Mood:  happy

Took Dearest Son to ToysRUs (TRU) today - we have a coupon reward system set up for Son, and he's all out of stuff to want ! The Transformers section was still mostly bare, but we found a set of six Hot Wheels-size Transformers that included BumbleBee and StarScream. TRU Exclusive, too. And he was in love. So, he agreed to trade me his coupons to date for that, and start all over again on the other thing he wanted, a Mr. Potato Head Transformer. He was so careful taking it out of the box, I was able to save the box liner as a sort of cardboard display case. That was pretty much his afternoon, playing with them...after the hour or so it took to debox ‘em !

And I got a new doll ! This is the same one I was sooo sorely tempted to buy back on 22 July and again on 26 July. ‘Laura' here was the ReAnne Magical DoReMi doll they had on markdown for $6.98. She was further marked down to $4. minus a further 20% off incentive for clearance items. So she was only $3.20 !

I immediately changed her witch costume - a frilly orange and yellow dress with a built in slip and another DoReMi toy pictured on the front - to her second outfit, shown here. I think she's so cute ! Back in July, our TRU  had three, including one with a minor paint smear to the mouth. They still had all three today, which was kind of sad.

There's lots more in clearance, both in the store and on the site. I found that the store-only additional 20% off seemed ot be there so that store and online prices matched. According to the signage, the 20% off thing goes on ‘til 9/08. If you've been wanting a Chat Diva Barbie or Teresa, $11.98 is about as good as it's gonna get, I think ! Ours had both dolls at the same price, but the website wants $14.95 for Teresa - what's up with that ? Free shipping on the website, if you don't have a brick-and-mortar store locally.  This link will take you right to the markdown dolls  -> http://www.toysrus.com/search/index.jsp?categoryId=2276203&f=PAD%2FOutlet%2FYes&f=Taxonomy%2FTRUS%2F2255963&fbc=1&fbn=Taxonomy%7CDolls

I played with the Chat Divas, both at Mal-Wart when they first came out, and at TRU today. Pretty neat, I think. The mouth mechanism's quiet - it's come a long way since 1997's ‘Talk With Me' computer-programmable doll. I had one, so long ago, bought on markdown - of course ! - for $15. the following year, during the ‘Black Friday' sales. The mouth mechanism servomotors were LOUD ! If you've never heard a TWM Barbie, but have heard a Furby, it's about the same. It's just somehow more loud when it's coming from a smaller doll. Of course, the microphones in the ads for both products somehow failed to pick up those sounds...or how difficult it was to hear the toy over the mechanism noise.

TWM Barbie had battery compartments in her thighs and on her back, and a large permanent necklace, for the infrared info feed. No kidding, this necklace was like something Sailor Moon would wear, big, gaudy, and gold, with a huge pink ‘stone'. Due to the gimmick's demands, the doll's body didn't have bending knees or a twist waist, and even her head was stationary. The included information packet offered a personalized recording if TWM didn't have your name already, which was nice. Amazingly, she did have mine, and I have a pretty rare name !

Ended up giving mine to my best friend's daughter a few months later, when it became apparent how limited her speech was. Yup. It was beyond our hacking skills to make Barbie cuss and swear. Unfortunately, the computer interface was already outdated when it was new, so nearly two years later, it wouldn't even run on her parents' systems. Gosh knows what happened to her, I kind of wish I'd kept her.

So, yeah, I'm kind of considering the CDTeresa. I have a knee-jerk dislike of anything that trumpets ‘Diva' - it used to be a complement on artistic talent, now it's a sort of shorthand for ‘Entitlement Princess' behavior. I kind of want to hook her up to my MP3 and play some Daft Punk, or some of the more risqué offerings of Gwen Stefani. While $12. isn't much, I have to wonder if I'll still want her after the novelty has worn off.

