I stuck to buying Christmas presents today ! Amazing !!

 

Current Mood : Lab happy

 

Started excavating the Lab today. I literally could not walk in there, stuff was all over the place. I'd made a mess taking the Muse Dori photos, and didn't clean up - then I stacked all the new acquisitions from the last two weeks in there, and there went my floor space !

 

So I loaded up some holiday music on the stereo Beloved Hubby got me for my birthday, rolled up my sleeves, and got to it. All the dolls and dresses are put away, but there's still the Big Box ‘o Sewing Crap and the Little Mermaid suitcase and the latest snipped-tag Barbie case to find places for. I'll have to get on that later.

 

I've been saving empty Kleenex ^TM boxes, in hopes of doing a project with them. Making doll sofas, to be precise. I had two full size and a smaller Disney Princess one, but... well, I like the Disney Princess one. I've bought it twice ! But it's kinda silly to do that again. So I did something even sillier. Took the regular ole boring adult box off my nightstand, cut the bottom on three sides, and did the same to the DP one. Lifted the tissues out of the boring box and transplanted them into the DP box. I may add a bit of Velcro ^TM to close it later, but for now, it's good. I still feel kinda silly about it. But also satisfied.

 

Skipper's hair was dry from yesterday's ‘bangs stay down !' boil perm, so I took off the rubber bands and brushed it out. Success ! In addition to her bangs problem, she had a major bald spot. They didn't root them near as lushly as they do today. Anyway, it's hidden now. Only problem is that I don't have much in Skipper-wear... The ‘Platter Party' dress she came in has serious collar problems - the facing sticks up, and so does one side of the collar. So I have ‘em both pinched down with paper clips. I'll take ‘em off tomorrow, see if that helped. Next step is clothespins...

 

Got the groceries shopped, and the last of the larger gifts for Dearest Son today. He's getting an ‘iDance' Wall-E, and it's super cute ! There's a review and demo on YouTube for him - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjcXs-EKE2Q . I'm just glad I don't have to worry about them selling out now. Holiday shopping's mostly over. He's got quite a few things to unwrap in a couple of weeks !

 

I was interested in this mail-in only offer for an exclusive new Cars vehicle. Buy five Cars, and you get this one free. Well, unfortunately, you need to send the cardboard backs to all your new purchases, and all the receipts. Plus send a shipping/handling fee of $2. ! Umm... the toy's retail value is $3.56 ! I have a feeling I'll be seeing them in Dollar General or Dollar Tree in a couple of months, because I can't imagine too many folks taking advantage of it.

 

Stopped by the Thrift today. They got a bunch of Barbies in, and not just the ones I donated. In fact, if all mine have been put out for sale, only two are left ! They had a light-up shoe Cinderella in a potentially older Best Buy dress I liked, and a lovely Snow White in her original costume... but at $4. each (there were two more dolls in each package, plus an outfit or two), I decided against getting either. I really need to stick to my ‘use what you got already' words once in a while.

Pretty darn boring day, actually...

 

Current Mood : Domestic draggin' 

 

Home day. Did four more loads of laundry, and cooked a nice dinner. Left the wind-up Sebastian toy on the windowsill the other day, so I wound him up while bus-watching, and proceeded to drive the cats crazy. They were fascinated, but too scared to paw at him. He does have rather arachnid, weird legs.

 

Finally got last week's vintage Skipper's hair under the rubber bands right, so I boil-permed her. She has a bad bald spot on her right side, and her bangs are about 90 degrees from where they should be. She's resting comfortably while she dries.

 

Not much else going on - but at least I'm getting to bed on time tonight !

Home Works

 

Current Mood : a sort of 'earning my keep' tired...

 

Gathered all the new and new-to-me stuff that was so thick on the desk, it was an injury hazard and piled it all into the box Lindsay was shipped in, and shoved it into the Lab. I gotta clean in there if I'm ever gonna sew anything...

