Barbie Christmas Cards - Day 1

 

Current Mood : Lazy

 

Not much of a day, really. I barely even got dressed, and that only because Beloved Hubby had a guest over for some tattoo work. I even took a nap !

 

Got tired of the papers-everywhere folder that holds bits and pieces for eventual use as scrap paper, and sorted it, taking all the loose sheets and cutting ‘em up for the holder. Gave most of the printer-acceptable paper to Beloved Hubby to start fires - that cleared up a lot of those old handouts from Dearest Son's school days. I don't miss sorting through a ream of paper advertising fundraisers and businesses every couple of months !

 

And I've decided to stop looking for #1625, Modern Art. While it's my favorite vintage Barbie dress, and it's never been a repro, and my attempts to sew one have been an ongoing colossal failure, continuing to hope and hunt for it on eBay is now deemed an Official Waste of Time. When even faded, damaged ones close at $78., it's time to move on. There is simply no way I'm ever gonna pay $200. for a doll dress - especially for one that isn't even in a box. And that's for it in decent shape - there's been some offered for over $400. Forget it. Maybe my next run at it will work. It's mostly the overlay that's jamming me up - that and the collar.

 

We totally forgot to buy some red Fusion paint this weekend, so no painting got done. It's on the grocery list, so we should at least have it this week. On the plus side, there's finally furniture in the Dollhouse - the new stuff I bought Wednesday. Had to put it somewhere ! And it rather looks nice, so...

 

Well, it's not much of an entry, but my day was kind of quiet, too. Biggest excitement of the day is when a small picture frame tumbled off my computer ‘tower' and landed in my soda !

I actually had *fun* shopping today !

 

Current Mood : Content

Spent on dolls : $3.

Spent on doll-based stationery :  $5.61

 

Got to hit the Flea Market today, and I found an amazing deal at Kohl's. And I pretty much have photos for next week ! So it was a fun morning, and a quiet afternoon.

 

At the Flea, one of my favorite dealers was in - she was packing when I came in last week. I poked through her trunk of dolls and picked out three, mostly for their clothes. I got an older wide-eyed SuperStar for her yellow-top and turquoise pants jumpsuit - the hot pink tie belt just made it so 80s ! The more modern open-smile blonde had on a pretty pink bodysuit with a white pearly, glittery design on the front. The ribbon straps were decorated with matching torn tulle, but that's easy to fix. Yet another blonde made it to Chez Insanity - 1990's Costume Ball Ken in Dream Glow Ken's all-in-one shirt, vest, and pants. He even had shoes ! I could hardly wait to clean them up.

 

But first... while going through mail last night, Beloved Hubby nearly tossed one of those ‘$10. off any purchase at all' cards I occasionally get from Kohl's. I usually get one in Spring, so a holiday one was a great find. Only one problem - it expires today. No problem - long as it didn't expire the day before, I could use it. So I did. Their toy section was beyond wiped out, so my next stop was the boyswear department. Dearest Son really needs pajamas, and I'd not found any at all at either Mal-Wart or Target. If it was a design he'd like, it wasn't in his size. If it was in his size, it was for some video game or cartoon he hated.

 

I soon found a similar situation at Kohl's. I first looked at characters and found little. Evidently, after a kid grows out of 8-10, he either sleeps in his school clothes, or his underwear. So I looked strictly at size. Found one set in a 12 - a bit big for him, but workable...and it was Clone Wars ! Bonus. Only one problem. It was a set of two. Yes, two different Clone patterns, same size, same style PJs. Hmf. I found the tag. $38. Yikes. Well, there was a half-off sale, which brought it down to $19., minus the card, $9. Still kinda up there, since I found generic pajamas for less at Mal-wart with no gift card.

 

Still, I kept ‘em in my claws while I looked around a bit more. I was thinking about that Barbie pink shoe Hallmark ornament - Kohl's carries about half their ornaments - when I noted a price scanner in that department. Swiped the pajamas tag - $15.20 ! Guess there was another sale going on, yaaay ! Minus the card, five bucks, heck yeah !

