I love our Study !

Current Mood : Light but sleepy

We began today much slower than we did all week, mostly ‘cause everyone’s still tired. And all the dust we’ve stirred up has settled in lungs and esophagi, so we’re all coughing and hacking. There’s still a list of to-dos as long as yer arm, but most of the heavy lifting is done. It’s the nitty-gritty little what’s-going-where that remains. Mostly easy, but very time-consuming.

So we did not a bit of it. Instead, we cleaned out Venus-truck, installed her new rear-view mirror that finally replaces her damaged-years-ago one, returned unneeded building supplies and bought what we still needed, had a nice leisurely meal at Taco Bell, and did a bit of shopping.

I love The Study. My Arena has just the right space and room around it to let me move, but I’m not so wide-open, I feel isolated or that I need to buy much for it. (grin) However, due to its position in The Study, KJ’s surface doesn’t get enough light. So we did a bit of shopping and I found an awesome lamp at Office Depot – natural spectrum bulb, flexible, with a built-in magnifier. Hated to spend the cash, but this would serve me well for years, and didn’t take up much space. Fell in love with two Ott lamps, but they didn’t have any in stock of the one I most liked, and when I took the portable display model to a dim desk to see how much light it put off, it wasn’t nearly enough. I’m really happy with the not-Ott I got. Dearest Son is completely enthralled with the magnifier.

I also scored a markdown dry erase / magnetic board, about 6 by 8 inches. Gonna use it in the bookcase, to hold backdrops in the little photo studio I’m gonna set up in there. Luckily for me, it’s a white bookcase, but I wanna use all these calendar pages, scrapbook papers, odd fabrics, origami paper, print-outs and mini-posters, too. I figure I can pin ‘em with magnets hidden behind the doll, and not damage the paper.

While Beloved took a much-needed nap, I got to work on my bookcase. With the addition of the recently-found shelf and the purchased-yesterday shelf pins, I could do whatever I wanted…which I soon concluded, may just include getting my dolls out of storage. They’d be crowded on the shelves, but I’m sure it’s better than a box ! I moved to make it happen with the thought still fresh in my mind. Moved books, resized shelves, hammered in new pins, and got the two boxes of which I’ve never, not for one minute, forgotten the location.

An hour later, I had to take a break. My dolls were stacked like cordwood, but they were free of their boxes, and I could make a few shuffles later. I definitely had several hours’ worth of hair-brushing ahead of me ! But aside from a bit of grit and some missing shoes, they were all just fine. Whew !

Now that I have all my books and all my dolls, I feel a lot better.

Why I quit doing book reviews in elementary school. I always wanted to like the book, but...

Current Mood : Deflated

Busy day today. After a large laundry day flooded the drain and ran into the Garpartment, we started taking our baskets of dirty clothes to the nearby Laundromat. It's either that or spend all day in the dank, crowded garage, monitoring the drains and stopping / starting the washer to avoid another flood. Personally, it's worth about $6. three times a month or so to go to a warm, bright shop, do all our loads at once, relax with a book, and then bring it back here to the dryer.

So that was today's task, but I couldn't get started 'til Beloved Hubby came back with Starlight. He had classes and a Lab today, before work. Last time, he did the laundry over the weekend, for a chance to study quietly, but he has no time at all for the next two weeks or so. I rather enjoyed it, but hefting the wet clothes into the garage was a bit of work !

I took the time today to go over Sandi Holder's Barbie : A Rare Beauty tome, released this winter. I mostly got it 'cause it was new, I hadn't even seen it in a bookstore, but here it was, in our tiny library. Maybe it would even rekindle my former Barbie-love. It didn't.  I wanted to return it today, with my other books, because I'm done with it, and wanna give someone else a chance to enjoy it, but decided to keep it, in case. I promised ya'll a review, and want it or not, here goes.

It's a nice book. The photographs are lovely and sharp, the backgrounds are suitably pastel pink and swirly, and the text is often interesting. But there's no way I'd buy it. I'd want to do exactly what I did - look at it, nod appreciatively, and return it to the shelf. It's a nice book, an elegant book. But I don't have shelf space or mental space for it. In my life, 'coffee table books' are clutter-starters.

