Current Mood : a tired kind of happy  

Another quiet night at Chez Insanity. Busy day, though - we finally got Dearest Son's room cleaned and the old bed moved to the garage. He enjoyed using it as a very long train table, but I couldn't move in there to put his clothes away ! Plus there was the usual ‘crap everywhere' that seems to follow each of us to wherever we dwell...

Only took three hours, and I salvaged a bag of toys and a box of outgrown books. I really need to make up my mind if I'm donating this stuff, or having a yard sale.

Oh, and I found that DPrincess pencil Dearest brought home from kindergarten for some reason, two years ago. I've always liked to use it, and wanted to find similar ones, but so far, nope. Ah, well, ya never know what'll turn up next !

Not much else is going on, but in my never-ending quest for that Mulan doll due out in the next month or two, I found something interesting at TRU's website. Namely, that bride Ariel that's in today's image. She's Barbie-scale, and quite lovely from the photos ! There's also a bride Cinderella (blue gradient) and a bride Belle (yellow). Haven't seen them yet in-person, and at $23., I doubt I'll buy one anyway, but I thought you might be curious. Here's the link to Ariel, and her page includes links to Belle and Cinderella.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3149075  

Still blocked about Princess Dorrie's new clothes. And with FIL picking Dearest Son up right after lunch, I'll probably head out for thrift stores instead of staying home sewing ! And if I so much as find one yard sale on Craigslist around here on Friday, you know I'm going - and it's Flea Market weekend, too. I really should stay home...Naaah !

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:24 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 4:42 PM CDT

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 Current Mood : Still lazy ! 

I actually began today with a plan. After lunch, Dearest Son and I would tackle his junkyard-fetid room, and then I'd get some housework done. That was the plan. Instead, I fell asleep in the computer chair for two hours (!) and by the time I got lunch made, Beloved Hubby was home for the day - at about 1pm. He was utterly exhausted, so after he grabbed a bite to eat, he went to lie down.

Now, cleaning Dearest's slagpile room is anything but quiet, so there went that plan. When I went to wake Beloved, I gazed happily at the blank space that was occupied by doll magazines Sunday, and saw another area I could empty - the space the rest of the  DPrincess dolls were taking. I'd unpacked them shortly after my birthday, and Dearest was temporarily entranced, so I set them up so he could talk and play with them, and had only picked up Belle to make Dorrie, and an Aurora for test-curls since.

So they all got relocated to the Lab. Since I'd bought the lot for ‘Pocohontas' - hey, misspelled doll names is how I find rare stuff cheaply ! - I decided to clean her up first. Her hair was still mostly in the factory set, if rumpled. I ended up cutting the two ponytails Playmates had rubber-banded under the rest of her hair for some reason, and brushed the whole thing. Much better. The seller's daughter had left two of her color-and-character-themed plastic barrettes in - a pink lock glued into a fake turquoise cabochon jewelry setting, and a bluish one with an acorn twig. These were very necessary, because without something to hold her hair back, Pocahontas' hair assumed a ‘Veronica Lake' style, always covering her right eye. Very pretty doll.

Next, I wanted to give back to the Aurora who'd so bravely test-piloted the curling iron. Her hair was far beyond ‘factory setting'. It was such a mess, there was a real twig in it ! I must've pulled out two or three ounces of hair, one strand at a time, and I truly believe Playmates puts good-quality, shiny hair on the top layer of their dolls' heads, and that cheap, cotton-candy crap underneath. After all, they only have to make it look good in the box ! Keeping it looking good is not their concern. If Aurora has dreadlocks, well, it's just not Playmates' problem, ya know ?

I knew from getting Belle ready to become Dorrie that I was in for it. Belle had been in better shape ! So I soaked Aurora's hair, applied some conditioner from a trial-size bottle I only use on dolls (my own hair's too oily to need the stuff), and ran it through. A thorough rinse and a dishtowel wrap, and we were ready. Even with the water and conditioner and dolls-only brush, it was a job. She must've been the best-loved, to be in such awful shape.