Well, I have ‘til next Saturday to decide...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:05 AM CDT

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Mood:  cool

Sorry to keep doing this, but not much is going on ! Saw the last episode of Princess Tutu, and I'm not terribly happy about the ending ! Besides that, about all I did today was dishes. Tomorrow, though, I'm taking Dearest Son to TRU, and I'm really looking forward to it !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  cool

Happy September !

About all Beloved Hubby and I are doing today is watching movies and eating junk. Hope your Saturday is great, too !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Another ‘not much' day. School called, Dearest Son's had a rough day. I have no idea why. We talked to faculty and staff - Beloved Hubby was home today - and are just as clueless now as we were this morning. (sigh) Maybe he'll talk more about it when he comes home.

Forgot to mention that I got the reroot hair for my soon-to-be brunette Malibu Barbie. After pricing hair at various doll sites, I decided to visit Sally Beauty Supply. I was about to give up, all their fake hair (can't use human hair on a knot-type reroot) looked so dark. I want a brunette, not a wine-colored redhead or a raven-haired doll. Either would look great, it's just not what I want. I guess the nice clerk read the frustration on my face, and she suggested one toyokalon package - she opened it for me and I fell in love with this dark red/dark brown mix. It was difficult to see the color through the packaging. Mine ! $3. is much cheaper than $6. plus $4. shipping. I may still use one site to buy the green/blue mix I really liked. It'll look great on that wrecked-hair Casey.

All the new fabric is washed and dried, waiting to be stored. I've started using the clothesline again, now that it's not raining all the time. And if you got our power bill, you'd be looking at solar clothes drying, too !

Hit two yard sales that were 98% country décor items, 2% old clothes. Nothing at all interesting at either one. I'm almost glad. Between the new dolls and all the new fabric, I'm not sure I could handle another big score.

Not that it ever keeps me from going out and looking !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Hard to believe we're almost at Labor Day. Official end of summer and all that. I see it as ‘gas hiked up a bit each day as the holiday gets closer' more than anything else, but you get that way living across the street from a convenience store.

Not much going on today - by the time I'd finished running errands, the day was nearly gone. Stopped by Dollar Tree, and scored this funky bathroom.

Yeah, it's cheap ceramic cheaply painted, but I'd been wanting a sixth-scale potty, and ya can't beat a buck for each piece. It even ‘fits' when a doll is seated, something ya can't say for even the Mattel-licensed stuff. For some reason, most Barbie potties are too low. This one hits just about right. Sink is a tad low, but I can put a white-painted base beneath it. There was also a matching bathtub piece, but it was too short and too narrow for any doll save a Kelly, and it may be too narrow for them, too. If you're interested, this also came in pink with black accents, and a dark blue with black. I was tempted by the pink/black for a minute, but I always  prefer green, and I get tired of Barbie = pink.

Shared this photo with a doll group, and they thought it was 'dollhouse' scale, 1" = 1 foot. Umm, no. This is more 'play scale', which is 1" = 6 inches, and where folks get the 'Barbie is 5 feet, 9 inches tall in people size' ratio (11.5'" x 6" = 69", i.e., 5 feet, 9 inches). You can see the 'bowl' is just below her knee joint, which is about where ours is at home in real-scale, on me. I don't know why it bugged me that someone said I had the scale wrong, but it did. (sigh) I could have posted a photo of the doll sitting on the commode, but I thought it'd be in poor taste. Now I kinda wish I had.

Anyway. The carpet square is also DTree. They come in a set of two identical, so I had to buy two packages to get this one and another that's just the color of beach sand. Dearest Son has already claimed one of the spares for his cars. The other is blocking a rusted shut air vent that freezes the seats in the bathroom. The odd mesh screen is from GoodWill, for a quarter. I'm still not sure what it's supposed to be. A hinged picture frame ? There's no place for a photo, honestly. An earring holder ? Miniature screen ? Well, who knows. For now, it's a screen in a temp bathroom, so that's what it is.

