Here we go again!
WOW it's already time to get ready for the Masked Ball again.  That really flew by.  So now Mrs. Wickon is freaking out because she decided to cook 52 dishes (last year she only made 35) and she has to get started now so it'll all be ready to eat by next week.

Everyone else is scrambling to sew themselves gowns (Felicity, Lily, Suzanne, Cristal, Samantha and Lisa are all getting new ones this year) and find matching masks and/or make new ones that match their new dresses.  

Poor Juan Valasquez fell off the rancho wall and broke both of his legs AND his back, so he's lying around moaning and wailing and no one will listen to him except Josefina because they are all busy trying to pull together their outfits for the ball.  His mother, Ana, is planning to dress up as a bride and wear her wedding dress since she doesn't have a ballgown yet, and that's the fanciest gown she has.

Nafy is also working on the details for her next video blog while trying to keep up with all her assignments from Mammy, and Lily Merriman is on a roll in the sewing room.  She already finished her ballgown for the Masked Ball, and now she's starting on another one just in case.

I love this time of year.  I really like how all the doll houses look with all their autumn decorations, and playing dolls inside with a cup of coffee, cozy music and rain pouring down outside like I'm in the bottom of a swimming pool all makes this very enjoyable.

I'll see everyone on the chat this afternoon!  4:00 PST on the message board.  And don't forget to send in your contest entries.  ;)

:-)
Greta

We played an entire day in the Merriman's the other day, to try and do everything they need to do between waking up and going to bed.  There was so much to do!
All he servants had to do all the nitty gritty chores stuff like groceries, firewood, dishes, etc. and all the children had to do all their chores, write back to their letters, exercise outside, practice dance, go to singing and piano lessons, and do their proper school homework.
Mrs. Merriman doesn't usually do any of that work since she has fragile nerves, so she just sat in the dining room and worked on some sewing projects and complained about how tired she was.

Mammy, the governess, had a fine time keeping the children in control until she had to force Nan to go to her singing lesson with Mrs. Wickon, which never works out very well because Nan hates her singing lessons.  So she kept trying to escape, and even had Elizabeth, Clara and Anna plotting diversions and escape plans for her while she was about to start her lesson, but it didn't matter because Mrs. Wickon doesn't enjoy the lessons either, so she told Nan to go away and that she would "never teach you again!"

So we'll see how that goes, but Mrs. Merriman is determined that Nan be able to sing as well as play the piano, so there'll have to be a solution somewhere!

Toodles,
:-)
Greta

Now Playing: All the show videos I'm uploading
Last week we finally got a chance to work on Pleasantville a little bit (as you can probably tell by the sudden release of both a Nafy video blog AND a NafyCast in the same week) which was really fun!

the Gala ball
I just posted the Mrs. Fox's Gala Ball photo story, which we've been working on for a long time.  I really liked putting this whole thing together because we did it all in one day but left on tour right afterwards so we worked on the photos and captions between our shows on tour to take a little bit of Pleasantville with us.  :)

Another Mess
Why does it always seem like every time we create an open space in this house we have to then make a really big mess just to fill up the space?

The walls are finished the walls are finished!
Well we got home the other day to find the Montoya's walls completely finished and all fixed up with the lights in the right places and everything.

We drove through a little town in Wisconsin called New Glarus today, and found the most awesome little antique shop.  We found a treasure trove of little doll-sized objects, stuck in the back of shelves and under larger things and had a wonderful time picking out little perfume bottles for Cristal and Suzanne, and other cute things for Pleasantville.

I love antique shops!  And if anyone is ever in Wisconsin, you should check this place out.

:-)
Greta

Middle of Wisconsin :)
Hey there everyone!

I finally got a wi-fi connection that doesn't shut down every time I try to upload any pictures to photobucket, so that means I get to publish the website and put a new picture on the front and now it looks fresh and new again.  hehehe!

We are in a little town outside of Madison that has carved trolls all over the town, and the pub in town is called "the Grumpy Troll."    We ate there for dinner and made plans to call Pleasantville's pub the Grumpy Troll when the Merrimans put it together, and we'll have it be named after the Grumpy Troll that got left in town square after the Blustery Day photo story and is now expertly dressed by Kirsten in a bright pink frilly dress of Cristal's and Nancy Merriman's decorated straw bonnet.
I can just imagine the little swinging sign outside the shop now.

Our first few shows have gone pretty well, we're still working out a lot of the kinks in our shows though, so it's good to have a few days to tweak stuff before our next shows in Fond du Lac, WI.  I'm also coming up with some new song ideas for our next CD.  (I KNOW!  We just finished a new CD!  But I've already got 4 tracks figured out for the next one!  lol)

Well I think I'm being called away to watch an episode of Road to Avonlea (I think they actually need my laptop, not me, hehehe just kidding) so I will leave it at that for now.  But I will be back next week.

:-)
Greta

Hello there!

Sunny Friday morning, chairs out on the porch, birds chirping like crazy (there are probably some caterpillars out there but only Nan would notice what they sound like, hehe!), done sewing a tablecloth, done cleaning up after our big special doll evening last week, and Pleasantville is once again CLEAN! 

I also have not finished with the surprises on the site before we leave.  Keep your eyes out tomorrow for a new contest to once more test your excellent doll photography skills!  I can't wait to get started on this one because it is going to be really fun and challenging.

So apparantly my blog can wait until I'm done eating my eggs.  According to my dad.  BRB!  ~~

DONE!!  hehehe it always takes me a really long time to eat eggs for some reason.  So anyway now I am back.

Willow just had the awesome idea that we should have boy scouts in Pleasantville.  Since all the girls go to proper school, William, Pierre, Peder, Juan and Antonio should all go down to Mr. Larson's farm and have a boy scouts club.  So I'm going to take my dad's old boy scouts handbook along with me on the train this summer to plan some lessons for them.  They can learn how to tie knots and track animals and build forts and lean-tos and sell cookies and stuff.  hehehe!
AND we could make little uniforms for them.  They could earn badges for each of the challenges they perform, and keep adding on until they have them all.  Hopefully we can start something like that before the weather gets too bad in the Fall.

OK I'd better go continue packing for the tour!
Cya,
:-)
Greta

Now Playing: Taking Flight (Our NEW CD IS FINISHED!!!)
Hey there!

Well today is a good day.  I can already feel that it is going to be a good one.  Why?  For a number of reasons.  First of all, we finished the new CD last night FINALLY.  So I get to send it off to the printing company and relax (kinda, lol!).  Secondly, I get a haircut today.  I haven't had one in a really long time so that makes me really happy.
And thirdly, and most happily of all, we are going to play dolls tonight.  And do something really fun that you all are going to love.  And yes, this is the same something that Willow was hinting about in HER blog a few days ago, but it is still just as fun.

Also, I don't want to give things away, but there is going to be a really good Wildcard Weekend surprise tomorrow.  So be here.  That's all I'm saying.  ;)

We totally re-did the message board this week and now it is so big I'm working on figuring out a routine in order to read all the new posts.  It needs to be something like General board, our dolls, characters, nafycast, other dolls, reviews, etc and spend only 5 minutes on each one.  hahhaa!

There are only 10 days until we leave for our tour.  That's a little scary, especially since I have a lot of doll pictures to take before we leave!  Aaaah it's hard to do everything I want to in a limited amount of time.  Where is that zog day I'm looking for? 

Also, thanks so much for voting for us on the top doll sites.  We are staying pretty steadily ahead this month, which is great!! 
I'd better go now so I have time to play dolls later,

:-)
Greta