Sunday, 27 July 2014
The Whiskers Cat Family
So I'm back from my wonderful trip to Lisboa, Portugal. As I didn't post last week, I will try to finish two installments of the houses and jobs series this coming week.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce my Whiskers cat family to you, who lives in Meadowcroft Cottage. I really love the Whiskers family, but it is their house that I adore. Initially, I wasn't even aware of the fact that this Cottage existed, and great was my surprise when I found it for the the first time. Of course it was love at first sight and I just had to have it! Luckily at the time I found a seller on eBay who was willing to send it to me and the pound/rand exchange rate was way better than now, so I didn't pay to much for it.
As I mentioned I love the family too, and they were the 4th family I bought. I got the family of five with crawling baby on eBay. The sitting baby I bought in South Africa. She was released in a carry case.
From the outset Mother Katrina was, to me, a perfectionist with an a-type personality. She likes things neat and tidy and has no time for frills, and especially the little knick-knacks that makes a house a home. She feels that it is a waste of money to have it and just extra work to keep it clean. Everything in her house, therefore has a purpose.
A full view of the house.
Though Katrina is a Florist, she loves cooking and is very good at it too. Se loves her kitchen and spending time in it.
Like most fathers in Sugarbush Valley, Sebastiaan is an extremely hands-on father, and loves to entertain the babies in the living room. This gives Katrina time to prepare their dinner in peace.
Branson is finally at the age where he understands the importance of washing ones hands before dinner...
... and that keeping their bedroom neat and tidy keeps his mother and sister of his back.
So a closer look at the rooms:
The kitchen - where everything has its purpose.
Living room - to have fresh flowers in her living room are very important to Katrina.
Children's room - all in its place as their mother requires.
Bathroom - very functional too.
Parent's room with the babies' crib in the corner. Guess what is very important to Katrina ...? Yes! Time!
Katrina owns the Florist in the village, which she inherited from her Mother, Mae Blossom (who in my village was a Whiskers cat.) Sebastiaan works for his wife. He collects and delivers the flowers from the market and to customers if and when required.
Full view of the Florist.
On entering the Florist one is usually surprised by the different kinds of flowers and seeds that can be bought their.
Isabel Fisher is a keen gardener and a regular at the Florist. Digger Mcburrows often visits Sebastiaan to get advice for his landscaping business, which he bought recently from Sebastiaan.
Also visit my "The Houses in the Village" and "The Villager's Jobs" pages.
Saturday, 12 July 2014
The Henry-Lloyd Dalmatian Family
So finally I got time to do my weekly house and work blog post. It had been a chaotic week at work and in the evenings when I got home I just passed out on the couch.
So I'm excited to announce that this week it is the turn of the Henry-Lloyd Dalmatian family, who lives in Cedar Terrace (CT) 1. And finally a family that I wanted and loved from the start. They were the second family I bought, and the moment I got them I was even more besotted! Brother Zac is for sure my favorite brother figure and little Sarah is adorable, and I could go on like that about the whole family. Sharing CT 1 with the Henry-Lloyd family are the Patches Dog family. This is only a temporary arrangement as they do have plans to move into their own home soon.
First off all a full view of the house, taken early in the morning while everyone is preparing for the day ahead.
In the kitchen mother Pippa is preparing breakfast
Kitchen and Dining room: I love how the table & chairs, welsh dresser and kitchen/oven & sink set fit together, even though it is from 3 different sets (sometimes epoch does get it right)!
Kitchen: The pink toaster is part of a re-ment set I won in a competition a good blogger friend ran.
The set includes the items on the dining room table as well.
Upstairs in the bedroom Father Ben got the twins ready for daycare and made the beds.
When Dorothy and her family moved into the attic room, Pippa had to be creative and find a way to fit all the beds into the larger middle floor.
On the left hand side is the parents room.
And on the right side the children's room.
In the attic Antonio was dressing Kyle, in order to give Dorothy a chance to get ready.
The attic is just big enough for a barhroom and the Patches bedroom.