It wasn't until I tried to manage her over-long bangs (Aurora's are always very long) that it hit me. This doll was reminding me more and more of ‘Kira', Olivia Newton John's role in Xanadu. Yeah, it's a train-wreck of a film, but that's never stopped me from loving it. I'd long wanted to make a Kira from a Barbie, and Mattel obligingly makes ONJ dolls for Grease already, but...well, I didn't wanna shell $40. for a doll just to customize her. Plus, is it much of a customization if all I change are her clothes ?

Of course, it's gonna be kinda difficult to make those peasant/shepherdess dresses fit this doll's scale. But I think I can do it. Hardest part is gonna be how to find this doll some white lace-up roller skates ! And I'll finally get to use those sponge rollers I bought - but didn't need - for Dorrie. I've about brushed out Aurora's curls getting her hair free of dreads !

For now, though, Aurora/Kira is drying and resting up. She still needs a bath, and there's another Aurora and a Cinderella awaiting their turns under the brush. I'm thinking that Cindy's gonna become ‘Molly' from Sailor Moon, and Aurora...I'm just not sure. Dearest's hoping I make her into "Brittany" from Alvin and the Chipmunks, which wouldn't be difficult. Hair restyle, redress, nose paint. But you never know what a doll will ‘tell' you until you spend some time with her.

And honestly, if I was gonna do a ‘Chipette' doll, it'd be Jeanette, not Brattany...I mean, Brittany.

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:33 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 4:47 PM CDT

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Current Mood : bleh 

Remember how I thought yesterday was gonna be one of those ‘get nothing done' days ? Well, today actually was. I have no idea where the day went.

Well, I know a good chunk of it got spent at Plaid Stallions, looking at old 70s catalog pages and such. I am such a sucker for those !

Maybe I'll be in a better frame of 'go gettedness' tomorrow...geez, I don't know what's wrong with me lately...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Tuesday, 15 July 2008 8:10 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Very lazy !

 Current Image Notes : We're almost there ! Still needs some hair touch-ups and a new wardrobe, and there's some sort of purple mark over her left eyelid, but this is soooo close to what I wanted ! That huge brown tribble in her lap is the hair I cut off !  

Today was another one of ‘those days'. When you wake up knowing you're not gonna get much done, and wonder why you bothered to get out of bed in the first place. As I staggered into my ‘bleh' day, coughing a bit, my foot hit one of several stacks of doll magazines, doll books, and other reading materials piled around ‘my side' of the bed. Beloved Hubby's side is much the same, but his are paperbacks and a few Tiger Direct and Grizzly Tools catalogs. As I started to slide a bit - doll magazines tend to be slick on old carpet - the thought occurred to me that I really should do something about all these books, and maybe get a handle on all these magazines.

Y'see, about two or three months ago, I bought several lots of National Doll World and other doll-based magazines. I knew some repeated what I already had, but they were so cheap, and it'd be a pleasant diversion while my breathing got back under control. What got delivered was eight pounds of magazines. Wow. That's...quite a lot.

So I immediately pulled the ones I knew I already had, and put them aside. That lessened the load by about a third, leaving me with about five pounds of reading fun. I'd grab one from the box, leaf through it, read the articles, note new patterns and columns, and eventually fall asleep on it. It'd hit the floor, and the next time I had a bit of a lie down, nap, or bedtime, I'd grab another from the box...

That lead to the mess I had today. And by now, the ones I knew were duplicates had mixed in with the rest...so I had one huge pile by the bed, a stack in the bookshelf, and a boxload in the trunk of the car, for downtimes and later distribution to a thrift store or someplace. Yikes. To make matters worse, many of the ones on the bookshelf were torn or damaged, but the duplicates were in fine shape. (sigh)

So I spent most of today going through it all. Scooped up the bedside ones first, and arranged them by issue date, and slung ‘em back in the box they arrived in. Retrieved the ones on the bookshelf, and did much the same to them. The ones in the car had gotten wet from a small hole in a gallon bottle of water I keep back there, so many were destroyed, but some were salvageable. There's still about a dozen drying in the laundry room. Several I wanted to keep were damaged with no duplicate replacements, so I got them taped up. Those old 1979 covers are so fragile ! But heck, for a 30-year-old magazine, they're all looking darn good.

