I think this is One Pretty Thing...

 

Current Mood : Happily Crafted

 

Today went much like yesterday - I'm still wafting my way through One Pretty Thing's past posts, and it hit me. Why not search for ‘Barbie', instead of the more generic ‘dolls' ? Heck, Barbie is so ubiquitous in our culture, most folks don't use the word ‘doll' after her name.

 

That got me some new results. I clicked on an apron, oven mitt, and chef's hat tutorial and found a pattern on the same site for a Barbie-size Snuggie ! You know, the blanket with sleeves. It looked simple enough, and there were both ‘easy' and ‘harder' options. Interesting... Here's the link -> http://sharonsews.blogspot.com/2009/12/sew-snuggie-type-blanket-for-fashion.html  .

 

Only thing I didn't like is how the thick fleece refused to drape around the doll's neck. Fleece is a rather thick material for Barbie clothes...but what about flannel ? While its loose weave is harder to sew, scale-wise, it's closer to fleece for Barbie than human-size fleece is. Printed the pattern...then printed it again, because it kind of looked big. Nope, it just looks big. Nine inches across, twelve inches tall. Grabbed the leftover flannel from Elphie's pink starred pajamas and got it cut out, cheap-serged, and Fray-checked. Pretty simple. I've discovered that good, sharp embroidery scissors are great for cutting out small stuff like armholes on doll clothes, so now mine are nearly always in use, not just with Brody anymore.

 

Since I didn't like the side seams, I went for the ‘harder' option, and it was indeed harder than I expected. I ended up hand-sewing the sleeves to the blanket part, then slowly going over them with the sewing machine. Very, very slowly, since even with my smallest presser foot, there wasn't a lot of clearance in the sleeve. But it worked out, and I liked how it looked. I liked the flannel a lot better. Posted it on In The Pink, because I'm a total applause hound, and wrote the pattern creator a ‘thank you' note in her comments, enclosing a link for her to see my version. I know I love it when someone writes me, saying that they used my idea and enjoyed it, so I always return the favor when I can.

 

I estimate that, start to finish, it took about an hour, and would probably take less if I'd gone with the seamed version. Of course, I have to estimate, since Beloved Hubby came home in the middle of things, and I ended up going with him to his job site, to keep him company. I took it all with me, but ended up never going near it. It was nice to spend some time with him, and we even went out for my favorite fried chicken afterwards. Finished it up when we got home, and had some fun with photos. With just a bit of length added, the Snuggie fits Ken, too. I still think I need to work on those sleeves a bit, but I enjoyed this pattern. If you use fleece, ya don't even have to hem stuff - fleece won't ravel - so you could work this pattern without a machine, by hand, if you liked.

 

We had company over - Uncle and BIL - after dinner, which was nice. Uncle is considering an out-of-state move, so whatever time we get to have with him is a bonus. I kinda loafed around while the guys talked, really. But I like doing that !

We didn't help Haiti very much...

 

Current Mood : Stymied

Spent on dolls : 50c

 

Big day for Dearest Son. His Mark II Delorean arrived, and he's so in love. He's had drag races with both cars, and flew the new one around the house so much, I'm surprised the FAA hasn't called us and required we put up an air traffic tower.

 

It was so funny - we went to the Haiti yard sale first, and we weren't home from it for five minutes before the nice UPS guy arrived. We did well at the sale, though - Dearest snagged a ‘My Scene' car in a sort of purple-pink color, a smaller Dollar Tree-vintage race car, and Volumes 1 & 2 DVDs of Teen Titans, a Cartoon Network show he watches occasionally. I found several nude Barbies, and selected the Princess Anneliese from Princess and the Pauper, mostly because I liked her still-attached crown and choker. She still sings, too. I got her crown and necklace off, and restyled her hair a bit, since it was mostly still in the factory set. Just needed to be brushed. She'll probably be donated, but it was fun to play with her, restore her hair, and steal her stuff.

