Merry Christmas, Ya'll.

 

 

 

I did it ! Well... sorta almost...

 

Current Mood : Very, very tired - but again, excited about tomorrow ! Plus, we're supposed to get snow ! 

 

I gotta start off with a 'thanks' - I really appreciate all the encouragement and praise ! I'm not sure who's more pleased with my 'new' Lab, ya'll or me. It's like we're discovering it together ! And also, here's a confession - my asthma's been really bad since yesterday. I mean, wake up every half-hour gasping bad. If I don't move around a lot, I can breathe, but even carrying one of the crates five feet has me gasping. So I've been taking it easy, and taking my time with lots of breaks.

 

But I can't stay out of the Lab for long ! I want sooo much to have it all done. So today, I started with the fabric. And folding it didn't take a lot of energy. Just a long time. And a couple hours later, with a few last-minute donations, it was done. The eight overflowing crates became four...and a half. (sigh) I just couldn't get it down any further, and I was tired of scrapping so much. Seriously, the recycled contractor's-grade lawn and leaf bag I used to hold the fabric-only donations is not only huge, it's stuffed full, and I can't lift it. So I stored the last ‘keeper' bits in an emptied shoe box on top of the crates. I'll just have to use it first ! Oh, and the white plastic basket on the other crate tower is all UltraSuede. Not getting rid of that, no way ! I'd always intended to just replace the basket when I got it all folded and assembled from the get-go.

 

Still, I can't help but be a bit proud of m'self. Two months ago, the very idea of scrapping half (maybe a bit more) of my fabric hoard was ludicrous. I bought and paid good money for every stray strand of all that, and I wanted every bit ! Two weeks ago, I was starting to see how having less fabric would be better than having too much. Yeah, I spent good money on pretty much all of it - but letting it continue to control me would be a greater misuse of a far more limited resource, time. And it's not like I had to ditch everything - just all that came between me and the pieces I really fell in love with.

 

And, as with most clean-outs, I was inspired all over again, just seeing all I had to use. I'm still not sure how I let it get so ridiculous, but I did, one dollar and one yard at a time. Hopefully I'll have learned my lesson this time. It says something that I haven't been to Hancock Fabrics in months, and they've had holiday sale e-mails every day this month. But after two days of sort and store and toss, I still don't find any sense of loss in missing those sales in me. And this weekend, I didn't have time to notice until Monday that I'd totally skipped the Flea Market !

 

Once the fabric was finally dispersed, and after a movie break with Beloved Hubby, Dearest Son, and the brownies my guys made while I toiled away in my Lab, I attacked the cluttery spots. Turns out there's plenty of room under the desk for stabilizers, the craft tote of sewing tools, and a few other storage boxes. Yaaay !

 

Once the Lab clutter was stored, I got the last box of misc. I moved to our bedroom while furniture was swapped around. Most of it's now placed, but there's a clutter-jam of dolls by the Castle and I still have to go through the larger doll furniture storage and the carpet / backdrop storage areas, but for the most part, the Lab is darn near close to finished. I may move the windowsill dress form / sewing machine collection to orbit the crescent moon lamp. The area under holds the Madeira thread Treasure Chest, but I can still use it to stage doll photos, which would be so cool. I even sat at the new desk and mimed sewing ! Oh, it was so nice...

 

I'm hoping to actually sew tomorrow. Since we're having Christmas dinner at Aunt's house - her first holiday without Uncle - I'm hoping to embroider some fleece scarves for everyone. It's a good way to test out my new setup !

 

It's cluttered as anything can be short of a tornado, but the Lab's getting there !

 

Current Mood : Exhausted and tight-chested, but happy !

 

As you can expect, today was a busy day ! I moved both sewing machines onto the new desk, and moved most of the old desk stuff over, too. Since we decided to use the wood-grain side parts as night-stands in our bedroom, that freed up the two plastic cabinets we were using. One went to Dearest Son, the other went into the Lab to hold lace and ribbon and trim. The drawer the lace was in now holds Dearest's old school papers, and my ‘Fashion Plates' collection filled up the new nightstand. So that worked out.

 

Gave up about half of what was in the single-shelf cabinet, and almost all of what was on top of the bookcase. But now the Barbie Friend Ship and the Country Living Home fit up there, side by side, and they blend right in with the doll case display. The next thrift shop I visit will get a bagload of zippers, fun foam, craft supplies, and a metric ton of fabric I haven't used in years.

