More Stuff on Sale!

 

So I have decided I am going to add to my sale this week that I started with the doll post of this morning. I already had a bunch of micros and minis listed in other blogs, and I think all those horses will also be on sale. Here is a link to the minis for sale post: https://fieldofdolls.blogspot.com/2023/03/minis-for-sale.html and the micros for sale post:i https://fieldofdolls.blogspot.com/2023/02/micros-for-sale.html. Since both of those posts have been up for a while I think I will offer anything in them for 15% off for this week (from 4/30/23- 5/7/23). AND I will offer the same bulk discounts that are listed in the blog posts! I will also be posting more things for sale SOON! Happy Shopping!

Sale Time! Sale Pricing!

     I think anyone that has read my blog for a very long time, as in likely from the start, may remember that sometimes I randomly have sales. I am on a mission to clear some stuff out, raise some money quickly, and I have decided I don't have the time right now, and maybe not for a while, to hold a live sale. And I want to see how much I can get out of here as quickly as possible. So for one week (4/3/23- 5/7/23) all of my current ready to ship dolls are on sale at 2021 pricing! So here is what I have:

Hoodie doll- SOLD, casual western doll $200, western pleasure doll $220

western pleasure doll black and red $220, western pleasure doll with vest SOLD, small cowboy $240

Dressage doll $210, casual English doll with tattoos $200, hunt seat doll in navy SOLD

hunt seat doll without bendy neck (I goofed) $210

     Extremely short time payments, as in no more than a couple of weeks, might be possible, though PIF is preferred. Shipping is extra, $10 to the US and I can get you a quote for anywhere else. These dolls are available immediately and I usually ship within a day or two. I am also going to advertise these dolls in other places to try to get a wider audience. If you are interested in one or more of these dolls please email me at fieldofdolls@gmail.com. As a reminder, my order books are closed, so if you want dolls by me this would be a great way to get some, and at a discount!

Fast Weekend

     Yesterday, our class participated in a Special Olympics game day. It was expected to be cloudy all day, but warm. We didn't really know what to expect, but I had some ideas, based on my experience with unified track events that were put on my Special Olympics. 

     I was not disappointed. At the beginning of the games we had the parade of schools. 

      There were only 4 or 5 districts at the games, but there were lots of people. And those clouds we were expecting? They went away almost as soon as we got there. It was a fun day, filled with lots of running (I did a ton of running), sun, and great teamwork. 

     Travis and I tried something new for our Friday coffee date. We went to Barnes and Noble, got coffees at Starbucks, and then went to look at books. I showed amazing self control and only bought Travis one book, one book for myself, and one book as a gift. At one point I did have a stack of books, but I decided that self control is an OK thing sometimes. And we had a good time with our Barnes and Noble coffee date, so I am sure I can get more of the books I wanted over the next several trips. 

     This morning, Travis and I went to Ludlow High School for the Sgt Desforges Walk/Run Challenge. If you are curious about it, or want to donate to the foundation, here is a link to a whole bunch of stuff about it https://runsignup.com/Race/MA/Ludlow/SgtJoshuaDDesforgesWalkRunChallenge I woke up to rain and did consider not going. It did not sound like a fun thing to run in the rain, to do drills in the rain, or to be outside in the rain and not even 50 degrees. But, we run for Josh and because we love his mom, Arlene. So we went. All ready to race!

     At the beginning, there is always a ceremony. It was soggy and chilly, but just as nice as always. 

    Travis and I got started fairly close to the front of the pack and (I) managed to keep up a good pace for probably 1/4 of a mile (maybe?). Which is impressive because most of my runs are very short bursts. I am not fast and I do not have endurance. But I keep going. The first obstacle was crawling under the huge net. The grass was super wet, so we were all super wet when we got out. The next thing we had was a very steep hill. We then got into our push-ups, on muddy ground. Then, it was back off running down the trail until we got to the squats. I can do squats, and even 22 of them was not a hardship for me. We continued on down the trail, sometimes fast, sometimes not so fast, and had drills of carrying buckets of sand up and down a hill, pulling a tire on a rope to the top of a backstop (they said I could go halfway and I said I was going to do the thing right), burpees (ouch, no jumping, I'll go slow), sit-ups, running up and down the bleachers, and then back out to the parking lot behind LHS where we started for the final sprint to the finish line. I was tired and out of breath for a good chunk of the run. And I kept going. I had some really horrible shin splints happening. And I still kept going (but a bit more carefully). And we finished. I did not throw up at the end (I also did not last year, lol, but someone did). Overall I finished in 55th place, 22nd for my gender category, but I did all of the obstacles fully, and not everyone did. I finished in 1 hour and 46 seconds, which I know is better than last year. And really, I only compete with myself. Maybe next year I can get under an hour.

