Candyland Part Two

       The next class up in Candyland was Diamonds are Forever. There were some lovely blingy entries in the class. 

     After Diamonds are Forever was Rainbow Brite. I expected an insane amount of rainbows. I was not disapointed. 

    The seventh class in Candyland was Arabian Nights. There were some fairly traditional(ish) Arabian entries... 

     And then there was this entry. It was so on-point with the class name that I had to pin it first!

    Next up was Halloween. And, as expected, there were a variety of costume entries. 

     This one had dry ice smoke and flashing lightning! It was incredibly cool. 

    The last class of the day was Anything Goes. And I was expecting a wide variety of different things. I was not disappointed. 

    If you have been following along you will realize I have only shared photos from 9 of the 10 classes. One of them had an entry so epic that it needs a post of it's very own. 
 

Candyland Part One

    The class list for performance at Candyland was all themed classes. Which is an interesting group of classes to judge, for sure. None of the classes were huge but most of them were challenging to judge. I got photos of almost every entry in the show, though I did miss a few photos, but again, the classes were not large, I only had to judge 10 of them, so I had time. The first class of the day was License to Drive. I did not catch who the entries belonged to, so just enjoy the photos. 

    The second class of the day was Once Upon a Time in the West. And somehow I forgot to take pics of every entry except this one. 

    The third class of the day was The English Patient. I had a good variety of entries.

    The 4th class of the day was 21 Jump Street. And I had an even wilder variety of entries!

     There's a lot more show to come. And I have a variety of other posts as well. Many of them will be mostly wordless, but at least you have lots of fun photos to look forward to!
 

Colorado Adventure

    Friday is coffee date day so Travis and I went to Barnes and Noble on the way to the airport. We went much earlier than normal, but that was fine. I saw this wonderful sign, which is totally true, but I resisted buying any books for myself. That was a poor life choice as it turns out. 

    Travis had a great time on the plane again. Though I think even he was a little bit bored by the end of the 4 and a half hour flight. He didn't seem to want to just look out the window the whole time. But he did seem to enjoy himself. 

     I don't know if Colorado is always this brown, but it was pretty brown when I took this photo. Though I am also not 100% sure we were flying over Colorado at this point. Still, I managed to keep my eyes open for a lot of the flight. I finished my book much more quickly than I thought I would. I worked on my Spanish, even taking a bunch of notes, took a nap for about an hour and I ran out of things to do and started thinking longingly of layovers, just to break up the flight and have something to do. We do have a layover on the way home. Though it was because the direct flight for the way home didn't have a window seat for Travis. 

     Once we landed in Colorado the reasonable part of the trip ended. The Denver airport is ginormous and I immediately had no idea where to go. But I was told to go take the train to baggage, then go outside and find where to take the shuttle to pick up the rental car. Here is where things go from vaguely confusing, to kind of annoying, to incredibly angry and a one star review. 

     So I requested a shuttle through the link the rental company sent me 3 times. It still took 25 minutes for them to pick us up. We got to the rental place and there were a couple of people in front of us so we waited about a half an hour for it to be our turn. We got the car and I was told there was about a half a tank of gas, which is super abnormal for a rental car, but whatever. We got the car and headed out. It was making some very strange noises, somehow I ended up turning on the hazards (no idea how) and couldn't figure out how to turn them off, things were bad. So when we stopped at a light I turned it off. Because sometimes if you turn a thing off and back on again things get better. And I figured maybe I hit some weird controls on the steering wheel because there were buttons and knobs all over the steering wheel! Front and back, it was kind of ridiculous. So then I went to turn the car back on... and it wouldn't start. I tried a couple more times, all of a sudden kind of thankful that the hazards were on, and when it still wouldn't start I called the rental company. I had to call twice to figure out how to actually get a line to ring. And then I had to let it ring for 5 or more minutes before someone answered the phone. Eventually it was answered, I told them my problem, and was put on hold multiple times. I was told that maybe I was out of gas, since the tank was empty when I took it. I said that I was told there was a half a tank of gas (yes, I should have checked it myself) and there was no reason I should be out of gas less than 10 minutes down the road. She said the other option was maybe the battery was dead. So what were her suggestions? I could Uber to a gas station or get someone to jump the car. Wow. So the rental company (Routes by the way. They are the absolute worst and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone) said, basically, figure it out yourself. I asked the woman if that was what she meant and her response was those were her suggestions of what to try and no, no one would come out to help me. Heather sent Josh out to rescue us and a random motorist stopped to ask if we were out of gas and said she'd see if her husband would stop to get some for us (they did not come back). I did eventually figure out the car wouldn't start from user error (I am not at all familiar with push to start and skipped a step) but it still stands, the rental company gave me a car with an empty gas tank (it was in fact basically empty) and then when I called and said the car was dead on the side of the road they basically told me to figure it out myself. So yeah, I was pissed and I left a detailed one star review. Josh found us and followed us to the gas station. We did make it at least. 