Without opening the book, I expected some coverage of her life-size recreation of the soda fountain from the Barbie Goes To College playset. I've heard of it in various doll magazines, and reporters are amazed, but for some reason, there seem to be darn few photos of it. It's not here. It's only mentioned as a place where she holds kids' birthday parties. Kinda sad, that. It reduces her 'I hired Disney and Pixar employees to design my space' specialness to just another Chuck E Cheese's, or local bowling alley. You'd think adults would love to visit there, with their just-purchased dolls, or it'd be perfect for area doll clubs to rent for meetings, or maybe even birthday parties for people who've lapped puberty and are heading on the down side of the hill. Nope. Ok, she's focusing on Barbie, not her own tribute to Barbie. That's thoughtful.

After giving it a quick leaf-through, I figured the lovingly photographed dolls were from Ms. Holder's personal collection - after all, she has the Barbie's Best Friend award (more later) and is presumably the world's biggest Barbie collector retailer, sales-wise. It's mentioned obliquely. But the flyleaf says every photo in the book was property of Mattel, Inc., and accompanying text usually details the stellar price someone paid Ms. Holder for it in one of her legendary auctions.

That was kinda my big beef with the book. It's charming, but not remotely comprehensive enough to be a real reference, or engaging in any way besides 'Look at the reeedonkulous amount someone paid for this doll'. I'd have loved more stories about buying from hoarders, engaging sales tales, meeting with Mattel reps - something besides 'Isn't this doll pretty ? Someone paid $357,951.42 for her !'. I think there are two chapters that don't have this kind of text, and they're both on dolls too modern to sell for much past their issue prices yet. Again, Ms. Holder is focusing on Barbie, not her Barbie store or her Barbie-dedicated life, but when it's just photos and closed auctions, there's not a human element to engage the reader, and without that, you're looking at a sales brochure.

The photos are pretty. But about 96% are of dolls and people I've seen before. There's two photos of the Handler family I've never seen, and maybe ten of prototype dolls and dresses. Everything else is 'seen it', occasionally veering into 'seen it six thousand times', and when you're not into early vintage, SilkStones, Bob Mackie, or extreme limited editions (like that first Holiday Barbie), there's just not a lot more here. This book will probably sing to a more dedicated collector. And I am definitely not a collector, even back before Monster High showed me what I'd been missing.

I can respect and even envy a bit of what Sandi Holder did here. It really is a lovely book, and a sweet tribute. But Barbie : Her Life and Times  by BillyBoy and Barbie All Dolled Up by Jennie D'Amato were much more enjoyable and fun for me. But remember, I'm not a collector, and this book may be a treasure trove of delights to someone who's not as broke, bitter, and boring as me.

But, lemme be straight and honest with ya'll - when I first got into Barbie as an adult, I kinda felt like I'd never fit in with the 'country club' attitude that comes with being a 'real' fan to some people and some message boards. I don't like 'inner circle' fan clubs, the National Convention often sounded like a snob-a-thon, especially from the Barbie Bazaar editors, and I felt I'd be judged and snubbed by my lack of 'serious' dolls if I dared attend one. Not that I ever would - we couldn't afford to tie up funds in the annual attendance lottery, or shell for the hotel and airfare. In some ways, Barbie - or at least her conventions - was for the wealthy. Barbie : A Rare Beauty made me remember all that. Not Ms. Holder's fault, but I really weary of the Barbie = money equation. And equating various dolls with how much they sold for doesn't help anyone who's just starting or merely curious.

I'll probably make a special trip to return it to the library tomorrow. I'm already a bit fragile this week, as you've probably noticed - I don't need another 'You're not good enough' haughty stare from my bedside. Someone else who doesn't have my issues is waiting for it.