 

I've yet to find a calendar I like yet. I was kinda hoping they'd do another Disney Princess ‘Magazine' one, but nope. All that's there is the same-old. I may end up saving the cash - and this comes from a woman who buys calendars a week after New Year's at half price ! - and just print new monthly date grids for the calendars I already have. I could get all arty about it and connect image to new calendar with fancy chains, threads, or even Mardi Gras ‘gimmie' beads. Or not connect ‘em at all, have one hook for image, another for calendar. Possibilities are endless, as always.

 

Did two Pinecone Research surveys over the weekend - yaaay, $6. ! At least that repays what I took out of PayPal for the Lindsay doll. I have enough in PayPal to keep the site going for several months if I don't spend it at eBay or KBKids.com !

 

Four loads of laundry done today. Another eight or so, and I'll be caught up !

Last junk-shop run of '08...

 

Current Mood : Slight guilt for further spending

Spent on dolls and sewing : $9.32

 

"To he that is given much, much is expected." Many days, that quote scares the lovin' hell out of me...

 

Another fun day - was up late last night, workin' on the Somewhere That's Green page. Decided to make a ‘recycling dolls' page about the angel doll and PDorrie with the few in-progress photos I had and just went for it. By the time it was done, I started looking around at the website, and dug into that. At 12:46 this morning - yup, 12:46 am ! - I published it all, looked up and yawned. By then, I'd finished the recycling page, completely redid the navigation bar, retitled most of the pages, and went through the old ones, enlarging fonts, switching images, and pruning dead links. Long time coming, that. And I just may make my little goal of having all the ‘Ten Recent Updates' all end in 2008 before 2009 rolls in.

 

Spent an hour today trying to fix the formatting in the Buying Dolls Online article, and I still couldn't get it completely right. And while it looks OK on Explorer, it's probably a jumbled pile in Firefox. Oh, well. At least it looks better than it did. Not like anyone's gonna read it anyway - it's pretty badly out of date. The formatting just bugged me.

 

Now, if I could just get off my butt and sew something, that'd be a great update !

 

But there were other things on today's agenda. Went with Beloved Hubby to his job bids, for company and the promise of breakfast. It took less time than expected, so we hit the junk shop in the town over. Wheee ! I love going there. Grabbed up two bags of various Barbie Happy Meal toys - we're gonna have a well-decorated tree this year ! - including a Pocahontas action figure for LDP Poca. I've been looking for one, and could only find HM toys of her dad and boyfriend. I also got the ‘spinning ballerina' HM Barbie toy that I heard got recalled. Supposedly, the doll could come off and expose a very sharp metal pole. You know me, ever since I heard that, I've kinda wanted one. $2. for both baggies.

 

Decided to take the risk on a $2. sandwich baggie of Barbie shoes. Ended up with 21 new pairs - and four of those came from my solo shoe box and the baggie ! Coool ! I also added about twelve shoes to the waiting-for-spray-paint ones, and donated at least ten pairs of pink and white sneakers. It got so, when I got more of those matched, they went right into the ‘donations' bag. Just don't need more in either pink or white. Also added about 20 new shoes to the solo shoe Tupperware box.

 

And two books made new homes here. One is an Elphie-size volume, complete with dust jacket, titled simply Champagne. It's fully readable, with tiny text and itty-bitty images. 130 pages. The other I can bring out when the power goes down again, the pink flyleaves are that bright ! Yup, I shelled $3. for Barbie: Forty Years of Fashion, Fantasy, and Fun by Marco Tosa. It was fun to leaf through, and while it may not cast any fresh light on Babs and co., just having new books in the house is exciting.

 

Also, I (sigh) bought a length of fabric. Remember the first dress I made Elphie, the second one on her page ? It's quite similar to that - narrow stripes with gold stars - but in deeper shades. Elphie's dress is kind of primary colored, and the new fabric is that, just deeper, richer, darker colors. I'll probably dig up what's left of what I used and compare it to the new stuff. I'm bad and I know it for buying more bloody material, but I could not resist this stuff. At least it's only a twitch over a half a yard, and was only 50c.

