Current Mood : Lazy 

Spent on Dolls Saturday : $17.18

Current Image Notes : This is the back of Adventures in Converstation, a booklet ad I snagged in the Big Box o' Sewing and Trash last week. Ya just gotta love an evening gown with a shoulder strap that starts right at your bustline...

Forgiving a slight design flaw, it's still a cool image. Dated 1963 and 1968 on the flyleaf.

Not much of a day today. Cleaned house some, puttered a bit. Dearest's off for the rest of the week, and we're going to Gramma's - my DMIL's mom's - for Thanksgiving. Left to ourselves, we'd sit around and watch movies all day, pig out on good sandwiches and junk food. We swear we'll do that next year, every year, but we always end up at Gramma's for three to four hours after we're told that dinner will start.

Oh, forgot to tell ya - Beloved Hubby got a bonus on one job, and Saturday he told me to snag either that Advent or ‘TV Chef' set, my choice ! Hmm... much as I liked the idea of little surprises throughout December, I went with the Chef set. It's actually cooler than I thought. The oven/fridge set I thought I wouldn't want, I'm keeping. It's so cute - put the included  ‘unbaked' cake in the oven,  close the door, open it, and poof ! Cooked cake, ready for doll consumption ! Yeah, the bottom panel flips between the two plastic props, but it's cute. The fridge and oven are one piece, but I can always use it as a ‘vacation fridge' in the castle.

And it was still on sale at Target ! Whoo-hoo ! I'm donating that doll, though. I don't know of a single chef, TV or not, who cooks in four-inch heel knee-high boots !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:48 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Antici....(say it ! Say it !!) pation. (wild cheering) 

Spent on Dolls today : $1.57

Got today off to a running start - I forgot the groceries Dearest Son was supposed to take to school as part of some sort of Stone Soup activity. So as soon as his little butt was on the bus, I was on my way to the IGA down the street. Got the items (a can of Parmesan cheese, bag of frozen corn) and dropped them off, and left the school building in time to see his bus pull away. Darn. Well, I am a distraction for him, so sometimes it's best he not see me there.

Today was Big Shopping day. I had to hit Sam's Club and the usual Mal-Wart run. And the Thrift, but that goes without saying. Didn't get that much beyond our usual snacks and frozen foods at Sam's, but still burned through $114. there. One of the scores was a set of 36 restaurant-grade forks for $7. They're plain, but nice, and while we didn't need so many, the price was unbeatable. Forgot to  pick up Kleenex while I was there, so I'll be back next week, darn it. I like Sam's, but it's like a giant time sink for me in there.

I finally got to see the Hanna Montana Malibu Beach House, Sam's had it for $149., including an open model displayed behind Lucite. It was smaller than I thought, and just didn't seem to be worth it, even if it had all of Hannah's TV-portrayed appliances and furnishings. You know me, I hate to pay a premium for licensing, and if this was regular Barbie, it wouldn't more than $100. Probably $75. So that's off the list, not that it was ever really on my list to begin with.

So, I came back home to drop off frozen/cold items, then hit the usual Monday places. The thrift store owner virtually repeated last week's complaints to me today, and I promised to drop off stuff next week. It's about all I could do, my purchases today totaled $2.02 ! Scored a Barbie ‘Favorite Tales' storybook, it's ‘7 in 1 !!'. Well, seven previously published stores collected into today's 99c omnibus. It's about as thick as one of Dearest's Disney storybooks. Ordinarily, I'd leave it for a kid, but I liked the dioramas inside, and I can tell ya, darn few Mattel products besides dolls and clothes were in the photo stories. It's kind of inspiring.

Other purchases were a star-shaped ornament, covered in iridescent silver glitter, and an angel rag doll from the 50c plush bin. Used to be the 25c plush bin, but... anyway. The doll wasn't anything special, a cheaply made dress-is-the-body toy that probably came from a claw machine or carnival (Cuddle Wit frequently stocks both), with a slightly stained face, but something about her dress reminded me of the current ‘Enchanted Tales' versions of Disney Princess merchandise. Basically ‘the girls' are shown in gold and white versions of their signature gowns, heavily jeweled and tiara'd, even if the character's never been shown with a crown before. Even if this doll's dress is cheaply sewn cheap nylon, it still intrigued me. So I invested the two quarters and hope to soon have a gold and white holiday dress for Princess Dorrie.

