Here's my fully-customized pretty green girl !

Current Mood : Wheee !

 

Rain began around 1am this morning, luckily, I'd tucked Molly-car into the garage in time. I'll be so glad when we get her stuck window fixed.

 

Another busy doll-day. With the all-day rain, it was good to stay indoors and play ! There's Nerf bullets all underfoot, but that's OK - there's also tons of doll stuff there, too.

 

Went through the doll clothes I scored Friday. I already had many pieces - they were part of a four-outfit Fashion Fever set I bought back in April '07. I'm glad my photos get date-stamped. That means I can customize these ! Already removed the lace belt from the denim Capri pants, and I'm gonna take some ribbon off a blouse that's already a bit busy without it and the bow.

 

I was mostly digging through them to re-dress The Princess and The Frog's Princess Tiana - deboxed her today. Used a gentle fingernail to scrape most of the glittery eye shadow off. No idea why nearly every Mattel doll made these days has huge glitter-flake eye makeup, it's annoying. Powdered glitter is available and it's just as shiny, and less obvious and out of scale. Redressed her in a pretty purple party dress from Friday's lot, and posed her seated. Very lovely doll, with a gorgeous darker skin tone. She has your standard non-twist-waist belly-button body, so she can cross her legs almost naturally. I love her bright smile ! Shame the ‘lily pad' design of her dress is front-only. I hate it when Mattel cheaps out, too.

 

I was super-careful with her deboxing, and soon had the plastic front removed, and the head cushion cardboard taken out. Took a few photos with Pilot Barbie in Tiana's box shell, and doctored it a bit in PaintShopPro - now it looks like Pilot is standing in front of a cardboard display / photo op for the movie. May have to post that photo later... and if I wanna do a series of images, doctor the box itself, instead of the resultant images.

 

Rest of the day, we just goofed off. What a nice weekend !

 

New Doll Saturday !

 

Current Mood : Overwhelmed with new dolls !

 

Busy day, doll-wise. Forgot to mention that yesterday, I took Halloween Kayla's - the green Kelly -  hair down, since the little bun looked awfully formal for a kid. Boy, was her hair a mess ! Must've been a million different lengths, part brown and mostly black, part of it had that awful ‘cotton candy' texture, and all of it was crunchy with starch. Brushing it and even washing it still left it unmanageable. So I boil-permed it this morning, and cut it. You'll get to see the finished version tomorrow. I like her much better now !

 

Beloved Hubby decided he wanted to have a backyard Nerf war, so we were off to TRU. Dearest Son found a TRU-exclusive Clone Wars ship he fell in love with, and we got two rapid-fire Nerf guns that are tons of fun to play with - and they're even easy to reload. We've been shooting darn near everything all day !

 

I found that the Princess and the Frog dolls are out ! Target had a DPrincess set out last month with a Princess Tiana included, but it was $60. for all seven dolls. Not a bad value, but not what I wanted. For a while, it was the only way to obtain Tiana. Now TRU has the same doll on her own, and she was only $12. So I snagged one. Very pretty ! Dearest Son picked out one of the Barbie and the Three Musketeers dolls from a stand-alone display and handed it to me, saying he wanted me to have one from the ads. Yes, there's at least one Barbie ad during Clone Wars every day.  Beloved thought it was cute, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it's the very one of the four I'd have picked out, so she came home, too.

 

It was ‘Moxie Girls' day there, too, so I got stickers, a ‘fortune teller' folding sheet, and Dearest got candy. Even if I don't like the dolls, I always like doll stickers !

 

And once home, there was a box on the porch. The return address was unfamiliar, so I thought it was more product testing, a sample this time. Nope. This was Dearest's Pink Ticket prize - a doll ! She's today's image. A pretty princess that I'm saying is dressed well for this month's costume theme, Halloween.  He said I could have her, since he got a new Clone ship to play with. I think I'll display her for a while, since I already have two to debox !

 

We spent the rest of the day firing and dodging Nerf, napping, and watching Monsters vs. Aliens, which was kinda cute. The 3-D Bob's Big Break featurette gave Beloved a roaring headache. But for Dearest, who'd never seen 3-D glasses before, it was an amazement.

 

Haven't deboxed either of the dolls yet, since it's been a kinda busy day. Not sure who's gonna get opened first, Tiana or Musketeer Aramina, who says she's a poet and an adventurer on her box. Wanna take pictures first, so it'll probably be tomorrow. Those clear plastic box faces bounce flash around somethin' fierce.