 

I find myself stymied on the dollhouse yet again. Back when I first got back into dolls (after Dearest was born), I went through everything on eBay under ‘Barbie', noting what I'd like to have, hoping to find it on a yard sale / thrift store / flea market / junk shop hunt. All else failed, I'd run endless insomnia-fueled searches on eBay for it, always running into the brick walls of ‘good item price + outrageous shipping' or ‘kinda price item + decent shipping'. One of the things I eventually went eBay on was the Starlight Bed, screen-capped above. I really liked it - and it looked big enough for two ! Of course, a week after it arrived, I found it, all alone, in a sea of hardware and musty books, at a junk shop. Luckily, mine was cleaner, and they were about the same price, shipping and all.

 

The Starlight Bed - nicknamed the Bordello Bed by a friend of mine, for its light-up disco ball function - survived The Big Move, and was always first in whatever storage box I had. I treasured it. So I was really excited to dig it out when Beloved Hubby's dollhouse came up. I could finally use it !

 

Too bad it really didn't fit two dolls, the lace curtains looked both dingy and ridiculous, and the pinkness of it all just hit me completely wrong. I could easily wash the lace and paint the plastic, but the canopy bed just didn't suggest a married couple - more like a single Princess. I'm sure Charlotte would look great in it, though.

 

So now, I'm re-thinking Shinobu and Inaba's bedroom. I see the gorgeous beds on eBay, and they're perfect, but expensive. Of course, with all the AirSoft and Deloreans we've bought lately, both my guys urge me to get something splashy I want...but I kinda feel guilty about this ‘had to have' Starlight bed I can barely look at anymore.

 

Most doll beds are simple boxes, with a pillow-like ‘mattress' on them, topped with pretty sheets, and matching headboards. I can make them easily, I even have patterns. I just don't know what I want yet. Do I want to carve up the Starlight, or keep it for another doll, do I want to buy ready-made, or make my own ? Arrrgh. I'm so locked up right now ! But that's kind of where I am now, in the Dollhouse. Locked up.

 

DFIL got off early, so he picked up Dearest before Beloved came home. That gave me nearly all afternoon, but I didn't do much with it. Yesterday I discovered ‘One Pretty Thing' and it's daily lists of free ideas, patterns, plans, and readings, and I've been clicking ‘older' for the last two days. I'm midway through December 2009 now.  Many ideas and designs repeat, but there's still a lot to see in one place, especially since the Craftzine blog has been disappointing lately - more stuff to buy and/or admire, not as many designs and patterns. (http://www.oneprettything.com/ and http://blog.craftzine.com/) .

 

Used the search function for ‘dolls' on One Pretty Thing, but didn't find much - most of what I saw was more ‘make your own dolls' than ‘make stuff for your commercially-made dolls'. While I've made a few stuffies over the years, and a couple of porcelain dolls, I just don't see me making dolls any time soon. For one, I already have dozens that I love. Even when stuff I make comes out beautifully, sometimes I don't really love it. Plus, I learned from the porcelains that I'm just not really into it. If I ever am, I got hundreds of patterns waiting for me in all those old Doll World magazines.

 

Anyway, the Haiti fundraiser is my big splurge of the weekend. I don't even want to go out shopping. It's messy and rainy, and will be all through Sunday, and I'm already slow on putting all the recent acquisitions away. I'd rather stay home and sew and embroider.

 

And find more stuff to sew and embroider !

 

Ready for Friday ? Here he is !

 

Current Mood : Spendy !

Spent on books : 76c

Spent on leftover Valentine's stationery : $1.89

Spent on doll clothes : $2.88

Spent on Kira/Sandy : $14.00

 

Busy but lazy day. We had groceries to shop, and work waiting to be done. Didn't get to the closet clean-out, but we can always do that later. We also had a guest this evening, Beloved Hubby's brother, so that was fun. Thank Everything he doesn't mind a semi-messy house either !

