Current Mood : Ticked for no real reason.
(sigh) I really need to stay away from Fashion Doll Review.com. It never fails to tick me off. Today I listened to a podcast from a woman with a pretty large 'dolly dollars budget' advise me how to stay on budget with my dolls. Um, dear ? I can't justify spending $20. on a doll that retails for $15. - and you wanna tell me how to save money on Tonner's latest $200. big-dress high-concept doll ? The one designed to look like a candelabra ? And that your latest doll is worth more than your older ones, so selling 'em is kind of a waste of time ? We're in different leagues, sweetie. I'm still over-thinking the $43. Monster High Fearleader set, since it's rather expensive, and you're gonna tell me how to not overspend on dolls ? I don't know who's more ridiculous, you or me for listening, knowing it'd be like that.
But that wasn't really what was ticking me off. There was a PayPal-powered beg on the side of the podcast page - annoying, but easy to ignore. I refuse to have them on any site of mine, and I bet my 'dolly dollar budget' is a lot lower than hers ! No, what got me was the begging cup and the in-podcast mention that she was trying out her new microphone app on her iPad - what did we think ? Grrrr....
I guess I'm just hyper-sensitive to the changes the US economy has wrought on our lives lately. I'd love to believe I can buy anything I want and the gravy train won't ever stop, but I've had to face facts. Lots more people are struggling now than last year. Good people who treat others well, who aren't at fault for what's going on around them. There's fewer jobs and more competition for each one. And at the same time, food and fuel prices are unstable, but usually going up.
So when someone who's whole site is dedicated not to making each 'dolly dollar' count by looking inside yourself to define who you are, what your dolls accomplish for you, and using this knowledge to avoid overspending, but to obtaining the latest hoo-hah during a 3% off sale, I just end up grinding my teeth. It's nice for her that she can afford all this stuff, and for her, cutting back is spending $970. a month instead of $1000. I'm sure it's awesome. I'm sure I could adjust to life like that ! But for someone who didn't have that even at the best of times - although we spent about $400. in MH during its debut year, I admit - it just kind of hurts a little. And that kind of hurt easily goes to anger, since it's a have/have not situation. It never feels good to be on the 'not' side.
I'm halfway convinced I need to re-start my old website, which actually was about learning what you like, being patient and waiting for sales, finding stuff at yard sales, making what you need, and enjoying what you have. You may have noticed I never told you what dolls got sold at the yard sale. While I don't regret doing it, it was very necessary, and I haven't missed any that left, it was still a wrench. But now, I can access all I have fairly easily, and I've pretty much distilled it to the most-loved essentials. I don't have to have every last doll - just the ones who make me happy would be great for me, and with the exception of a MH Gil, I pretty much already have that !
It's easier to appreciate what you have when you're not tripping over tons of it.
On the amazing side...I got e-mail yesterday, which is cool all by itself, but one was from a new friend, one was from Simplicity. Hi, Joanna ! Thanks for your sweet note, it made me feel so good ! Feel free to write anytime, although I think your sewing's far superior to mine ! You make awesome kimono, and your stuffie creations are incredible ! Wow. Soon as I'm done here, I'm gonna dig through more of your Flickr pages, there's so much incredibleness there to see ! Lemme know if I can share your link with the rest of the gang - I'm sure everyone who reads this (all three of you) would love to see, too !
Yesterday, after I posted that pattern photo, I wrote Simplicity.com. There's a line on the envelope - ' Visit pattern 1955 on Simplicity.com for designer tips on sewing fashion doll clothes'. I looked all over that page and never found said tips. I was gonna mutter, 'Sour grapes, I probably know all of them anyway', but, well...grapes ! I wanted 'em, sour or not, so I asked Simplicity where the tips were - and they really wrote back ! Less than 12 hours later, too. The tips are still being formatted for the site, but they kindly sent 'em along as an attachment anyway. Awesome ! And yeah, I did know most of 'em already, but they actually were quite well-written, I enjoyed reading them, and I wanna re-read the part about set-in sleeves again, when I'm sewing them. My success is still very random with those, more chance and luck when they work than any real application of skill....
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