Got a few things done, but then went right to sleep !

 

Current Mood : Perked enough to shop a bit, but still tired.

Current Image Notes : Here's the two dolls I've purchased recently, in the 'kid couture' outfits I bought them in. While most adults wouldn't pair tutus with t-shirts, it's still darn cute ! 

Spent on dolls : $5.92

Spent on patterns : 54c

 

 

I think the whole family's coming down with something. We're all constantly tired and almost always prefer sleep to activities or even the plentiful new TV shows. I'm trying to dig out of my sleepy rut, but it's not going well.

 

Went grocery shopping - Mal-Wart's got a ton of stuff on markdown from the toys and doll sections, but when it's $15. instead of $18., it's not much of a motivation to ‘buy now !'. So I only bought food and a new pair of pants (and markdown underwear) for Dearest Son. I was surprised to find that his favorite pants were about two inches too short, and very tight on him, this morning. Too bad we were already running a bit late when this was discovered ! I sent him in another pair that fit a bit better, but has permanent stains, so they've been ‘weekend wear', not school clothes. I figure, I can buy a pair of new pants a week as part of the grocery money, and in a few weeks, he'll be ready for winter. The clothes I bought this weekend are the next size up. Well, when it comes to Dearest's clothes, ya buy what you can, especially when you find it so cheaply.

 

Also dropped off library books and donations while I was out. Found a pattern that duplicated one I bought earlier, for sewing machine covers. Last time I bought McCall's 5017, it was missing all the ‘cat' related pieces, for the kitty-themed cover and pincushion. So, I bought it. I'd already donated the missing pieces one, noting on the envelope what was absent in Sharpie marker. Also found a Ken outfit from 1996, still in package. Nice brown penny loafers, they'll look great on Leia.

 

But the big buy of the day was a two-doll baggie. I got new still-on-store-shelves Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty dolls in awful outfits - they also had the new Belle. But I just wanted SBeauty. She greatly resembles Agatha's mother, Lucrezia Mongfish-Heterodyne, in Girl Genius. Looks like I'll soon need to brush up on my Victorian corsetry to dress her accurately. I've been wanting one, and contemplated splashing out $12. to $17. for her new, so it was great to find her for just $3.99. Cinderella, who is similarly nearly perfect, if badly dressed, will probably be donated.

 

I seem to be overflowing with blonde dolls lately. Guess I've made my peace with it. Appropriate during Barbie's 50^th, huh ?

I'm still wiped out - it's making me nervous.

 

Current Mood : Still lazy, surprisingly.

I'm not sure what happened today. Beloved Hubby wasn't feeling well, so he was home...and once Dearest Son was home, I stretched out on the sofa. And fell asleep for nearly four hours ! I had no idea I was so tired. I woke up often enough - Beloved and Dearest were working on the latest Lego set, with its attendant exclamations and sounds - but I still fell back asleep every time.

 

By the time I woke for good, it was nearly 7pm, no one had eaten, much less worked on Dearest's homework or anything. So I whipped together a quick dinner (Chicken Pasta Salad) and we did homework (just some reading) and got Dearest into a bath. Got him into bed about a half-hour later than I wanted, but considering the day, it wasn't so bad.

 

Didn't get much done today, as you can expect, when I was awake. Kitchen's still wrecked, but I made an embroidery design out of that Hello Kitty silhouette. Hope to stitch it out later this week. It was so nice outside this morning, we had the door and some windows open, which brought in a buncha flies. Darn flies.

 

We went out for a bit, since Beloved had a few errands to run. Mal-Wart had a ton of toys on markdown, in preparation for early holiday stocking. Most of the ‘World' Barbie dolls were down to $20., and the remaining 50^th Anniversary repro and classic stuff was marked down a few bucks, but not much. For example, the magnets that were about $1.50 were down to $1., and the repro Barbie case was $15. instead of $18. or so.

 

On the newly reorganized shelves, the Liv dolls were plentiful, but I decided against getting one. Same for the Moxie (i.e., ‘These aren't Bratz !' from Bratz manufacturer MGA) dolls. But it was nice to see new things out there. 

