Web updates and new brooms
Now Playing: "WKRP in Cincinnatti" - 'Les on a Ledge', first season

 

Current Mood : Thoughtful 

 

Sorta busy day. Several morning errands - had to replace the broom I broke, for one - and then I got to settle in to updating the website while the laundry spins. There's doll clothes (the filthy Esmerelda dress Megara was wearing, and the mommy-made one Jessie had) in there, so even doing the laundry involved my little hobby. Got the larger image of Timey's latest outfit posted on her page, and I noted again how that page bugs me each time I see it. If my layout & design class taught me anything, it's to recognize the dreaded Too Much Text, and that page had it bad.

 

But, what to put there ? I never had the paper dolls, or even the boxes to either doll. And there wasn't much for them out there when they were new. I hit Google Images for an idea, and soon hit it - another sign in PaintShopPro, with the dolls' box logos ! I could easily edit the original images, and add a bit of text. So, about an hour later, I had the sign that now graces the Timey Tell/Hi Dottie page. Felt good to make something. And I wasn't ripping someone else's image off completely. Maybe one day, when there's nothing left to want, I'll buy the Dottie and Timey paper dolls, and scan ‘em. But for now, this'll do fine.

 

Got tomorrow's sewing all cut out and Fray-Checked, ready to go. It's McCalls 9099, view D's dress. I've always liked the design of that one, and, truth be told, it's the main reason I bought it. That, and it was really cheap ! I may make view F, a sort of housedress/float later. I have (and wear) some of those m'self.

 

Oh, and the Esmerelda dress came out nice and clean. Happy !

 

PS - I started this blog four years ago today. 862 entries, and here we are, still ramblin' on about dolls and not much ! Extra happy !!

Pool and Chinese Bear Pajamas
Now Playing: "Days Go By" - Dirty Vegas, for the garage 'rec room'
 

Current Mood : Crafty

 

Happy October ! It was a big day for Beloved Hubby. Found him a new belt that fits (most are too long), and got the jacket he didn't want to get for himself at the thrift store. More about the thrift store later. He also scored a slightly worn - but in great shape - pool table, dirt cheap ! It's nothing fancy, but it's 7 feet long, and came with everything, cue sticks, balls, chalk, even a blanket to cover it when nobody's playing.

 

He called to tell me, and asked me to start cleaning up and moving what office furniture I could, because it'd go in there through the garage. Well, I had to clear a path through the garage first, and he was home by the time I got that done. Turned out that the garage space was better for the pool table than the office would have been, so it's out there. He and Dearest Son have had so much fun. I found and cleared a table for snacks and misc., and moved an unused computer chair out there, so at least one seat would have a back. We were using recycled five-gallon paint buckets for seating, and while that doesn't hurt my plush butt, it did bug my back after a while.

 

I'm not very good at pool - last time I played, I was on roller skates - but I have an idea I'll get better after a while. Got lots of good exercise cleaning the garage, too. I actually broke our broom sweeping out all the cobwebs and crud. It's been bugging me how dirty it was. Basically, we haven't touched the place since it was the staging area for the big move back at the end of February. During the week, I'm gonna break down all the boxes and get them recycled. That'll clear even more ‘stick space' !

 

I had a nice day, too. I'm the Pool Hall DJ, setting up MP3 music on the computer for the guys to play to, which is fun. I'm seriously considering asking for a mirror ball (you know, a disco ball that spins) for my studio...but I'm also considering asking for a portable one, so we can take it out to the new Pool Hall, too. And it'd be fun to use for a game of Boogie on the Wii ! Tacky ? Probably. But I've always adored mirror balls, so I don't care if it is or not. Dorrie want !

 

Anyway, went to the thrift store today that we went to yesterday, to get Beloved's jacket. It really looked good on him. Found a Liz Claiborne purse I liked for a big $2., not that I care about the label, it's just funny to me that I have one. Decided to peek in on the toy section, even though it was doubtful they'd have anything new. But they did. There was a Build-A-Bear Chinese pajama set - a red floral brocade with lime green frogs and cuffs on the top, with matching shorts. Hmmm...it was in a sealed bag, which I hate, but there was the possibility that it might fit Timey and Dottie. And it was cheap enough so that, if it was completely wrong for them, I could salvage the fabric.