 

That's taking forever. I'm in the process of condensing eight milk crates of fabric into four, and boosting them up on two empty crates. The empty ones will store jewelry findings, the mini iron, and other craft stuff - yup, I went through it all and dumped some of that, too. Found a few traces of mouse, typical for our area, but I don't want ‘em in what fabric I'm trying to keep, so maybe all the plastic boxes will keep them out of my material. About all I got done on that today was a quick blitz of ‘keep or donate', so there's now five and a half crates instead of eight. I'm going to re-fold the keeper material, so I can fit more in the space I have, and keep as much as possible !

 

Also went through that huge, overflowing bin of small fabric bundles while I was at it, since I emptied a tote that takes up far less space, and fits where I want it to. It held ribbon this morning (grin). That's already done, so I now have an empty 106 quart bin and a 32 quart one filled with fabric that I can even put the lid on. A lot of today's ‘ditching power' it is simply being honest with m'self about small things. Like, I'm not that fond of snowmen. They're cute, but not my favorite. That makes it easier to dump any and all snow-character fabric, and keep the pretty, the glittery, the kitty, the vintage-y pieces instead.

 

The cabinet and my old desk are in the hallway. The cabinet's going to replace Dearest's dresser - one of the drawers fell apart again - but we still don't know where the desk is headed. While I was moving the fabric crates back to the Lab, I discovered that the cabinet can hold two crates on the bottom shelf. Free toy storage ! Dearest can't wait to get it.

 

From the residual clutter in one Lab corner, I've got about a day's worth of work still to go - stuff to place, things to dig through - and another day of folding and storing fabric so it all fits in just four milk crates. Wish me luck !

 

The most wonderful Christmas gift ever...

 

Current Mood : Beyond thrilled ! 

Current Image Notes : Guess what's new in the Lab ? 

 

So, today I was thinking (and the very Earth trembled). When do I have the most fun in the Lab ? When I'm tearing it up to do something new in there ! And with my new ‘use it or lose it' goals, I can have it torn up for weeks ! I also realized that I haven't sewn all year because Brody is on the sole surface set up for sewing. The cutting/pattern table is all wrong to sew on - wrong height, wrong depth, no leg space - and all other flat surfaces are in use for other things and aren't good for sewing either. Technically, I can sew on a TV-tray table, but those wobble around a lot. What're we gonna do about that ?

 

Seriously. I don't want ‘KJ', my regular sewing machine, set up on the dining room table. It's not permanent, too far away from most of my supplies, and not where I want to sew. We're not gonna mention how it'd be covered over with mail, clothes, and misc. in less than a week. What I need is another desk or table in the Lab. Nothing major, just something stable - doesn't need drawers or anything. So I proposed a deal to Beloved Hubby. If I could find one cheap second-hand or he could make one, I'd donate and ditch the two milk crate ‘towers' of fabric in order to create space for it. He agreed, and quickly sketched out a simple desk-like table with two open cubbyholes for thread and often-used notions, much like my current school-surplus table. Just with the spaces on the opposite side. Awesome. I want to sew again, not just embroider, and this would be great !

 

A small confession. Brody is a combination sewing-embroidery machine. But I hate changing tension, feet, and supplies on him when they're just right for one function, but not quite right for the other. I have two machines I'm comfortable with, and greedy me wants to use them both.

 

I began brainstorming of ways to redo my sewing spaces. I breathed a sigh of relief. With a second table, I could move the often-annoying small plastic cabinet on my sole sewing desk over to the new one, I thought. It only holds iron-on patches and sew-on appliqués, and often gets in the way, so having it somewhere else...then I smacked m'self on the forehead. Um, if the cabinet's in the way, nobody says I have to keep it, and keep it right in that spot forever ! I can transfer all the patches to a bag or box, and move it to the notions cabinet ! Duh ! Why did I not realize this years ago ?! Aarrgh !

 

Also in that vein of thought, I decided to ditch the plastic ‘rug saver' circle-thing under my sewing chair. We bought one, intending to buy another later, so both our computer chairs would be able to move easily on our carpeted floors, years (possibly approaching a decade) ago. Shortly after, we moved to a place with tile floors and then down to one computer, so it ended up in the garage. When we settled in here, I put it under my chair at the sewing desk - where it's been a PITA ever since. The casters keep getting caught in the edges, I can't move very much, there's a crack in it that endangers toes and chair at random moments... time to dump what doesn't work. If it didn't have that crack, I'd try to donate it, but I know it's trash. I'm only holding on to it because seven or eight years ago - possibly more - it was sorta expensive. Feh.

