First Thanksgiving

     Ethan and I prepped to make a big, traditional (but low carb) thanksgiving meal at home. A couple of days before, Elecktra extended the invite from Peter's family to go and have dinner with them. We haven't seen them in awhile, they are very nearly family, and it was nice to get invited to dinner. So we put a portion of our thanksgiving meal plans on hold and went to eat with their family. I had a drink with Elecktra, she also loves the Apothic Red, which is my favorite wine.

     Alex, Travis's para, sent me a text asking me to wish Travis a Happy Thanksgiving. So we took this selfie to send back to her. And honestly, I forgot to take any other photos. Visiting and eating were more important. 

     Travs absolutely loves cranberry sauce but all of the commercially prepared ones have sugar in them. And a lot of it. So I made cranberry sauce, for the very first time ever, so Travis could have some. We brought a bunch to dinner and a few other people tried it as well, and liked it. It seemed to have sort of frozen and/or crystalized in the fridge. Some parts seem almost candied! It's not bad, even though I am not a fan of cranberry sauce. Recipe: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/4-ingredient-sugar-free-low-carb-cranberry-sauce-paleo-gluten-free/

     Since I had 2 cauliflower based side dishes planned, we decided to bring the mac and cheese. It seemed like it would travel better than mashed cauliflower. I added the garlic crumb topping (which is just plain pork rinds crushed and a bit of garlic powder thrown in). The entire pan of this disappeared fairly quickly. It was a big hit. Recipe: https://ourcountertop.com/2018/10/05/cauliflower-mac-and-cheese/

      These dinner rolls are made with fathead dough, so are basically cheese with a few extra things put in. They do have a pretty good bread-like texture. And they are definitely tasty! I used baking soda, though the recipe said you can use baking powder. I should try that out and see if it works and better or differently. These are not super soft, most keto bread is not, but if I made them larger they might work well for meatball grinders, which is still on my cooking list. I have not found the perfect rolls for that project yet. These might work. recipe: https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/low-carb-rolls-keto/

     I made two pies for thanksgiving, but I figured something that would travel a bit better was a good idea. So I made these super easy chocolate chip muffins, made them mini, and added some really excellent peanut butter buttercream frosting. I have had the mini cupcake pans since my birthday back in March and have never gotten a chance to use them. I think I may have actually gotten the cookbook with the recipe for my birthday as well. I don't share recipes out of books because it feels wrong to me, but this one is on her website so here you go, recipe for muffis: https://www.thehungryelephant.ca/2018/01/06/keto-chocolate-chip-muffins/ recipe for frosting: https://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/sugar-free-peanut-butter-buttercream-frosting/ These pair really well together and the mini size makes them very easy for people to try them out. These were also a big hit. The tricky part is the cooking time. Regular size, these seem to take a bit longer than traditional cupcakes, cutting down the baking time for mini was sort of guesswork and trial and error. About 22 minutes seemed to be what they needed. 

     So today will be second Thanksgiving. We have a bunch more stuff planned, including trying out some pies I have never made before. Hopefully everything comes together smoothly. I'll share some more recipes and commentary on the new recipes soon. Tomorrow or Monday most likely. 

Today is the Day!

      Today is Black Friday. This is the official first day of the holiday shopping season. If you are going out to shop, good luck. Bring a buddy to stand in line for you so you can use the bathroom. Have a plan and bring your zen. I have been out shopping on Black Friday a few times. I have had some really great experiences actually. A lot of it depends on your mindset. I once spent an hour in line at the Disney store chatting with a group of fantastic ladies. We made the wait super fun! Not all experiences are like that though. These days I choose to stay home and I might shop online. But really, I started my Christmas shopping in July. 
     I have done a studio sale for Black Friday for years. I don't know how many because I just don't remember. I did a blog post in 2012 about Black Friday and it said I have been having a Black Friday sale for several years. So... it's been awhile. I'd say a good 10 years of Black Friday sales. This year is going to be different. 
    I got the idea to do a live sale and that is what I am going to do. At 3:00pm EST today I will go live on my Facebook studio page, Field of dolls Studio-custom dolls by Anne Field, and will offer up all of the stock I currently have on hand. I have dolls, chaps, cross country kits, horse boots in several styles, miniature food and some other random things I have made. I have Field of Dolls Studio trivia so you can win prizes. I am doing a door prize for the 1st and the 7th person to join the live (7 is my favorite number) and I am giving extra discounts to people who share the live video and who previously shared my Instagram/Facebook ads or video ads. There will also be extra discounts or freebies for people who purchase, on top of the main discount. This should be a lot of fun! I hope a bunch of people will come and watch and play some games with me!