 

I got a late start, since I'm still falling asleep in my chair if I'm not actively doing something. Grabbed a shower and got out just when Beloved came home for lunch, on break between work and getting supplies for work. I have to say, we all love Campbell's new foray into chili - we prefer the less-spicy Roadhouse variety. Big beans, lotsa meat. Great with crackers.

 

I also needed to mail off a money order payment to Robin, of In The Pink, for my future Kira Xanadu doll. And I wanted to go through whatever was left of the Valentine's Day goodies on sale. So, off we went. Hit the thrift first, but no new dolls or toys. Dearest Son picked out the kids' novelization of Monsters, Inc. - it's been on cable a lot - and I grabbed A Charming Princess Collection, a paperback volume of 23 fairy tales, most of which I've never heard of. I'd have remembered "Rubezahl" and "Mother Roundabout's Daughter". $1.30 for both.

 

Valentine's aisles had already been reset for Easter, and there wasn't much left at our Mal-Wart. Mostly heart-decorated napkins, a few hundred boxes of classroom exchange cards, and some broken cookies. Dearest was interested in the Cars box of cards, in the shape of a mailbox that lit up when opened. I was looking for a set I might like, when waaaay in the back, I found a Bakugon one, all by itself. He was so happy. And only $1.75. I swayed between a pretty butterfly-themed box and a hearts one, and got the hearts. So we have matching mailboxes now. And they both light up. I'll probably tuck the cards in Dearest's mailbox, and Beloved's lunches.

 

I also decided to treat m'self, and bought the sort-of Asian-themed print mini-dress from the cheaper side of Barbie's wardrobe. Been looking at it for weeks. Wasn't I surprised to discover that the little print wasn't continued on the back. Nope. While it's bad enough I know to note expect the ribbon to go all the way around, it's kinda chintzy to find that the back is solid lavender. It's not like this design used a lot of fabric ! Well, guess that's a good enough reason to sew instead of buy. Should have a photo of it for you tomorrow.

 

Hung out with BIL most of the evening. It was great to see him. He helped Beloved with his work supply run, and we talked about nearly everything for hours. Dearest even got him to play Nerf with him, and set up a target shooting range so BIL could try his Christmas gift Vulcan gun. Living room's trashed, but it was a great evening.

 

After dinner, I decided to try accessing my Blog - and it worked ! I have no idea what's happened these last few days. I could access the Control Panel, and cut/paste the text and photos, but I could not get to the actual Diaries page until tonight. All previous attempts timed out no matter when I tried, or how often. All other websites I tried to access worked, no problem, only problem I had was here. First thing I did was eliminate the double photo on Monday's, since it was the first time I saw it, then came back and got some photos for the last few days. Weird.

 

Well, Dearest and I have a Haiti fundraiser yard sale to hit tomorrow, and he's all excited since his Mark II Delorean should arrive. I think I'll be happier when it gets here than he will - simply because he'll stop asking me if I saw a UPS truck a few minutes ago. With all the help he's given us around the house, he's already earned more than half his required coupons for it. And I am still so darn sleepy - and there's new fairy tales to read tonight !

 

Hope your day went well, too - and that Friday's better ! Ours is happily asleep again. G'night, puppy. 

 

And here she is, out of the bashed box !

 

Current Mood : Normal - or as close as I get to it, anyway.

Current Image Notes : Here's Becky out of her box. Her camera and glasses are elsewhere, though. Every time I think I won't keep her, I see something so happy and friendly about her face, and I think again...

 

Had a bit of fun amid the much-delayed  many chores, and a repair took me waaaay back. When I moved out of my parents' house, so many years ago, I threw m'self happily into the fun of furnishing my first place. I was delighted to get a shoebox-sized microwave the Christmas before. I comparison shopped like a crazy person, because I probably was. Obsessed = crazy, right ? Anyway...

