Feelin' freakin' not fine Friday
Now Playing: I have no idea...
 

Current Mood : not good. 

 

Ugh. I feel like crap. I think I'm just gonna go lie down. I haven't done squat today, anyway. Puttered around in the Lab for a bit, cut more scrap paper. Found piles of it when I cleaned. If folks didn't mind the printing on the other side, we wouldn't have to buy paper - we get plenty of it delivered weekly from Dearest Son's school.

 

Hope your day went better than mine...

 

What a book bought five years ago almost cost me...
Now Playing: the silence of a 2am house
 

Current Mood : Ticked Off 

 

I may have solved one of my own personal ‘great mysteries that frustrate me' by sheer chance. This is gonna sound stupid, but you're probably used to it from me by now.

 

Moving along. When I first ‘got into' dolls, I had to accept that I was an adult who not only wanted to play with dolls but actually did, and that would get me labeled as ‘weird' in others' eyes. Decided I didn't care. While weeding my psyche of stuff that pulled up easily, I also pushed myself through my fear of sewing. While I'd had minor successes with people-sized projects before, there were many more total failures, and everyone I spoke with recoiled in horror when I mentioned sewing Barbie-scale clothes. People I respected for their skills and flair in sewing looked at me with expressions ranging from repulsion to naked curiosity, like an anthropologist who'd stumbled on a new clutch of mammals to study, possibly dissect. 

 

Why would I want to do that ? Didn't I know Barbie clothes were impossible to sew ? Tiny, frustrating, aggravating. Why bother when even Dollar Tree had doll clothes to buy instead ! So many times I heard, "I tried that. Once. Now I know why Barbie clothes are expensive - but they're cheap to me now, since buying ‘em means I never have to sew those PITAs ever again !". It was both discouraging and encouraging at the same time. Few patterns existed, and the few I found looked like directions to craft my own scale model of the Space Shuttle, functional engines and all. Out of fabric, bailing wire, and something called elastic thread. Scary.  

 

I soon discovered the ‘why' - I couldn't find what I wanted to buy, so it was up to me to craft my own style - and also the ‘how'. Easier patterns existed, for pretty much any doll,  it's just that most interested new sewists had given up, and left it to the really fiddly-bit folks. Fiddly-bit patterns were around, but if I wanted to start simple, I'd have to hunt for stuff to grow on. Nothing against detail-oriented folks, I wish I was one. But I needed to start with something less challenging than a two-foot wide ballgown made with fishing wire and silk and 63 pattern pieces !

 

Unfortunately, I didn't learn that until *after* I'd bought a few dozen doll pattern books off eBay, Half.com, Amazon, and various local used book enterprises. And it wasn't long before easier patterns came back into craft stores - everything's on its own cycle, I think. Most of the books were designed to create fiddly-bit type stuff, but a few simpler books came my way. They rarely had anything in the scale I had or wanted, but information is rarely wasted.

 

One of the first books I bought was Sewing for 20^th Century Dolls, Vol. II, by Johanna Gast Anderton. I thought this book would be perfect. Found a place selling it at half the $25. cover price, and it listed designs in dozens of sizes - Crissy, in fact, was featured on the cover.  Since I already knew I'd have more than just Barbie dolls (yeah, at one point, I was gonna be Barbie Only), I was sure there'd be plenty in there for me to use. Reviews were favorable, so I bought it.

 

And ended up so frustrated and upset, I darn near tossed the sewing machine into the Dumpster ! The pattern for the pretty madras-plaid sundress that Crissy wore on the cover simply Did. Not. Fit. Crissy. No matter how many times I sewed it, traced, it, reworked it. Nothing I did worked. The directions were minimal at best - I really needed more sewing experience under my belt, but the book said it was for all skill levels - yet following them to the letter or freestyling it made no difference. Studied the cover photo for hours, probably. Even researched it like the nerd I am, constantly searching for any image of that dress in any Crissy reference. Johanna said it was tagged, but I never found it anywhere but on the cover of her book. Since Crissy was crammed into ‘little sister' Velvet shoes, I scoured Velvet clothes resources, too. Nope. Not made by Ideal or any known clone doll or doll clothes manufacturer. At any size. I even looked up other dolls about the same size, to see if it was by Ideal, but made for another doll. Nada.