 

Called Big Lots, and ours didn't get any of the Adult Collector dolls, not a one. Which is fine with me. I wasn't sure if I wanted one because they were a great deal cheaper, or if I wanted because I really wanted the doll, at any price. I'm glad I don't have to decide, actually. I gave Beloved the $20. I had in reserve for it, since he was broke, and I still had a few bucks. I may hit the thrifts later this week, just because I haven't in so long. I also have a backseat-load to drop off. And some more-overdue-by-the-day library books !

Oh, and I forgot to tell you - Dearest Son won me a new doll or doll furniture from playing the 'Pink Ticket' game that came on my new doll. Only kids twelve and younger can play, so I let him. And we won ! We also 'won' a $5. coupon off our next doll purchase, but the thing wouldn't print out with the newest Firefox update... which I'd just downloaded and installed Friday. (sigh) Maybe next time. In the meanwhile, I'm wondering if Mattel's sending a package or a gift card...

Nodding off Sunday

 

Current Mood : Amazingly lazy

Current Image Notes : Here's the box back for the doll I bought yesterday. Tomorrow, she's still in the box, and you get to see !

 

Not much of nothin' happened today. Dearest Son is home, Beloved Hubby is tattooing Friend with the art he's been sporadically working on for a week or three. I downloaded the last of the designs I wanted from the two sites I have a membership to, so all that's left is waiting to see if I want anything new between now and the day I cancel my subs. Tonight before bedtime, I'll burn a backup disc.

 

I know I'm doing all this design downloading to rekindle my interest in embroidery - I haven't been near Brody in weeks. I think sewing for eleven straight days burned me out worse than I thought.

 

Dearest came home with the ‘Kaya' American Girl Happy Meal set. I'm gonna see if I can find the ‘Molly' one - if I was suddenly given my choice of any AG doll, I'd get her. She's always been my favorite, long before Pleasant Company became a Mattel subsidiary. It'd be fun to get the paper doll version. If I don't, no big deal, I'm sure I'll find one at a yard sale or at a thrift store sooner or later. According to the box bottom, the next toys are Barbie and Hot Wheels !

 

Brought in all the weekend's finds, but aside from dumping Dearest's ‘new' clothes into the hamper, I haven't done anything with any of ‘em. I may keep the bistro table top, and just add a simple tablecloth. But I really have to redo the seat cushions.

New doll - and playset - today !

Current Mood : Fantastic !

Spent on doll and doll stuff : $40.75

Spent on cardstock : 75c

 

Got a late start today - Beloved Hubby was home, waiting for a check. We passed the time chatting, watching Law & Order episodes we'd saved to the DVR, and Greek mythology shows, and later, cleaning up a bit. The last of the hall-cluttering donations went into Molly for Monday's drop, and I tidied my desk up a bit. Check arrived, and we headed out for lunch and a quick trip to the comic shop. Chibi Vampire #7 is the best one so far !

 

So I didn't get to the Flea Market - last time this month ! - until 2pm. Even though it goes ‘til 5, most sellers were packing up, or had already gone. So I didn't find much, just an ice-cream parlor style table and chairs set for my American Girl Battat clone girls, Debbie and Jenny. I need to redo the seat bottoms and the table top, but it was quite nice for $3. !

 

It was also ‘free yard sale' weekend here. Our town actually charges $10. for yard sale licenses, but they also do a freebie once a year. Usually just after school starts, ostensibly for back-to-school clothes shopping. Despite my late start and the growing heat, you could barely go a block without a sale or three - and I bet I couldn't pitch a rock from one sale without hitting another. I stopped at a few, but only found some clothes for Dearest Son - three pair of jeans, two pair sweatpants, thermals, a jacket, and six shirts - and a box of card-stock I can embroider, for $6.

 

Unfortunately, most of the ‘sales' were just people dragging useless, broken stuff out of the garage and out onto the lawn. I soon got tired of it, and headed off to Target. I'd decided to treat m'self to a new doll - the ‘Then and Now' Barbie store exclusive. And I wanted to look at the Liv dolls, too.

 

But when I got there, the Liv dolls were completely sold out, and the Juku ones just looked too haunted and anorexic. The Barbie exclusive was still on sale - $14.99 down from $16.99 - but I also liked the Liv closet/room playset. So I got both ! There's both in the photo above. The ‘My Room' closet opens to a fold-down Murphy bed, and the drawers in the cabinet work. It's very nice ! There's lots of printed-on-the-wall frames I can change to my own images, and it folds away to nearly nothing.

