A Surprising Return

Every week, I go visit my brother, Sebastian, at his potion shop.

Call me crazy, but something about having most of the pixies you know sold on Ebay will suddenly make you cherish family a lot more.

Even your brother's creepy girlfriend.

I enjoy my visits with the two of them, and Eris really does love him, so I guess it's all good.

Anyway, as I was leaving tonight, I was in for a bit of a shock.

Madera's house was gone, but that wasn't the shocking part. I brokered its leaving, for crying out loud. No, what took its place...

... I ran up to it to touch it, and to see if it was really there. And it was.

C&M Books and Coffee is back!!!

I don't know where it's been, or why. But it's back.

And it's just as empty as it was when Clara and I first bought it from Chloris last year.

Only it was really different, and lonely, looking around at it without Clara.

The lights still worked, which is great.

I flew up the stairs, just to see what there might be to see.

And there was nothing.

The lights still worked, and that's when I noticed them.

Forgotten books on a shelf was what I thought at first, but the titles made it obvious to me that they were more than just that.

They were the first two books I put in the store. My favorite and Clara's favorite. It's no coincidence they're here. She must've left them so I'd know she was around!

And I determined right then and there that once I found the "C" in "C&M Books and Coffee" we're getting this book store back in business and then things might just get back to normal in the Wylde Kingdom!

Now I just wonder where all the OTHER books went. Hmm...

- Miri

The D.M.M.A."Make It Yours" a contest for pixies (kinda)

I didn't get to go to Ohio with Wendy because my coworker CJ broke his ankle.  I ended up staying with him and keeping him off of it (he's one of THOSE kinds of guys. He doesn't like being down and off the job and he'd totally make it worse, trying to do too much).

So I spent a whole week taking care of him because I'm just that awesome of a boss. When Wendy got back from the trip, she said she had something very exciting to show me at Norm's, so I dropped CJ off at Madera's place. She promised not to let any of the other pixies know where he was, so they don't come over and kill him with kindness. Everyone is kind of in love with CJ.

I'll tell you the truth, the "something exciting" wasn't what I thought it would be. I was expecting like a new piece of furniture or something.

But it was even MORE exciting than that. It's a building! A little two room building!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So right at this point, it doesn't look like anything exciting but that's what MAKES it so  exciting! This is the structure for the Dollhouse Miniatures Merchants Association "Make It Yours" contest!

It's two rooms of total potential! You can make it into anything you want! Need a shop? It can be a shop. Crazy fairy house? Do it! Housing for your favorite Puki/Pukifee? ABSOLUTELY!

Norm's Dollhouse is going to put the shells together and then they'll be for sale for $39.99. You can find all the stuff to make them into whatever you want at the store, AND get this, Norm's is going to do "open Saturday" help days for the Make It Yours project, so you can bring your little building in and get help with whatever you're working on! Everyone is welcome! Pixie and otherwise!

I'll be there, even though I don't think I can be in the contest since I work there, and I'd be happy to show any pixies how to wall paper, shingle, whatever! I'm dragging CJ in too, since he knows how to do all this stuff too, and he's a great teacher.

He'll be all healed up by the time the contest starts too, which is October 1st. The contest runs for 1 whole year. So you've got from October 1st 2012 to October 1st 2013 to build your perfect building. Take pictures of it, send it to the D.M.M.A. folks for judging and you could win amazing prizes!

We'll be running a Norm's only contest too, so that's TWICE the chances to win wonderful prizes!

All the details about the contest are in an ad in the back of the September/October issue of Dollhouse Miniature magazine. But I kind of photographed the ad and posted it here too.

Just in case the picture doesn't come out, though, here are the details:
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"Make it Yours" Contest begins October 1, 2012 through October 1, 2013

Assemble and customize a plywood kit made exclusively for DMMA by Alessio Miniatures and Majestic Mansions. Cost of the kit is $39.99, available only at participating DMMA member shops starting October 1, 2012. If you don't have a shop nearby, order online or by phone from our members listed at www.ministores.org.

You can do absolutely anything you want with the kit, using your imagination to "Make It Yours". It can be a cottage, fairy house, western jail, a restaurant or buy two and build row houses.