After Sam's, the grocery funds were limited, so I stuck to just what foods and such we needed. Had $10. left ! Stored the new Christmas ornament in with the DPrincess wrapping paper and the gift tags on the back of some Little Debbie gingerbread men cakes. Silly, I know, but they print ‘em, I may as well use ‘em. Besides, I love those darn gingerbread men, and they're only sold at holiday time.

Sorted through the big sewing notions box a bit more today. If there was a place to sell vintage buttons, I'd probably have a big score in my lap. But I doubt I could sell ‘em, they're fantastic ! I wanna make clothes just so I can use these buttons !

And once I get the ironing board set up for the PDorrie angel dress - there's several little places on it that need to be straightened into a better shape - I can test all these transfers ! They're so cool...

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:47 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Pleased 

Beloved Hubby gave me the most wonderful gift this morning ! Stuff I already had ! Best gift of all, if ya think about it. I mean, you know the person you're giving it to wanted it at one point !

Seriously. I've had numerous computer programs that date back to Windows 95. Dragged ‘em around for years. But when our Win98 computer got upgraded to WinXP, I never tried to re-install them. I worried that if I tried, I'd mess up the whole operating system and crash the computer. But I still kept the programs because (all together now) I paid for the blasted things !

I especially mourned the non-use of Real Clothes patterns - the great Barbie and Ken patterns I bought on CD-Rom from Carol (of perestroika.ca fame) back in '01 or '02. And it got worse when the XP got hit by lightning last year and we had to replace the whole computer with a Vista machine. I figured there was no way I could run the software now, and Carol's site didn't mention Vista compatibility. And after vanishing for several years to get over some things, I didn't feel right about showing up just to ask. It seemed rude to me.

Well, we were putting the finishing touches on Dearest Son's early Christmas gift - I made a bow from the Hilary Duff doll's otherwise useless red wrap, and decorated a card with Disney Princess ornament stickers - when I found some software he might like. And next to it was the old, much-missed stuff. I sighed when I mentioned it to Beloved, that I wished I could still use those programs, and that a non-pattern version of Barbie Fashion Designer was now out for Game Boy DS.

He showed me an install wizard - in Control Panel, under Programs - that would adjust the settings to run the older stuff. And it wouldn't interfere with anything currently on the computer or the OS ! Wow ! Unfortunately, Fashion Designer, The 3-D Adventures of Sailor Moon, and MasterClips still didn't work, but Real Clothes did ! Yaahooo ! Now I have all those patterns back, and it's like getting them new all over again. But better, since now I know how to sew !

For some reason, the pattern disc for the Traveller in Thyme series I bought a year or three ago wasn't in the software drawer. So I hope to find that later. I hardly ever used it.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:47 PM CDT

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Current Mood : People-frustrated 

Spent on Dolls : $1.82

Spent on Lab décor : 50c

Spent on eBay Speculating :  $1.60

It was silly of me, but I hit two of the few yard sales out this morning. A dollar at the first one got me a denim kids' skirt (for the MSB girls), a pair of knit boots with leather soles (for Baby Crissy), a patriotic star ornament set, a flag-themed plastic jar that I thought came from Dollar Tree, but was marked $4.95 from Paper Warehouse, two action figure display boxes (always great for doll accessories), and a brass star ornament.

The second sale didn't yield as much, unless you count the train-wreck behavior of some other attendees as entertainment. Perhaps I should. After driving about two miles out of my way, I found the sale, and should have kept on driving, it was the dreaded Estate Sale. (sigh) That was NOT part of the ad. The sale was held in the house, typical for Estate sales, so the parking area in front was jammed, also typical. It was also on a very busy thoroughfare. So I circled the block and parked down the street a bit, a comfortable stroll on a wide sidewalk away.