 

Darn thing gave me headaches, and once, a blasted nightmare. Really. I think the last time I tried it, I increased it to 130%, and it sort of worked, but not really. I gave up on it. Pretty much the whole book, too - if that pattern didn't work, why waste more time futzing with more ? If she can't get this one right, what are the chances that she screwed up with others ? Anderton didn't even get Crissy's shoes right. I let it go, because I was tired of being upset about it. She may be a legendary doll artist (it says so in her book), but to me, she was either lousy at pattern drafting, or pretty much a fraud.

 

Well, I couldn't sleep or focus on much tonight - I've had insomnia issues since I was eight  - so I idly trawled eBay to look at dolls. And there it was. A mostly yellow madras-plaid sundress. In a pile of Barbie dolls and clothes. Grabbed my book. Yup. That's the same dress. Even the buttons matched. I snagged the image, and ran some quick comparisons in PaintShopPro. The dress would fit a Barbie, from shoulder to waist. But the waist was simply too big for that scale. While the dress is high-waisted on Crissy, there is no way a Crissy dress should come close to fitting a Barbie. Crissy's eighteen inches tall ! Her clothes don't even fit Elphie !

 

Ms. Anderton notes that she came by that dress on a Crissy, and it was tagged. I have no idea how, it sure wasn't For Crissy by Ideal. If that was the case, it'd be on Beth's superlative site ( http://crissyandbeth.com/ ) or in her reference book. Now, supposedly, she used the dress that came on the doll to draft the pattern. But why is the doll on the cover wearing the exact same dress - right down to the buttons ! - as what I found tonight, instead of a new creation by the author ? If I was selling a book of my patterns, or just one pattern, there'd be a photo of at least one of my sewing test drafts on it ! Not a photo of the original dress I copied, but images of what I actually sewed, using my pattern. I now wonder if all the ‘copies' shown on the cover are the original outfits the dolls came in, not finished reproductions the author herself sewed to test her own blinkin' patterns ! If that's the case, how does anyone know if any of ‘em fit ? And how does that dress fit Crissy on the cover, but the pattern not fit at all ? I thought it was my lack of skill, but now I'm starting to wonder if it wasn't my skills that were lacking here.

 

The mystery isn't completely solved yet - I wrote the seller and asked if the dress had a tag or anything - but when I think of how close I came to giving up a much-enjoyed hobby - or, more accurately, never really even starting it -  because of *her* drafting failures...arrrgh ! It's been a minor burr at the back of my mind for years, and by sheer chance, I find out it's probably not only not a Crissy dress, but not even something the author herself even sewed to test her own pattern !

 

Unbe-freakin'-lievable.

Troubles and Castles - and relief that it's all over for '07 !
Now Playing: "National Treasure" - mostly for sound
 

Current Mood : Tired, but I can't sleep.  

 

Intersting day, but I didn't get to sew the pajamas. Instead, I (dramatic drumroll) made a Tribble ! This was the ‘ten minute craft' I mentioned a few weeks back. It took about that long. I wanna refine it, draft an actual pattern and write down directions, but it's pretty simple, and looks great, especially if you got decent fur to work with.

 

This luscious, soft and deep calico fun (read : fake) fur was purchased from Hancock's, around Thanksgiving, I think. It was $16. a yard, on sale for 60% off.  A quarter yard would probably yield a few thousand doll-size quadrotriticale-nibbling fuzzball Tribbles, and was only $1.60. I used a square about three and a half inches long by two inches wide, folded once and shaped with scissors into an oval. The many different colors in the piece would pretty much assure I'd never make the same one twice - at least, not without serious effort ! Must be about eight different colors, but the photo only shows three or four.

 

Good fake fur - or reclaimed real fur - isn't too hard to work with. This stuff frays badly, so it got the usual Fray-Check treatment right after it was cut. I loaded a good needle with brown thread, and hand-sewed two of the three raw edges in about three minutes. One of the oval edges was where the fabric folded, and the other edge had to be left open, to turn it right side out. As I sewed, I brushed the fur inward with my fingers. That way, the fur was more bushy, and the seam wasn't so obvious.

