Little splurges.

 

Current Mood : A bit frustrated... but looking forward to Saturday !

Spent on an embroidery design : $3.

Current Image Notes : That's the design I bought. Haven't stitched it out yet, but you can see how it'd be irresistible for me !

 

 Well. When I went to start making the soft-sided box I bought instructions for last night, I found that it required 6mm-thick foam sheets. And I didn't have any. I had a pack of 20 2mm sheets. So, I did what any crafter would at least try - I glued ‘em together. It kinda cheeses me off that, if I don't find 6mm foam sheets locally, I'll have to mail-order stuff to use the pattern I bought. It's my own fault for not checking, but to me, ‘6mm foam sheets' is what I see everywhere, not a specialty item. Still, I should have checked, and if I'd have known they were hard to find, I'd  have kept my five bucks. It's my own fault for assuming it needed the sheets available from Dollar Tree to Michael's Crafts. Kinda defeats the ‘instant download' benefits of the pattern when you have to mail-order a main part of the construction. Arrrgh.

 

With that knowledge, I also knew I wouldn't be stitching one up last night or today. Maybe this weekend, but not now. However, I did find something I can use a bit later in this morning's e-mail. Craft's daily e-mail linked me to a free design/pattern to cover and line milk crates ! While I can't do that for my fabric-stuffed ones - I need them to link together, so they can't be covered up - I can have some fun with the ones in Dearest Son's room cabinet, for toy storage. Heck, I can even use the same design to cover the two I have blocking Friday from my Lab !

 

And, with the crates lined, they can be used for small toys, like action figures and accessories, that would normally slip through the slots. I think I know what my ‘sewing project' for this week will be ! I already have the PDF printed out and ready to go.

 

(sigh) Plus, I've already gone against my vow to buy as few embroidery designs this year as possible - yup, I bought one today. It's all Urban Threads' fault. Other sites can give me great sales and fabulous discounts... UT gives me a fantastic freebie that I'd gladly pay for. And since I have to go through Checkout to get it, I usually decide to get one of the two or three I've been wanting anyway. The freebie was a ‘goes to 11' dial that's just awesome, so I went ahead and shelled out $3. for their dress form design. Ya'll know I'm a sucker for those. So that's my first embroidery purchase of 2010. Hopefully there won't be many more.

 

Dearest Son had a nice birthday celebration today. His grandparents got him a new Clone Wars spaceship, and he loved his new Nerf weaponry. He conned a new Nerf weapon out of his Dad when they picked up his Garfield cake, and he'll get to play the Wii Nerf game at his grandparents'.

 

I thought I'd go sew, but I've been having fun downloading new music onto the MP3 from Napster, so I doubt I'll stir much. But tomorrow's a busy day - I get to do a bit of shopping ! I have a few bucks, and there's a Flea Market...

Boxes - coming soon !

 

Current Mood : Still sleepy

Spent on craft stuff : $2.

 

Got another Blue Screen of Death ^TM this morning, and it took three tries before the recovery disc worked. But at least this time, I didn't have to reinstall Stitch Era Universal !

 

And again, the prep time on Dearest Son's latest embroidered t-shirt far exceeded the actual embroidery time. It usually takes me about half an hour to get a shirt hooped properly for Brody, sometimes longer. Of course, the design itself only took fifteen minutes to stitch out. And I had to wash it twice, since the chalk marks didn't come out the first time. I did go kinda heavy on them this time.

 

Spent a good chunk of the rest of the day debating whether or not to spend $2. in cash - I had $3. in PayPal - on a new pattern I liked. It makes soft-side boxes ! There's dozens of free patterns for that online, but these used fun foam insides, and I liked how the lid worked. I have lots of fun foam...and I could make a box to wrap Dearest Son's birthday present ! I already have Wall-e fabric.  So I bought it.

