Watched 'Thank God It's Friday' today - maybe that's why I'm off sync.

Current Mood : Needing a nap.

FIL is back home. We didn’t really know when he was due until mid-afternoon – and yes, that included what date. Considering the tone of some of his East Coast notes, Beloved Hubby was a bit worried FIL would be belligerent at best, and possibly spoilin’ for a confrontation. Turned out, FIL was too hot and exhausted from a 40+ hour ride in an air-conditioning malfunctioned bus to do much but claim his bag and sit back for another ride. I’m sure our beautifully air-conditioned Venus-diesel was much more comfortable.

Not coincidentally, the last of our stuff (that I know of) is here and placed. I got all the books unboxed and shelved, my sadly neglected bike is locked up out front, and my jewelry armoire (which is 25% costume baubles, 75% stuff and random goodies) is here. At last, I finally have a place for all those dress forms I used to collect. Between the ones in storage and the ones on the old Arena, I needed to put ‘em somewhere ! At the IL’s house, the top of it held our toiletries and non-prescription medicines. But we have a whole bathroom for that now !

So things are settling back down. All our stuff is here, and most if it is where it belongs. There’s a pile waiting for storage, but it’s out of the way, and will be fine there until Beloved Hubby retrieves his tools from his current job. That’s when we’ll really need storage ! Even all the new stuff – and lemme tell ya, even folded up, that Monster High School playset takes up some room – has a home, which is wonderful. At this point, I’m enjoying cleaning ! Except dishes. I still hate doing dishes.  

Another way you can tell things are going back to normal – we went to Dollar Tree today and only spent ten bucks ! And three of that was Dearest Son’s stuff. We left most of our cooking and serving utensils behind, so I’ve been picking new ones up, one or two at a time. They’re putting out school supplies where the luau and July 4^th decorations were, and ya’ll know how much I love that stuff. But all I bought  were big envelopes so I could mail off those doll clothes. I’d meant to do that Friday, but I got lazy. At least it’ll only take a day to reach her, and a couple of bucks. It’s all packed up for Monday, including a note explaining the bizarre bounty of odd sized doll clothes.

Dishes and laundry are done, boxes are gone...guess I get to play !

Current Mood : Lazy

Current Image Notes : There’s my Slo-Moe, showing you how big the school’s box is. Better pictures of him later, though.

Busy but quiet Friday – at least until the neighbors got a little tipsy. Even then, we couldn’t hear much, but when we went outside to lock my bike up, some girl idiot was standing on the railing fence to the still-closed pool, barefoot in a bikini, yelling at the feet of people on the second floor. I thought that she must be doubly protected, being both a child and an idiot…

Spent a good chunk of the day at the Laundromat, washing our old bedding and this week’s worn clothes. No renegade doll-destroying little girls this week, thank Everything, just a couple guys who avoided us like our presence would somehow get their girlfriends pregnant. It’s true, though – the place is near-vacant early in the day.

We also had some errands to run. The thrift store in the same strip had several nice office chairs for $15. each last week. I’d taken photos, and Beloved Hubby was interested in one…so we went to test ‘em out. If it was in good shape and could lean back – Beloved always prefers a ‘rocking’ chair – then we’d snag it. It was, and it did, so it got pushed to the register. Dearest Son was interested in a non-rolling $10. chair. I told him to save his allowance today and next week, and he could get it. He ended up buying a die-cast van, about the size of a water bottle, instead – and told Beloved all about ‘his’ chair. Well, here’s hoping he can start saving up next week !

Also got a few groceries. I’m gonna make my first attempt at cooking dried beans this weekend. It’s about the best way to use the last of that ham that I can think of, and even if I completely botch it, I’m really only ‘out’ about a buck-fifty. Read lots of recipes, gonna get ‘em soaked tonight, and see what happens. Wish me luck !

Came home, put all the laundry away, and reveled in the feeling of clean. Which was boring after thirty seconds, so I deboxed the ‘I Love Fashion’ Abbey I got Tuesday. Wow, it hardly seems like that was this week, it’s been so busy. Anyway, she is lovely. Her shimmer is well done, her eyes are gorgeous, and her lip color really suits her. And I honestly believe her hair is better than the ‘Basic’ Abbey’s. I kinda wanna keep her, but do I really need two Abbeys ? Well, she’s not taking up much space while I decide.