It ended up taking four hours to get it all done. But I now have the best of the lot on the bookshelf, and a boxload ready for the thrift or maybe eBay. It's about seven pounds' worth ! And there's a short pile next to the printer that need to be scanned. The books got put away, and the rest of the odd clutter marshaled. I no longer have to kick a path to my bedside, or risk an unexpected skating trip in the night.

So it wasn't a totally useless, wasted day. While it was fun, though, it's kind of hard to explain that you spent most of your day with your old doll magazines !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 4:41 PM CDT

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 Current Mood :  VERY happy !

Current Image Notes : While this looks like a bizarre doll hostage stand-off, it's actually just the best way to get a boil-perm pageboy. You can't see the rubber band holding her hair under the curve of the white fabric tube, but it's there !

I spun around Princess Dorrie all day. So much to do, and I was pretty nervous. I mean, the last time I took a curling iron to a doll's hair, it was Shinobu's, and I darn near melted a section, even though I'd tested a wrecked doll's hair first then, too. Aurora's curl held beautifully, so why was I dawdling ?

Eventually, I could wait no more. I darn near wrung my hands in impatience and no little worry as the iron heated. Watched her hair like a hawk watches a potential dinner, just in case. And, about a half hour later, Her Highness was done at my makeshift beauty shop (the bathroom counter, over by the magazine box). I am happy. Happy with her, happy with my skill, happy that I did it. A bit chagrined that I futzed around so much, I didn't have time to sew, but at least I did the hard part already !

Honestly, though, I haven't decided what clothes I want to make for her yet. I know I want a cute dress - not in costume satin, though ! - but unlike all the other Princesses, Dorrie doesn't have an animated costume designer to draw ideas from, just me. So I've been idling through my patterns, looking at books from costume to catalogs, and kind of staring into space. It's been easy, since I've been coughing and short of breath all day.

(sigh) I'd meant to knock Dorrie out early, do some housework, and spend the afternoon taking Barbie pictures for a nice lady on In The Pink, but it just didn't happen. I mostly studied books and took care of Dearest Son - he had a great time at his grandparents', but he was glad to be home. I was glad to have a reason to stay home, as I still had $10. in my purse. Left alone to my own devices, I'd have probably gone shopping again !

Of course, there's three Mal-Wart sacks of stuff I bought this week and last that I haven't put away yet...but Princess Dorrie looks awfully pretty on that bench I got yesterday !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 4:41 PM CDT

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 Current Mood : VERY happy !

Current Image Notes : Here's your first look at Princess Dorrie ! She didn't have bangs before, but she does now ! Next - the pageboy boil perm !!

With Dearest Son enjoying an extended stay at his grandparents', I had all day to do whatever I wanted ! So I hit the yard sales, Target, and Sam's really early. Did very well with my $10. at various sales - it got me three nearly-new blouses, an R2D5 action figure, eight kids' books, Swingin' Chicks of the ‘ 60s (for Beloved Hubby), an origami book for dollar bills, a working kids' typewriter, two large bags of Fiberfil, a star-shaped cake pan, a framed reproduction French 1900s cat-ad poster (also for Beloved), three different pair of shape-cutting scissors still packaged, a keychain kaleidoscope, a paua shell necklace, a large doll bench, and a bashed-box My Fair Lady Barbie ! In that cool lace ‘Ascot Dress' !

I'm still amazed at the Barbie. She was only $2., and is in pretty good shape, except that a bit of dirt got into the box, and on her nose ! I'm not sure what to do with her yet - keep her, or offer her as a prize on In The Pink ? I've won two prizes there, so I haven't been participating in any other contests, but I want to give back, ya know ?

