Wheeled memories...

Current Mood : Happy shopping !

I was determined to stay home today. Not that it kept me from spending money (grin !) but that’s the privilege of a soon-to-be birthday girl with some fun cash to enjoy !

I knew I liked the Monster High ‘Roller Maze’ dolls, although I don’t know the backstory, just a few diary mentions of the roller maze itself. Skates take me back to my own teen years, because, darn it, I was good back then. I traded lessons with stunt kids and ballroom dancers, taught a lovely young woman with a mild case of Trisomy 21how to skate slowly, gently backwards, and was always lost in my own gorgeous dreams whenever the right music and the right motion carried me off. I kept up with it even overseas, hitting the base roads with an older pair, just to keep the sensation alive. My fat, fumbling attempts as a middle-age weirdo haven’t completely demolished those memories, but it’s been pretty bad. So when my favorite doll line gets put on skates – even if they are kinda over-designed character-specific ones with the requisite four-inch heel – you know I’m there.

Thing is, I still haven’t seen any of these actual dolls. TRU was still snoozing with first-run Dead Tired dolls, nowhere near anything that’s ‘new’ (i.e., out for everyone else last month). So I’ve been watching the skates and outfits on eBay. It’s the usual – the outfit and props are selling for about 90% of the price of the whole doll without shipping, but…

I don’t really like any of the skating outfits. The helmets are cute, but…well…last week, I found a seller who sold only the skates, and scored a pair of Lagoona’s. They arrived today. And DorrieBelle likes. Very much so. Yeah, all the complaints I had about ‘em are still there, but they really look good on the dolls. Not quite so ‘haute’ with the kinda lumpy toes – I rather like them being not quite so high-fashion sometimes. And they’re customizable. I mean, beyond Sharpie-customs. You can swap wheels around, they pop right in and out. The back wheels have a shorter axle, but say, you want Lagoona to have one yellow wheeled skate and one pink wheeled one, you can do that. More pair mean more color swap possibilities.

It does kinda bug me to spend nearly half the price of the doll on only part of the props, and not even get the outfit (although I may not like it, I can always take it apart for a pattern), but that’s the ongoing state of things, it hasn’t changed since, and probably won’t in the future. I should really just relax.

So I ordered the other three pair. Shipping and all, all four pair together cost me a little less than retail for two of the dolls, about $7. a pair. I also get the green stands, and trading cards. I’d been considering offering the LJournal group $8. a pair (including shipping) for them, so that’s pretty reasonable. Heck, most Mattel MH shoes run about $6. to $10. a pair on most collector haunts, even if they originally came with an $8. Mal-Wart outfit set, so I can’t help but think I did pretty good. Got what I wanted and nothing to find new homes for, or customize to what I do want. Even if it does spend up most of my birthday cash before the day is even here !

Waterbaby Friday !

Current Mood : Wobbly

What a wonderful day ! We went swimming tonight, in the nearly-full moonlight, for nearly an hour. My legs are rubbery, but I feel so good ! I felt like I was on vacation at a resort, with a pool all to ourselves for some reason, topped off by hot showers. All the swimsuits and towels draped over the higher floor railings really added to the illusion. I actually cautioned Dearest Son to use a low voice, so as not to be a nuisance to the other ‘guests’ ! I should have said ‘residents’, but it was out of my mouth before I could correct it.

Got to go to TRU and the Flea Market, too. Nothing new in the MH aisle, but I got some markdown Moxie Teenz stuff, - their shoes fit the ghouls fairly well - and found some folders and notebooks in the school section. They were buy-one-get-one-half-off, but I only liked three of ‘em. Dearest Son helped me out by showing me a red Angry Birds folder he liked, so we were done. I also got some info on the school playset. They’ve gotten one, and just one, each Tuesday in the overnight truck. No guarantees, but if I show up at opening Tuesday, maybe they’ll have another. Here’s hoping !

Flea Market was kind of a washout. None of the sellers I liked were there, and most of the offerings were…kinda like a ragman had backed up, dumped everything, and someone heaved it all onto tables, topping it all off with a ‘$5’ or ‘This table all $1.’ signs. Dearest found two Hot Wheels Corvettes he liked, and I scored a green stone heart necklace, and we were outta there, sweating and $3. lighter. According to the digital marquee, it was already 98 degrees at 11am.

Picked up a few more things we needed – at this rate, we won’t need a big ‘stock up’ shop ! – and headed for home. After a quick stop for big sodas, I’d consumed half of mine by the time we got here. Dearest already had leftovers he wanted for lunch, and once his was cooked, I popped a fresh potato into the toaster oven, and settled in to wait. Luckily, I’d also bought cheese !  

I really should have done dishes, but I was tired of half-unpacked boxes in the way, so I got going on those. The kitchen is now a little better organized, finally, and the washcloths and dish towels are at last where they belong ! That left the box of broken-down boxes for MIL, two boxes of Dearest’s books (waiting for him to clean his bookcase), and a big box of large dolls and Barbies, and the smaller box of MH dolls that used to contain Brawley’s fish tank. Decided to ship them upright when I’d heard that some collectors had glue seepage from when theirs were shipped or moved flat. My very first Frankie has a bit of hair discoloration, probably dating back to a couple moves ago. So now, I ship ‘em standing – it’s a little embarrassing to admit I have enough for a Standing Room Only box !

So now everyone’s loosely placed, not really posed or arranged, just free from boxes and about where they belong for now. And, since we’ve pretty much redone everything, I have more room ! Not for very many dolls, but maybe a couple more guys and possibly Robecca…

That got rid of all but the box of boxes and the book boxes, and if my legs quit trembling ever so slightly, I’m off to clean bookcases. I really should have done dishes today, but at least I didn’t spend all day shopping !