 

I was mentally reorganizing things when I took a peek on Craigslist.org, just to see what cheep desks and tables were out there. Well, you know what happened next. I found the desk of my dreams for $50. It wasn't far away, and was absolutely HUGE - I could get both machines on it with room to spare, and it had a cubby-filled hutch !

 

If I got this monster, the Lab would darn near be a complete do-over. The two-shelf cabinet would have to go, as would my old desk. I found that I wasn't quite so attached to them as I thought I was. And it was doubtful that this corner-oriented beastie would go under the window, something I always insisted on before. Wanted the view while I sewed. But that wasn't as important as it used to be either.

 

Three hours later, we were on our way home, desk in the truck. It had suffered from a bad paint job, but by the time we get all my stuff on it, you won't be able to see the bad spots. The white center section is in my Lab, and the faux-woodgrain tables are now in our bedroom. The Lab is torn up ! I got milk crates of fabric stacked up high in our bedroom, the cutting table's in the middle of the floor, and my old desk is right where it's been for the last few years, but it'll be out tomorrow. To where, I have no idea.

 

It's really late, and I got a fabric-filled dollhouse to move off our bed... but I can't wait for tomorrow ! This is gonna be so much fun !

Meet my new Hottie !

 

Current Mood : Happy and a bit silly

Spent on a new doll today :  $12.35

 

Today went much better amongst the animals of Chez Insanity. There's a small pass-through ‘window' in the hallway that leads to the kitchen, and a door at the end of the hall that separates living room from bedrooms and my Lab. DC can easily jump through the pass-through and be in the kitchen without either dog knowing it. That's what he did today, he jumped through and got within four feet of Brisco and Friday before streaking off again. Later today, he zipped through the kitchen, across Beloved Hubby's Studio and to the back door, wanting out, before the dogs noticed. So he's slowly getting used to the dogs, and the dogs aren't chasing or worrying him, either. They're also becoming house-trained, and both are doing pretty well at that. Hope is flowering.

 

And, since Dearest Son is still with his grandparents -he'll be home Monday morning - we took advantage of it and did some holiday shopping. Even early on Sunday, TRU was packed. It didn't help that they had big toys stacked in the ‘racetrack', and carts routinely bumped them into pedestrians' shins. In retail, the ‘racetrack' is the main circle through the store that hits as many departments as possible, and is usually the widest walkway. We lucked out and found most of what we meant to get with minimal fuss, and decided on what to advise his grandparents' to snag. We like to leave them a few ‘oh, wow, I got it !' goodies to give when we can.

 

It's not as easy as it sounds. When Dearest was into Thomas the Tank Engine, I sent them a list of all the trains we'd bought for Christmas and during the year. He opened our gifts first that morning. Later, when he opened theirs, she got most of the same trains. No problem, we could just exchange them, right ? Nope. She'd torn them all out of their packages and thrown the boxes out  - something Dearest had done at home, too. Year before last, I told them we'd bought the big toy he wanted, the one he was so excited about, and even showed it to DFIL. They came over Christmas Eve with....yup, the exact same toy. Oh, was I fried.

 

Last year, I went shopping with DFIL, so I knew exactly what they got, and everything was fine. Hmm. I may offer to do that this week, too...

 

And heck, I was at TRU. You know I looked at dolls. It was almost heartening to see how empty the Barbie shelves were. Showed Beloved that the doll he got for me at $25. was $60. on their shelves, and she didn't even have the necklace. Our TRU really didn't have much, but they had plenty of the new improved Dream Townhouse and the Pink Glamour Camper. Got a good look at the Barbie Basics, and they're nice, but to me, not worth the hype. I actually prefer Claire to the Teresa-faced BB. Although that Steffie-faced one had my eye... maybe later.

 

The doll who really captured me was a Fashionista. Yup, there's my Hottie - Fashionista Ken ! I'd only seen him on In The Pink and in promo photos on eBay, so I was really happy to see him for just $11.44 on the shelves. He's now fully deboxed and relaxing on my desk, with his hat on straight and his eyes riveted to Beloved's episode of Law & Order. The hat, by the way, is soft vinyl, but it really does have a straw-hat sheen. He has a bit of a baby face that's quite endearing, but his well-sculpted arms and chest are all man ! He also has a ‘shifting torso' body, so he can lean and even pivot. While I'd have loved bending wrists, I'm pretty happy with him as-is. And I love his shirt design ! I'm seeing those same curves and trailing lines in a lot of embroidery designs lately, too.

