Mr. Skellie with his own house so took advantage of Hobby Builders Supply's 25% off sale and ordered up a kit. He doesn't really need a kitchen or a bathroom, just a place to sleep and watch his big screen TV. I thought some of those skeleton pink flamingos would be funny for his front yard so have been trying to "scare" up a couple of those.  ;^) Thanks for stopping by!

Mr. Skellie is back!

Since some of you haven't seen these posts about Mr. Skellie's trip to Sturgis, here he is when he got back:

I heard a roar in the driveway and when I looked out, there was Mr. Skellie slinging gravel and coming to a stop.

I ran out to greet him and noticed he had made a few changes. "Nice shades!" I said. He told me there was a whole story behind those and when he came in and washed away the road grime, he would sit and tell me all about it. I told Marlene he was back and helped her with her chair so she could listen to all of Mr. Skellie's stories too. He toweled off and came and sat down.

The trip out there had been uneventful except when large trucks went by. He spun out of control the first time and got away with just a few scuffs. Marlene sighed over the scars he now had. After that, he just pulled way over to the right or just went faster than all of them. The police cars couldn't catch him as he just pulled in and drove along underneath them. "What have I raised..." I thought. He pulled out his camera and we downloaded the pictures of Sturgis. When he arrived, he was amazed at how many bikes there were. This was the downtown.

He enjoyed walking around and looking at all the different bikes.

This one was his favorite.

He saw some seat covers that he just had to have,

but...how to pay for them. It wasn't long before he was spotted by an ad man and he talked to Mr. Skellie about his trip and would he be interested in an idea he had for a great sunglasses ad. Mr. Skellie still had those cool seat covers on his mind so agreed to have a look at some of the ideas. After a hardy lunch at the Broken Spoke saloon, they went out to film the commercial.

Mr. Skellie was paid on the spot so went right back to see if he could get some furry seat covers of his own.

While he waited, he met a few friends

and of course had to chat with the ladies.

He had a fantastic time and wants to go back next year for the 78th bike week. He said he was glad to be home and wanted to get going on his next Young Living presentation. Once Marlene was back in the shop he confided that Marilyn's afghan came in really handy as it got a little chilly at night out there. He made reservations at a hotel for next year...roughing it was a little hard on the old bones. Then he snapped his fingers and said he had a gift for me in his saddlebag. I tried it on and he smiled and said now I could be his "babe on the back" next time he goes out riding.

After hanging out with all those bikers in Sturgis, his language had become a bit more colorful, so I changed the word he really used to "babe"....He went outside to see how Bill was coming along on the shed and was amazed at all he had accomplished on the outside since he had left.

Mr. Skellie's pictures are a little small, but so is his camera so I hope you can see them alright. I didn't tell him about the next big adventure that's going to happen around here.....see you next time and have a great day!

It's a Miracle! and....Sturgis?

Since I am laid low with some sinus issues, I thought you'd enjoy reading this blast from the past:

 I was getting ready to go pick up Mr. Skellie from the hospital after his operation when I heard a low rumble outside. Here comes Mr. Skellie riding up on a Harley!

"Where, what, how?" I sputtered. Turns out Dr. Bonebreaker has some interesting methods. He remembers something about being on a stretcher and being raised up high where the roof opened and there was lightning...after that everything went dark.  Hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar....Somehow, Mr. Skellie's arm is as good as new and the Dr. told him he could do anything he wanted; so what he wanted was a motorcycle! He went by the Harley dealer in the city and they had this one on sale for a very small price. He had just enough from his Young Living business. There was more. He wants to go out to bike week in Sturgis, South Dakota. "But, but you've never been away from home before..." I stammered. But if there's anything I've learned is when one of your kids, or skellies, wants to try something and it is something within your power to help with, go for it. Okay, what do we need to do? To start with, he wants more bling on his Harley. Some running lights were a good start,

then we added a new side mirror

and a cross on the back.

I had picked up this license plate once as I figured this day would come. After all that was done, he said, "Now do me!" I started by making him a doo rag.

It was fabric from Marlene so he really liked that part. When he put his arms down, I noticed the tattoos.