Never Play With New MH Dolls At A Laundromat ! No matter how empty it seems…

Current Mood : Wondering if  'energy' drinks really work.

Current Image Notes : Overly ornate as it may be, I’d love to sit down at a café for just a few minutes…

Talk about learning a demanding, hard lesson today ! After knocking out three washer-loads of clothes in the laundry room, I went to use the dryers…which did not work at all. Called the beleaguered office, who said they’d send someone over. Decided to cut my losses after waiting about 40 minutes, and called to tell them they could send them whenever, I had stuff ta do today – and was told they have to place a work order with a pro repair service for that equipment, it’s so old. She had no idea why the other person told me that, or that I’d even called.

So now I was good and fried, so much so, I skipped breakfast and planned to head to the Laundromat, with Dearest Son in tow. Fie on that laundry room ! I didn't want to go out today, but hanging jeans over the chair backs wasn’t fun either. And we don’t have enough chairs for three loads. Knew the closest one, although I’d never used it, grabbed laundry baskets, books and the Vampire/Sea Monster Create A Monster set and all the spare pieces I had, and we were gone.

Got it all in dryers, and settled in to a nearly vacant Laundromat sofa. How peaceful. Asked Dearest if he wanted his new Vampire doll, and he did, so we cracked the box open and arrayed the pieces. I just wanted the blue bits, minus the head, hands, arms, and legs, and the dress and shoes, he could have the rest and all the spare bits. My beautiful blue Sea Monster doesn’t have a name yet, but I love her just the same. So fetching with that short purple/blue wig…

Dearest at first assembled an all-pink Vamp with long black hair, but soon started changing things up with a Sea leg, a bee arm, and a bald bee head. It was then that a loud running screech bounced through the Laundromat, followed by an explosion of noise and near frantic activity at the door. A mom and her three pre-six-year-old daughters, hopped up on Capri Sun and Dum-dum lollipops, followed it like an approaching storm. I noticed that both Dearest and I had pulled our dolls closer to us.

At first, the girls were too busy trying to get Mom to give them quarters for this snack from the machine, pulling at the Laundry Soap machine levers, and racing for the TV to notice us. But our luck didn’t last. As soon as the oldest noted the doll in my hands, it was all over. I just didn’t know it yet.

Still, I wanted to be a good ‘ambassador’ of sorts for MH, so I patiently explained that this was my new doll, that one was Dearest’s, and we’d had fun putting them together. Oldest Girl was entranced, and eagerly reached for mine, immediately trying to pull her apart again. I asked her not to, then she asked to remove her shoes. These are those ankle-ruffle ones, so I asked her to leave them. I’d end up asking her two more times in the next ten minutes. Even knowing there were no other shoes to put on her didn’t stop OG.

I figured I’d best introduce us to Mom, having never met her before, but she was kinda busy on her cell. This somehow led to Middle Girl and Youngest Girl following me back to our little sofa island, and Dearest getting so overwhelmed by noise, he went to explore the game area. I envied him.

I spent most of the rest of our Laundry time answering the same questions over and over, and keeping the girls from tearing our dolls apart. They were particularly offended by Dearest’s mismatched version, wanting very much to make her all-pink again. I also got asked repeatedly if they could have them, and eventually had to take mine from OG, who started to scratch at her lip paint. Dearest was still a bit titchy around them, didn’t like how they criticized and slammed his doll around, and started to tell them how much he liked to blow up Barbies in the backyard. It didn’t deter them much, but I thought it was funny.

A short eternity later our clothes were dry – or dry enough – and it was time to go. This did not go over well. We were urged to stay, because their Mom was, but I politely insisted that we had other things to do. Mom was slightly curious about the dolls, so I left the cardboard parts of the box with her, along with an admonition to shop at Target for them, not Mal-Wart, or she’d end up with one doll, parts for a second, and three upset girls.

After all that, we needed a good lunch. I was so hungry ! Never got near the snacks we’d brought. Snagged some frozen pizzas and a few more necessary groceries in the same strip, and visited the new thrift next door. Not so much a thrift store as a ‘weird consignment collection’ shop. A truck camper shell rested at the door, next to two dinette sets and a lights and siren box from a police car, and a herd of jewel-hued recliners ruminated in one corner. Vintage skeins of yarn bundled on new rhinestone sports team belt buckles, with Fisher-Price toys so old, they belonged in a F-P museum. But they had some nice office chairs, and Beloved needs one, so we may be going back this weekend.

Oh, and I just learned my new monster’s name. It’s Carlin !

Fun at Target Wednesday !

Current Mood : Content

It was a good thing I messed around with Brawley’s power cords yesterday – we had an electrical outage this afternoon ! It was so weird. Fridge and fan still worked, but not the air conditioning, the lights, my outlet or Brawley’s. Beloved Hubby’s did, so I ran an extension cord to the fish tank, to keep the filter going. It was complex-wide, but I still checked the fuses before I called the office. As usual, nothing to do for it but wait it out. Darn lucky the fridge was still going, we’d just bought milk.

Yup, that happened an hour after we came back from Target, bags of stuff in tow. Dearest Son spent his money on a Lego set and a Hot Wheels special edition (i.e., two and a half times the normal price) 80s Corvette – I snagged the Sea Monster/Vampire and Gargoyle/Vampire Create A Monster sets, and a markdown Liv guy outfit, mostly for the headphones. The shirt looked much too big for any MH character, but the shoes might fit someone…and the dog-tag necklace and ‘leather’ bracelet will look good on Clawd, I think. Dearest traded me this week’s allowance for the Vampire girl doll. I’m also tossing in all the stray CAM pieces I’ve picked up from lots here and there. He wants to make his own monster.