Thankful

     I love Thanksgiving. I love making the big meal (which is weird since I don't really enjoy cooking) and I love seeing everyone enjoy the meal. I do also love not having to cook for a few days afterwards. It's like a bonus. I love being with my family, though I used to have big Thanksgivings with lots and lots of family, now the dinners are much smaller. I have also done Thanksgiving with friends. All of them are good. It's always about food and good company and for being thankful. 

    I am thankful for so many things. 
    I am incredibly thankful that we never have to know what it's like to be truly hungry. I am thankful for my amazing friends. Thankful I have a job that pays consistently, even if that job is sometimes super frustrating. I am thankful for good co-workers, who appreciate what I do for them and for our students. I am thankful for my wonderful children, who are two of the most amazing people on this planet. I am thankful for my husband, Ethan, who is just as silly and weird as I am and is pretty fantastic. I am thankful for my customers. I am thankful for my blog readers. While I know a lot of you just read and don't comment, I have heard enough similar comments to know that my posts are part of many people's morning reading. I am thankful that I get to work with some really great kids and help them learn. I'm also really thankful for heat, it's cold outside!
    So today we give thanks and eat a big meal and hopefully we all take a minute or two to think of all that we have and are grateful for. 

My Micro Obsession

     I have somewhat of an obsession with micro minis these days. I know I am not alone in this. I don't love each and every one I see, though being tiny I might love them more than the same horse in a larger size. I think my very first micro was this Maggie Bennett jumping mule from before the monthly club was even a thing. If I am remembering correctly he was a gift from a friend in one of those random gifting groups. He was also my "I painted this too" for NaMoPaiMo in 2017. And it made me want to get more micros. Not that the paintwork is good, but micros are awesome!

     I think I was vaguely aware of Maggies monthly micros for a bit before I joined. I signed up in...whatever year Hugh was one of the months. And I got him and a couple of others (which I have since sold) and then I decided I needed to stop spending money. Almost all together. I was in a super life purge and savings binge! I wanted less stuff and more money. And to help with both I canceled all my subscription services (the others were Ipsy and Sephora and maybe something else). I sold two micros, but Hugh was my favorite of the 3 and I kept him. And decided he needed to be my 2018 NaMoPaiMo horse. He is also the horse that I painted that I am the most proud of. I might actually consider putting him in an open show. A mini open show, maybe. He's not perfect, but he is pretty good and still the best thing I have ever painted. 

     Doing a nice job on Hugh (whose full name is Hugh Can Do It) made me want to paint more micros. Maybe it is the tiny scale that makes it possible for me to do a good job. So right after NaMoPaiMo I started hunting for more micros on the secondary market. I got this cute little pony from Kelly Sealey

     And this little draft horse. This was one of the horses I decided to paint over the summer. I feel like maybe it was after I was done my mad rush to finish up things for Breyerfest, when I was taking a break. 

     I also got this Kaladin sometime during my wild micro gathering phase. He got painted along with the draft horse. It's funny that I painted them exactly the same colors but the slight variation in shading colors (I mixed what I needed, when I needed it) makes them look different. I like them. Not as much as Hugh, but they are cute and make me happy. 

     I seem to have a habit of buying micros from Morgen ever time she lists them. I just want to see if I can do it. Kind of like hunting the Breyer unicorns, I just want to see if I can find them all. So that is how I got micro Duke (2 actually, but one I grabbed for Marisa Spence.) and 3 Hazels, though all during different sales. I sold one to Tiffany Purdy since she had not managed to get one and I sent another one to her to paint for me. I recently sold my 3rd Hazel. Because while I am obsessed with micros I don't really NEED duplicates. Maybe. 

       When I went to visit Jackie Rossi after Breyerfest we got to talking about the micros and she mentioned that she really loved the club but didn't love each and every micro. I asked about Sprat since he was one I had seen (still was not in the club) that I really liked. And since he is one she didn't love I got to buy him! That made me super happy. 

