A sick son and bad eBay sellers...fa la la la la, la la la laaaa !

 Current Mood : a bit out of it, really.

 

 

Dearest Son woke up and barfed, so he's home today. School said there's a tummy bug going around, so I fully expect to be bleh tomorrow. Such is life ! He's slept most of the day, but he still wants to go to his grandparents', and even knowing about the bug, they still want him over. So we'll drop him off this afternoon.

 

Last night, his throat hurt, so I ran to the IGA down the street and got some Chloraseptic spray. The spray pump was shielded by a plastic cap... that's perfect as a large glass for Elphie and Fiyero ! Yeah, I did that as a kid, too. But some ideas stand the tests of time.

 

Since the not-Skipper holiday dress fit the Jesus doll, I tried it on the Musical Disney Princess girls. A bit too wide for them, but I'll take it in a bit on the sides. The Pirates digital pocketwatch keeps good time, too. And the white Happy Meal bunny toy looks adorable with LDP Snow White. So I didn't do so bad with yesterday's purchases as I thought.

 

And I learned, to my surprise, that the cute Barbie saddle shoes that I have always liked are simply the ‘everybody's got a million of ‘em' flat white sneakers with black ‘saddles' painted on ‘em. It's true ! Looking closely, I can see the two Adidas-like stripes molded under the black paint. Sheesh. And here I am, so happy I had another pair ! I can make as many pair as I want, in as many colors as I want, with those darn sneakers and a fine-point Sharpie !  Man, I am sooo silly...

 

Saw something interesting on an eBay auction today. In tiny, eight-point print, one seller said how she'd always paid up if she'd estimated shipping incorrectly. But no more ! If shipping was more than she said, well, she'd just send the ‘winner' an invoice for the balance. And if it was really necessary, she'd provide post office receipts. If the buyer didn't pay up, she'd leave bad feedback.

 

Umm, dear ? It's up to you, as the seller, to set shipping correctly and accurately. I'll bid - or not bid - based on the item's total price, including shipping. For me to pay, say $15. for the item, and $5. to ship, I've budgeted $20. max for the transaction. If you try to hit me for more because you screwed up, well, sorry, hon. That's your problem, not mine. I've already paid as per our agreement, and don't think holding bad feedback over my head as extortion really plays well with others - or eBay's Terms of Service. 

Jesus in Barbie shoes...

Current Mood : Researching tedium

Spent on dolls : $9.64

 

 

 

I don't mean to be sacrilegious with today's title. It's just what I found today in one of the two thrift store 50c ‘small toys' grab-bags I bought. Yeah, I'm terrible - I went back and took good, long looks at the Cinderella and Snow White dolls that've had my interest since Tuesday. Ended up getting the Snow package, since she came with another doll I found intriguing. More later.

 

But back to the grab-bags. I bought two - one had a small beige saddle for a doll-size horse, a high-bounce glitter ball with a tiny horse figurine inside, a doll-size brass vanity mirror, a small male doll in a cool-looking trenchcoat, and a soft bunny rabbit. The other had several small cars, some Army men, a fish-shaped water-bomb toy, a Happy Meal Pirates ersatz pocket watch with a digital clock inside, a doll-size bottle of orange ‘Crosh', a great kaleidoscope, a footless miniature Bratz doll, and, ironically, the unopened Hot Wheels HM car I donated last week. Possibly. Could be someone else's unopened #6 Iron Man-colored Sidedraft toy.

 

The glitter ball's going to Tammy, the nice lady who's boarding her horses at our place, and the two new-lookin' cars and kaleidoscope are going in Dearest Son's stocking. I'm keeping the vanity mirror, the toy rabbit, the Pirates watch, the soda bottle, and the cool trenchcoat and Barbie saddle shoes that were on the small male doll. Rest gets redonated.

 

There was a similar doll in another bag. For some reason, I thought she might be a religious figure - and that got me to thinking about the one I bought. He sort of resembles a traditional representation of Jesus Christ, minus the coat and saddle shoes. So I did some research. Took nearly an hour, but I finally found a matching photo for ID on Megolike - http://www.megolike.com/weewintys.htm . It was just so odd, seeing a Jesus doll in Barbie shoes. Clearly at one point, he wore a pink and white robe, sandals, and came with a story on cassette tape. He now wears just the unbleached muslin boxer shorts he had under the coat, and he'll get redonated. Quite well-made, with many, many points of articulation. If he was anything but a Jesus doll, I'd probably keep him as an escort for the Disney Musical Princesses - he's the right size ! - but you know I just can't separate celebrity dolls from their celebrity affiliation.

 

I also ID'd the other doll, and I was right. She's Esther, even wearing her original outfit. http://www.megolike.com/rainfall.htm . She was purchased by the woman and her daughter who kept getting out of line to put something back and get something else, but getting back in when they thought it might be checkout time. It was bad enough that I got in line while they were still picking through the bags, but they wedged in front of me anyway. It was the constant, ‘we're here again /no, we're not' that made them very annoying. I hope they recognize their own behavior when someone else does the same to them.