Her clothes are neat, too. The fun-fur-waisted tulle skirt detaches from the strapless sheath dress, which I like. It’s hard to tell from the box if that was sewn together or not. Under the over-skirt’s waist, the predominantly pink dress is blue ! I love her purple purse, just wish the iCoffin fit inside.

 Her jewelry’s pretty, too. Like an icy sunset, most pieces are soft pink and lavender, with a touch or two of blue-grey. Kinda reminds me of those late 70s - early 80s Darci dolls. They always came with a ton of bracelets, and every outfit, even the ‘budget’ ones, came with more. I used to wonder about that as a kid, because hardly anyone I knew wore even a single bracelet, much less piles of them – Madonna’s rubber bracelet stacks had yet to hover into my world-view – but I concluded that the bracelets helped cover the wrist joint, so you got a better illusion of the doll’s ‘model’ lifestyle. Not sure if that’s what Mattel’s doing, but have you noticed that nearly every doll has come with some sort of bracelet, watch, or wrist covering…?

Anyway, I’m having some fun playin’. Hope you are !

Debox ALL the things !

Current Mood : Fat & happy

Current Image Notes : Carlin’s ready for the tour ! Stand by for yours ! Click to see it bigger, if ya like. 

Fell asleep shortly after the early fireworks – pretty but brief, but nowhere near as short as the ‘Big Bay Boom’ bust in San Diego – and woke up two hours later, spoilin’ for some fun. Remember all the stuff I bought this month and the end of last month ? I opened it all ! Except for ‘I love fashion’ Abbey, for some reason. Put my second set of Create A Monster guys together, put the new Moxie Teenz shoes on Lagoona and DracuLaura, stored clothes, and bagged up all the packaging for the trash. That eliminated most of the remaining clutter at my table-desks.

I like my new puma-dude, and will just love him once he’s all blue, and not half pink. Beloved Hubby says he wants to go back to the hobby shop this week, for some more AirSoft ‘green gas’, so I’ll tag along. Puma hasn’t given me a name yet, although ‘Panthro’ makes him snort ungraciously, so I figure it’ll happen later.

Spent most of my time with the second Gargoyle dude. He’s gonna be my version of Slo-Moe, Ghoulia’s boyfriend. While I don’t have near the skills of Vivien Hoffpauir, I did what I could. If Mattel ever makes an official Slo-Moe doll, he’s mine, and this guy’ll go back to being a gargoyle or something else entirely, but for now, he’s our Moe !

The wigs I had were…interesting. The one I got from Lori (Tanz­_Fanatika) was fine, and looks great on puma-dude, but the one I got with the puma set just wasn’t good. It was like it’d been trimmed with a weed-whacker, hardly any two strands next to each other were the same length. I actually pulled most of the red from the Vampire/Gargoyle wig (and Sharpie’d some roots) and cut that, since it was a mess, too. While I’m all for the delicious asymmetrical angle in clothes and hair on girls, for some reason, I don’t much care for it on guys, and if that red/black wig was anything at all, it was asymmetrical. On that one, the strands were close together in length, and it was styled well, one side was up at the top of his ears, the other was down below the bottoms. The back was just as off-length as the front, so I spent sooo much time cutting a fraction of an inch at a time until it looked ‘right’ to me. It’s probably way off, and even uglier besides, but I’m happy. While I left Puma’s alone, ‘Slo Moe’ got his claws trimmed back to nails, which I prefer. You get his photo in a day or two, and Puma’s as soon as he’s on the ‘after’ side.

Lucked out – the Moxie Teenz swimsuit cover-up, that white peplum jacket with gold trim, fits Elphie great. Doesn’t look like the swimsuit will, but I’ll try it later. The shoes look great on Lagoona, and the pink-ribboned ‘straw’ purse looks fine as a beach tote / shopping bag. The Liv guy outfit is oversized on the MH guys, but the headphones and jewelry fit perfectly, and the shirt is OK. Pants are too big at the hips and waist, too tight at the ankles. Only doll they fit are vintage Ken and Allen, and they’re tight at the calves on them, too. Liv guy dolls must have legs like sticks !