Yard Sale Fun Friday !

 

Current Mood : Sleepy, fat, and happy !

Spent on dolls and Barbie etc. : $5.25

Spent on kid shoes for the My Size girls : $2.

Spent on toys for Dearest Son : $1.

Spent on a small stuffed star with brown eyes : 10c

Current Image Notes : Here's a scan of the back of my new green girl's box. Now you know what the whole line looks like, and what 'Kayla' looks like with her little scar. Mattel seems to be scar-obsessed - look at that poor kitty drawing on the side ! 

 

Since Dearest Son will be with us this weekend - Beloved Hubby's grandmother isn't doing well - so I adjusted my plans a bit. I'd intended to stay in and sew, but instead went out for a bit, and hit five yard sales. Only bought stuff at two, but one was a fantastic haul !

 

Among lots of toys, I found a Winnie-the-Pooh photo storage box with Barbies and clothes inside. There was some sort of baglike thing under it, and that had the price - $5. The sellers told me that the ‘bag' was actually a doll tent, and it was included. Intriguing, since one of the few doll things I don't have is a tent. Had the plastic 70s one as a kid, though. They held the lot for me while I looked around a bit more. That was it for the doll stuff, although there were many more goodies ! The Deluxe Spirograph looked like fun, and seemed complete with box, so for 75c, that came along, too. A neat Cars vehicle storage/racetrack also looked near-new, so it, and a neat Barbie makeup bag was added to my pile - 25c each. To finish things off, I found a small pillow-like star with brown eyes. Turned out to be a NeoPets Happy Meal toy, very cute, for a dime. Wheee !

 

The other three sales didn't have much, and the final got me two pair of toddler shoes for the My Size girls for a buck each - pink ballerina bow flats, and cute white sandals. Like they don't already have more shoes than me !

 

Once home - with the lunch special at the Chinese place I like ! - I went through the doll goodies. Wow, what a haul ! I retuned the Pooh box to the sellers to sell again, not being much on the silly old bear, so they bagged it all for me. That box had been packed fulla goodies. Brought home three nearly-new Barbie dolls, 30 items of clothing, 5 pair of shoes, a single pink glitter pump, four purses, a makeup case, two suitcases, three teacups, a teapot, a plate, a ‘book', two ‘cd' boxes, a compact, a water bottle, flowers, a brush, the tent, and two matching slumber bags.

 

Of the dolls, I already know one blonde is going with the Flea Market group. I found that she's a Fashion Fever - most of her clothes were in the box, too - with a blue butterfly tattoo on her left cheek. Not sure about the Pilot Barbie. I already have one, and this one's pink hair streaks washed out, so I doubt I'll keep both Pilots. The Raquelle brunette will probably stay. They're both fantastic dolls - just wish I could get Raquelle's hair color on the Pilot doll's head, in her style !

 

Dearest loved both toys I got him. I tried out the Deluxe Spirograph - just to make sure it works, of course ! - and found it vastly superior to the one I played with as a kid. Back then, pins held the loose ‘frames' to paper while the gears drew the design inside and outside of it. And it always, always slipped, at least for me. Usually at the very end of an especially nice design. This one is a lot more limited - there's only three ‘frames' with seven gears - but it's easier to use, and doesn't involve pins and cardboard. It's a lot more stable, and doesn't slide at all.

 

He played off and on with both while we waited for the Clone Wars : Rise of the Bounty Hunters debut episode. Beloved and I agreed, it was much more violent, with several on-camera scenes of torture, than the previous series. He commented the only thing missing was blood - and then, there was a preview of the next episode. Yup, blood. Just ‘cause it's green doesn't mean it isn't still a bit intense for kids. I'm not at all enthusiastic about the rest of the season.

Jupiter Star POWER !! Oh, and Happy October !

 

Current Mood : Pleasantly tired

 

I was kinda proud of me yesterday, for not buying any of the neat-o (if not exactly cheap-o) fabric remnants I saw while shopping. It really was tempting, but sheesh, I got too much already, and I've barely sewn a seam all year. I have fabric I haven't even put away yet, so let's just forget about more right now.

 

It was so cute, seeing Dearest Son ‘fly' both Clone Wars spaceships, one in each hand, all over the house last night. Beloved Hubby got hugs and kisses for the surprise. I got some too, for the figure. Hate to tell him this, but there's no surprises today. Probably won't be another until next week, or later. But I know now he can handle it.