 

One of the necessary purchases that ticked me off back then was towels. I waited for sales and still bought cheap, thin things...and it bugged me when I realized that a single $2. towel could easily make eight $1. washcloths, or six $1.50 hand-towels. Yes, I thought you needed hand towels. I was really nutz back then. I still bought six towels, six washcloths, and three hand towels anyway. I didn't have a sewing machine of my own then, and the idea of asking Mother if I could use hers for such a silly (read : cheap) thing would have earned me a lecture or askance looks at my penury. Note that Mother herself was a Tightwad Queen who would have never been caught dead with my ‘dogwash special' towels in her cabinets, but anyway. I seethed a bit, but let it go. A necessary skill in the adult world. The towels went into storage when I joined the Army, and yes, several years later, I found one in Mother's dog's crate. (sigh) They were cheap, true, and I know better now, but at the time, I was proud of them, and proud of me for providing for m'self.

 

Well, today, as I continued putting a mountain of clean laundry away, I noted that an ancient towel was torn. Not sure how. A chunk of it was missing, so it's possible Beloved Hubby cut it up for something. Since it was well-used when we got it - a thoughtful contribution from Aunt S. to our ‘moved with the bare minimum' supplies back in '02 - I wasn't upset or anything. I saw it as my very late opportunity to make washcloths ! Since more than half of it was still intact, I cut it into a large kitchen towel, and the rest made a big hand towel and two washcloths, and a kitchen rag. Somehow, I think the scales of the Universe hang a bit more even now.

 

And I had a bit of sad. Two Cars outfits I bought Dearest Son, at the height of the film's popularity, are much too small for him now. It's odd how nostalgic I got over clothes. Those were the last things I put on Mal-Wart layaway (they abolished it the same year), and I was so proud that he'd have ‘current' clothes, instead of ‘last year' ones. He wore them with enthusiasm, too. Well, hopefully someone else can get a few wears out of ‘em - they're getting donated. A lot happens when I finally get the clothes put away ! The huge, annoying pile is gone. Too bad I have three more loads ready to go, and at least that many waiting in the hamper...

 

The toys up for grabs curbside are nearly gone. We're going through his inside toys tomorrow, since he's cramming the closet again. He helped me out a great deal with the garage - we got all the trash to the Dumpster, some more branches picked up, and (blush) finally got the Christmas stuff stored. It's been bugging me for weeks, but the garage light is burned out and it's brutal cold in there. Today, it was bright and sunny, and over 50 degrees ! A good day to get outside tasks done. We were due for more snow Friday, but that forecast's been changed.

 

Back indoors, I found a small end table we weren't using, swapped it for the milk crate I was using as a mini-table, so now the corner lamp is up higher, casting better light. I'd been looking for a floor lamp for the last few weeks, but now I won't need one. And I have another crate waiting for a cover. 

 

And here I was, thinking I'd need to buy more ! I'm darn near swimming in the things ! 

Safety *is* our primary concern...

 

Current Mood : Frustrated and tenderized.

Current Image Notes : Here's the pincushion chair and the Barbie wardrobe I got last weekend. The chair came with a small red pillow, I forgot to photograph it. Seat cushion lifts off for small storage, and may be used as a flotation device for water landings. 

 

Well, I think I understand where the sudden back pain is coming from. Chime in when you come to the same conclusion I did ! Here's the symptoms, and if you know the presumed answer from experience, I am so sorry ! OK. Sudden, sharp lower right back pain that recedes and peaks in waves, making it impossible to find a comfortable position, nausea, cold feet and hands, but feverish elsewhere, and an intense need to visit the bathroom frequently, but without much ‘output'. Oh, and the entire universe is a h#ll of nothing but pain.