 

You can see it here -> http://www.youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/Case-Study-Basic-Boxes-3-sizes.htm  

 

I even printed the PDF download out, in color ! And stored it in a yard sale prong folder. I knew there was a reason I kept that ancient three-hole puncher around. Since most of the ‘pattern' is measured squares and rectangles, only the front flap and hinges are actual print-out patterns. I went ahead and scanned the print-out pattern pieces, so I can delete directions I don't need to reprint. Yeah, I'm dirt-cheap with ink, that's why my printing out the whole 36 page booklet - in color ! - is sort of shocking.

 

Not sure if I'll have time to sew it tonight, since cutting it out seems like it would take at least an hour. I get to cut out squares in fun foam, in fleece, in interfacing and fusible webbing, as well as interior, exterior and flap and hinge fabrics. But the top of even the smallest box - there's three sizes - would give me enough space to embroider something cool, or use a stitch-out. I could even embroider all the sides, and put a name on the flap closure.

 

Since there's not a lot going on tonight, I'm going to bed early ! Hope you sleep well tonight !

I hope that's the only error I gotta deal with...

 

Current Mood : Sleepy - but still awake.

 

Running a bit of an experiment. Before I donated the second-hand paper dolls I'd accumulated for their slightly-too-small backdrops, I removed the double-sided sticky dot pages a couple of ‘em had. Their original purpose - keeping paper clothes on cardboard dolls - has been co-opted. Since I constantly have small dolls and tiny dress forms falling over wherever they're displayed, I decided to give the clear adhesive circles a try. I hope they work, since they're a lot less visible than the masking tape I occasionally employ for the same purpose. Much as I'd love to buy Museum Wax or something similar, I've never found it locally, and hey, we're still broke. May as well use what we got ! Can always toss them if it doesn't work later.

 

I also ended up repurposing a different bowl for DC, since his original one has vanished. We've been feeding his canned chow to him on a reused polystyrene plate, but his licking often knocks it off the end table he eats from these days. Half the time, DC goes after the chow, the other half, it remains on the floor until Friday finds it. All dogs love cat food.

 

So, when the Lab clean out last month unearthed and emptied a small three-drawer cabinet, I kept it, but mostly because Aunt gave it to me. Got tired of moving it around, and finally placed it in the bathroom, where it now holds cotton swabs and razors. That freed a catch-all bowl up - and after a quick scrub, it's now DC's new food bowl.

 

I also relocated the trash can at my desk, since it was always in my way and constantly full, since it was the only one in the living room. It's now at Beloved Hubby's bedside, and I'm now using a cleaned out rice cracker container for desk bits. It's small enough to not be in the way, and it can only hold about a double handful of trash. I'm thinking of reclaiming the old can I use to store wrapping paper in the garage... or getting a bigger one for the kitchen and allocating the kitchen one to the living room. We need a large one in the kitchen anyway...

 

I love repurposing stuff - especially when it also frees up some clutter !

 

Got the doll clothes I bought from my last visit to the Flea Market washed up. The Fashion Avenue blue ‘poodle' sweater was stiff from something, but now it's nice and soft and drying. Since what I bought was all fairly modern, it probably would have been OK in the regular washing machine, but I sort of like using my take-out bowl.

 

Since it got quiet here early again, I decided to load up the ‘Buy N Large' logo from Wall-e that I digitized a few months ago. Got Brody moved and installed, and had no problems moving the designs onto his memory...but I noticed the BnL I did was a bit smaller than I wanted. So I clicked on Stitch Era Universal to redo it, a bit bigger.

 

And got an error message. "Class not Registered", to be exact, followed by a series of numbers and letters. Well, shoot. Maybe I didn't get off scott free from the system failure yesterday after all. Restarted, still the same. Restarted again, same result. I knew others had this problem with Stitch Era, since I'm part of their Yahoo group, so I consulted my saved e-mails. Not much for it but to uninstall and reinstall. Arrrgh.

