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Dorrie's Doll Diaries
Monday, 23 April 2007
Monday - still no fun, unless ya count making that kid worry needlessly...
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: traffic sounds

 

The cheery FedEx guy - same dude who dropped off the new one Brother sent us - was here bright and early at 10:30. So I didn't have to linger 'round the house, and there was tons of stuff I could do at home or out there.

 

So what'd I do ? Watched a movie, ate some chips, did some laundry, took out trash, did dishes, ate leftovers for lunch and ran a few errands I could on the way to picking Dearest Son up. Basically what I would have done while waiting anyway. I have tomorrow sort of planned - groceries, errands, a nice lunch out, and a little house work - so I left everything the way it was. Didn't do as much housework to day as I should have, but heck with it. I'm still recovering.

 

Had some rough traffic moments. How could anyone miss a big ugly van, with the lights on and a big harpie like me yelling at 'em ? Because they're too busy fussing with some papers on the passenger seat to notice they just drifted into another lane - where the harpie happens to be ! He waved this sort of 'yeah, yeah' gesture at me - then went back to the passenger papers ! Texas plates, I'm sorry to have noticed.

 

Then there was the kid who kindly stopped so I could cross the street at the library - and revved his engine just as I reached his hood. It was a nice day, so his window was open. I leaned over and smiled kindly at him. "Thanks ! Tell your Mom I said Hi !".  The solitary upraised car key between my fingers was barely noticeable. Besides, I enjoy acquainting the kiddies  with anticipatory worry...

 

See how evil I become when I can't sew ? That kid should be grateful I can still at least shop ! :) I could have probably torn a tire off with my teeth !

 

Got home, and I'd missed one of Son's appointments. So we piled back into the van and tore it across town. Where, of course, I got behind someone who needed better directions, because I saw a left, than a right, then a left signal before they just stomped on their brakes and switched lanes. I let an expletive out. They've been cooped up for weeks !  It's a better idea, I learned in the appointment, to use a word to describe that feeling, rather than a word I might not like Son to use at school.

 

So next time a harpie in a big ugly van bellows 'FRUSTRATION !', wave. It's probably me !


Posted by dorriebelle at 7:21 PM CDT
Sunday, 22 April 2007
More Tuna tales...
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: 'Stuart Little 3' - Yes, it exists, but only because I didn't know about it. Geeezult, it's bad...

 

Well, no one in the extended reaches of Chez Insanity can or will take Tuna. They're sorry I'm sick and all, but... C'est le morte. She's adjusting to nights in the closed garage with fresh chow, and mornings with the garage door opened enough for her to traverse. She deserves better, but right now, it's all we can do. Second Chance is packed, and she's not going to a pound. Until we can do better, she's still our Tuna, and we will care for her.

 

And now that weather's improving, I can sit outside with her for a few minutes in the morning. I rather enjoyed that today. Watched the sun come up while Dearest Son slept and Beloved Hubby'd already left for another longer-than-full day of bread-winning. Once I purchase a few cans of mosquito repellant - not much chance of forgetting, I &*%$ing itch ! - it'll be even better.

 

Felt stronger today, so I sorted laundry. There'll be time to put it away tomorrow, I gotta linger 'round the house for the FedEx fella. They're picking up our lightning-speared Brother mulitifunction, and of course, there's no way of telling when they'll be here. And goss knows there's plenty of housework for me to catch up on while I'm waiting ! Got a few small errands to run tomorrow, so I got them ready to go, too.

 

I'd thought to sew, but before I knew it, the day was over. Still haven't installed the new multifunction, so I couldn't print anything anyway, but it would have been nice. Too much work to catch up on first, though.

 

Hope your weekend was relaxing and restoring.


Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT
Saturday, 21 April 2007
Sorry to drop out on you again...I didn't have a choice...
Mood:  don't ask
Now Playing: Another Stuart Little movie - Beloved Hubby bought Dearest Son the set...

 

...after two months of me being anywhere from 'horribly ill' to 'barely managed sick', we came to the obvious conclusion. It's not the weather, or the humidity, or the dust. I've been sick since we moved, and the only thing that changed was that Tuna became an indoor cat. And I am still allergic to cats. No matter what the climate.