While I walked, a van stopped in the middle of the street, right in front of the house, and disgorged two passengers. This narrow street has no shoulder, so this maneuver blocked both lanes. This was also during pre-football frenzy in a college town, about six blocks from The Game, so I thought it was amazing that no one honked. Little did I know this minor discourtesy was just a cherry on an amazingly entitled sundae. And these weren't silly teenagers - they were my parents' ages !

After the two ladies exited, the van driver backed up, which did set off horn-honking, and he proceeded to wedge said van in between the driveway and a very large live oak tree, half on the drive, half on the roots. Now nobody was getting out before he did ! He was in so tightly, only his door could open. I was amazed he even got it in there, I didn't think Molly-car would fit, much less this big van !

Once inside, the driver met up with the two women, who had pretty much taken over the sale. They'd decided one seller was there to carry around their purchases while they looked around, and twice examined what I was carrying, as if I was merely holding it for them. They pushed another shopper out of the closet by barging into it - she really had nowhere else to go but out ! - and sniped about the quality of the stuff for sale, loudly.

I was sooo lucky to have gotten behind them at the cash-out. They'd bought $200. worth of stuff, but proceeded to dicker about all of it, so they only ended up paying $100. for it all. Sorry, but with three folks behind you, there had to be somewhere else to complain about prices ! By the time they departed, there were five people behind me !

Signs all over the sale announced that they had to charge tax. OK. May be a scam, don't know, but I can't complain about it if I choose to buy stuff there, I've been adequately warned. Not these women. They loudly criticized it, and when the cashier offered to take their tax number, which they said they had, it was a horrible insult to them both. While one wrote it down so scratchily, I couldn't read it, and I was two feet away, the other quite literally threw their payment at the cashier. She had to catch it before it hit her ! They then expected their previous personal shopping assistant to carry everything to the driveway-juggernaut van, but she'd wisely vanished. This made the driver guy complain and whine. I paid for my $1.50 of stuff - a pair of themed Fashion Plates-type toys, one from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the other a Crayola Creature Maker - and began the trek to the car. I was able to hear them try to cram everything through the driver's door, and complain about how bad the parking was. And that someone else had pulled basically the same stunt on the other side of the tree, so yeah, they really were stuck. Couldn't even get into their vehicle, either. Yep, I enjoyed my little walk...

Since I didn't laugh in their faces, I rewarded myself a little for keeping my mouth shut, in hopes I'll do it again later. I was less than five blocks away from Hancock Fabrics, so I went in, even though I'll be there next Friday for the 5 Simplicity patterns for $5. sale. Hadn't planned on going today, but I was so close, so... They had no Betty Boop fabric that I wanted to use for Baby Boop, and nothing else I really wanted. Heck, just yesterday, I got my sewing labels, so... Even though Butterick, and McCall's patterns are also on sale next Friday, the McCall's were 99c today, so I snagged #4338, clothes for small (11 to 13-inch) and medium (14 to 16-inch) dolls. There's a lot there - jumper, long sleeve and short sleeve shirts in two different styles, jacket, romper, dress, pants, panties, hat, headband, and booties - to sew, so we'll see how it goes.

Salvation Army's in the same strip, and even though they're more or less completely redone the whole store, it still didn't have jack. And now it looked bad from all the renovations that weren't yet complete. Beloved Hubby called - the Craigslist folks had shown up, bought the stuff and left. If I could snag lunch on the way home, we'd be off to buy the computer right afterwards !

And that's been the rest of our night. Unpacking the new computer and getting the laptop ready for Dearest. He's gonna be so excited ! And we'll each have our very own ‘puter. Awesome ! The newest one - Dearest offered it to me, but I have this one the way I like it, and he deserves the new one, in my opinion - is stunning, and it came with a 22-inch monitor ! It's huge ! And it was actually cheaper that the other model we were looking at. Came with everything but a printer (we didn't need another one anyway) and a cable to feed from the modem, for less than $600. Wow. The one we were looking at was from a less-well-known manufacturer, with a 19-inch monitor, but this one went on sale this week, and is the same brand as mine, which has been stable as a table since we deboxed it.

