Sunday Fun

     I slept really late yesterday. After Ethan left for work I went back to sleep and didn't get up until almost 11:00. I guess I was tired. It was kind of nice but I feel like I missed out on so much of the day. It did make me glad I had already decided not to go to King Richard's Faire. But I figured I should get out of the house and do something. So Travis and I went to Dunkin and I got some coffee, mine was pumpkin spice, and we went to pick Crystal up to hang out for a bit.

      I'm glad Crystal remembered we needed to take a pic, I almost forgot. We took a couple, but this was my favorite. 

      We both needed to go to Joann's and Travis decided we needed to go to Target. So we looked around at all the very random things that Target has to offer this time of year. Like this candle holder that I got for Ethan. 

     It also comes in black. And when I say "got for Ethan" I mean I took a picture of it to show him and I left it at the store. Which he appreciates even more than actually having the thing. We are downsizing after all. 

    They had a very cool dragon skull that I liked and a good variety of skeletal animals. If I ever have a vast amount of space to display (or store) random stuff I will have to get a collection of skulls started. Some of them are ridiculous but some are pretty cool. 

      I am not into leaf peeping, likely because I have lived in New England my entire life so pretty trees are just something that happens every year. But I do enjoy them when I am out and about. The colors are usually past their prime about now, but there were a ton of very bright still leafy trees to enjoy. 

     When we got home I ate the delicious buffalo chicken dip that Crystal gave me. She said she didn't really have any "extra" but she would give me some anyway. That is love. And it was amazing. Hers is different than the ones I make. I might need the recipe for this one. 

     Even though I slept for a large portion of the day and went out for awhile, I did make some time to work on armor painting. This is a seemingly endless task that I am sure I have at least one more day of until I am done. So. Much. Painting. 

     I also managed to mess up some parts of the armor while I was getting it on the doll. He will need some touch ups and then all of this will need glossing. But he's coming along and coming together. He still needs his shoulder and upper arm armor and gauntlets and a few other pieces. And then of course a face and hair. But he is coming along. I am hoping I can get him finished today. I have no idea how much longer I will need on him though. So far though I am pretty happy with how his is coming together. 

    So I went out and got coffee, saw Crystal, saw some leaves, did some errands, painted armor and put some pieces of the doll together. Not a bad day. And since #1300 is still not finished there is still time to comment and enter the contest. Can anyone tell who he is yet?

A New Beginning

     Yesterday my big brother John got married. It was a really great day. We were asked to add an orange accent to our outfits, to fit in with the theme. I bought an orange belt and I wore my amber earrings. We made the tips of Ethan's mohawk orange. I think his accent was better.

     The way John and Lisa did their wedding was very unique and I loved it. Everyone was sitting and John and the boys were off to the side. 

When it was time for the ceremony to start John walked in alone. 

And Jack and Eddy walked in as well (they looked so awesome!)

     They released balloons in memory of Lisa's Dad who passed away. This was about the time I started crying. It was really beautiful.

Mike, Lisa's brother, officiated the ceremony. He did an amazing job.

Lisa also walked in alone. It was a really beautiful and very unique ceremony. 

     I was not in a super great place to get many photos, and the sounds system they had set up was glitching so I didn't hear everything, but it was wonderful anyway. This was right after John and Lisa were married. They stopped to wait for their boys.

     And then everyone went off to do photos and the rest of us went for snacks and the cocktail hour. The sun came out and it turned into a really beautiful day. Though even if it had been raining, it was already a really beautiful day. 

     I didn't get a ton of photos because I just forgot to. This was the seating chart in the front of the room. I thought it was really cute. I bet Lisa made all of it. She loves making things. 

     Their cake was gorgeous and looked like it was wrapped in birch bark. The entire wedding was really on theme for every detail.

        The bride and the groom had their first dance. Someone commented that it was their first dance ever. I have no idea if it was true or not.

    This is just a funny picture of John, being John. He looks mad but he was being goofy.

      Lisa changed out of her super awesome (drool worthy) cowboy boots into orange chucks for the reception. She also had an orange crinoline under her dress. It was gorgeous. 