 

So I spent a bit over $9., and even that was showing extreme restraint. I could have really gone nuts in there. There was a Babysitter's Club doll for $3.50, and I always steal their clothes for Crissy when I find ‘em, but her outfit was a t-shirt, shorts, and a chambray overshirt - nothing I can't make m'self. If she'd had her shoes, I'd have bought her anyway. But, no shoes. There was also a blue-legged blonde ‘Wild Styles' doll for $2. I considered for her wild blouse. Until I noted the torn seam and the wires sewn in the seams that enabled it to have such a unique shape. Also found a Starr doll, and a Bubble Princess Snow White, and they had very similar figures. So that was nice to know, even though I didn't buy either.

 

There was a larger Barbie-size Snow White, too, and she looked as though she could use a better home, but I ultimately decided against it. Her hair was a total nest, and I've had two Snows before, and gave both up years ago. So I decided against #3. Pretty much the same story for the other dolls there. Including the Kimberly, the home-made Cabbage Patch girl, and the Lando Calrissian-like M&C soldier dude. And thread. And fabric, except for that one piece.

 

Once home - Beloved didn't find anything he wanted, and he was mostly there for me, he's so sweet ! - I sorted through it all... and it's all still here. I got Lindsay Lohan stepping on the #2 Skipper, with LL's props scattered in and out of a buncha HM dolls and shoes, including part of the ‘TV Chef' playset and the Peek-A-Boo Cutie Halloween doll. Barbie's ten-speed is leaning over the candy bucket, and if I move yesterday's soda glass and today's lunch bowl - leftovers, yum ! - I can get to my hairbrush and inhaler. Luckily, I keep the rest of my prescriptions in a plastic Chinese take-out box in a desk drawer. Or I'd never find it in time to take ‘em in this mess !

Biiicycle, biiiiiicycle...Barbie wants to ride her biiike...

 

Current Mood : Wealthy. With apologies to mutilating Queen lyrics for today's title. 

Spent on dolls : $13.

 

Fun and busy day today. I got to nap with Beloved Hubby, hit the last Flea Market of 2008, recycle a month's worth of cardboard, pay some bills, and be home in time for my Lindsay Lohan doll to arrive. I also found the ‘Traveler in Thyme' pattern CD that was missing, so now all my patterns on disc are stored together.

 

I'm still not sure why I bought the ‘Thyme' patterns. Guess I wanted to try some more elaborate outfits at the time, but... looking at the images and patterns now, I don't see anything I want. Maybe I still have to grow into it some more.

 

The Flea Market, at first sweep, didn't seem to have much. The Barbie Car Set seller was there, and she had some new things, just nothing I wanted. Ready for a laugh ? She had an admittedly very nice dollhouse for sale, with a fireplace that lit up and sounds and lights - big, too. But it wasn't scaled for Barbie. More like a Fisher-Price "Loving Family" house, and they're about half the size of Playscale. Just perfect for a really elaborate Kelly house, or for the Breyer / Dawn / Musical Disney Princess girls. She compensated by having very little furniture in there, and all the dolls were seated, so at first glance, it really wasn't apparent. I admired her creativity, but knew if I'd gotten it home (no way, she wanted $50. fer it) and then noticed, I'd have been ticked. Mostly at myself.

 

It was on my second sweep that I noticed the Sears exclusive Gymnast set under the table of another booth - I've purchased small things like Barbie wicker furniture from him before. The beautiful Malibu Barbie on the box made my inner girl squeee in delight, and she nearly took over. I was already eyeing a bag of Happy Meal Barbies, because it included the Wedding Day Midge one, the first HMB I ever got, still in the packaging. And the HM Barbie boxes ! A bit more than I wanted to shell out at $5., but I was giving it thought.