 

The manager had every register going, and even though I was about ten people back in line, I was in the line for less than five minutes. I had to thank the manager - he was directing register traffic - for the great experience. He was glad to hear it, and suggested I let Corporate know by completing the survey mentioned on my receipt. Done and done ! Best shopping experience I've had all holiday, and not just because of the great score. Beloved thought they looked great, and decided they'd get wrapped for a Christmas gift. I was pretty proud of me.

 

Next stop - library book drop-off. Finally found the last two, and actually turned them in two days before they were due. Yesss ! After that, Walgreen's. My curiosity was piqued when a poster on In The Pink mentioned the Barbie holiday cards she'd found there. I wanted to see ‘em - so off we went. It took a lot of shuffling, but I found them. Shoot, they were the only ones in a black box. If I'd have known that, I would've had ‘em in hand much faster. I had to dig through Disney Mickey and Pooh sets, Dr. Seuss sets, Peanuts sets, and tons of non-licensed ones, but I found ‘em ! You'll see a card a day for the next six days, starting tomorrow.

 

Goss knows, I got plenty of ‘em. They came 24 to a box, and there was a buy-one-get-one-free sale, and yep, the first one was full price. So I now have 48 Barbie Christmas cards. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll use ‘em up, one year or another ! I also found a packet of Barbie stickers much like the ones I sometimes see at Dollar Tree - 104 for $1.19. Once home, I found that there were eight small sheets of stickers. Four each of two designs. Still, they're cute, and I'll use them - there's even a dress form sticker ! I'll scan those, too. Shoot, my blog images are taken care of for over a week now ! Oh, and they have water-transfer tattoos there, too. So once I get off my round rump and try that experiment, I know where to find more.

 

Once home, I got to work on the new-to-me dolls. I doubt I'll keep the girls, but I do want them to look their best, so I started brushing hair. The older late-80s-early-90s one had that cotton candy textured hair, and quite a bit of it pulled out. But she soon looked very pretty. Still haven't ID'd her one piece outfit, but it's sure cute ! The ribbon bow tangled in her hair turned out to be three long, thin ribbons sewn to an elastic loop. I thought maybe it was a ‘Rockers' costume accessory, but I still haven't found anything like it. No tags, either.

 

My other, newer blonde girl has suffered from a bad hair trim right in the very front of her hairline. I may give her a headband. Since half the tulle ‘sleeves' were missing, I cut off the rest -she now has a pink bodysuit or swimsuit with a sparkly white design that'll probably have a pretty skirt paired with it soon. They both still need baths. Costume Ball Ken has some slight peeling around his fingers and biceps, and his costume needs a wash, bad ! But he's in good shape, and has that pivot-neck that I like. So he'll probably stay - I always need guys at Chez Insanity.

 

And Beloved and I have goofed the rest of the day away. Yup. A near-perfect Saturday !

Here's a sort of paper doll for ya !

Current Mood : happily quiet

 

So today, I cracked open the playline ‘Flight Attendant' outfit I bought Wednesday - and I love it ! The little pillbox hat has an elastic strap to hold it on, and the cute wings on the dress even have a tiny Barbie-head silhouette in the middle. The same wings are featured on the sweet pink rolling luggage, and it even opens ! Just the right size to hold the hat and the cute pink-with-blue-script ‘signature' scarf. Ya'll know I only rarely buy Mattel fashions (especially when I can make most of what I like), and I certainly don't regret this $5.99 purchase !