     We stuck around and visited with people a bit, got this nice photo with Arlene and headed home so I could have a hot shower. It was still not even 50 degrees. I then spent a lot of the afternoon with ice on my shins to try to get the throbbing to stop. I had a bit of a nap and finally I was ready to talk about all the running. And all the T-shirts. In the past 2 days I have gotten 2 new T-shirts for 2 different events that involved a lot of running.

     This year, I sort of started semi-training for this event in December, when I sort of started running again. I definitely did a lot more to prepare than last year, where I did nothing other than show up and run. Next year I am going to train more. I will work on push-ups (still can't do even a single proper push-ups) and I will work on sit-ups. I had the marine at the drill station hold my feet because Travis was being lazy about it. It helped, but I super struggled on the last couple. Need to work on that. There has been a lot of running the last couple of days and the weekend is going by incredibly quickly. Maybe I'll take things a bit more slowly tomorrow. 

Casual Western

      There is motivation around us. We just have to look for it. Today, while I was walking around the school with one of my coworkers and one of our kids, I saw this sign in the hallway and I love it. There have definitely been times in my life where I have felt I was limited by circumstances. Which might be a bit true, but the reality is, I am my own limit. And I am going to just keep that in mind. And I will keep taking photos of motivational signs when I see them and reminding myself that I can do amazing things, as long as I believe I can and work hard enough. 

      OK, speech over, back to dolls. I had to go to the car dealership, again, so I could get my inspection done. The other day when they had my car all day, to repair all the things that needed doing so it could pass inspection, the machine was down. And I was annoyed. Because I was there on Monday for an oil change and to get the inspection done, then they had it all day Friday to repair the things... and didn't get the inspection done. So I tried again today. And it finally worked. I am about over spending time in the dealership. Though I have gotten a lot of reading done. At least there is that. 

     When I got back I had a bit of time to work on dolls so I decided I would see if I could finish up the casual western doll that I started last week. I didn't have a lot left to do, so it all worked out. 

     This lady has really pretty light brown/chestnut hair in a long braid. As you can see, her head is fully haired so she can go hatless, but she does also come with a removable hat. 

           A casual western doll like this lady is great for so many things. She can be in western games, casual western things like trail riding, just hanging around the barn. I could also make her working chaps or chinks (in the color of your choice) so she could go in cattle classes and other events. 

     If you are interested in this lady she is $220 plus shipping (she is sold). I can make chaps or chinks for $40 more. If you are interested, please send me an email to fieldofdolls@gmail.com. Currently I will not be listing her anywhere but here on the blog. I am still hoping to have a live sale with the dolls I have available and a variety of things from my personal collection. Soonish. But when exactly is still up in the air. 

Customer Photos- Ann Harris

     Sometimes, when you put things out in the world, you get a response. The other day I did a post with customer photos and said that I would love photos of the dolls I have made in action, if anyone else wanted to share them. Ann Harris came through this this set of photos from QVPO last Fall. 

     Ann is an incredibly experienced shower and always makes sure to have a clean entry. She starts with a correct entry, with everything safe, and then adds elements to give the entry more depth and realism. I believe this entry is sorting, maybe ranch sorting (I should have asked, I was just enjoying the pictures, lol) and not only is the rider looking where she is going, which is the same direction her horse is looking, there are extra cows to make everything more realistic. 

   A callback placed on the table does not have to be correct, I have had untacked callback with dolls hanging off them in weird ways, and since it is (usually) the points that matter, the way the horse is placed on the table doesn't much matter. But this doll, the tack, and the horse, all look really great together. Even for callbacks. 

     There is a lot of action in this cross country entry. The horse and rider both look focused on what they are doing, the tack is all in the correct place, and it's just nice to look at. I miss my Hazel resin. I have not had her in many years. 