 

If you guessed ‘kidney stone', you've probably experienced it. I am so sorry to think my friends have experienced this horror. I think I joined the club on Valentine's day (I omitted the bathroom part, so I wouldn't gross anyone out, but that was there then, too), and possibly a bit earlier, when I thought I was having the tummyache from perdition. It wasn't so much a stomach upset as it was an ‘everything from the waist to my generous hips is screaming'. Anyway, I had it this morning, too, and it was the worst. The immediate home remedy is to drink water, which actually hurt worse. Gulped two ibuprofen which seemed to do little, so I paced the house and tried to lie down...when I got nauseous and, well, let it out...About ten minutes later, I was sound asleep. I'd managed to tell Dearest Son I was ill before I zonked out, and was down for three hours straight. When Beloved Hubby came home - I'd called to tell him I wasn't well, but was managing - Dearest gave him the briefing, and they didn't wake me. How fast our son is growing up...

 

When I woke up, I was gloriously normal. All systems working as usual. Not entirely sure what's going on with me, but I hope it doesn't repeat on me any time soon. I think I need to switch back to drinking more water, less soda. And do some more research on the topic.

 

That pretty much torpedoed my day's plans. While I wasn't biting back pain anymore, I was still really weak, and a bit dizzy. So I engaged in a passive hobby - watching a TV program, and comparing my life to what's on the screen. This is probably why I watch stuff like Hoarders. It's close enough to be familiar, but not too familiar for comfort. Today, it was less about our unique messes, and more about stuffed animals.

 

I've never really been a ‘stuffies and fluffies' kinda girl. Only stuffed animals I had as a kid were of favorite characters, like Garfield, or favorite animals, like cats. And even then, I only had or wanted a few. I preferred dolls, of course, and whatever props for them I could make, request, or scrounge. And my parents kept me to a single toybox and cabinet arrangement. Not a lot of toy clutter, so everything I had was much-loved, and usually played with on a daily basis. Stuffed animals were mostly for display or decoration. I actually slept with my favorite Barbie, no matter what anyone says about her not being cuddly enough. Of course, she was usually on the floor in the morning, but it allowed me to take the day's play into my dreams.

 

So, in the same way that most folks don't ‘get' adults who still love dolls, I don't ‘get' people with hundreds of stuffed animals. Or guns. In the end, I know I have too many dolls, and need to thin the herds again... but at least my dolls aren't safety concerns, or hard to keep clean !

 

Another thing that struck me again was how similar the stories were to Pohl's The Midas Plague - but I've already ambled far enough away from the usual fare here for one day ! And now I can't get my page to load. (sigh) Just not my day...

 

Troubles with Tripod...

 

Current Mood : Not well

 

I just have to crow at how proud I am of Dearest Son. It was a nice day outside, so I told him that, for every toy he ‘curbed', I'd give him a ‘Delorean' ticket, plus two more for helping me with trash and branch clean-up. He pretty much dumped all the outdoor toys, including the ones he outgrew two years ago but still clung to, and a few others besides. I tackled trash pick up and the roadside work while he took all the branches around back using one of the few toys he kept - his big red wagon. He ended up with 15 tickets ! And he wants to go through his toybox later this week for more.

 

Busy day indoors, too. Did laundry for three hours, then some dishes. I'll do some more of each tomorrow - I'm way behind on both - but I'm gonna sew for a while, too. Sewed a bit today, since the frayed-edge dishcloth showed up in the clean clothes. Just ran two rows of cheap-serge around the edges, and it's usable for who knows how much longer. I've been meaning to do that for months.

 

I also splurged a bit. Since we didn't go out Sunday, and I still had a few bucks from the weekend, I pulled up two favorite searches - for the first repro Midge and an Olivia Newton-John ‘Sandy' doll. Nothin' much, nude or NRFB, they're both kinda pricey. So I was really surprised to find both for sale on In The Pink ! I was too late for Midge, but I have a beautiful straight-hair Sandy reserved for me, thanks to Robin. Looks like I'll soon have my very own Kira (Xanadu) doll, once I perfect her Muse outfit.