My recent acquisitions may be forcing ‘Cindy' here to find a new home. I just don't play with her much. She's a lovely doll, but she's been sitting around ever since the last time I took her photo. And, since Son doesn't go to the same school anymore, I've already forgotten the name of the little girl I named the doll after. (sigh) Is change the only constant ?

Finished cheap-serging the rest of the fabric. Took an hour. I didn't even serge some stuff, like the tulle and felt. I had no idea I'd bagged so much fabric, that it'd take nearly three hours to edge it all. And I never got to the letters ! Growlmutterwhine...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:04 AM CDT

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Mood:  happy

Today was Son's EEG. Went well, as far as anyone can tell - it'll be a few days before it's analyzed, so I'm not counting on hearing anything ‘til after Labor Day. Hardest part was keeping him still for 22 minutes in a row. If he moved too much, we had to start all over. Luckily, Son was patient and fairly relaxed today. Well, as relaxed and patient as a kid his age could be ! Dropped him off at school, and more teachers wanted to hear the tale. Again, it was like a very kind and thoughtful tea party. And I thought I'd like the school because of the bus !

Beloved Hubby was working out of the Shop today, so I didn't get much doll time. I'd rather spend available hours with him ! But he had to work, so I cheap-serged new fabric - the Mal-Wart sackload I got from this weekend's yard sale. Worked on it for an hour and a half, and used up the last of my second-to-last wooden-spool thread. Shortly after I started sewing, I found a great flea market, and scored a huge basket of sewing notions. Including at least a dozen wooden spools of thread. I think it was 20 or so, now that I try to remember.

Conventional wisdom says to toss it out. It's too old to be dependable, possibly half rotted, and modern thread is more durable and reliable. I had one visitor remark how charming my wood spool display was...it was on my ‘working thread' storage rack, above the sewing machine. I found it to be quite beautiful, with a deep shine and lovely colors. It was certainly good enough to practice sewing with ! And since I mostly make doll clothes, it was no big deal if the thread gave way. I'd have a nude doll, not a nude me !

And when I got tired of untangling masses of threads from washed fabrics - which was after I tumbled on to the idea that washing brand-new material before sewing it was a good idea - it was ideal for my ‘cheap serging' idea. Which is basically zig-zagging the raw edges, so it doesn't fray in the washer and dryer. Since '02, I've used nearly all of this ‘unusable' thread, both for practice and for cheap serging, and I've yet to have any of it fall apart or show the first signs of rot. Even saved the spools and gave them to the Center that Son got some therapy from - his therapist said they made great gross-motor tools and came in handy for ‘what's different/what's the same' games, since there were about five identical ones in the lot, and more that weren't.

So now I'm down to the last one. A deep pinkish red. It shows up great on serges ! I'm hoping to have some time tomorrow to finish the rest of the fabrics. And write some letters, starting with Erika's, she's waaaaay overdue one ! :) Thanks, everyone, for your kind words and sweet thoughts. We're gonna be OK. Thanks to ya'll, I know that now.

After that, I wanna get back to sewing !

Posted by dorriebelle at 9:03 PM CDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Dearest Son passed an uneventful night last night and a full day at school. He got a little wild at bedtime, but that's familiar - it's as if he doesn't wanna sleep no matter how tired he is, so he acts like a lemur on Red Bull and subsequently crashes harder. He's already asleep. His teacher and the folks at the office (I went a bit after the morning rush) treated me like an honored guest at tea, so pleased I'd come by to talk. It's enough to make me wonder how the other parents are involved, if I'm so warmly and graciously welcomed.

Spent the evening repairing Son clothes. A ripped pocket on one pair of sweats and a holed-out knee on another, plus a replacement button for a favorite shirt. White the sweats with the new ‘flame' patch are already a bit too short on him, it at least gave me some experience with patching. Both Son and Beloved Hubby thought the repair looked great. Even if Son only gets to wear it once, it was worth it.

