Mood:  celebratory

Busy, busy day. Had to run to the bank, get Dearest Son registered for school (i.e., fill in the same paperwork I've done for the last three years), turn in library books and videos, do the grocery shopping and mail some bills. Whew ! About the only housework I got done was putting last night's dishes away.

Got to go to Dollar Tree - scored three new t-shirts for Dearest Son, and a set of pencil sharpeners and a lip gloss for me. I ordinarily wouldn't mention the sharpeners and gloss, but they're perfectly doll-sized ! The pencil sharpeners - there's six in the package - look like little fire extinguishers. They fit as well in Elphie's scale as in Barbie's. They do a pretty good job on pencils, too. The lip gloss comes in a round container, like Ben & Jerry's - ice cream for the family in sixth-scale, a largish single-serving for Elphie. They had various ‘flavors', but the "Gelato" kid didn't have ‘LIP GLOSS' written big and loud on the front of the container. So soon, Elphie's gonna have some Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, and if it's still too hot, she always has a fire extinguisher handy. She's got four of ‘em...

The other two went to Dearest Son. I'll probably stash one in the office desk drawer, it really did do well on the two half-ground-down pencils in the holder. Three fake fire extinguishers are enough for the doll contingent !

Picked up the latest décor element for the Studio. It's a fuzzy white cube that changes color and pulses with whatever music source is plugged into it. Yup, it's a funky speaker. I was amazed at the brightness of the colors and how good it sounded.  Works with anything with a mini headphone jack, which is just about any electronic device these days. It was on markdown at our Mal-Wart, $5. down from $12-something. Wanted it because, while I adore the MP3 player Beloved Hubby got me, sometimes I don't want to use the headphones. The cheap speaker from Dollar Tree was beyond suckage. This one was quite nice, especially for the cash. It also came in pink and purple, but you know me, I'll almost always go for white, given the choice.

Dearest Son was already asleep when I finished ‘Macaroni', the Not-Perfect Penguin. His name sort of came to me when I had to fix several sewing blunders. I think he came out kinda cute. Only took about two hours, start to finish, and used less than a good handful of cotton balls for stuffing. His photo uses some yard-sale fabric pinned to my sewing chair as a backdrop !

After I took photos, I nudged Macaroni into Son's hand. His fingers curled around him, and, even in his sleep, he loosely hugged him. I think he'll like his surprise when he wakes up tomorrow ! They looked so cute, I took pictures of them together, too.

I'm working on a story to go with him, that I can type up and print out for him. I think I'll redo his pupils, they don't seem dark enough. While Macaroni isn't quite what I had in my imagination to begin with, he's still quite cute, at least to me, and I'm happy. Just hope Son likes him !

And that was my day. Whew ! I should be in bed, it's gonna feel sooo good !

Posted by dorriebelle at 11:55 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:01 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  on fire

Have no idea why it took me so darn long to get going today. Seems like I could come up with endless reasons to keep my rear firmly ensconced in this chair all day. Eventually, however, I did get up offa that thing, but about all I did was dishes.

I updated the home page, slightly. Changed ‘July' to ‘August', and deleted references to July 4^th in Aylene's ‘front porch' photo. Added a link to Studio Foglio's Girl Genius just beneath it. It's one of the reasons I had for parking my butt in this chair for so long ! Beloved Hubby and I read today's new strip this morning, and from there, I toured the sketchbook. That was good for numerous laughs ! If you tried to access GG from the last link I gave, I'm sorry. I'm an idiot, and gave the wrong address.

Try this one ->

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ . It works !

And yes, I am working on a GG-inspired costume for one lucky doll. I just have to pick which outfit I like best - that I can possibly make. I could easily do the underwear she keeps finding herself in during most of the earliest chapters, so I may start with that. Just for giggles.

Speaking of giggles, I did manage to price the stuffing I'll need for that magazine pattern penguin I was planning on making for Dearest Son. $6. Hmpft. I can *buy* a licensed Mumbles (Happy Feet) for $8. that isn't much smaller. And it dances ! Still, I'd like to make him something besides Thomas the Tank Engine blankets and Cars pillows. You know, something that isn't bedding. The stuff I've made him so far has turned out nice, and he's certainly enjoyed it all, but ya can't take ‘em on car trips to Dollar Tree or really show ‘em off to friends. He's still into penguins, so I hunted for penguin patterns that don't require multiple bundles of stuffing. Kind of a 'pocket penguin' of sorts.