 

Today, I carved a few off the ‘to do' list. I've had one of those stepstool toolboxes for about 15 years - asked for it for Christmas when they first came out, and still use it. It's outside, though, because while there's nothing particularly icky in there, it smells bad every time we open it. Plus, it makes a nice seat during the twice-daily Bus Watch. Today, I brought it in and got several small jobs done. Lightbulb in Dearest's closet's been out for months, but is now fixed. And I got the silver star basket from Friday's flea market hung on the Wall of Stars outside the Lab.

 

Speaking of that room, I'm loving my new fan, and I'm reworking the cases. Two in particular were bothering me every time I saw ‘em. The hard plastic one with the ‘error' blonde version of Carousel Dreams Barbie is next to the very narrow Quick Curl Boutique one, and the empty space makes it look too close to the corner, and off balance. I also wanted to shift ‘em around, because I'm deciding if I want just one more case. A Ken one.

 

So far, the only thing I want is that it be about $15. to $20., shipping included, and that it not have ‘and Barbie' on it. If I'm gonna squeeze space for a Ken case, it's gonna be only that, a Ken case. Otherwise, I'd just get a ‘Barbie and Midge' one. Haven't decided yet which style or color I prefer - that probably won't matter. It doesn't need to be perfect, since it's mostly wall décor, so we'll see what blows my way.

 

That done, I moved along to some other minor eyesore / irritants. Stored the craft supplies that'd been cluttering up the floor, got the next raft of donations (mostly outgrown clothes from Dearest's back-to-school closet clean-out) ready to go, re-filed the books that were piled by my side of the bed. I let Beloved Hubby take care of the books on his side - his pile is bigger than mine ! Still have to find a space for all those Madame Alexander volumes I got from last week's yard sale. And I swapped out my tiny DPrincess trash can that got filled nearly every two hours in the living room for the larger, but rarely used, plain trash can from the bedroom. Dearest wants to decorate it with stickers - fine with me ! And I got the stepstool toolbox back outside in time for afternoon Bus Watch. Wheee !

 

I'm also, stupid as it is, collecting another free-letter-a-day machine embroidery alphabet. After the last two - going at the same time, from two different sites - I said I wouldn't do it again, especially after subscribing to that one alphabet site for a month. But I fell in love with one anyway, it's sort of Art Deco meets a bit of appliqué. So far, I've gotten all four days' worth, and hope I remember to get the rest for the next three weeks and a day. I'd have just bought it, the site normally offers the new ones for $5., all letters included. But I didn't see this one until the freebies began, and while I love it, $15. is a bit too much for something I can probably snag for free. So, here we go again.

 

After my guys are in bed - I know Beloved'll sack out early, he had a very long day all week ! - I'm gonna have some quality time in the Lab. It's still a bit of a mess in there, and if I clean it today, I can sew tomorrow ! I have so many new ideas, I can't wait !

I got another new doll. OK, now enough's enough !

 

Current Mood : New doll happy !

Spent on dolls :  $6.47

Spent on Lab atmosphere improvement : $5.40

Had to put yesterday behind us, because, like Michelle pointed out, if we make too big a deal out of it, Dearest Son may be the one who suffers most. So, I'm taking the rest of the week to do absolutely nothing about it. Monday I'm going to unemotionally gather facts - what are the regulations concerning field trips ? what is the standard when it comes to excluding potential ‘problem' situations ?  - and mention it quietly during Dearest's next IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting, a week from today. I'm not gonna shout or demand anything, just seek a clarification of the situation from those involved and not directly so - and an assurance that things will not be handled so ham-handedly if there is a next time.

 

So. We move on. With a few extra bucks in the family pocket, I got to go shopping ! Dearest has been most patient these last couple of low-to-no funds weeks, so Beloved Hubby and I agreed, and I left early to go get the spaceship he most wants - one we saw at Target Monday. They only had one then, so I was there about ten minutes after they opened. And...now they had three ! Snagged one, and decided to look about the also-restocked figures display...ah ! Of course - on the last row, in the very back, there she is. The Ahsoka figure he really wanted that they didn't have Monday. I'd promised I'd look at Mal-Wart during my next shopping trip, and here she was ! I gave him Ahsoka when he got home from school, and stashed the starship, so Beloved can give it to him later tonight.

 

Since they had his most-wanted, I thought I'd go ahead and check the Halloween section once more - bingo ! There was now an abundance of Kelly dolls, even the green ones. Scar and all, she was still cute, and there was a chance that I could erase it... so she went into the basket with Ahsoka and a starship.