Not much doll time today - I replaced Joy's belly-button body for the ‘new' Ballerina one. It was like she'd come home. Her head had a tendency to nod and drift on the belly-button neck. Only reason I hesitated doing the body swap was because the b-b one had greater flexibility at the hip than the 1976 original body, and the one she had until today was a really great match. She is a ballet teacher, after all, but there was something so ‘right' about matching her with an original - albeit replacement - part that I can't undo it now. Unfortunately, the ‘Casey' head doesn't work on the b-b body, the neck is too long and the pivot-prong joint is too tall. It looks even more unbalanced than the #6/Swirl body I have her on now does.  So I now have a beheaded but still dressed b-b body and a loose Malibu head. I'm sure something'll happen with one or both soon !

Also got everyone new to Chez Insanity dressed. Hard to believe, but until today, the dolls I bought Saturday sat around nude. I'm slippin' in my old age. I mostly grabbed the first five dresses that came to my hand, only to find that Fashion Fever just does not fit anything with a ‘1966' or earlier mark on it. At least I have lots of tiny-size anime dolls that do fit that stuff !

Well, since I was up ‘til 1:30am this morning with insomnia that didn't matter, I'm darn tired now. I even missed most of the lunar eclipse, only getting to see the tail end this morning. Wow. I'm hoping that it signals better times for us here at Chez Insanity !  And lots of good times for you !

Posted by dorriebelle at 9:24 PM CDT

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Mood:  not sure

OK. Before I get into the disaster that was today, let me assure you that everything's fine, everyone's home, and the only one not sleeping is me, and hopefully, all will continue to be fine. But this morning...

I woke up a bit early, and rather than toss ‘til the alarm went off, I got up and puttered around. Thought I'd get an early start on blog catch-up, since I was too lazy to do it yesterday. I was doing my usual ‘morning computer meandering' when I heard an odd sound. I figured Dearest Son, who'd fallen asleep on the sofa last night, had tumbled and was upset.

He was on the floor. But he wasn't upset. He was having a seizure. His body was rigid, his mouth was slack but grinding, and he shook all over. I hope I never see anything as scary as the complete vacancy in his eyes ever again. I tried to wake him - let's face it, I was not thinking here ! - and flipped him to his side, in case he was choking. I screamed and Beloved Hubby came running. He swept Son's mouth while I called 911. Nothing there. Then, almost as suddenly, it was all over. I don't think the whole thing was two minutes long. Leaving us with a limp, exhausted, dazed Son and a few billion questions. Plus a fire truck and an ambulance in the yard.

About three hours later, we were home. CAT scans and bloodwork revealed we had a normal-by-all-tests 47-pound pre-pubescent son. But not much else. No reason for the seizure was found. He had a doctor's visit this afternoon, and an EEG scheduled for later this week, but there's not much we can do until the EEG is analyzed. It's entirely possible that this was a one-time unexplainable event. It's equally possible he'll be on medicine to control seizures for the rest of his days. Either way, he'll be fine. We've done the research, and all that can be done has been, or soon will be. Aside from a lengthy nap, he's completely normal. Speech, play, eating, conversing - like any other day.

It still astounds me. When it happened, I could just as easily have been in the shower or in bed, and it's doubtful either of us would have heard him. This place, while wonderful, is a sound sponge. In the shower, there's no way I would have heard him - it's an echo chamber, you can't even understand someone talking two feet from you. I would have awakened him an hour later, wondering why he was so exhausted.

So now I'm worried. Has he had these before ? He didn't remember anything before the ambulance and the hospital about today. I'm combing my memories, trying to find any instances of him being wiped out with no explanation. He's a very healthy kid ! We've been very, very lucky.

(deep breath) As you can imagine, it's very difficult for me to sleep tonight. I put Beloved to bed early - he hadn't slept well before all this happened, and the stress wearied him further - and Son gently tucked in at normal time. The slightest little noise sets me running. Intellectually, I know darn well that if he has another, I either will or won't hear it, and being awake at 3am won't change a (*&% thing. I also know that life goes on whether you're laughing or crying, so ya might as well take the best tact and attitude you can, because that's all ya can change.