 

So, what began today as a bear shirt and shorts is now a doll's skirt and top. Removed the inseam on the shorts and resewed it, then took out about an inch or so of elastic. From cut to FrayCheck, a walk of four feet and six seconds, the material had already begun to fray. Saw a lot of indifferent sewing, too, despite the ‘made with love' claims on the tag. The blouse was also too big, so I took it up in the back, mostly at the Velcro ^TM closure. Only took about an hour here and there, and Timey finally gets a new outfit.

 

I'll post a larger image on her page tomorrow. I'm darn tired now ! Hope you had a day of fun challenges and unique surprises !  

Sweet, fun Sunday
Now Playing: the sound of me rippin' up another thrift store cheap find...

 

Current Mood : Numerical logic

 

Today, Dearest Son did his first two doll customizations. He earned a Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story) doll for good behavior at school, and out of curiosity, I examined the new spaceman's feet. Would ‘Andy' be written there ? Nope, but Son's name was ! He also cut the hair of a spare blonde Dollar Tree doll quite short and placed her on a plastic horse, saying she was Woody. Didn't know his favorite cowboy had a bustline, and liked to ride full-body commando, but Son was happy.

 

Found a pair of white shin-high squishy cowboy boots in the shoe collection, and with minor scissor snips to the back, they fit the nearly flat-footed Jessie doll well. I didn't have much to fit her preteen Skipper body - never been a big Skipper fan, she was always the annoying little sister who tells Ken that Barbie was talking to Joe on the phone last night when I was a kid - but I found a Baywatch Barbie shirt that fit, and a slim faux-denim skirt to go with it. I'll probably add a row of lace to the skirt later. Son was a bit disappointed that I didn't have a cowgirl square-dance outfit ready to go in the ‘Barbie Kids' clothing bag, but he was OK with her current ensemble. Jessie got to drive his VW Beetle around, and he was introducing her to other toys, so I think she's been accepted.

 

Luckily I have a few vintage-type Skipper patterns around, and she fit the minidress/blouse I had that came from Teen Sweetheart Skipper. Plus her body mold is dated 1987, so I think she's a Teen Fun Skipper body with an original head.

 

Checked TRU and Mal-Wart while we were out - still no Enchanted Robert dolls. Kinda ranks, because Target.com has ‘em in stock, and they're liberally sprinkled throughout eBay. I'll get mine eventually. At least he's not an exclusive anywhere. Not to mention, I gotta slow my spending down. Winter's coming.

 

Not that it stopped me from buying two 50c nighties at the thrift store today. Four sets of tiny black buckles - yaaay ! Plus black stretch lace, elastic, sequins, beads, a bow, a pearl decoration, and some cool fabric. Not bad for a buck, but I've really gotta curtail even the cheap spending...eventually.

 

I'm beginning to tighten up the site. When I first got it, I'd take a doll photo, post it via Tripod's image storage, then use their image interface to resize it for a web page. If the photo was 1250 by 900 and took up 1.2MB of space, I could resize it on Tripod so it'd be smaller on the site - but it'd still take up the enormous amount of space. So I went through every photo on all the doll pages and made sure that all the images were either posted at the actual size, or I resized it in PaintShopPro and posted it again. Took two hours - Elphie's got lotsa photos - but I reclaimed a MB of space ! And some of the images, frankly, really needed editing. Some still do, darn it. Today, I hope to go through the rest of the site and do the same.

 

It made me curious about it all, so I thought it out. Going from 20mb to 1Gb is a large leap. So I looked up the byte<kilobyte<megabyte<gigabyte chart, went into File Manager for some numbers, and did the math. This might all be wrong, I darn near failed algebra in high school, but this is what I got. I'm using 16.1 of my currently available 20mb. Average image on the current site is 40kb, and there's nearly 250 of ‘em. Average text on a page (not including photos) is 71kb, and the blog is nearly half a meg by itself. With 34 pages on my site, that's 353kb, or about .35mb a page. Plus the blog, which is .436mb. When I upgrade to the GB, subtracting twice the current amount for the blog, and taking out what I already have up, I could possibly have over two thousand more pages - with pictures - and still not use all that space. Wow.

 

I just love having something to look forward to !

Fun with new stuff !
Now Playing: Wii Play - "Tanks", still the daddy-and-son favorite

Today's Mood : Havin' a Coke and a smile !