 

But while I was doing that, Windows threw up a message. I had vital updates that needed to be installed. NOW ! If I hadn't already gotten halfway through the SEU uninstall, I'd have done the update first, since that may have fixed the problem. You'd have thought that message would have come up the first time I restarted. But, nothing for it. Finished uninstalling, then got the updates - which took over an hour to download and install. Then I got to reinstall SEU. Which had four updates I needed to get, too. Aaarrrrrrgh.

 

Long story short (too late !), it took me less than three minutes to make the changes I wanted - nearly two hours after I started it. Still, it's done now, and the new one is on Brody, so all I have to do is hoop up another shirt and stitch it out. Which will probably have to wait until tomorrow. It's much later than I want !

May your 2010 be Blue Screen free !

 

Current Mood : Sleepy...

 

Today was off to an unforgettable start when I sat down, still yawning, to my much-loved and nearly-always-in-use computer...and he made ominous clicking sounds. There was a pattern to them - two, then six clicks, then two again, then six. I could swear that, for some reason, the hard drive just wasn't accessing. But my monitor showed the morning normal stuff.

 

About ten seconds later, I got a Blue Screen of Death ^TM, and even before I finished reading about my kernel problems, ‘puter restarted himself. He verified his PMI data for so long, I wondered if he'd locked up, but then he flashed a black screen. Which told me I had a complete system failure, and asked me to insert the system disc, and press enter.

 

Took me a few minutes, but I found the recovery disc Beloved Hubby made a year or two ago, and loaded it, and a short, tense eternity later, I was back to where I was when the day began. I was kinda proud of me for doing the right thing, without making a panicky call to Beloved. While I waited for ‘puter to do what he was gonna do, I pulled some old discs from the collection - old programs I'll never use, stuff Dearest Son has long since outgrown, drivers for printers I thought we included when we donated them years ago. The still-useable disks will get donated, the rest were trashed. I also arranged a stack of backups that date from 2002 to last month, and reorganized the general disc storage drawer. All the programs together, all the photo discs united, all the backups in one area.

 

And the recovery disc now has its own spot, in a box instead of an envelope, stored in a location I can find immediately. Hope I don't need it again any time soon.

 

Couple years ago, I bought the flashy Fashion Fever jewelry box when a flea market table reduced it to half-price. Mostly because I loved the dress form that adorned the top. I still have the bracelet, too. Anyway, once I discovered the dress form easily popped off, the kinda chintzy box portion got relegated to the desk, although it's only use has been to boost the container I keep my prescriptions in.

 

With that drawer torn up, I reclaimed the box, and it's now in the Lab again, where it'll eventually become some sort of storage. After I paint it. Even though it's only about three years old, the back has faded to a peachy yellow.

 

Cleared off my desk, and we kinda~sorta cheated and had McDinner. When you don't go there twice a week, it's amazingly tasty when you do get to indulge ! Since dinner took no time, I got to work on Dearest Son's ‘Lego Master' t-shirt afterwards. And that's today's image. Remembered to move the design up a bit, so it's not in the middle of his chest, but now I think I should have gone even higher. 

 

I do not like it. Most of the colors were stitched twice, the design was simply too sparse with just one layer. Even with that, I still had quite a bit of touch-up with the red and black fine-point Sharpies. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since the Lego logo was a free design from one of the now dead-links Chinese sites - I added the 'Master' part m'self -  but I was hoping. Hmm. I can see a few more threads that need clipping, but I've already affixed the stitch shield, so all it really needs now is a quick spin through the washer, to get rid of those green chalk marks. Maybe one day I won't need to draw so many reference points, but they work for me right now !

 

And, since he's back into Wall-e, I may try to stitch out that ‘BnL' logo I digitized a few months back. Never worked it, because he wasn't interested anymore. Now that he is, I may as well use it - and add to the gifts he can unwrap Friday. I got plenty of shirts to work with...