And here’s a laugh – the Liv boots fit the CAM guys just fine. But when I went to take them off, I popped Puma’s foot off at the ankle ! It snapped back in, but what a scare. I didn’t think their feet were supposed to be swappable, but yes, they are ! Used my X-Acto knife to widen the back opening, so now they slide on and off much easier. The MH guys  have so few options for footwear, I’m glad I’ll be able to use those boots.

Got everything sorted and stored today, and Dearest already took out the packaging trash. Took some photos of the High School playset packaging – I was right, Brawley and Fade hate flash photography ! – in anticipation of cutting out the logos and tossing it out tomorrow. No space for boxes anymore, but luckily, my hard drive has all the space I need to remember with.  And lucky you, you get to see it all ! Because as much as I’m looking forward to using it for photos, the school does take up a lotta space. I don’t even wanna drag it out unless I know I’m gonna have time to play ! 

Happy Fourth !

Current Mood : Bewildered


Current Image Notes : Click to embiggenate, so you can read the text in Abbey's voice. You know ya wanna. 

Well, today was interesting. Blogger got a DCMA (basically ‘copyright violation’) complaint on four of my posts, and bounced them back to ‘draft’ status until I could ‘fix’ them. Yup, those were the ones with the reposted MH ‘Scaris’ images. It didn’t say what the offense was, or who called it, even at the links they helpfully included that would supposedly explain it all, but that was about all the posts had in common. If I reposted them with the images (at least, I think it was the images, I have no idea what my actual sin was) intact again, Blogger can pull my posts and cancel my account, so I made do with a new image. If that replacement offends you-know-who, I’m advised to retain my own legal counsel. Well. At least it helped me make a decision that, frankly, wasn’t that hard, since it didn’t much appeal to me anyway. Nice (and a bit creepy) to know I’m on the radar, at least. Funny, though, that I don't remember Mattel being this snipey when someone released consumer-research photos of the now-defunct 'Modern Circle' dolls nearly a year early. I wonder, are they somehow more protective of MH than they are of Barbie ? Odd thoughts...

I mean, getting the school was important to me, I admit that. But the hunt and chase thing is not fun anymore. Just strolling into a Target, after checking inventory on line, and buying what I wanted without any fuss or car camp-outs last month was about the most pleasant thing I could imagine. And of all the ‘previews’ I’ve seen, there’s so little I want, I don’t plan on anymore monthlong odysseys for any of it. If it’s there at Mal-Wart, Target, or TRU when I’m there, great. If not, oh, well. I got 38 dolls right now, and haven’t had time to sew in weeks. I want to do more of that and less of shopping. Helps that I’m running outta money, too…

And I have to admit that I was excited when I ‘scored’ the school, but heck, I would have, sooner or later anyway. Just last night, I noticed Target was listing the playset as well, and it was still in stock as of 3pm today. I really should shut up about TRU’s presumed price-jacking, too. Despite raising the price of mine five bucks between my cancelled order ($89.99) and today ($94.99), Target started at $99.99, right off the bat (ha-ha). So much for the so-expensive MSRP of $80. last February.

What’s surprising me is that I really haven’t played with it much. Hasn’t been time ! When Beloved Hubby’s home, we go from zero to out the door in two minutes, so it doesn’t really pay to get too involved in play. Besides, things were getting a bit cluttery around here, and if I wanted space to play in, I had to get my stuff placed and put away. Since I can easily drop cleaning for whatever’s next, I opted for that.

Hung up the few Barbie cases I kept outside my closet door, and drilled in a couple cup hooks for my purses – both of ‘em ! – and the SDCC 2010 MH bag I use to store their wardrobe on the inside. Also hung up some framed art and photos around the house, including that adorable sketch of Cupid that ParaReality did for me earlier this year. Now the place seems more like ‘home’ – and just in time for the fireworks ! We’re pretty close to the park where they’ll be set off, so we don’t have to travel to see them ! Love fireworks, hate traffic.

Hope  your July 4^th isn’t as confusing, and is full of pretty aerial displays !

Whoo-Hoo ! Who's havin' the best birthday ?!!

Current Mood : Chillin' !