I also found this poster for five bucks at Target, and really liked it. First time I’ve seen a Ghoulia pose I liked ! But we’re still situating things, and they had plenty, so I put it back for now. Since Dearest also put off buying an Angry Birds poster, we decided to get them once we’ve been settled a week or two. Heck, I’m not even sure where I’ll put it, but I have half a bedroom to decorate…

Two hours later, our power came back, but not the water. Called the office and it turned out there was a water main break – under two of the other apartments ! They’d been working on it all day, and the electrical outage had affected them, too. Guess that explained the running outside faucet near our door, and the small lake lapping our threshold. OK. Used the running faucet to fill buckets for the toilet tank, and I kinda knew the water was back when the faucet was dry.

It was then that I noticed the notes at each of our doors – due to an AT&T trunk outage, the emergency maintenance number was temporarily changed to xxx-yyyy. What a day the Office must’ve had ! Power outage, water main break, and phone system foul-up, all in one day.

So. I couldn’t do laundry. Couldn’t do dishes. Could play with my new dolls…but the online modem was still working…I think we all knew what I did. Updated the blog and prowled around, of course ! Oh, that was fun !

Hope your day was a little more full of utilities, but just as great a day as mine was !

OK, now the Sweet 1600 car doesn't look so ornate...

Current Mood : Overheated

 Dearest Son had another appointment today, so that was most of our day. Getting ready for it, then trying to wind down afterwards. Beloved Hubby had to return to work. We stopped in on the way back to check on MIL, who didn’t like some of the stuff we’d bought her to eat, so we had to grocery shop for her again. At least none of it will go to waste – we brought her rejects home. Got tired of the piles of books and my doll photo studio miscellany piled around my hips, so I decided to clean up my bookcase first, and get all my stuff in it, and have it done.

Which I did. Took forever, since I don’t think those bookcases have been seriously cleaned since they were assembled. Even when we used them at the IL’s house, I mostly gave them a spray and a quick wipe. Had to really dig in there to get some of those spots up – I think most were simply hand oils and soda spills that didn’t come up completely last time. Or two years ago.

Once that was done, I noticed that the way the cord from the black, vaguely Asian tower lamp draped along one side of Brawley’s fish tank bugged me. Might be bugging Brawley, too. So I decided to rearrange the lamp and the power supply…and realized that the bookcase I’d just filled up was squarely *on* the lamp cord – and Brawley’s tank filter and light was plugged into the socket behind the other bookcases ! If we ever wanted to move his tank, it’d be a major effort.

But not if I fixed it now, before the other bookcases were loaded and heavy. Since I hated to lose a working power outlet, I looked around until I found a power strip that could plug in at the soon-to-be-hidden outlet and reach behind my bookcase with a few inches to spare, to reach the tank. Only one that would work was my good one, for my computer and sewing machines. Ah, well. At least it would be easy to replace later. It took a lot of shuffling and sliding and shifting stuff, but I did it, all by m’self. I was sweating and exhausted afterward, but Brawley is now easily mobile, the lamp cord is invisible again, and we didn’t completely lose the use of that power socket. Not bad for an afternoon’s work !

One day soon, though, I'm gonna get to play with my dolls ! I still got stuff I haven't opened yet !

And this is Jinafire Long. Dig that tail !

Current Mood : Up in the air, a lot.

If there’s anything more boring than listening to someone whine about how hard their move was, it has to be writing down how hard your move was. Actually, thanks to the AirSoft guys (Thanks, you guys !), ours was much easier than I thought. It helped that we got rid of a ton of stuff before we moved to the IL’s house, too.

Problem is, now that we’re on our own again – gloriously, joyously on our own ! – we need some of that stuff once more. I managed to spend a personal record $27. at Dollar Tree today, and still don’t have everything we need. They only had jokey fly-swatters about the size of a large pizza peel, and as useful as a Kleenex raincoat for the swarms we get when we open the doors. I’m probably gonna hafta shell another $5. for a gallon pitcher at Mal-Wart, we go through Kool-Aid so fast, it’s not worth making less than a gallon at a time. For now, a clean, empty tea jug works.

And I’m not sure if our cheese grater got moved or tossed – we still have a buncha boxes in the shed that we haven’t gotten to yet. Kinda hate to spend $5. on a new one if we don’t have to. The ones at DTree were too small to zest a lemon, much less grate potatoes or cheese.

So we’re up in the air about a lot of things, but I got some of what we need now. For some reason, we have no sink stoppers, and our broom and dustpan, that we had at the IL’s house, has vanished. Since we don’t have much bare floor – just the kitchen and bathroom – I got a cheap set at DTree.

I would have spent even more, but I decided instead to just take pictures of the four knockoff-Monster High puzzles I found. I always forget my phone has a camera in it ! Even Dearest wondered what I’d do with ‘em once I got them photographed. I figured I’d donate ‘em to Toys For Tots or something – returns to DTree are not easy or welcomed. So I used the phone, and saved the bucks. You’ll see ‘em soon !

Her name is Skelita Calaveras. I love that skirt !

Current Mood : Grateful to 'Monster High Parents' for these great photos !

I was so wiped out, I stretched out on our air mattress – now with a quilt top ! – for just a few minutes, to talk with Beloved Hubby after dinner…and woke up about 7am, to see him in all camo, ready to go play with the AirSoft guys. I was glad. He needed a break and some fun, and, well, so did I. It may sound silly, but I’d been looking forward to a day to really ‘move in’, place things, organize, make long lists, all that fun stuff. Dearest Son was still gleefully setting up his Lego village and doing his room, so he was fine with Daddy goin’ off to play, too.