 

Beloved thought I did a fantastic job on his shirt, and began work on a project for me - he's getting back into AirSoft, and I can digitize and stitch the patches for him. He's happily doing the artwork, and so far, so complicated. So I guess the ‘Learn manual design and digitizing on Stitch Era Universal' resolution will be happening fairly soon !  

 

Monday, Monday...

 

Current Mood : slightly loopy

Current Image Notes : Here's a representation of Dearest Son's soon-to-be embroidered shirt design - colors are waaaay off, though. 

 

Went through the Barbie clothes a bit, and decided to go ahead and add Dori's Alliance Starbird photo to the main site today, even though I certainly didn't sew pants or a skirt for it. I have tons of pants, shorts, skirts - you name it - for my dolls. But no one but me and Dori have an embroidered Barbie-size blouse with a bootleg LucasFilm design on it !

 

It's embarrassing that the site's last update was January 30, 2009. Almost a year's gone by without me really sewing anything. Not sure what I'll sew this week, but I already know I'll be embroidering Dearest Son's much delayed ‘LEGO Master' t-shirt tonight or tomorrow for his birthday this weekend. We're celebrating early, since DFIL has Friday off. And I remembered to call and change the pick-up date of his chocolate Garfield cake.

 

And, right after Lycos took its payment out of Checking for my site, I got a paying survey from Pinecone. (sigh) Oh, well. I'll probably spend the $3. they deposit in my PayPal account in the next day or three on that new dress form embroidery design I've been wanting over on Urban Threads, and host a mild hope that maybe one day, they'll draw my name in their monthly $500. contest. I have two entries this time ! And the same usual lack of luck when it comes to lotteries and drawings. Frankly, if I have to pay to play, I don't. I can do a lot with the dollar I don't spend on the PowerWhatever, and even more with the $2. I don't spend on a scratch-off sample of hopelessness. Of course, that's just me - I'm sure the play is worth it if you win occasionally !

 

I'm really trying to not buy any more embroidery designs this year - at least, not buy them with ‘family' funds (i.e., what's in Checking at any given moment). Small funds from occasional eBay or Craigslist sales and Pinecone, OK, but ideally, I'd like to not buy any at all. I really went nuts with them last year, possibly understandable since it was my first year with Brody, but it's past time to reign that in. So far, so good, I haven't bought any at all, but I've downloaded three or four freebies. Digitizing companies have been offering some very nice free designs, to drum up sales, since before Christmas. I try not to take advantage of them all, just the ones I'd gladly pay for !

 

Oh, all right. I've downloaded six. Since the year started. Hmft.

 

Watched the new episode of Hoarders tonight. Some of these can just about make me cry. I've about given up on Clean House. If there's a new season, I'll probably watch it again, but I've seen most of the episodes numerous times. And it does get annoying after a while.

 

I sometimes think my frantic week of Lab work was partially - or even mainly - to prove to myself I'm not a hoarder, a shopaholic, or a packrat. And that I don't need to keep everything for that specter known as Justin Case.

Winter always kicks my round butt...

 

Current Mood : Hurting

Current Image Notes : I'm now out of the DP images I've held on to if I needed one. Guess I gotta get some photos taken, and soon !

 

Since my ear's hurt all day, like a drill's been digging in the same place for twelve hours, I'm thinking the high-pressure weather system's returning. Or something. Actually, we're expecting highs in the mid-50s by mid-week, so I don't know what's going on with my upper respiratory system. I just know I go through this every winter, and if I'm lucky, I don't end up in the Emergency Room, gasping like a freshly-caught fish.

 

Beloved Hubby locked our front and back doors tonight, remarking that our age of innocence seems to be over. We had a break-in at the Shop (not a part of the house, but close behind it) and the horse-supplies last night. Only reason we knew was that the nice lady who sublets the horse-space from us asked if we'd seen her ‘poop cart'. We hadn't, but she found it soon after asking - just outside the back gates, with our wheelbarrow, loaded with every hand-tool that could be lifted by one person, from the Shop. We can only assume the nightly police drive-by startled the perps, and they took off without their ill-gotten gains. Since the police cruiser often parks at the 7-11 for anywhere from ten minutes to nearly an hour, it's probably our luck that the thieves don't know about things my insomnia showed me years ago.