 

What a fun day today was ! I got to update the website a bit, and play with the new acquisitions. Photos of yesterday's major haul are on the main page, and this is the only place you'll see the Coke machine tin. I forgot to add it to the photo shoot, and was too lazy to set it all up again. Plus, the pictures were huge enough as it was ! Found out that only one Meg had these earrings - the semi-rare ‘Legend of Love' set. And I went and broke one of ‘em. Hope I can fix it.

 

And don't worry about me finding her a licensed Hercules companion. I'm not much on his body sculpt, so I figure a nice, thoughtful Ken will do nicely ! I've learned the hard way that divorcing a doll from its namesake and image is harder than I thought (Phoebus, Rosie O' Donnell, and Milo could tell you that, too).

 

Man, the ‘bendy' body Poison Ivy  has really is weird. It doesn't even bend well. I had to fight to get Ivy to sit, and still, she doesn't so much sit as leans. Yup, the legs aren't jointed - it's all solid ‘bendy'. Plus it feels weird. Like a not-squishy Stretch Armstrong. I can understand why the ‘bend and flex' body went the way of all flesh, perhaps a bit earlier than Mattel hoped. Soon as I find a standard body to fit her skin tone, she's getting swapped out. Probably the reason Harley Quinn was a standard-body doll wasn't due to negative consumer reaction to the bendy body, it was that tinting the rubbery ‘skin' red and black proved too difficult.

 

I'm gonna try to keep the website running as-is as long as I can. Winter's our hardest season, and Tripod doesn't do yearly billing. I hate to add another monthly bill unless I really need to. But once I upgrade, it'll be nice - I won't have to worry about space anymore, I can have a photo album and link images remotely, and you won't have to put up with their cheeseball ads anymore. The cheapest plan gives me 1GB of space, compared to the going-fast 20MB I'm using for free. I may just tuck a year's worth of payments in PayPal, plus the sign-up fee, and let Tripod tap that instead of a credit card. Beloved and I will have to chat about that later.

 

Turned in the old black and color inkjets to Office Max, and got $12. off a new black one. Shame they don't do the inkjet = ream of paper anymore, but at least I got a discount off my next few hundred pattern printouts. I've already selected what'll get sewn tomorrow...

 

<yawn> But that's a nearly a whole day away. G'night !

Flea market frenzy !
Now Playing: Wii Play - 'Laser Hockey' for Beloved Hubby

 

Today's mood : so happy 

 

Well, that $20. I told Beloved Hubby that I didn't need to take to the flea market sure got gone in a hurry ! But I got some great stuff ! Six nearly-new dolls, a houseful of doll furniture, carpeting, and props - and I came home with change. Sure, it was only a buck and a quarter, but just one of those dolls cost somebody else more than I paid for all this stuff, so I'm excited !

 

I'll write all this up tomorrow, but I got the Jessie (Toy Story 2) doll, the Poison Ivy one, a Rockers ‘Derek', a lovely AA My First Princess, first series Happy Family Midge, and Megara (Hercules). They were all just a buck each, dressed. I've cleaned everyone, and brushed hair until my wrists hurt, but you all know I had a great time. I got carpet that'll look great under the Friend Ship airplane, and a Coke tin that looks like a bottle vending machine. The furniture included the much-wanted My Scene fireplace, nursery window (it'll eventually become a window seat), along with several bookcases, tables, and desks.

 

For now, though, I'm wiped out, and need to sleep. I'll make sure to post photos on the main site tomorrow ! I'm going through image storage space again fast, so I have to think about what to do about the site soon.

Not a Pokemon fan, but I understand Psyduck...
Now Playing: blessed, beautiful silence...

 

Today's Mood : My head hurts...

 

Ironically, I've had a massive sinus headache all day. I finally have the time and will together, and I go to sleep last night, ready to sew as soon as the bus' turn signal fades from view, but I wake up and my body hurts. At least the laundry got put away, the dishes were washed, and during a lull, I cleaned the sinks and toilets and mirrors. Beloved Hubby installed new lights in the main bathroom, and they're so glamorous ! But it left a real mess behind. All taken care of now !

 

So about all I did today was rest and putter. Mostly in the Studio. Added the latest washed fabric to the bins where they belong, and swore again to not buy more. Same with the three recently scanned patterns. Beloved knew my head hurt, so we got McDinner. He's so sweet.