 

And when I took the outfit off the card, I was astonished. The card, designed as just packaging to be tossed, was adorable ! What a waste, I thought - this is a great graphic, and it'd be so much fun to color, glue, or just glitter up the white ‘dress space' with an original creation. I know how I am, left to my own devices, I'd keep the card around for a few weeks (months) until I got into a clutter-busting whirlwind groove, during which the card would be trashed, because I was tired of moving it around, or where I'd shoved it was in the way. It just seemed such a shame - I loved the airport graphics, the ‘Barbie' chairs in the background... (sigh)

 

So I called up my ‘digital packrat' tendencies and scanned it, using PostShopPro 5.3 to fill in the attachment holes and color where the bubble pulled part of the design off. It took about two hours, but I got it as best I could - then pulled it up with PSP X2 to sharpen and color-fix it. Between the two programs, I think it worked out pretty well. PSP 5.3 is easier for color replacement, at least for me right now, and X2 has some advanced image manipulation tools that really help blend those spots that still stuck out a bit. It's really great to have both ! And to have a great upgraded system that can run them both quickly and reliably...(happy sigh)

 

Feel free to ‘steal' it - copy it to your hard drive and open it in your PSP or PS or Paint, and design your own awesome outfit for this pretty model ! Or print it out, grab the markers, crayons, glue, and fabric, and have fun ! It's always great when you get to use all the Barbie you buy !

 

Tomorrow, you get to see ‘Talk of the Town' Barbie wearing the actual outfit. Or you can hit In the Pink to see it now, since it's been posted. I still wanna work on Claire's hair - it didn't quite curl the way I wanted, but I really wanted to show off that cool outfit !

 

Somehow, in the last week only, I've managed to amass 22 episodes of Clean House, including all three ‘Messiest in the Country' ones plus six Comes Clean ones. I can barely watch ‘em before I have more. Style channel must run them continuously. I'm saving my Hoarders episodes for those solo quiet hours. Show grosses Beloved Hubby and Dearest Son out, so they've become a ‘just for me' indulgence. I've learned, though, to not eat during those times. Ick.

 

Speaking of indulgences, tomorrow there's the flea market and I have a use-it-or-lose-it Kohl's card. Fun for me - I'll let ya know if I find anything good ! 

Presenting my newer, faster computer !

 

Current Mood : Whimsical- and soooo lucky. 

Current Image Notes : Here's the crappy posterboard-and-felt tree I made last weekend - I played with PaintShopPro X2 to erase the desk behind it and add the starfield. That's getting much easier !

 

I am sooo amazingly lucky ! Beloved Hubby decided to upgrade my computer's memory as an early Christmas present - and the memory arrived today ! As he went to install it - poof ! The power supply flashed blue twice and croaked. Well. Luckily we had a spare from an in-family computer shuffle several months ago, and the motherboard, memory, and hard drives were fine.

 

Unfortunately, the new memory didn't work with the old memory. Seems my Acer system has an issue with running more than two gigs, and there's nothing that can be done about it on this model. Beloved said if he'd have known that ahead of time, he just would have waited ‘til midyear and bought me a whole new computer ! But the new memory is faster than the old, and he cleared some of his old stuff off this system - she used to be the sole family computer - so she's now purring right along. She even got a complete clean-out, since her fan was randomly making annoyingly loud buzzing noises. And we found what was draining her virtual memory - a slowly goin' South old hard drive I never used. Once that was removed, and a few settings were adjusted, everything hummed, much faster and a lot better !

 

So while it wasn't precisely the upgrade he wanted to give me, it actually turned out better ! I can probably get at least another two years out of this system, I'm sure. Heck, it'll take me the better part of next year to fully understand PaintShopPro X2 !

 

Still putting yesterday's haul away. Dearest Son wants one of his toy cars painted, so I'll help Beloved remove all the sticker residue, mask off tires and details, and snag a can of red Fusion this weekend. Hmmm...red Fusion Spray Paint for Plastics... I have grey, cream, and green Fusion. Red...I could use some new red doll seating. Especially the pieces I bought yesterday !

 

Plus, it's important not to waste materials, ya know. So ‘borrowing' a bit of Dearest's red, once his car is done, shouldn't be too much of a problem...

