A Christmas Mystery and Other Stories

     On Saturday my parents came over for dinner. We did some gift exchanging and I figured it was also the perfect time to solve the first mystery; what this mystery book is! I am very pleased to say I have not read this book, or even heard of it. I am also almost finished with a book I am reading and may get into this one next. I have lots of options of what book to read next. I also have one more mystery book that I haven't opened yet. I am going to see how long I can wait before I solve that particular mystery. 

     Speaking of mysteries, on Sunday night I decided it was a good time to play this escape room game. I love escape rooms, whether an actual room or a game, and I saw these at Barnes and Noble and wanted to try them out. The fact that you don't have to have more than one player is a bonus, since I don't often have people to play games with. So I grabbed my game, a glass of mead, and paper and pencil. I got into the game. 

     By the end I was mad at myself and a little bit mad at the game creators. There were clues I solved, that were not technically solved, because I didn't know which piece of furniture had that particular shaped lock on it. There was a clue I solved that said I needed to find an example of the item in one of the pictures... but there was not an example of the item in ANY of the pictures (even after I finished the game and dug out anything I had missed). I ended up having to use way too many clue cards, and more time than expected, to finish. So by the end I was frustrated with how much help I needed, how stupid I felt, and how there didn't actually seem to be a flow to the game that made any sense. You are supposed to solve a clue, open a box/cabinet/etc, and get stuff for the next clue. It didn't actually seem to work that way. So maybe I missed things in the instructions. Maybe I had an off night (I was actually kind of sick that night). Or maybe I am smart but not logical. I have no idea. Not that it's a deterrent, I want to get another of these and try again. I do like puzzles. 

     This is Pink Frathading. Travis named her. When I asked him what I should name my dog he said pink and I said that was a little obvious, how about another name. And he said frathading, which is Travis's word for anything he doesn't know or remember the name of, or anything he wants to know the name of. Pink was a gift from my friend Jaime. She said it was inspired by a conversation we had that I might not even remember. I remember. I said I wanted a dog but I can't afford to get a dog right now and it would not be fair to a dog to leave it alone all day long while I am at work. But Pink Frathading doesn't mind being alone. And it was a really sweet gift. 

     I have not been super prolific with doll making these days but I have finished a couple of dolls. I made this western pleasure doll a couple of weeks ago. I love making dolls in basic black. That's what I wear after all. This lady is sold. 

     I wanted to stick with western pleasure dolls so I got into this one as well. Basic black and white seemed like a fun idea. The black fabric has sparkly silver dots on it. The base fabric in white is also a silver glitter fabric. This is a really basic but also fairly blingy doll. She is currently available. 

     Since I was making dolls with black chaps (which is mostly what I end up making these days anyway) I was running low and needed to reorder. And I made a terrifying discovery! They have discontinued the black Ultrasuede that I use! I have not been able to find it anywhere. I ordered the next thickness that is close, but I definitely do not like it as much. And now I am frustrated about that. This has happened before where I have had some doll making material that I absolutely love, and have used for years, that was easy to get. And then it gets discontinued and I have to try to find a replacement. This is usually when I end up having to waste a bunch of money getting things to try them out, just to find that most of them are not quite right in some way. Honestly, it seems nothing is ever easy. 

     So those are my updates for now. A couple of mysteries solved, a pink dog, and some dolls and doll issues. I do still have other dolls available from my live sale and some of the miniature items as well. Is anyone else wondering how we are pretty much at the end of 2023? I feel like this year went pretty quickly for the most part.