     I got a selfie with my sister Cathy. 

And I got a selfie with my new sister Lisa. 

      It really was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful day. I am so glad to have Lisa as my sister now. She is amazing and I am so thankful that she and John found each other. On the way home Cathy said that at my and Ethan's wedding she was sitting with John and he said that he would probably never get married. Well, it may have taken him 10 years to do it, but he was wrong. And I am glad. He and Lisa are both wonderful people and wonderful for each other.
      Yesterday was an amazing day and I think I had enough fun for now. I was thinking of going to King Richard's Faire but I may just work on doll #1300 a bit and chill. I'm a bit tired. I love that no one has guessed who the doll is yet! Either that means I am being secretive enough or I am doing a terrible job on him. I guess we will find out. For now I will leave you with what I managed to do for him on Friday...

It Begins

     I started doll #1300. As I expected, he is going to take a good amount of time longer than the average doll. 

      He will have a ton of pieces on him. A lot of them need to be painted. 

    He's not a knight, even though he sort of looks like one. He is coming along well. I am sure I have many more hours of work on him before he's done. So far I have made good progress. I may change some things a bit, I haven't decided just yet, but he's started, I like the way he is turning out so far, and that makes me happy.

      Depending on when I actually finish this guy there may be another day or two in my blog contest. Remember, all you need to do to enter is comment on the blog posts, new ones or past ones doesn't matter. Every comment is one entry. Then I will choose a random winner and they will get a $100 gift certificate from me. That can be used towards a doll or on anything else I make. I hope that when the contest is over people will keep on commenting, it has been so much fun for me!

Everybody Needs Dolls

    The other day Elaine Lindelef sent me some photos, with and without a rider. This is a fun little series that really shows how a doll can add so much dimension to your entries! Without a rider this grazing mare looks boring and it doesn't make much sense what is happening. What is going on here?

     Add a doll and now you have a rider who is perhaps out on a trail ride when her horse decided to graze. I used to lead trails and this happened quite often.

    So then you fight with your horse and hope you can get her to pay attention to her job, just for a bit.

Maybe it's a losing battle...

      If you are not ready when your horse puts her head down you may get into some trouble. 

     It could be pretty bad. The worst thing I ever had to deal with was a friend of mine let his horse drop her head to graze and he didn't keep a hold of the reins. She stepped into them. That could have ended badly. Instead I just had to fight with a hungry mare to lift her foot. 

     Tomorrow is my brother's wedding and Lisa will be officially my sister in law. I'm pretty excited for that. She's been family for a long while, but now it will be official. Monday I might finally have time to finish up #1300. We'll see. Soon....

Working at the Dealership

      A couple of weeks ago Ethan noticed there were some fresh oil spots in the driveway in my parking spot. I happened to notice something similar in my parking space at work. When I got my oil changed I made an appointment to have my car checked for an oil leak. So today Travis and I went to the dealership to get my oil dyed. I brought some chaps to work on. 

     I didn't have to sit too long, they put the car on the lift and called me in to look at the underside. They say the oil we saw was from the oil change. I explained the oil in my parking spaces predated the recent oil change and asked them to please put the dye in. They did and then sent me on my way. Which is not the way I was told the appointment would go, but whatever. Apparently now I need to drive 50-100 miles and go back so they can check it with a blacklight and see if there is anything to see. I only work 3 miles from my house. This could take awhile. The tech did say the underside of my car is amazingly dry considering it's 8 years old. And good. I have had enough crap cars in my life, I need something good. 

    Tuesday I thought my doll stuff was lost in the mail. Usps didn't have my package listed in my informed delivery when I logged in and that is very unusual. I feared the worst and I imagine all the horrors that would be in store for me if that was true. I would only have 4 casual English dolls and 8 cross country kits for TRXC. I might have time to make maybe 10 more dolls before then, maybe, but I also would have had to remake some dolls that I sold. It would have been a huge financial loss and a major blow to my TRXC weekend. Luckily usps just screwed up their tracking system, not my delivery. 
     So now I have 18 dolls ready for my TRXC sale (or they are available if anyone wants one now) and that is way better than what I was fearing. I still have a pretty decent variety as well. I can likely still make about 10 more dolls before the TRXC weekend, but we will see how the next few weeks go. 