 

In the meanwhile, ‘Talk of the Town' is currently resting and drying from her afternoon boil perm. Hopefully I'll have a nice photo of my own home-grown Barbie Basic tomorrow. While the ‘customize a little black dress' is kind of unique, the idea of customizing is far from new. I don't know why there's still this level of excitement over the series. Most of those dolls' face molds I can (and have !) found in yard sales and flea markets.

 

Yesterday on In The Pink, one guy showed the BB set Mattel sent him, to promote the line, and get his designer touch. I'm sure it's just my jealousy talking, but it seemed kind of braggy to me. It's nice and stuff, but with half the board saying they'll have to gather the fundage for these $22. each dolls, showing how Mattel sent you a doll and all four of the $15. accessory packages just seemed...well, I should just own up to being reminded that most of us are faceless consumers to Mattel, I've never been a golden circle inner, and deal with it.

 

Anyway, the ten minute computer upgrade took nearly two hours, so I'm late starting dinner. Gotta split - see ya'll tomorrow !

 

It's great to be tummyache free !

 

Current Mood : Happy - no tummyache ! 

Spent on dolls & doll stuff: $ 7.83  ( spent $15.12, minus $7.29 in returns)

Current Image Notes : Here's Sassy with the Little Kiddle Joanne sent me. I've never had one before - but I can see why they're so addictive ! So cute ! Someday soon, I'll take a picture with this little one and the Peek a Boo Petite doll I still have.

 

OK, I think I've isolated what was giving my tummy the whim-whams, since it happened again last night. Nowhere near as bad, but I still went to bed early with a whiny stomach, and slept for a straight eight, once I finally dropped off. I may be one of the few people on the planet that like Wasa ‘CrispBread' - kind of like a rice cake, but thinner and made of wheat. Used to eat ‘em all the time, even though they were considered diet food, I liked ‘em - but evidently, I just can't handle eating more than three. Monday, I'd munched through six, and yesterday, four. It's been a while since I had those, and it was something I ate that Beloved Hubby and Dearest Son didn't. They haven't been sick, just me. So that's probably it.

 

Leave me to my own devices, and I'd eat a few more right now, but I can't deal with another tummy-jam. So they're bagged and stored, but I may have to toss ‘em, to avoid temptation.

 

We have a bright, sunny day - too bad it's eighteen degrees outside ! At least there was enough light to see that a head-swap between Talk of the Town and Miss Sassy won't work. ‘S OK. I'm still gonna give Talk a smooth bob, and that'll clear Barbie Basics #7 off the wish list. And she won't have that Model Muse swayback body !

 

Got to do the grocery shopping once it warmed up. And since the thrift store is right there, I dropped off a four-bag donation. Big bags ! Including two outgrown coats of Dearest Son's, several dolls, some big props, and such. While I was there, I looked around - and found some goodies of my own ! Two great Barbie chairs and a sofa, a princess doll in a gorgeous dress I wanted, and another Tiffany Taylor ! Ordinarily, I'd have passed her by, but she was wearing another doll's dress I've always liked - the issue one for Mattel's Cynthia. I was hoping I'd actually found Cynthia herself, a 1971 talks-via-records 18.5-inch preteen, but I was glad to just have the pretty pink dress.

 

Once home, I discovered she also had a the nightgown from the large soft-body Bedtime Barbie, a much bigger doll than the standard Barbie one. It was actually a bit loose on her. Underneath it all was Tiffany's original issue bodysuit !  I'll clean up this Tiff tonight, and keep one, donate the other.

 

I thought I'd donate the ‘princess' doll, once I got her gown off, but this is actually a very pretty 2006 Holiday Angel doll, complete with crown and wings. Once I got her loose hair tucked back under the pulled-back side-pieces (made a ‘hook' from a paper clip to do so), I found that I loved her soft, almost vintage look. For some reason, she was wearing pink ballet slippers, the kind with the slots for ribbon, although these had none, but I love those ! I'll replace them tonight with a soft blue or white pair.