About the only freebie one online seems to be the Linux penguin - > http://www.free-penguin.org/#dow , which is cute, and at around 12 to 14 inches tall, about the right size. But isn't what I want. Plus, it doesn't say how much stuffing is needed. Toured other web sites, and found one featuring interesting scans of various patterns from Japanese women's magazines. One in particular got my attention - it was for a purse and glasses case with an adorable miniature penguin as an appliqué. It got me thinking... so if you had a chill race up your spine about 9:45 Central tonight, it was probably the universe recoiling in horror at the idea of me thinking. Sorry.

About five minutes later, inspired by the appliqué, I sketched out a simple pattern. It would work pretty well in felt, and less than half a bag of dollar-store cotton balls would easily stuff his five-inch tall body. Nothing amazing, but even my pathetic sketch - I can't draw for love or money, or even both - held a sort of charm. He'd be small enough to be cute, quick enough to make so that when he invariably gets wrecked, I won't be upset, simple enough to experiment with, and endearing enough for Son. A quick check of the beyond well-stocked stash revealed that I already had everything - orange (beak, feet), white (belly, eyes), and black (body, flippers, and tail) felt, a large and rather old sack of cotton balls, a black Sharpie pen, and plenty of thread. I could even use some of the fabric that made Baby Ariel's outfit yesterday for Macaroni penguin hair. Macaronis are Son's favorite.

It's funny how I have it all. The orange felt is leftover from attempts at making Crissy doll shoes, the white is from my old craft supplies, purchased about ten years ago, and the black is from a Hobby Lobby sale during Christmas - I picked up a sheet of black to round out the '10 for $1.' rainbow I was buying. I even have glittery black felt, from an after-holiday markdown. Only paid 4c a sheet for those ! So I may well make a ‘disco' penguin, once I get the first one done for Son ! I also still have some red sparkle, left from the Christmas I made stockings for Son's preschool class. There may be some really flashy birds around here in the coming days...

Tomorrow's a busy day, though, so we'll see how it goes. I may well have photos of penguins for you ! I'd offer you the pattern, but once you see it, you can easily make your own. Goss knows it couldn't be difficult if I came up with it !

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:43 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  happy

Quiet day around the house. Well, once I finally got that last Blog entry to post. I have no idea why it does that. Just glad as all heck I use Word, so I didn't have to type it over and over each time Tripod lost it. I was creatively swearing at it for nearly an hour !

Dug out Dearest Son's old kitchen playset, and he had lots of wet, muddy fun cleaning it up. He'll probably play with it for another year or so, off and on, before he's tired of it. Since it's outside, he can play with it any way he likes, without tearing up his room. At this point, I'd rather he play with and wreck it than it rot away, nearly pristine, in the garage.

While he was doing that, I got to sew ! Looks like the new shirt pattern works just fine, it fits and closes in the back. Which is funny - I looked at the pattern and was so happy that it looked about right, I printed it and didn't program in a closure.  Just completely forgot to go back and add one. Luckily it was a simple little shirt, so I could draw in a simple fold facing with a ruler and pencil.

Shorts are still a bit baggy, but she can sit and stand, so I'm OK with that pattern, too. It's better than the blue pants, so we have improvement. I'm glad. Shoot, once I make her a dress with sleeves, I've about covered all of the major Doll Shop Deluxe areas I need to check. I'm so happy this isn't gonna be one of those prolonged DSD vs. Me wrestle-fests I'm unfortunately used to.  And I've used up a lot of small scraps on this project ! Got in a little photo manipulation practice in, too.

I also used one of the ‘scrapbooking embellishments' I bought yesterday. Printed out a photo of Elphie and Fiyero at the right size, cut it out, attached it to an old business card with a glue-stick, and poof ! Miniature photo frame ! The ‘frame' has little points at each corner, so I bent the top two in to hold the photo. The bottom two are just large enough to stand the frame up ! Yup, it stands unassisted ! And I can change the photo whenever I want. Plus I still have two frames left. Not bad for a buck and some change.