So I'm excited and happy, and so is Beloved, but he feels some mild guilt. Heck, I don't know why he does, but I hope he's over it soon. I just want everyone to enjoy our latest ! Busy, happy day - and tomorrow's gonna be great !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:47 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Whimsical

Spent on Sewing/Crafts today : $6.57

Spent on Disney Princess décor : $4.30

Lazy but fun day. I still have Barbie on my mind, but there's lots of other stuff going on, so...

Beloved Hubby and I talked, and we've decided about Christmas this year for Dearest Son. He's getting his own computer ! Wow. We're gonna upgrade to a new desktop and allocate the laptop to Dearest, mostly because he loves it so. And we found a fantastic deal on a new desktop ! If tomorrow's Craigslist sale goes through, we'll probably do it all afterwards - getting the new one, cleaning up the laptop, etc. We could put it away for Dec. 25, but why ? Dearest will see the new computer, and wonder where the laptop went ! When a gift is this big, and it's ready, why not celebrate early ? He'll still have smaller stuff to open on C-day, and most of it has already been purchased !

I had a small surprise in the mailbox - my ‘Specially Hand Made By Dorrie' labels had arrived ! Only 24 days after I mailed ‘em off. All 48 of ‘em were fanned out in the plastic baggie. Wow. I have like 66 of ‘em now. Guess it's time to start using them !

Hit a yard sale this morning, just for fun. Circled the block once I observed a Parking Enforcement vehicle tagging a car parked on the corner of a curb. I wasn't gonna take the chance of being too close to the stop sign, so I tried again further back. Snagged a bucket-style hat made of heart-shaped lace and interfacing for 50c, once I figured the stitching would be easy to remove. It was really pretty lace ! Also found a pair of shelf-lining rolls I hope to use soon, and a huge box of ancient sewing notions for five bucks.

The box was so much fun to go through. I now have a copy of Singer Sewing Skills, dated 1955, a Grit catalog of patterns from 1979, simply called Fashions to Sew, and Adventures in Conversation, a sales brochure for the Ethel Cotton Conversation Course, which bears a 1963 copyright. So I have some awesome reading ahead of me ! There were vintage patterns, all too small for me, but pure eye candy to look at, and a buncha handmade patterns on cardboard and paper. I'll have to study ‘em to figure out what they make.

There were gallon-size bags of buttons, most still on their cards, of zippers still in packaging, of bias tape, rick-rack, and ribbon. Some of the last were never opened, and still bore price stickers that read ‘3 for 25c' ! And a huge bag of ‘Aunt Martha' design transfers, for embroidery. I wonder if they still work...

From there, I visited Dollar Tree, and scarfed up a buncha Disney Princess stuff. Two different sets of window clings, the two best of the four designs of DP wrapping paper... I indulged me. But it took a few minutes to find rolls that were well-printed. Some were so off, the paper looked out of focus ! Got a pretty pair of white socks with gold snowflakes to make a new Elphie sweater, and a soup mug close enough to match the two I got at a yard sale this spring. I like for us to have matching bowls ! I also grabbed a set of wire star ornaments, just the size I want the school project ones to be, and a garlic and sea salt grinder for Beloved - he loves garlic. We'll see how well it grinds later !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:47 PM CDT

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Mood : Weird.  

I've had Barbie on my brain since yesterday. I was so touched that Dearest Son gave me the bonus miniature doll from his Mighty Kids' meal that I held her for a while, remembering and thinking. My brain hurt, so I went to bed.

But the topic was waiting for me when I woke up today, as if it was crouched on the alarm clock. Sometimes I'm upset at Mattel for the cheap crap they try to get away with. Sometimes I'm utterly fascinated by a Happy Meal toy that bears little resemblance to the fashion icon doll. And ‘London' here is incredibly well-made for such a small, throwaway toy. The hair rooting is nice and thick without being overwhelming, it's cut well, and has a good curl to it. The eye decals are straight and even - something I'm finding increasingly rare with the full-size girls - and she actually has a nose. Her hands are kinda clumsy, but for the size and age requirements, not that bad, and she can stand on her own. Like the Musical DPrincesses, a shoe shape is indicated, but the heel and sole are one solid piece, like a wedge shoe. Guess they figured out the dolls don't need a stand if they can stand alone.