And that’s what we all did. I found places for stuff, tried to set up my new space and the family spaces, organize the kitchen, empty and break down boxes…well, wait. If MIL’s gonna use ‘em, maybe I shouldn’t break ‘em down. That’s why there’s three huge, listing stacks of boxes in the kitchen, next to the stuff that’ll go in storage next month. We salvaged our old patio table as a dining room table, but we have to get chairs for it…and the dining set we really like is only $299. at Big Lots, with four chairs. Not sure if we’re gonna pick up some cheap chairs, or save up for the nice dinette. Right now, though, the table is so buried in boxes, it’s a moot point.

And all these new Monster High  dolls…whew ! I’m aware, but haven’t had much time to process. Heck, I’m still trying to locate that school playset, and I was doing that when I noticed the long-anticipated ‘Ghouls Rule’ line was in stock for shipping at TRU Friday. Many stores had ‘em in stock, too. I was indifferent to these, so ‘my’ four can go to bigger fans. It’ll be at least a week before I can visit the local TRU anyway.

Besides, I still want another guy Create A Monster set, and I’m considering the ‘Vampire and Sea Monster’ girl set, now that I can get the Sea girl complete with a blue torso. I scored the purple and blue wig from Tanz last week, and I had a Sea Monster head from a lot purchase, and they looked so good together, now I want the rest of the doll !

As far as the new dolls coming out…most of the photos I’d hoped to share with you have been taken down. If you’re a LiveJournal member, you can put in for membership at Monster-High, and they’re all there on the June 22nd entry. I’ve done some cut/paste, though, and I hope ‘Monster High Parents’ doesn’t mind – these images are from their deleted post. Big theme seems to be that the ghouls embark on a trip to Scaris (Paris), meet two more friends, an Asian Dragon girl and a Spanish Skeleton girl, and get lots of new props – a Scaris sidewalk café, a Scaris compact car – and new clothes. Most of the dolls are pictured with two-part shoes, like GI Joe boots, which I hope is just part of the prototype stage. The seams are huge, highly visible and badly spaced.

There’s also a  new vanity for Frankie, an ice bed for Abbey, and ‘plus’ versions of Clawdeen, who howls, a ‘sparking’ Frankie, and a glowing Spectra. There’s more Create A Monster sets coming –  transparent ice and blob girls, and mummy and gorgon girls. They come with two wigs, including one of plastic hair, which is new, possibly to satisfy those who didn’t like getting just one wig before. I guess they can’t please everyone, ‘cause I still just see one pair of shoes in there !

Last but not least, new dolls of Abbey and Frankie have their own three-outfit sets. While Frankie’s clothes and shoes are all recycles of stuff she’s had before, in new fabrics, she has a solid ‘cap’ of black hair with sides of silver, and an underside of more black. Very unusual look for her. Abbey has all-new outfits with repainted shoes, and her trademark ‘northern lights’ hair. Of the two, I’d be most tempted by Abbey. They’ve already been spotted on eBay, complete with ‘TRU Exclusive’ stickers on the boxes.

Of all the new ones, I’m more interested in clothes than the dolls. Of course, this usually changes when I see them on shelves, but I really don’t need more dolls. (a cookie for everyone who’s heard that before !) I love Rochelle’s Eiffel Tower print skirt and lacy blouse, but most of the Scaris line is too…fussy for me. Too ornate. I thought the Spanish doll, with her ‘day of the dead’ face paint, huarache sandals, and ‘papel picado’ (bright paper garlands) inspired skirt was a clever way of establishing a unique cultural background for her – and that skirt is gorgeous.

Goodbye, Arena !

Current Mood : So hungry...

We got our first new mail at our apartment – the goodies I ordered from Lori (tanz_fanatika) last week. If only I wasn’t too dizzy and exhausted to enjoy them ! Bustin’ butt at the IL’s house yesterday really took it out of me. I woke up at 2:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I puttered online for a bit and was soon yawning. Shambled back to bed, and the next thing I knew, Beloved Hubby was hanging a wall shelf for our TV, and it was 8:30am. Have I mentioned yet that I love that air mattress ? And my Beloved ? (happy sigh)

Finished unpacking yesterday’s boxes and got the empties into Venus-Diesel when his phone went off. His AirSoft friend had the last of his boxes ready for us, so we stopped for those on the way. While I taped the boxes back together and packed ‘em full, Beloved found that Dearest Son, when directed well, can do a fair bit of carrying and loading ! We soon had three of the bookcases emptied and loaded – after going back and forth about it. MIL said we could have any of them we wanted, but we’d decided to just buy our own, hoping to avoid any issues with FIL…until we found out we’d have to shell for another hundred-plus water bill next week, or it’d be cut off. (sigh) Ultimately, we decided to take ‘em, and use the ‘bookcase money’ to pay the water bill, so we packed ‘em into Venus’s truck bed today. Along with Beloved’s desk, my fabric, my books, and a big load of this-and-that. We all worked hard, and were pretty tired at the end of the first run.

A quick lunch revived us all, and we were back at it. Had the second load ready to go when the guys called – soon as we said ‘come on !’, they’d be there, to do whatever needed doing. Since this load wasn’t very heavy, we dropped it off ourselves and met them at the IL’s for one more load. Which took maybe a half-hour, and it was the *heavy* stuff. They even took a load in their van, which was so sweet. They wouldn’t even let us buy them sodas, they just wanted their friend back in the games. If I have anything to say about what Beloved does, he’ll be there tomorrow, fer double sure !

Soon, all the ‘house’ stuff was gone. We had it all at our new place. Dear Heavens, we have a ton of crap. But it’s our crap, and I can’t wait to unpack and sort it all. I’m kinda hoping Beloved does go to the AirSoft field tomorrow, I want the time to putter. Both of my sewing machines, KJ and Brody, are here safely, along with everything but the Arena itself.