 

Speaking of designs, you've got to see this - new for 2010 ->

http://www.sneakerfreaker.com/feature/adidas-starwars-lookbook/15/

 

Crates and hopes...

 

Current Mood : Much better -thanks, ya'll !

 

Well, nearly anything looks better after a good night's sleep, and since we were up late on our ‘puppy run', I needed the rest. DC-kitty spent all night under our bed, but came out this morning, still upset and scared of what was in the living room. After his breakfast, we tucked the dogs into another room, and he made a run for the front door and outside.

 

Few hours later, he wanted back in, so again, ‘Brisco' (Beloved Hubby's border collie mix) and ‘Friday' (Dearest Son's Australian Cattle Dog mix puppy) were led to his Studio, and DC ran off.  I found him and carried him inside, earning a clawed up arm in the process. He stayed in all day, but at least was on top of the bed, instead of under it.

 

So this afternoon, we leashed up Brisco and took him to PetCo. Friday stayed home and slept - he's painfully thin, and is sleeping a lot. Selected appropriate sized crates and a few other necessities we didn't pick up last night. Brisco did very well on the leash, and behaved when addressed. I actually enjoyed walking him, and he's very affectionate.

 

Gave both dogs baths with flea and tick shampoo, and found that they both love the ‘chocolate chip cookie' treats we brought home. It was so cute, the cookies were in a holiday-themed bag, and they smell just like regular people-food cookies. Friday loves his crate, it's a special hidey-hole for him. Brisco is less enthused, but will walk in when told to do so.

 

They both love wandering the yard, but even with the fence all around, they won't stray far from us. Dear FIL picked up Dearest Son today, and loved meeting both the new additions to the family. DC will come around, I believe. It'll just have to be at his pace.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, ya'll. I was pretty upset last night, but now I believe it'll work out.

 

In other news, everyone's going to Aunt's house for Christmas dinner. She's been very lonely since Uncle passed last month, so I'm gonna make a side dish and sew up some matching fleece hat and embroidered scarf sets for everyone. A rose design for Aunt, kitty for DMIL, Betty Boop for DFIL, and appliqué initials for Uncle and DBIL. I should have enough fleece already, and if I make a set every day, I'll be done in time. No-cost small gifts - you know I love ‘em !

 

During the height of my Clean House obsession, I read the mystyle.com discussion boards for the show. One homeowner was really the fan anti-favorite, mostly because she didn't seem to appreciate what the cast did, even shouting on-camera she regretted giving up her stuff for their design work. Veterans of the show may already know, I'm talking about Tony Dragon, and her episode repeats Christmas Day, late afternoon. I've seen some clips, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the whole thing.

 

Well, Beloved Hubby's let me choose dinner, so Chinese should be here soon. Hope your Saturday was great ! I didn't go near the flea market - too busy with other stuff !

Well, Beloved and Dearest got their holiday 'big gifts' tonight...

 

Current Mood : Bitter and a bit ticked...

 

Beloved Hubby brought out a huge stack of books last night when I reminded him we were going on a Hastings trading trip - so I decided to take a quick peek at my shelves. And ditched six sewing books I haven't touched since I got ‘em from various yard sales for a buck or less. Three books on tailoring designer clothes, one on tailoring blouses, a duplicate copy of More Fabric Savvy (I couldn't resist, even though I already had  it - those 25c books always snag me) , and one on reupholstery. Hastings took ‘em all, and most of Beloved's, and about half the rest of the books that'd been lounging around, and all but two DVD's - and we got nearly $80. in store credit ! We bagged the remainders - about two Mal-Wart sacks full - and set out to spend some of it.

 

Over an hour later, Dearest picked out the Battle Force Five Wii game to rent, and a Wall-E coloring book. I went ahead and got a used copy of The Story of Barbie, 1994 edition, by Kitturah B. Westenhouser. That took less than $20. off our gift card, so we may do a bit of holiday shopping with the rest.

 

The bags of leftover books vanished for several hours - I thought someone might have ‘borrowed' them - but Hastings called when they turned up later. Now I just have to find some time to go over and get them.

 

Then... well... Beloved Hubby and Dearest Son have campaigned long and hard for a dog. Especially over the holidays. I can see all the benefits, but I worry about our cat, DC. Well, they found a no-kill shelter about an hour's drive away. Long story short (sigh) we now have two dogs, and DC is beyond stressed. The larger of the two dogs chased DC, and he reacted like any cat - he leapt about six feet straight in the air, literally rebounded off a wall, tore h#ll out of the curtains, scratched, spit, and hid under our bed while Beloved tried to grab Big Dog long enough to let DC get away. Kitty hasn't come out yet, and the over-shy puppy isn't willingly coming out from under my desk, and I've cleaned up three piles of poop and two puddles. I am NOT enthusiastic about these dogs.