      After I missed out on Maple Stirrup I decided enough was enough and I had to rejoin Maggie's monthly micro club. If I end up with horses I don't love I can always sell them. Lucky for me my first horse after I signed up again was September. The month of the bonus horse. So I got Tennessee...

And Tennytoo, who I think is the one who will get to wear the wings. It was a good month to rejoin.

     My next acquisition in micro mini land was Bangles.When I first saw her in a photo I was not sure if I liked her. And then she showed up at my house and I was pretty sure she was going to stay with me forever. 

    I did also finally get a Maple Stirrup. though having to pay a chunk over issue price was hard. But he is so cool! So now I am waiting to see what the November horse is. Any day now....

      So I may or may not currently have a tab open to Kelly Sealey's page. I really want the Shetland pony (the circus pony) and I keep almost ordering one. And then rethinking it because currently I think that is all I want and the shipping is a bit rough for just the one. So I keep going back and considering. 
      I do also have a small collection of not-micro minis. But not nearly as many. It's really easy to justify a micro. They take up almost no space and you can put a whole bunch of them in one hand. I need to get to prepping them and work on some more painting. Having a whole collection of unpainted micros isn't bad, but having a collection of painted micros would be pretty great!

Doll Work and Other Stories

     I have not been doing a ton of doll work lately, but I have gotten some done. I am pretty sure I am also taking the rest of this week off from doll work, though I do have my Black Friday sale on Friday. That should be fun though. Anyway, while I did not do a ton of work this week I did finish up this show jumping guy. I had a lot of free rein on him! He just needed to be male and a show jumping doll. Since basic black and white will almost always be my first choice in nearly any situation, that is what I went with. He is on his way to Germany now. It's fun to think of how far my dolls have traveled. SO Much farther than me!

    I had a couple of pairs of chaps sitting on my work tray since before TRXC. I figured it was a good idea to finish those up so I could offer them for sale on Friday. I am not really sure what I have for chaps other than these, a few at least. I do have a good variety of things to offer

     I worked out a schedule of how I want to run my live so I (hopefully) don't forget anything. So far for games I have little bits of trivia thrown in. Field of Dolls Studio trivia of course. I could probably add a few more things so I can offer more prizes. I might do that. I do love prizes!
     Live sale details again. Friday, November 29th at 3:00pm EST on my Facebook studio page, Field of Dolls Studio. As mentioned, there will be all sorts of things offered for sale, all at a discount. There will be trivia questions, prizes, extra discounts for sharing the live video, it should be a lot of fun!

Things I Learned Doing a Quick Live Video

     Unless you're new to the blog you know that on November 29th I am doing a live sale on Facebook for Black Friday. For anyone that is not familiar with a live sale, it's typical used by direct sales consultants to (fairly) easily offer the items they sell to an audience in a format that allows people to see things in real-time, ask questions and interact with each other. I am not direct sales but I am a big fan of LuLaRoe and have watched many many live sales (also for Paparazzi and pearl parties, though I have an enduring love for LuLaRoe and don't like pearls so only watched a part of one because my friend was doing it). Having watched plenty of live sales I have learned some of the things you should do and definitely some things you should not do. You should, make sure you are not in a room that is too dark, you should make sure to describe the colors on the items because they often do not show true-to-life on a video any more than they do in a photo. You should be interesting and not too stiff in your presentation. You should have your items ready to show and should be prepared. No one wants to watch an empty frame where no one is and nothing is going on. Some things I have learned not to do; do not leave your items wrapped because taking things out of packaging takes time, can be really annoying (Paparazzi has that really loud crinkly plastic) and watching a super lengthy live where there is more time wasted than products shown is just boring. I have also learned that it is a good idea to make sure your family leaves you alone, for the most part. While it can be fun and interesting to have a family member stop in to say hi to the audience it can be incredibly annoying to have someone interrupt for a private conversation. Maybe I will start my video with Travis so he can say hi. Maybe I will have him come and pick winners for me. Maybe I will just make sure everyone leaves me alone. But in general, you want to be prepared with your sales items, you want to let your family know that you need to be left alone while you are doing this and you need to not be boring. I have picked up other little tidbits but that is what I can coherently put into words at the moment. 