    Things got a lot better when we got to Heather's house. Travis was very cuddly with Heather and was grinning the whole time. I think he has a new best friend. We had some nice conversation, Heather ordered us food, and after a bit we all went to bed. 

     Sometime in the night one of the cats, I don't know which one, tried to steal one of my rings off the table next to where I was sleeping. I am not sure which cat, but I caught them and then put my rings away. I am not even sure which cat this is, I can only identify one of them by sight. 

     Heather's house is incredibly quiet compared to mine. Sometimes I could hear the heat coming on quietly but other than that it was so quiet. I live near the Mass Pike so I hear traffic constantly. It is never quiet at my house. So it was interesting. I am still adjusting to Colorado so I am super dehydrated (working on it), my ears have been blocked since we got here, and I am very congested. But that could be because I am allergic to cats. Or because I have been congested since I turned my heat on a couple of weeks ago. I do have to say though, my Flonase is doing amazing things! I am a bit snuffly but my eyes are not itchy at all. And I was petting cats. 

     I got more sleep than I usually do on a Friday night, though I have no idea how much because my Fitbit decided not to track. Again. But I am usually out really late on Friday nights and still get up relatively early, so I got pretty reasonable sleep as far as I can tell. I am not my usual level of Saturday tired. Travis and I are here hanging out at Candyland Live and I am doing random things, including blogging, in between judging performance classes. So far the worst part of the trip has been the rental car company. I seem to learn new things every time I travel. This time around it's check the reviews. It would have been worth it to pay more to not deal with a company as terrible as Routes. 

      Travis and I went out to Barnes and Noble during the lunch break so I could buy a book. Since I apparently can stay awake on the plane now, at least some of the time, I definitely need something to do on the way home. And really, I can always use a new book. 

Still Here

     I meant to write this post days ago, but I didn't end up having time. That is the story of my life these days; I just don't have any time. Trying to just get through the regular stuff I need to do takes up more time than I have. I have been feeling like I am always behind, always missing something I need to get done. Sometimes I feel like I am catching up, and sometimes I feel like a hot mess. But I am making progress in a lot of areas. 

     The above photo is a picture of my dog-friend, Jester. I got a fancier than usual iPhone and figured I might as well figure out how to use the fancy (pro) camera. So I was playing around with it. And I was trying to catch a photo of him falling asleep on his perch. He likes to climb up on the back of my couch, like a cat, to hang out and sleep. It took a bit to get this photo because every time I picked up the phone to take a picture he would open his eyes. Let's stop for a second and think about what an odd phrase that would have been 20ish years ago "picked up the phone to take a picture". 

     I am really pleased with how the Ellie heads look as men with a bit of facial hair added. I showed this pic to a friend of mine who isn't at all familiar with the dolls, and she was very surprised to find out this is a woman doll. I finished him, dirtied him up a bit, and he's currently for sale. The only place he has been listed is on the model doll maker's page on Facebook. That may change. 

     My kids and I went to the Salem Night Faire again this year. My fancy new phone camera really does take some excellent pictures. I have gotten a picture of "tall spooky" (Travis named him. He's really The Fortune Teller) every year and this batch is definitely the best set of pics I have ever gotten. I also found out this guy's hat gets taller every year. Because he is full of more and more wisdom. Obviously. 

     Travis's beard was almost enough to fully block me from this picture. And he looks so happy!

    In case anyone has forgotten, Elecktra also looks pretty much exactly like me. Just a little bit younger. I do get a big kick out of it. 

     This is my friend Alice and I at a vampire party we went to a little over a week ago. She and I take a lot of selfies together and have never taken a bad photo together. We took a variety of photos at the party, but this was one of my favorites. 