         Yesterday I got some mens cutting chaps worked on. I have 2 pairs all cut out and assembled and they just need velcro and buckles. I have another pair that is partially cut out. So I made some decent progress. I need one pair to go with a cowboy I sold, but the other two can be added to my TRXC sales stuff. I am really feeling pretty good about things. I have 18 dolls, in a good variety, I have a bunch of saddle pads, I have chaps and chinks, cross country kits, a variety of horse boots and judge's kits. I have some mini food still as well and I have 2 lunge whips made by Ekatarina Polygalina that I am going to sell. I finally got the pink one I have been wanting! So I have a black and a purple I am going to let go of. I went from fearing I would have almost nothing for sale to having a nice little stash. 

     Tuesday was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day (does anyone know that reference? I love that book) and in comparison most days would be better. But yesterday was pretty great all around. I got to see, and have a short visit with, so many of my friends at school. I didn't have to cover a class 3rd period so got to help my friend out (I watched her class so she could go to the bathroom) and then I went to sit in Angelique's chair of awesomeness and I had another coffee. I stalked my box of dolls with the tracking number and saw when they were delivered and Ethan let me know he had the box in hand. The day was in general pretty great. And now we just have 2 more days of school this week, Friday Travis has a half day, so I will take one as well. I will go and visit Jackie again and get my nails done with some of the fancy gel stuff. Saturday is my brother's wedding and Sunday maybe King Richard's Faire. Lot's of good stuff coming up. 

So close

     Blogging is sometimes hard. And freaking out is hard. Bad days are REALLY hard. Typing with a sort finger is a bit hard as well. I had a really rough day yesterday. It was one of those days that I was really, really glad when it was time to go to bed. I survived. It didn't kill me. I guess that makes me stronger. It definitely makes me appreciate boring days more. 

      The day started getting tricky when I first woke up I guess. One of those days when you wake up about an hour early but decide to stay in bed even though you know that sort of dozing for an hour will make you groggy. It happened. To me. Anyway, I got up and I started to worry about the dolls. Not generically, particularly about the dolls that were in the hands of the US postal service. They are not always reliable. And they have proven over and over they don't give a crap. At all. I also had no tracking info in my informed delivery (mail stalker) for the box (almost all of my doll inventory) that Fabian sent back to me. It was odd but not the end of the world. I asked Fabian if he had a tracking number. He gave me that and it didn't work, but also not the end of the world. Sometimes there is a delay on things. So I tried to put it out of my mind. School was kind of weird so that didn't help. 

     Yesterday was Tuesday so I was doing laundry. I sort of hate doing laundry, but the good news is that Travis is not complaining at all when he folds now. He is quick and just does it. It's still not super nice folding, but all things in time. Anyway, the laundromat was adding to my bad day. All of the large washers had stuff in them so I had to use a couple of the medium sized ones, which cost me more money. I had to use fewer dyers because they were either almost all in use or out of order. Using fewer meant putting more in them which then takes longer. I kept nearly dropping things (like the full basket of folded clothes) and things were just thoroughly frustrating. The tracking number was still not tracking so I was starting to freak out. I did manage to get a good amount done on the last casual English doll. 

     When I got home I decided I could finish the last few details on the doll. She didn't need much and it would feel good to accomplish something. Right? I should have known from the sort of wonky day at school (weird stuff about students that I can't talk about), the less than awesome day at the laundromat, plus the freaking out about my doll inventory that I should have just put the doll aside and waited to finish her another day. Hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, when I was putting my bag of doll hair and stuff away I somehow managed to stab myself in the finger. Hard. This was the kind of tiny stab wound that would not stop bleeding and actually still hurts today. This photo was after I had already wiped away the blood a couple of times. Stupid finger. I figured that it happened because of the bad day and because I was working on a pale pink doll. The lighter the doll clothes, the more likely you are to bleed, spill stuff and so on. I went and got a bandaid (that I then got paint all over) and I worked on finishing the doll. I really should have just stopped. 

