Pigeon's Nest: Motel 6 ain't got nothin' on me, Tom Bodett!

I'd first like to give a shout-out to my husband, who made this post possible by insulting my Christmas decorations. Also, to my friend Josh; who kept encouraging me and giving me alternate ideas I never would have though of, because I have absolutely no clue about what I'm doing half the time. This one is for you, guys.

This one's to say that all I can do is hope that you will read this post, 'cause this one's for you ohhhhhhhh,,,,

It's no secret that installing electricity into my dollhouse has pretty much been one of the most frustrating experiences of my entire life. Every time I got something working, another thing would break (my dollhouse is a lot like an actual house in that way). Get the tape wire all laid out, and one of the connections gets loose and cuts of power to half the house. Fix the connection and a fuse blows. Replace the fuse and the lead wire stops working. Top that off with the fact that there isn't a store that readily sells these items in any sort of geographically convenient location (I have to wait a week or so for them to get shipped to me), and you have a recipe for the worst do it yourself project ever.

Homer Simpson's projects had a higher success rate than mine did.

I won't lie, this really upset me. I consider myself to be a pretty handy person who can problem solve my way out of just about any craft-related crisis. The fact that I was unable to conquer what should be an incredibly simple task (according to all the youtube tutorials I watched), put me down in the dumps. Installing electricity was the first time I had failed so thoroughly in a very long time and I felt terrible. I needed a way to start feeling confident in my creative skills again, so I set my self up for success with a series of projects I knew I could rock at.

The first project? Cosplay. I went as Korra from "The Legend of Korra."

I am a 26 year old woman who isn't embarrassed to post this picture on the internet. The geek force is strong within me.

After that came a variety of other craft projects.

A Gundam-themed nutcracker for my husband:

Char Aznable

Char Aznutble

Some Quilted Ornaments:

And a wreath to put them in:

And I finished the giant, queen-sized, crocheted blanket that I started last Christmas:

I was working on all of these projects, starting a new school year, and doing online and in-person classes to keep my teaching license up to date. With how busy I was, it was very easy to forget the dollhouse-shaped elephant that lives in my dining room.

That is, until Thanksgiving rolled around.

I was lucky, as holiday breaks go. My school district gave us a full day off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, instead of having us go a half day like most of the other schools in our area did. Mike and I were going to be traveling around to visit both sets of immediate family members, so we were going to be gone/exhausted for a good portion of the holiday weekend. In anticipation of this after Thanksgiving lethargy, I decided to get my Christmas decorations put up on that extra day off my school gifted me with. So I spent the morning trimming the tree and putting out the obligatory holiday knickknacks, and the house looked pretty darn good in my opinion!

Ohhhhh.....

So festive!

I was feeling pretty proud of my days work, and called Mike out to examine my handiwork. He came out, looked around, and complimented my decorating prowess. Then, he said something that would change the course of my entire holiday season.

"It looks really good out here! I can't help but notice that your dollhouse isn't decorated for the season, though."

I had just spent four hours decorating the house and the last thing I really wanted to hear was a well-worded version of "you missed a spot." So I did the only thing I could think of; I threw my money at the internet.

This problem-solving technique has a staggeringly high success rate.

After the tiny Christmas decorations were ordered, I spent some time browsing around the miniature site, checking out their new merchandise and clearance items. It was then I realized how much I really missed spending time in my miniature world. I suddenly couldn't wait to string up tiny garlands, or hang an impossibly small wreath on the front door. I wanted to be able to do more than just stick decorations to the outside of the house; I wanted a nicely decorated tree in the window of a fully furnished living room, seasonal foods laid out in the kitchen, and endearingly small stockings hung in front of the fireplace.

I wanted to work on the interior of my house, and I wasn't going to get there until the electricity was working.

Suddenly, I was filled with something I'd been lacking for months: motivation. And after that, I really don't know what happened. I pulled a chair up to my dollhouse, took out my wiring kit, and the rest of the time is sort of a blurry mash-up of replacing fuses and fixing connections. I was working with very little thought outside of 'I have to get this done', and along the way I stumbled upon the correct mixture of working parts and dumb luck. After a solid three house of working I was rewarded with this beautiful sight:

"My God, it's full of stars!"

Every single light is on, shinning at full power.

I turned off all the house lights and just stared at this for a while.

I really couldn't believe it - it was done. The electricity was successfully installed. Everything was working. It was pretty late at night by this point, and I was exhausted and overwhelmed by my accomplishment. I may or may not have gotten a little verklempt.