 

It was then that I saw a familiar shade of yellow. No way ! I carefully pulled it out a bit - yes ! The 1973 Barbie ten-speed bicycle ! In great shape ! Most of the stickers were there, so was the seat and basket and kickstand. Wow. I'd been wanting one for a while. Guess it's no surprise, had it as a kid. Back in '01, I walked past a car with one in the back window while going into another flea market, and I hung around for nearly a half hour, hoping to snag the owner and ask. Never happened, but I've kept my eyes open for another one. Again, a bit high at $7.50, but maybe I could make a deal... A quick dig through the 50c Happy Meal box netted me a Little Mermaid wind-up Sebastian for LDP and Baby Ariel, and a Rapunzel Barbie, who'd make a great Christmas tree ornament.

 

Well, when the dust settled, I was legging it back to the car with the Gymnast set in one bag, the Happy Meal set, the bike, and Rapunzie and Sebastian in the other. The booth owner accepted just $13. from me for all these treasures. Whoo-hoo ! He'd only brought the Gymnast stuff to show to the Barbie Car Set seller, but she didn't want it. He knew it was missing the rings and string, but the rest looked intact, so when he offered it to me for $2., I knew if I only scanned the box lid, it'd be worth it ! Plus, I had rings - knitting spacers I normally use as doll bracelets - and could find string !

 

As it turns out, the balance beam is cracked and it's missing the waist and leg support, but it's still fun to set up and use. So I'm not disappointed. The bike is only missing part of the headlight, but I'll make a sticker to cover up the spot, it'll be fine. The Happy Meal set is actually all of the HMBs from 1991, which is cool. I feel like I came out way ahead !

 

Dumped off the cardboard while I was over there, and found a great Tree Top Ornament box that'll make a great doll shopping window. So I snagged it. I love freebies !

 

Allowed m'self an hour to debox Lindsay from her packaging. It very nearly took that long. But I got a ton of stuff for my $5. ! Gold stanchions, a popcorn box, a director's chair that the doll can barely get her butt into, a makeup case with tiny makeup pieces, a soda bottle, two complete outfits, including coats and shoes, and a t-shirt, a purse, earrings, a necklace, and pink sunglasses, two doll-size DVDs with cases, a doll size laptop, digital camera, and cell phone, several tickets and ‘magazines', and a My Scene Goes Hollywood keychain that looks as though I can repurpose it as a small photo frame. And numerous star-shaped cutouts, a couple of cardboard tabletops, and at least a few salvageable bits from the backing and the plastic sides - they're all star-decorated ! I count that $5. well spent !

I *actually* updated the web page !

 

Current Mood : Surprised at m'self 

 

I finally updated the main site today - added the little photo story I did yesterday. Gosh, I haven't really done anything with my site since June. March, if you don't count the single image I added to the Home page. About half the ‘most recent 10 updates' still have 2007 on ‘em. Shameful. If I had time, I'd invest it in making sure every last update had an 08 date. But I still haven't developed a working prototype for those burlap ornaments I wanna make for school gifts this year. Yikes.

 

But anyway. Dori's deboxing now has a permanent home on the site. Again, due to an exhaustion of Silkie and Priscilla pictures, I posted it to In The Pink yesterday. Shoulda done it at Home first, but I do silly things when I'm cranky about seeing the same stuff over and over. I added some notes to the bottom of the page that ITP didn't get, so at least there's that.

 

And then, just as I was soaking in the accolades, there was a giveaway for an admittedly lovely, probably quite expensive Silkstone. Ya just hadda post an image of your Silkstone. So there went that board for the rest of the night and all day tomorrow. (sigh) I've never seen half the names on the board before. Oh, well, not my prob.

 

Aside from updating my sorely neglected website, the big thrill of the day is that they actually picked up our trash. I know how bad that sounds, but the pick-up can was packed, and so were all the house ones. It felt sooo good to take out the trash this afternoon. Now the pick-up's half full, with just a week before I roll it out again.

 

Big Lots is advertising more doll specials, but I doubt I'll fall for it again. Although I am curious about the Fashion Plates-like Barbie set for $5. Sometimes it's a curse being able to see the ads online - because our store rarely ever gets that stuff !

 

Oh, and I forgot - over Thanksgiving, someone on ITP posted a special he'd found - the My Scene Lindsay Lohan doll, for $4.99, free shipping. Wow. I pounced on that, although it didn't show the treasure trove of tiny bits and pieces that came with LL when I saw her on the shelves. Beloved called it my Thanksgiving gift, so I didn't count it with my spending, naughty me.