Target satisfied my need for rice crackers, and I found a treat for Dearest at the Dollar Spot - a spiral-bound Teacher's Planning Book ! It was rather simple for a professional teacher, in my opinion, but perfect for when Dearest plays teacher. I always like to have good props when I play, from when I was a kid up to today, so I don't imagine it's any different for him.

Gosh, I must've spent hours creating props out of cardboard and tape, Kleenex and bottle caps, yarn and plastic bits - any little scrap that came my way became something else. Shoeboxes were doll beds or phone booths, or sometimes even spaceships, same went for some shoes, discarded flooring became an endless ballroom floor sprinkled with lick-and-stick stars. I vividly remember making a doll swing out of yarn and a Pringles' can lid - my paper-wigged Ballerina Barbie standing in for Princess Leia until she arrived and never left  - tying it to a chalkboard easel designed for a much younger child, but it made a great A-frame Barbie house with just a blanket flung over the top. I claimed any spray-paint and hairspray paint can lid I could grab (doll seating) and sometimes even the empty cans - with the labels removed and a paper cone covering the nozzle, they were great castle towers. About the only things I didn't remake were office supplies, as I could play with those as-is, no matter how battered and reused that manila folder was !

I'm sure that, while my parents appreciated my thrifty play, my trash-hoarding was quite annoying. Then again, I also remember a weird multi-leveled metal-and-plastic showcase in my room that used to be a sales display, so I wasn't the only one recycling. Too big a square for a bookcase, too big for much else, I loved that thing. Even the holes where the ad placards were seated were of some use. Just wished that the plastic panels were any color but that sickly near skintone pink. Today, I'd spray-paint it, and put in some Plexiglas panels for that ‘glass ceiling' effect.

Also scored some star-shaped scrapbooking brads from that Dollar Spot that'll probably show up on doll clothes - backed by some iron-on interfacing to protect the doll - soon. Maybe even on Dorrie ! Gee, I'm not obsessed or anything...

Sam's had a tasting of some absolutely fantastic egg rolls, so a box of those made it into the cart, with the stuff Dearest and Beloved Hubby asked me to pick up. I couldn't wait to get home and have a whole one !

I'd barely gotten it all tugged inside and (mostly) distributed when Beloved came home. We went on a whirlwind spending spree - printer ink (using a $20. rewards card and a 10% off certificate, it was pretty cheap!) and dinner, and a couple ‘buy two used movies, get one for a penny' goodies over at Hastings. Wheee ! We now have the perfect companion film for that copy of Stand By Me I got from Mal-Wart's $5. bin last week - The Sandlot !

While Beloved watched another movie, I got Princess Dorrie ready for her boil perm and haircut. Basically, I just rolled a white cotton rag into a tube, fastened it around her head with a rubber band, then used another rubber band to hold her hair under, and all the way around, the tube. Depending on where the tube is located, almost instant pageboy of any length - just add a safe pour of boiling water and let set for a while. I'd have liked for her to have longer hair, but she has almost no neck, so it's about chin level. Once it'd dried for a couple hours, I cut along the newly formed bend in her hair, and trimmed it accordingly. It still needs to be touched up a bit at the ends, but I'm about 90% happy with her.

Took another doll - a spare Aurora - for curling iron tests. I wanted to use a curling brush to touch up Dorrie's hair tomorrow, but we only have a rather old curling iron. And I hate to buy a $15. styling tool just for doll projects. So while the curling iron heated up, I brushed out a nice patch of Aurora's hair, and gave it several tries. The iron didn't even get hot enough to make a difference on the ‘low' setting. On ‘high', it curled my hair in 15 seconds, but it took a solid minute to curl hers. She's currently resting, and we'll see if the curl lasts the night. If so, Dorrie gets to meet a curling iron tomorrow morning ! And you'll get pictures !