 

While in the neighborhood, I checked out Hobby Lobby, since there was a 40% off coupon and 99c McCall's patterns this week. I'd found a neat pattern set for the sewing room - box covers, machine covers, ironing board covers, an apron, etc. - but the McC's site didn't show the backside of the envelope. I knew I didn't really need an ironing board cover, especially now that, while trying to see McC 2723, I found a tutorial for making my own here -> http://roadyjane.blogspot.com/2009/08/out-with-nasty.html . But I still wanted to see it in person, so I did. And politely returned it to the correct slot when I knew I didn't need it. Most of what the pattern covered, you could free-hand yerself, easily.

 

There was a raft of new ‘dress forms', but I didn't buy. I don't really call it a dress form when it has arms (complete with fingernails) and legs (in shoes and hosiery), even if the head has been replaced with a curly metal rack of hooks. Fell in love with two, but one was three feet high and $35. (only $21. with the coupon, but still...) and the other is also plenty big, and every last one in that style was scraped or damaged. If I bought it, I'd have to paint it. Maybe later.

 

And I visited Big Lots, like a sucker, because they never have the dolls advertised in their sales papers. Well, they actually did have a few this time - last year's Holiday Barbie, in her tinfoil cupcake dress, and the ‘Happy Birthday Angel' doll, and a few My Scene Candy Glams, but nothing I really wanted. Besides, I already had a new doll, waiting in the car.

 

I also checked out fans. I had a choice of two, partially marked down, but still rather expensive. Since they were both out of the box, I plugged them in. Nope. Neither worked. Outlet did, fans didn't. That's OK, I wasn't much on the purplish pink color of the cheaper one. So, off to the thrift (washout) and groceries.

 

Spun around the Halloween section for a bit. Then I remembered - they had a vintage-lookin' fan I liked this Spring. $35. was a bit much for it, but maybe it was on sale. No such luck, but they did have Sunbeam oscillating desk fans for $8. Tossed a green one into the cart, since the Lab is still stifling these days, and double-checked the price at a scanner. Five bucks ? Even better !

 

Came home and heated up a can of ‘beef and potatoes' soup. Finally, something I can eat without picking through every spoonful. Oh, s#it. Mushrooms. Never liked mushrooms, there's a good chance I'm allergic - the one time I ate one by accident, my throat closed up and I had a severe asthma attack. So now I really avoid ‘em. Oh, well.

 

Grabbed the can of Goof Off and a cotton swab, and deboxed green Halloween Kelly. Nice packing job, for once. Only a single clear elastic anchored her to the box liner, and it was easy to remove it and her. Flattened the solvent-laden end of the swab, to make it more precise and not likely to drip, and slowly, carefully rubbed the stitches away. Much like erasing them, really. Rinsed the spot several times with water on the other end. So now mine does not have a head injury. And she's all kindsa fun to play with. Here's her issue outfit, for today's image - stay tuned for her Halloween costume, tomorrow. I used the other side of the paint kit I got from Dollar Tree yesterday as her backdrop. 

 

The fan works great, and the green looks nice in the Lab, if kinda plastic-y cheap. Maybe now I'll enjoy being in there again. Once it got hot in there, I couldn't stand it, and I hated to keep borrowing the non-oscillating fan from Dearest's room. He hates fans that move. Kept the box, since I'll probably only use it for a few weeks before I need to store it. May as well use the box it came in ! Or make a bag for it...Hmmmm.....

Educational follies...either my son's teacher kidnapped the class, or she's lying to us. Oh, what fun...

 

Current Mood : Miffed

Current Image Notes : And here's 'Miss Sassy' with a book I've wanted for a long time. Even the poster is still there ! Can't wait to try the patterns !

Spent on DPrincess junk at Dollar Tree : $2.08 

 

I'm trying really hard to not get upset about today, but it's not going well. Got a call from Dearest Son's teacher this morning. The class - maybe the whole third grade, I'm not sure - was about to leave for a field trip to Local Hospital. Teacher thought that the noise and alarms and such would be too much on Dearest, so he would remain at school, with the resource teacher.

 

WHAT ? This was the first I'd heard of any bloody field trip ! And calling me as they're walking out the door is rather insulting, I think. If I'd have known Dearest was gonna sit around from 11pm ‘til day's end, I'd have just kept him home - and why wasn't I consulted on this earlier ? By the time we were informed it was a done deal, and I don't think that was an accident. There was no permission slip, no volunteer sheet, nothing.

