8 posts tagged “linnet”

As I posted, this weekend Paul finally bought his Wii. He's been having fun playing Super Smash Bros Brawl and I've been playing a bit of Super Mario Paper. However, this weekend was busy because of Mother's Day (we saw his parents on Saturday & mine on Sunday) and so we didn't get to play or relax that much.

However! I made it a point to make it to that produce store again so I've got some good veggies & fruits to snack on again today :) I just wish that all my hard work to make good food decisions would begin to pay off - but that's likely not to happen unless I pair it with some much needed exercise :(

Tonight Paul & I are going to go shopping for a mattress, and then Tuesday (hopefully) I'm going to get my hair cut. I'm tempted to color it as well, but I'm very undecided. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I've colored it pretty successfully in the past, but correcting the color once I wanted to become blonde again was not an easy or pretty task.

Over the weekend I got the last of my orders for Linnet and I tried out her new curly white wig with her new pale lavender eyes. I was shocked to see that yet again, the eyes (14mm blue ones seen here) were melted by the eye putty that I was using. When this happened the last time I thought it was just the eyes I'd chosen, so I bought new ones - but I was wrong. I jumped onto the DoA* boards and find that this is pretty common (which made me feel better) and the reason was because the putty had a plasticizer in it in order to keep it soft and so it begins to soften the acrylic. It was suggested that I try pillow-soft ear plugs, and so we went out late last night to find them. They worked differently - but worked just as well so I hope that I've found a good alternative. What was frustrating though was the fact that this putty was given to me by the doll manufacturer - so I would assume it would be safe. The eyes that Souldoll gave me appear to be acrylic as well - but they aren't being effected by the putty they gave me so I guess that's the difference.

I read a bit of The Host over the weekend, but not nearly enough :( My sister is already done! If only I could find enough free time... Oh well - I have until the 23rd to finish it so that none of it is ruined by the book signing (not really worried about the author - more about the crowd).

*DoA stands for Den of Angels, a forum for ABJD collectors

I'm feeling better today - so far as my mood and my outlook. Though I'm having some problems at my job right now, I'm going to go on vacation and come back with a clean slate and just keep working and trying my best as I was before. I'm not going to let one incident - that was blown completely out of proportion to the actual situation - ruin this job for me right now. However, I'm still determined to look for other jobs or perhaps become Paul's person job hunter. But that's all for another post.

My knee is feeling better. I'm not free from pain all the time - but most of the time I am and that's the important thing. I'm still taking ibuprofen in the mornings though, as it seems to be after I wake up that it hurts the most. I'm just glad that the terrible pain went away as I really didn't want it to ruin our Scotland trip.

I went to JoAnns on Monday night and bought some straps and small buckles to put inside of my carry-on bag for Linnet. Last night I put one strap in but it took me awhile and I wasn't able to get the other two in. I'm hoping that tonight I can work on it some more if not Thursday. She fits well in the bag - however I find that I have to remove her wig so that it doesn't get muffled. I'm sure if it was a normal synthetic wig it wouldn't be so bad but the mohair gets teased and tangled so easily. However, I'm still very much in love with the wig and am considering buying a second one so have as a back up for when this one falls to pieces from my constant attention :)

I joined two group orders recently - both for Dollmore - and I'm frustrated by how slow they've progressed compared to my very first one. The first of the two, the organizer said that she wouldn't take any money orders unless they were sent three days before the order closed - but she didn't keep up on the orders coming in and so the order closed long before she realized we'd reached our max. Therefore people who were sending money orders sent them long after we'd closed the order and so she didn't place the order for a good week after it closed. Very frustrating considering I'd joined the group in order to bypass the fraking money order wait. To top it off, by the time she made the order a bunch of stuff was sold out - luckily I wasn't effected - but I feel bad for the others who were. The second of the two was much quicker and more efficient in regards to the organizer, but then Dollmore didn't respond to our order for two weeks! I was hoping to have the order before I left - but that's not going to happen as Dollmore is sending it out tomorrow and it can take three days to get it from them and then three days to get it from the organizer. The money I save using a group order is wonderful - however the process is frustrating more often than not. Once I get back - I'm doing my own group order so that I don't have to wait on others and I get the store credit!