 

Oddly, last night, I was in bed early, soundly asleep. I didn't even hear them break the window of that inoperative truck DFIL has parked back there. Not sure if they tried to hot-wire it or they only wanted the stereo, but the dash is all torn up. Luckily, we'd gone out to the 7-11 ourselves last night, or Bonnie-truck, the small Chevy that we all say belongs to Dearest Son, would have probably been damaged or stolen as well. She has no stereo, but does work. We took her for a snack run about two hours before I crashed, and it moved her from the backyard/Shop lot to the front house driveway. And we're beyond lucky that all the tools - including some of the horse-supplies and tack - were left behind.

 

So it's all locked up now, and Beloved spent the better part of the day exploring security options - lights, alarms, whole schmear. Not much I can do, and my guys won't let me out of the house, since it's still very cold. The police came by, took a report, and did all they could, out in the cold, but there's not much there for them. Beloved thinks it was probably kids who'd cased the place earlier, but spooked before they could pawn or sell the tools. I'm hoping that's all it was, too. Dearest is really nervous, so we put fresh batteries in his flashlight, saying the beam would scare off any robbers. It seems to have helped him remain a bit calmer than before.

 

Otherwise, it was a standard boring Sunday. I re-re-re-re-measured Princess Leia for Doll Shop Deluxe, and the resulting blouse looks really strange. Not sure if or when I'll ever sew it. I'll probably look up one of the patterns I've already used for Leia and use it. I still want her to have that ‘Starbird' shirt ! I tried the finished one on Tiana (Princess and the Frog), and it fits her, too. I also discovered that her legs and the edge of the castle floor where she was sitting are not reacting well with each other. So I redressed her,

since the dolls sitting with her are not affected. They're wearing pants, though. And now, so is Tiana.

 

And once I make Muse Dori a matching skirt or pair of pants, I'll add the ‘Alliance Starbird' shirt to the website's Home page. I'd do it now, since I need to update it from ‘Happy 2009' anyway, but I like for my featured dolls to have a complete outfit that I've made.

 

Of course, I could just crop the photo to just show the shirt...

I sewed !!

 

Current Mood : Much better ! 

 

The weather didn't improve much, but I'm breathing a lot easier. I'm still taking it easy, but I could move around a lot easier today. I hate being an invalid.

 

I'm still reefing on my success in the Lab cleanout...but it's sooo easy to back-slide. I subscribe to Simplicity patterns' online updates, so they sent me an e-mailed link to the latest patterns for Spring 2010 on their site. I was immediately taken with #2454, a reprint for sixteen and eighteen inch dolls. Fluffy dresses, vintage car coats...so sweet. Hey ! I have both - Timey and Dottie are considered sixteen-inch dolls that border on vintage, and I have the two Our Generation Battat dolls (Debbie and Jenny) on the eighteen-inch side of the design. Hmmm...

 

And, guess what ? Hobby Lobby's got a sale on Simplicity patterns - 99c ! Ends today, of course...I started planning on hopping in the shower, heading over about 2 or 3 this afternoon. I could check out the 90% off sale on whatever's left over from Christmas, peek at the fabrics, print out the 40% off coupon...

 

But I didn't. One, we're broke. Two, once I got a really good look at the pattern, I realize I already have it, about a dozen times over. Yes, it's nice that it's a reprint and I love those particular looks. But between Doll Shop Deluxe and the craft tote crammed full of other commercial patterns, I just don't need it. I have it, over and over, in every possible size.