 

So I stormed my big butt up to the school. I was ready to pull Dearest home, so at least he wasn't staring at walls for four hours. I was about to burst, but instead, I tried hard to maintain my temper, I didn't want to go off on the undeserving. After speaking with Mr. P., the resource teacher (i.e., ‘special needs coordinator'), I found that Son'd been left with some catch-up work, but he thought I'd been informed much earlier. I didn't go off on him, explained that I appreciated Teacher's thoughtfulness and consideration of Dearest's temperament, but I really did not appreciate being left so far out of the decision loop about the whole thing. That, he understood.

 

Dearest himself was blasé about the whole deal. He was having fun, had already completed most of the worksheets, and was drawing. A couple other kids (all boys, hmmm) were there, and they were talking Clone Wars, so for him, this was no punishment or loss of fun. By now, I wasn't sure what was best for him, so I asked what he wanted. Dearest said he wanted to stay, he'd finish his work better, and since it was a no-homework day, he'd have more time to play at home. Mr. P said it'd be no problem, but he understood that my word was law here, so it was up to me if Son stayed or left.

 

I decided Dearest was right about the work pages, and he stayed. Ironically, I ran into Teacher in the hallway, who told me that she'd sent no permission slips home with anyone. Huh ? No, since she wasn't sure when the trip was, there hadn't been time. Sadly, I don't believe this. I sincerely doubt any teacher can just haul a class - or a whole grade - out for the afternoon, off the school campus, using school system transportation, without informing anybody's parents. I even noticed a couple kids looking at her and each other in confusion when she said it. I may be misreading the classmates, but I really doubt her story. As Beloved Hubby put it when I relayed the whole story to him, it's more likely that she decided she didn't want to deal with Dearest's potential issues, and arranged it so she wouldn't have to, and by the time we knew about it, nothing else could be done. I hate to attribute to malice that which can be easily explained by stupidity, but at this point, I don't know what else to believe.

 

Sheesh. I felt so bad for Dearest, I wanted to whisk him away to Toys R Us and let him have whatever he wanted, to make up for it. But he was enjoying the afternoon already, so I amended it to a visit to Dollar Tree after school instead. Still not quite sure what to do about the teacher end of this stinkin' pile. I hadn't yet returned my ‘volunteer for school stuff' sheet - after this, I may return it blank, or just not at all. I don't really feel that I'm part of the school when our son gets treated like this, and I'm not even informed, much less included, until it's far too late.

Glass jars and fond TV shows...

 

Current Mood : Silly, but content

Current Image Notes : Here's Perfume Pretty Whitney, her hair braided for body, with a bunch of Madame Alexander books I scored. While the only MA dolls around here came from Happy Meals (or yard saled Happy Meal toys), cheap books are always fun to look through ! Can always sell 'em later. Tomorrow's 'Miss Sassy' and the pattern book ! 

Kept waking up last night, so I didn't sleep well. Ended up taking a two hour nap after everyone left for work and school. Lazy me !

 

Started watching the 15 or so episodes of Beauty and the Beast recorded for me. The ‘Chiller' channel runs several a week. It's the late-80s live-action series that aired on CBS, with Vincent and Catherine in the NYC tunnels. When Linda Hamilton left the show, I pretty much quit watching, and it ended shortly after. Guess I wasn't the only one not too impressed with the ‘new' Catherine. I only saw parts of it, since I was serving overseas when it debuted. But I saw some of it on AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) and had cash for fanzines, both graphic novels, and Starlog issues. And I often saw several episodes while on leave at Christmas. I was relegated to the kitchen TV, since Mother actively hated the show. Mystery Science Theater 3000, too, now that I think of it. I had to buy my own VCR to record MST3K  when I was home for the summer from school. It was too late to tape Beauty and the Beast.

 

I have a few special memories of the series. By the third season, my Army term was over, and I was in college at Home State. Unfortunately, the long-awaited debut halted unceremoniously when our local CBS affiliate had both antenna problems and previous obligations to basketball games, so those episodes (the ‘Though Lovers Be Lost' ones) didn't air. They sent formal invitations to everyone who'd written about the series or the ‘lost' airings to come to their Capital City studio, to watch the unaired two-part episode in its entirety, commercial free. I went, feeling shy and silly, expecting to be nearly alone there to find a coffee and cookie reception, an eight-foot-high screen and a throng of excited fans. Shortly, I was in a cavernous studio with rows of weeping romantics, but I learned a lot. Primarily, not to be ashamed or apologetic of who I was or what I liked. Even if others, like my mother, couldn't understand them and had no problems criticizing them and me, what I liked was still valid and important. I was already in college when this event occurred, and was still kinda young and finding me. Doing something I wanted, just for myself, was still kind of alien to me, and rather uncomfortable - but I did it !