And yes, I said it. Throwaway. Back when Dearest and I haunted the McPlayPlace a few summers ago, I saw them get tossed out with the rest of the lunch trash when Mom didn't want more junk in the car. I routinely see boxloads of ‘em, both sealed and open, and when I evidence any interest in the contents, I'm routinely offered the whole box for a buck or two.

In many ways, Barbie at nearly any size is throwaway. Of all the dolls I bought used this year, how many thousands more did I see ? For them to sell at a yard sale or flea market for a dollar - sometimes less - they're certainly not valued very highly. Certain ones are worth real money, but it takes interest and research to know which ones, and no matter what you read, most people don't care. If they paid $20. for it and Kaitlynne played with it for ten minutes, well, that's the best that can be hoped for. Making back a dollar from a yard sale customer or writing a bunch off the annual taxes as a donation is almost a bonus.

So, if Barbie is so cheap, is there anywhere a child who wants can't afford one ? Even when there's ground-down poverty, there's usually a few toys, especially durable dolls. Barbie, even as a fast-food promo, is pretty durable unless someone wants and intends to destroy her. Used ones are usually available about anywhere, and there's brand-new dolls out every year for $5. A little imagination and creativity, and hopefully a supportive home, and a child won't ever need to buy anything else for the doll. Clothes, props, environments can all be made or found around the house. I've heard that toy sales often go up a bit during recessions - $10. won't make most adults happy for very long. But $10. in toys can make both parent and child happy for a while.

I think that's part of Mattel's problem, and why they can't demand or get the big-ticket prices they'd surely love to get for Collector/Adult dolls. Barbie, at her core, has always been a child's toy, inexpensively priced, made for the masses. Some of the made-for-adult dolls out now never started out as a toy, but as a Collector's Item, something to be passionate and obsessive over, with the price ticket to prove it. Very few dolls have Barbie's long ‘life' and history, but it usually works against her. Meanwhile, these same-size dolls over here can command $300. and more as soon as the factory releases ‘em, because they're already rare and sought after. Even the very rare Barbies almost never bring that much out of the gate. Even the super-special SilkStones are only $70. or so at most, and that's a whole new manufacturing process and material !

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Barbie is sort of like Madonna. She's been around a while, but she's re-invented herself so many times, we still don't know who she really is. Meanwhile, a new pop tart has entered the entertainment arena, and she doesn't have to establish herself to get the Heaven's Gift Superstar treatment - she doesn't even really need talent. She has PR and backers to promote anything she touches into platinum, and an eager audience ready to buy anything bearing the logo. Some folks love both, some can love only one. I just wonder if the devotion to either helps us understand who we are - or just fattens someone else's coffers.

This is what happens when I spend two hours doing dishes with my MP3 player charging. Too much time to think, and I get all weird...

Posted by dorriebelle at 10:11 PM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:46 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Well-rested 

Slept in once Dearest was on the bus, for hours. And we'd all gone to bed early last night ! Guess I needed the sleep...

Not much of a day today - tried a craft project, didn't work. Kinda upset due to a phone call today. Some telemarketers offered to send us free information about their services, but I didn't really care, I just wanted them off my phone - but then the operator slipped and murmured about a bill. Ahh, what bill ? The $49.99 they were gonna bill to our phone line for the ‘free trial' of their computer troubleshooting business. Y'see, as an online business...

Um, no. We're not an ‘online business' - we just have a website. And we certainly don't need your services for that ! The op said I'd already agreed to it. No, I hadn't, I'd agreed to receive information by mail, and while I could authorize billing to the phone line, I certainly had not done so. Ended up talking to a supervisor for ten minutes. They listened to the call, said I hadn't agreed, and nothing would be billed. I requested to be removed permanently from their calling lists, because I certainly did not appreciate being pushed to accept a service I had no use for and hadn't agreed to, then being called a liar.

