Happy Holidays - to you, and everyone you love !

 

 

As the world waits, you dream...

 

Current Mood : Happy sleepy

 

Again, not a huge, stellar, red-letter day - we baked a nice honey ham and pretty much ate off it all day long. It's delicious. I puttered around TV Tropes - http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage - for literally hours. Be thou warned if  ye dare to click on ye olde link... it be a time sink. Look up just one of yer favorite shows, and you will be there, clicking and reading, leaping from page to page, reading until your eyes rust with dust. There's always just one more page you wanna read. But it leads to six more that are as much if not even more interesting ! Especially if you write at all. I only dare to visit that site if I'm super-bored with nothin' else to do.

 

Well, there's always dishes and laundry to do... but who wants to do that on Christmas Eve ?

 

Got everything wrapped, and it's awaiting morning. Hope Dearest enjoys what we got him. Tammie, our horse-boarder, got him a wonderful Wall-E "Eve" toy that he opened today, and he's had the most fun with it. Even wrote her a thank-you note on computer paper, with a crayon drawing that says ‘I love EVE !'. I only had to ask him to sign it. Hope I can catch her tomorrow, to give it to her. He's asleep with Eve tonight.

 

(giggle) She'll go well with the iDance "Wall-E" we got him ! They're in scale and everything !

Eve of Christmas Eve...

 

Current Mood : Antici.....pation

 

Not a lot going on today, just kind of waiting down the last few days til Santa's Big Scene. We got the tree up without too much of an incident, although I need to discover a better way to wind up the lights when it's all over this year. I had a tangled pile to descramble yesterday.

 

Once the tree was up and lit, Dearest Son wanted to hang the ornaments himself. He got a beautiful crocheted red and white stocking as a gift from his bus driver, and I made sure that went up. From there, I deboxed our old favorites while Dearest hung them. Some of them are ancient ! One is from a high-school fund-raiser (when I was in high school !), one came from the weekend Beloved and I met for the first time, after two years of online writing. (sigh) Two are from the mobile that spun over Dearest's crib. Several are from school, one is from the mall where I worked so many years ago. It fell from the ceiling inches from my toes. So I kept it. It's huge on the tree, but looked so small up there.

 

After some minor curiosity, the kittens have left it alone. Dearest spends more time batting and fussing with the ornaments than they have !

 

Lab is a mess of dolls and felt bits. I really need to clean it again. I really intend to sew in there one day...

Tree time !

 

Current Mood : Nap mode !

 

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I'm proud that I got off my butt today and got the living room cleaned. And I don't mean ‘picked up', I mean, tables wiped off, toys in Dearest Son's room, vacuumed, cleaned. I forgot how nice our new vacuum is. Edge cleaning is actually fun ! Only took two hours, which is rather embarrassing, but I have to be reminded of that little fact every so often.

 

Tomorrow, hopefully, we tackle Son's room, and at least some dishes. I'm trying to get him to pick up toys at day's end and have them in his room, instead of in every spare corner and flat space of the house. I had the living room mostly clean until Tuesday - we ran late with dinner, and I was getting Dearest used to picking up every night, but Beloved Hubby just let him head for bed. From there, it just went to h#ll, because I sort of resented it, and didn't clean. By Thursday, I was too busy with those felt stars to mess with it, and Friday, I was wiped out.

 

But I promised Dearest we'd put up the tree if I could get the living room cleaned, and that included dumping off that toybox in his room - actually, the hallway. It's overflowing again. (sigh) Anyway, it's done, I took out two bags of trash, scrubbed the tables, even took the vacuum to the sofa and all the chairs. About all I didn't do was pull out the sofa. Gotta save something for next week ! I feel so much better about myself...

 

The tree and decorations are currently warming up in the Office, fresh from the garage. We'll probably get it set up after dinner. Reclaimed the trash can from the garage, too, and put a liner in it. Now, it's a wrapping paper keeper, and it was free. Found a use for the bag Dollar Tree gave me for the DPrincess paper I bought last month - it fits over our fake tree's ‘trunk' perfectly, and will keep it from getting dusty, since it doesn't fit in the bough box. I'm such a tightwad !

 

So today, in commemoration of the tree going up just before Christmas, you get a coloring book image of Donald Duck wrestling with the lights. I'm sure to be reenacting that scene shortly ! 

New dolls today ! Whoo-hoo !

 

Current Mood : Yaay, new dolls !

 

Today, I wrecked the Lab (again) and opened the box of a dozen dolls I won on eBay last week. Hmft. While it was a mixed bag - and I got more than I'd anticipated, so I'm not unhappy - I'm kind of wondering what makes up ‘in good condition' in some folks' minds.

