Since I have a rant – just a tiny one – for Friday*, I will update today.

I have nothing to update. Seriously, Christmas preparations and a child off school has brought the writing to a crawl. I will meet my goal of finishing by year end at the latest, but I am not making stupendous progress on a daily basis right now. I am okay with that. Rob pointed out to me the other day the need to build a bit of sanity and rest into my writing schedule. All work and no play is very bad. I agree. It will be finished by January. I haven’t any doubts.

One thing I did do was contact the Writer in Residence at the U of A to find out about meeting with her a time or two in March to get a bit of feedback. She let me know what she would need (16 pages for the first meeting) and will be happy to meet with me, just let her know when. Very cool.

Otherwise, I have been baking and cleaning and worrying about the dollhouse Rob is making because it isn’t done yet and we really haven’t much else by way of Santa gifts for BabyD. The trouble is that it (the house) has gotten a tiny bit out of proportion to the reality of our little girl’s size and expectations.

I thought, when I brought the idea up, it would be a box with two floors, a door, a couple of window and a roof.

It’s wider than BabyD is tall and nearly as tall is she is at the apex. Yes, the roof reaches an apex where the dormer attic is. And you read that correctly, it has an attic room which technically puts this “house” at three floors. It’s a mansion. Not only does it have three floors, but there is a hallway on the second floor, with two spacious bedrooms off it, there is a large living room/dining area and a kitchen with pull out appliance counters lining opposite walls. Each room will be painted a different color. The floors have been stained to look like real hardwood and  he sided it. Yep, it has siding with a realistically shingled roof. He painted it blue and the window trim is pink.

Oh yeah, the windows are trimmed. This is my husband we are talking about. He didn’t realize it until the stunned woman who checked out his purchases at the wood crafting store today met his description of this dollhouse with a dropped jaw and a comment that he was building an heirloom and not just a toy for his daughter. Sometimes I don’t think he has any idea of how incredible his visions of what things should be like really are.

And me? Oh, I was supposed to make a couple of foam beds. Cover them with fabric. And no, they are not done. I am a tiny vision person who hasn’t used a sewing machine since 4-H. I am thinking that making beds – and maybe a sofa – would be a wonderful “keep the child busy” project next week, when she is really driving me crazy.

Today then is ice-skating, because the child-minding at the gym is closed and I need exercise, followed by a trip to the pharmacy for allergy stuff and to the library to pick up dvd’s.  Somewhere in there I need to run by the liquor store for wine. What goes well with turkey? Please tell me “white” because I am not fond at all of red wine.

While BabyD and I pass the time before the feast prep begins, Rob will be working on the dollhouse. Fingers crossed people. Fingers crossed.

*Friday at midnight I close the entries for Matrimony. Follow the link and enter to win!