 

And I can't wait to redo the new furniture. The chairs are awesome, and I like their colors, but the one chair has a stressed-plastic mark - you know, when it goes white at a stress-point - and the sofa is neon-pink. Gotta fix that. Hoping to paint it this weekend.

 

Moved on to Mal-Wart - and they not only had the last of the larger ‘Battle Force Five' cars for Dearest, but they had the ‘Flight Attendant' Barbie outfit I've wanted, too ! Since I returned the sequins and the craft adhesive I didn't need anymore, I had no problems pulling the best of the two off the peg. Yaaay !

 

I need to donate more stuff more often, huh ? Karma sure shone on me today ! Hope yours was a great day, too !

Sassy and the swimsuit

 

Current Mood : Recovering

 

Sorry to bail on ya yesterday. Shortly after I wrote that last paragraph, my stomach began to act up. It got so bad so fast, Beloved Hubby urged me to lie down on the sofa and covered me with his favorite red velvet blanket - I was freezing ! My entire midsection felt like a bag of Sakrete left out in the rain for a month, heavy and hard as a rock. I just thought it was indigestion, but after two hours, I was about to go nuts. No matter how tired I was, I couldn't sleep.

 

Long story short, I felt better after the second time I barfed, and at the urging of Beloved, ate a couple crackers. Fell asleep with my tummy still raging, but nowhere near as badly. Woke up this morning nearly normal, with my midsection soft and squishy again, just vaguely aching, like a sore muscle. Still have no idea what I got into.

 

Our home-game version of Clean House continues. Today, we started with six shelves of VHS tapes, two of which were double-deep. We now have two single shelves, and much better storage for the DVDs. We ditched about a dozen of those, too. We'll offer the tapes to the Dear ILs, and if they don't want ‘em, they go to GoodWill. I'm going through Lab stuff, and culled several pieces, including the remote control Barbie car Dearest Son's wanted. I bought it, fully-functional -even the batteries were still good ! - for a quarter at a yard sale about two years ago. And I haven't touched it since, so..."Stuart Little" is getting a big Christmas present. Once I clean it up.

 

Freeing up the Jeep space allowed me to give the My Size Barbie girls more space, so they're not jammed up together right at the door. Which makes it easier for my big ole butt to get in and out ! I swear, once you get over the ‘It's MINE !' impulse, it's much easier to be honest with yourself about what you truly love and what you just ‘have', taking up space from what you love.

 

That said, I'm not looking forward to culling the Barbie collection...(whimper)

Thanks, Joanne !

 

Current Mood : Not well...

 

Had a sort of mini-Christmas today - both my photos and the box from In The Pink's Joanne arrived ! Photos, 100 freebies from American Greeting's PhotoWorks, look great, and feed my vanity more than I expected. Since 97 are of doll clothes I've made, it's been fun to see the dolls and the outfits again. Especially since I don't have all of them anymore.

 

I won the lovely Avon-exclusive ‘Talk of the Town' brunette from an In The Pink contest just last week. That was a thrill - ya'll know how much I love brunettes ! And comparing this doll to Barbie Basics #7, the one I most want, shows that they're nearly identical, save for their hairstyles. Hmmm...that can be changed. Oh, and the BBs have various versions of the Model Muse body, which I don't like at all. I could feel my intense "I want !!!1!!!" for BB#7 waft away...

 

And that evaporated completely when I opened the box ! Joanne had included some bonus goodies - she always does, it's so exciting to get a package from her - and beautifully wrapped ‘Talk'. And I think she read my mind. My fingers found an unwrapped, deboxed Miss Sassy ‘Fashionista' ! You may remember I already have Ms. Sassy, and she was so much fun to pose, I bought ‘Glam' for her dress and immediately swapped her head for the ‘Then and Now' doll, for a totally 2009 ‘nostalgia' Barbie. So I'm giving serious thought to giving Sassy's body to Town, then giving the Frankendolly a smooth bob - I'll have my own BB#7, with a preferred body, no matter if I stick with her original one or she gets the Fashionista one. I wanna look at both dolls in better light tomorrow, since today was so overcast.