 

*Looks like Tripod's eating photos - and I can't tell if this has posted or not. (sigh)

I couldn't wait to share this photo with you...

 

Current Mood : Sleepy

 

Cut out a black dress/white collar version of the Barbie Silk Pak Dress, and I'll probably hop on that early this week. Gonna try to make at least one doll outfit every month, and I'd like to have a ‘bragging version' of that dress. It's funny, because I saw an uber-cheap blouse on one of the dolls at the junk shop with a similar collar. It used the collar as part of the sleeves, but I studied how it was constructed, and I did fairly well.

 

After receiving over 90 individual e-mails from the Yahoo Stitch Era Universal group on Saturday alone, I had to change my membership. I'd been saving them in a separate folder, but it's over 900 messages big, which is ridiculous. If I need any information, I can do a quick message search, and if it's not there, I can ask and change it back to ‘individual e-mails'. But I can't deal with that much in the in-box every weekend. So for now, it's on ‘moderator messages only', since I don't want to unsubscribe. I'll probably dump the in-box folder, too, since it's all stored on the group page. Heck, half the messages I get from the group are the same questions over and over, since no one else bothers to run a quick search first, see if it'd already been addressed.

 

Speaking of embroidery, I'm gathering that design sales still remain lower than normal. Kinda ranks when a site offers every design they sell for a buck each, and I can't find anything to want ! Oh, I see stuff I like, but it's either too big or too simple. I can either design it m'self, and I could edit it down to size, but it's easier, with better results, for me to just create it in the right size, using theirs as inspiration.

 

Beloved Hubby checked mail this morning, and I got a sweet card from In The Pink owner/moderator Joanne. How nice to get it on Valentine's day ! I'd love to know where she got these awesome stickers from. I have some similar, but mine are much smaller.

 

It snowed this morning, about an inch, but it was completely gone by early afternoon. I'd promised to take Dearest Son shopping today, to use his earned funds, but he found the Mark 2 Back to the Future Delorean car, and after intense negotiation - it wasn't cheap ! - we ordered it. For him to get it before he's finished ‘paying', he's getting a lesson in the cost of credit. May as well start young. He already thinks it unfair that he has to pay more to enjoy now (he has the option to pay it off before he takes ownership, at the exact price it cost), but that's credit for ya. So we didn't go anywhere today. His earned funds are the ‘down payment' to order it. Boy, are we mean !

 

He'll get the opportunity to earn a few ‘Deloreans' tomorrow. That's what he calls the tickets he exchanges for toys or cash, Deloreans. Anyway, our front yard looks terrible, with trash blown in, tree branches down, and toys scattered around, so he'll help me clean up, and put his outgrown toys on the curb with ‘Free' signs on ‘em. I figure a Delorean for each curbed toy and a couple for the trash clean-up, and he'll have a good start. He has to earn quite a few to get his dream car, but I'm not gonna just give ‘em to him. Like I said, we're mean. But I'd give him ten if he could wash dishes !

 

Tonight was fairly quiet, thank Everything. Last night, we went out for burgers and sundaes, and I'm not sure if I went into sugar overload or just plain bad indigestion, but I didn't even finish my sundae, and I was drooping, and my right lower back hurt something fierce. I couldn't get into a comfy position, and the ibuprofen wasn't doing much. My hands and feet grew ice cold, so I went to bed early. Beloved was so worried, he tucked me in and kept checking on me. About an hour later, my feet were warming up under the Wall-e blanket, and my back was still a bit sensitive, but it had eased up considerably, and I slept well, petting DC. Still not sure if I just hinked my back during the day, or if I overtaxed a vital organ, but no more Black Forest Sundaes for me ! Can't take the chance again. It was good, though.

 

On the plus side, I haven't needed my inhalers in over a week. Here's hoping that continues - and that you had a good Valentine's day !

Shopping overload... but it was fun !

 

Current Mood : Shopped out !