    And here is Hazel yet again, with a different rider. I am not really sure what class this is, but by the boots I would say it is likely a jumper class. And, as usual, all the tack is in place, safe, and the rider is part of the scene, not just plopped on at the end. Ann makes excellent use of her dolls. 

    This entry again shows an excellent use of a doll. The pair is clearing brush and the doll is focused on what she is doing, while trusting her horse to go where he needs to go. I love an entry that is nice to look at. And we all know I love when people can make dolls look less like dolls!

     Thank you Ann for sharing your photos with me and for letting me share them here. I haven't been to a show since the end of 2019 and what I miss the most, other than the people, is seeing all of the really cool performance entries. So I will put out the call again, if anyone has photos of dolls I made in action, whether at a fun photo shoot or a show, even photo show pics, and they will allow me to share them, please send me an email at fieldofdolls@gmail.com. Thanks so much!

Hunt Seat and April Break

     This week we had April break, and I should have been able to get a whole ton of stuff done. But I didn't. Which happens. I did bring my car in for an oil change and inspection, found out it needed some repairs to pass inspection, and I made an appointment for that all to happen. Then Tuesday I went to the gym with Ethan and worked muscles that I have not done much with (other than lift kids) in a while. I was sore, but not crippled after, which is good. Wednesday I went on a ruck with Ethan (for those who don't know, that is a fast hike with a weighted backpack. He had the weight, not me) and found that my body said I REALLY needed to ease up on things for a bit. So I had a slower, but not too slow, hike through the woods. And I thought about doll work. It really would have been a good idea to get some stuff started. But I did not. 

     Thursday I had an appointment to go and get my hair done. I spent 5 hours at the salon, which is not a thing I normally do, and got color removed, the hair lightened, and then added in a bunch of colors. I usually do all the colors myself, no matter how complex, so it was really nice to just sit there and do nothing. I remember the first time I dyed my hair, I dyed it black, and it made me look kind of dead. But now, for some reason, I really like how the black looks. And the black really makes the vivid colors pop. And I love it. 

    Since I didn't have to do the work I went back to the cascading colors of blue into purple, into pink. The blue right near my face is a much more subtle transition from the black than the pink that I was doing, so it is not jarring for me to see it and I really love how it looks. I have discovered I don't really like full vivid colors, like hot pink anyway, right near my face, but peaking out under the black looks excellent. I should have done some doll work on Thursday after I got home. But instead I chose to help Elecktra with some cleaning. And then I went to hang out with my friend Brandi. Definitely a better use of my time. 

     Friday Ethan asked if I wanted to go to the gym with him again and I said yes, but ultimately decided I really should stay home. He asked if it was because I was sore or because I was feeling guilty about not doing my doll work. I said yes. I was still a bit sore in places, my knee being the most notable at the time, and the Sgt. Desforges challenge is next weekend. I can't be broken for that. So I decided to stay home and get started on some doll work and then see if I was feeling up to maybe an easy walk later on. What actually happened is I got into the doll work and I kept going with the doll work. 

     I prepped 7 bodies, cut out and got 2 outfits sewn, got started on dressing a casual western doll, but ultimately finished this huntseat doll. Did I mention I also had no car? That appointment I made to get the repairs done on my car was for Friday (yesterday). And apparently the dealership now offers a valet service. They came to my house to pick up my car, brought it in for service, and then they drove my car back to my house. That was amazing. And I made enough of an impression on my service coordinator that he double and triple checked that nothing was going to be over the quoted price. Last time I was in for service they tried to charge me more, I asked why it was more than the quote, the woman called in a manager and said I "didn't understand my bill". And I was mad. I understand completely what a quote is and I understand that you are trying to make me feel stupid so you can charge me more. This new guy knows not to play that game with me. And my actual price was a good amount under the quote. The only bad part of the whole experience was the inspection machine was down so I could not get the car inspected. Which was the point of getting the repairs done in the first place. Maybe I can do that on Tuesday.

     Anyway, so I got into the doll work in the morning and I got into a groove and just kept going on things. And since I kept going and had a lot of momentum, and then was very close to finishing, I just kept on with it. I spent much more time working on dolls than I usually do in a day, but it was worth it. I got this lovely hunt seat doll finished. 