 

I also now own my very first Little Kiddle, a cute blonde with green accents, making her home in a large brooch. There's a good chance I'll actually wear it, it's so funky ! According to the back, she's a Lucky Locket Kiddle, with a date of 1966, the year I was born ! Of course, none of us take Mattel's year markings seriously, but I'll research her, because I'm actually curious about her. I confess, I sort of liked the modern incarnation, Peek A Boo Petites, but I think I understand the nostalgia for the originals now. 

 

Sassy and Town can also fight over an awesome blue-and-white striped repro of Barbie's original swimsuit. I have a darker blue version of it, too, so this one's perfect. The hang-tag is so awesome. Dearest Son wanted to see what Momma got, and immediately fell for Town's leashed Poodle. Needless to say, Wall-e, Stuart Little, and one of the Battle Force Five took him around for walks today - he's Dearest's doggie now !

 

Joanne also sent one of those battery-powered tealights - I've seen those, and wondered what they looked like turned on. They're awesome ! And they make great campfires, since the little ‘flame' flickers. At one point, Dearest borrowed it, and all the Battle Force Five figures had a camp-out, with their vehicles in a circle behind them. It was so cute ! I'll definitely buy more of those, so I'm glad Dollar Tree carries ‘em.

Not a good craft day - but a good de-clutter one !

 

Current Mood : Cheesed with m'self

 

Nice, quiet Sunday. Beloved Hubby let me sleep in, but once I was up, I was ravenous ! So I followed through on the sausage biscuits, and everyone ate and enjoyed. Made me feel good.

 

Beloved had a client coming over right after lunch, so I took the after-breakfast time to clean up the living room, which needed it. Much better. With that done and everyone fed, I set out to list the former Elphie-jeep on Craigslist. I want the space and cash more than I want the car ! Unfortunately, allowing it sit around for a couple years left it a dust trap, and it had to be cleaned before I could take photos. It felt so funny to detail a toy car that I never used, just to sell it.

 

And, in a further irony, I crammed Debbie and Jenny, my two Our Generation dolls in there for photos. The jeep is made for their size dolls, but they never got to try it out before. Too bad it was only so I could get it out the door ! Their wide-legged seated stance made it a real cram to get one in there - shoving both in was almost doll-origami !

 

It was amazing how much time that took. Over two hours ! Before I knew it, Beloved's client had departed and it was dinner time. Then bath time, and time for Dearest Son to pick up toys and get ready for bed. Never got to his toy-sort. Hopefully tomorrow...

 

And I started the tutorial. Um. It did not go well. The finished item is a real mess, I don't like it, it looks cheap and junky. And the directions don't work, the only way I was able to finish it was to smack it together, trial-and-error style. I finally gave up, it has wide gaps in the back, and "futz ‘til you get it right, because I couldn't" is not the sort of instruction I want to post. So I'm gonna take the spangle-sequins back to the store, and give ya'll a link to what I was trying to replicate. I was trying to make a sleek, customizable Barbie-size Christmas tree, using posterboard instead of polystyrene cones. Here's the original inspiration ->

 

http://feltorama.blogspot.com/2008/12/merry-and-bright.html

 

I can see part of my problem by seeing the originals again - using posterboard made it wider and less sleek, and the crafter there can evidently find paper-thin felt. Mine's as thick as the stuff you remember from Vacation Bible School and various school crafts. (sigh) Give me some space, and I'll probably post a photo of it. Tomorrow, before I dump the ugly thing. Arrrgh.

 

And while it sounds weird, I can't wait to clean up the Lab tomorrow ! I've trashed it with digging out failed tutorial stuff, getting the Our Generation jeep ready for its close-up, and placing some odd bits and pieces. But I have a bit more room in there - the jeep is under the Dollhouse until it's gone. Whoo-hoo !

Vision of Spring...