 

Turning it right-side-out meant I could shape it a bit. By pushing the seam all the way, I had a big Trib. Or I could be more gentle, and give it a more of a curved pillbox-hat shape. Heck, I could give it lumps and bumps if I wanted to ! I could stuff it with cotton balls or fabric scraps, too. But this one was a prototype, so I basically turned it right-side-out, and folded the last raw edges under, and sewed ‘em together. The fur was so nice, you really can't see the seam at all.

 

I hope to make varying sizes - the prototype Elphie has seems a bit big for her (Hot and Cool for ‘08 ! New, Improved Tribble - bigger, sweeter, and no baby Tribble troubles !) , and I'd need a smaller one still for Barbie scale. I was pleased, though, at how well this one turned out. Whaddya'll think ? Should I post it on the site when I have it worked out ?

 

I'd have happily made more, but I wanted to keep Beloved Hubby company at the Shop. I got a little bored, though, and found a can of paint he had sitting around (with a few hundred other cans of paint). Would he mind if I ‘touched up' the pretty-much-abandoned Castle with it ?

 

I soon had the can of paint in one hand and a brush in the other and was happily covering all the green floor overspray. I'm sure it'll look like heck in the morning, but I'm sort of pleased with m'self for not giving up just yet. It'll need several coats, and it'll probably be scratched off easily, but I painted ‘til my hands were numb, and felt pretty good. Wish I could paint some more, but it's very cold at the Shop, and Dearest Son doesn't like to be down there long - some of the sounds and smells bother him. And I don't want to leave him in the house by himself. Hopefully, warmer weather and back to school will mean I'll return to it soon. It was kind of fun, and I relaxed with it this time. After all, it's not like I had much to lose at this point !

 

Now, if I could just figure out why I'm having so many sleep problems lately...

Lazy Christmas !
Now Playing: "Futurama : Bender's Big Score" - DVD movie from the RedBox

 

Current Mood : Fat & Lazy

Hope you had a good Christmas and Boxing Day - if you celebrate. If ya don't, I hope your day was good !

 

Ours was pretty nice - Dearest Son loved all his gifts, and played all day. We're still contemplating whether or not to keep the second Lego Y-wing. He and Beloved Hubby played and lounged, and so did I. Didn't get anything sewn or really do much of anything. Beloved Hubby didn't have the time to finish my dollhouse, but assures me it'll be done before New Year's so here's hoping. And you see what I had under the tree today !

 

I noticed a post by DebbieFS in Australia on Doll Divas. She's the pattern designer for those outfits I made the Ariel sisters. So I posted that photo, finally, and she said it made her happy to see someone play with the pattern. Wheee ! I keep meaning to work up that pajama pattern...

 

So it was a nice holiday. Don't know what was with the drama last night - we called to find out what the heck was going on when it happened, and we still don't know. Seems someone got ticked that we were having a party, when it was only D&MIL over to see Son open their gift. We were actually watching a movie when the Drama call came. As we explained that it wasn't a party, and if we were having one, we'd have surely invited them, it came out that the reason they were ticked is because no one was coming to their party. You know, the one we weren't invited to. (sigh)

 

Anyway. Spent some time at the Havillands- that's Manda's site - and I'm awed all over again. In addition to some lovely cats, she has fantastic drawing skills ! Enjoyed the comics, but how could anyone resist Abba-obsessed horses, a Greek chorus of bunnies, and such expressive characters ? When you need a time-out, I recommend a visit. Run off to the Havillands - http://homepage.mac.com/louvanuk/index.html . Tell Bayard I said, "hi !" and admire reconstruction work that makes my feeble doll efforts look as weak as they are !

 

PS to Manda and Michelle - how cool is it that ya'll were already connected ? I'm constantly amazed by our little world, and the way we all reach each other.

It's Christmas Eve ! Peace, everybody !
Now Playing: Lego assembly, echoing in my mind...
  

Current Mood : Slightly irritated 

Whoo ! Busted butt and cleaned house for a few hours. Wow - it's nice and clean in here. Still have the eternal Two to do (dishes and laundry, there's always something dirty somewhere), but floors are swept, toilets are clean, and toys are at least in the general vicinity of their homes. Both Dearest Son and I have given up on his room for now, at least until Wednesday. No one should have Momma standin' over ‘em for a room cleaning this close to Christmas.

