Floated away Friday.

Had a pretty nice time with M & FIL at lunch today – Beloved Hubby has barely stopped praising me for it. Mostly ‘cause he doesn’t have to deal with ‘em for a few more weeks, ‘cause I did.

But it was a nice day in other ways. Beloved was home early, and we got Chinese takeout for supper. I’ve already got sausages thawing for breakfast, if Beloved is home.

The hazards of answering the door. . .

Didn’t get any sleep – I’ve developed a bad habit of crashing at midnight, getting up at 5am with Beloved Hubby, then crashing again after he leaves for work ‘til about 9am – because it was one thing after another today. At 8am, M & FIL appeared on the doorstep, again having walked the two miles to get here. (sigh) How do they always know when I’ve bought m’self some ginger ale ? 

Ended up inviting them to my lunch date with Dearest Son tomorrow – Taco Bueno’s giving away a chip and dip platter with any purchase. They’re broke, so I told ‘em it’s on me. I’ve been feeling kinda bad for not being in contact with them much, but after two days in PreviousTown in less than a week last month, I needed some space ! I don’t think they really understand how I can be with people too much, and desperately need time alone, but it’s not like I bother them with my psychological issues too often. They’re too busy with their own !

Mostly they bragged all about their older son while not even asking about Beloved Hubby, which is Reason #2 I tend to avoid them. Dearest Son was still asleep, and they didn’t think to ask about him ‘til they were leaving. It’s like they came over to keep me up to date on BIL, who’s a nice enough guy, but I don’t really need to be that enmeshed in his life, since he sort of dumped them on us and lit out, never looking back. There’s more in the mix, but I think you get the gist of it.

I found a digital fairy today !

Like this, but more nude. Spinny blade thing shows more, too.

Game Day ! Mom from Hades and the Heck Brats weren’t there this time, so it was actually pleasant. Played a game called ‘Set’ with S. and O., which was more challenging that it seemed at first glance. We stayed ‘til S’s family had to go, then we hit the thrift. 

Not much new, but I found an unusual Barbie for $1.60. Research showed she was “Sparkle Lights Fairy Purple”  (there was also a more ‘Barbie style’ one, called “Sparkle Lights Fairy Pink”) from Christmas 2010. Mine, of course, was sold nude, since she’s purple from her bust to her toes – if a doll doesn’t need clothes, that thrift would rather hoard them for more conventionally naked ones. I really like her face and short hair. I’m oddly split on her gimmick – she has a sort of spinning blade on her back that simulates animated wings with red LEDs. 

Due to the batteries necessary to operate that, she’s only jointed at her neck and arms. She can never sit down. Delightful as her gimmick is, it’s equally annoying, so I’m hunting for a suitably Snow White pale body to swap with. (heh) I think Snow would rather like to have a purple fairy body… this doll’s maybe a shade or two more tan than Elsa. Her head actually tilts forward, so it’ll avoid contact with the ‘blade’. Wish me luck finding a suitable replacement body !

The latest DTree 2016 calendars are out ! Go snag yours !

It was simply too hot and humid today, so Beloved Hubby was home. He mostly slept – handling a chainsaw in 90°+  weather is pretty exhausting. But we got the larger chunks of tree trunk and left-by-previous-tenants oil cistern shoved in the garage, away from City Of eyes, and filled the rolly-carts with the rest of the tree. Guess we’re stuffing the house trash in the garage ‘til Friday. Pulled a good load of weeds, until I got too dizzy to keep going. Got eaten by mosquitoes, too. But at least it’s done, we should pass inspection (snort), whenever that is, next time.

Hit Dollar Tree this afternoon – they put out the 2016 calendars, and Dearest Son and I had fun going through them all. I immediately snagged this Frozen one, he had three car-themed ones from which to choose, and I think his final criteria was ‘which has the most Corvettes in it ?’. I also got the solar-powered waving sunflower, the updated one, to keep my older model company. The cheese popcorn is already keeping my belly happy !

Blue is so relaxing. . . especially when you already have a ton of it !

Didn’t win the FaceBook contest (and while the one that won was nice, I still think I did very well with mine !), darn it. Oh, well, maybe next time. I seem to do better with games of sheer chance than those that require I demonstrate any real skill. 

Started work on that doll dress Dearest Son commissioned. It’s. . . in need of alterations. Doesn’t fit any doll at all as it is. Gaps open at the front, armholes don’t fit, too big in the back, several parts are a real pain to sew. I also learned that just ‘cause it’s a PDF file, doesn’t mean it prints at the right size. The ‘one inch’ marker is maybe an eighth of an inch smaller than it should be. I can print it correctly, but I think that’ll just give me a whole new set of issues to work with, if a smaller version is already issue-laden. Since this went longer than expected, he won’t see it ‘til tomorrow. Hope he won’t be too disappointed – at least I told him ahead of time I was doing a test version first, so we wouldn’t use all ‘the good fabric’ (that we haven’t even bought yet) on bad tests. 

Meanwhile, here’s that embroidery machine doll shirt, from DreamCatcher Designs. I’d say ‘design’, but really, it’s merely the outline of a shirt, all those stitches at the hemlines are front-view only. It’s a pretty quick shirt, and has a lot of potential, but in its way, it’s also quite limited. I used the same fleece employed for my birthday hat, and the stretchy qualities were necessary here. It rather looks like cashmere in Elsa’s size ! I’m thinking of playing with it more, maybe trying some small designs on the shirt front, altering the hems with scissors and a regular sewing machine, seeing how other fabrics work out.