 

I don't think either of them have been in a house, no matter what the shelter guy said, and they both have fleas. Not sure when Beloved's gonna have time to train them, but he's in charge of that. But I swear on all that is holy on this planet, if these mutts have cost me my cat, Beloved's gonna be on a heckuva lot more ‘poop patrol' than he thinks !

 

Who knew I'd be happy with pink tulle for Christmas ?

 

Current Mood : Busy and cheerful

 

Today was ‘half the errands' day, since tomorrow is ‘the rest of ‘em' day. I got the box of Barbie cards I promised to Gailya mailed, returned library books from Dearest Son's school (cringe - we've had them for months !), bought the white pillowcase sets for my commissions to Joanne, and returned the beige ones I bought last night to Mal-Wart. Did a bit of grocery shopping late last night, and figured I'd go ahead and get the ‘cases. Too bad M-W only had colors, but I thought ‘vanilla' would be fine. In daylight, they were just too dark, so they went back, and I got two Target sets identical to the ones I used for Joanne's sets. Surprisingly, the Target sets were each a buck cheaper !

 

And I know what Beloved Hubby got me for Christmas - beyond the computer upgrade. It's in my closet, I'm not letting me have it until the 25^th. I think I can wait a week to debox the Generations of Dreams Barbie. We found one at Mal-Wart with the bonus necklace, still just $25., so... I'm claiming the dress, necklace, and probably the shoes, but I'll put the doll up for shipping grabs, I just don't like her. Looks too much like one of those Sybarites to me. Apologies to anyone who adores them, for you to love them, it must be a fantastic doll. To me, unfortunately, she looks too much like a man in drag. While I support cross-dressing, I don't really like the current fashion-forward aesthetic. There's plenty of beautiful women on the planet, I don't wanna feel ugly next to beautiful men, too.

 

Well, the person who said she wanted the American Girl-size Jeep stood me up. Left a message, don't expect to hear from her again, so it gets offered to the other person who asked. (sigh) This is why I tend to donate things instead of selling ‘em.

 

Got a bit bored, and I noticed that the little pleat under the ‘wings' button on Claire's "Flight Attendant" outfit was permanent, part of the way the wings were sewn on - unless I picked it off and re-sewed it by hand m'self. So I did it, and did it again, because the first time, I sewed an entirely different pleat under there. Learned to hold the stretchy fabric flat with one hand while I stitched with the other. No pleat, and because I gave the stitches some slack, the button wings hang better, too.

 

Flea market's here tomorrow. I'm gonna try not to go, since there's plenty of projects and fun stuff waiting to be done already. Wish me luck at staying away !

We interrupt the Christmas card series to bring you... Claire !

 

Current Mood : (yawn) Very sleepy

 

Spent on dolls : $10.80

 

Current Image Notes : I kinda said, “What the heck” and swapped heads between Claire (formerly my ITP ‘Talk of the Town’ win) and Miss Sassy (Fashionista). Not a perfect match, but close enough for me ! Oh, and the Flight Attendant outfit looks great with Sassy’s belt and boots !

 

Laundry day ! And since I haven’t done it in two weeks, it’s a real job. But I’ve had some time in between loads… to watch a few dozen episodes of Clean House. No matter how many I ditch, the DVR keeps about 20 episodes all the time. Whew.

 

 

When ya watch a binge-load of ‘em all at once – mostly to get rid of ‘em – it’s easy to see a few things. One, the CH crew deals with the homeowners much the same way I deal with Dearest Son. If he won’t take care of his own clutter and mess, I will. But my way includes a box of trash bags. On the show, since the homeowners can’t or won’t take care of their crap, the hosts zero in on a beloved ‘toy’ or possession to give up, as a sort of penance. Even if it won’t bring a dollar in the yard sale portion, I now see it as a form of ‘ya didn’t take care of your crap, so I have to – and it’s gonna cost ya’. Which is more or less what I do with Dearest. After this summer’s clean-out, he’s kept things up pretty well.

