Hoard 1:12 // TRIGGER WARNING – spiders
Is there anything greater than a friend who really gets you (and likes you anyway)? There is not. One such friend of mine happens to be esteemed person, accomplished mystery/thriller novelist, and NYT Bestseller Chelsea Cain. I know, right? Don’t be jelly.
Chelsea and I connect on a number of issues, but none so much as stuff. We like weird scraps of stuff, and turning it into other, crafty stuff. Despite the fact that she has a highly productive writing career, I mostly observe Chelsea doing thoughtful things for other people. Like, more or less whenever I am around her, she is thoughtfully arranging little gifts, adventures, and surprises for her family, her friends, and random little bridge trolls like me. Most recently, a Chelsea-style surprise arrived at my doorstep in the form of a box full of dollhouse furniture that Chelsea stumbled upon at the local Goodwill. This was accompanied by the following note, which showcases Chelsea’s dark humor:
Rosie–
Obviously a doll must of died & her family had an estate sale.
Happy Hoarding!
<3 Chelsea
Chelsea is referring, of course, to my hoarder dollhouse project, of which she is a big supporter, and has had a big level-up, thanks to her box of goodies. Because, of course, I am a miniaturist, and verge always in the direction of over-perfecting things. But a hoard? A hoard needs too much stuff. Uncontrolled stuff. Stuff everywhere, like a crazy out-of-control situation. So I promised myself I was going to cram at least half of whatever Chelsea sent me into that dollhouse, and let it take over.
Stuff is starting to migrate. Stuff is starting to pile up, get hard to move around. Stuff is starting to get weird.
Additionally, I have a new set of collaborators on the project–as I sat down to begin work last night, I found that a spider had laid her eggs somewhere around the dollhouse, and when I turned on the light and the fan, they scattered everywhere, seeking the higher ground that would let them fly away, all Charlotte’s Web-style. And at first I was like GROSS DIEEEEE!!! but then I was like, WAIT, I have a perfect SCALE INFESTATION. If I am lucky, at least a couple will stay and start making SCALE COBWEBS in the house for me.
I really hope so, because Chelsea Cain is not the only one in this friendship with a fucked-up set of ideas about things that would be awesome.