The Patches room. A nice comfy bed for mom and dad and a little cot for Kyle in the corner!
Mother Pippa owns a small patisserie in the village square.
Pippa does all the baking for the shop herself.
She is usually very busy, and almost sell out everyday. The Macavity women are her newest admirers.
Father Ben has a dream of opening a fishmonger in the village soon.
Antonio and Dorothy are the hairdressers in the village.
Also visit my "houses" and "jobs" pages
Wednesday, 9 July 2014
A short review: Roxy's cleaning set
Recently I completed a trade with another new SF friend I made. She is from Germany and has a great blog. Besides spending most of my money on acquiring these cute figures I love the friendships I've made over the past few years through mostly our forum, but also by following other blogs and even through ebay.
I got to know "Kyraja" through my blog. We started chatting and so the first trade between the two of us was born. We decided to start of small, mostly to keep the postage low, but also that IF the package got lost that the loss will not be THAT big.
So it was decided that she will send me the vacuum cleaner set and I will send her the EB Fridge set and EB Desk set. But as most trades go, there is always something more in the parcel than initially agreed upon. And with this trade it was no different.
Besides the vacuum cleaner set, "Kyraja" also sent me some hand made bedding and two small bead like toys for some of the children. I guess Baden might get the boy bedding, but Bud Timbertop also needs new bedding. The girl's bedding are definitely going to Kirsty Corntop.
I ordered the set for Roxy Renard. She is the cleaning lady of Sugarbush Valley and much like her best friend Mae Mulberry, she is very famous in the village, and adored by all the women, for obvious reasons.
I was surprised how small the box was, but then again how big can a sylvanian vacuum cleaner be. All items were packed securely.
The vacuum cleaner is extremely cute, or in Roxy's words "state of the art". Roxy is now the first woman in the village and even in the district who owns a vacuum cleaner, which will make her work so much easier. Sweeping a carpet was never fun.
Included in the set was a tiny broom and dustpan, bucket and also a dustbin.
Some cleaning aids were included in the set - without stickers.
With stickers and the dust cloth.
Included in the set is also the cutest apron that Roxy can wear to protect her dress. The apron has pockets that is very handy top keep all the cleaning aids close by.
In my eyes a fantastic set, and must have for any village. The set was also released with a Basset Mother as part of the Hotel theme.
Thanks again "Kyraja" for a great trade and hope to do it soon, maybe those families we were talking about?!
Monday, 7 July 2014
Finally: The truth
Roxy Renard packed away all her equipment, and decided that she will just have to show herself. She cannot stay here forever, and it is getting late. She will either try to slip out or just greet Dorothy and Antonio friendly and leave as quickly as possible.
But then as luck would have it she heard...
Antonio: Oh Dorothy, please, please, please understand.
Dorothy: It is too hard, I need time to process this.
Antonio: Then I will give you your time, Im going for a walk.
Though it wasn't a good ending to the conversation, Roxy felt relieved, she had more courage to go down, if she just had to face Dorothy.
She went down, left her huge trunk of equipment, and went over to Dorothy.
Roxy: Dorothy, I'm so sorry, but I overheard everything. I didn't mean too and the vacuum cleaner was on a lot. So I really thought you knew ...
Dorothy: Hi Roxy, it is really alright. Don't worry about it. I knew you where up there.
Roxy (puzzled): You knew!
Dorothy: Of course I did, but I trust you and didn't mind you hearing all. What was I to do, anyway. I couldn't ask you to leave, that is not my place. And besides, I know that our secret is safe with you and, by the way soon it will be old news, especially if Hatty gets word of it.
Roxy (relieved): Oh, ok. Then we must ensure that she doesn't get to hear about it.
They had a bit of a laugh at Hatty's expense, but Roxy could sense that it was half-hearted, and immediately felt guilty, obviously it was too soon for Dorothy to make silly jokes.
Roxy: So want to talk about it?
Dorothy (teary-eyed): There isn't actually much to talk about, Rox, I just need to come to terms with the fact that my husband has two children form another relationship.