And that was about my day. Hope yours was fun and productive, too !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:01 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  irritated

But sometimes ‘grinning and bearing it' is difficult, because I'm so spoiled. Had my whole morning planned - a trip to Hobby Lobby, since I haven't been in months, and then a peek at the Hancock Fabrics sale if I still had money left, then donate our old plates and check out GoodWill. Maybe a yard sale or two, if I passed any interesting ones. I'd be back before lunch, and there's little chance I'd spend a lot.

So I was ready to go, happy and excited...and Molly wouldn't start. I have no idea why. It hasn't rained, I haven't left any lights on, nothing. She started yesterday, too. Grr. So, while my plans bit the dust, and Beloved Hubby was out of the county, dropping off estimates, there's no reason to let that completely suck up the day. I got back into a comfy ‘lay around' shirt and sewed the new-measurement Baby Ariel pants. And you get the first photo ! This is what she looks like with her hair down. The tiny holes in her feet are to let water drain - after all, she is a bathtub doll !

As bad and baggy as these pants are, you can imagine how much worse the first pair was - I just threw them out entirely. Much better this time, but very high-waisted - they came up to just below her arms ! - and rather baggy around the hips. But they fit and mostly went on easily, so I only adjusted her DSD ankle measurement, rechecked the hip, and altered her height.

The new pattern looks much better. Also printed out a blouse pattern. I'll keep this pair of pants, because even with the errors, they fit, and won't look too bad with a cute shirt. Besides, I've used up the discarded fabric generated when Beloved made shorts from an old pair of pants, so I may as well use what I've made from ‘em ! And on the next trial, I can use new material !

But first, I needed to check out the blouse, see if those measurements worked.  Decided to forego the facings, and just hem everything. It looks great but the fit...sort of yes, sort of no. It's great in the front, the neck and armholes are nearly perfect, but it doesn't fasten in the back, except at the top. Tweaked a couple more measurements, looked at patterns - maybe the next one will work. This is so typical of my ‘adventures' with Doll Shop Deluxe, I'm not even upset.

Checked the narrow tape measure. For the first two inches, it looks to be only about 1/8^th of an inch off. But by the time it approaches six inches, it's closer to a quarter inch. It isn't off by much, but it adds up fast. So I'll keep it in my purse, for quick scale checks. I'll have to find a narrow tape elsewhere for Doll Shop Deluxe measurements.

By then, Beloved was home, so we hit a few yard sales, and I rode up with him for a minor touch-up job, to keep him company. He stopped at a Hobby Lobby for me, but we didn't linger long. I did find some ‘scrapbooking embellishments' that looked like brushed silver picture frames to me. They were $3.47, but you know me - I paid $1.24 for the set of three. Now I just have to find some photos to fill ‘em ! One will look great on Elphie's table/vanity/desk.

After that, it was time to pick up Dearest Son from his day with the grandfolks and head home. Hopefully Beloved will have a few minutes to work on Molly tomorrow.

PS - Just about the time I figured I could start typing on the Tripod interface again, it lost the first version of this. And then the second. Then the four tries to save this as a draft. I've lost count of how many tries this took, just that it took longer to post than write. *&^%... Thank Everything I still use Word - and won't contemplate going back to this again

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:01 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  accident prone

Got Baby Ariel re-measured last night, but there hasn't been time to sew for her since. Wow. Some of those measurements were waaaay off ! I usually employ a narrow tape measure that retracts into a disc of sorts - it's convenient and thin enough for dolls. But after a third doll has to be completely re-measured and the original numbers are off, I'm starting to think that tape's messed up. I'll have to check it later.

After chain-sawing dangerously low-hanging tree limbs - the all-summer rains have made the trees and lawn grow like crazy - we decided to go out. Besides, Beloved Hubby felt bad when I got clocked by a good sized branch. Only a couple of scrapes and one small bonk on the head. Ironically, the smallest of the scratches hurt the most ! Once I was out of the shower (‘cause hauling limbs and holding the ladder in 90 degree heat is sweaty work !), nothing hurt at all. Until I nearly fell over an upturned chair in Dearest Son's room ! Grrrrr....