 

Big Lots is advertising Adult Collectable Barbies for $15., but my stores only had the same stuff they had last week. When I asked, I was told the stockers would be in Monday, and I was welcome to call after 10am, see if dolls were among the shipments. So, we'll see.

 

I did get more dolls, of a sort. Since it was our turn to pick up Friend from work, we stopped off at a McD's for a late dinner - and I got a kid's meal. It turned out to be the Julie American Girl book/doll set, and it's really cute. There's a brief story of her era (70s), a craft, stickers, and backdrops for the included paper dolls. I adore Julie's avocado-green kitchen ! To me, it's funny that the miniature paper dolls are about the right size for AG dolls.

 

A little more TV, and it's bedtime. Tomorrow's another lazy day, but I'm looking forward to it !

Things seem to be settling down...thank Everything !

 

Current Mood : Improving !

Current Image Notes : This is the newest Hello Kitty incarnation - the HK Silhouette. It looks very...familiar and vintage to me, somehow...

 

Bus was here again at 6:45, so while I'll have us ready at 6:30 to be on the safe side, we've already got a good schedule and an easy morning rhythm, so I hope it stays the same. I got another call today, informing me that his drop-off time would be about 20 minutes earlier, they redid the route. When I asked about pick-up, they could only say they didn't think that changed. (sigh) I wonder sometimes if anyone over there really knows what's going on, big-picture-wise.

 

I was wiped-out tired, even after a decent night's sleep, so after my guys were gone, I went for a nap. Ended up sleeping in uninterrupted peace and happiness for three solid hours, waking up with about a half-hour to spare before the AT&T tech was due to arrive. Luckily, I'd already showered before waking up Dearest !

 

And also, he didn't arrive until about ten minutes before the end of his ‘noon to four' window. He also did a ‘forced recovery' on our box, which kept all the ‘record this' programming, but erased everything we already had recorded. Oh, well. I'm sure we'll have it filled up soon. And that all those CBS Beauty and the Beast episodes I had will be back on eventually.

 

Between sleep and general tidy work, my day pretty much vanished. Not sure what the weekend will bring, but I'm looking forward to it !

 

Not an auspicious day for starting stuff...

 Current Mood: A bit apprehensive. And disappointed.

 

Today was Dearest Son's first day in Third Grade. It didn't go well. His bus was a half-hour late dropping him off at day's end, meaning he'd been riding for well over an hour. Amazingly, he was picked up about normal time from last year, about 6:45, so I'm hoping that's the ‘unofficial' time. Like last year. They called late yesterday, saying we should be ready for pickup at 6:35...which is what they told me last year. This is why I don't get very upset when it comes to his school - things always end up about the same, no matter what I'm told when the year begins.

 

Once he'd arrived at school, he got separated from his class after morning assembly, and he panicked. Poor guy. He had to calm down at the Resource Teacher's office for a while, but he came home happy, if tired. If that's the worst of this year, I'll count myself overwhelmingly lucky and blessed. He told me his classmates loved the Wall-e shirt I made him.

 

I got the last of the trash out, and most of his closet emptied. There's a bit more work to do, but we had pouring rain last night, and my breathing got hard fast, especially hauling bags to the Dumpster. I'm just glad either Dearest of  Beloved Hubby left the wheelbarrow out front, it made things much easier.

 

Got laundry done, and puttered a bit. You'd think I'd be all over our new TV, or I'd embroider or play or shop - something. Nope. I mostly did housework and cleaned up the yard while waiting for the afternoon bus. I could have gone out, but my wallet's mostly down to change, so...

 

Oh, and while our fiber-optic TV is playing well, without locking up or otherwise having fits, our DVR (i.e., Tivo) is glitching big time. It won't play back anything, even stuff that played back before. So, after the eighth time we had to restart the system, I made yet another all to AT&T. We have a tech coming out tomorrow. (sigh)

Back-to-School night has passed... the new school year begins...

 

Current Mood : Creeped.

 

Well, we got through Back to School night. Still don't know jack-all about his bus, since the schedule provided was so ridiculous, they wouldn't give it to me. Get this - school starts at 7:55am, with a morning assembly. With the schedule as-is, Dearest Son would have to be ready and waiting for his bus at 6:15 ! He'd be on the bus for nearly two hours, and the school is less than five miles away ! Outrageous ! When I lived about 40 miles from school in the 80s, I was only on the bus for an hour, and I thought that was excessive.