And I get to sew tomorrow ! Dorrie's first new dress ! I'm really excited. FIL told me that BIL ‘really, really loved' everything I did, he was there when BIL opened the box I'd packed the robes and cloak in. It's nice to hear, but rather telling that I have yet to hear from BIL at all, not even an e-mail, and he leaves at 3am tomorrow. Oh, well. I'm just glad to be done with the whole mess.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 4:41 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Super Lucky (especially if this one goes through on the first three or four tries !) 

Current Image Notes : Here's our two guys, cuddling in my new sewing chair that is, arguably, not only the best place to sleep, but is the best scratching post ever !!!

Hit the one yard sale in town today - and $4. got me 56 spools of thread, a vintage 70s sewing box, two stacking thread racks, a copy of Fabric Savvy ( I already have More Fabric Savvy), a yard of yellow background floral fabric, two notebooks, a huge bag of snap and hook/eye fasteners, a rag rug braiding set, a sewing machine needle threader, some stationery, an action-figure scale medical Jeep, and a tiny blue plastic castle (the latter two for Dearest Son, of course ! Well, I may play with the castle for some photos first...).

Another yard sailer there detailed all her past and current surgeries to me, and complained that being a teacher meant she had to buy sooo much out of her own pocket. I commiserated and sympathized, until she said that at the first of August, she had to paint her classroom. What ? Now I know City of employs painters just for the schools, so I was taken aback. But heck, we have gallons of paint lying around - did she want some ?

Oh, no, no, no. By ‘paint', she meant ‘decorate'. Bulletin boards and stuff. Huh ? Maybe she needs another operation or two ... I have no idea why strangers tell me all this stuff. People I know don't tell me squat half the time so I don't worry, but I got totally random folks offering me rather intimate life details for no reason. I got to hear the surgery checklist again as she related it to the seller when she went to pay for her $18. worth of stuff.  Bizarre.

On the way to the sale, I passed by a couple guys opening shop in a vacant lot. Office chairs - and if the sign was correct, $10. each. It's hard to discern quality at 40mph, so I stopped on my way back. My legs had stuck to the kitchen chair when I was machine-sewing the last of BIL's robe yesterday, and once before, so I was ready for a better chair. Found a great one - tilt and rock and lift, with great wheels and nearly-new upholstery, and gladly shelled my $10. They even loaded it into Molly's backseat for me. I went for one without arms, because I found that works better for me at the sewing table. At the computer, I want arms to lounge on !

Hit Community Thrift, but didn't find anything. Made them an offer on the Cinderella doll they've had since March, but they really thought they'd find someone to buy the lot at $9. ‘S OK. I'm sure I'll find more as the yard sale season continues. Besides, it's not like I had time to work on her right now anyway.

Came home and finished the robes and that POS cloak. Took about an hour and a half. Since BIL lives with Gramma, I called her to ask if I could visit for a bit when I dropped them off. One thing I love about Gramma - Beloved Hubby's maternal grandmother - she's always ready for a visit. After a quick ramen lunch, I was enjoying a nice early afternoon chat. And the sensation of finally being DONE !

After that, it was grocery time. I'm glad I waited - FIL picked up Dearest Son yesterday, for an extended visit, so I could shop solo. Dearest's quite a good and patient shopper, and when I tell him this time, we're just looking, he hardly ever even asks. *I'm * the one who wants to get him another toy - I'm the one bustin' the grocery budget, not him ! And who did I meet there but BIL ! Told him I'd just dropped everything off, and I hoped he liked it. If he saw anything that needed to be fixed, he was welcome to call me and I'd laugh at him and not fix it. Yeah, I was a bit passive-aggressive by this time. But he laughed and said he completely understood and appreciated all I did. So, far as I'm concerned, that part of my life is over ! Words can't express how happy that makes me.