Roxy: I know that is bad and a shock to your system, but keep in mind this was long before you even knew each other. And he didn't even know about them until recently, too.
Dorothy: I know, I know. I think the main thing that bothers me is, if he is telling the truth. Has he really been having trouble at work, and is that really the reason why he was so late to arrive in Sugarbush Valley, or was he spending time with his children and their mother. Look here are a picture of them.
Roxy took the photo and looked at it. The children were really cute, and she could just think how hard it should have been for Antonio to just leave them again.
Roxy handed the picture back to Dorothy.
Roxy: They are extremely cute Dot, can you imagine how hard it was for Antonio to leave them, and return to you? I think that is enough evidence that he has made his decision. It is a hard one and I think most people will need a lot of time to decide what to do.
Dorothy: I guess you are right.
Roxy: And what is more, I heard that their mother is married again, and already as a little baby with her new husband and is expecting another, so that alone is more evidence that she is happy and wasn't waiting for Antonio, so I don't think you have much to worry about, even though I can understand that you are heartbroken.
Dorothy: I never thought of it that way, thank you Roxy for your insight. Eventually everything will be ok, but it is just too much to take at once, maybe it was a good thing that he went out a bit.
Roxy hugged Dorothy and they said there goodbyes.
Roxy felt emotionally trained. She was just relieved that it was Willow Cottontail's turn to make dinner. (The Renards and Cottontails lived together in the CT 4 and the mother's took turns to make dinner). As she passed CT 3, she noticed Velvette Slydale in the garden. Roxy sighed, she liked Velvette, although they are not really friends, they do get along. The thing is that Velvette and Hatty is best friends, which doesn't make sense at all, and Roxy really can't stand Hatty.
Velvette: Hi Roxy, how are you?
Roxy: Emotionally drained and extremely tired.
Velvette: Poor woman, I guess you are done for the day, I hope you have a relaxing evening.
Roxy: Thanks Velvette, see you around.
But Roxy wasn't that lucky, as if she had x-ray ears, Hatty appeared out of nowhere.
Hatty: Roxy, wait up. Are you ok? Why so emotionally drained?
Roxy (extremely irritated - she knew what Hatty was up): I'm ok Hatty, thank you (and then Roxy did something that she knew was just mean, but Hatty had it coming). I just had a nice long talk with Dorothy Patches. The poor woman is a bit shaken up. She told me all about Antonio and his whereabouts...
Hatty: She did, noooooooooooooooooo! So you know?
Roxy: Yes, I was actually the first one she told, but obviously I was sworn to secrecy. Well ladies I'm already late, see you around.
And with that Roxy took her trunk and left in the direction of her house. She could hear Hatty mumbling something, but she just smiled and went into her house.
Meanwhile, Antonio took a stroll through the village, just to clear his head. He understood why Dorothy was angry, and he will give her all the time she needs. He is committed to her and Kyle, he just wants her to grasp and believe that. Surely he will miss Bertie and Bella, but he has only known them for about 3 months now, he will never choose them over Dorothy and Kyle, although he do hope that one day all of them can get together and have a good holiday.
Antonio settled on a park bench, and was thinking about getting himself an ice cream from the cart just behind him. After gathering enough courage and was just about to get up, a friendly looking cat approached him.
Maurice: Hi there, mind if I sit, I'm Maurice by the way.
Antonio: Hi, no problem. Antonio.
Maurice: So what brings you to the park. Care for ice cream?
Antonio: It is a very very long story. That will be fabulous, thank you.
Maurice got them the ice cream and the guys settled in. They chatted for a long time. First Maurice told Antonio all about himself and his family and then gossiped a bit about the villagers. Then Antonio decided to open up to Maurice. Somehow he just trusted the guy. And Maurice just listened and listened. He didn't give his opinion, didn't interrupt Antonio and best of all didn't judge him. That was just what Antonio needed.
After what felt like hours, the two shook hands, said their goodbyes and left with promises of more ice cream soon, as well as hopes of a lasting friendship.
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