 

So, while it might end up like watching Speed Racer as an adult - OMG, was I an idiot as a child ? This is awful ! -  it still has a small corner of my heart. Always will. But like visiting Beloved Hubby's grandmother, I put off ‘visiting', mostly out of fear of things not going well. Time for me to not fear so much. 

 

Otherwise, it was a pretty busy afternoon. DFIL had asked to take Dearest Son shopping this afternoon, but ended up having to work. So I took him ! We went to Target, where he got a new Clone Wars action figure and a good look at the next $20. spaceship on his ‘want' list - and I got a jar of my favorite rice crackers ! Haven't had any since July, I think. On the way out, we went through the Dollar Spot - well, actually, I dragged a reluctant Dearest through it - and it bored him until he saw the Clone Wars bounty I'd found. Magnets, three kinds of stickers, dry-erase boards, coloring books, pens, pencils, notepads, you name it. I let him choose three, so he snagged his choice of two coloring books, the magnets, and the large single sheet of stickers. I think he was happiest with that stuff than he was with his figure !

 

Doll and Halloween sections were washouts. Nothing new. They don't have the Fashionistas or anything new, and still haven't gotten the Kelly Halloween dolls yet. They had tons of other holiday themed toys out, and even some of yer larger ‘yard' type Christmas decorations and light sets, but nothing else. Oh, well. They've restocked the Liv dolls, but the ship has pretty much sailed on ‘em for me. At the time they appealed, I just wanted something new, and the ‘Then and Now' Barbie pretty much took care of that. And I've added several more dolls since her ! So, aside from their clothes, which really aren't that difficult to make anyway, I'm just not interested anymore.

 

Came home and did an hour and a half's worth of dishes. We go through ‘em on weekends. I tend to wash up when we're out of either plates or glasses. Cleaned a buncha empty glass jars, too. While I've seen numerous crafts converting jars to vases using shoe polish and masking tape (that elusive ‘leather wrapped' look) or glue and twine (something I did in my brief time with Girl Scouts), I'm thinking of using the embroidery machine to make a sort of label that'll slide on and off, and masking the jar lid's threading with ribbon or lace. I especially like the Pace salsa / picante sauce jars, for their hourglass shape. With the threading covered, they already look like a vase without me doing anything. So, in essence, I just created six new vases !

 

Had to go back to the huge industrial-size pickle jars, Dearest'll eat a smaller jar a week ! Now if I could just find some use for those. We only need so much pasta storage. Maybe I can paint a couple orange on the inside, and use black paint or tape on the outside, add a candle, and have decorative glass pumpkins on the porch !

Don't 'cha just love vintage ?

 

Current Mood : Peaceful

Current Image Notes : Here's Steffie, former Miss America, with some of the other yard sale finds from the weekend. Tomorrow, it's Whitney's turn to model ! 

 

Got down to it and prepared sixteen dolls for next month's hopeful trade. They're all dressed and brushed, and I tossed in a few Kelly clones, too. It's kind of hard to go through stuff and decide to let some of it go. Especially doll clothes. Nearly all of what I have, I want to keep, even though I have tons ! Still, it's good for me, and encourages me to redefine my tastes and preferences. Several dolls were too badly damaged, so I put them in the ‘Experimentation' drawer. It's been a while since I did anything experimental, so the drawer's nearly at capacity.

 

While I had shoeboxes out, I made sure all my dolls are shod. While it doesn't bug me to distraction, it's kind of annoying for me to have thousands of pieces of matched plastic, and still have barefoot dolls. But with costume changes and photos, it happens. About every two or three months, I need to play Fairy Godmother to a herd of potential Cinderella dolls. Not that it's a bad thing, ya know...

 

I had the three Midge dolls still out, and decided to do a bit of customizing on California Dreams (‘Cali'). Her bangs were too reminiscent of a rooster's comb, so I brushed them all down and forward, rubber-banded them into place, and got a pot of water going. I'd tried to use really hot tap water, but it didn't work. Guess it's gotta be boiling. After a few minutes, I turned off the burner and let the pot cool - I was very lucky that I remembered the water before it boiled completely dry ! When the pot was cool enough, I added more water and began again. Her hair's nearly finished, and if it stays this way, I'll be happy !