 

This was more-or-less proven today, when it was so nice out, Tuna spent most of the day in the front yard. And my wheezing and gasping and coughing almost completely cleared up. Now, we're talking a major one this time. Quite frankly, there was a point Thursday night when I wasn't sure if I was gonna see Friday morning. I've coughed so hard, I've thrown up, and tore the hernia from my c-section. That, my friends, is some real pain. I haven't been eating - choking hazard - so I'm pretty weak, still. But for the first time since Tuesday, I can breathe.

 

Beloved Hubby suspected this, and spoke with his parents Thursday. They agreed that I couldn't go on like that Friday, and would pick Tuna up today. Ultimately, though, they decided that they didn't want to create problems with their older cat, so they didn't. It's not safe for Tuna to be out at night - that's when she got into fights last month, and came home hurt - but my asthma is worst at night, as well. Although it's been explained that Tuna makes Mommy sick, Dearest Son, who occasionally throws small Lego bricks at her, said he'd just keep her in his room. (sigh)

 

So we did the best we could, and put Tuna in the garage. She sure as anything didn't want to go, and I feel guilty on top of everything else. And I get to find her a new home while I can't let her in the house anymore. I'm trying not to be upset, but I'm kind of at a loss here. I'll probably have to call Second Chance Monday. I'd hoped to find her a better home than that, but I'm running out of options.

 

I feel like crap for abandoning Tuna, but I can't take another asthma series. I've had maybe a week of sleep since we moved that didn't include waking up at least once, gasping for air. Tuna deserves more than a garage, but I just don't know what else I can do right now.

 

So, on the whole, it's not been a good day. D@mn 'Midge' case I "won" two weeks ago hasn't shown up yet, either. (sigh)


Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
I am *impressed* with Brother !
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "Stuart Little" - VHS on loan from the library, Looking forward to returning it Friday...

 

Got off the phone with Brother electronics a few minutes ago. You may remember a couple of weeks ago, our house got hit by lightning, and it fried our two-or-three-week-old Brother Fax/Printer/Scanner combo. While the phone co. was mostly at fault, they didn't do a d@mn thing about it, and we had to buy a new modem, they wouldn't even help us out with that.

 

Well, I decided to get off my round rump today and tried to install our printer. After two hours of spinning wheels and nothing happening, save for having multiple copies of 'Printer Lexmark' on the system, none of which worked, I halted the whole thing and did some research. Yeah, I really should have done that first.

 

Turns out our X75, which was still being sold on the shelves of stores around the world as recently as a year ago, has drivers that aren't compatible with Vista. And Lexmark has deemed the unit 'too old' to justify new drivers. I even used their 'live help' who basically typed the same thing I read on the site, all 'company policy, check back later, and maybe...' BS. I wrote them, saying how disappointed I was, having to toss out a perfectly good printer that I really liked, just because they didn't want to invest a few minutes in prolonging its life. If I had to go get another d@mn printer, it sure as all &*%$ wasn't gonna be a Lexmark !

 

Kinda sucked, too, 'cause we don't have the $$$ for a new printer, and I'd just bought a new ink cartridge about three weeks before we moved. I'll clean it up a bit and donate it, it's still functional. Probably leave the ink cart in, just to be nice.

 

Did some more research, and while the price for the Brother one went down a bit, it still was more than we had. I found their service 1800, and decided, 'What the heck, it's not like I'm gonna be out anything more than I already am' and called. I figured there might be a fuse or reset switch that might help, and with nothing to lose, why not ?

 

A lovely young lady listened to my tale of woe, and I hated wasting her time, and told her so - it's not like the lightning was their fault. She put me on hold for less than a minute and came back with the startling news that they were sending us a new one ! I couldn't believe it ! She said that, by the serial number, we couldn't have had it more than a few weeks, and they wanted to see us happy with it. Wow.

 

So, they're FedEx-ing us a brand new one, and we send the old one back in the same box. We don't even pay postage ! I was reeling. After the frantic buck-passing we've had to deal with via the phone company and surge surpressor manufacturer, it was frankly unbelievable that a company took responsibility for anything, much less events that weren't their fault.

 

So, as today ends, we still don't have a printer, but we will soon, and I know to avoid the you-know-what out of Lexmark - and buy Brother whenever I can ! And I'm either catching cold or I'm having a horrible series of allergies - the only thing keeping me awake is having to blow my nose ever thirty seconds.

 

Beloved Hubby was quite proud of me, and bought dinner. Thank Everything. I feel absolutely miserable, pretty much beyond cooking anything more involved than microwave hot dogs. Couldn't even eat what he brought, but his effort made me happy.


Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT
Monday, 16 April 2007
I don't know w hat's wrong with me lately...
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: dryer, tumbling.

 

You'd think posting my laziness publically yesterday would have motivated me off my butt. Nope ! Got all the groceries put away from this morning's safari - three stops to get all the deals ! - and did a load of laundry, but the rest of the day got spent either sleeping or staring at a screen.

 

Hopefully *this* is enough of a spank to get me going tomorrow !


Posted by dorriebelle at 9:33 PM CDT
Sunday, 15 April 2007
It's funny how I get on these weird cleaning jags.
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: "Stuart Little" - VHS on loan from the library, Dearest Son's choice.

 

Today I spent two hours puttering and cleaning the studio. Considering I  haven't *made* anything in nearly a month, you'd think cleaning wouldn't be necessary. But I always vacuum, and my cleaning was mostly putting the new acquisitions - chairs, doll clothes, dolls - away.

 

I'd also dragged stuff out without putting it away, so that had to be done. I'm still contemplating what to do next with it. I need to just go in there and sew !

 

I seem to be stuck. Haven't reinstalled the printer, haven't put Doll Shop Deluxe back up, much less fed in all the measurements and rescanned the patterns I did just before the old computer got fried. I'm doing some housework, but not that much. Anything I can start is long and involved and leads to more stuff to do, so I'm reluctant to start any of it. But I can't hang around the computer all day.

 

At least, when I finally get off my duff, the studio'll be nice and clean !


Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT
Saturday, 14 April 2007
More fun at Dollar Tree !
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: 'The Mask' - a VHS thrift-store purchase, since my last one bought new wandered off...

 

Still on a doll spending spree. Bought four 'Summer Cruzin 66' dolls at Dollar Tree today, among other things. The dolls...well, the best thing I can say about 'em is that at least they're not blow-molded. But they are absolute crap. One I bought has a foot a full 1/4" lower than the other. Somehow, they managed to attach the leg that way.  Another has an eye decal that missed the eye blank by about a half inch. Unique look that doll has.

 

Their clothes, however, were mostly nice. Of the set of twelve, conveniently pictured on the back of the box - wish Mattel still did that on their clothes - most were nice, summer shorts outfits that were pretty enough to be worth the buck. The remainder were clearly 'kid fantasy' dresses. So, there's something for everyone. The blue floral-print dress was nowhere to be seen, but the same style was there as a white knit with colorful stars - I liked that better ! A white blouse sporting a red print was teamed with a fluttery black asymetrical skirt - it would have been nice, but the skirt was made from the world's cheapest nylon knit. It was fraying in two places before I even finished taking the doll out of the box. I'll probably take it apart to use as a pattern, I can't salvage it.

 

The other two were blouses with knee shorts. The blouses both had iridescent circles of hologram bits on them, a frequent feature in this line. On Aylene, the shorts fit fine - but had to be undone for her to sit - and the shirt was big. Aylene's chest isn't as...enthusiastic as a Barbie's. Fake fly and pockets were stitched in, fairly well. Maybe two outfits - a denim-look dress and an orange blouse - were too badly sewn to fit well. I could tell from the way the clothes hung in the packaging, and so would you. Check hems and stitches if you decide to buy ! And be prepared to write off the shoes - the're tiny ! I got one pair to fit a standard-body Barbie, but there wasn't enough shoe heel to come over Barbie's heel !

 

Also scored a three-pack of self-adhesive linoleum, in a small wood-texture print. I'll attach it to a piece of foam core, for a floor. Also found a bamboo placemat that'll also make good flooring. Now that I have plenty of backdrops, I'm working on floors ! Oh, and those chairs I bought three sets of ? I rejected the remaining three, for being scratched and dented. They're gone now ! Somebody bought 'em !

 

Nothing at the local thrifts. Every year I hear how right after Christmas is a great thrift time, people are looking to clean out space for all the new aquisitions. I haven't seen a doll at the thrifts since I bought Christie, and she'd been there for nearly a month. I actually do better at Dollar Tree and yard sales.

 

I guess it's funny that my 'big doll spending' yesterday came to $7. and some change ! I just feel wealthy. Last week, at a yard sale, I found a large, pretty clock for $2. Works great, and I removed the drug ad text with nail polish remover today. Drug companies put out some nice stuff. It even has a 'sweep' second hand.  Looks great in the studio, too.

 

Not a lot else going on. I got a good night's sleep last night - thank you ! - but I could really use a nap !


Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT
Friday, 13 April 2007
Happy Friday - here's 'Aylene' !
Mood:  amorous
Now Playing: "Love Among the Steele" - season 2 episode of 'Remington Steele', on DVD.

 

Happy 'Gateway to the Weekend' Friday ! As promised, this is 'Aylene', the R & D Susie doll I won on Eclectic Blender last weekend. She arrived yesterday, but after several computer mishaps and errors, I wisely decided to go to bed and leave posting her photo 'til later.

 

And it's later ! My gosh, she's an incredible doll ! When I went to try new clothes on her - I bought that Fashion Fever Asian cherry-blossom print cream dress for her today - I noticed that she'd split one shoe from the vamp to below her toes. I kinda thought those shoes were tight on her.

 

Went through the entire shoe collection and found some flats that fit better. She now has about five pairs of sneakers and six pair of various shades of blue flats. Along with two pair of pink ones and several pairs of 'flip flop' type sandals in pinks and reds and yellow. She fit the shoes that came on my long-gone Amidala doll, if a bit loosely, and a few Teen Skipper shoes fit the same way. A bit of cotton in the toes or heels help. At least they're wide enough.

 

But no 'basics' - black and white flats. So I'll start savin' my pennies for the shoe pack expressly for her, which'll be around $20. for eight pairs. I can't really whine about it, after all, there's only 300 of this doll in the world, and I didn't pay $80. for her. Least I can do is get classic basics that fit. Or find lots of blue outfits for her to wear !

 

While most Barbie clothes are rather large, some of the smaller stuff - like the Fashion Fever pieces - fit just fine. Which kinda tanks, because with all the 99c and $1.99 FF stuff at Mal-Wart, I'll probably just buy, rather than sew. And I really need to start sewing again. But it is nice to be able to buy a new doll outfit for a buck or two every so often.

 

Kinda went on a doll spending spree today. In addition to the dress, I bought the backdrop I've wanted. It was marked $2.96, but it rang up as $1. ! Not bad at all for a 16" x 20" print ! Went back and got the other two I'd debated and rejected. I'll post an image of them soon. Weather outside, as I said on the group earlier, is bad enough to make Winnie the Pooh kick hell outta Eeyore !

 

Took Dearest Son to the library after school. He got bored pretty quickly - lots of wailing infants and pushy older kids. No one really his age there. We did get William Steig's Shrek book, which I understand is nothing like the movie. Haven't read it yet, waiting to read it to him when he's home again Sunday.

 

Tomorow's a busy one. Got banking to do, stuff to return to Dollar Tree. Yes, they do accept returns, you just don't get cash back. But you do get to pick out something else. I'm thinking of getting some self-adhesive floor tiles (they sell 'em in single 3/$1. packs or entire cases) and a piece of foam core to mount 'em on. Sometimes I like to have a floor besides carpet or table for photos !

 

But for now, it's raining and still miserable outside. Beloved Hubby's cued up a favorite episode from our Remington Steele DVDs, so I'm gonna join him for some quiet time. Hope your night is filled with quiet and love.


Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT
Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 9:58 AM CDT
Thursday, 12 April 2007
By day one way, by night another...
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: XM 71 - Watercolors

 

I had a lot of doll time today, although, really, I didn't do much. Went to a yard sale this morning, got Dearest Son two boxes of Lego - one Duplo, one of the tiny jumble of expert pieces - for $2.50. Thus wiped out of cash, I went home, ate, and took a nap. I've been tired again, and waking up with a tight chest. If I want to go back to sleep eventually, I have to take a hit (sometimes two) from an inhaler. (sigh)

 

Because I've seen Shrek so often of late, mostly due to Son's preferences, I can almost understand the 'by day one way, by night another' curse. I hate to rest at night lately, because I have to sleep elevated, and sooner or later, I'll wake up gasping. After a pulse of steroids down into my lungs, I can breathe, but I'm restless. I end up falling asleep, but it's so sudden, I barely remember anything besides using the inhaler at (1:30, 2:47, 3 am, take your pick) some point in the night. It's kind of scary.

 

But I also know that once the sun is up, pretty much all my symptoms will vanish. It's like I have twelve hours of activity, and twelve of misery. Day can't break soon enough for me ! I can sleep peacefully during the day, which rather tanks. Too much to do in the day to sleep ! But if I don't, I'm exhausted and prone to impatience and bad judgement. Put that way, it sounds like a 24-7 curse !