 

Printed out the Doll Divas Barbie pajama pattern. Three times. This one has the all-important ‘this is one inch' mark, and the first printout might fit a Skipper. Second one, increased to fit the page at 149%, was still just a smidge too small. Upped the increase to 152% manually, and now the measurement marker's about 1/16 of an inch too big, but I can deal. I'm gonna sew tomorrow !

 

No time to sew today, though. We had M&FIL over tonight, so they could see Dearest open the gift they got him. The big holiday get-together/party's more or less been cancelled, due to the family issue I obliquely mentioned earlier, and also some illness and injury for others. If not for Dearest, we'd have not had anyone over at all, but we were glad to see M&F. Dearest loved their gift, and we spent about two hours putting together the 454 pieces that make up a Lego Star Wars Y-wing spaceship. It was rather fun, actually. He crashed cradling it.

 

Less fun was the Luke Skywalker/Snowspeeder Transformer ^TM. If you don't  have reason to transform toys, consider yourself blessed. I know that Hasbro shouldn't have to print separate ‘to change x to y, do this' and ‘to change y to x, do that' directions, but it'd be nice. Yeah, ya should be able to just read the directions backwards, but when you didn't know Luke's ankles rotate and store behind his ears in Snowspeeder form, it's hard to figure out what the one-way directions are trying to tell you. Some of it is intuitive, but not everything. I'd love to see Luke do Jedi Mediation with his feet facing the wrong way behind his head !

 

(sigh) I don't know if I should tell the next part. It bothers me, and it ultimately isn't important, but...it's not fair that ya'll should think my life is all rainbow icicles and stray cats and happy Son at Christmas. I get people who should be old enough to know better drumming up drama out of nothing, because they're bored. And why should anyone enjoy one lousy evening with their grandson if they're feeling bored and neglected by their own kids ? (sigh)

 

And no one's side of the tale is the same. It's like finding half a sculpture in a dozen pieces and trying to paste the missing parts together with cardboard, chewing gum, and molasses. It'd be so much easier just to find the main part you can't figure out, but it's nowhere in sight. And many of the pieces you do have don't make sense without it.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is this. If you're out of middle school, ‘he said that you felt that what she said was upsetting, so I said...' crap is beneath you. And should be waaaay behind ya. I don't really treasure playing hurt feelings referee for people two and three times my age. If you don't want to invite this person or that person to a party, that's fine. It's your bloody party. But don't whine that nobody's coming - especially in front of the people you didn't invite ! Yeah, we were the ones not invited, but frankly, I could have cared less even before it came out. I had so many bids for sympathy in this whole stupid affair, I'm seriously considering selling some on eBay.

 

Save the drama of the holiday for your religious beliefs, ‘kay, ladies ? I'm sure there's plenty of it, no matter what sect or branch or faith you have. No need to wind up family who've already had a somewhat crappy year and just wanna relax for one *&^%ed day.

 

Anyway. There's your first look at ‘Domino', our sweet kitty. When he does that sort of sit/stand cats do, the heart on his haunch is nearly perfect. But his heart inside is perfect. Very sweet cat, if a bit underfoot when he wants something. Hungry kitty, too. We'll soon have that hollow under his tummy round again. He wishes everyone a Merry Christmas, and the best Eve they can have !

 

Told you he was a sweet kitty...

Happy holidays from the last of the Disney Princesses !
Now Playing: "The Simpsons Movie " - we forgot to return it !
 Current Mood : Slight relief that it's nearly over !  

 

Well, the serious holiday crush is in earnest. Most of our snow burned off, except where skeletal trees and shadows still hide it from the bright sun.

 

And here's the final ‘Disney Christmas Princess' image. This was on the packaging itself, the three girls basically cut/pasted together like that. See if you can spot what I had to alter. The pricing mark was like many from Dollar General - it was actually printed on the thing, not a sticker. It came from the whatever factory with the price printed on it already. I wonder how a company negotiates a thing like that.

 

Not a lot going on - I finished cleaning the Lab, so it's ready for whatever project I dig out next. Found another pair of men's pants to cut up, so I got that done. I kind of enjoy scissoring men's dress slacks. There's the equivalent of yards of doll fabric there, and suiting material almost always looks nice. It's often fairly thin, and keeps crisp, too. Men, I've found, can be quite picky about non-jean-type clothing, so there's lots available used. Cheap, not too badly stained, and thin enough to sew for dolls ? Score !