Oh, and the 'Barbie's Best Friend' award - very disappointing. It's a real honor, and something to be exceptionally proud of, but the actual award shown in the book is an engraved ink stand with a bushy feather-pen, like what you'd see next to a guest book at a very pink wedding. I guess I was expecting a Barbie statue, a replica of one of the numerous Barbie trophies issued with doll outfits, or a brass-dipped Barbie sculpture - not something so much like what one of my friends gave me from the area mall's 'Things Remembered' store when I graduated college. Yes, I'm aware of how petty that sounds. My blog, my jerk opinion. Hmpft.

Tomorrow, I sew ! Feel free to crab on my pathetic sewing, but it's kind of a waste of time to criticize someone's opinion. At least that's what I think. (grin)

Books that make you go, 'Hmmm.....'

Current Mood : Pensive.

Current Image Notes : This Monster High character is unusually appealing - one day, I'll have to make my own HooDude.

It takes an exceptional book to make you take a look around and finally understand some things in your life that've been puzzling you, no matter how trite those things possibly are. While it may be just a fairy-tale upgrade, Mercedes Lackey's The Snow Queen struck some amazing resonation with me, and as I closed the book on its satisfying ending, I took up some threads that lay scattered across my mind and finally, I could follow their paths, and get them wound up and out of the way.

Most books and stories have a theme, and a fairy tale is mostly an oral legend with a moral. The lesson I took from Snow Queen was that a person's greatest weakness is often his or her great strength. Not everyone gets to show those things, unless Life demands it of him or her, but it's still worth some thought.

My childhood was...well, let's say 'repressive' for today. I learned early on that making myself quiet and unnoticed was the best way to avoid a lot of grief if things weren't going well. And sometimes even when things were going well. I often played Barbies in complete silence under the bed, with one foot sticking out, so they wouldn't think I vanished. Never saw anyone check, though. Add to that, I'm an only child, one of the youngest kids in the whole extended family, we lived waaaaaaaay out in the sticks, and my parents never wanted anyone in the house or wanted me to visit neighbors and friends without them nearby, and you got yerself some lonely summers and very quiet rooms. I didn't see it as repressing then, I just thought it was The Way Things Were, and that Angie and Lisa probably did the same things when I wasn't around.

I spent most of my younger days alone, and would often go weeks in the summer seeing no one but my parents, and even then, just for an hour or two a day. Far into my teens, I still played the avoidance game. But these events have stood me in good stead, although I'd never put Dearest Son through the same. I have no trouble being alone with myself for extended periods of time, I can keep my thoughts to myself, especially when they're damaging to someone else, and my 'inner life' is always nearby when I need it. I don't think it's the best way to gain emotional maturity, and I'm still very easy to tip into 'uber-emote', where I cry copiously over something I've imagined or laugh for no apparent reason, but, well, we are what we are. And...that's actually good enough.

Everything I am, I have chosen to be. I often choose to be a couple dozen different things in an hour. I don't always do my very best, but heck, that's exhausting ! When I try, and really mean to make something happen, it usually does - because I've placed a value on it in my own heart-mind. I'm not any better than anyone else, but I'm not the horrible creature I always feared I was, either. I really should have stopped snarling at small kids two years ago, though...

And only loosely related, I understand The Virgin Suicides now. I watched that movie three times and just didn't 'get it'. I was trying hard to not see, and doing quite well at it, until today. To me, suicide is like a permanent version of alcohol - neither makes much sense, so I avoid them and find other means of distraction. I mean, sure, you can booze it up and forget your problems, but they're still gonna be there when you sober up, and now you're head hurts, you're broke, and you're not entirely sure what happened that night. Not good. I don't like giving up control of me.

But when there's simply too many demands of perfection, too many restrictions to allow you to be who you are, there has to be an escape route somewhere. Any teenager flirts with suicide, it has an oddly romantic pull that I know too well. But I kept telling myself that things would get better, so they did. And I simply couldn't lose such total and complete control of m'self, when you get to the marrow of it.  But not everyone can delude themselves as completely as I do. For some, they only see the escape they so desperately need, and they take it. I still think it's a too-permanent solution to a usually temporary problem, but I can understand why it often feels like the only way out. 

I wonder if authors ever realize what thoughts their works can engender...

TGIF ! Happy Friday the Thirteenth !