Since I got to choose our venue, we hit the bookstores ! I got to see the first issue of the new Barbie Collector and the latest Fashion Doll Quarterly, but bought neither. Is it just me, or have doll magazines - especially fashion doll magazines - really gone downhill lately ? All I saw was gush for the latest and greatest and price guides in between full-page doll store ads. Which also double as price guides.

BC was too many Mattel photos, not much article, with a single Marirose dress pattern that looked a bit involved - I have some experience with her patterns, from Vintage Clothing for the Fashion Doll. As usual, her stuff looks absolutely perfect but mine always leaves a bit to be desired. So I'm not exactly jumpin' up and down to get more of her patterns right now. The magazine lacked other projects or ideas, but had a surplus of  ‘hey, you don't have this $280. "Barbie" MAC lipstick, so you'd best get on it !' blurbs. Even the vintage articles - stuff Mattel wouldn't make money on - were more ‘this is worth $xxx now. Do you have one in YOUR collection ?'. Meeting/fan club/con coverage was also mostly ‘aren't you sorry you weren't here ?' than anything else, and most of the other bits and pieces were already out of date - like how to sign up for the Dallas convention. And does a true Barbie Doll Collector *really* need to shell six bucks to be informed of how to tell a butt-marked #1 1959 doll from a back-embossed ‘1966' one ? There's plenty of books and reference for that (shoot, I even have some of it on my website, but without lavish photos !), but there it was, even with the photos, it was still rather dry and boring.

Today was the first time I'd actually held an issue of FDQ in my hot little hands. The pattern for Tonner's Ellowyne Wilde - a Goth Lolita dress - was intriguing, but I have 90% of the basic style already, for both Barbie and Elphie sizes. Plus, while Ello is the same height as Tyler Wentworth, the bodies are different, so they can't share clothes or patterns without alterations. So why shell $10. for a pattern I can't really use ? The Tonner articles were friendly, if not particularly witty ("10 Things I Learned About Tonner - they really, really love dolls !"  my snark : how long did that take you to deduce, Sherlock ?), and the paper dolls were pretty, but most of the issue was a wash. My dolls are lucky to have shoes, much less hats made of doll hair, and drooling photos of doll accessories just don't do it for me. Plus ‘Rubber Stamping on Fabric' ? Umm, I just spent six hours making a great doll dress. You really think I'm gonna muck it up with a *&^%$ing stamp pad ?! And glitter ? Pssshshhh !

It just seemed like most of what I looked at were glossy photos. Nothing new or inspiring, unless you count the hopes that wallets would be opened and credit cards would be extracted. It's sad when you're still holding the magazine in your hands in the store and you're bored by what you're barely leafing through. Maybe I'm getting jaded. Or maybe I know the patterns won't be nearly as perfect as the photos. Or I'm simply tired of the ‘buy, buy, BUY ALREADY !' pressure that radiates from the magazines. If I wanted that crap, I'd get a two-inch-thick copy of The Knot or Bride's. Those things should come with handles sewn to ‘em. They're huge !

I did find something interesting - well, Beloved found it for me. A wonderful sixth-scale bass guitar ! Wow ! It looked more in Elphie's scale than Barbie's, but either way, it was six different kinds of cool. There were four varieties, but I preferred the electric bass Fender. It came with tiny picks, a stand, a strap, and a tiny cord and some sort of transmitter or amp that fit on the strap. It was a bit pricey at $20., but I'll definitely go back for it as soon as I can. I forgot to write down the manufacturer, and for some reason, every photo I've found shows it out of package and only one mentioned the maker and distributor, making it kinda hard to find online.

Here's a link if you wanna see - it's still out of the packaging, but if you look close, you can see those cute, tiny picks - >

http://www.fenderusa.com/store/enter.php?a=_098176pqikzhmxcf82oidf22&product=0999325000

So, pretty soon, you may see Elphie strummin' a new bass guitar !