    So these were things I learned from watching live videos. What did I learn from doing one? I learned that hitting "start live video" is super scary. I'm sure some people (many people) do it easily and without a second thought. My thought was "people are going to see this. I'm going to look terrible. I'm going to sound like an idiot." A lot of people seem to love going live. Yesterday I went live for just over 1 minute and every second of it felt like I was using a microphone. Most people likely don't know that I have a super huge fear of using microphones. This comes from a couple of things. One being, I don't really want to be the center of attention. I also hate the sound of my own voice (most people do). There was a show I hosted years ago in Region X where the announcer was late and I had to do all of the announcements for about a half hour. The first few minutes were terrifying and I am sure my voice shook (I think it also did a bit in my video) and I sort of felt like I was going to barf. And then it got easier. I am hoping on Friday that even if I start out a bit nervous it will get easier. 

    Another thing I learned was even if you have notes on what to say (I did, I know me, I knew I needed them) you should have them printed in a way that you can hang them in front of you like a cue card. Most of my video was me checking my notes and trying not to watch myself talk. Though you NEED to watch yourself talk, otherwise you are not really looking at your audience. I also learned I don't hate the sound of my own voice anymore, at least not on video. Way back in the 80's if I ever heard myself on tape I would sort of cringe and want to turn it off. I have actually watched my replayed video several times, looking for things I can improve, and I don't hate it. I do think I sound a bit nervous, but that could just be me because I knew I was nervous. 

     I should remember to have a glass of water nearby when I do my sale. I had some water right before I went on yesterday and even though I was only on for just over a minute I still wished I had more water. I also am debating on exactly how to do the claiming. I think I will potentially go LuLaRoe style. Saying "I love that" or even "I need that" does not constitute a wish or commitment to buy something. Most live sales I have seen you have to use claim words like "sold" or "mine" and a description of the item or a number, if it is numbered. I am sort of thinking of numbering items to make life easier for everyone, myself included.

     It is incredibly hard to get a screenshot from a live video that doesn't look super goofy. This was the best one I managed, lol. Because blogs need pictures. 

     I want to make sure to advertise my live as much as possible to get the most people I can to watch. Sure, it might be easier if no one is watching, but there is no interaction that way. I have been looking for quick little games to play and I have a few ideas. I wanted to do a live sale because it is easier than take multiple photos of everything I sell, then making all the listings (somewhere) and then answering questions individually. A live sale is real-time, people can ask a question and get it answered right away, it might save me from repeating the same answer over and over. I can play little games and do drawings to keep things interesting. Drawings and games also give me a chance to give freebies in a fun way. I do love prizes! I have a few more days to work out all the details and get ready. I think it should be fun! At least once I get past the scary part. 

     While I was working on this post yesterday the mail showed up. I really love Sunday delivery, though I am 99% sure I have only ever gotten things from Amazon on a Sunday. And I also sort of hate Sunday delivery because doesn't everyone need a day off sometimes? Anyway, I was out of chocolate chips so I ordered some. And while I was looking for Lily's chocolate chips (which are the only ones I have found so far that are sugar free and not full of chemicals) I found these! I didn't know Lily's made a milk chocolate style chocolate chip! I think they are new. While I am glad that Lily's has chocolate chips I am not a huge fan of dark chocolate so I never really liked the original ones. I tried these and... they are dangerous. They are really good and I really like them! And now I want to make a quick batch of chocolate chip muffins with nice milk chocolate chips. I might need to do that. 

     So this week should be an easy school week. Only 2 and a half days and then I am off until next Monday. I can't imagine we will do a whole ton on Wednesday, though you never can tell. In doll work my goal for the week is to try to finish up one doll and a couple of projects that have been sitting. Or at least the projects that have been sitting. On Wednesday I have to make some pies and I need to work out what time to start the different phases of cooking on Thanksgiving. I need to do one or two more printed ads for my sale to put on Instagram and Facebook and at least one more live ad. I am getting really excited for my sale!

There is Never Enough Time

       I had plans to get a variety of things done yesterday. I ran out of time so I didn't get all of them done. That is the story of my life. Not constantly, just often. There are times when I am super productive and super motivated and I get tons of things done. Yesterday was not one of those days. 