 

Well, the day after Turkey Day, I got an e-mail from kbkids.com, thanking me for my recent order and offering me a link to their holiday specials - 60% off ! So I clicked - and found the LL doll, now at $7.99. Tempting, because I love director's chairs and those velvet rope stanchions, but I decided against it. Plus, it was kinda silly that they advertised a special, but raised their price on an item.

 

I hadn't seen nothin' yet. Got another e-mail from them today, inviting me to see the even deeper price reductions, so I went to check it out, tongue firmly in cheek. It's a good thing, because I might have bitten it otherwise. Lindsay is now $12.99. Shipping's still free, though...

 

She's not here yet, but I have plans. All the props and clothes are mine, I hope to spray-paint all the stanchions the same color. If photos are correct, LL's are gold. The ones I have from the two markdown Hillary Duff dolls are silver. Nothin' a little Fusion can't fix ! Chair will get hit, too.

 

LL herself will be outfitted in a racing suit similar to what she wore in Herbie : Fully Loaded and gifted to Dearest Son. He already has a Barbie beetle, and H:FL is one of his favorite films. Hope he recognizes this doll as the actress - a columnist for the now-defunct Barbie Bazaar made a huge deal of likening the doll to Don Knotts !

Fun with Dori day !

Current Mood : Still thrilled !

 

I had fun playing with Dori - yup, deboxed her this afternoon. Wanted to have a few bragging photos for In The Pink, since, frankly, I'm bored of all the Silkstone and Priscilla Presley images. Pretty lady, Priscilla, but all her claims of wanting her own life without Elvis kinda seemed hypocritical when she kept his last name long after the divorce and his death. Nice doll, too, but I always have trouble keeping ‘public figure' and ‘doll' separate. Ask that Rosie O'Donnell doll I tried to revamp, wherever she is. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I bought that doll, as I really loathe the inspiration.

 

Anyway, I somehow ended up doing a short photo-story. I've never done one of those before... although, many of my directions on project pages do take on a story-like quality. I'm thinking that each month, I'll take down whatever dollhouse is on the Slab in the Lab, and put up something new. Having the Castle ready to go for photos has been a real treat.

 

I also got to visit Barnes & Noble, and because they're neighbors, TRU today. Beloved Hubby ordered me a book, and it came in yesterday. I've pretty much eaten it up already. If you can snag a copy of Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking, treat yourself. It's funny and silly and a fast read with awesome photos. No dolls or nothin', but you know how I am about Princess Leia !

 

TRU was darn near a demilitarized zone, at least over by the doll section. Barbie aisle was jammed. Disney Princess section was packed. Baby doll shelves were crowded with folks picking out just the right one. Bratz gondolas echoed the lonely winds that could have pushed tumbleweeds straight through, unimpeded by humans. It was weird.

 

Found a few good sales - the Speed Racer set was marked down from $40. to $30.  The Barbie for President dolls scanned at $12.99 instead of $18.99. If she comes down any further, I'll consider getting one, if just for the pink ‘Marilynesque' dress she comes with ! The current three-story house listed as $99. instead of $130. A $50. Barbie purchase entitled the big spender to a glittery pink makeup case, valued at $30. It has a silkscreen blonde Barbie on the front, with makeup already inside... and I kinda want one. But not that much.

 

Only thing I bought was an action-figure Wall-E for Dearest Son. Only place in town that has them. I hope to pose Elphie with him before Dearest takes a marker to him. He always ‘customizes' the stuff he likes.

 

On the way home, I passed by the local Thrift - and felt a strong yen to go in. I was just there yesterday ! How silly of me. But you know, it gives me an odd thrill to see my stuff on shelves with prices. I have no idea why.

OMG ! I still don't believe my day !

 

Current Mood : Fainting with Happy... (swoooooon)

Spent on Dolls :  $16.10 (and I don't regret a penny !)

