I gave in gracefully......

Sometimes giving in to temptation is good for you !

When we went on our long trip around Australia I lent my car (a Holden Lumina) to a friend for her use.  That's a photo of it on the right, taken several years ago before we bought our Pajero.  It was helpful for her to have transport and it was good for us that we didn't have to worry about getting someone to come and start it up to keep the battery charged or to move it around.  It also took care of security for us.  After our return Peter and I decided to see how we went with just the one car, our 4 wheel drive Pajero.  I still find it difficult to drive in the city because moving my head around constantly as you have to do in city traffic causes the vertigo and dizziness to be really bad.  It turns out that just one car is quite inconvenient at times but workable.  And it saves a considerable amount of money not having to pay car registration, insurance etc.  So after a while I decided that I would sell my much-loved Lumina and my friend bought it from me.  It wasn't a huge amount of money.  She is a good friend after all, and the car is about 7 years old.  She paid it off and the final amount went into my account just a fortnight or so ago.  

The rest of the money went on various household-related things despite my attempts to keep it for our next holiday.  But they were important things.  When it came to the final amount I decided that this would be splurged and I ordered the quarter scale Pickett Hill from Suzanne & Andrews.   All the photos of the house and kits I am using are from the Betterley's site. 

I have loved this house since I first saw it but resisted temptation for a long time because it is quite an expensive house compared to the kits I had been buying.  It was released as a collaborative effort between Suzanne & Andrew's and Shawn & Robin Betterley.  Both of these couples produce the most beautiful kits and products.  The Betterleys are the producers of the Birchwood series that I have been subscribing to, through Judith Dowden of In Some Small Way.  I also bought the Town Square series by Debbie Young through Judith.  We have become friends through all the things I have bought from her, and she is very generous with her help and advice.  And she has a great scheme where you can subscribe to Pickett Hill too and make regular payments, receiving the house once it is paid for, and doing the same with the furniture kits.  But I decided to order the house direct from Suzanne & Andrew this time.  And today, after just a fortnight - it arrived!!

There was a full landscaping kit for the house as well but disappointingly that is sold out at the moment so I ordered the basic landscaping kit.  This consists of a beautiful base with turntable and kits for the arbor and fence.  There is a note with this part that says an add-on kit is available that includes kits for ferns, hydrangea, hollyhocks, topiaries, foam core for flower beds, dirt, grass, vines, flower colour, shell path, shrubs, tree covering material and a detailed schematic.  I will inquire whether this is still available and order it if it is.

The furniture kits are from the Betterleys.  I have ordered the Pie Kitchen as well (photos above - sorry the quality is so poor they were just little ones and if I enlarge them they become even more blurry) and a little shelf set (photo left).  I want to order a kit or two quite regularly so that once the house is constructed the furniture will be ready to start constructing it to go inside.  

I actually already have the bathroom kit, having bought it a long time ago with the view of using it in another cottage simply because it is so delightful.  But now I will use it in Pickett Hill and save the cost of buying another one. 

I already have the kitchen utensil set too, and will use that through my Petite Properties cottages.  And I have ordered a second one for Pickett Hill.  Isn't it detailed and gorgeous?

So there is another project for my list!  It is probably just as big a project as the John F Craig Mansion from Debbie Young.  Shame I don't have the energy to start either of them just now, but there are other things I need to do so maybe it is just as well.  for one thing the brain is still mush - I have frogged more of the cross stitch than I have done properly, and cannot concentrate on anything.  For another thing I have so much on my 'urgent' list that there really isn't time to start a new project at the moment:  finish the sermon for the 27th, prizes for the give-away; then cross-stitch stockings; major tidy-up and re-organisation of our house which is a disaster area after painting the hallway; a new set of shelves to display my quarter scale buildings............