Where did those come from; they look like they've been drawn on with marker. Mr. Skellie admitted that they were only because the tattoo artist was not schooled on how to tattoo on bone. He told him they would be fine as long as he doesn't go out in the rain...I didn't say anything. So, "Skull Cracker" as he now wants to be called, also wanted a chain too. "Skull Cracker?" I asked. "Yes, that's my new cool biker name" he said. It took some finagling with my needle nose pliers and some chain and a couple of jump rings, but I managed it.

So here he is, all ready for his new adventure.

He rolled up Marilyn's afghan for a bedroll and raided the pantry for snacks. Then with a quick kiss good-bye, he was off for Sturgis!

"Drive careful" I hollered. I was kind of mopey after that and wandered out to the shop to help Bill with the second window. He can always cheer me up and soon we were working on getting the window done and in place. Now it's just a matter of primer and paint and the outside will be done!

Have a great day!

All in a Day's Work...

The days have been absolutely gorgeous here so I have been spending time cleaning up the motorhome and working on my little garden outside. I did buckle down and do some work on our projects so here is what has been happening. The first thing was a second coat on the frame for Mr. Skellie's big screen TV.

This had been going well until Mr. Skellie had another request...now he wants a recliner. So what does any self respecting friend of a miniature skeleton do but get on Ebay and find a recliner! This one is a Fisher-Price and actually reclines.

Unfortunately, it only came in pink, so I did hear about that for awhile until I promised to paint it a more manly color...if you're wondering why he has his arm up, he was asking, "Where is the remote?!" So guess that will be yet another project. After the second coat was dry, I glued in the screen and Mr. Skellie wanted a picture to see how it would look with his new recliner.

I asked if I could work on the summerhouse and he gave me his permission...as long as I start looking around for a house for him soon...my life is being run by a six inch plastic skeleton! I was thinking about how to keep the steampunk furniture stable in the summerhouse while it is going along. Since I belong to a Facebook group about RV's, I heard about a product called Earthquake Putty. Sounded like something I could use, but wondered if it would tear the paper flooring when it was removed. I thought it would be a good idea to put a couple of clear coats on the flooring to prevent that from happening. I have a can of water based finish I found in the garage

so put a first coat on to start with.

Then I had another thought...whew, all these thoughts mean more work! LOL! The brick on the outside of the summerhouse is also paper...what if I put a coat on it too to protect the paper from dirt and wear. I decide to coat one wall and see how it looked. There is a very subtle difference in the color and very little shine so I think I will do the whole thing! Here is a before and after:

Since I have the windows open today, I will finish that up and then start the inside wallpapers. Stay safe out there and pray for each other as we deal with all the craziness 2020 has brought so far...thanks for stopping by.

Chains and Hidden Axles...

Had a couple of surprises yesterday. Remember when my paints arrived quite awhile ago? Well, I ordered some small chain at the same time and forgot all about it; it arrived yesterday.

Exactly what I wanted too! Sometimes it's hard to tell the size of something online. Rose saw the packaging in the trash and had to know what had arrived. "Oooo, now you can make me a chain belt to hold my key!" she exclaimed. She doesn't ask for much, unlike a certain skeleton who will remain nameless, so I set to work. Two pair of needle-nose pliers, flying jump rings, and standing Rose on her head to get this on her and we were done! Mr. Skellie kept sauntering by to see if he could get a peek at her petticoats, so I had to shoo him away. I told him he'd better watch out for the Captain so he went and hid in his drawer. This is what we ended up with and Rose is very happy with it.

This past Wednesday, I actually was able to shop inside Michael's! It was fun to look around at everything and I found some black artist's medium and some cool grassy stuff, 60% off too.

This makes great lawn around the minion houses but it does kind of shed for awhile. Remember that axle we were going to have to remake? Guess what I saw hiding amongst the colored pencils...

It must have fallen off a while back and I had the foresight to set it aside...then promptly forgot where I put it! LOL!

Mr. Skellie held one end and we set in in place

and set a clamp so it couldn't slide down.

I probably should have put a little bit of superglue with the wood glue, I always forget that until after something is already glued. While that was drying, I repainted the wood stove

and put the first coat on the big screen TV frame.

This artist's medium is not the same as my old stuff, it seems way too shiny to me. Someday when I find that box of old paint, I'll see what brand it is and if I can get more. I tried some spray matte finish on the stove this morning, but it's still a little shiny...I'll just have to say that I have a very fastidious cleaning lady and she likes a nice polished cast iron stove. Thanks for stopping by.