      I am currently hanging out with Travis at Bradley Airport, waiting for a flight to Colorado. I am going to be judging performance at Candyland Live and I am so excited! We have never been to Colorado before. I wish we could stay a little bit longer, we're there for a long weekend and that's it this time. Maybe we can do a longer trip sometime when I don't have to take days off of work to do it. But today is the 46th day of school and I was there for the first 45 of them. So I am taking a couple of days now to go hang out with horses, both model and real. And I am very much looking forward to it!

     I took my Dramamine before we went through security so I am hoping that I will be OK on the flight. I absolutely hate that I get airsick now. I am really hoping I can managed to keep my eyes open for at least part of the flight. It's a direct one, so it is a 4 hour and 36 minute flight and I would love to be able to get at least some work done in that time. That would be excellent. 

     One final note before I post this. It was 80 degrees by the time we got to the airport. 80 degrees. On November 1st. In New England. The board at our gate says it's currently 53 in Denver. Which is a temp we can absolutely deal with, it was 53 last week here (for real, Mother Nature is having some WILD mood swings!) but that is quite the switch all in one day. But no matter what the temperature is, I am totally ready to go to Colorado!

Stress

     Stress is a very complex thing. Currently, I have financial stress, job stress, and home stress. I am one big ball of stress. Which is incredibly tough for me since normally I am a very chill person. But right now I am struggling. I have financial stress because of a debt from the dim past that jumped up and bit, buying a new furnace, and a variety of other things. I am bad at having debt and while I realize digging out of that is not going to be instantaneous, it is causing me a lot of stress because it is not a place I am used to being. And I don't want to get comfortable with the debt, I want it to go away. I am trying to be patient. 

     I have job stress because many things are new at school this year. Some of them are quite positive but a lot of them are quite the opposite. I am struggling with the day-to-day because I see issues that should not exist, I have said things about them to a lot of people (who could help change the things) and nothing currently seems to be getting done about them. I can't be content to watch the system fail the kids the way the system failed Travis. I am trying to be the change I want to see in the world but I am afraid I am currently fighting a losing battle. Paras are rarely even treated like adults, let alone adults worth listening to. I have basically no power in the grand scheme of education. This is intentionally vague because it has to be. 

    I have home stress because my trailer park is being sold. And the man who has in an offer is not someone that we want to own our park. So I am on the board (which I don't have time for) to try to help get us together into a co-op to buy it ourselves. But the buyer put in an offer that skirts the edge of even being legal under the Right of First Refusal law. And everything with that is a struggle. I am tired, overly busy, and I would really just like a break. 

    I was dropping Travis off at Elecktra's place a week or so ago and I saw she had a pile of Squishmallows. This pink unicorn was on the top of the pile. So I picked it up and squished it. I haven't actually touched a Squishmallow before and had no idea just how huggable they are. Elecktra insisted I take this one, she said she went a little nuts and had too many, and I hugged and squished it all the way to the car. Then it rode to school with me and was there to greet me when I got in the car to go home. Currently, it lives on my desk chair and makes a lovely, super comfy, back cushion when I am typing. 

     My friend Brandi is brilliant. In so many ways really, but in this case I am speaking of language learning. She has been learning German and said she bought a book she knows very well in English to help her with her German. I have been doing a variety of learning with my Spanish, including listening to podcasts meant for new Spanish learners, watching TV in Spanish with the subtitles on (the CC descriptions are distracting and I can't figure out how to turn them off), and listening to music in Spanish. I also have books and use Duolingo daily. But I decided I needed to try reading a book (not a learn-Spanish book) in Spanish. On our weekly coffee dates to Barnes and Noble I spent a lot of time in the Spanish language section trying to figure out a book that I knew well enough in English to read it in Spanish. I found several I have read, but I don't know them well enough to be useful (the closest was Animal Farm, but I haven't even read it in years at this point). So I settled on Green Eggs and Ham. I can recite that book in English so I figured I could probably learn some Spanish with it. Though from the very first page I know it is definitely not a word-for-word translation. Oh well, I can learn something anyway. 