 

What an incredible day today was ! I still can't believe everything that happened ! And I'm so happy...

 

Today stared like most weekdays - swat the alarm clock a dozen times, nudge Dearest Son awake a dozen times in ten minutes, poke at Beloved Hubby, too. Once everyone was on their way, I gathered up all the donations and packed ‘em in the truck. Two 13-gal kitchen bags, a big Target sack, and Charmin' Chatty. Not bad. Six Barbie-size dolls got dressed, brushed, and bagged up, amid a buncha other toys and misc. outgrown clothes and books and the like. I just can't donate or even mail a nude doll. I got it all over there, and noted that, even though it was just ten minutes past opening, there were already several other bags of donations in the bin. I hope she got some good stuff !

 

She asked me about Charmin', since she knows a little girl customer who'd love her. So that made me happy. I looked around for a bit, and amazingly, there were new dolls and Barbies. Even new bags of large props ! The dolls were mostly Cabbage Patch clones or hollow-body dress-me toddlers, nothing that caught my interest. So I carefully looked at the two largish bags of Barbie props and the bin of dolls.

 

The first bag held various pieces - the only thing I could readily identify was the chair/fire grate from the Folding Pretty house. I'd love a second one, but the bags were $5.99 each, a bit high for a small chair, especially when I have dozens already. The other... while it held an incomplete office playset - I think the aquarium and a support post is missing, among other pieces - I knew it was coming home with me.

 

Because I could see that, inside, was a #1 Ken ! True, his flocked hair was visible only in one patch above his right ear, but his face was in excellent shape, as were his hands and feet. The shirt was probably momma-made, but of excellently scaled fabric, and his grey-green corduroys bore the tiny YKK zipper and the hallmarks of expert tailoring. Also, there was another shirt in there, and it was clearly vintage, and in excellent shape, missing only one tiny button. The ‘Ken ® / © Mattel, Inc' tag was a bright, unfrayed beacon. Oh, heck yeah. Mine.

 

A quick trip through the snack-baggies of clothes revealed nothing new - and believe me, hopes were raised when I saw a vintage Ken ! - but in the bottom of the bin was a pretty navy blue sailor dress. Simple, but well-made recently (Velcro ^TM closure !) and no tag. The proprietress gave it to me free !

 

Quickly sorted through mostly familiar bags. But there's a new one. Oh, seriously - it's a Bend-Leg Skipper ! Basically a #2 Skipper doll, with auburn hair ! I was stunned. The dress fit too well to be anything less than vintage, but I couldn't tell, since she was in a $3.99 baggie with two Happy Meal dolls and a Fisher Price ‘Happy Family' Dad doll. I'm normally immune to the charm of Skipper, but this one sort of needed me, so she went into the cart with Ken.

 

I also scored a computer power strip for Dearest's laptop - $1.49 vs. $6.75 at Mal-Wart ! - and a small-toy grab-bag for the numerous Star Wars kids' meal bobbleheads that Dearest so loves. A bit less than $13. total - for a power strip, some stocking stuffers, and two vintage dolls. Wow.

 

Now, it would have been a great day if that'd been that. But no, we're not done yet ! Headed over to Mal-Wart for grocery time, and that always includes a quick trip to Toys. Picked up ‘Charlie Checker' from Cars, the Piston Cup official pace car, complete with tiny yellow lights on his roof. Dearest'll love him. Found out that the Dale Earnhart Jr. one I picked up two weeks ago is very rare, and brings about $10. on eBay. We paid $3.50 or so for ‘em.

 

Rounding the aisle, I saw an endcap-load of the dolls M-W had for $5. special on Black Friday. Hmmm. There were several guys and girls from High School Musical, and various blonde and brunette girls from Hannah Montana. I'd seen dolls from Barbie and the Diamond Castle in the BF ad, and I was interested in them. Unlike the $10. to $15. versions that've been out on shelves for a while, these are the equivalent of swimsuit dolls - very few props, and narrow boxes. It hit me later that, while HSM and Barbie are, of course, Mattel, HM dolls have been from PlayAlong. But the narrow boxes of HSM and HM were so uniform, now I wonder if Mattel made those HMs, too. It's doubtful, but still kinda mysterious as to how closely those boxes matched.

