Grandma is Back

Everybody is waiting for Grandma to wake up.

Grandma is still sleeping.

Well there she is. I can't hear what she's saying.

She looks as to be telling an important story.

Good thing Martin and Mary preserved the 1953 Marx Tin house that is on Ardmore Avenue. Somebody had left years earlier with all contents intact.

Note the interior door bell in the upper right of the collage. It still works. I got this special Tin House at an auction that advertised a Lundby/Barton/Caroline's Home house. When I got there what they did have was a very old, beat up (frame cracked, windows missing, filled with cob webs, smelly) Caroline's Home Doll House. I ended up with this 1953 Vintage House and it is perfect scale for 1:16 and Grandma's home is now filled with the smells of her baking. I wonder who's Grandma she is.

Martin Goes to the Doctor

Martin was baking a cake for Mary and it didn't turn out right. He used the wrong ingredient because he couldn't see the package label clearly. Mary tasted the cake and said it was very salty. She asked Martin what was wrong. She then set up an appointment at the Doctor's office for Martin. The doctor has arrived and greets Martin.

Well hello there Martin. I am Doctor Smith but you can just call me Doctor Bob. What brings you in today? Martin tells the nice doctor that he messed up his cake for Mary and couldn't figure out what went wrong. Martin is gravely concerned because baking and cooking are great joys for him and his lovely wife Mary.

Well have a seat Martin and please start at the top of the chart and start reading the letters for me. Martin reads aloud "E, F, P, T, O, Z, and then reads M, A, R, Y." The doctor tells him to stop reading and that he is worrying so much as this is a common problem. He then tells Martin he has an easy adjustment for him that will insure all his cakes have the proper ingredients.

Try these on Martin.

What color are my eyes?

Martin is overjoyed and says "Blue, Dr. Bob, your eyes are blue!
Wow, I can see that. Thank you Dr. Bob."

Martin continues in telling the doctor that he feels funny, like he might fall over. The doctor tells him not to worry and that it will only take a couple days for the funny feeling to go away. The fine doctor again has a solution.

The doctor continues, now Martin please wear this Sombrero for a couple days. It will take your mind off the new glasses and will protect you should you fall.

Martin loves the new hat and then thanks the kind Doctor.

The doctor then offers Martin some OXI to clean his shirt.

Martin leaves and can't get wait to get home and start baking another cake for Mary.

This time he will use the sugar instead of the salt.

**************************************************************************

All is well on Lundby Lane...

Credits: The only Lundby items in this post are the two dolls. Most of the furniture is Bespaq, 1:12 scale and high quality. The miniature glasses were purchased at the miniature store long ago. They are made of hard plastic yet very fragile and easy to lose. The Sombrero is a treasure I acquired long ago and kept it because I liked it. The eye chart and human skeleton charts were acquired in a lot from an eBay purchase with assorted items. The scale in the cabinet was made for the Franklin Mint (70's) and is metal.

New Doll House

Signe gets another new doll house. She worked hard and saved up for it.

She is admiring the exterior and just is speechless.

Let's see what she's done with the interior.

Signe is so proud of her new house. She bought the house and then picked all the furnishings herself. Yes, she went to the Miniature Show a couple days ago. She and her mom Marta had a blast. They found many, many items that were just too big for them.


I am so grateful I don't collect old cars or airplane engines. It was great fun to buy a new doll house and be able to carry it around for hours. I went to the Miniature Show in Chicagoland and absorbed many great ideas. I was fortunate to meet up with Chris from "Call of the Small" http://call-small.blogspot.com/ and we both commented on how much more fun it is to hunt for tiny treasures and then rejoice in the great prices we paid. I am so pleased she won that Brio House I stopped bidding on. Congrats Chris!


At the miniature show I found a tiny little doll house that already had furniture in it which was firmly in place. I sure liked it but wasn't sure I wanted to pay the price. So I continued browsing, had some lunch and when I went back to look at it again it had been bought by somebody else. Of course I was disappointed but I didn't realize I would have more fun buying a little empty house for a very fair price and spending the next hour meandering the miniature show to find my own furniture and items to accessorize. I guess I wasn't meant to have that house that was all set up. At the miniature show the vendors are so friendly that I was able to first take the little house around so I would be sure I could find proper items to furnish it. Then I went back and purchased it and several other vendors helped me furnish it. Now Signe is speechless because she just can't stop looking and playing with her new house.

The TROLLS visit the Gotland

Meet the Trolls...

The Trolls have checked into the Gotland Summer Cottage early. They are time share owners so they had keys and did not wait to be greeted. They have the Ouija board set up, a candle is lit and they are asking the board for coordinates for their GPS which is on the table.

Martin knocks at the door. The Trolls ask him to just come in. Martin is filthy from cleaning up in the barn. He always likes to welcome the visitors when they arrive but not this time.


Martin comes on in and looks around.


He steps over and asks how things are so far. The Trolls say that everything is great and that they even finished decorating for their stay. Martin then asks what the Ouija board is for. The Trolls tell him they are asking the board about the weather for their hiking adventure.


The Trolls have requested Chocolate Cake, spoons and a block of ice. Martin always provides food that has been asked for from the list of many choices the Gotland offers. All the Trolls wanted was chocolate cake so Martin made them two of them. He also left them a wide assortment of silver spoons and a large block of ice in the freezer.


Martin leaves and the Green Haired Leader digs into one cake with a spoon.

The three other Trolls share the second cake.




When the leader is done eating he tells them it's time to go and to bring all the spoons.
And out the door they go singing a happy tune.