 

Today was another of those ‘buy-buy-buy' days, lots of fun, but kinda crowded. Hit the Flea Market this morning. Thank Everything there won't be another until next month. Despite the Craigslist claim that ‘all the vendors have all-new stuff !', it was pretty much the same-old I've seen since Christmas. Even the Barbie car-set seller (Brenda) didn't have any new dolls.

 

That's not to say I didn't find anything. I snagged an adorable Mary Engelbreit pincushion chair that's just a bit too small for Barbie, but I'll use it anyway. It was priced the same as similar chairs at Tuesday Morning at $5., so I snagged it. I also found another Deco-Pak ‘Pink-gowned Barbie on a cushioned stool' cake decoration and a sweet Barbie armoire for a buck, and brought them home, too. I'd say, ‘I gotta knock-off the doll furniture buys', but I bought a great prop at the junk shop, too...

 

Yeah, I decided I still wanted to go, so when Beloved Hubby left for his afternoon plans, I hit it. Spent $12., but got a ton of goodies. Scored a glass paperweight heart that's a perfect ‘frame' for some embroidery, a lovely Japanese card that's awesome for an anniversary card for Beloved this month, and a used DVD copy of Pixar Short Films Collection, vol. 1, in great shape. I also bought a bag of snaps and hooks, although I don't need them, for the awesome package of vintage Doll Zippers included - you'll get that photo tomorrow.

 

But the big buy was a seriously bashed-box Becky, complete with red wheelchair, for $7.50. Yes, the big draw was the wheelchair. I had one, years ago, from a yard sale, but the arms were broken off, for some reason. Dearest, still a baby at the time, loved it, too, and finished breaking it one afternoon. I'd been contemplating buying Becky from an In The Pink seller, but adding shipping and PayPal fees - when did that nonsense start ? - made it more expensive than I wanted. While I'd have been happier with five bucks, seven-fifty was OK. And, hey, no shipping or other penny-ante fees !

 

It's kind of funny. In two weeks, I have two Beckys. And today must've been a ‘chair' day, since I got the pincushion and the wheelchair.

Sleep is pretty much the answer, I think.

 

Current Mood : Improving

 

We sort of took it easy tonight - I finished cleaning the Lab since Beloved Hubby had company most of the afternoon. DFIL, DBIL, and Friend wanted to discuss AirSoft, which was fine with me. I was due to visit the neighboring town's junk shop and the Flea with Aunt S., but she wasn't feeling well today. Since Dearest Son wanted to hang with the guys, I was pretty much free all day.

 

And what did I do with all that time ? Slept, mostly. Sad but true, I curled up with DC and we slept like cats, ignoring all the odd noises from the living room and the sunlight streaming around. I feel a lot better.

 

The fabric Aunt S. gave me is more-or-less put away, filling one of the crates that blocks the door from Friday-puppy's marauding. First on the list for next week is cleaning my closet, so at least part of it can get transferred there. 

 

Oh, and I got to see all the ‘sneak peek' dolls the Barbie Fan Club members have been discussing. And the two I was interested in have already been found wanting. I was surprised to learn Mattel was doing Wizard of Oz again - this is, what, the fourth or fifth go-round on that ? - but I was interested in seeing ‘vintage' face versions. Too bad the Witch is such a pastel mint super-pale green. Bleh. Dress is nice, though. And the Monuments of the World series seemed a bit...well, oversized, to me. Neat idea, though. Once again, while I witch and moan about it, I'm always glad I didn't fork over $25. to join. I can easily find other ways to spend twenty-five bucks, especially with the weekend coming !

 

Here's the link - enjoy !

http://www.angelicdreamz.com/BARBIE-2010-DOLLS_c_1477.html

 

Happy early Valentine's Day !

 

Growlmuttergrumblewhine...

 

Current Mood : Funk-butt.