Guess what I got ??! YES ! I got my birthday present, the big one, the long awaited and much anticipated Monster High School Playset ! Our store actually got two in, and I got first pick. The other vanished while another mom and I were discussing which dolls we’d be hunting next. She’s up for Venus McFlytrap, but her daughter and I are leaning more towards Robecca Steam. They were there for the TRU-exclusive Ghoulia doll and scooter set and the DracuLaura doll with her bath set. I drew her attention to the ‘I Love Fashion’ Abbey and Frankie sets, also TRU exclusives, while I was selecting which of the three Abbey ones would be going home with us. She bought both of them, allowing her daughter to pick. I made sure they saw the dark mark on one Abbey’s forehead. Ours had restocked, big time !

Still no individual Abbey outfits (the one with the ice skates) or Dead Tired Wave Two dolls (not much interested in those anyway), but they had the full Skulltimate Roller Maze line. I finally got to see them up-close, all four. Was glad I’d bought just the skates. Pretty dolls, but aside from the green hair streaks, nothing else really new. IMhO, curly pigtails do not look good on Ghoulia.

Dearest Son found the other Mega Bloks ‘Pyrates’ ship, on markdown from $70. to $24., and with a little help from mamma, used the last of his funds to snag it. It comes with its own floating squid ! Beloved can’t wait to take it to the still-emerald pool, hopefully soon. Lotta happy going back to Starlight’s trunk ! I also stopped off at PetSmartCo to return a fish tank accessory that didn’t fit the dolls (yes, I’m very strange), and hit Bed, Bath, and Beyond, mostly because it was there. Found the lighted mirror Beloved Hubby wanted, at a bargain price, so I snagged it, and they kindly let me choose a gift box. I got the biggest one, selfishly, and now it’s holding all my Barbie clothes ! At last, they’re free from the crappy, rained-on box they were in !

Beloved was home early enough for a package he ordered to arrive, so we all got new toys today ! (happy grin) I didn’t have much time to play with mine, because we still had to deliver groceries to MIL and deliver Baby Crissy to her new owner. We dropped off boxes and food, but there was no new news about FIL. Looks like it’ll be Friday or Saturday, though.

Baby was warmly welcomed into her new family, and as I was digging in the box, I discovered I’d put ‘Little Miss Make-Up’ in there, too. And that was fine, again, no space, no time. The buyer was thrilled, because Little Miss would make a great gift for Baby’s owner’s little sister.

After a quick grocery run – we spent less than half what we used to ! – we headed home. And it was then I discovered that one of the shoes I’d made Little Miss was on the floor of Venus-Diesel. Darn it. Left a message for the buyer, I’d be glad to drop it in the mail to her.

Got me to thinking, though – I’d bought Little Miss her original outfit, including shoes, off eBay…where was it ? Probably in with the Little Disney Prince/Princess and Timey, Dottie, and Cathy’s clothes pile. I needed to go through those, and even though the MH school temptingly called, I figured I’d best get that done. Ended up with a small pile of clothes I couldn’t tell who I made ‘em for, so I got Princess Dorrie out for some trials. I soon had the Little Miss issue wear in hand, along with some shoes and several separates too small for PDorrie, in a pile. Baby’s buyer called me back, so I had her address. Boy, is she gonna get a surprise in the mail. She thinks I’m just sending a shoe !

Beloved’s off tomorrow, so we’re all gonna relax and play and goof around. I’m having the best birthday week ever ! 

Bye-Bye Baby Crissy !

Current Mood : Sad but happy. 

Fun times today, unpacking all those boxes that’ve sat around since our last move. I had to reserve one of ‘em for yard sale/donations, since some of it we just don’t need anymore. Got my box of doll clothes back, and I already have a place reserved for it, under the ‘bend’ part of my new desk-table. Gonna hafta go through it soon, because while it’s mostly Barbie apparel, there’s a buncha other dolls’ clothes in there, and most of them I don’t have anymore.