 

What I want to buy isn't a pattern. It's getting off the computer and getting into the Lab. It's taking a breath and picking up the scissors, hoping that everything works. It's waking up in the morning and buzzing through Dearest Son's homeschooling and my housework, because once that's all done, I can go work on my latest, and I simply can't wait. It's taking 32 photos of a single doll in a new creation, because flash bounces off eye decals or it's dark when I finished, but I so want to share what I did here.

 

Can't buy it. Gotta do it. If I could buy it for 99c, we'd be even more broke than we are - I'd stock up and have packets of it ready to go, all the time ! Since there's no real cost but a mental adjustment - sort of a brain-goose - it's easy to forget how special it is when I'm in that particular zone. But I think I'm on my way back to it.

 

I'd also thought to hit the Flea Market today. Last week, I found star-printed wrapping paper, but didn't buy it. Today it occurred to me that it'd work to cover up some of the scraped shelves on my new desk. But I decided against that when I remembered I have tons of scrapbooking paper that also has stars on it, and I still own parsecs of fabric. Much of which has stars on it, too. So I decided to stay home.

 

And sew. I was careful, and did well staying in the seam allowances - I was a bit worried that I'd lost the knack after a year of not sewing, but it was still there. I'm not sure where I went wrong, since the pattern I cut out was for Princess Leia, but it only fits belly-button Barbies and smaller dolls. 'Blue Muse' Dori is modeling for us today - Hi, Dori ! Heck, it worked, though ! I have now embroidered a design specifically for dolls - and while it may not have turned out exactly how I wanted, it works, and looks OK. Can do better on the next one, though. Will improve the next one.

 

Hmf. Decided to try a cut-and-fold on the Leia pattern, on paper, and there's no way it would have fit, unless I used a knit fabric. Guess I need to double-check my settings on Doll Shop Deluxe. (sigh) Makes me wonder how I made all those other Leia outfits...

 

Well, back to ye olde drawing boarde !

I feel like two Dwarves that didn't make the Disney cut.

 

Current Mood : Wheezy and Dizzy

 

Sorry everyone. I've been engaged in a full-out battle with asthma for control of my lungs for the past few days, and if I don't take a bit of a break, it's not gonna go well for me. I'm barely able to cross a room without wheezing. I'm going to rest up as much as possible, see if tomorrow goes better. The weather's improving, and my symptoms are often tied to that, so I'm hoping.

 

I'm sure I'll be fine, so don't worry. Just gonna rest up, and hope.

 

Lab and laundry...

 

Current Mood : Pleased with Self. 

 

Actually got a bit busy today, and had some fun in the Lab ! Leia's future blouse is all cut out and Fray-Checked, waiting for me to sew it, hopefully tomorrow. It was just too edgy today to sew.

 

I guess being stuck inside for several days in a row is taking a bit of a toll. Dearest Son seemed determined to be as noisy as possible today, and DC was a ruckus on his own. He caught two mice and appeared to be having the time of his life hunting ‘em down. Beloved Hubby's reworking his business web site, so he was kind of insular - I kept having to remind him to eat.

 

Anyway, I did some minor tidying while I was in the Lab, and tried to find which shoes fit the Tiffany Taylor dolls. Some soft slippers I made for Crissy fit, but Tiff has high-heeled feet, so nothing else worked. So I'll probably need to draft an original pattern for her. I also found the blue ‘belt' bracelet I got from a 50c table at the Flea Market last month - I bought it for the rhinestone star slide charms, but the belt fits Tiff ! It just needed a couple new holes for a better fit. Luckily for me, Brody came with an eyelet awl, so it was just tap, tap, tap on the cutting board, and I had three perfect holes, exactly where I needed ‘em. I also discovered that she can fit the clothes I made for Aria, the 15-inch ‘teen Ariel' doll I bought a couple years ago. They're just a bit short on Tiffany. So I'll probably do a measurement set for her on Doll Shop Deluxe - but Aria's will work for now.