 

First off, Melody is indeed the rare Little Mermaid 2 doll, and she is in fantastic shape. About all I needed to do was push the ribbon from her bloomers back into a bow. So I found a big-eye needle, threaded it with the ribbon, and that was done. Her hair brushed well, and she has amazing bangs... but really, she's not a gorgeous doll. Her face is too narrow for her huge eyes, and her hair is great, but is really dark black for such a fair-toned doll. I can't quite get it to ‘shelf' they way it did in the box, so I'll probably make Melody's hair curl a bit more under. It already wants to.

 

One of the two Kelly clones is from Dollar Tree - I know, I bought ‘em for clothes and props years and years ago. The other is a Kelsey sister, Jodi, this one wearing a sort of western outfit. Stole the purple sneakers off the DT girl and put both dolls into Donations - after a quick hair-brushing.

 

Surprisingly, I also found myself the new owner of a Slumber Party Midge - a Midge I didn't already have. I'm not much on the soft-body dolls, but this Midge is a cutie. She was in an ugly, torn dress, but it'll be simple enough to find new clothes for her. Shoes are gonna be a challenge... but her eyes have that heat-close/cold-open feature, and her hair is just lovely. So I'm gonna keep her.

 

Also in the ‘keep' division is a lovely Surf City Kira, her hair still in the green elastic ponytail holders. Both hers and Midge's were rotting, so they were removed, and both got a good brush-out. She had on a pretty multicolored dot blouse and skirt combo, which she's still wearing.

 

A ‘temp keep' is the Butterfly Art Barbie, still in her...um, well...(sigh) string bikini. I really hate that thing. It just looks cheap, and no matter how you tie that top on her, her bust is always popping out of it. Amazingly, it makes her chest appear bigger than it really is, just because the top slides all over the place. She's staying until I can get her photographed for an upcoming ‘Barbie Bizarre' page, then she gets donated. I don't have a problem with the tattoos - heck, Beloved Hubby's got lots more than she does ! - but I can't imagine anyone who gets that big a design on that sensitive a space is gonna be happy here for very long !

 

The rest are generic blondes that are also getting donated. Most are in decent shape, but one needs a new body for her pretty face - half her hands are gone ! Another can use a rebody if I have a match, leg chews. So much for ‘they're all in pretty good shape' ! Still, I did quite well with this lot, with the four I'm keeping and several nice blouses and three good outfits, which is nice. Since I won't be buying more for quite some time !

 

Tonight, I image-grabbed a bunch more paper dolls from that photo site. Beloved Hubby showed me how to use ‘paste as transparent selection' to paste the clothes on the dolls ! That's fun ! Almost like having computer paper dolls.

I think I'm done with yard sales for the year...

 

Current Mood : Happy and relaxed

 

Man, what a day. I was on my way to an 8am yard sale about 9 or so, figuring they might need extra set-up time. Boy, did they. I got there, and there were a few stuffed animals and baby items set out, and a couple boxes of clothes. And about a dozen empty tables. Huh. The seller kept going in and out of the house, along with her really old mother, and they spoke something other than English, French, or Spanish between them. I asked about boys' clothes, and she brought out a box of mostly 4T items, much too small for Dearest Son. I have no idea what happened to the Barbies the ad mentioned, when I asked about those, I got a blank look, and none ever appeared. Her two daughters watched every move I made, why, I haven't a clue. It's not like I could steal anything valuable.

 

I just wanted to leave, so I decided on a shirt I doubted Dearest would ever choose to wear - sincerely, a long-sleeved mesh shirt ? - a musical doll I didn't much like, and a stuffed lamb in an outfit maybe the LDPs could wear. $5. was a bit much, but I was ready to go already. But, guess what, seller had no change. Not even for a $10. Her husband was due home from setting up signs, and he'd be around any minute, maybe he'd have some. Well, I walked around some more, trying to avoid the daughters' tracking skills but failing miserably, for ten minutes, and finally put stuff down and left. I knew once I got in the truck, I wasn't going for change, I was going home. And I didn't even really want the stuff I picked out. I felt sorry for them, and miffed that I dragged my big azz all the way across town for nothing. Once on my way, I felt relief that I hadn't spent that five bucks.

 

After breakfast, I went out again, this time with the culled DVDs. I could trade ‘em for store credit at a chain video/book/game store. But first, I wanted rice crackers from Target, and participate a bit in the ‘last Saturday before Christmas' madness. I hope that next year, someone clips me upside the head when I come up with such a stupidly romantic and completely ridiculous notion. What a zoo. I ended up getting a cart for personal defense - my big hips were targeted by every other d*mned idiot in the store pushing a red, half-filled crap wagon. They were too busy debating what Teighylorre and Brytiannye really wanted for Christmas - especially since the overpriced plastic on their lists had been sold out since before Halloween.