Yes, today I said ‘goodbye’ to the Arena. I bought it used and badly painted off Craigslist for $50., and it’s falling apart three moves and four or five years later. The cracking, flaking paint annoyed me, especially where it peeled off in sheets and bubbles for no visible reason. Even top-grade pressed plywood can’t take being pulled apart and put back together every year for very long. And that poor thing was not top-grade shelving. Thanks to Beloved’s curbside-shopping luck, I already have a nice, big desk, large enough for both sewing machines and my laptop, and Beloved’s building me cubbies and shelves. So I’m pretty happy to go to a regular, flat rectangle. That isn’t peeling paint.

About all that’s left is some tools in the garage and stored stuff in the backyard shed, mostly more books. Beloved says he’ll pick that up later this week, while he’s checking on DMIL after work. We made sure she’s got clean dishes and plenty of the foods she specified, as well as dog and cat chow. I asked her again if she felt lonely, she could still move in with us, but she says she has to wait just a little bit longer to decide. I hope she does what’s right for her, and not…well, I should shut up about that now.

For now, the last load is at least inside, if not unpacked, and it’s late. We picked up $3. Mal-Wart deli-prepared salads for dinner and I’m just gonna unwind with my Cobb for the rest of the evening. Starlight is right outside, ready for whatever I decide to do tomorrow, and now that Dearest has his hard-won recliner in his room, he’s game for nearly anything, too. Long as I keep my promise to take him to the Flea Market next Friday, that is. Beloved’s got the one thing he said he wanted today, time to work on his AirSoft weaponry, and he’s happily busy, having once again stolen my sewing machine oil.

I think I’m going to be very happy here. 

Every day, I'm packin', packin'...

Current Mood : Finding new depths and nuance in the word 'exhausted'

Current Image Notes : I got this pattern comin' ! From etsy seller KristineAnns

Whoo. What a day. Woke up a bit early and just kinda played around online, like I haven’t done in months. Got very bored. At least I was well-rested enough to be bored, those air mattresses are great !

Funniest thing this morning. It was so beautiful, we turned off the air conditioning and opened the doors and windows. I’d just commented to Beloved Hubby that the only problem we had so far was the puddle in the bottom of the fridge – I’d already wiped up one on Wednesday, another yesterday, and it happened again during the night. Just then a voice called, ‘I’m here to fix the fridge ?’. Seriously ? Yep, he was at our door, ID and tools in hand. I hadn’t even reported it to the office yet ! Our frost-free model had a glitch, which he not only fixed, but tweaked so it wouldn’t happen again. He then left a magnet for his service company on the fridge door, and was gone. Wow. I think I’m gonna like it here !

One of Beloved Hubby’s AirSoft friends just moved himself, and offered us their boxes. And they used really nice ones ! It’s funny that several of them were used twice – can tell from the different writing styles used to label them – then we’re gonna use ‘em, and (shockingly !) DMIL asked for us to save them for her when we’re done with them. Something tells me we’ll soon be helping her move after all…

Even better, since there’s no Saturday Airsoft (there is Sunday, though), several of the guys have offered to help ! Wow. What wonderful guys. They’re gonna come over about 4pm tomorrow, to lift and carry and drive. (happy sigh) This is why I hardly ever mind when he goes for a game on the weekend. Well, at least I won’t mind anymore !

But that meant that we had to finish packing up today, so they wouldn’t have to sit around waiting for us. So, on his way to work, Beloved dropped me and Dearest Son at the IL’s house with all those thoughtful boxes, a roll of tape, and a Sharpie, and we got to it.

Luckily I also had my inhaler, because I wasn’t quite as ‘over’ my last attack as I thought. But, if the turtle taught us anything, it’s that slow and steady wins the race, so I did what I could, took breaks, and got back to it. So did Dearest. We broke for a ramen lunch and played with the garden hose to cool down before heading back into the fray. The air conditioning works, but lugging, shifting, taping, and packing will still make you sweat, even if you’re in a 45-degree room ! 

Used up every last box, but we got darn near everything packed up, save for some of the Arena bits and the books. Most of the boxes were too big for books, and even if I just filled them part of the way up with ‘em, there really wasn’t much soft or lightweight stuff to fill the space. All our sheets have been bagged up, they’re going straight to the Laundromat before they go to the new place. We may have to spray anyway, the fleas were really bad today at their house.

FIL sent DMIL a letter, and the only reason I know about it (‘cuz it’s none of my business !) is because I checked their mail – much of ours is still going there – and saw it. When Beloved came to get us and a load of stuff, DMIL told him that FIL had sent some money for her. Meanwhile, she had us look at their Checking account. It’s only $300. in the red now ! I hope that included the two ‘you bounced a check, dummy !’ cards that also arrived in the mailbox today…

We’re gonna get her some groceries tomorrow morning, and while she offered whatever funds FIL sent, we’ll take care of her ourselves. She only wanted a few things of ours, saying she’d never cook that or eat this, but she would like for us to pick her up a few things she would like. So we don’t need near as many groceries as we thought.

Once home (squeee ! ‘Home’ !), Beloved backed Venus-Diesel to the bedroom window, and we unloaded the day’s haul in that way. It was kinda late, and we didn’t wanna bother the neighbors by walking back and forth in the breezeway, lugging heavy boxes. Most of it was Dearest’s toys and Beloved’s art table-desk and such, but I was just glad I didn’t have to put any of my toys away ! I was exhausted.

But I know darn well where my inhaler is ! 

Sleepin' in a bounce house tonight !

Current Mood : Happy !

Current Image Notes : I think this kitty's gonna try out for Casketball !