Current Mood: Howlin' good !

Song you forgot : One Night in Bangkok, Murray Head

We lost power from 10am 'til 2pm, because the power lines were being maintained. Just wish I'd been smart enough to eat something when we were informed !

Ah, well, It gave me some time to get some things done. Got the dinner table cleared off - put away fabric and pattern scraps, the cutting surface, two handfuls of Lego, several freebie newspapers, some old mail, a quarter-cup of stray generic cereal, and four catalogs. Then I repaired a loose thread on the handle of my ComicCon Monster High tote bag, and cut the Velcro (tm) to make the much-needed closure when power was restored. I wanna use KJ, my sewing machine, to do the actual work. And then I got bored.

Leafed through the soon-to-be discarded newspapers and found a review of a new magazine-format book from two local authors, Dating the Undead : Loving the Immortal Man, by Gena Showalter and Jill Monroe. Article came complete with a photo of the cover - today's image - and an image of a double-truck spread titled  'Are They Undead ?', a discussion of the potential status of various male celebrities underneath their photos. Five minutes later, I had the articles cut from both copies of the freebie paper, and was going for the glue stick and a ruler. I now have two oversized copies of Dating, with the article inside and an ad for a local fencing salle on the back cover. Yes, at one point, Beloved Hubby and I took fencing lessons. Beloved remains very good at it, I got benched when Dearest Son made his incipient arrival known.

I'm gonna scan the 'article' piece and the fencing ad, and scale it down to make more scale-accurate versions for the MH ghouls. While Beloved fixed the printer during the outage - he's not sure how he did it, but it works now ! - it'll be easier to take a .jpg to the library for their 30c color copies. As-is, my current faux-book is almost comically oversized, and would even be a bit big for Elphie. Hmm...I actually want to read the real thing, too. Wonder if our library has it ?

Mmmm...library....

Picky, picky, picky...

Current Mood : Hopeful

Ready to go to the library ! I've read Mercedes Lackey's Winds of Fate, Winds of Change and Winds of Fury, all in a week. I read her Queen's Own series before Dearest Son was born, but never read this sort-of sequel, because I didn't care much for the lead character. But, since the local library seems to have darn near all her books, I gave them a shot. And really enjoyed them ! It's funny, but when I knew of the Winds books, that was pretty much it for that series. Turns out, there's at least one more trilogy afterwards, possibly two before, and several other 'stand alone' books featuring characters from the first series. Whew ! I got a lotta reading ahead of me ! And Beloved Hubby boggled at me a bit when I got five books from our last visit !

I also finished Pretty Little Purses & Pouches, most of which were just too...fiddly for me. I was looking for more general shapes and ideas, but this book gives instructions on how to make exactly that purse in the photos. Nice if you want a quilted metallic bowling ball bag purse, but you have to take a leap on your own if you just want that shape, without the fiddly bits and quilting. I may use one of the simpler designs, though, for a bag to show off some embroidery.


I'm nearly done with 1,000 Clever Sewing Shortcuts and Tips - having read most of them on the source, PatternReview. com. I found two of mine that got used, but I'm embarrassed at how beginner-basic they are. Still, it was kind of a shock to see them there. And I'm skipping quite a bit, since I don't have a serger. Should be done with it sometime tomorrow.


I feel better, but I still fall asleep like a computer - no input for ten minutes, and I'm gone. But I think I'm on the high side of whatever-this-was. Here's hoping ! 

Now, I just have to work on the props for "Velcro Fly"...

Current Mood : Ultra-silly

Today was so much fun ! Beloved Hubby was off, so we slept in, and went to Former Town to run a few errands. Finally got the 'not keeping' DVDs traded to Hastings, and scored $27. ! Not too shabby. Nothing new in their Monster High section - well, they had new-to-them stuff, although it was all merch I already had - but they did have Agatha H. and the Airship City, a novelization of Phil and Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius web comic. While it's been kinda slow for the last year or so, I'm still mostly devoted to it, and had been looking for the book since it was published in January. Even though it's a text version of the same story I've read online, I liked the style and decided to snag it. It covers from the start of the webcomic to the escape from Castle Wulfenbach, the aforementioned Airship City. Looking forward to digging in.