 

I'm hoping to feel better tomorrow, as the flea market's back in town. I still haven't decided if I'm getting the Toy Story 2 Jessie doll, but I probably will snag the Poison Ivy doll - she's still in her original costume, but her lime-green fishnet hosiery needs a resew in the back seam of her left leg. And you know how much I enjoy a dig through a bin of dolls !

 

If my head will cooperate, at least...

Maybe I'll get to sew tomorrow...
Now Playing: Wii Play - 'Cow Racing', for Dearest Son

 

Current Mood : Flighty 

I always kind of liked Winx, a kind of Sailor Moon-meets-Harry Potter cartoon series for girls. It was cute and pretty, had some romantic elements, some fantasy and lots of ‘believe in yourself', and everything was color-coded. The ‘you can do anything' message was well-received, but like a lot of folks past the age of twelve, I wondered why the empowering rhetoric had to be delivered in butt-duster skirts and FM boots. I'd have gone for the dolls, but their impossibly long legs (yes, proportionally longer and thinner than Barbie's) did not encourage sewing efforts.

 

It's easy to find Winx coloring pages online, although I never saw a coloring book, and the biggest collection of them was on a French site. Snagged a couple I liked and merrily went about changing the one I'm using for ‘Flighty' above. She had a belly-baring blouse, complete with bust marks and a navel, as well as sky-high heels. I removed the shirt's hem and the belly button, erased the ‘b**bs straining against fabric' lines, and took about two inches of heel off the shoes. So now she has a dress and flatter boots. It's sort of empowering to me, changing it the way I'd have rather seen it, but it's rather sad that I had to.

 

Dashed into Ross while I was out running errands. Surprisingly, they had a Winx doll playset that included a sofa, cheval mirror, coffee table, and open wardrobe. And a few dozen tiny vanity-type props. It was only $7., but I decided against it. I'd have to alter the mirror - it has an image of the lead characters in it - and the sofa's too low for anyone besides a Kelly doll to use. Liked the wardrobe, though.

 

Still no time for sewing. I'm nearly caught up on housework, though, and establishing Dearest Son's new schedule. We were doing his homework in the morning, but it was always rushed, and often I didn't read directions clearly. So now it's tucked in to before I start dinner. Keeping to a schedule is a real boon to Asperger's kids.

 

Wish I could keep a sewing schedule. I'd go to bed, but there's four loads of sorted laundry on it ! (sigh)

Tuesdays. How I hate them...
Now Playing: "Herbie Rides Again" - Dearest Son's DVD rental

 

Today's Mood : Searching 

 

Dearest Son had another seizure today. I was about six inches away from him this time. It was less severe than the first - or I reacted better, possibly - and he recovered quickly. Still kept him home today, just in case. His doctor's getting a referral to a pediatric neurologist, and kicking some butt about the never-analyzed EEG.

 

So I didn't get any sewing done. But we did yesterday's and today's homework, and I taught him how to color on the computer, using PaintShopPro. I think he already does something similar at his grandparents', but I still had to teach him a bit. He soon mastered finding colors in the palette, using the mouse wheel to enlarge/shrink the image, and the all-important ‘undo' key. He did two Hamtaro images before he got bored with it, but I'm proud of his computer savvy.

 

He's emerging as a reader - turns out, he can read already ! Sure, it's your basic three letter words like ‘cat, mat, sat', etc., but we all started with that. I figured he was memorizing, but his teacher says she quizzed the whole class, and in a way that no child can memorize, and Son did just fine. I'm so happy !

 

I puttered around with the image you have tonight - it occurred to me that I could make my own ‘mood' avatars with the coloring pages. Since the Tripod one is seriously lacking in it's smiley list, I might as well do my own. Besides, I hate using ‘lazy' when I mean ‘exhausted' and ‘chilled out' when I'm relaxing. This way, I can have fun making brunette Ariels and Jasmines and Cinderellas, and use them, too. I altered the one tonight, too, it used to have an image of Prince Eric in the heart-shape. I thought it expressed ‘longing' pretty well, maybe ‘dreaming' and 'yearning', as well. Since I'm in a sort of seeking mode, it's appropriate for that, too.

 

Gosh, I hope tomorrow is normal and boring !

Why do I do such bizarre things sometimes...?
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: a very loud car visiting the too-close-at-times 7-11.
 

I also don't know why I spent two hours downloading coloring pages from websites tonight. Then spending another hour editing an anime mermaid's hair from ‘not on this planet' long to ‘somebody's momma' short. 