It hurt knowing that, yesterday, I told him to settle down and be quiet. Today, as far as we knew at 5:15 am, we might never hear his voice again. It's scary as hell, and there's not anything I can do save for ferry him to an appointment later this week. I know I am completely out of this equation. It's between Son and medicine now.

But I still can't sleep.

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:34 PM CDT

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Mood:  chillin'

Kind of a ‘not much' day. Got fabric ready to fix five pair of Dearest Son's pants - he's very hard on clothing knees - tomorrow. I'm not kidding m'self, I'll be lucky to get one fixed ! Also cleaned the new dolls. What I did yesterday was just sort of dusting ‘em off. Today, I really got into it. Ironically, even the wrecked-head Casey's hair looks better now.

Still not sure what I'm gonna do with which. I can swap out the Ballerina Barbie body for the belly-button one now on Joy, and put the Casey head on the belly-button one. Sorry, but she really looks weird on the #6/Swirl body. Looks like I'll have a spare head (the smaller Malibu) and a spare body (#6) that don't even come close to matching. I could have just swapped ‘em at the flea market, there was no seller there, and no one would have even known what I was doing. Plus, it'd have been easy. Back in the day, vintage dolls didn't have the safety features of more modern ones. Namely the bane of many doll customizers, the pronged neck post. Up through the 70s, Barbies were actually *made* and packaged for head-swaps. One of my favorite vintage/mods was the ‘Hair Fair', mostly a Barbie head with hairpieces and wigs. No body, just a head. I'd love to find one.

But all that fussin' and shufflin' would have saved me a big, whoppin' $1. Not worth it. I'd feel as though I were cheating, and if I'd be ashamed to do it in front of the seller, I shouldn't do it behind his/her back. I'm sure I'll eventually find a use for the Malibu head and the #6 body. There's never any telling what crosses my meandering path next !

For most of the day, we all sat around, munchin' on pizza and corn chips, just enjoying a lazy, loose day. BTW, A Night At The Museum  is actually quite good ! Worth at least a one-night rental at a RedBox near you !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

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Mood:  celebratory

Warning : Doll Nudity Ahead ! !

Ok, now that we have that out of the way....I had the most incredible day at the flea market ! I hit several yard sales yesterday, and all I found was a straw mat for a quarter - not a bad doll floor after a minor repair, and certainly priced right, but not that amazing of a find. Of the six or eight sales I stopped for, it was kind of depressing. Sheesh, am I the only one playin' with dolls in this county ?

Well, if I am, that means all the good stuff's mine ! I found all these beauties for a buck each !

From the right, our first doll is a Malibu Barbie head on a 1976 Ballerina Barbie body. You may remember that ‘Joy' is a Ballerina Barbie head on a belly-button body. This body's in decent shape, but I haven't decided if I'm going to swap or not. I just knew that, for a dollar, I'd much rather have the decision to make later. Is it just me, or does her head look a little smaller than the one next to her ?

Speaking of which, on her left is a pretty decent Malibu Barbie. I've been looking for one so I can reroot her as a brunette. My very first Barbie was a Malibu, and I used to wish she had brown hair. Now I can make it happen. It just kinda ranks that her hair is actually fairly good. I'd much rather reroot the first doll, but this one has a better face. Oh, well !

Seated in the middle is a wrecked-hair Casey head on a #6 Barbie/Midge body. It's a pretty decent vintage body, I just don't have a vint head to go with it ! Casey's hair is beyond repair, and her left ear has some discoloration. It's not green, but it is paler than the rest of her head. Her eyelashes are in fantastic shape ! I've never had a rooted-eyelash doll before. Cooooool !

Beside her is another member of the Malibu family, a PJ. You know she wasn't getting left behind, not with that gorgeous Steffie face ! Her hair's in good shape, I can even see her ‘ponytails' part, but her legs are sort of ashy-lookin'. Betcha once she's dressed in a skirt, you could hardly tell.