 

Also, with all the new stuff and photos, my desk is a mess again. When it got too hot in the Lab - after two weeks of cool, it was 93 degrees outside today ! - I got it cleaned off. I'm gonna have to do the ‘make a notepad' project soon, since Dearest Son fetches home about a ream a year, and I can't use it fast enough ! I'd close up the doors and turn on the air, but the high's only expected to be 77 degrees tomorrow.

 

Made myself a nice ‘Nacho Bell Grande' lunch from the leftovers of Thursday's home-made taco dinner. Beloved Hubby paid me the best complement this weekend - he said my ‘home' tacos are better than Taco Bell's ! I make my own cheapie hamburger seasoning. Take a beef packet of ramen flavoring - or a bouillon cube crumbled - mix with three to five packets of leftover Taco Bell sauce and a leftover packet of soy sauce, and heat together. Add raw hamburger and garlic if you like, and brown. Drain, and it's ready for tacos or other culinary delights. Hamburger seasoning, almost free ! Oh, and ya gotta use the ramen/bouillon. It doesn't taste like anything but hamburger, no matter how many sauce packets you use, without it. Can't tell if the soy sauce does anything besides eliminate one more packet from the pantry, but I haven't omitted it yet.

 

Hope your weekend ended quietly and happily...

All bubbly and happy !

 

Current Mood : Still thrilled...

 

Today, I wondered - my screen-saver goes to bubbles bouncing around before it goes black. Is it possible to screen-grab the bubbles hovering over an image ? Since touching anything makes the bubbles go bye-bye, would the act of getting the grab eliminate ‘em before the image was snagged ?

 

The image is the answer. I just have to set it up to screen-capture before I let it go bubbly. And there's the pretty dolls I got yesterday. Steffie is on your left, Miss Sassy is in the middle, and Whitney's on the right. It's funny that Sassy cost twice as much as the other two dolls combined ! But then again, she didn't take two and a half hours of restoration and cleaning for that photo...

 

Took some photos highlighting this weekend's second-hand haul, and posted ‘em to In The Pink, mostly to counteract New Collector Doll Fever there. Evidently there was a big sale at barbiecollectors.com, and since most are members of the Barbie fan club, there's first grabs, discounts, free shipping and such. When yer broke, it's often difficult to read ‘I only spent $200., but I got eight dolls I love !'. Sheesh, I felt rich buying that $10.43 Fashionistas doll Thursday, and the two lovely older dolls yesterday. Still do. So I wouldn't feel poor or excluded, like I have before, I did the photo shoot, and posted the images. Anyone who has it can spend $200., and that's fine - but I got beautiful dolls for pennies, and they're more "mine" because I spent time cleaning and restoring them. At least, that's my opinion. I'll post the photos here, too.

 

With so many new dolls, the Lab's getting crowded again. So I spent some time in there, studying and deciding, culling dolls I didn't want anymore. Many were bought for their costumes from the dollar doll seller, or obtained in a lot with a doll I really wanted. I'd hoped to get them dressed and return to the Flea Market this afternoon, maybe arrange a trade with Brenda. Instead, I ended up watching cable with Beloved Hubby. S'okay. Flea'll be back 09 October, and I can meet up with Brenda then. Since I got the two dolls I really wanted from her, and wasn't preoccupied with any of her other dolls, I figured it was best to wait, maybe she'll have something neat when next we meet. 

 

Besides, with all the running around - and the church sale was waaaaay out there ! - Molly-car's on fumes anyway. 

Lucky me !

Current Mood : Very happy !

Spent on dolls : $13. (gotta love 'no sales tax' yard sales !)

 

 

Today started early - there was a church yard sale opening up at 7am ! So, shortly after putting Dearest Son on his bus, I was on the way. It was further out than I expected. Gotta start paying attention to the Google maps beyond just the directions ! I like church sales, since they're usually inside, and it's like going to a five to fifteen family sale. Lots of stuff, and it ranges from vintage to bought last week at Mal-Wart.

 

No dolls, unfortunately. Well, no dolls I liked. There were a few very tired baby dolls, nothing exceptional, most nude. However, I did spend $7. there, on a stack of ten doll books so heavy, I had to ask them to hold ‘em for me. Most were about Madame Alexander dolls, which is funny - I don't own any MAs that didn't come with a Happy Meal at one point. But the books were sooo cheap, it'd still be fun to look at the pictures and use some of ‘em as clothes ideas.