Sheesh. And I thought the yellow pages ‘this is not a bill' scam was bad. Did I ever tell ya'll about that one ? We had an ad with one phone book - there's about five here, and we're not even that big a community - and another kept sending us these ‘not a bill' notices that, amazingly enough, looked just like an invoice for a phone book listing. Just with a red ‘not a bill' at the top, in a font smaller than the rest of it. If we weren't paying attention and accidentally paid this non-bill, we just obligated ourselves to paying for a listing in the other phone book, and for an additional 11 months of billing. We've since dropped our listing from the phone book, we got all of two calls off it, and both were from folks wanting us to paint their entire houses, inside and out, for around $300., including materials. The blasted listing cost almost three times that !

Aarrrgh. When that was over with, I pounded nails into the floor of the Lab. Not just for fun, but to anchor that Snow White rug down. The cats just love trying to kill each other on it, and I'm tired of constantly straightening it out and putting it back. So I nailed it down. It'll still flip up for cleaning and cat-wrestling, and the nails can be removed, but for now, they're pounded down well so I won't hurt me or the cats with ‘em. And hopefully, now a simple toe-nudge will straighten it out even after the most rigorous cat fratricide efforts.

Decided on the big Christmas project. Everyone who got a shoe pincushion last year will be getting an unbleached muslin star ornament this year. I'll sew two stars together, stuff ‘em, then fray the edges for that ‘shabby chic' look. That way, I won't have to turn ‘em right side out and sew up the opening by hand. It took forever on those candy corn stuffies ! A simple red or green ribbon will work as a hanger, and if there's time, I may attach a jingle bell - with a jump ring, so it can be removed. I already have the muslin, left over from the kitchen curtains, and ribbon. Small enough to be cute, hand-made, and not a huge effort. Anyone can find space on a tree for a muslin star, or give it away easily. I just hope I can motivate myself into working on them before the day before school lets out for the holidays ! I already have some muslin out from making one of  those ‘sack bag' things, maybe I'll try a prototype tomorrow...

Awww ! Beloved Hubby brought us home McRibs for dinner, and a Big Kids meal for Dearest. For some unknown reason, he got four toys in the box, and he gave me the ‘London' Barbie ! How sweet ! I feel like I got a super-Happy meal !

Had some doll time after dinner, so I took some photos and updated the neglected Blog. Found out that Breyer doll clothes fit the Musical DPrincess dolls very well ! Snow White looks very cute in jeans. Now I just have to make some shirts.

Posted by dorriebelle at 8:31 PM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:46 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Happily exhausted

Spent on dolls today ; $1.07 

Whoo. Today was the day-long volunteer at Dearest Son's school - it was Healthy Kids day. Local hospital sponsors screening - hearing, vision, blood pressure, height/weight, lice, etc - and getting 500-some kids corralled and checked without missing anyone or any stations requires a massive group effort. Our school's nurse, M, forgot to send out volunteer requests, so she called us and grabbed us as we did other school things last week. She sounded so desperate, I agreed.

Turn out, volunteer-wise, was really good. They almost didn't need some of us, but when things were rushed and there were lots of kids, we needed everyone, so it worked out. If we stayed all day, lunch would be provided - I figured, hey, it's been a while since I had a grey-meat cafeteria hamburger, what the heck.

Nope. They catered ! Panera Bread, a sort of upscale Subway, brought in sandwiches and salads, and it was wonderful. I even got to spend a few minutes with Dearest, and got a logo t-shirt, too. So, while I was on my feet all day, and running around a lot, it was fun and I'm glad I did it.

But I was so tired when it was over ! We were done an hour before school let out, and Dearest had a science activity afterwards, so I had two hours until I needed to pick him up. So I hit Target and Hastings, picked up a copy of Wall-E, and went through doll magazines. There's a pattern for Ellowyne and her male-doll companion in Haute Doll, but I don't need prom outfits for Elphie and Fiyero, so I didn't get one. I was hoping to snag a peek at the new FDQ, which reportedly has a Barbie pattern - called Barbie Learns to Cook, I think - but Hastings didn't have any copies.