One your "Make it Yours" project is complete, photograph it inside and out and complete the contest instructions included in each kit.

* Grand Prize: Fairplay Dollhouse Kit by Rocky Mountain Woodcrafts

* First Place, General Division: $150 DMMA gift certificate to any DMMA member store.

* Second Place, General Division: $100 DMMA gift certificate to any DMMA member store.

* Third Place, General Division: $50 DMMA gift certificate to any DMMA member store.

* First Place, Junior Division: $125 DMMA gift certificate to any DMMA member store.

* Second Place, Junior Division: $75 DMMA gift certificate to any DMMA member store.

ALL entrants are eligible for a random drawing of prizes of miniature merchandise and gift certificates to member stores. Junior Division is age 14 and under.
******************

Cool, huh? I hope some of you local pixie types will think about doing this. I'll bug you about it some more as it gets closer to the start, but I was too excited not to tell you right away! And you non local pixie types, check out your local DMMA store and talk to them about picking up a kit! I think this is going to be so fun! I can't wait to see who wins (even if it won't be me). :)

- Miri

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Chip's Visit Last Year

Okay, so things have not been going as I planned. I didn't get to go on the trip to Ohio. My coworker at the construction site is hurt. And things are all delayed. BUT I have a very exciting thing to tell you about.  I think it's exciting, anyway. I'll tell you all about it next time, for now... have a filler blog entry. Hope you enjoy this little blast from the past!

- Miri

******
So about a year ago, an awesome little bear named Chip, came to visit us.

Most of the pictures of his visit are lost now, but I found a handful of them, and thought I should put them here.

Of course, we didn't just go Jeeping. We had a white water raft adventure on the floor of the doll store. (That's me, Chip and Tabby. Tabby was the official teddy bear handler of the visit. She's fluent in Bearglish.)

And we helped out at a miniatures show, which was a lot of fun.

Tabby and Chip met a friendly reindeer.

But I admit, MY favorite part was the Jeeping. We went on some pretty rough trails, up behind Central City.

We did some awesome rock climbing in my old Jeep.

And saw some amazing scenery.

I think Chip enjoyed it at the time, but I'm not sure he'd go Jeeping again.

We were blessed with awesome weather and open roads! It was a great trip!

Well, and honestly, the worst day Jeeping is still better than the BEST day working.

And then Chip went home to New Mexico.

Chip and Tabby got along really well. It's pretty handy having Pixies around who speak different languages. Even though Chip spoke awesome English, I think it comforts anyone to get to speak their native tongue while visiting a strange place.

Anyway, there's a little walk down memory lane, since the original post got lost. Hope you liked it. Maybe someday there'll be another traveling critter here for me to tell you about. You never know.

- Miri

Working Hard on a Hard Wood Floor

*zip*

 Miranda: Weeee!

 *zip*

 Miranda: Yeah!

 *sliding to stop*

Oh sure, to the untrained eye, it may LOOK like goofing off, but this is very important construction work! I am testing this hardwood floor to make sure it's smooth, splinter free, and has no trip or fall hazards.

I love my job.

- Miri

Construction on the Cambridge

Lots, and lots of stuff going on here. Mostly getting ready to go to this trade show thingy with Wendy and her sweetie. Busy, busy, BUSY!

Anyway...

Construction on the Cambridge is going very well. I'm now Construction Supervisor for Wylde Kingdom Construction and that mostly means I tell my one employee, C.J. what to do and occasionally help (when it's something I can help with).

C.J. and I got the 2nd room on the second floor mostly finished. Just need to put in the stairs and it's done!

C.J. is a great employee. He's had a lot of experience with dollhouse construction (his family had a dollhouse building business for a long while), and he insists on sleeping on-site just to make sure everything is safe (I think it's also that he hasn't built himself a house, but who am I to say?)

He's been really easy to work with, and I love my new construction job. We've been holding our work meetings outside.

On the master bedroom balcony 'cause it's finished up and it's NICE! I remember now why I wanted this house for my own.

So in the evening I leave C.J. to sleep and I head home.

And at home I try to get some sleep too after rubbing my feet a bit. I love my job, but I'm not so thrilled with my work boots. Maybe I need some inserts or something.

Anyway, night night!

- Miri