Anyhow - this was just a bunch of little stuff that would have been pointless to put in their own post :)

As I've mentioned, she's had a new face up done - to mimic the old one as closely as possible. Her mouth is a bit different in the fact that there are teeth now and more detail in the shadows of her lips. She's also been given new eyes and a new wig. I'm not sure if the new eyes are her - they're so pale - but I know I'm in love with her new wig :) I'm sorry that all the pictures I've been taking recently are boring and portrait-like, but I can't seem to get her ready and out the door into the light before it fades once I get home.

P1010871

Old Lips

New lips!

Well, she's in a nearby shipping facility - but that's much better than in Pennsylvania. Who am I talking about?! Linnet! Her face up is complete and the woman sent her express mail yesterday and she's now in the Inland Empire. She'll be delivered today - but since I'm not there to get her I'll have to pick her up tomorrow.

The whole ordeal has been a bit stressful. First, communication was difficult because she wasn't getting my emails from my Yahoo! address. So we were using a combination of Yahoo! and private messages through the DoA board. Then she seemed confused as to what I was looking for, and she suggested I get a completely new face-up rather than a touch-up. I said I'd do whatever she thought was best - but I explained that she misunderstood my request. After that she said she'd work with the original face-up which I took to mean that she was doing a touch-up rather than a completely new face-up.

Flash-forward to a week later and I haven't heard a peep from her. So I finally email her and ask her to just send Linnet back if she still hadn't been able to work on her because I was leaving soon. She responded that night and said she was done, sorry it took so long, and the price for the face-up was $60. I was shocked to hear that because I thought we were only doing a touch-up and I emailed her back, confused as to where our communication had broken down. Long story short - she agreed that she'd told me she'd do a touch-up, let me pay the touch-up price, and apologized for the mis-communication that she said was due to her unorganized system. I ended up paying her more than we'd agreed - because I still felt she'd done the full work - and she expressed her the next day.

So! Here we are, Linnet less than 40 miles away and I'm just so excited!

On Tuesday night, I sat down and tried my hand at restringing her. Half an hour later I was close to tears (partly because I was just so tired), because of how impossible it seemed to be able to restring her. I couldn't even get the elastic through the first part of her arm - let along through all four parts of each arm, each leg and then back to the head. But, I kept trying and I learned a lot and with Paul's help I was able to completely restring both arms through her bust. Tonight I'm going to restring her legs to her torso and then tomorrow (with Linnet's head) I'll connect the torso & legs to the bust & arms. I also went online and ordered a restringing tool for the next time I have to do this - as I know they'll be a next time.

I cant wait to get her back together! She has two complete outfits, a pair of boots, a pair of eyes & a new wig that needs to be tried out. I also need to retrofit the inside of my flight carry-on bag with straps to secure her as we're traveling. I'm just so excited!!! Have I said that yet?! Have I?!

I'm so sad that Linnet's head is gone, getting a touch-up on her face. Since Friday I've gotten:

• Her travel bag
• Her Dollmore order (wig & eyes)
  
• Her Souldoll order
• Her custom made outfit that I commissioned from a seamstress on DoA

Her travel bag is going to be perfect as a carry-on for our flight - its got a bunch of pockets, the strap is comfortable, and the size isn't too big. Her wig is so, so, so soft! I can't wait to try it on her because I'm anxious to see if it fits better than the Luts wig that was too big. Her eyes look pretty - but I wont be able to tell until they're in her head. The Souldoll order looks wonderful and I can't wait to try on all the pieces! Her custom made outfit includes a hat, two scarves, a pair of capri, a skirt, a shirt & a double-breasted jacket - and the seamstress is waiting to hear if it needs to be readjusted.

So as I said... COME BACK ALREADY!!!

I'm expecting a few things this week - and missing others.

First, as I might have mentioned awhile ago - I joined a group order on the DoA forum that ordered from Dollmore. I bought a new wig (after taking measurements, I realize the first wig I bought from Luts was actually the wrong size) and also a new pair of eyes. I joined the order on the 7th under the stipulation the group of orders would not be closed & paid for until we reached $800 and qualified for free shipping. On the 7th we were only at $400. Three days later it was closed! We finished & cleared all payments on the 19th and we were expecting to have to wait at least two weeks before it getting to the group coordinator and then surprisingly yesterday it was delivered! So quick, I'm beyond relieved because I was depending on the wig for Scotland. I paid for shipping last night and the group coordinator is in the US so it shouldn't take too long to get to me. The only bummer is that I've dismantled my doll and sent her head off for a touch up on her face so I wont even be able to check it all out for awhile.