 

So, I'm waiting for a call today with an amended schedule, because there is no way I'm going to follow that one. I thought it was kind of odd that he rode for about thirty minutes last year, and he got to school at 7:30 am. But 6:15 is just asking too much. If they can't straighten it out, I'll drive him to school m'self. I've never had a problem doing that, but they insisted on the bus. Probably because there's subsidies or something.

 

In other bad news, the weird guy who freaks me out every time I see him - he's not only president of the PTA, he's also at the school every time I do anything there - is the Homeroom Parent for Dearest's class. Which is odd to me, because when I met him, his too-brilliant-for-his-class son was in third grade. Draw your own conclusions. Including the one that has me wavering between not volunteering much this year, and being there twice as much, to make sure that weirdo doesn't get near Dearest. I may just talk to his teacher, just so I can rest and not worry about it. I know, I know - I may be slinging mud on a totally innocent man, but he sets off every alarm system and instinct that came factory-installed on me, and combined with the stuff he himself said about his life... I'm not taking chances.

 

And in a near-desperate attempt at distraction, I'm considering obtaining a HaraJuku doll. Or a Liv doll. Possibly the Katie one. Saw them at Target yesterday, but Beloved was in a rush, and we're still payin' bills. So, maybe this weekend, or next. You can see Katie here - http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3560918  

- and the case / playset I'm also considering, here. http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3560917  . I'm leaning more towards the case, but really, I don't need any more props. It's just that...I want something new. And I'm spoiled. (sigh) And part of it is due to Dearest's latest Lego Star Wars Clone Wars set and Beloved's soon-to-arrive latest tattoo supply order. It's been a while since I bought something new for me that isn't an embroidery design !

Fun with technician day...

 

 

 Current Mood : Improving !

ur Our tech called a few minutes after 8am - he was on the way. We were glad to hear it, but made sure he knew we doubted he could do much. Power was out. Had been since 6:45 or so. I'd seen a repair truck about twenty minutes after I reported it, but it was still down. He decided to come over anyway, it was light enough for him to visually examine the lines and run some tests, and maybe it'd be back up by the time he arrived.

 

It wasn't, but he soon found a problem - a stray wire that no one could explain in the receiver box. After it was removed, everything tested well... and our power came back online. It's worked perfectly ever since. I surfed some web sites while joyfully watching ‘Pop Up Video' on VH1 Classic. Happy ! Since ‘Pop Up' was one of the few shows I was hoping for - we don't get We, so no ‘Bridezillas' - I was all bouncy when I found it.

 

Dearest Son got to spend most of today watching whatever he wanted. After all, he goes back to school Thursday, so I'll have whatever time I want to watch what I want. Tomorrow's his last day of summer vacation, and I don't plan on asking him to do anything at all but eat lunch and have an evening bath. Oh, and pick up all the Lego he dragged out during the day.

 

We went after about 2/3 of his awful closet today. I made a deal - if he'd drag out the ton of toys and trash he shoved in there, I'd sort, store, and clean it all. And while I cleaned, the TV was his. Surprisingly, it only took him about a half-hour to cover the mostly clear floor with closet debris, but it took me two hours to sort through it all. Three more bags of trash are waiting for the Dumpster, and the rest of his closet is easy to access. I can do the rest by m'self, probably on Thursday. Since nearly all of the remainder is also Dumpster-bound, it can wait ‘til then, when he won't see. So far, he hasn't noticed what's missing - or at least, he hasn't asked about anything. He's just happy with all the newly-rediscovered Lego filling his three underbed boxes, and that his room isn't as austere as he'd feared.

 

I was kinda crafty on his room-clean. Previously, he had so many toys, all the toy boxes and the dresser were packed beyond full, and there were even toy bins in the hallway and living room. I had to store his socks and underwear in an underbed box. By the time I got everything in there cleaned, the Lego overflowed the two boxes designated for it. Knew I'd have to buy another box, so he could sift through all the pieces, it'd just have to wait for the grocery run. But then I managed to empty the dresser. Moved his clothes there, and instant empty Lego box ! He wasn't home five minutes Sunday before he was digging through it all.