 

The rice crackers had gone up from $5.50 to $8., so I won't be getting those any more. I wouldn't have bought them today, but I was geared up for ‘em. I found chopsticks and white cheddar cheese popcorn seasoning on markdown, so I got those too. Thank Everything I parked down at the cell phone store, or I'd probably still be waiting to get out of my parking space.

 

Heather at the video store was so nice - we got over $35. in credit, so I got the 20^th Anniversary edition of A Christmas Story, as Beloved Hubby suggested. I also snagged a Wall-E coloring book and a Tale of Despereaux storybook as small bonus gifts for Dearest. And I still had more than $7. in credit left ! I'd been in there over an hour, looking at books and toys and magazines.

 

I then had another stupid idea - hey, let's visit Big Lots ! <clip!> If anything, they were busier than Target. Overheard parents discussing a fluffy pink dress-up gift for their daughter, especially Mom's comment that she'd love the fake fingernails. When Dad asked how they attached, she said it was double-sided tape. Dad advocated stronger adhesive, but Mom exclaimed, ‘There is NO WAY I am letting you put super-glue on our three-year-old's fingers !'. With that, I decided I'd had enough. Snagged two boxes of the gingerbread men we all like and hit the registers - behind the world's most tenacious discount shopper.

 

Somehow, she'd found one shirt marked $4., then two more marked $6. - then ask if all the shirts were $4. The bored, hired-yesterday cashier was not even gonna go out on a limb for her, and said he had to go with what they rang up as, which was, guess what, one at $4. and two at $6. Did she want them ? We all had to stand there as she decided. Then, after she shoved the rejected items into the snack display, she hauled up three blankets...

 

The fourth time she did so, I decided to just bag it. We didn't need cookies that badly - and she had a cartload of crap for her ongoing game of ‘Is The Price Right ?' that I was just unwilling to play studio audience for any longer. If she'd bought half of it, she had about $300. worth of stuff. But they opened another register, and I wasn't in that line long. Just long enough to watch another customer open a kids' play-kitchen cabinet, and have the door come off in her hand. It was worth it to see her with the door hanging by the hook in her fingers, looking around frantically for some idea of what to do with it. And I got the damned cookies. Looking behind me, I saw the door get shoved into another playset and the discount freedom fighter going for another round with some thermal underwear. Idly, I wondered what the impulse purchase area of that register looked like by now...

 

Once home, we watched Christmas Story and I ate half the jar of rice crackers. Bliss.

 

Went out on a bid with Beloved in the afternoon, and got tasty, delicious coffee on the way home. And Chinese for supper. While tooling around online, I found the ‘Star Princess' paper dolls on a photo hosting website. I'd been wanting a set of those on my computer for a while, so I set out to download ‘em. And I couldn't. They flat wouldn't, unless I asked the album's owner to be my ‘friend'. Ugh. So I fired up PaintShopPro, and unleashed the mighty power of screen-grabs on ‘em. Twenty minutes later, I had that set, a Ballerina Barbie set, and several Disney Princess ones. Digging further on the host site, I found many, many paper doll sets, all just waiting for me to hit a few keys and have my own copy that won't vanish or get thrown off the site. Was up much too late, but there's now 85 new images on the ole hard drive, and I love each and every one of ‘em. I'll probably spend most of tomorrow downloading more. I just love freebies !

 

Checked several bookstores, and have found all of one calendar I like. If it's half-price after New Year's, I'll consider it, but otherwise, I have a Mal-Wart pharmacy freebie, and I'll either make my own calendars, or I'll tack new date grids to last year's. It's ridiculous how expensive those things are. And I haven't really found any I'd really cross the street to get. Surprisingly, most of the usual haunts for cheap date keepers - Dollar Tree, Dollar General - have sold out of their buck specials already. Love it when people new to the sport think that spending 99c on a calendar is sooo frugal.

 

Surprisingly, Target still has about a dozen Barbie advent calendars. At full price ! I may pop by, either the 24^th or the 26^th, but they still have Halloween dolls for $9.99 !

 

It's funny. Our family Christmas is so low-key, I feel like the holidays are over when school lets out. About all I have going on for the rest of the year is cleaning house and putting up the tree. Oh, and wrapping up a few things !

 

And, forgot to mention - the ‘Melody' doll lot arrived yesterday. Just haven't had time to open the box ! Here's hoping I'll find time tomorrow !

 

Maybe some of 'em will end up as cat toys...

 

Current Mood : Exhausted elation

 

Whoo. I'm exhausted, and I've already had a nap. But today, I wouldn't trade for anything...

 

For some reason, I didn't sleep well last night, so once Dearest Son was on the bus, I was back in bed. And I overslept. I barely had time to check the stars as I wrapped them, and then I remembered that I wanted a photo. So everything ground to a halt so I could wrap the boot box in foil - nothin' says Christmas like a shoe box encased in aluminum foil ! - since that's how I'd be distributing them. Everyone could pick their own small, wrapped bundle from the boot box.