The Target Dollar Spot yielded Hasbro ‘Game Night' candy, in Barbie-size logo boxes that, from the sides, look just like the real thing. Unfortunately, the fronts have CANDY on ‘em in big letters, so it'll take a bit of artful arranging to use in dioramas. What surprised me were the candies inside. Sorry ! had blue and yellow pawns, Life had pink peg cars and blue spinning wheels, Monopoly had pink dogs and blue car pawns, and Clue held green candlesticks and blue wrenches. Taste-wise, they're like extra-hard SweetTarts. You could print out your own version of these games, fold ‘em up yourself, but if your printer ink is as pricey as ours, it's often best just to pony up a buck. Besides, I don't have any game box scans to use.

If you're looking for inexpensive gifts and stocking stuffers, and the ones you love are into Cars, Hello Kitty, or Disney Princesses, the Dollar Spot had tons of stuff. Color-in mini-standees, complete with markers and stickers, dry-erase boards, purses, wallets, cosmetics, jewelry - all cute and pretty small, save for the dry-erase boards. Those are about the size of a piece of copy paper.

They also had some of the Barbie sets on sale. The ‘I can be a TV Chef' set I've had my eye on is marked down to $16., and the single-floor fold-up house is down to $27.  I'm really wrestling with myself over the TV Chef set. I don't want the fridge, the oven, or the doll. All I want is the cabinet, the camera, and the small pieces. Even at $16., it seems kind of a lot of money for not much...

What really had my attention, though, was the Barbie Advent calendar. Instead of chocolates, there were small doll props inside ! Purses, shoes, skirts, etc. Not sure if it's worth the $20. on the shelf talker, but I'm thinking it over.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:46 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Cheery

Spent on dolls today : $2.69

Busy day, as usual. I got to visit the Thrift before grocery shopping, but I only found one thing - a six inch doll in one of the 50c ‘small toy' grab-bags. Her blouse was missing, but her jeans were well-made... and they'd probably fit the Musical DPrincess dolls ! So I went out to the car for change, having spent all my cash at the yard sales Saturday, and paid.

And I got to talk to the Thrift owner. We've spoken before, and she's always been up-front with the trials and challenges of running a second-hand venue. She probably knows I mostly buy toys, so she told me she was sorry she hadn't had anything new in for a while, but donations were waaaay down, even from what they were this summer. I mentioned that yard sale season was going on much longer than in previous years, could that be part of the problem ? I mean, it used to be that I never saw a sale in November. The stream of sales usually dried up before Halloween. Were folks selling their stuff rather than donating ? Goss knows I've cleaned up this year ! (I didn't say that part.)

She thinks that folks are simply keeping things longer, instead of buying the newest whatever down the pike. With toys, that could mean they're finding it easier and less expensive to trade with other families for ‘new' stuff, or they're simply trying to not buy more. Normally this time of year, parents are eagerly cleaning out Kaitlynne and Tylorre's  toyboxes, in anticipation of the holiday bonanza that'll soon overflow them again. Not this year, it seems.

She also told me that the too-familiar ‘Clothes Donation Drop' bins aren't hers - which I knew - but rather some Texas company that sells the garments overseas, or as rags to paper or rug makers. Said she'd seen ‘em all over Arkansas, where she just visited. Not a charity at all, just a money-making scheme that preys on nice people with good intentions.

I promised her I'd go through Dearest Son's toys as soon as I could, drop off as much as possible. And I mentally added ‘and my toys, too'. Most of Dearest's unused toys are of the small bag-stuffer Happy Meal type. I got a buncha dolls that could use a new home. Problem is, I'm the one who buys most of what they sell !

With her words in my ears, my weekly fun grocery shop became ‘Stock up for the harsh, unforgiving winter ahead !', and that's about what I did. Got more allergy and Dearest headache tablets, more soup, more soup stock, bathroom tissue, canned fruits, powdered coffee creamer, and a new thermal shirt for Beloved and sweatpants for Dearest. I didn't even slow down at the fabric section, but did secure a Cars Dale Jr. car for his stocking.