 

Anyway. The store moved the dolls to just under the cash register, and since only us non-cool oldsters bothered to form a line instead of making random clusters that branched out in every conceivable direction, I was constantly in the way. I've never seen the thrift so busy. It was like Christmas was tomorrow, and everyone had only $8. left. The two plastic bins were overflowing, so the only way to see what was there was to pull everything out. (sigh) Even after removing my selections, I couldn't get it all back in there, so I cleaned up as best I could, and left two doll packages propped up amid the candy bars. Maybe they'll get more attention that way.

 

Decided against Cind, since I already had a very similar Cinderella I liked better, I wasn't much on the LED holes in her feet for the ‘light up shoe' effect, the potentially Best Buy dress she wore wasn't, once I got a really good look at it, and the other doll in the $3.99 package with her wasn't at all interesting. Snow White, on the other hand, was nearly new. Still had the clear elastic on her neck and shoulders. Her costume was flawless. Some research revealed her to be ‘Gem Princess' Snow, and all that's missing is the kid ring, her shoes, crown, and necklace. For a $10.+ discount on a $15. doll, I'll gladly give up the small accessories. I was in love with her huge brown eyes !

 

But that wasn't all. Packaged up with her in the $3.99 bag was Barbie Fairytopia's Lumina, a gorgeous elfin doll with dark blue hair, huge blue eyes, and a really neat molded-on bodysuit, decorated in pearls, moons, and stars. You know what a sucker for those I am ! I'd been curious about her since her Toy Fair debut, but never saw her on the shelves around here. So it was funny to find her second-hand ! All she had was her bodysuit, and I knew her crescent-moon wings had been removed, but that was fine with me. It'd be easier to fit new clothes on her this way. Not sure when the trend of ‘always include tacky-huge kid jewelry with dolls' came from, but Lumina also had a necklace for the kid owner that'd gone AWOL. Imagine what my jewelry box would look like if I had all these ‘treasures' !

 

Once home, I found that Lumina's hair was almost all dreadlocked. What a mess ! It took a while and I pulled a lot of hair out, but eventually, I got it tamed. She is lovely. And she looks so mysterious in the trench coat ! Especially with the saddle shoes. Snow may have been a bit scared when she saw me go after Lumina's locks, but I didn't see much wrong with hers. I'm not sure how it originally was, and there was still factory hairspray on the ends. So I ended up pulling it into a little bun at the back of her head, urging the curls to loop around my fingers. It may not be what Mattel had designed, but I like how it looks.

 

Here they are, all cleaned up, with their new friend, Dori - 

https://dorriebelle.tripod.com/dolls_of_my_life/trueblue.jpg

 

I also bought two $1.99 bags of clothes, and this is where I messed up. I should have bought neither. One, I got for what I thought was a holiday Skipper dress. Um, nope. More like a Stacey dress - too small for even vintage Skipper, much too large for even the biggest Kelly. Several other pieces in the baggie were just trash - dirty hair scrunchies, two knockoff crayons, several bits of paper, one spike-heel shoe, and some sort of weird hat or something - or just useless - what may be a My Little Pony swimsuit, a helmet too small for anyone larger than Kelly, some sort of pink/purple/blue tulle arm gauntlet or something, and a badly torn skirt. The other baggie wasn't much of an improvement. A weird orange swimsuit that so far hasn't fit anyone, an even oranger cropped tank top, a stained Mrs. Heart pink with white lace ‘pregnancy' dress, and a badly picked pink jacket. I salvaged two blouses and a dress out of it, but for what I spent, I squandered.

 

Oh, well. Guess I'll learn to not buy stuff when I feel rushed and pushed. Still, I got the Snow doll I wanted, the Lumina doll I was interested in, a cool trench coat, a pair of saddle shoes, a few fun play items and clothes, and still paid less than I would have for either doll new. So I did OK.

 

What kinda ranks is, the not-Skipper-size holiday dress fits Jesus pretty well... and so does the helmet. Oh, and the collar to ‘Platter Party' popped back up after a few hours. (sigh)

Aarrgh...

 

Current Mood : See-saw (and other playground delights)

 

Kind of a up/down day. Finally, as time's getting short, I made time to sew a prototype for the Christmas ornaments I hoped to distribute as gifts at Dearest Son's school Dec. 19^th. Nothing like waiting ‘til the last minute to find out your idea won't work. (sigh) I'll probably do the same thing in a different fabric. I'd seen these sort of rough-fabric lightly stuffed soft ornaments on a craft site that were frayed around the edges, and they looked interesting. It'd certainly be easy and time-friendly - no turning right-side-out, and no hand-sewing that last bit closed !

 

Well, let's just say it's not gonna work the way I wanted. Spent about two hours looking for the ornaments on craft sites I frequent, and various web searches, and never did see the original inspiration again. So, I'll keep most of the idea, but I'll try felt. Still no right-side out, but I can trim the edges close to the sewing instead of fraying them (since felt doesn't fray or unravel) and still machine sew the closure. I just have to work it up tomorrow. Don't much feel like messing with it any more right now. Also got the last few bits of fabric cheap-serged and ready for the wash.

 

And while trying to excavate the lab from all I've crammed in there, I had to keep shifting the bag of doll clothes that needed washing. You'd think, with all the laundry I've done this week, I could have just fit it in, but I hadn't. So today, I did a load of whites and doll clothes, and a load of blankets in dark colors and more doll clothes. And the last of the fabric bits.

 

The paper-clip pinch on Skipper's ‘Platter Party' collar seems to be working.

 

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.