 

Current Mood : Sleepy

Spent on doll stuff : $3.

Spent on a pink book : $1.07

Spent on DP Christmas : $1.08

 

Had the latest in a series of attacks of lazy today. I didn't really get rolling until about 1pm, and didn't do my prowlin' around until after 2. Hung out with Beloved Hubby at his Shop, which was nearly as warm as the house. He's been enjoying the rack - turns out it holds chisels perfectly, and keeps their sharp tips safely out of the way.

 

Hit the Flea Market for a bit - while it doesn't close until 5pm, again several booths were unattended and one was packing up. It was actually fairly busy in there. I spent $3., and that got me a Barbie ‘Springtime' Hallmark ornament (no box) and six "My Friend" clothes patterns. The tag read ‘Five Patterns', but I scored all four of the Seasons series with the separate Blouse and Nightgown ones. I already had the Nightgown one, from the same yard sale that got me the tin dollhouse, but it's amazing how different the identical patterns were. One was on much thinner paper, sequence numbers varied, and it was even folded differently. I'm thinking of scanning and working one of ‘em up, see if it fits the LDP and Princess Dorrie dolls. You'll get to see cover scans of ‘em all next week. The line art is so adorable - and it's precious how the previous owner colored a couple of ‘em.

 

Next stop was GoodWill. Also very busy. Evidently there was a party on the nearby University campus which required the purchase of a ‘funky Christmas sweater'. So that section was pouring with energy. I found a paperback titled Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons by Lynn Peril. I was initially drawn by those delicious 60s-vintage graphics, but the book itself is fun to read so far. I had no idea Mamie Eisenhower was behind much of the ‘pink mania' of the 50s - the decade which saw the birth of Barbie. I'm looking forward to the rest of this read !

 

At the Dollar General next door, I just prowled. Didn't really find much I liked - but I liked the Disney Princess ornaments. Just a buck, and filled with a packet of gem-shaped Smartees-type candies. I got the silvery one with Aurora on one side and Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora on the other side, complete with a gold hanging cord. A reddish tinted one was nearly identical, but it had a holiday Cinderella on the single-character side. Yes, I'm a sucker for that stuff. Candy was good, too.

 

Did a bit of grocery shopping while I was over there - that store has some great bargains. That's the only thing I don't really like about shopping Mal-Wart or Target for chow, there's never any specials. No loss leaders, nothing that makes me say, "I need that, I'd better get over there." I like ‘cherry-picking'. I read this grocery's ads on line, and it's fun to plan what I can use. The grated cheese made our late-lunch frozen pizzas extra tasty, and I already have sausage ready to go for breakfast biscuits tomorrow. And a fresh gallon of milk, since I wanna make brownies, too. Gotta love those bargains !

 

And with milk in the car, it was time to head home. I was kinda proud of me for not booking to TRU, because I really wanted to go. But this weekend wasn't a good time, and the closer we get to Christmas, the worse it's gonna be over there. Maybe a bit after Christmas - I'll know more of what I want and don't want, and can zero in on what I truly want, instead of ‘everything looks sooo good !'. Right now, I pretty much want everything !

 

So, once home, warm and fed, I did what I normally do when I get the ‘wants' - I go through what I have to shut ‘em down. Decided I really don't like that milk crate I put the fabric bits into yesterday, and found a nice box instead. It allows for more digging, and is a bit more narrow, so it fits the space better. And here I thought I'd never find a use for that huge Hello Kitty sticker - it was perfect for the box. With the fan gone, I had space for the doll clothes repair sewing box, and I'm giving serious thought to selling Elphie's car.

 

It's really an Our Generation / American Girl clone car. I paid about $2. for it at GoodWill several years ago, cleaned it up, boosted Elphie with a custom-made cushion, and took website photos, but it's mostly gathered dust since. With any luck, I can Craigslist it, maybe get $15. or so. Hmm...oh, wait a minute. One on eBay just sold for almost $50. - and it's missing the doors ! I may have to see if I can find a box big enough to ship this thing... And I was happy just to reclaim the space.