A star to mark...a not very good day...

 

Current Mood : Resigned frustration

 

Well, today did not go as planned. Oh, I got up early enough, got the last of the cleaning done and even finished vacuuming before we got the ‘on the way' call at about 5 minutes after 8am, but so far, our ‘cable' is just...not good. It's as delicate as a butterfly made of the thinnest tissue paper you've ever seen, halved, and we've trouble-shot it to a ridiculous level and it's still locking up and goin' down. Can't even use internet and TV at the same time, and when the TV crashes, half the time, our phone line does, too.

 

Well, let me go back a bit. It took only about an hour to install the hardware, but the first online initialization and update took almost three. Much longer than it should have. But when our install guy left, it was working. Too bad it didn't work for long. About a half hour after the truck pulled away, the TV picture froze...and we waited, and waited, and waited, but finally restarted it. It'd just barely come back up...and crash again. Then it began to ‘update' every time it crashed, so instead of five minutes of dead time in between crashes, it was now fifteen to twenty. And we'd get maybe, if we were lucky, three minutes of air time before the image froze again. We weren't going near our computers, but since it was down, we may as well go through the ‘help' files online and see if we could fix this ourselves. Too bad the lines for internet weren't working either...

 

We bought a new cable for the connection between Ethernet and TV box - which helped, but not a lot. Replaced the phone line outdoors (believe it or not, we already had the right cable and crimpers for that !) and it improved dramatically. It still locked up sporadically, but we got up to an hour in between ‘locks'. It was enough for Dearest Son to watch Clone Wars  on Cartoon Network, so he was happy. I was really proud of Beloved Hubby's efforts - if he had access to a few test tools and specifications, he could be a technician, easily.

 

Using the cell phones, we reported our troubles and they arranged for one of their techs to come by sometime tomorrow. So far, I'm underwhelmed by the whole thing, but when it works, it's wonderful. Just want it - and our phones and internet - to work all at the same time !

 

We're gonna leave it on all night, in hopes it'll ‘burn in', but we can't do anything else until the tech arrives. With all this going on, I didn't get squat done, and I haven't been near Brody since the 11^th. Guess I failed this challenge ! Maybe once we're back to a ‘school' schedule, I can take it up again. It's not like he needs a whole new wardrobe ready to go Thursday anyway.

Getting ready for a big week...

Current Mood : Still exhausted

Current Image Notes : Before and After with yesterday's new-to-Chez-Insanity Ariel ! 

 

 

The not-yet-final tally of yesterday's labors - cleaning Dearest Son's room - was four bags of trash, two of donations, and three cardboard boxes. I didn't quite finish, mostly because Dearest packed tons of crap into his closet. We're gonna go after that nightmare together, next week. And I want him to go through his books, decide for himself what goes and what stays. There's piles of them to go through, too. I figure the books'll keep him busy while I attack the kitchen and living room tomorrow. Beloved Hubby has the day off, so he's gonna prep our TV and DVD setup for the cable guy tomorrow morning. Wisely, he Dumpstered all the trash last night, long before Dearest returned from his grandparents'. And I made sure the donations were safely in Molly's trunk early this morning.

 

I finally quit after eight hours of cleaning. Eleven hours if you count breaks and supper. But I finally eliminated the toy box in the hallway, glory alleluia. It was a total dump for anything Dearest was told to put away - including trash and books. I'm not even gonna tell you how much Lego was in there. It's gone now, and I even relocated the plastic tote / toybox. It was a serious job, but I'm happy. All that's left is the bookcase and closet, and I hope to vacuum when that's done. I wish I hadn't put it off so much, but it's not like delaying something that'll take ten minutes. I knew this was gonna be a total butt-buster !

 

I got to clean Chez Insanity today, off and on. Still finding literally hundreds of pieces of Lego underfoot, so much so that even Dearest is tired of picking them up. But I'm still wiped out from yesterday, and didn't get as much done as I wanted. Gonna hafta finish up tomorrow morning, and I just hope tehre's time to vacuum the living room. I can't remember if I vacuumed at all in July... Our cable installer - well, actually, it's fiber-optic TV, internet, and phone service, but it's easier to say ‘cable TV' - is due sometime between 8am and 10am tomorrow morning.