Dearest Son found some Bakugan books, one graphic, one text, and Beloved scored a study guide to higher mathematics, a subject he feels weakest in. With his upcoming education - he'll start in January - anything that'll make him feel more confident and positive is a good thing. I also found two novels in the Used section, on markdown, 2 for 99c. Of course, they rang up as $6.99 each, even with all the marker lines and Markdown stickers. Equally of course, I brought it up to the cashier, who fixed it. Hmpft.

We couldn't decide on lunch, having had a late breakfast, so we ended up with convenience store hot dogs and soda. It's not often you can feed a family of three for five bucks, and it isn't widely advised, but it certainly was tasty ! Got misplaced library books turned in, and headed to another strip mall - Goodwill was in that one !

(sigh) But we didn't find anything. It was crowded and busy and messy, and frankly, depressing. Ever go to a thrift store where even the books are broken ? By now I was a little tired and we still had a few groceries to score and some RedBox to turn in (btw, Everything Must Go is also kinda depressing), so we headed home. I was about to fall asleep !

I got a few chapters into Happiness Sold Separately, one of the markdown Hastings books, before I crashed for a solid two-hour nap. Played with Abbey Bominable for a while, and tested 'Physical Deaducation' Ghoulia's glued-yesterday arm. Seems to be holding OK, but I'm really timid around it. Don't want to break it again !

Toralei Stripe, the MH orange cat-girl, has been listed on ToysRUs.com, and was even marked as 'in stock' for a short while, according to folk at the LiveJournal group. Unfortunately, there are either sooo many people trying to get her, or the site itself was buggy for a short while after she appeared, because it crashed completely for a half hour or so. Then, when the dust settled, everyone who'd managed to click on it found their shopping carts empty and a reset to 'out of stock'. Not surprisingly, this upset a lot of people.

 While it may be hard to believe that MH fans managed to scuttle a big-company website, I can believe that's exactly what happened. I felt bad for everyone who had one, I sorta went through the same thing with the K-Mart site a few days ago. Luckily that had a happy-for-me ending, and I hope that for everyone here, too. 

My two new Lagoonas !

Current Mood : Relaxed as water...

Beloved Hubby was home today, but he was wiped out to his very core of existence. So Dearest Son and I let him rest all day, and had a quiet afternoon of doing whatever we wanted. Which was mostly Netflix, and dawdling. I got a two-hour nap m'self, which is why I'm awake now. (sigh)

Cleaned out my ramshackle desk while figuring out what to do next, and found a corroded AA battery and one just beginning to form a crust in the top drawer tray. Yikes. It's been so long since I've seen that happen with modern batteries, I forgot that it did. And if there's one thing I've learned, foamy batteries wreck more toys than kids and Moving Day combined, so I was glad these were at least easily disposed of - but it reminded me of the Hydration Station. Those rechargeable batteries in there were nearly dead, and much as I loved it, sitting around with City Of water in it, and dead batteries to run it, probably wasn't gonna help its longevity. So I got it drained while Beloved heroically made a burger run for us, and took the batteries out. 

Since I don't know when I'm gonna use it again - the motor is a bit loud for bedside use - I'm gonna let it finish draining and air dry overnight before I put it back, without the 'good' batteries I found in the desk drawer. It still looks great on display completely empty and bubble-free, and I don't want to risk damaging it with the wrong power supply and potentially weird water. It seems so picky to get special water for it, but I may do just that anyway.

Nearly all the books I bought from the thrift are returning there, now that they're read. Ranks that I paid $6. for over a dozen Ann Rice books before realizing I don't really like her style. It's also bad when ya take advantage of 'half off books' day to learn that 12.5c is still too much to pay for The Devil Wears Prada. Coulda dealt with the 'heroine' of Prada if she wasn't so much like the 'villain', even in the opening pages. If you hate the job so much, you roll your eyes like a slot machine at your boss six or more times daily, quit ! You're as much a part of the problem as your 'devil' is.