 

Color coding made it easy to tell the lines apart. HSM - red leather-like box. HM - mottled blues and pinks on top, black on bottom. Diamond Castle girls had deep purple boxes that formed a peak at the top, and the plastic view windows were shaped, like facets of a gemstone. Easily I found the blonde pink and red gowned doll (hah ! When I made pink and red Barbie clothes as a kid, everyone said it clashed !) and the lovely AA purple and pink one, but I wanted the brunette green and blue one ! And after the fourth box, I found her. Very nice ! She went with me to the usual Barbie aisle, where I could barely tell her apart from the $15. doll. Well, the more expensive one had shimmery, gauzier, rufflier fabric in the lower blue skirt and green overskirt, and a huge honkin' blue plastic necklace, but from the hips up, they were identical. Even had the same comb.

 

Still, the last thing I needed was another doll - I just donated seven ! - even if she did have awesome cool sandals that trailed up her legs, and a gorgeous dress in a favorite color. Plus, there was so little difference between the $15. doll and this one... was I sure she really was just $5. ? They may have raised the price since Black Friday. So I took her to the nearest price scanner.

 

And nearly fell over. Because the scanner read, ‘Barbie Diamond Castle  Muse Dori Doll $5.00' . Dori ? DORI ? They actually named her Dori ? OMG ! I HAD to get her now ! I kept shaking my head. Had to be short for ‘Dorinda' or something, I thought. There's no way Mattel'd name any doll of theirs Dori. But it kept her in the cart and close to me on the ride home. I still don't really remember doing the grocery shopping...

 

Once the cold stuff was stored, I hit Wikipedia. And there, under the cast/voice actor list for Barbie and the Diamond Castle was the name... Dori. I know it has not a darn thing to do with me. The character's name is not even spelled like mine at all. But I'm still so thrilled that there's an official Barbie named Dori, with a round face and brown hair, that I just don't care.

 

Here she is - https://dorriebelle.tripod.com/dolls_of_my_life/dori.jpg . Astounding. I haven't deboxed her yet - I wanna get Ken and Skipper cleaned up first. They have a photo shoot in the morning ! But every time I look at my Dori, I get all... giggly and happy.

 

I identified the dress Skipper's wearing as one of her first, Platter Party. Ken's tagged shirt is from Lounging Around, and the greenish grey corduroy pants seem to be Pak items. Found out there's an identical shirt that's red where mine's white ! Cool ! Also in Ken's bag was a fluffy pink nylon doll skirt, a Happy Meal Yo-Yo Skipper from 1999 and a Hollywood Barbie, from last month's promotion. Yaay, new Christmas ornaments ! And in the bobblehead bag was a cute Disney Little Princess - size cake. Bonus !

 

Both Ken and Skipper are in superb shape, but they need a cleaning and hair work, and tomorrow's photo shoot day ! Ken appears to have been a brunette back in his day, so I'll have to look up reflocking directions or just plain painting. He's too handsome to be so mottle-headed ! Skipper's bangs are at a 45-degree angle to her head, so she has a boil perm coming up. Glad I saved the rubber bands from the ‘TV Chef' playset !

 

Ah, I'm still dizzy. I gotta crash, but it's been such a fantastic day ! Beloved Hubby's new power supply came in, so his new video card is finally installed. Ever Quest has never looked so good. Dearest loves his new toys, and the new pajamas I picked up for him. Glad I got a size up - they're almost too tight on him ! If you know any kids who need long-sleeve two-piece PJs in popular character designs, M-W has ‘em for just $5. !

 

I may put Dori on my nightstand... just for tonight...

Happy December !

 

Current Mood : Relaxed.