Speaking of dolls gone by, and gone bye, I got a call today I wasn’t expecting. A young girl showed her grandmother the doll she’s been saving for, and it was my Baby Crissy, up on Craigslist. She figured she’d better call, make sure Baby was even still available. She is, and was actually still at MIL’s – I knew exactly where, but since we didn’t have storage space, I left her there, safe and sound. We made arrangements to meet tomorrow, reduced Baby’s price to less than half what I paid for her, and I can’t wait to deliver her to her next happy home. I simply don’t have space for her, and truly haven’t played with her in years. I was glad I found her extra clothes a few weeks ago. Figured I’d have to donate her later, but now she’s gonna have someone to love her. I’m so happy.

And we’ll be at MIL’s tomorrow, anyway. She needs more groceries and dog food, and Beloved wants to check the plumbing, and make a repeatedly delayed stock-up run to Aldi’s. She may also have more details on FIL’s return. He sent me a birthday greeting that mostly attempted to justify his actions of the last three months, and I let it roll. Not much else I can do, and I am not gonna stir up anything that’s none of my business. I am *not* gonna make their issues my business now.

So I had fun organizing and cleaning the kitchen, and drew up a weekly menu. It’s much easier to feed my guys when what’s fer dinner isn’t up for debate. Better use of our inventory, too. The pile of ‘stuff to be situated’ by my desk got big again, but I’m putting it away, little by little. Added the few still-good boxes I emptied today to the pile – if she or they move, they won’t have to buy any, that’s for sure.

Fish Heads !

Current Mood : Joyful and relaxed.
Current Image Notes : Click to embiggen, and see both fish !

We started July off lazily – Beloved Hubby had the day off. Yaaay ! He was a bit restless, so I ended up getting breakfast in bed, tasty Braum’s sausage biscuits with orange juice. It’s been about two weeks since he had a day off, and we had a list of things to do longer than your arm. But we really didn’t get going ‘til about noon.

That’s when the just-moved hobby shop opened. They have just about everything for his and Dearest Son’s interests, just not much for mine. Unless you count all that spray paint for plastics I’ll probably take a closer look at later. Gonna spray-paint a Vampire Create A Monster torso for Puma-boy, also affectionately known as Panthro, a Thundercats character  he strongly resembles.

From there, I wanted to pick up some sale bottled water from Big Lots, but we ended up getting my second table-desk as well. What the heck, it was on sale, too. Between that and the water, we saved a quick five bucks. Also scored our new vacuum cleaner, a factory-reconditioned bagless Bissell upright for $40. Now, once I get up all this clutter, I can clean the floors ! And the now-empty box is perfect for Dearest’s pool floats. If we ever get to use them again, the water’s still emerald green.

After that, we went up to MIL’s house, to visit with her and check on a plumbing problem she’s having. Beloved and Dearest emptied out the shed of all our stuff, and Beloved was a bit upset. A lovely inlaid table he’d made years ago and placed in there had been destroyed, which bothered me too – it was fine a couple months ago. When I asked if the possums in the area possibly wrecked it, he was a bit touchy, so I wonder if something with fewer legs did it.

She also had news for us – FIL was due to return sometime between this Thursday and Saturday, no one was sure yet. Of course, he’d need a lift home. She told me while Dearest was dealing with the shed that she and FIL had a lot to work out, but she’d let us know what she chose, and if she needed anything. I asked her if she wanted us to back off for a while, maybe just check in via text messaging, and she said that’s what she wanted. And yes, she still wanted the boxes we forgot to bring with today.

On the way home, we stopped at PetSmartCo, and Dearest chose a lovely Rosy Tetra fish, almost transparent, with red-tipped fins and touches of black and white. Beloved named him/her ‘Fade’, since that was mostly what it did once released from the bag. Fade and Brawley are still getting used to each other, but so far, so good. Once they’d been fed, we sent out for Chinese, my early birthday dinner, and Beloved set up my new table and assembled the vacuum. They both work really well ! I’m donating part of my desk to Brawley and Fade’s tank, and now you can see them from any point in the room. I find that I watch them much more than our cable TV. Vastly more interesting.

Got our weather-beaten boxes of mostly neglected stuff inside, and I volunteered to unpack them tomorrow. Beloved looked exhausted. I have no idea where half this stuff is going, but I'm just happy about getting the pool toys out of the way ! This place has gotten cluttered, so I have my work cut out for me, while he's at work.

I’m actually rather looking forward to it !