Tra-la-la-la-la..


La-La-La-la...

Hours and hours have passed. The GPS coordinates have been accurate and most beneficial. The Trolls have found a plethora of red jasper, many quartz, assorted tiger eyes and a large amethyst precious gemstone. They also saw a lot of deer but they made Troll noises and the deer pranced and scattered further into the forest.

"SCORE" says the Yellow Haired Troll as he raises his fists in excitement. They all stand in amazement at the great rocks they have dug up with just two shovels and many silver spoons. The lady Troll has wandered off to smell the flowers.

The leader tells the group that it's going to be a good Rock Hunting year because luck is finally on there side. He then tells them to go inside because now it's time to play Titanic! They scurry to get the boat and the block of ice.

Hey... Close the Door!!!




The Trolls are investors in the Gotland but they aren't here to make friends. They have learned from a famous geologist & map surveys that many exquisite gemstones are buried on the land nearby and in caverns and caves. Gee... No wonder why they showed up with so much cash and begged to become investors.




Credits: The itty bitty peeps in the boat are 1:87 HO scale and are made for Train Collectors. These specific ones came in a package of six by Preiser and were made in the Federal Republic of Germany. Hand painted in Maurituis. Too bad they didn't come with a life raft.

Signe's New Rooms

SIGNE's New Rooms

Marta calls her daughter Signe downstairs, "Honey, I have a Surprise for you!" Signe runs to her mother because she knows it might be good. Marta says now honey check out your new bedroom. Marta explains that she is doing well in school and deserves the new space.

Signe is thrilled and says "AAAaaawww Mom!"

She loves the new horse statue with the rider. Plus she doesn't have to share with her brother Gustav (Gus) anymore. She was worried about bugs because of all the cookie crumbs.

Marta tells her there is another room for her. Signe is very attentive and ready to see what's next. They both go into the adjoining room, Signe look around and gives her mom a big hug.

She says in a soft sweet voice,

"Mom, I love you."

Marta leaves Signe alone to enjoy her new doll house room.

Signe is amazed. She has always wanted a Lundby Doll House.

Signe calls all her friends over to share in the fun.

Signe brings the girls to see her new bedroom first. All the little girls are hanging out there just being girls. Signe is holding a high heel shoe that she hopes to fit into some day. All the furniture and items in the room are new to Signe. She just loves the perfume bottle and the new little pink purse. The girls all think Signe is a gluckspliz (lucky mushroom).

Signe tells her friends that there is more and brings them all into her Doll House Room.


The shrieks of laughter, joy & utter excitement fill the room.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh say the girls.

Their creative minds are whirling about.

They want to play, play, play...

All the girls find things to entertain themselves with very quickly.

AAAaaahhh...
The good things that happen on Lundby Lane.

The photo below is what Signe's old room used to look like.
She had to share it with her brother Gus.
She always complained that his socks were stinky.

Marta still isn't sure what to do with the new space in the house but I am sure she'll let me know what she does. I saw her leaving the house with her purse so maybe she's going shopping.

Credits: Ikea Vegetable Bins were used for both of Signe's new rooms. Marta had them installed along with the two existing room extensions under the Gothenberg in about 5 minutes by a very strong construction crew member named Vinnie. Yes, I went back to Ikea and bought four more of these excellent bins. They fit so well under the Lundby houses and I can use an extension cord to install real lighting. They also fit very well under the Caroline's home.

Gustav's (Gus) New Rooms

Welcome to Gustav's (Gus Fjelde) New Rooms.

Marta has hired the local construction crew (Vinnie) to install a couple more rooms because the kids are growing up and each needs his/her own space. These are Gus's new rooms. Gus loves music and hanging out with the DeSalvo brothers. Here he is spinning a record for the guys to groove to. They all sit, relax and groove out to the music.

Now for Gus's new bedroom. As you can see it was from Ikea. Gus loves trains, miniature tractors and cars just like most boys do. He also loves Marble Statues.

(The statues are plastic and not marble of course but dolls don't know these things.)

The boys are playing and making a mess. Nickie is examining the globe trying to figure out where Verna & Arlene (the Flagg dolls) live because they are on his mind constantly. Antony and Gus are playing with the statues, vehicles and have already thrown the pillows all around. Boys, boys, boys... It seems the cow tried to jump over the car but the car got stuck.

Nickie is so jealous of Gus because he would love his own room too. He has to share with little brothers Antony and the Evil baby. Nickie sure is growing up.

Below is a photo of Gus's old room. He had to share the corner of the house with his sister Signe. Gus is much happier now that he has a bigger bed (big boy size) and his very own music room. Marta is very happy also as she can set up a nice quiet place of her own in that corner of the house. She's not sure yet what she'll do but I bet she will show me when she's done.

Oh the good things that happen on Lundby Lane! Joy, Joy, Joy...

Credits: Two Ikea Vegetable bins were used for the new rooms.

EGG Salad

The children have found the hidden Egg. Marta invites them all over to the Gothenberg for Egg Salad.

We'd like to Say Good-Bye

The Hogarins say Good-Bye to Lundby Lane.

"Thanks for all the great food and nice places to visit.

We hope to come back some day."

And they drove away in their rental car leaving with the best of memories. Vinnie has got to get the cottage cleaned quickly because new visitors are expected soon.

Credits: Thanks to Flo for sharing her goofy big headed peeps. These dolls just never stop smiling. They were a pure pleasure to entertain. However I will be sending you an invoice for the vast quantities of food they ate. :) Those ding-dongs aren't cheap to make.