     This lady has a bendy neck so she is good for over fences or flat work. She is dressed in a black hunt coat so will look great with any horse color you put her with. Her breeches are not white, but they are light enough to more easily look correct in a lower level dressage setup, but dark enough that they work in regular hunt seat classes. And the best part is, she is ready to head out and get to work immediately. She is available for $240 plus shipping. As always, I am not advertising her anywhere but here until I have my next live sale (maybe the end of this month... starting to look like maybe not). If you are interested in purchasing her please send me an email to fieldofdolls@gmail.com. 

     I usually start out my vacations with grand plans of getting a lot of stuff done. And often, like this week, I don't get the things done. Other things get in the way, or I just end up slacking off and taking it sort of easy. And then I feel kind of guilty. This week I did not end up getting a whole lot of doll work done. But I also don't really feel guilty about it. I got in some extra working out, got my hair done, got my car fixed, I went and saw Crystal, I hung out with Brandi, and I did actually get some doll work done. I can fairly easily finish up the casual western doll, and I have bodies prepped for another 5 dolls. I got to enjoy time outside, didn't have to rush to get things done, and overall had a really good week. Since my car was in the shop yesterday, Ethan let me borrow his car to bring Travis out for our coffee date. I don't like to miss those if I can help it. Next Friday we may also take Ethan's really excellent suggestion. He said we should go to Barnes and Noble and sit in their café to have a coffee. It's further than Dunkin, so a bit of a nice drive, it's at the bookstore, and it would be different and nice. I think we will definitely be doing that. 

You Only Have One Life

     Back when I was young, I was a runner. I ran and jumped all the time. I would build hurdles and jump courses in my yard, would jump people's split rail fences (stupid, but I did it anyway) and loved going fast. And I was fast. When I was 14 I jumped a fence and landed on the side of my ankle on the side of a hole. Then I could barely walk for a month and it was 4 months until I could run at all again. 

     When I was probably about 17 or 18 I was leading trails at a local stable and another guide and I were riding next to each other. His horse was pissed off at my horse's presence so got mad and kicked him. But also caught me in that same bad ankle. My horse spooked and almost dumped me in the stream. I was pleased I stayed on, but my ankle hurt. A lot. I said that if I could walk the next day, I would be back. Even with the hoof print I could walk, so I went back. It still hurt. 

     According to a lot of different factors, I should not be able to do what I am currently doing. 8 or 9 years ago I got yet another ankle injury (this would make the third semi-major one) which made it hard to walk for 2 years. Constant pain which then would radiate up to my knee and my hip. It was bad. I had 2 X-rays, a bone scan, and an MRI. It was finally determined I have a torn tendon, arthritis in that ankle and a hole in the cartilage. Super. I went to a podiatrist once or twice, did not like him, did not like the potential of what the cortisone injections could do to me, so I went to physical therapy. I put my everything into the therapy and got stronger quickly, and the pain, finally, started to go away. 

     But it was easy for the pain to come back. It was easy to irritate the ankle. Walking on an unstable surface was bad for me. I said "I can't" so many times. I can't hike on that trail. I can't hike with that many hills. I can't, I can't, I can't. I love hiking and it was hard to hike. I love running and it was just not a thing I could do. I am 44 years old, have bad knees, a bad ankle, and a history of injuries. I should not be able to do what I am doing. But I want to do it, so I am. 

     I signed up for the Sgt. Desforges Challenge again this year. Last year, Travis and I did it with zero training. And it was hard, but I did it. We were almost the last people to finish, but we did it, and didn't skip any of the obstacles. I was proud of what I did. But I wanted to do better. For the challenge and for me. I friend of mine keeps telling me to stop saying "I can't" and that I only have one life. Alright then, let's see what I can do. 

     Saturday, Travis and I went out in the cross country trails behind Ludlow High School. That is where a large portion of the Desforges Challenge takes place so it was a good spot to try out. Some of the hills in those trails are STEEP, and a lot of it was hard. But we did it. We did it in a sort of sad 3.36 miles in an hour. That is a pace of like 18 something minutes per mile. I was not super pleased with it. So I immediately wanted to do it again. 

     Yesterday, Travis and I went out again. Different woods, some of my favorite hiking woods, and I downloaded Strava, in the middle of the woods, so I could properly track our time and distance. Our first mile was a nice 13.47. That was pretty good. But the first mile is usually the easiest, right?