      Yesterday Ethan and I had plans to go see our friend George. George has been basically family for a lot of years and he is moving to Vermont. When your people move far away you should make sure to have at least one visit while you're still close together. For years we would hang out later on, usually 6:00 or 6:30, until super later (or super early, depending on how you look at it). But these days both Ethan and I have to get up gross early for work and most days of the week one or the other of us has to get up for work the next day. Getting together earlier made more sense, so the plan was to go over for 3:30. That still left me plenty of time to get some errands and a doll done. 

      I worked out my extensive shopping list, which included more snacks for Travis for school and most of the things we need for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a scary list and was sure to be expensive. Plus I was going to get stuck in Walmart for longer than average. I hate that.

     I did have a couple of errands to get done before heading to Walmart. I had to go to the post office and cash a money order and buy stamps. Then I had to go to Big Y and redeem cans. This looked like it would be a quick trip. There was no one using the can return machines. How silly of me to think that meant the trip would be fast. I was barely started and the machine was full. So I had to go into the store and get someone to come empty it and then wait and wait and wait. I think in total my super fast trip to redeem cans was about a half hour, maybe more. 
     Eventually I got to Walmart and parked in the super full parking lot. Oh boy. Let me tell you, the Saturday before Thanksgiving is not a fun time to go to Walmart. Not that any time is a fun time to go to Walmart, but this was worse. And it reminds me that I should make every effort to not go to Walmart again until January. It is only going to get worse in there. 
     Anyway, I had my extensive list and I didn't memorize it and it was not in order by location, so sometimes I would have to go back to an area of the store I had already been to. The whole trip took longer than I planned, and started later than I planned. But I was finally done and headed home. 
     Ethan helped me bring everything in and then I had to put things away, wash the dishes that I left from the night before and take apart a rotisserie chicken. And that was everything I had time to do before we left for George's house. Well actually, we left a bit early so Ethan could do two quick errands on the way. But it ended up that I didn't have the time to finish the show jumping doll. Which bummed me out a bit because I would have loved to get him finished. Maybe I can swing that today. 
     It's raining today and gloomy and blah. I want to lay around and watch movies but I have things to do. Even if I don't do any doll work I should bring Travis out to buy some pants. I really don't want to go out in the rain though. I may decide to stay home today and just work on finishing a doll and starting another. While I do that I could lay around and watch movies. Then maybe tomorrow Travis and I can go out and look for pants. That might be a better option. And I might actually be able to talk myself into that.
    I have discovered if I don't have any photos to put into the blog that I feel like I have nothing to talk about. Which is not totally true. The only photo I have today is a quick picture of some of my new recipes I am trying out for Thanksgiving. And I had things to say. Sort of. I could easily skip a day when I think I don't have much to talk about, but at this point the blog has been posted daily for so long I feel like I need to keep it up. It's a tricky mindset. 
     So now it's time for your Sunday update of my Black Friday sale. This Friday, November 29th, I am going to go live on my Facebook studio page. It will be at 3:00pm EST. I am going to be showing dolls, saddle pads, horse boots, cross country kits, chaps, miniature food items and possibly some saddle bags. Everything will be discounted and if you are watching the live you can ask questions which I can answer right away. I will leave the video up through Cyber Monday for people to shop the replay. I am going to be offering small prizes and extra discounts for people who share the video while it is live, for purchases and for winning little games we will play if I can think of any that are not super boring. I'll continue to mention the sale every day on the blog and I will be posting photos and reminders on Instagram and my Facebook studio page. I plan on doing a test live as an advertisement just as soon as I can talk myself into it. I was going to do it the other day and I realized just how terrifying it is! But don't worry, no matter how scary it is I will do the live on Friday. I said I would, now I have no choice, lol!

Thanksgiving Prep

      Yesterday in school I spent some time trying to plan out my Thanksgiving menu. Which is always tricky when you eat low-carb. But I think I have my plan basically down. I need to settle on a couple of side dishes, do the shopping and then find the motivation to cook for half the day next Thursday. Plus part of Wednesday, because pie. Though a really good motivation for all that cooking is not having to cook for at least a day or two after. Which is highly motivating to me. 