And last, but certainly not least, is an Ideal ‘Tammy' doll. She's in pretty bad shape. Her right thumb and left toes are missing, her hair's a mess, and her heels are dented. Her face didn't clean up very well, either. In this photo, all the girls are fresh from the sale, pretty dirty still. Tammy doesn't look much different. But, hey, I'm almost out of stale baking soda ! Her body is hollow, but it's not lightweight like the ones from Dollar Tree or General. She has beautiful hands, that's pretty much why I bought her. That, and I don't have a sixth-scale Ideal doll. Much as I love my Crissy and Mia, it was kind of a done deal that, if I found a Tammy for a buck, she'd come home with me.

It's actually kind of funny. There were numerous Malibu dolls in the pile. Even a blonde #2 Ken, but he was missing an arm. By the time I'd registered ‘A Malibu ! And... A PJ ?! And a Casey ? What in the world', it also occurred to me that these were all dolls I sort of wanted, but couldn't really afford. Now, here they were, in fairly good shape, with a price I could easily afford. It was as if they were waiting for me.

Only one minor problem. Seller wasn't there yet. I looked around, and decided I'd wait until he/she got there, I wasn't leaving without these dolls. I've been looking for a Malibu to reroot for months. And the others...there was no way I was letting go of them now ! A man wearing burgundy told me he could take it, and he'd get it to him. Without thinking twice, I handed over the cash, happily.

The nice lady in the booth next door said the seller would be back any time. As I started to prowl through her stuff - knock-off GI Joes and broken Transformers, among tons of costume jewelry and various goodies - she said I could hide my booty underneath the table, the seller'd be back soon. I looked up...and the man in burgundy was gone. Oh, ^%&$... did I just get ripped off because I was stupid ?

As it turned out, no. Burgundy man came in with the booth owner about 30 seconds later, and he had the cash I'd given him in his hand, passing it over and pointing at me. Blushingly, I admitted I'd given him the money for the dolls, thanking my luckiest stars I hadn't really booted it. Booth owner thanked me, and hoped I could fix the dolls up and enjoy them. Whew !

Decided to hit a yard sale on the way home. Turned out, there were several in that subdivision. One looked as though it might have toys, so I stopped. Not much in toys, but a whole big box of small cuts of fabric beckoned welcomingly to me. This time, I waited for the person making change to ask questions. About 20 minutes later, I'd pulled all I wanted from the box, filling a standard Mal-Wart sack full. I'd also found a tin box with a cat motif - I'd had an identical one 20+ years ago. Offered her my remaining bills, and she happily accepted. She invited me to stop by her daughter's concessions stand, she'd made the cookies herself at 4am, to raise cash for her soccer team.

Well, I was nearly broke by then, but I scooped up the change from my purse and wallet, and handed it to her. Extra effort should be rewarded, and since I was on my way, I didn't need a soda or snack. Wished her luck with the team, and headed off with my bag ‘o fabric booty and silly nostalgia to the car. I could hear the young lady telling her mother what I'd done. What a nice day. I didn't get swindled due to my own overexcitement, burned through a ten-spot in no time, got some fantastic things, and did a small good deed. I was darn near singing as I headed home to a cold soda and a box of stale baking soda. With a copy of Terminator 3, and a ceramic cat and moon bank snuggled in with the rest of the dollar table and fabric bag goodies, life was just wonderful, and it was still quite early in the day.

Got all the dolls cleaned, and the bank wiped down. Haven't watched T3 yet, but I will soon ! Folded the new fabric, and the stack is almost knee-high. One bundle was marked ‘decorator fat quarters', and the price was still attached. $6.99. I had two of ‘em, one was opened. Wow.

Today, I was supposed to repair some of Dearest Son's sweatpants - he's put holes through almost every pair he owns, and some were only a month old. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow ? Besides playing with new dolls, I mean !

Hope your Saturday was stratospheric !

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:08 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 10:04 AM CDT

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