 

Still, life goes on. Took Baby Chrissy out for a photo today, and it came out nicely. The beautiful Susie doll I won from Aylene's Eclectic Blender contest arrived, and she is even more delicate and lovely than her photos. I'll post one of her tomorrow - I dropped the camera's XD card in the wrong slot, and Beloved Hubby had to fish it out with tweezers, so I think I'll wait 'til tomorrow to do anything else with images !

 

Read Beth Gunter's (now Beth Colvin, btw) Crissy book again while waiting for Dearest Son. And found shoes and clothes that mostly fit Susie. She's so tiny ! Almost all the sixth scale stuff I have hangs off her ! Amazingly, though, I found shoes that fit. Well, maybe that shouldn't be 'amazingly'. I have two big divider cases fulla nothin' but sixth-scale shoes. With that many, I guess it isn't amazing that I found something. Maybe 'luckily that I was able to find anything in the millions of plastic bits' is more accurate !

 

So tomorrow, I hope to update the site with Baby Chrissy's photo and show you Susie - I think I'll rename her 'Aylene' ! - here. Much as I hate it and keep putting it off, it's bedtime.

 

Wish me rest, wouldja ? (sigh)


Posted by dorriebelle at 10:40 PM CDT
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
It never fails.
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "E.T." - ancient VHS, now Dearest Son's newest favorite. I hope he chooses something new soon...

 

Every time I miss a day or week, I have to read back for at least the previous week, so I won't repeat stuff. I couldn't remember what I last wrote about...'cause it probably wasn't much.

 

Well, we've had some problems with the new computer. Video card is...not what we need. So we upgraded it tonight. Much better ! And we backed up the operating system. Now I can start reinstalling stuff, like printer drivers and patterns and phots. I'm so glad my site has most of my favorite photos...most were lost when the old computer got fried.

 

This is about the only doll-related thing I've done all week. These are photo frames from Dollar Tree - and as you can see, they fit sixth-scale dolls pretty well. Maybe just a bit low. That's Janice enjoying her new patio furniture. I also sprayed the posters with the Krylon Matte Finish, and it really cut down on the glare. Only problem is, I sprayed it too heavily, and the posters rippled from the fluid weight. It's not too bad, I just shoot around it, but I really could boot myself sometimes.

 

I don't have this set of chairs anymore. Eclectic Blender had contests this weekend, so I offered them as a prize after winning a cute set of Barbie-size shoes. I soon had a happy winner, and trundled back to DTree after mailing them to her to get another set. I won a magnificent Susie doll - a sixth-scale brunette beauty - the next day, and offered the second set to the donor. She just loved 'em, but her DTree didn't have any at all. Got those mailed Monday, and got my third and final set afterwards. I got two blue, two yellow. The only ones left there are so badly scratched and dented that there was no way I could offer anyone a third set. Or I would have. Like I said yesterday, EB is a nice group of people !

 

Found a gorgeous poster at Mal-Wart today that would be perfect for photo backgrounds, but decided to hold off on more spending. Not only because of all the chairs, but because earlier this week, I won a Midge case ! It's not perfect, but it's fine for my needs, and the price was just what I wanted.

 

The project I mentioned last week was to *make* a Midge case, using a cardboard suitcase from  Hobby Lobby and some decoupaged Midge images. But...our color inkjet's shot and getting copyrighted images color copied could get difficult. I haven't completely given up on the idea of making my own case, but I need to use my own graphics and images for it.

 

Besides, thanks to an image on Eclectic, I already have my next project in mind. I'm gonna reroot a Malibu ! Growing up in the blonde-only Barbie years, I longed for brunettes. My Kenner Princess Leia came just a bit too late into my life for much play, and Malibu was my first Barbie. Christmas '72, I think. Gift from the Bragg family. So having a brunette Malibu would be so fantastic ! And she looks good with darker hair ! So my eyes are on the alert for a doll to reroot.

 

Also a Midge case, Barbie shoes, and that magnificent Susie doll  to arrive in the mail ! While mine is nude, I deduced that she's a Hong Kong In The Mood Susie (photo here !) and she's gonna be fun to sew for. She has a slightly smaller-than-Barbie body, something I've needed to sew for, too.  Yeah, I haven't even reinstalled Doll Shop Deluxe yet - thank Everything I printed out all the doll measurements a week or two before we moved !

 

Hmm. Guess I have been busy with my dolls, after all !


Posted by dorriebelle at 8:21 PM CDT
Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 9:57 AM CDT

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