 

I made three colors of stars - green, yellow, and black - with one special one made of glitter red felt. That one is made from the same yardage I bought for Dearest's first Pre-K class' project. I made stockings for the whole class, with train ribbon for the boys, lace for the girls. I don't have much of that felt left, so I don't use it often. I get a little nostalgic when I see it, it seems like I used it a lifetime ago. I really wanted his teacher to have something made from it. So hers got a small bag, so I could tell it apart. 

 

Got it all done, and dashed out the door. I had pangs of gift inadequacy on the short drive over, but figured this was better than nothing, and after looking at them and not much else for two days, they weren't coming back home with me in any scenario. I was happy to give the first one to the school custodian, since I'd missed her last year. I got one to everyone I wanted to, then doubled back with a few extras. In short order, they all had new owners, and I was headed to ‘party set-up' with an empty boot box.

 

But then, I got a gift. Seems our librarian's daughter was the Star of Bethlehem this year at their church. Which entailed wearing a large star costume of... you guessed it, yellow felt. And guess which one she got ? She was so happy she hugged me, saying her daughter would always have it as a special memory. I may have to make her another one, so both mom and daughter can share the memory...

 

Dearest had a great party, and I was glad I got to see him having fun with his friends. We ended up storing the non-perishable leftovers in the boot box - pencils, rings, stickers, hard candy. His teacher can use that stuff later for rewards and such. She loved her red glitter ornament, and I left the boot box with her. She asked if I needed it, because she kinda needed one later that day, so I was glad to pass it along.

 

It wasn't until party's end that I remembered that I still had that really good box lid, still in the truck ! She didn't need it, though. But I was glad I helped a bit.

 

Whoo. What a great, if tiring, day. So. What have I learned ? I don't have to top myself every year when it comes to gifts. Sometimes - and I of all people should know this ! - it's enough to know that someone thought of you. Even if it's just a felt star, knowing you matter is important.

 

Photo link, if you'd like to see what the stars looked like - they're not much, but they made some folks happy, and that's quite a lot ! 

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

(they really would make good cat toys...)

Stars, stars everywhere...

 

Current Mood : BUSY !

 

So today, I woke up, got Dearest Son to school and Beloved Hubby off to work, then didn't go to the computer. Went to the Lab and knocked out a pretty yellow felt star ornament, with a silk ribbon hanging loop, in about 20 minutes. And there went my day. By 2pm, I had the first ten completed and the next ten cut out. After a break, bus watching, and some housework, I went back to it, and had those ten, and a special one for Dearest's teacher, complete. Seriously, they're nothing special. Everything I used - felt, brand-new Poly-Fil, and thread - I already had, and it took maybe five, six hours total. I almost feel bad about giving something so small.

 

But it's more than I had to give yesterday. Unfortunately, between doing it all in one day and not doing much else, I'm sick of looking at the blasted things, so final quality control checks and wrapping ‘em up will have to wait until tomorrow morning, before I leave for Dearest's party.

 

Showed one to Dearest, and he was so entranced, I gave him the wrong-thread prototype. I may have to make some of these for us. I still got plenty of felt and Poly-Fil...

Another rather bleh day...the magic of the season just ain't gettin' to me, ya know ?

 

Current Mood : Well, I have shiny pencils now...

 

Had to scootch out to Dollar Tree today - glad all the ice melted ! I'd volunteered to send cookies and pencils to Dearest Son's Christmas party, but the Cars and Disney Princess ones Mal-Wart had in the Holidays section were sold out yesterday. So I got shiny iridescent ones at DTree today. Sneakily, I kept a green and a silver one, but I still sent more than enough for the class.

 

Dearest Son now says he wants me to come to the school party. (sigh) Honestly, I don't want to go if I'm not bringing gifts, so...

 

According to the Post Office website, ‘Melody' and the other eleven dolls are enroute. They've been circling Tallahassee for three days now, so I'm sure they're dizzy.

Only nine more days to gooooo....

 

Current Mood : Bleh.

 

Beloved Hubby's off this week, so we did grocery shopping together. We've had some bad weather, too, and I'm really nervous about driving in any sort of ice or sleet. Folks like me should really stay home when roads are unpredictable !

 

But we needed a few things, so off we went ! And Beloved bought me the most beautiful new green boots ! They're soft and nubbly, like suede, on the outside, with rubber soles, and fleecy insides. My feet have been warm all day ! He raised an eyebrow at me when I exchanged a new boot-box lid for the slightly battered one that was on ‘my' boots, but you know me, I love boxes. And why not get a good lid when ya can ?

 

Other than that, it was kind of a bleh day. But my feet were warm all through it !