 

I usually find at least one button on the right rear pocket, and sometimes, I scavenge the zipper, too. Not often. It's kind of funny, but I tend to save it if it's a YKK zipper. Those are supposedly the industry's best, although that's not why I save those and not the Talon's. It's not even the color that drives me to keep this one and not that one. I go through all the work of saving a YKK zipper - and it can take about 15 minutes to free one - because the first zippers in Barbie clothes, back in '59, were YKK's.

 

You can also learn a lot about sewing by taking a discarded garment apart. I had no idea men's zippers were about five layers of lining and material thick. Or that most hook/eye arrangements are actually bolted into the waistband, not sewn in. There's also numerous layers in a waistband, too. Since I can forget if this pair of cut-up pants are polyester but this pair's part wool, I usually save the garment care label, and re-sew it onto a hem or somewhere. I was using pins, but got stabbed once.

 

Oh, and I've read elsewhere that the Speed Racer set is due out in March, not April. But I've noticed that the stuff I like always tends to run late ! One doll shop's price listed is $40., which isn't bad. Like Michelle, I love Trixie's short hair, and ole Speed's lookin' pretty hot. Looks like they're using the ‘Model Muse' body for Trix, which kinda ranks for me, but I can either 1)get used to it or 2)rebody. I've never bought a Model doll, so I may like it after a while. Or find a donor body. Long as the face and hair look good, I have options. Speed seems poseable- his arms are bent, not the ramrod straight of many male dolls, so I have hopes...

 

And speaking of hopes, I'm a bit disappointed in Mal-Wart. Remember when we went out Saturday ? Of course, we ended up in the toy section, and bought a few extra Christmas bits for Dearest. Forgot to tell you that the Lego Y-wing we bought back in Oct/Nov was $20. The one on shelves Friday was $30. ! Same exact toy ! It wasn't a ne plus ultra collector edition now with these new aspects. Nope, it was the same exact model, even the same number. I couldn't believe it. It's not that popular a toy, and isn't coveted by many fans...so I have no idea why it went up $10. in a month. We noticed a few other toys had experienced a similar price jump, for no discernable reason. I hope that when M&FIL bought it last week, they paid $20., not $30. ! Yeah, Dearest has two Y-Wings this Christmas. Oh, well. We'll refer to it as the fleet, and hope he enjoys both.

 

Still, that really is lame of Mal-Wart. They did something similar with a Cars toy last year - the mountain racetrack set was $30. but sold out for all of November, but when they got some in, it was suddenly $40. - luckily, I had a TRU ad to price match it back to $30., but I was plenty ticked at the time. Lesson here is : if you're gonna buy from a place that advertises ‘The more you save, the more Christmas you can give', make sure you do your shopping in November ! Then you really can save - by merely avoiding holiday gouging.

"White Saturday" my driving-in-snow-fearful butt ! Hmpft.
Now Playing: "Cars" - for the Wii
 

Current Mood : Festive

Spent on Dolls Today :  $5.25

Woke up this morning at the late, late hour of 8am, with a hungry cat waiting patiently in the hallway and the promise of snow in the pale sky. Domino got what kitty food we had left and an hour later, we had sleet. And snow. Whoever asked for a ‘White Saturday' is gonna get a kick in the kneecaps from me !

 

I am honestly, deeply, truly afraid of driving in snow and/or ice. I'm utterly terrified of the idea of being out when it starts. I'd heard it wasn't due until mid-afternoon, so I'd planned on doing a bit of window shopping, just a bit, in part to enjoy the season's rush, and in part to just get out because I could. I've meant to hit TRU and Tuesday Morning since Thanksgiving, and haven't yet. Arrgh. Snow sorta stole that option, but, well, maybe I can get out next week.

 

Beloved Hubby and I did get out for a bit - Domino's cat food supplies were nearly exhausted, we wanted to pick up a few extra Dearest Son goodies for Tuesday, and I was seriously itchy to go somewhere, anywhere ! So we ended up at Mal-Wart. We found the ‘Ewok Capture' R2D2 he wanted, and another Lego set, since DMIL&FIL bought him the same set we had purchased last month. (sigh)

 

I did get to hit the Barbie aisle, and found a cute little outfit. Titled ‘Let's Shop', oddly enough. Must be part of the new line, the packaging is different. It mentions Barbie, but not Fashion Fever, and says ‘fits most Barbie ® dolls' on the back. But Raquelle, a late edition to the FF line, is pictured on the back, too. I've heard rumors that FF is phasing in a more statuesque, standard Barbie body, so...