The original plan for the rest of the week was that Dearest Son and I would go to the ILs house and pack boxes ‘til we passed out, while Beloved Hubby was at work. Then we’d have lunch and a short break, and pack some more. That’d leave Friday free, so we could go up to the Fairgrounds Flea Market, poke around and have some fun.

Luckily, there’s a Flea Market every weekend of June, because late last night, I had a massive asthma attack. It’s been so long since the last one, I didn’t even catch the early warning signals. I just thought I was over-tired and needed to lie down. Only problem is, lying down makes it harder to breathe, not easier. And, of course, my inhaler was right where I left it, at my old bedside. So, we made a rather scary ‘midnight run’ back to the IL’s house and grabbed it.

All this troubled Beloved, so we decided to take an easy day, move another load this morning, take our time getting it placed, and make a quick trip to our old Mal-Wart. He’d put in a half-day after lunch. The fleas are getting bad at the old place, but MIL doesn’t want us to spray, so we’re writing the beds off as a loss. They were old anyway, and needed to be replaced in the next year or two, so it may as well be now. We have some funds put aside, so, round about next month, new beds ! For now, though, as we learned last night, those floors, even with pallets and blankets and slumber bags, are just too hard to get much rest on. Beloved kept making ‘Princess and the Pea’ jokes when I whined about it.

So we got two air mattresses, and they’re pretty nice ! Once you get past the ‘I’m sleeping in a bounce-house’ sensation (and I actually like that feeling !), they’re quite comfy. The nice cashier who checked us out probably thinks we didn’t want to move our beds in the pouring rain, so we were pigging it with the new purchases, but we’ll be sleeping on ‘em for as long as they last, or until we get the funds for standard ones. I’ll be glad to tell ya’ll that we bought the Intex ‘Classic Downy’ line, a Queen for us and a Full for Dearest Son, since those are our usual sizes. May as well stake out the correct space in the rooms ! We also scored a plug-in air pump. Originally, we bought a slightly upgraded bed that came with a battery powered pump, but that thing needed six ‘C’ batteries ! It was cheaper to get the standard bed and the wall-socket one. They worked beautifully together, and we’ve only needed to add a bit of air to each after the initial inflation. And that was mostly to our personal specs, not ‘cause the beds lost any. Beloved likes a firm surface on a bed, and if I get tired enough, I can sleep on nearly anything that’s mostly horizontal.

While we were there, of course, I wandered over to the Monster High shelves. Still no school playset, but they had one Puma-boy Create A Monster set for ten bucks, so I snagged it. For some reason, we found a few Pirates of the Caribbean Lego sets in the Clearance aisle, and while Dearest is about coming to the end of his money, he decided to snag the ‘Cannibal Escape’ set for twenny bucks. It’s pretty cool, and comes with the weird-face-paint Jack Sparrow and that round ‘swinging bone cage’, and a fire-pit and spit to roast any Han Solo minifigs you have underfoot. You may be on your own for Ewoks.

We got Brawley, the Black Molly fish, moved, and while swimming fast with all his fins up like that is a sure sign of distress, he certainly is beautiful. I didn’t even know his top fin fanned out so far, and that his tail has tiny ‘freckles’ of gold and green in it.

Well, tomorrow’s another big moving day ! No flea market, but since my breathing seems to be mostly stable, we’re gonna do the big packing thing. Not especially looking forward to it, it’s gonna be long, hot, hard work, but it’s not fair to expect Beloved to do it all himself when I can help, if even a little. Once he heard that, Dearest was ready to throw in. Especially when I promised him ramen for lunch !

This move's actually been...fun ? Yeah, fun !

Current Mood : Exhausted and exhilarated ! 

Well, today was the big day ! We were up early to load up both Venus-Diesel and Starlight and move on to our new home. I’d be following Beloved Hubby and Dearest Son, and we planned to leave Starlight there. She did a great job on the road, but isn’t really set up for frequent interstate driving. She’s great on local trips, though ! We grabbed a quick breakfast, since lunch already seemed far away on the horizon, and hit the road. Only got nearly forced off said road once ! Miles of space behind me, but noooo, she has to wedge in right between Venus and Starlight. (sigh)

 Picked up our keys and paid for next month (i.e., a full payment) with the understanding we’d pay the pro-rated amount on the first of July. Not exactly what they’d told us on the phone last week, but we were game. At least we’d prepared, and had the funds available. I’ll clear things up Monday.

A few minutes and a dozen signatures later, we were in our new place. Much nicer than expected – and despite the climbing temperatures outside, I was darn near cold ! We have a tiny kitchen, but it includes a dining area, two closets in each bedroom and a hall closet, and a large living room that is begging for our desks and bookcases.

It’s small. I fully expected that. But I hadn’t been ready for such good use of space ! Our bedroom will be big enough to hold both Beloved’s art table and study desk, along with our cubby, bed, and nightstands. And we each get our own closet ! After having our clothes crammed in one closet roughly half the size of *one* of these, I fully intend to use every inch of space in there – for doll stuff, fabric, and maybe even my clothes !

After we unloaded both vehicles, we needed a break. After lunch, we did a bit of shopping – we hadn’t done much resupply for the new place, as we knew we’d have to go out anyway once we saw what we had, and what we’d need. Turned out, not much. A small kitchen meant little counter space for appliances, so we decided to use the toaster oven for most quick meals, and do without a microwave. DMIL can have the one at their place, she needs it more. They can also have the iced tea maker, the coffee maker, and the toaster – FIL used the coffee pot more in a week than I did in a year, and it shows the wear, and the toaster was farked the day I got it at a yard sale to replace an even worse one. It mostly worked, though, so we kept it, but now, it can stay where it is. Might get a new coffee pot when the weather turns cold, and I can use the toaster oven for toast.