     Part of my financial stress is doll making. I have a whole lot of dolls for sale and none of them seem to be selling at the moment. I have posted them on Model Horse Connections and on the doll maker group on Facebook, so I at least have remembered to list them. But other than once in a while, things have been quite slow for me with doll sales. If anyone is in need of a doll, I have a wide variety available at the moment on MHC  https://modelhorseconnection.com/searchlist.asp?AccID=9160 at this point I am probably even open to commissions. Not every project will be something I am willing to take on, but if you need something, and I don't have what you are looking for, please send me an email at fieldofdolls@gmail.com and we'll see if it's something I can do for you. 

     Something that is not stressful for me is Friday starting at 2:30 when I get out of work. Friday is the best day of the week. When I get out I go and pick Travis up from Sunshine Village and we go to Barnes and Noble for our weekly coffee date. We get our coffee at the Starbucks in there and he picks out a new book. Sometimes I get a new book as well, though I still have a lot of books to read so I have been trying to be good. After our coffee date we come home and have supper and then go out dancing. It is a long day but so much fun. Even when I am in the worst mood (like when a skunk sprays my house and everything I own stinks) dancing will bring me out of it. Too bad every day wasn't Friday, I'd probably have a lot less stress. 

Not Enough Time

     I am back to having almost no time in my life for... anything. I am back to struggling to find a balance with things. School started last week and my very first day I had restraint training. Then, the next day was the first day of school with kids. We have two new students this year and they are challenging. Partially because we don't really know them and partially because middle school is just not elementary school. Plus our kids from last year seem to have forgotten a lot of the rules and expectations. So we are working on getting back into the swing of things. I also have to get up at dark o'clock again, so I am kind of tired a lot of the time. But I am working on it. 

     To add to the difficulty of starting a new school year, last Thursday a skunk sprayed outside my bedroom window. My open bedroom window. Which results in me basically being gassed out of my room and forced to sleep on the couch. I could still smell skunk but it wasn't quite as strong out there. Still strong though. Somehow my bag, which was not in my bedroom also smelled like skunk, but faintly, so it kind of smelled like pot. So I went to school last Friday exhausted and smelly. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and I was ready for it to be over from the first minute. When I got home my house still smelled bad and I was so frustrated that I just left. I went and picked Travis up and we went on our coffee date. At least that was nice. After that we went to Walmart to get more small fans (to stick facing out in the windows) and things to try to get the stink out of the rooms. It was expensive and frustrating. I decided I needed this unicorn clock for my studio, because I have been thinking I needed a clock in the studio. It was a good idea. 

    I am not positive, but I think the only doll I finished last week was this cowboy doll. He's done on a modified Yvonne doll and he makes a pretty nice cowboy. With the added bonus of fitting in the same tack as an Yvonne type doll. He's sold but I am willing to make more of these guys if people are interested. 

    Right before school started I got together with a friend I haven't seen in years and she gifted me this mug she got for me a couple of years ago, and kept forgetting to give me. All the flamingos have on different costumes and I absolutely love it! And I love the shape. I am very into this particular shape of tea cup. 

     The Spirit Halloween stores are open and I Elecktra and I were spending a day together and went to a couple of them. I felt I needed to put this sign above my bar. It amused me. And there was a space on that wall that kind of needed something. But after that I realized I kind of also needed another plant. 

    When hanging out with another friend before school started I decided it was time to get another new plant. So we went out to my favorite plant store, the Painted Stone Emporium (they also have stones and crystals) and I got this one, to add to the other two plants hanging in the kitchen. It's now balanced and makes me very happy. And I have 16 plants. My pink angel plant that nearly died while I was at Breyerfest is being rehabbed and it's actually going pretty well. And I am super impressed that I am managing to rehab a plant. 

         So back to last Friday. I was angry, smelled like skunk, and was so frustrated with everything that I thought about not going to dance. But I had several friends texting asking if I was going and I talked myself into it. I skipped the lessons, and just went for the social dance, but I am glad that I did. It was a really amazing night of dance and I was in a much better mood when I left there. Even though I went home to a house that smelled like skunk, though not as strongly. And even now, a week later, I can still smell it faintly if the house has been closed up all day. But it's close to gone and my stuff doesn't smell anymore. So that is encouraging. 

       Since school has started I am tired and have a lot less free time. But so far I am enjoying myself. School is starting to even out a little bit, the beginning of the year is always a bit weird. Hopefully soon I can get back into getting up early so I am less tired and can potentially get more doll work done. But for now I will just keep on doing what I can, when I can manage it. Fun things are coming!