Over dinner, I was telling Beloved about my quandary over the white-spot-legged California Dream Midge that the flea market seller had last Sunday. If I decided to shell the $4. for her, should I keep her original - i.e., not perfect, but definitely herself - or do I make her perfect by scrapping another doll ? It all gets down to whether or not I can deal with a damaged doll in Chez Insanity, really. Some folks can accept imperfections in people but it better not come near their doll collection ! And others have no problems with their dolls bearing damage and wear. We're all different, after all. Beloved listened attentively, and gave me his thoughts. He said my entire collection was a haven for slightly damaged dolls, even the ones bought new usually had some small issues, so if Midge wanted to wear pants all the time (like I do when I don't shave !), that'd be up to her. And me. But he kind of figured that Midge, like me, wouldn't want to sacrifice another doll for vanity, we'd rather deal with what we came with. And the others would just have to adjust if she wanted to wear a skirt now and then.

Can you believe *this* is the guy my parents thought wasn't good enough for me ?! In my experience, not many folk would put this kind of thought into any hobby that wasn't theirs. It's also sweet how he's accepted a new doll into the house without so much as a raised corner of one eyebrow. So, yeah, if the seller still has her, California Midge will be arriving, spots and all, to Chez Insanity Friday or Saturday next.

It's easy to be happy when you have my life ! :)

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:56 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  a-ok

It's funny to find myself in August. It seemed like July would be around forever. But the circus has to end sometime, or the town'd have to find something to do with all the elephant poo. Where I'm from, there's a competition amongst the average Joe & Jane to get to the gate first the day after, to clean up after the State Fair. Folks find money and prizes and sell the animal leavings to gardeners.

Other metaphors aside, I decided to print off the last pages of the pattern catalog this morning. Turns out, my little project only used about 1/3 of the cartridge. It was well-used before I started, and more than a third remains. So I'm happy I have it all, but a little sad it's all done with. This Big Summer Project only cost about $15., including the library printing. I redid the catalog while putting in the new sheets, freeing up some document protectors, so I only needed about half the package. The big cost was time, of course, but I learned a lot. Mostly about digital image manipulation ! And how ridiculously obsessive I get. I now look at the catalog/photo album and squee with happy. I used to shrug and push it out of the way, while looking for more important stuff.

One other thing I learned was that folks can't seem to get enough of creating ways to dress Barbie up as Scarlett O'Hara (Gone With The Wind) or Marilyn Monroe. I have six different sewing pattern versions of the green ‘Barbecue' dress and four of the white halter dress from Seven Year Itch. Three of the strapless pink gown from ‘Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend' in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, although you can say she's Madonna performing "Material Girl" instead. Somehow, I ended up with a copy of patterns for every.single.gown. Vivien Leigh wore, even if it was for two minutes, on screen in GWTW. I even have patterns for her ‘shimmy' (chemise).  You know, the one Rhett knows what she looks like without. It's weird because I have no intention of sewing any of ‘em - well, maybe that super-easy one from a German pattern magazine - but I can't ditch a single one, either. Nor can I stuff ‘em in the Lord Perry folder I use to keep over-complicated patterns out of sight = out of mind, but not deleted. I want ‘em where I can see ‘em, even though I have zero intention of using ‘em. Makes no sense to even me, but there it is.

Ironically, I want to make a halter dress for Elphie. Since she'd be the least likely to actually want something like that ! It'd be gorgeous on her, though, in the right fabric. And goss knows I got plenty of fabric, some of it somewhere just has to be ‘right' ! Sheer numbers, ya know...Maybe this time I can tweak and increase and proportion a Barbie pattern to the right size for Elphaba. Long as it's not pink, she can't really complain !

I'm hoping that I'll get to sew later today. For now, though, I'm gonna re-measure Baby Ariel, see if I can get those pants right this time ! I'm starting to  think the narrow tape measure I used has stretched or something.

Posted by dorriebelle at 5:28 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  lazy

And so, another month begins. Dearest Son returns to school soon, and another summer begins to slide into autumn. I'm starting to wonder if we'll have a Fall this year, since we didn't have much of a summer !

Took ‘FlashGordon', our mini USB drive, to the library this afternoon. Printed off the 24 pages of pattern catalog that were mostly outline. Library printer did quite well on them, no lines or anything. Maybe the toner was low when I printed the test images. In any case, I only have 29 more pages to print, so I may just go ahead and print ‘em here at home. All the new pages are now in the catalog, and I really love leafing through it. I'd do it for my other doll patterns, but I don't think I'm ready for that much work again !