 

It was silly. I was still hunting on my mystery guy doll's origin - more later - when I found a site with coloring pages and a click-to-color interface. I was soon dissatisfied with the available palette and the fact that some spots remained white, no matter how careful I was clicking colors into it. So I copy/pasted the ones I liked and used PaintShopPro to color - much better ! In PSP, I could enlarge the picture and get at those tiny spots. And get a few million more colors.

 

Sifting through the Sailor Moon images, I saw one that looked like Molly/Naru, but in a sailor costume, not the school uniform. It was an edited Sailor Venus, but it got me thinking...if someone could alter that, maybe so could I, on any image I chose. So I downloaded all the ones I liked, and soon had quite a selection. Even found some Dearest Son might like to color, and he could use the computer skill practice.

 

But anyway, that was the high point of my day. Computer coloring. At http://www.thedollpalace.com/coloring-pages/ .

 

I have a strong lead on who my mystery Adam is. He might be Prince Phillip ! There's an eBay auction ending in two days for a ballet-themed Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip set, a Disney Store exclusive that resembles my doll enigma. Hands are palms-to-side on both, but the photo's quite blurry, and doesn't really show his hair. Since there's no reason for me to bid on the set, I wouldn't feel right asking the seller for more photos. Further research has yet to yield results, but I feel as though I'm on the right track.

 

Right now, though, I'm more tired than anything else. G'night !

Paint fumes, maybe.
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: "Casino Royale" - violent, but the best Bond film I've ever seen ! DVD rental.
 

Reading over, I'm not sure where Friday's words came from. It's true that the main reason I don't visit doll chat boards very often is because I grow weary of the ‘Look what I got today' stuff, and the ‘I'm gonna pre-order these twelve things, how about ya'll', and that doesn't even count the ‘Isn't absolutely everything X Company makes the best in the universe ?' hype. Sometimes I think various doll/toy companies infiltrate boards to pump up interest, but then I feel cynical for thinking such things.

 

Bear with me - this'll be short. I'm still kind of wiped out from Saturday. Dearest Son's school asked parents to come by yesterday, help repaint the US map on the playground. Well, Beloved Hubby's a pro, so this volunteer opportunity was right up his alley. If turnout was as thin for this as it was for photo day, every person was necessary. We went.

 

Only to be told that Big Phone Co. had sent over about 20 staff members, and THEY were gonna do the map, not us inadequate parents. We could amuse ourselves by painting everything else. I know, I know - sounds petty to be ticked by this, but the little paper they sent home four times just mentioned the map. So when we get there, being told otherwise was kind of a short slap.

 

But ya'll don't know my Beloved. While the 20 Big Phone people, the 10 Hardware Co. folks and the 5 PTA members (and a grand total of 10 parents, not including us) stood around because no one knew what to do, Beloved handed me a scraper out of his tool bag and we tore up the old paint on the swing set, monkey bars, baseball backstop, and soccer goals. It was kind of rough going, because we were scraping off at least three years of paint that had never been properly primed before. If supermodels get stared at more than us, I don't know how they put up with it. I saw at least five women who never bent a knee except to sit their butts down with another soda or unidentifiable treat within their well-marked cups from the Starbucks across town.

 

At least I got a good workout. After some upper-arm conditioning (otherwise known as scraping) for two or three hours, we switched off to other arm exercises (also known as painting) for another three. Yup. We were there from 8am until after 1pm, and maybe took about 30 minutes in breaks. It wasn't too bad, and the principal and the PTA Prez did come talk to us, but Big Phone seemed to avoid us like a plague of work. The Hardware Co. folks were wonderful...but we still kinda felt banished by the rest of the PTA and the other parents. So we busted azz, because it felt better than getting upset over it.  

 

In the end, it all got painted. Frankly, the map looks like crap, and maybe in six months, the playground stuff will, too. But our playground looked 200% better. Two little girls came over while we were working, and their Mom told them to be careful around wet paint. After all, we were repainting it all for them. One girl looked at me and Beloved, and her eyes went wide. ‘For us ?' she asked. ‘Of course,' I told her. Her eyes shone. ‘Thank you !' burst out of her, and she ran off to play. So yeah, it was worth it. We were quite well rewarded.

 

Dunno if I overdid it or not, but my stomach's all ticked off. So I'm gonna go lie down. And know that some things I do matter.