 

I didn't really want another pair of denim Capri pants (I have like six pairs now, and they're cute, but I'd rather have either mid-length shorts or pants), but I loved the lacy white tunic with a glitter-edged pink belt and pink and white Mary Jane shoes. The $5. set also came with a useless-to-me solid plastic pink purse with a huge silver ‘B' on it, a floral scarf, and silver sunglasses. The purse made me think of how Gwen Stefani had those huge G's on everything in her ‘Sweet Escape' video. Was Mattel watching ?

 

I might cut the lenses out of the sunglasses, make eyeglasses out of ‘em. I'm also thinking of adding black lace to the hems of at least one pair of these darn Capris. Just to have something new, ya know ? I'd mentioned to Beloved that I'd been meaning to look at the new ‘Surf's Up' swimsuit Ken doll hanging from a side rack while heading to the clothes area - and when I picked out my outfit, I turned to see that Ken was gone ! Hmmm...I may be getting a doll for Christmas Tuesday ! (secret giggle) I made sure to not look in the cart at Checkout...

 

Yesterday, I also got to see a sneak preview image of the long-awaited Speed Racer gift set - oooh ! It has my interest ! Now all I have to do is wait ‘til April to see this ‘live'. The fiasco of the Enchated Robert doll and the almost complete failure of Chat Diva Teresa to even perform as advertised was a hard reminder that Mattel's gotta come a long way to get me to part with any more of my limited cash. They made some good steps forward in ‘07, but they've always had serious issues between Prototype and Production, and I doubt that'll change any time soon. So I'm gonna wait.

 

Also read some bad news. Barbie Collector is already folding. They'll be a Spring '08 issue, but that's that. Sad, but I kinda saw that coming. The one issue I bought was not well-written, had several spelling errors, and relied heavily on Mattel-issued photos. If the pivotal body was sooooo incredible, how could a short three page article need those huge white spaces and two pages of Mattel photos ? I wanted to see, if not a nude doll, at least non-promotional out-of-box not-taken-by-Mattel-employees photos of ‘em. I also spotted several mistakes and omissions. While the issues I had may not affect Barbie fans, they bugged me bad. It's sad though, because even with all the errors, it had potential. And Haute Doll sure as all he!! ain't gonna cover playline anything. Far as they're concerned, HD doesn't recognize the existence of any doll that costs less than $150. for a basic one.

 

Oh, well. We'll always have the internet !

 

Ps to Manda - Safe Journey, hon, and Merry Christmas !

Wherein I get a special holiday gift from the Universe...
Now Playing: "Thank You For Smoking" - RedBox rental. Pretty clever movie, especially if you get how mass media works !

Current Mood : Purring

 

I kinda-sorta kept my promise to me today - I finished cutting up the clothes for new fabric, and spent several quality hours in the Lab. I also spent at least three hours on the sofa, snoozing. Had no idea I was so tired.

 

Dearest Son got to spend the night with his grandparents, and with an afternoon free, I sort of just lazed around. You'd think I'd sew like a freak, or set up endless play scenarios with photos, but mostly I watched old movies and loafed the day away.

 

Beloved Hubby thought that was a good way to spend the evening, so we RedBox rented The Simpsons Movie and Thank You For Smoking and hit the local grocer for chips and soda. What we got was chips, soda, and a cat.

 

He was lingering around the grocery's automatic door, waiting for an opportunity to go inside. But he was friendly, and trotted up eagerly for an ear scratch and some attention. We asked around the store staff, and found that he'd been lingering around for the last few days, and a few folks had fed him scraps, but he was there when they left at day's end, and there when they came back in the morning. I guess Christmas is busy for grocers, too.

 

Well, that was that. He was, as far as anyone could tell, homeless. And there was another snowstorm due tomorrow. Handsome, friendly cat, out in the snow. Not tolerable. He wasn't quite sure why we wanted to take him anywhere in Lightning Molly, and he ended up pulling down part of my car's window stripping, but once inside, he was more curious than combative.

