by John Keilman
Chicago Tribune
BENSENVILLE, Ill. — A lot of people remember their childhoods through photo albums or a cherished toy. Penny Parrish’s keepsake is rather more substantial — and that has become a problem.
A few years after her family moved into the Bensenville ranch-style house her father and a friend built with their own hands, her dad made a replica of the home as a dollhouse for Parrish and her younger sister.
It was scrupulously faithful to the real thing — he carved the chimney brick by brick and added imitation shrubbery on the artificial lawn — and it was massive, covering most of an 4-by-8 foot sheet of plywood.
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