       Random things motivate me actually. My friend Amber, who is a LuLaRoe consultant, had this skirt in an album of borrowed items with a gorgeous white top with red flowers. I loved everything about it. But I know me. I don't wear white shirts. Because I wreck white shirts. But this skirt wanted to be with a red top. And it definitely wanted to live with me. I am super particular about red and I don't want any hint of orange in it. I saw this shirt in a different sale and it looked like it could maybe be the right color. It's so hard to tell in photos! So I took a chance (it was at a super discount, so the chance was worth it) and when it came in today I was really pleased to see it is the perfect red. Little things make me happy. 

     I also finished up this youth doll today. My goal was to finish her for Kristine, who won my blog contest, and a show jumping doll I have in the works. 

     I didn't quite meet the goal. I could probably have pushed a bit longer and gotten his coat on and helmet and so on. But I was done. Better to let him sit for another day or two (or three) than to push myself and maybe screw something up. That is a lot of white after all. Maybe I'll find some time to finish him later today. Or tomorrow or Monday. He won't take that much more time to finish. 

     So my Thanksgiving prep is coming along well and I think I have the food planned out and the shopping list for the food also planned out. I imagine I will post some of the recipes I use if I like how everything turns out. And I should have lots of leftovers (one of my goals!) so I don't have to think about cooking at all on Black Friday. 
     The details again for my live sale. On Friday November 29th I am going to go live on my Facebook studio page at 3:00pm EST. I will be showing items I have on hand, including dolls, chaps, saddle pads, cross country kits, horse boots of many types, possibly miniature food and I might talk myself into making a set or two of saddle bags. Maybe. Everything will be on sale. I will be offering small prizes or extra discounts for people who buy things, share the video (while it is live) and maybe for winning games if I can think of any. I am considering some surprise items as well. I want to make this fun and worth watching. Let me know if you have any game suggestions, I'd love to get some more ideas! I will also keep the video up through Cyber Monday so people can shop the replay. 

Thursday Progress

      I managed to get some work done yesterday. I was proud of me. I got a set of saddle bags made, I put a bendy neck on a doll and got most of a youth doll done. I felt accomplished. Today I am hoping to finish up a couple of dolls. I don't think that is too much to ask of myself. But we will see.

    This morning I started, finally, taking the dolls and things I have been collecting, out of the boxes. They will take up less space that way. And now I have a new dog and a new cat. I need to find room for them in the props tote. 
     Last night I thought a lot about what I want to do for my Black Friday sale. I want to do little drawings and giveaways. So I think I am going to gather up some small items to give away. I think there will be random extra prizes or extra discounts with purchases and shares of the video. I might do some games if I can think of any. I want this live sale to be fun and different. I need to make some more plans. But the things I am sure of, I will go live on November 29th at 3:00pm EST and I will have dolls, chaps, saddle pads, several types of horse boots, miniature foods and there might be something else I forgot about. All of them will be discounted for Black Friday. If you are watching the live video you can ask questions, potentially win prizes and get first dibs on my sales items. I will keep the video up through Monday. I think it will be a good time. 

Baby Steps

        I am awake. Ish. I don't feel any better or any worse than yesterday. Maybe I am a tiny bit better. So hopefully I am not getting sick. Maybe I have a tiny cold and it's not going to get worse. I would be OK with that. I had another busy afternoon yesterday. We needed to go and pick up Ethan's van. That cut into my available afternoon working time, that place was kind of far away. But that was OK. My only goal was to sew some doll clothes. And not tons of them. I managed it, even though I was so unmotivated and don't much want to work. It took me forever to get started, but I got the sewing done. Goal complete. 

     Today I have somewhat lofty goals. I need to get a bendy neck put on a doll and I need to at least start getting a doll dressed. I want to finish the two dolls I am working on by the end of tomorrow. It might be possible if I don't slack off too much after school. All I need to do is get a male doll dressed in show jumping clothes, get a coat on the youth doll and do a couple of other pieces. I think I can manage this. I am at least going to try. 
     I'm still working out details for my Black Friday sale. It will be on November 29th at 3:00 pm EST. I am going to offer dolls and doll accessories and if time allows I will potentially offer other things that I am selling (things I didn't make). We'll see. Hopefully I will be able to get everything set up and started for exactly 3:00. Maybe I should do a trial live to figure out how much time I need to get the video part set up. But I am figuring out the details. Baby steps. 