 

Current Image Notes : Welcome to December ! From here 'til I run out, which should be just before 2009 (!), you get a new Disney Princess holiday/winter image ! They're scans of stickers, window clings, gift wrap, holiday tags, and anything else I can snag, including some internet 'borrowed' ones. Sorry today's pink edges look so funky against the green 'fridge' blog theme, but what can ya do ? Just editing it for today's post took nearly an hour ! But you're worth it !!

 

I also learned how to link images within the text, so don't worry - if I find a choice goodie, you'll still see it !

 

Well, it's official. The grandparents gave Dearest Son so much candy at Halloween, we're still eating it in December ! That's not so grand a feat - one year, he got so much Easter candy, we were still eating it at Valentine's. There's only a few mini candy bars left, so it won't be long ‘til they're all gone.

 

Beloved wasn't feeling well, so he was home today, and I was with him. Only set foot out of the house to run by the bank and pay rent. He wanted company, so I mostly just sat with him today, keeping him company, watching old DVDs. It was kind of like Thanksgiving all over again !

 

And the postponement gave me a bit more time to get things ready for the Thrift, for tomorrow. Three big bags full, and I'm still not done casting around the Lab yet. Should have it all finished tonight.

 

Got this updated - again, it was all typed and ready to go, I just got lazy with the images. Shouldn't be much of a problem for this month ! Scanning the stickers is a PITA, but the graphics are so pretty...

 

So it was a kinda boring Monday - but here's hoping the Thrift got lots of weekend donations and will have ‘em out for me tomorrow !   

A pretty kitty for ya...

 

Current Mood : Easily annoyed

 

Nice day today. Got to spend it any way I wanted, which involved a lot of Lab and computer time. Also some in-home recycling.  Which includes a bit of image recycling - sorry, but DC looks sooo cute snuggled up to PDorrie ! I was working on her shoes at the time.

 

For the last few days, I've had my eyes casting around Chez Insanity, looking for stuff to add to the donation pile I intend to take by the local Thrift tomorrow. Beloved Hubby bought a combination white board / cork board for the fridge a few days ago - our last one, a housewarming gift, fell and broke nearly two years ago - so I didn't need the small corkboard I've had over by the cabinets anymore. I had it in the donations box when Dearest Son saw it today, asked if he could have it.

 

Sure ! I soon had it placed where he indicated, and scared up some pushpins for him. He now has a pair of scissors dangling from it, and a Roary coloring page tacked up. Says he intends to use it with his pretend Kindergarten class, too. How cute !

 

I dug out our old XM Satellite Radio boombox a few days ago, intending to install it in the office, rather than buy a new radio/CD player. Took a while, but I found an outlet for it, and it's now playing old CDs we rarely ever listen to. It's rather nice. I'm looking forward to some holiday tunes tomorrow. I've been looking for a small radio receiver, so the next time we lose power, it won't be so quiet, which freaks Dearest out a bit, but yard sale season is finally drying up, and I hadn't found a small radio yet. Just midsize CD boomboxes that still need six C batteries. The XM needs ten !

 

While puttering in the bathroom this morning, I realized that the clock in there is also a small radio - and it runs on AA batteries. We have lots of those. Anyone with a Wii keeps their stock up. This radio uses so little power, I can use ‘dead' batteries removed from Wii-motes to run it ! Yaaay !

 

Most of the rest of the day, I spent idling through Yard Sale Bloodbath (http://www.yardsalebloodbath.com/) and Manic Thrift Store Shopper (http://mtss.blogspot.com/). Was enjoying Yard Sale Addict, until all the ‘I bought nothing' end lines started to sound like Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes in my head. And once I found out all the photos and scorn was from a guy doing all this for an art installation, not for fun or shopping or even love of the hunt, I was pretty much done with the site. Might be good for a laugh for ya, though - http://yardsaleaddict.blogspot.com/ .

 

(sigh) I've been in a mood ever since Friday. Between the stupidness of rabid Black Friday shoppers and the irresponsible ones who killed a hapless temp or themselves, to the accusatory GoodWill, and finishing up with a day in front of a computer with folks who think they're too good for yard sales except for their Art, I just haven't been me in days.

 

I really need to sew something that isn't for someone else or a way to use up junk !