Second, after thinking about it for awhile I did end up ordering the outfit from Souldoll. I'm not regretting it in the least either, because when I went to the site while writing this post to get the URL to link to it - I saw that it was sold out! I really, really liked this outfit and knowing that I got it before it sold out has made me so happy. I just have so many ideas so far as outfits! I ordered it on Saturday morning and on Monday night I got a shipping confirmation that said I'd get it today! I'm not sure how - but I am. Of course, the fact of her body being completely dismantled takes away from the bit of joy - but only a bit :)

Third, today we're supposed to be getting our entire travel itinerary from MyguideBritain - the travel coordinators we worked with for our Scotland trip. I'm excited about this because it's supposed to have our plane tickets (they coordinated one flight for us - Edinburgh to Dublin) as well as I'm hoping full contact information for our B&Bs. All of the websites only give streets - which is all fine and dandy when you're planning but when you're trying to actually drive there it's something different. If they don't have complete addresses they're going to be getting a phone call from me, that's for sure.

As for what I'm not getting yet; my Softly She Walks order. They're stationed in Canada and their website says it can take up to a week to ship and up to three weeks for delivery after shipping (they're shipping the slowest & cheapest because shipping was free). I'd love to have these outfits before Scotland, but it's not imperative in the least.

Also, and I'm not surprised I'm not getting it this week, some boots I ordered from eBay. Still on my hunt for black boots (as the pair I bought last time were way too big), I was browsing the DoA boards and ran across a sales thread for red boots. The seller explained they wouldn't fit on her SD13 boy and would probably fit an SD10 girl well. My girl is SD10! Though I didn't need red boots - the boots looked familiar and I realized that they were off of the same eBay seller who I bought my initial boots from. I scurried over to the site and found they had black ones and that with shipping it'd be under $20. The inner foot length is supposed to be 7.5cm (my girl has a 6.9cm foot length) so I'm hoping they're going to fit. I'm still skeptical though, because my last boots were supposed to be 7.5cm as well and were in actuality 8.4cm. I figure that once I get these - if they don't fit - I'm sending them back. Last time, I resolved to just try and work with them but not this time.

I also wont be getting back Linnet's head this week - at least I don't anticipate to. The person I found to do the touch up on the face understands my time frame and is very willing to work on her as soon as she's received and get her back to me pronto. I figure it'll take three days to get to her - three days to work on her - three days to get back. So hopefully late next week. I'm upset about having to have her face touched up at all - but that's what I get for pissing off the person doing my body blush - she chipped the eyeliner when putting in the eye lashes and I wasn't about to send any part of Linnet back to her for repairs.

Anyhow - that was a long post :P

Awhile ago I posted on my Scotland blog about me wanting to purchase a different toiletry kit as the one I have now is just a tad bit too small and it took me ages to pack it so that everything fit - the very thing I was trying to avoid. So I went onto Amazon and bought another bag through one of their merchants. Two weeks later and I'm still waiting for A) The money to be taken out and B) For the item to be shipped. After many emails asking for a status I get an email that says the item is actually out of stock. Nice. However, as an apology they'd like to give me a 25% discount & free shipping to use at their online store (not Amazon). Looking around I've found a few options and I'm having trouble deciding.

MediumKit

GreenTotePattern

PinkTotePattern

Second we have two shoulder bags. The reason I'm considering these is because as everyone knows, I'm taking Linnet with me and I want to have her as my carry-on and in a proper bag that will keep her safe and protected. These bags drew my attention because I can't have her stretched out due to carry-on baggage size limitations so I need something that will allow her to bend at the waist but not have to bend at the knees too. These bags are perfect in size, they have a stiff bottom, and the bottom has those metal numbs that will prevent the bag from resting directly on the floor which I think will protect her even more. The decision to be made here is which color/pattern to choose.