Busy busy

     Yesterday was not a productive day for me. After I got home from school we all drove out to Valley Welding. It was a bit far, but that was the place Ethan found that would actually do the frame welding his van needs. So we went and I took a bit of a nap on the way home. I was so tired. I still am. I don't feel any better or any worse than I have for the past few days. Still tired, still a bit of a scratchy throat. Still ready for the weekend. 

Not my photo

     After we got back from dropping off Ethan's van I gathered up the laundry because, of course, Tuesday is laundry day. I didn't get one speck of doll work done. I didn't make any new plans about my Black Friday sale. I did decide that I do want to do it. So now I need to plan it out and figure out if I want to do any drawings or contests during it. I would like to. I don't have any ideas of what to do for it. I am tired. 

     This may be the most boring post ever. I was going to skip posting all together but it just seemed wrong. I am hoping later, after we pick up Ethan's van (which is supposed to be ready) that I will have time and energy to sew the doll clothes that I need to sew. I am so unmotivated. But if I can get a little piece of things done each day, sooner or later I will finish. 

    Currently the plan for the Black Friday sale is I will go live at 3:00pm EST on November 29. I will show whatever I happen to have available at the time. It being my Black Friday sale, I will offer a discount. If you are watching the live I can answer any questions you have. People will also be able to watch the replay and claim from there, I will leave the video up through the weekend. 

    I think that's it for now. I don't feel like working, at school or on dolls, and I am tired. I need to work out a plan for Thanksgiving and details for my live sale. I need a nap. 

Frustrated

     I may be out of things to talk about. I may be too tired to do things which would generate things to talk about. I may be getting sick, it's hard to say. But yesterday morning my alarms didn't go off so I didn't get up until a half hour after I was supposed to. That extra half hour of sleep left me exhausted all day. I also have a vaguely scratchy throat. And Travis and Ethan seem to be sick, it would follow that maybe I too or will be soon. I'm frustrated. 

     Then I got a big order of miniature water bottles in the mail. Each one was individually wrapped in plastic. This frustrated me on so many levels. It was not even nice, reusable little plastic bags. It was those flimsy bags that have so much static charge they stick to everything and rip if you look at them funny. But never in a way that makes them easy to open. Yeah, super frustrating. And all the waste... it hurts. Another frustrating thing about the bottles is the majority of them are the wrong shape. I ordered round bottle to use with saddlebags and while I did get some, most were square. I guess I could use those, but I think they would look terrible. So I either need to use them for something else or... well, that is my only option really. I reread the ad and they had it buried in there in tiny print that it would be a "random assortment" so I didn't just get the evian bottles I thought I was getting. *sigh* sometimes little things frustrate me. 

     In other frustrating news, our Internet was out Sunday night. And it was out yesterday morning and also in the afternoon. So I called Charter to see what was up with that. The first thing they want you to do is to unplug the modem and so on. When I do that my phone cuts out. So I tried to call from my cell phone. My cell phone constantly drops calls inside the house and I can't work on the Internet from my driveway. After 4 or 5 calls on both phones I said agent over and over until the computer got me a person. She was wonderful (the person, not the computer). Really sweet and she disarmed my bad mood in one sentence. She just sounded sweet. And she was patient while I tried to dig one particular cord out of the spaghetti mess that is the cords behind the computer. How does that even happen? Anyway, while I was searching for the correct plug to unplug I found.... a plug. It was not plugged into anything. And it was the modem plug. I plugged it back in and all of a sudden the lights came on and everything worked again. And I felt like an idiot. So what happened was the other night, the plug for the modem fell out. Which is not super surprising since the power strip is screwed upside down under a cabinet. It's sort of surprising it didn't happen sooner. Anyway, my Internet is fixed and that all took way longer than I expected it to. And, you guessed it, was frustrating.
      I did get some doll work done, though it was very little. I got a couple of outfits cut out and a youth doll head balded and ready to be rehaired. I think that was everything I managed. I might have time to do some sewing today, or I might not, it's laundry day. Maybe I can at least hair the youth doll head. My goal is to get two dolls done this week. And so far it seems like that might be a struggle. I just don't feel like doing anything. But those two need to get done.
     More and more I am leaning towards doing a live sale for doll stuff. I think that might be an interesting way to do my Black Friday Sale this year. I could show the dolls, horse boots and whatever else I happen to have for sale. And since it would be part of the black Friday sale, everything would be on sale. I might also do some drawings or something, if I can think of how I want to do them and what I want to do. But I definitely have to work out some details. For now though I will say I probably want to do a live sale on Black Friday. It would most likely be at 3:00 EST because that would be a fairly convenient time for me and would allow for everyone, at least in the US, to be awake and not have to get up particularly early if they don't want to. I may end up talking to myself, but sometimes it already feels that way, lol. So what's a bit more? I'd also love to hear any ideas and suggestions about this plan that anyone might have. 