 

Among the treasures are a copy of Oh, You Beautiful Doll, a pattern book that's long been on my ‘snag' list, but it tended to run a bit high even used, so finding it for 50c was a score ! I also grabbed a vintage red PonyTail scrapbook, made by the same company who made Barbie's first cases, for a buck - blank paper was still inside, and the original cording held it in place. Later leafing revealed that several of the MA books are signed by the authors - cool !

 

Grabbed breakfast for me and Beloved Hubby and came home. An hour later, I was headed for the flea market, where I had another score - this one also doll related. Dolls ! My friend Brenda, of the car sets, had two real beauties, and they were both Steffies ! I knew the 80s girl was probably one of the Whitney friend-of-Barbie dolls, and I thought the vintage one was a Walk Lively Steffie. Nope, she has painted eyelashes. Hmmm...

 

Had plenty of time to research. Steffie was filthy ! It took me two hours to scrub the surface dirt from her soft vinyl legs, and get the wad of gum (or whatever sticky stuff that was !) out of the very center front of her hair ! No kidding - it was a mess, the size of a squashed pea, right on the part, and there was no way to get it out or off in one piece. It was in there for keeps, I thought. All I could do was break it up, then work it out, and pick it through bit by bit. Took close to two hours to get her all cleaned and prettied, but she was sooo worth it ! I love her ! With the dirt off her face, it doesn't look so yellow, and comes close to matching her body's skin tone. That's about the only thing I don't like about early 70s dolls, they often fade or yellow to the point that even perfect dolls look garish.

 

Turns out, she's a second-year Kellogg's exclusive Miss America ! Known as Miss America Walk Lively, she dates from 1972, and also has Quick Curl hair. I had several QC dolls as a kid - my Father gave me Barbie, and my elderly babysitter, Maimie, gave me Skipper. The hair is rooted with matching tiny wires, so when the hair is curled with the included tools, it stays there. Aside from the gum, Miss Steffie's hair was a flat-out matted mess. The wires also give the dolls' hair an odd texture, and most QC girls end up rerooted. I admit, between the matted wads and the gum, I was tempted. But I didn't know what removing her head would do to her working-perfectly walking mechanism, so I cleaned and brushed it instead. She came out very prettily !

 

With Steffie solved and clean, it was Whitney's time to shine. Given the blondish streaks, vivid lip color, pearly earring remnants, and lack of bangs, I soon had her ID'd too - she's 1987's Perfume Pretty Whitney ! A quick scrub and shampoo and conditioner, and her hair was beautiful again, and so was she. Washed their clothes, too. Steffie was found wearing ‘Picture Me Pretty', also from 1972, and very cute ! Whitney originally wore a puffy purple party dress with a tinsel bodice, but I asked Brenda if I could swap it with a cute pink baseball jacket and blue track-suit pants that another doll was wearing, and she agreed. Washed and line-dried, they were soon as pretty as the dolls, so I redressed them. Wow. There was my ‘creative' that I needed - and I got both dolls for only $5. !

 

You'll see their photo tomorrow. I am so thrilled with my new dolls ! So I'm going through mine again, and pulling a few. Since Miss Sassy, the Fashionista, looks so much like Raquelle, I'll probably donate her. Never liked her glittery lipstick, and the only way to get it off is to remove her lips completely and repaint ‘em.

 

Brenda also had a de-winged, uncrowned Fairytopia Enchantress, a $48. doll, but I don't really like her. She's so white, she looks like a blonde Kabuki dancer. And the purple and yellow gown-dress just seems... is ‘clashy' a word ? The colors were too vivid to really go together. Even on a Jem doll, it'd look less like a fairy gown and more like a confrontation. The colors together put me less in mind of flowers and more in mind of a healing bruise. I have a bag of dolls I could trade her... but I didn't wanna take the chance that the two I saw today would be gone by the time I returned with the bag. Can always trade later. Maybe tomorrow ! I gotta sort through everyone in the Lab anyway.

 

I also scored three Happy Meal Barbies - a My Scene Roller Girls Nolee (forgot I already had her, but she was free), a Malibu and a Totally Hair, both with stands, for a buck. I already have one HM Malibu, I use her as a Christmas tree ornament. Since my first Barbie was a Malibu, and a holiday gift, it seemed so perfect. Had to glue her back together last year, so I'm happy to have a second one. Especially one with a stand !