     Traditionally, this is what I see when I hike with Travis. He is fast, he likes going fast, and he spends a lot of time walking ahead of me, being fast. 

      But sometimes, now, I am fast too. Not fast like before I started getting injured, but I am not a young teen anymore. At all. According to every weight chart on the planet, I am actually obese. I find that laughable, though I know I am overweight. Working on it (still, again, always...). When I am lighter, my joints hurt less.

     It is tricky to trail run and pull out the phone to get screenshots of times. But I caught some good ones, like this 7.92mph. See? Sometimes I am fast.

     And definitely, Travis is fast. He and I passed each other a lot, and Travis would decide it was time to run. Or I would. I love hiking alone, but I do also love hiking with Travis. For years, it was hard to hike with Travis. He is just too fast and I just hurt way too much trying not to be too slow for him. I wanted to hike, but when I got out there it was suffering and I just wanted it to be over. I am not in that place now. 

     The end result of our hike/trail run yesterday was 4.52 miles in an hour and 5 minutes. And it would have probably been exactly an hour, but on the way out of the trails we ran into my massage therapist and had a chat for a bit. It was funny because I just saw her the other day. 

      One of the best speeds I caught in a screenshot was this 9.35mph. I know that a lot of people run a lot faster than I do. I know that sometimes when I am running I feel like I am running painfully slow, or as if I am trying to run in deep mud. I know that I don't actually care if I am as fast as anyone else. I don't care if I am not yet able to do a 5K in 30 minutes (but maybe soon?) because I am doing the best for me. I am getting out in the woods, which is my happy place, and I am pushing myself, but not to injury. For the first time in my life I am actually enjoying the journey of fitness. I have always enjoyed the results, but when you enjoy the work it really makes everything so much easier. 

     Do I look smug in this photo? I am a bit. This was one of the times I made Travis tired. He was, occasionally, huffing and puffing, heavy sighing, and being kind of tired. I almost never have Travis behind me on a hike. But it happened a lot yesterday. And I was proud of me. 

       I started running again, mostly just occasionally, but I was doing it, back in December. I started more seriously getting back into hiking in March. There were such nice, flat trails that I had to run. I never thought I could run on a trail, even a flat one. It's basically an uneven surface which is something I "can't" do, right? But I have decided I won't say I can't anymore. I am going to keep on getting out into the woods, and running. Trail running is way more interesting than track running. But I am enjoying the journey. I am feeling stronger even just in my daily life. I have fully and firmly decided that I am going to do all of this for me. I am worth it. And after all, I only have one life. 

Customer Photos- Christy Greene

     I love clever model horse photos that make people wonder if they are real horses or not. Even if you can tell after more than just a glance, I still love them. I love when people can make dolls look like people and not like dolls. I love when the scene comes together in a pleasing way. Today we have a series of photos from Christy Greene. First up is one of my personal favorite angles for non-show, just for fun, model horse photography. If you can't see a doll's face it is definitely harder to tell it's a doll. The 3/4 back shot can be one of the most realistic. 

     Youth dolls are definitely tricky dolls to use and to photograph in a "wow, I thought that was real!" kind of way. But I do love how this girl and her pony look so comfortable together. Whether just out for a ride...

or doing some work in the arena. These photos make me happy. 

      This western side saddle doll was one of the last commissions I did. I had made a western pleasure doll with the same colors and similar design, and Christy asked if I could make her a western side saddle doll like it. So I did. And I love how it came together. I love how the doll looks with the horse. They are very complimentary to each other. 

     I especially like this photo! It is very well done. The doll looks comfortable, the horse looks responsive, and everything came together in a way that is really pleasing to look at. 

     Thank you Christy for sending me these photos, they made my day! If anyone else has photos with dolls I have made, either from photo shoots like this, or live shows, I would love to feature them. After all, we all love looking at model horse photos or likely, you would not read my blog. The bits of my life that I share are just not that interesting, lol. 

Hunt Seat

      Have you ever been into a project, where you were sure you checked that you had everything the way you needed to, and then discovered that you were wrong and you made a huge mistake? That happened to me with this doll. For years, I had black molded hands that I was using for gloves. And then, I ran out. So now I am back to painting them. When I went to paint these hands I was sure that the two I grabbed were a proper set. But I was actually wrong about that. I had accidentally grabbed, and painted, 2 right hands. Grr. So I grabbed two left hands and painted those, but the result was I did not have any light left when I was done. So I got some pictures this afternoon. It is nice out. Like, super nice out. And I am enjoying the weather quite a lot. I am hoping I can get out and do some running today. That would be nice. 