Came home and basically did nothing for a while but gloat over my new possessions. Beloved Hubby likes my chair, and was glad I'd found such a good price for it. The olive-green plastic sewing box didn't thrill him as much as it wowed me, but gosh, every person I knew who sewed when I was a kid had these boxes, usually in easy-to-chip yellow and green, with that wavy zig-zag texture. There must've been twenty sizes of ‘em. Some had lift-out trays, some were pattern totes, some were just for thread. 

I feel a little closer to being a ‘real' sewist now that I have one. Funny how that works sometimes.

Then I got a bit bored after dinner and decided to sort through all that new thread. There were actually nine more spools of thread, but they were yarn-like, the stuff you'd use for crewel or other crafts. There were also eight bobbins, loaded with thread. Unfortunately, those aren't the bobbin size my machine takes, but I can still use ‘em - they work just as well as a spool for the top thread ! Once I had it all placed and organized, I decided to do some cheap-serging. Needed to test out the new chair, and get it to the right height anyway.

Emptied seven spools and two bobbins. I mostly used the small spools that didn't have much thread on ‘em, and some I loaded straight into bobbins for my machine. I also discovered that thread was more precious back in the days of wooden spools. One spool had three different colors hand wound onto it...and only one thread length was more than five yards. These days, that short a strand really wouldn't be worth bothering with. Another spool had all one color, but it was several short lengths, and I couldn't tell until I tried to use it and it kept running out, and I had to keep threading the machine with the next length. It's sad that I threw a handful of it away, but it just wasn't worth hanging on to - or rewinding - three yards of navy blue. I hate hand-sewing, and avoid it whenever possible. And I ran into my first spool of thread too delicate to use. It broke while I was winding the long tail back onto the spool. And kept on breaking. Poor thing.

My box of empty thread spools is getting full. Aside from kitten toys, I'm not sure what else to do with ‘em. Any ideas - or does anyone want some ?

PS - 'Brothers' was also posted to In The Pink.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 4:40 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Was happy, until I had to deal with constant Tripod screw-ups !

Tinkerbell is here ! The exchange was smooth and easy, and everyone's happy. The one I had a bid on closed today, $10. more than my high bid, plus another $10. in shipping - but I paid less and already have my Tink in my hot little hands. Yatta !

Today was Laundry Day at Chez Insanity, mostly so I could get BIL's blasted robes ready. Just think, it's almost over. I keep thinking that. It's almost over, it's almost over...I've adjusted the sleeves and gotten the button loops sewn on. About all I have left is some minor alterations to the cloak he sprung on me - it's been in our garage for over a year, hence the laundry - and hand-sewing the buttons. I'll do that tomorrow.

Saw these ads today - you've probably already seen ‘em, but we don't have TV here, so... I thought, for a heartless huge conglomco, Mattel does some sweet advertising. Vintage Barbie dolls, too !

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wpabulxYjuw - Mattel ‘Have Fun' ad

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0oXwEwZtPME&feature=related - longer version

And just for your viewing pleasure, something weird, but oddly uplifting, from Japan. May I present to you, the Green Leaves ->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At-pfAFUldE

May be unsafe for work (men in their tightie whities), but very cheerful ! Long as you have one leaf on - and that leaf is ‘Hope' - everything is all right. Yatta !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 4:40 PM CDT

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Current Mood : What, the first or the fifth time I tried to get this entered ? (we're currently on Try #6) 

Back to the old grind. Had to run some errands again today, so I took Dearest Son to Dollar Tree. He found some small trophies in the Party section, and has them displayed with the one Beloved Hubby and I got him, as racing awards. He also selected a second ceramic-with-fuzz cat, but I'm not sure why.

I got a little silly and bought the Disney Princess pencils I've been wanting, now that they're in stock for back-to-school shopping. I had one for the longest time, Dearest came home from school with it, for some reason, and I loved looking at it. Last time we went to DTree, I bought DP mechanical pencils, but these are six of your basic wood ones with matching ‘Enchanted Tales' graphics. They also had Cars and Tinkerbell packs, but Dearest wasn't interested, and I felt silly enough getting the girly princess pencils. But if Tink's are still there next week...