 

(singing) She was such a naughty nanny...(Queen, Fat Bottomed Girls)

 

Current Mood : Better.

 

Busy day - cold one, too. Got the wire shelf rack I mentioned yesterday all cleared off and out of the Lab. Had to do a few on-the-spot repairs to get all the damaged doll clothes into the box I wanted ‘em in, but that's good, too. Ditched a Mal-Wart-style sack full of tiny fabric fragments, and I honestly don't know why I was keeping most of ‘em. Brought a milk crate back into the Lab to hold the midsize pieces, and it's fun to dig through. Doesn't hit my butt, either, so I'm happy.

 

The rack immediately went back into service down at Beloved Hubby's Shop. It's now a tool catcher, easy for Beloved to move around with him when he's all over the place on a task. He's really cleaned things up down there - and he even made a fireplace out of two steel barrels this week. They make a kit for that. It's actually quite nice in there now. Last year, even with a propane heater, it was too cold to work in there for long, and only at midday. Because of the fireplace, we made a little deal. Since my barely-used fan is perfect for keeping the air moving, he's gonna keep it - and I get that 40s-repro fan I want every year, but never get. It's weird how I'm already a bit excited about this summer...

 

I also had a small bundle of larger Polly Pocket size dolls, mostly Disney Princess ones I found cheep at yard sales. Past tense. Those are now in the stuffed Donations bag. Last thing on this blue Earth I need is another doll collection ! Never played with ‘em anyway. I'm hoping they get to a kid for Christmas. While I have nearly all of Belle and Ariel's rubbery clothes, I never had a Belle doll. And the Ariel I had wasn't quite the right size. Best to ditch ‘em all.

 

In Flea Market news, there was one today, and Dearest Son was so excited, hoping we'd get that Barbie mini van he's been wanting for three weeks now. It's at Brenda's, the car set seller. Even though it was stuffed with six dolls, $30. was a bit higher than I wanted to go, and I didn't want any of the dolls. So I proposed to Dearest that I'd offer Brenda the dolls and case culled from my collection, the dolls from the van, and $10. - $7. of which was his chore cash. If she was OK with that, the van was his. If not, we'd see what we could do.

 

I think Brenda would have been OK with $10., but she seemed pleased with the offer and took us up on it. Dearest proudly handed her his cash, I made up the balance, and the de-dolled van was in the bag, literally. We looked around a bit, but Dearest was too dazed with his find to really pay attention to where I was going, so we cut it short and headed home. He's been happily playing with it all day. And Beloved finished the cubby cabinet he was making for him, so it was proudly parked next to his other favorite cars. Before packing it for his weekend visit with his grandparents.

 

We're doing a toy clean-out on Sunday, since the cubby takes up space that held a bin fulla toys, but Dearest knows we do this every year before Christmas. And I only encourage him to ditch the broken stuff at the bottom. So he's OK with it.

 

And once I was all alone, I decided to do a bit of playful photography. My 2010 resolution - figured it out today - is to learn PaintShopPro X and Stitch Era Universal. I cagily left PSPX's owner's manual in the bathroom, where I'm sure to read it. And I'm missing out on a lot of fun stuff by using the old version. Yeah, it's embarrassing, since we bought X earlier this year for its vast functions, I still used PSP 5.3 nearly all of the time. X takes a while to load, and I don't know how to work half of it...blah, bleh, all excuses.  So, I'm gonna learn. I'll probably have to print out Stitch Era's manual m'self, it's over 200 pages. I'll make sure to have an extra black ink cartridge ready. But I'm gonna master ‘em both, or at least give it more of a try than I have so far - which is mostly dimly plunking at both programs like a cat at a keyboard. And with about as much understanding. 

 

It's one of our ‘stay home' weekends, but I'm gonna spice it up with home-made tacos ! Hope your weekend is off to a fun start, too !