     This lady has some lovely red hair, the same shade as the casual doll from earlier this week. 

     I really like how this doll turned out, and with her black coat, she will look good with any color horse. 

      This lady has a bendy neck, so she is great for over fences as well as flat work. She is $240 plus shipping (she is sold). If you are interested please email me at fieldofdolls@gmail.com. As always, I will not be advertising her outside of the blog for now. If she does not sell right away she will be at my next live sale, which I am tentatively going to hold at the end of April. 

      In case anyone is interested, I stopped writing this post in the middle and I did go out for a run. Today I discovered that if I park at the high school, near the track, run across the parking lot to the old elementary school, through woods to the middle school (where I work now), loop around the school and run back to my car back at the high school, it is just over 1 mile. And I wasn't bored at all. Sometimes it's not a bad thing when the track is too full of people to use. 

This Week…

     This week I am feeling somewhat accomplished. I have been a bit of a slacker in the doll department, but I have done really well this week. Part of my slacker ways was completely by design. Last week was my birthday week, and I didn't want to work constantly. I wanted to *gasp* do things for me. I did OK at that, I did finish one dressage doll on Monday, but that was it. 

     This week I finished the tattooed doll and then got into several other dolls. One of them is this casual lady. Anyone who likes can imagine she has tattoos, or not, but she does not. She is just a nice, casually dressed hunt seat rider with really cool breeches. 

     She also ended up with some of the longest hair I have ever managed! I am really pleased with how this lady came out. She has a pleasant face, which is a different head sculpt. Not all of our dolls have to be exactly the same anymore!

     I also managed to finish this hunt seat doll. She was one of those dolls that felt like she was never going to be done. Every time I thought about what I needed to do to finish her, I realized that there were still a bunch of different details that I had to do. There are dolls like that. This was one of them, even though hunt seat dolls are not the most complex dolls that I make. 

      I was almost done with this doll, just had to make her gloves, and I left her so I could go and play in the park. We had yesterday off of school, so I took some time to myself *gasp*! I went to the park and ran, stretched, ran, and then I went for a hike. I made some dog friends, they snotted and slobbered all over my sleeve. I had to tell them, repeatedly, to stay down, their person wasn't good at that. But I haven't had dog slobber in a long time and I didn't really mind. It was also a really fun time to be out in the woods. I am loving it more and more. I am going to make a point of going out to run or hike a lot more. It makes me happy. I have also been feeling really twitchy and weird if I am inside and sitting still. I just want to be outside, or moving, or better yet, outside and moving. It feels like cabin fever, which is a bit weird because I have been getting outside a lot. But the more I go outside, the more I want to go outside.

      Both of these dolls are available; the casual lady is sold and the hunt seat doll is $240 plus shipping. The hunt seat doll has a bendy neck so she can do over fences or flat work. If you would like one or the other (or both) send me an email to fieldofdolls@gmail.com. The dressage doll from last week and the tattoo doll from early this week are also still available. I have other dolls ready to go as well, but am not currently positive which ones unless I go and check (which I don't want to do right now). As with the last bunch of dolls, I am not going to advertise these anywhere else for now. If they don't sell now they will be available at my live sale which I am tentatively planning to have at the end of this month. Happy Saturday!

Upper Level Dressage

      Today's post is going to be super quick. School has been very interesting this week. We have some new things we are working on, not all of it is easy (let's be real, most of it is not easy) and I am sort of exhausted. And it's only Tuesday. The weather has been pretty nice so we have gotten outside to take walks in the afternoon, which is awesome. Any time I can move around is good. I am sort of twitchy this week. Maybe because the weather is so good. I want to get out and do things. But I also have so much I always have to get done. It's a bit frustrating. 

     I did manage to finish this upper level dressage doll after I had a bit of a nap today. She is available, $230 plus shipping. If you are interested please email me at fieldofdolls@gmail.com. I am not sure when I will be making another upper level dressage doll. I have a couple of hunt seat dolls in the works, and I think a casual English doll, then it's back to deciding what I want to make. I might even manage to get something else finished this week. We'll see how that goes.