 

And at the house, he seemed OK with the can of cat food and the sample of dry food I'd kept, and purred through most of his meal. He hid a bit after cleaning up every last speck and two bowls of water, but came out to use the litter box and introduce himself. He's a big kitty, white with black spots and white whiskers. Big yellow-green eyes. Purred when we petted him. We tossed around names - U-Turn, the name of the grocery store, Oreo - but in the end, "Domino" seemed to suit him best. He answered to it as well as any other name, which was, not at all, but he seemed to know we were addressing him and humored us. The ordeal tired him, so he curled up on some clean but unfolded laundry and slept for the rest of my night.

 

I'm tired, too, so I'm gonna go crash. Still, it's nice to have a cat around the house. He seems to favor me a bit, but then again, I'm the one who feeds everyone ! I can't help but think of him as an early holiday gift. The universe must like me !

 

Haven't taken his photo yet, as I wanted to keep things mellow for him on his first day or three here. Promise to have photos up on Monday, at the latest, though !

 

PS to Michelle - Thanks for the confidence ! Your words warm me up, too ! :D

I know why I do this...
Now Playing: "Star Wars Lego : The Complete Saga" for the Wii. For Dearest Son
 

Current Mood : Contentedly joyful 

Now I know. I know why I give myself difficult deadlines and work like a driven madwoman. I know why I chase all over town for craft and party stuff, and why I volunteer for things no one else wants to do. I know why I've jumped through hoops I myself set on fire for the last three days.

 

It's for Tahler, who adored the snowflake craft, and did as many as she could lay hands on, because they were so beautiful, and she didn't know she could make beautiful things. It's for Mrs. P, Dearest Son's speech therapist, who was nearly in tears that someone remembered her, and appreciated all she did for one little boy. It's for the nice office staff, who praised my creativity to the stars and made me feel like one. It's for that warm, soft glow after it's all done - that exhausted euphoria that tells me I did well, and should feel good about myself, even though I complained and whined like a good old-fashioned mule throughout the whole thing.

 

And that's why I'll do it all again, whenever I'm needed. Mostly for the hug I got from Dearest Son, who said he loved his party, and watching him hang his snowflakes on the tree, saying "I think mine are pretty, too". Ladies, Gentlemen, and those of irregular birth, this is why I'll gladly do it all again - and hope to not growl and mutter so much next time.

 

I barely got it all done in time, but that's not important anymore. I had several extra pincushions, so I handed them out almost randomly, and to one person the office ladies said needed a lift.  We had lots of treats - three kinds of cookies, cupcakes, apple slices, candy canes, sweet holiday trail mix. By the time Dearest and I left, I was dying for potato chips ! Yup, everything we were fortunate enough to get was sweet. The kids were quite literally bouncing like Tigger on a sugar rush. For some reason, I ended up with most of the leftovers, so I'm well-stocked on candy canes, apple slices, and extra holiday-themed paper plates.

 

Few amusing asides. I bought little 2" x 3" baggies from the jewelry findings section of Mal-Wart, so I could make individual ‘servings' of glitter for the snowflakes. I felt so weird getting them, like I'd get arrested on suspicion of narcotics sales. Dearest saved all his leftover glitter in the sandwich baggie the snowflakes were packaged in, saying that it was ‘R2D2 powder'. I bet a certain action-figure robot's gonna be festively shiny in the near future.

 

 

We got home, and I literally crashed on the sofa for 2+ hours. Dearest was sitting on my hip, bouncing while playing on the Wii, and I barely stirred. A glorious nap. It definitely made the list of ‘Top Six Sleeps' during my lifespan. Beloved Hubby had a frustrating day, and has a super-busy tomorrow, so I had dinner ready ten minutes after he got home, and he was in bed two hours after that. With him sleeping, Dearest watching a Attack of the Clones, and no real interest in dishwashing, I headed to the studio and began cleaning up.

 

Had fabric scattered hither and yon, and craft supply boxes open and raided on top of it. Pulled the tote out to arrange stuff, and noticed how warm it was. Too close to the heating vent. Luckily, the 100 ‘anniversary edition' Crayola crayons inside weren't damaged, but the scent was strong, like a burned candle. Found them a new place, rearranged some supplies, found a place for the now-empty glitter and embossing powder cans I emptied for the snowflake project (we never have small containers when we need ‘em, until now), and the few new acquisitions.