You may laugh at me for this, but while I was there, I bought a comb and brush set for the dolls. Green handles, of course. I actually tore the large all-purpose house brush, trying to pull it through Belle/Dorrie's hair. So now they have their own, and I won't be tearing up the Lab and living room looking for the family hairbrushes on school days. It didn't improve her hair, but at least I won't have to stop and fix the big brush every second stroke. It still works fine on human hair.

And, with that, the ‘Dorriefication' of Belle began. I'll probably do a web page on it, so I took pictures. With her wild and wooly hair as well-groomed as I could get it, I decided to thin it a bit by making her some bangs. Arranged some front locks the way I liked, then gathered the rest into a ponytail in back, and anchored down the bangs-to-be with another rubber band. Arranged them again, and put on some water to boil. Poured it over her hair, and she's currently drying. I won't cut it until I see what I got.

But I'll have to cut it to get the pageboy style for the rest of her hair. Might actually get to that this week ! Once her hair gets cut, even just the bangs, I'm gonna quit calling her Belle. From her first haircut on, she's gonna be Dorrie !

And getting my first custom Princess started makes me wanna finish BIL's mess up, so I can get back to working on her ! So I did all the dishes and cleaned most of the kitchen today. Tomorrow, I'll do some laundry while working on the BIL stuff. I'm hoping it won't take long.

Not sure what dress I'll make for her. Probably a simple day dress to begin with. Problem is finding dark green fabric with stars on it ! I'm sure I have some, though... let's face it, if it exists, I probably have it at this point !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 4:40 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Getting it all done...whew ! 

Today was basically ‘get off your butt' day - I finally got the ‘Alpha Chi' paint off the two oversize bowl-mugs I bought a couple weeks (months ?) ago at a yard sale. I also went through my pattern cabinet and got it straightened out a bit.

Ran a few errands, hit the Community Thrift. Found a great bag of scrap fabric that I just couldn't resist - I saw starry fabric, and I'm a slave to it. Also found an unusual soft-side lunchbox. Yes, more Disney Princess junk (BIL refers to it as my personal ‘dark side' - hopelessly attracted to it, even though it's not really ‘me', he says), but instead of the usual triumvirate of Cinderella, Aurora, and Belle, this bag had Jasmine, Aurora, and Snow White. It's rare to see this arrangement, and it was a good size and was in good shape, so for 79c, it came home with me. The Cinderella shoe zipper pull was kind of odd, too, since Cindy wasn't on this one. Was pretty, though.

Inside, someone'd gone crazy with a Sharpie - at one point, this lunch bag must've been a gift, and if all the names are an indication, it was a present from half her family ! I may write something encouraging on the inside of Dearest Son's next lunchbag. He usually rips heck out of the plastic inside mid-year anyway. This one's still intact, if written on.

A few new Cabbage Patch Kids decorated the toy section shelves, but nothing else was new. They have quite a CPK collection now. When I was noodling around with that CPK pattern for Timey and Dottie, I kinda wanted to find one, so I could compare measurements. Now I don't need one, and the second-hand venues are overflowing with ‘em. Makes me wonder how many dozens of AmericanGirl doll clones will hit the thrifts in a few years. I'd write, ‘How many actual AG dolls will hit the thrifts ?', but from what I've heard out of parents who shelled $80. for them, those dolls are getting packed away for Kaiytylynne's daughter someday, not tossed out. Of course, a good number of the ‘real thing' turn up on eBay, but the sellers want new-doll prices for half-bald, usually nude ones. Isn't that always the way ? Even on Craigslist, I saw a decent-shape Samantha AG, and the seller wanted $50., plus $50. for the bed, $60. for the clothes...

There are times it's truly wonderful to enjoy dolls that can be purchased for as little as 25c...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CDT

Updated: Tuesday, 8 July 2008 6:10 PM CDT

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