I still bought something silly for me. Mattel's selling a revamped version of tiny ‘Little Kiddles' dolls, and they are cute. It's just hard for me to justify spending $7. for a two-inch doll when a Barbie is $10. - and a Barbie with a kitchen playset I like is $20. ! But they're in with the rest of Mattel's dolls, so I always look... and this week, the Halloween ‘Peek A Boo Petites' were marked down to 50c each ! I eagerly snapped up a whole set of four - Witch, Ghost, Kitty, and Vampire - and a second Kitty. Love her huge green eyes ! I also sort of like the crowned ‘Barbie head' silhouette on the heart charm that apparently comes with each PaBP - I think the orange beads around the bubble the doll's in is a necklace or something. While I don't much like the current Barbie Head Silhouette - the ponytail looks like it was sunk into the head like an arrow, and somehow, the whole head attitude seems sullen - in this tiny a format, it looks cute.

Not entirely sure what I'm gonna do with the Cuties, but for 50c each, I just couldn't resist ! I've never made clothes that small before, either... she's about 2.5 inches tall. Oh, and the Thrift baggie contained not only the doll, but also a large saddle. Might come in handy for the Pegasus I have, I'll make sure it fits. Then spray-paint it white. It's a very dark brown that would probably look awful on the pink/purple of Peggy's back.

The doll has Breyer markings, so I had some fun looking around. Looks like she was part of a set, Breyer Ponies Grooming Set #7039. Found it on eBay. Jeans, boots, hair, and face match. She's missing two hair plugs in the front - if I decide to do anything with her, I'll have to do a quick transplant.

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:45 PM CDT

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Current Mood : Lazy 

Well, I like for stuff I don't want to still be happy, but it just wasn't in the cards for Mr. Golfing Bear. DC attacked him and bore him off from the lab, as a part-time companion, part-time punching bag. Poor Mr. G. Bear...

Not much to report on today - spent three hours getting the kitchen cleaned up and dishes washed. I'm not finished, so that should tell you how bad it got when everyone was sick. I'm wiped out, and haven't done much else today. At one point, I got so overwhelmed by some food gone south that I had to lie down. And I fell asleep for an hour !

Beloved Hubby and I are talking about getting Dearest Son a major gift this Christmas - his own computer ! Seriously, have you seen the prices on them lately ? While eMachines don't have the best reputation, it astounds me that you can get one with a monitor, keyboard, and speakers for less than $400. ! I saw a small laptop last week at Mal-Wart for $350. ! So it's up for consideration, but nothing's decided yet. We'll have to see how things go after rent's paid.

I've been seeing promos for bfads.net, but I'm not interested. ‘Black Friday' is the day after US Thanksgiving, the ‘official' start of the Christmas buying frenzy. Supposedly it's named such because that's the day many retailers begin operating ‘in the black', at a profit (as opposed to ‘in the red'- in debt). Honestly, I kinda feel bad for any company that doesn't start earning money until late November...

Anyway, the ads for the big ‘doorbuster' loss-leader sales normally come out in the late Thursday (Thanksgiving) edition of the newspaper. It's now a ‘fun' sort of espionage to somehow secure some of these ads from major retailers ahead of time, and post them online, so shoppers can plan their ‘attack' earlier. Since some specials are really extraordinary, and extremely limited, lines begin to form at those stores as soon as the cranberry sauce begins to melt. For the last several years, pushing and shoving riots have led to injuries when 200+ people try to get the twelve $100. laptops their local Mal-Warts have.

After numerous years of insane parking, negligent driving, and huge, loud, thick crowds and hours-long lines to check out even if you manage to get the coveted item, it seemed to only get worse the next year. I stopped going. If I wasn't willing to stand outside in the cold and dark for the special all afternoon Thursday and all night until Friday, I wasn't gonna get it, so showing up at 7am wasn't worth the hassle. Besides, there was darn little I even wanted in most of the ads. I'd much rather get up early on Dec. 26 ! Sometimes dolls go on sale the day after !

Posted by dorriebelle at 12:01 AM CST

Updated: Monday, 2 May 2011 11:45 PM CDT

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