 

The fabric took about an hour to sort out. Since it was everywhere, I also took the opportunity to go through all the ‘new' (i.e., been sitting around since October) material and get it stored. Whew, what a job ! The milk crates are packed full, the laundry basket of scraps and small pieces is just below brimming, and there's a pile of people clothes waiting to be rendered into fabric. That's fun, cutting stuff up for material, but I just don't have the energy tonight.

 

I'm going to work on the shoe pincushion directions probably around January - right now, I'm kind of tired of ‘em ! - and I'll be glad to send those out to whoever asks. I'd just put it on the website, but I've already found someone selling stuff and directions to stuff I offer free here. No way of telling if they've cribbed my pages, but it gives me pause before I do it again. I have seen a website that had basic measurements for about 30 fashion dolls, from Barbie to Elphie size. Later, I saw those same measurements offered for sale on eBay, and it was NOT the same person. I love sharing information, I love giving stuff away. But for some reason, it really burns me up when someone else makes money off my efforts. I'll be glad to get ‘em to you, but I may see about selling it to a craft magazine before I put it up for grabs on the site. Still gotta tweak it a bit more anyway.

 

Glad ya'll liked Ariel yesterday, and hope you'll like Cinderella today ! The family members I mentioned are doing OK, they're taking care of business, so to speak, and tomorrow, I get to help out as much as they'll let me. I've passed along your regards, and they thank you for your thoughtfulness. I thank you for letting me whine all week !

 

Tomorrow : Doll Time ! I owe it to me, and them !

Wednesday's not going well...
Now Playing: "Love-Bheits" - Venture Bros. Season 2 episode
 

Current Mood : Happy, but exhausted and worried 

It's all over ! The Shoe Pincushion Event Horizon is complete ! All that remains is giving ‘em out at school tomorrow. Whew. Can't believe I did it. Took me fifteen hours over two days, but it's done and I'm happy. Only out-of-pocket costs were for the shoes (used discount coupons !) and sand (40lb sack of playground variety is literally dirt cheap at Mal-Wart) - and it averages out to 39c a shoe. It'd be more if it counted time and fabric, but heck, I was glad I have such a great stash so we didn't have to buy more supplies !

 

Now all I have to do tomorrow is package up the snowflake project for the party. Wheee. I'll certainly look festive, by the time I get all that glitter into those tiny little baggies. We got several ‘I'll send' notes in today, so it looks like it'll be a pretty good party. I hate that I get so bitter sometimes, but...

 

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but some family members got really bad news today. Nothing life-threatening (which means it can be dealt with, at least), but definitely life-altering. They'll need our help, a lot and frequently, but luckily I don't have to radically alter tomorrow. I just hope everything will be all right, later.

 

Tomorrow we kind of get into what I call the Christmas ‘Danger Zone'. It's the 20^th, always a wake-up call for yer procrastinator shoppers. When days are single digits, there's plenty of time. In the teens, there's still at least a week between you and C-Day. But once the days dip into those that start in 2s - watch out ! People are tired and a bit cranky, and are kinda sick of spending money and draggin' out to stores again. I'm just glad I already have all we need, and I don't have to head out unless I need something that isn't a gift. Shoot, I went to Dollar Tree Monday, and my nearly $20. in stuff (mostly party goods) was dwarfed by serious shoppers - the nice lady in front of me bought $53. worth of goodies. Wow. Folks may be tired and worried, but spending and shopping's still fun, after all !

 

Anyway, there's the shoes. You can see the stack of matching gift bags, ready to go, on the left. I used every shoe I bought, and darn it, somebody's gonna take ‘em all, if I have to leave them at a bus stop. Hope you enjoyed today's Disney Princess - Michelle and Manda's favorite ! Here's some bonus fun with ‘em. Pick out where the line was. You know, where the sticker separates from the paper, so you can peel it up ? Yup, the last two and the next two have that, but the two after those don't. Yup - there's seven, not six. I forgot the image on the packaging. Gonna have to redraw part of the last one, but I think it's worth it.

 

And I need about twelve hours of sleep, not the six I'm gonna get. But I take it where and when I can get it, and try to catch up later. I owe me and my dolls some serious together time after Thursday, that's fer sure !