The oven and stove work a dream ! I boiled water and heated soup, and tonight, a ham is baking in the oven. So nice. Two more hours to go, but it even smells like ham outside. So far, the only problem is a puddle in the fridge, and I’ll report that later. There’s a reason we always include towels in the first move-load.

We got most of what we needed at Big Lots – a new shower curtain and rings, some snacks, some paper goods, a new small set of pots and pans, a Casketball outfit, and a card reader for my camera’s XD chip. That was a great find, it not only can read darn near any card, but it also has three USB ports, and the plug-in one pivots and can move to best suit any computer. I wanted one because Vision-laptop doesn’t have the one I need, and downloading from camera to computer is eating up the batteries. I wouldn’t mind, as I use rechargeables anyway, but resetting the day/date every ten days is a PITA. Talk about your ‘first world’ problems…

We’d intended to get a second load today, but we were all just too tired, and too happy to play with our computers online to muster the interest and drive to do much else. After dinner, we’re probably all gonna crash. Too bad we don’t have beds…

The 'drama box' is one I'm not moving or packing. It's not even ours !

Current Mood : Resigned.

It’s the day before the big Moving Day. And the family drama is flowing thick and fast. (sigh) So tired of it all.

Well, here’s the deal. DMIL has refused to move in with us. She wants to stay there, all alone. I kinda figured that would happen, but it really caught Beloved Hubby flat-footed. He talked to her for over an hour, but in the end, it’s her life, and her decision. She’s still interested in moving into her own place, ‘sometime later’, as she said, but for now, it’s a no-go. Only the three of us are moving out tomorrow.

Thing is, she didn’t tell Beloved this tonight. She texted him at work, dropped the drama bomb, and refused to answer any of his return messages. He called me, half infuriated, half out of his head with worry about his Mom all alone, shortly afterward. Not a darn thing either of us could do. He had to finish what he had going, couldn’t come back early, even for this latest development. I listened to her phone’s ‘message’ chime about 50 times, and seethed. I can only assume she was returning BIL and FIL’s texts. Could hear that, too.

But, in the end, I let it go. Wasn’t doing me any good to be upset about it. We made our decision. She made hers. Beloved made it abundantly clear that she has our phone numbers to call any time she changes her mind. We’ll check on her, make sure she has what she needs, but we can’t pay the house bills and our place, too, and both she and FIL are aware of that. What they do next is up to them, we can’t decide it for them.

Still, it was very upsetting to Dearest. Although it wasn’t in the budget, we splashed out for takeout fried chicken anyway, as a sort of mood-lift. We’d planned to pack up the vehicles for an early start tomorrow, but nobody’s really into it.

This is the weirdest calm I've ever experienced...

Current Mood : Twitchy.

                                  

Not much going on, just getting ready for what’s next. Wish us luck, everyone ! 

It may be 'Dorrie Weekend' !

Current Mood : Wonderful, wonderful...

Hope all the Dads you know had a great Father’s Day ! We took things easy today, since Beloved Hubby had the day off. Slept in, had a ham and egg feast for breakfast, and Cheddar Wurst hot dogs from the 7-11 for a late lunch. Delicious !

Spent some time at the Library, where I had fun with TRU’s Store Pickup option. Since I knew the Monster High school playset hadn’t made it here yet, I wondered where it was. So I plugged in darn near every zip code I knew, and some I looked up – it wasn’t in Dallas, or Atlanta, or Raleigh, or Chicago, or L. A., or Yakima. There were a few others, but it wasn’t in any of the cities I tried. Ah, well. This time next week, we’ll be in our new place, and I’ll be able to check again then.

I also did some window-shopping, which was fun. So many plans I have – most of which need money to happen ! But it’s nice to imagine.

MIL needed a few things, but Beloved wanted to relax after three hours of Internet Fun, so I dropped him and Dearest Son off and headed for the local grocer. And I thought they were busy on Saturdays ! Got her stuff and snacks for my guys, and decided to tour the Walgreen’s next door – they had an ad for summer/pool toys up to 75% off, and I wanted to see if there was anything good since we’re gonna be right at a pool in a few days. Nothin’. Thought about getting Dearest some goggles or a scuba-style mask, but I kinda quailed at the scuba one a bit, it reminded me of the CPAP one. (shudder)

Anyway, the sale wasn’t that much, and I figured we’d stand a better chance at getting Dearest to use one or the other if he picked out his own. So I tabled it and looked at the Toys aisle. And found that, while they still don’t have MH stickers, they did have a licensed tin box with a wrist strap. I’ve seen them on eBay, and while this one wasn’t my favorite style, it was only six bucks, and I’m sure I could find a use for it. I wondered if a tin purse would be annoying – but then thought that while it’s much too small for doll shoes, it’d be fine for their jewelry, belts, and hair accessories. Once I got it in the Study, I saw that it’d make for good doll seating, too. So I’m glad I got it. Photos on Tuesday !

Oh, and I got a letter from the Sleep Clinic yesterday. I have mild to severe sleep apnea (whatta spread, right ?) and stopped breathing, on average, about 13 times an hour. They’ve passed that information on to the VA, so I’ll call them if I haven’t heard otherwise about Thursday or so.

Meanwhile, after the shopping, I snacked with my guys and fell sound asleep for three hours. Now I feel caught up. And already sleepy again. We had a family discussion about current events, and we’re all on the same page, always a relief. We discussed restarting Dearest on an allowance, small at first, but full of opportunities to show us he could do more for more, and he’s so enthused, he took out the trash today without me reminding him. I think he’s mature enough so that this might work out this time. 

It must've been 'Dorrie Day' !