 

I also went through a ‘loose paper' tray I set up to contain...well, loose stuff. It came inside the craft tote that is now packed full of doll patterns, and I mean, it's full ! Too full for the tray. So. I filed some papers, re-hung some displaced stars, put some doll shoes where they belong, and set up the Angel Barbie next to the crescent moon lamp, which also used a Mattel Collectables stand I had...well, standing around. I'd managed to stuff all the other Mattel stands inside the Coca-Cola machine tin - you know, the one behind Megara, third from the bottom on this page -> https://dorriebelle.tripod.com/id20.html  The MAD stands are in use always, those never get stored. I just love ‘em.

 

I also decided to move the ‘Room With A View' set I got shortly after Elphie moved in, and store it in the closet. Since the prop storage for Barbies has gone waaaay down, there's room for it now ! And it clears a space for Beast to sit while I'm sewing. RWV was on top of the fabric storage bin, but since it's in the closet, Beast can lounge there now. He actually looks rather happy there.

 

And I actually did some housework. With temperatures below freezing tonight and tomorrow night, I got all the laundry together and sorted, and split it in halves. Did half tonight, and the rest'll be done tomorrow. Since that little ‘no water' scare the day after Christmas, we've been a bit hyper, so we've left faucets dripping, and held laundry ‘til the night, so warm water and dryer heat can help keep the pipes from freezing. It's funny that we're all worried about it now, since for the past two winters, we hadn't done squat different, and had no issues at all.

 

Who wants a bento ?

 

Current Mood : Still lazy.

Current Image Notes : Claire invites you to have a Japanese bento box lunch when you fly her airline ! This is one of the erasers I bought yesterday, and it's nearly perfectly in scale. I've seen the dish part in green on ITP, so I'm hoping to snag a couple more in the next week or three. Soon, you'll see Elphie with one (or more !) of the erasers that's more her size.

 

Still getting back into our ‘business as usual' schedule. I swear, I've forgotten most of it in the last two or three weeks.

 

Puppy Friday is still getting used to housebreaking. And he's found the Castle full of dolls darn near irresistible. Last week, he carried two dolls off ! Luckily, I caught him before either were damaged, but between the occasional puppy puddles and doll theft, he's banned from the Lab for the time being. While I could just close the door, I like for my Lab to be open, and the hall gets a lot of light from the Lab window. I'd been blocking Friday's entry with a cardboard triptych - a sale purchase from Hobby Lobby I haven't used yet - but DC likes to knock it down and lie on it. And it's getting fur and claw marks, too.

 

I figured out a better way after I knocked everything off my door trying to squeeze in without taking the barrier down last night. Even after moving the cabinet into Dearest Son's room and using two of the former-fabric-storage milk crates in it for toy storage, I had two crates and two larger containers left over. Plus, the crates were in the way of my closet doors, which was annoying. Still, since Friday can't jump very high... I found that both could block the door well enough from Friday, but it was easy for me to step over ‘em. And they were heavy enough that puppy power couldn't just push past them. I can even use them to temporarily hold stuff I've brought in that I don't have time to put away yet. Cool ! We'll see what DC thinks of them later this week, since he can easily jump over. I think our kitty likes the newly opened space in there as much as I do.

 

I'm hoping to get in there tonight and sew for a while. Right now, I'd be happy just to get the Leia blouse cut out and Fray-Checked. I've been horribly lazy lately. With Friday loving trash-can exploration, I cleaned out under the sink to store the can there - only to find out that a pipe will block any but the smallest boudoir-tiny trash can from the space. So I redid the cleaning supply storage instead, and got rid of four huge pickle jars. I think keeping two is plenty.

 

Beloved Hubby pointed out to me that he knows when I'm a bit worried about money. I save and wash everything - glass jars that held spaghetti sauce, plastic trays that sold pastries, and every box that comes in the mail. I wasn't even aware I was doing that, so it felt good to toss out stuff I wasn't ever gonna use, and not feel like I need to save everything, just in case. It's not like Monte Hall is gonna burst in the door and offer me $100. for every empty pickle jar I have under the sink !