     I managed to get her done without maiming myself, though it was not without a whole pile of frustration. I messed up so many things on her and had to fix or redo them. I should have put her down and waited for another day. Hindsight. But she is done. She is doll #1299. I am vaguely amazed with myself. My finger still hurts. 

      Since my freaking out about the dolls in the mail was getting worse and not better I sent Fabian another message. I asked if he could please check the tracking number again because it was still showing nothing and it wasn't in my informed delivery and I was so nervous. He said of course and sent me the number again and a screenshot of the tracking. OMG that helped so much! I put in the new number super carefully and got to my very own tracking screen! The package was still not showing in my informed delivery but I figure that is the usps trying to give me a stroke. With all the money I give them you'd think they would not be trying to kill me. This morning the package has made it to the Springfield, MA distribution center, which means it should get to Wilbraham next, which is where my deliveries are out of. I can almost breath easier about this. Ethan also has today off and I asked if he could please text me if/when the package arrives so I can totally stop freaking out. I really don't trust the postal service these days.
     I need to go to the Ford dealership today so I can get my oil dyed and find out where the leak is coming from. I am going to work on some doll stuff while I am there, because I need to make a wise use of my time. I figure I will hair doll heads (though maybe I should rethink that. The hairing needle is what I stabbed myself with) and I might also work on tracing out and cutting out chaps. I could work on #1300, but he is going to be more complex and I need easy for the dealership. I could even work on random sales dolls. Because I just need to FINISH the interesting doll next for him to be #1300. So we'll see how the day goes. Already it is starting off better than yesterday. 

Medbands and the happiest guy

    I had no blog post ready for today. I started working on one but I hated it so deleted the whole thing. I did get a question about what to do with the med band from the cross country kits. Here is my photo answer. 

     The medbands in cross country have the rider's medical information printed on them. That way if they wipe out in the middle of a course, and are unconscious when first responders get to them, important medical information is known. Such as if they are allergic to things. I am not sure of what other information is included. I imagine it could potentially be blood type, but I have no idea really. Maybe someone who knows more about cross country can weigh in on that one. The only other thing you really need to know about the medbands in my kits is to put them on with sticky wax. That's it. 

     *update* Larry Nichols posted this info in the comments* MEDICAL CARDS/MEDICAL BRACELETS. An approved and completed medical card or medical bracelet is

required any time while jumping. Medical cards must be enclosed in a transparent, waterproof carrier. Medical cards must be securely attached to the competitor’s upper arm on the outside of the competitor’s clothing. Medical bracelets must be visible on the competitor’s wrist. Medical cards must include any relevant medical history, injury (particularly to the head), drug allergies and current medication. If wearing a medical bracelet, any relevant medical history, injury (particularly to the head) drug allergies and current medication must be included in the online medical form of the bracelet’s vendor website or integrally in the bracelet. Athletes are responsible to record all injuries on the card or in the case of a medical bracelet, update their medical information online. Failure to wear one’s own medical card or bracelet shall be penalized by a fine of $100. (Payable to the Organizing Committee)

      *and a tip* Barb Niesley DiAnnibella said "I used a strip of Hollywood Fashion Tape to hold the Medband on my doll at TJS and it worked a treat. Sticks better and peels right off when you're done." She got the tip from Tiffany Purdy. I love it!

     I was sitting in first period and I got a text from Alex, Travis's para. She sent me a whole bunch of photos of Travis. They made smoothies and he was enjoying it quite a bit. I was working with an old friend of Travis's (they used to be in class together) and I shared the photos and told Travis he said hi. Alex told me Travis's face lit up when I said his friend's name. As if he could look any happier!

    I am a bit short on things to talk about but I am hoping to get some doll work done at the laundromat today. At the very least I can update you on my progress, even small progress. We are getting closer to the end of my blog comment contest, but we are not there yet.