 

 

I was kinda getting tired of seeing these folks whine ‘I don’t know where to staaaart !’ or drag their heels about Granddad’s Antebellum Enema Collection until they get a 46” flat-screen TV. If they can’t clean their own space, well, they kinda have sacrifices coming. And they know darn good and well how to start, most just don’t want to, would rather assign blame, or go buy more stuff. That’s what scares me straight, since it’s so much easier and fun to bargain-hunt than it is to deal with what’s already inside. Pick up the piece closest to you, and finally assign it, clean it, store it, trash it – that’s much harder… too bad it’s the only way to start once you’ve got a pile of a house. I’m learning, slowly but surely, to not bring anything else in here in the first place.

 

 

I kinda won and lost my own battle today. On hearing that ‘My Favorite Doll’ sets – Malibu, Bubblecut, and SuperStar – were marked down to $10. over at walmart.com, I gave in and got the SuperStar I’ve been wanting. Successfully beat back the impulse to snag another Malibu ( I have one of those, still boxed) or a Bubblecut (already have a vintage blonde doll) – mostly because I didn’t have a lot of funds anyway. I got the one of the three I really liked, and that’s enough.

 

 

It’s funny, because I was just at walmart.com yesterday, and saw that the very same three dolls for $20. each, and said ‘no’, albeit with regrets. Ten bucks was much harder to refuse, especially when I wanted SuperStar so much. To add to the fun, I saved 97c by requesting ‘Ship to Store’ – but since it’s a local sale, I had to pony up 80c for tax !

 

Doll and Dorrie maintenance...

 

Current Mood : Happiest when busy

 

Today started off briskly - thanks to the daily Craft blog, I found a great craft. Miniature record albums, complete with sleeve and record ! The creator, Paul Overton, designed ‘em for use as gift tags, but ya'll know how us doll people are... I instantly saw it as a great doll prop !

 

As-is, they're a bit big, but would work for, say Crissy or American Girl-size dolls. But once you have one printed out - or good printer software - you can scale ‘em any size you want. Mr. Overton thoughtfully provided not only ready-to-use artwork in the PDF download, but also templates to create your own with. Link beneath has a video and photos, and a download link, so ya may wanna check ‘em out !

 

http://www.dudecraft.com/2009/12/how-to-mini-lp-record-gift-tags.html

 

I also did something new, something I've always avoided. Found directions for making fleece house-slippers, very easy. Only problem is, no printable pattern. Just a drawing on grids. I hate reproducing patterns that way. But Beloved Hubby needs some warm snugglies for his feet, and he hates hard-soled house slippers. So I gave it a go. It wasn't that hard, mostly because the designer included actual measurements beyond ‘each square is two inches'. Hoping to find my fleece and give it a quick trial this week.

 

I then moved to cleaning off my perpetually wrecked desk. I swear, it was completely clean when Beloved Hubby worked on my computer the other day ! Found a box for the dolls I'm not keeping, then moved on to the ones I am. Sanded down the peeling ‘skin' on Costume Ball Ken's left hand. A bit of lotion helped make the uneven edges less visible. Once he was resting, I turned my attention to the new-to-me clothes, snipping loose threads and checking wear marks, spot treating a few areas.

 

Then I dragged down my doll washing machine. Basically, it's a small all-transparent take-out soup container with a tight lid from the local Chinese place. It's reserved just for doll clothes maintenance. Easier on the small garments than tossing ‘em in the regular washer, but still gets the dirt and dust out. A drop of dish detergent, some warm water, and some fun shaking is all I need besides the ‘washer'. Like a real one, I do an agitation cycle with soapy water, then a clear water rinse. Since wringing ‘em out can damage fragile miniature fabrics, I roll the rinsed clothes up tight in a towel a couple times, then hang ‘em or drape ‘em in the Lab to dry. If dirt still shows up in the ‘rinse' cycle, I repeat a wash one. That's why I use the see-through soup container instead of a butter tub.

 

While the clothes are hanging out, I can often fix minor problems. Like getting that tiny tie to lie flat, or pinch-press a collar down. Usually everything's dry the next day. Which is good - laundry looks rather tacky draped over the Castle walls for long periods of time.

 

And, once in the Lab, I decided to see to a few things. Told Tiffany Taylor that she'd be living with a certain Mouse, soon as I found a good box for the trip. Dressed the nude Ken and two other dolls runnin' around nekkid, and put some stray doll clothes away. Remembered to put Brody's cover back on, and stored a bit of desk detritus. Then it was time to get the badly neglected dishes done - ugh ! - so I wished everyone a nice afternoon and got to it. I swear, I fell completely out of my routine when I had tummy trouble last week, and it's taken me the rest of the week to shake my stupor and get back to it. Then again, it's not like the dishes won't wait for me...