Interesting idea...

          Saturday was the swap meet, which was a really cool way to spend a day and to sell some stuff. I got to hang out with Elecktra and a bunch of hobby friends and it was a low-key, low-pressure kind of day. Worth the 45 minute drive (some people had much more, I was lucky).

      I took a bunch of photos of my table, assuming (correctly) that I would use them for my blog post

     It's also a way that I can look and see what I myself have for sale. Most often all these things are packed away in different places. Being able to look at a handful of photos (even if I have to blow them up to do it) is convenient. 

     It was also great to have photos to send to people who were not able to make it to the swap meet, but wanted to see what was available. 

That sometimes prompted a question or a request for a closer look.

In general my photos were just for me, and I posted one or two randomly on Facbook.

     These saddle pics came about because of a request for a closer look. When you say you are selling a Corbett tack set, that can be interesting. This set comes with two bridles, one has split reins and one has closed/gaming reins. It also has a tie down. It is a really versatile set. 

       I got a couple of requests to look at particular dolls with saddle pads that would look good with them. I don't have any exact matches for this doll, but I do have a few that would work.

     I'm not surprised I have several pink pads that could work with this doll, though definitely some are better than others. I need to work on more saddle pads soon I think. 

It's not too bad having a bunch of random photos that I can send to people...

     But I got to thinking, what if I did a model horse stuff live sale? I was watching a LuLaRoe live sale during part of the swap meet. I have also seen lives for Paparazzi jewelry and pearls, they probably exist for a lot of other things as well. I don't think I have ever seen a live sale for model horse stuff. They likely exist, but it struck me that maybe people would be interested in something like this. It could be specifically just for dolls, or certain dolls, or accessories or anything really. If people were watching they could ask questions, ask for different angles and so on.

     With live sales there is also the opportunity to watch the replay. You can't get an instant answer to your questions but watching the replay gives you a chance to back up or pause the video to see something again. Anyway, that was an idea that popped into my head and I wondered if anyone would be interested in something like that.

     In other swap meet news, I was pretty good with not buying a bunch of things. I did trade for a pig and some dogs. I bought a book on different appaloosa and paint patterns, to maybe inspire me to paint more, or to branch out in colors. I got another micro (a shrinky Collecta friesian) to paint and I got this cool sparkly Breyer micro unicorn.

     I also got a couple more dolls to add to my collection of Breyer dolls that I need to unpack. I only got two yesterday, but this is the stack I need to take care of. Mostly they are youth dolls, but there is also a Breyer guy and a Breyer lady. They will take up less space when they are out of their boxes. I need to get to that.

      The swap meet was a great event and has inspired me to see about putting together, or helping to put together, another one. It has also gotten me thinking outside the usual boxes a bit and thinking about different ways to try selling. It also gave me something else to write about. 
       I have a couple of posts I want to put together on different subject that are not necessarily tutorials, but in some ways could be classified that way. It was requested I do another anatomy of a doll post with the male dolls (not Breyer) so I will try to find some time for that. I also told a friend I would show her how I make my tassels. It might not be the same way that anyone else makes them, but I have tied a ton of tassels over the years and know they work, even if they are not "correct". So I am hoping to get to those things soon. I am a bit concerned that I am going to run out of things to talk about. My dolling is not as intense during the winter. Sure, I have less pressure to get stuff done so in some ways it should be easier, but at the same time I have less pressure to get stuff done so it is harder. I promise I will do my best to keep up with the blog. It might get challenging...