Current Mood : Joyful


Quick Note : Thanks, Deborah ! Got it, and hope to have 'em in the mail Mon. or Tues. ! 

Lookie what I got !! I was just messin’ around with my phone when I decided to check on the local Target’s web-based Monster High inventory, just for kicks. I’ve been doing that off and on, and could have told you when the two Cat and Witch Create A Monster sets sold, because the listing  went from ‘Available’ to ‘Out of Stock’. But today, it was back on ‘Available’…

Still, that could mean they have more Cat and Witch sets, they share the same stock number or something. Didn’t wanna drive all the way across town for nothin’, so I called – and they had a Gargoyle and Vampire set ! Could they hold it for me for a half-hour ? I was on my way with Dearest five minutes later. And ten minutes after that, I had it in my hands, the only Gargoyle/Vampire set they had. I was a bit concerned with the Vampire head, it seemed to have a major nose dent, but I was buying it anyway !

Dearest went nuts, though. He found a Lego Pirates of the Caribbean set he’d never seen before, and they also had the Sweet 1600 Clawdeen and DracuLaura’s car. He’s a total sucker for Barbie-size cars. I did the numbers, and between the two of us, we had just enough cash, but he’d owe me until we got back. We were carrying the goodies in when my phone rang.

SocSec needed to ask me a few more questions, and they never got the bank account information fax. So we got that taken care of. Hopefully soon, I’ll have a favorable decision, and maybe a few extra bucks to help with the move.

That’s kinda what’s on my mind right now. We’ll have barely enough for the rent we need to pay Wednesday, and a few bucks for groceries, but…well, you know what it’s like to move. You know you’ll need a new shower curtain, but you have no idea until the day if you’ll need a shower curtain rod. And can you just leave the in-tub bath mat here and get a new one, since that one’s seen the last five moves ? Or is the fundage gonna be so super-tight, that $8. will make a difference ? None of it’s very expensive, and you’re already bringing most of what anyone would need…but even Dollar Tree stuff adds up, and ya can’t find everything at DTree.

Plus, while Dearest paid for his own new toys – he very proudly repaid me as soon as we got back !  -  I just shelled out $20-something for the ones I’ve been wanting. I don’t regret doing it, but I hope that doesn’t come out of the grocery fund. Guilt city ! Maybe I’ve eaten enough leftovers to justify my guys…

Anyway, back to them…I love ‘em. The nose-nip on the Vampire head vanished as soon as I opened the box. Maybe it was just how it was seated in there, or a shadow. It’s gone now, and I can’t even tell where it was. I’m glad there were two torsos in there, I really wanted both guys, and would have hated to buy another set, although now, I kinda want to (see next paragraph).

They went together so easily, and it was fun to ‘make’ my own dolls. This must be a ‘lite’ version of how it feels to put together one of those super-expensive custom ‘buy ‘em by the piece’ Japanese dolls. (grin) If you wanted so, you really could have a doll with two left legs ! But what can I say, I’m a traditionalist, so the all-grey one is Joel Orbach (pre-law) and the pink dude is ‘Ricardo Feratu’ (pre-med, pathology specialty). If I can find another set just like this one, I’m buying it, I love the shoes and the ‘gym’ outfit, and I can always restyle hair, maybe make a speckled grey Slo-Moe. Spray paint the pink torso to use with the Puma-boy ‘refill’ kit. Give Ricardo some wings. I got some plans… hopefully I’ll soon have money !

But it can all wait, especially when stuff’s not available yet. I had an order in for the school playset via TRU, but ten minutes later, it went out of stock, and then they backordered me. So I cancelled it. Beloved Hubby encouraged me to order, but really, it was a strain on our finances we didn’t need, so I was secretly kinda happy. Now I’ll just wait ‘til it hits local shelves – and bug the poor workers every Friday ‘til they get here – and snag it then. With the move coming up, I’m glad it worked out the way it did.

Chains, chains, chains...

Current Mood : Catching up

Gotta do this before I forget – Deborah ! Need your address, so I can send your dolls and stands to you before they get packed up and stored somewhere. Any ideas how I can get that info from you safely ? Can send you my gmail address if that’ll help, or Flickr mail, or LiveJournal private message, whatever works. Heck, I could probably send you a note via eBay ! I’ve put aside Toralei’s diary for ya, and Sweet Fang’s wonderin’ what the holdup is. Sorry it’s taken so long !  

Beloved Hubby noticed his new pillowcases right away, and the cleaned-out Venus-Diesel’s truck bed that morning. Didn’t hafta tell him anything. He’s not missing any tools or supplies, so we did it right. It helps to know that he’s not the kinda guy to store or carry anything of any value  in trash bags. He was impressed and happy, so I didn’t feel too badly that we didn’t have much more to offer for his birthday. Besides, he’s talking about getting a new AirSoft gun, and there’s no way I could afford that ! It’ll be a few months down the road at best, but I think he enjoys the shopping and researching more than the owning.

I’m also glad he’s getting back into AirSoft. He plays with a fine, good buncha guys who have missed my Beloved, and I know he’s missed their camaraderie, as well. I think I can spare my man every other Sunday…

Not a lot goin’ on for a Friday. Swapped out some lamps, more out of curiosity than anything else. My much-loved Eiffel Tower lamp (a Target specialty, don’cha know) was just too big for my nightstand, it looks much better displayed on the cubby we use for clothes. The little red desk lamp I got from Salvation Army Monday works much better in the smaller space. So that was a good use of a buck-fifty. Beloved claimed the silver bullet clamp lamp for his art desk, as predicted. After all this move mess, I fully intend to make good use of the white one I got for the mini photo studio.

Shoot. Now I kinda want to go back to SArmy, see if there’s any other good deals I can use…