 

Sorry, I'm in a funk-butt mood. Being off-and-on ill all week means I haven't done crap all week, and it's kinda hard to respect y'self when you just sit around when yer healthy, even if it's a brief prelude to another bout of sick.

 

Doesn't help that 90% of all the chat on In The Pink is about the Barbie Fan Club - who's signing up for renewal, who's signing up for the first time, when and why can't they use their benefits, what they're gonna use their coupons on, and all the stuff they can see that us plebes can't - it frustrates and annoys me every year. When any group seeks to separate its fan base into ‘the secret inner circle' and the hordes of unwashed, it loses my respect.

 

I go through this every year. I get so mad at Mattel and all the chatter about stuff I'm ‘not allowed' to see, because I didn't fork over $25. for the privilege. I end up abandoning Barbie for a while, even though I know the talk is just temporary, and will dissipate  by the next week - until the next round of ‘sneak peeks' comes around, and the whole business starts again. Half the time, I either shun Mattel entirely, or else I buy a boatload of dolls at yard sales, dirt cheap, just to prove I can, and that it's not about the latest and greatest to everybody. And then I see those dolls that everyone's buzzing about - at ASM's coverage of Toy Fair. Of those, there's maybe two I'm interested in, almost always Playline, and any fascination I held for more than a month normally goes away when the doll goes from intriguing hand-painted Prototype to weird or just plain blah in Production. The Mattel Wicked Witch is a prime example.

 

Toy Fair, by the by, supposedly begins this Saturday. I've also read that it's next weekend. So I have no idea why I've wound myself up so quickly. I'm just frustrated when I can't join in any discussions about much of anything, because I'm not in that blasted inner circle. Still, though, it's no one's fault, and it's best if I just excuse m'self rather than make a scene. Just because I have a stick in sensitive places about ‘inner circle' memberships doesn't mean everybody has to agree, and clearly, a lot of the ITP membership really enjoys the fan club. Just because I usually tell Mattel to shove it somewhere equally as sensitive at least once a year - more often, when you consider convention season - doesn't mean I'm right. Just means I'm easily ticked off. I just really hate feeling like there's a country-club atmosphere surrounding a plastic doll primarily sold by the millions at Mal-Wart.

 

I'm sorry. But that's actually what I like about Barbie. That there's not a whole lotta difference between the $5. swimsuit doll at Target and the Swarovski-dripping Haute Design'er Name doll, when the day is over. And usually, the made-to-be-played doll is better constructed, since Mattel can't afford lawsuits on shoddy stuff when they know it's a toy. For some reason, they really cheap out on the ones they think are never gonna be deboxed. I keep wanting to scream that as adult ‘collectors', we're really getting shanked, but I'm shushed because everyone already knows that, and they just don't care. Long as they're on the waitlist for We Only Made Two Thousand, many folk are happy.

 

Yeah, I know, I'm a mess. Last month, I was happy as clams that I got a Gold Label doll I'd wanted. If I'd have paid the $120. asking price, and found that nearly a year later, it was on clearance shelves for a quarter of that, I'd be furious. But I'd refuse to pay that for a doll in the first place. Sorry, but Mattel just asks too much for repros and other ‘adult collectables' most of the time. And given the surplus of collector dolls that got clearanced this year, I'm starting to think Mattel is overestimating demand for them. They really had opportunity last year, with the big ‘50^th Anniversary', but I couldn't tell that they really did anything with it, save for a few press junkets and cross-promo tie-ins that, if you weren't in California, probably didn't have much luck finding. I'm glad that they came out with special memory doll reproductions, and heck, they're coming out with more as we blog, but I thought it'd be more than ‘hey, here's more stuff we can sell !'. I keep forgetting, it's Mattel, there's not much more there.

 

Anyway. Weekend's coming, there's a Flea Market, and Aunt S. wants to go to the junk shop with me. No telling what'll happen there ! I just need to shake off all this bitter. Anybody got a Whitman's Sampler handy ?