Current Mood : Still happy ! Lucky, too !
Spent on embroidery designs : $3.59
Spent on doll environs : $2.
Spent on a doll : $1.
Since it's one of our legendary ‘poor' weekends, I stared things off by downloading ten new freebie embroidery designs, and four sewing patterns - two for dolls, one for Dearest Son, one for home decor. And after today, I only have the final letter to that appliqué alphabet. I wasn't eager to start collecting it, ‘cause there's a very good chance of missing a day, and I hate spending $5. for that one letter or a minimum purchase to get that one letter. But it's nearly over, and unless I miss the ‘Z' tomorrow, I got the whole thing. Actually, I don't think I'll cry much if don't get it, but I do like to have the flexibility of a whole set.
And then (embarrassed blush) I bought two designs. At least $3.59 was a cheap splurge ! Could actually count as three, since one design has two parts - a solid silhouette and a skin-tone one. It's very Barbie-like, sort of like a ‘Queen of the Prom' version. The other is a crystal ball / snowglobe, and those are so much fun ! Ordinarily, I'd have waited ‘til cash was flowing more towards us and less to others, but there was a 55% off sale, and I figured we could spare it.
Dearest Son really enjoyed Bricktopia - he made a super-cool blue and white Lego car and raced it with another kid. The other kid's went further, but Dearest's did a neat 180-degree spinout. We looked at Lego and Clone Wars, and he got an action figure of Anakin Skywalker on a dragonfly-alien. While it was on sale, we also got a game. ‘Trouble', with a pop-o-matic die. Man, I remember driving adults crazy with the constant ‘click-pop' noise. Last week, it was $16., this week, it was $10. Why, I have no idea - it's all plastic, no circuitry, no licensing.
On the way home, we stopped at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore's annual yard sale. I basically gave them everything in my wallet - a $5. bill and about $2. in change - for a boxload of goodies. We got a working ‘Advanced Mission Electronic Battleship' that Dearest requested for our next family game (but $45. this week wasn't flyin' !), a house-shaped stress squeezie, the chair and computer platform from ‘Talk With Me' Barbie, four books of Mad Libs, a knock-off ‘Fashion Plates' called ‘Pretty Girl Fashion Designer', and a dirty but not really damaged Tiffany Taylor doll. It all fit in a box of landscape pieces from ‘HeroScape' - could care less about the game, but the ‘land' pieces fit together to form hills, streams, and such. I could have some fun with those in doll photos ! What was funny was, when I went to lift the box, I found a few dozen pegs and the storage slider piece for the Electronic Battleship game under it !
Once home, Dearest unpacked his new Clone Wars set and ran out to play - it's almost springlike outside. I had a boxload of fun to go through ! Found the Pretty Girl Fashion Designer set nearly complete, with the plates inside a brand-new pencil case. All that's missing is the rubbing crayon and coloring pencils, but I already have lots of those. The HeroScape boxload included a multi-sided die, several game-specific standard dice, some sort of tiny checker-like pieces, two short walls, and game suggestions. I found that the ‘land' and blue ‘brook' pieces fit together much like a jigsaw puzzle, so you can make multi-levels, or one really large flat one.
Tiffany is still getting cleaned up, but she's in fantastic shape. Her left breast was dented in a bit, but most Ideal all-vinyl dolls are not only very sturdy and last darn near forever, but they also have easily removeable arms. I simply popped her left arm off, pushed out the dent with the handle of a file, and screwed her arm back in. While she's a bit taller than Crissy, her clothes hang on Tiffany like bags. Lucky for me, I already have a couple of patterns for her size, thanks in part to www.crissyandbeth.com . Downloaded ‘em a while back, when I was kinda-sorta bidding for a My Size Barbie. I also have a couple from old doll magazines.
The real challenge for her is gonna be shoes. She has Barbie-like high-heel feet. I can easily make little flat slip-on shoes, but she's gonna have to sit or be propped up to stand. In today's photo, she's leaning on one of Beloved Hubby's discarded foam-core samples. I love her graceful hands, and her ‘Steffie'-like face.
Played a round of ‘Battleship' with Beloved - he won. I may have to apply a bit of tape to the speaker when we play it with Dearest, it's very loud, with no volume control. But I'm really happy to have found it. It's like getting the whole rest of the box for free !