Went ahead and sewed a test pair of Baby Ariel Doll Shop Deluxe pants tonight, cut from a leg of blue work pants Beloved Hubby cut to make shorts. Didn't turn out very well. Crotch and legs were off, and ankles were extremely tight. So I get to re-measure tomorrow. Not sure why I'm surprised, Baby's bent legs were gonna be hard to fit anyway - and DSD has fitting issues even with straight-leg dolls ! Heck, I don't know what I'm whining about. Everything I used was recycled, and it only took about an hour or less. I just hate to throw my finished item away. But I still have another leg ‘o pants to experiment on tomorrow !

I think I'll aim for that. I'm pretty darn tired right now ! :)

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  surprised

Another ‘not much doll' day. Ended up not sewing anything at all, yesterday or today. Spent five hours of today finishing, sorting, and storing laundry. As of this moment, the only dirty clothes in the house are on our backs. There was quite a backlog.

Made a decent soup from the remnants of a lemon pepper deli chicken for lunch. Next time, though, I'll  have to use a less picked-clean chicken ! Beloved Hubby and I about had it down to bones alone Saturday.

After all that ‘Suzy Homemaker' stuff, I deserved a break. And I really got one ! Guess what I found at Neighbors Thrift ? A white 1968 Barbie case ! It was dirty, and in a bit of rough shape, and rather on the high side for a thrift store, but it was within my spending budget and I wouldn't have to wait and worry about shipping.

Cleaned it with some out-of-date baking soda and water, very gently. That pulled up some of the stray ink marks and part of the general surface dirt. It seemed a bit brighter afterwards. It was up on the section of Studio wall reserved for it before it was completely dry. Happy !

Spent some time in there puttering. Noticed that the closet light switchplate was pretty dingy and discolored.  Since I have to hit Mal-Wart for prescriptions tomorrow, I'll pick up a new one then. If I just get a plain white one - to match the one Beloved replaced on the main light switch - it'll only be pennies. I rarely like the fancier ones anyway.

Slowly, the Studio is becoming the place I want to be, even more than in front of the computer. Much as I love playin' with m site, most doll-based message boards have lost their charm. Haven't visited Prego in over a year, since the last dust-up, and of the remaining dozen, there's either too few participants or are chiefly claimed by dolls I don't care for. When the only way to be part of a group is to gush admiration for dolls you don't like, why do it ? When I instead gush over their new outfits, it seems so hollow. Maybe because I'm doing it not because I really feel it, but because I want to belong so much sometimes.

That's why I never started a doll message board of my own. Figured no one would care about my tightwad ways when it was more fun to laud the six $150. dolls purchased last month and sigh over eight more. Plus, I get to have my say on the main site, as well as here. It's more than I'd ever get at Prego.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Thursday, 2 August 2007 2:56 AM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  lazy

Whew. Got all the dishes - long neglected - washed last night, so I seem to be in a rare ongoing cleaning mode. Today I cleaned up the living room, trashed with toys, polystyrene packing from the sound system, and various bits of snack food. This mini-mission accomplished, I went on to vacuum the entire house, ‘supervise' Dearest Son's room cleaning, sweep all the non-carpet floors, and take out trash. I even got some laundry done, just not put away. I ran out of steam !

During a lull in the clean, I got Baby Ariel measured for Doll Shop Deluxe. Patterns look a little weird, but outfitting a baby figure must be like customizing a uniform for a bag of Jell-O. I've never sewn baby clothes - even my younger dolls have simple toddler figures, and Baby Chrissy wears real infant clothes. Printed off a pair of pants to try later. I'm kind of warring with myself - I need to finish the Rio project before I start something new, but I really wanna make something for Baby. And I promised Son I'd take him to Dollar Tree today, so I have to make up my mind already. If the flash flood thunderstorm that just erupted doesn't make my decisions for me. (sigh)

It's just one of those days. Don't take it personal. (breathe) It's just one of those days. Don't take it personal. (breathe) It's just one of those days. Don't take it personal. (breathe)

Posted by dorriebelle at 7:39 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink

Mood:  bright

We're almost out of July. I can't help but feel I should go buy some more, so we don't run out. I like to keep my pantry full of July, if I can !

The traveling flea market that sets up at the county fairgrounds is here this weekend. I go about every second or third go-round, although I rarely find anything. It's good for a walk. Didn't go yesterday, because I was consumed with finishing the pattern catalog (YES !!), but it's usually a Friday-Saturday-Sunday event, so I figured I'd go today. I think I'm a bit 'down' now that the Summer Big Project is done. It happens sometimes. When I saw there were only four cars in the parking lot, I knew something was amiss. The signs were still up, though...

Turns out, the few folk who were there were packing up. Despite the large banner signs, the flea market is only on Friday and Saturday now. There were maybe five shoppers and four vendors, storing their unsold misc. One of the few sellers there had dozens of Barbies. But I didn't buy a one. For one thing, most were boxed up, and I didn't wanna prowl through them if I didn't have serious intentions to buy. For the second, they'll be back in two weeks. I guess they have a circuit or something. For the third, she was waaaay too expensive. While most weren't more than five years old, they were all tangled hair and bland cheap clothes, with the occasional inked-up face for fun.

Not one was worth the $4. each she wanted. I can only assume she yard-sales ‘em for pocket change, ‘cause these wouldn't even make me ask 'how much ?' much less reach for the wallet, unless I wanted to get into serious customizing - by starting with a bare, no-paint face ! Even with that, once a Bic ballpoint pen gets into the vinyl, you can darn near forget it. All the acne-treatment work isn't worth it for a doll you can still find brand-new for $5. at most Family Dollar stores. You'd think she'd at least brush their hair while she's standing her booth, but nope.

Of course, her biggest ‘value' was the special car sets. She'd arranged two random dolls in various Barbie or knockoff vehicles, no trading allowed. I saw Family Dollar thin plastic sedans, a one-side-faded Sea Doo jet ski, and several remote control Mattel Jeeps that'd seen better days. If the floor of my Studio looks like a used car lot, her sales table looked like a junkyard. A vehicular Point of No Return. Plastic roll-bars broke free of their moorings. Cars with missing tires hid behind other cars. Remotes leaned forlornly against wheels that no amount of batteries would ever move again, and broken ‘pop-up picnic sets' in the back of mini-vans were denuded of stickers and folded at bizarre angles that weren't part of original Mattel designs. Whoo.

She had two VW Beetles - complete with a blonde Mackie face Barbie and a blah Ken, she expected $14. Or $10. for just the car. Wow. I thought the $5. at GoodWill for each of the two I bought was a bit much. One unfortunate Beetle had its hood inexpertly painted with nail polish by its previous owner. Yikes. It really looked *bad*. Of course, no seat belts, side mirrors, or rear view mirrors existed on either of them. The other Beetle, packed in a box, was the same virulent pink featured on a Barbie case I had as a kid, and I nearly got sick just looking at it.

I found a freckled Steffie-faced Midge among the rabble, but again, $4. was a bit much, and she was hiding her white-spotted legs (fairly common on late 80s dolls) under a long red skirt. She may well be California Dream Midge, her eye paint was especially vivid, and her freckles were happily evident. I'd consider getting her in two weeks, but I'd have to find a replacement body...grrr. Hate to pay $4. for a doll who needs work, then more for supplies ! I think I'll think about it. After all, I have two weeks.

Found a yard sale, but not much there. Dearest Son gained a nice Urban Outfitters shirt and a baby monkey in a blanket puppet, as well as a free half-bottle of Cars bubble bath. I got a strip of gold sequin-edged white tulle, ruffled and sewn to elastic. It'll probably become a ballet tutu for Baby Ariel, it's about the right length and size. Also a jute tie-belt that'll fit the My Size Barbie girls. Not bad for a buck and a half.

I think I'll give the ReAnne doll a pass. I've gained four new or new-to-me dolls this month alone, so I need to slow it down. At least wait until August to get her !  By then, I'll know if it's another ‘oooh, new doll buzz !' or if I really want her. I mean, heck, I haven't even measured Baby Ariel in DSD yet !

Posted by dorriebelle at 4:41 PM CDT

Share This Post

Post Comment | Permalink