EEP! - my bitsy baby girl...



Is SIXTEEN Today!!



Happy Birthday Girlchild!!

Really - REALLY - scary....

WHERE did I put that shotgun?



**sigh**

Keeerist - I still have a hard time believing she has anything at all to do with ME! LOL

WAY too fast too! LOL - doesn't it always?

I've made inroads in the ole x-mas shopping - but it's nowhere near 'done'.

I finally got off the pain pills Tuesday - and I AM feeling better - I am - not a lot of energy yet - but at least I'm not miserable anymore? LOL - what a PITA

We only caught the 'edge' of the ice storm - things are slick around here and the trees aren't real happy - but the power did no more than bobble a bit.
I DO love icicles!


I finally finished Lily's hoodie... *grin* - she likes it!


I really and truly HAVE been working on dolls... but it's all in bits and pieces? - I'll post pics in a couple days here - I will!

Hugs all!

I really - REALLY - hate the hot weather - I am completely brainless these days - scattered and clueless and I really *really* hate it! (not to mention the LOVELY collection of bruises I'm getting from trying to navigate like this **sigh**)

ah hem

On the BRIGHTER side.... and just to make people jealous... *grin* - Lily will have her copy of the latest Harry Potter precisely at the stroke of midnight Friday night... *grin* - the benefits of being AT a con during a major book release?
(yes, I like the books, yes, I like the movies, but I still think the whole mega-hype they've got going is JUST rediculous!)

Also.... I'm teaching her html, and she's having fun with it - so one of these very first days she'll have her very ownsy dontsy web-site! *grin* I won't be able to teach her past the basics (I'm a dinosaur, I can do a lot with html, but when you get into java, css, pearl or php... I don't know a thing) hopefully she'll be interested enough to keep learning on her own?

On the doll side.... I'm still waiting for Sabriel's saber - it's *possible* that I can bully hubby into finishing it tomorrow - but not terribly likely - **sigh**

On the brighter doll side... *grin* - I took some REALLY cool pics of Vicki!
http://www.dolls-n-daggers.com/Dolls/OOAKvicki.php

I've been fluttering around expermenting with different wing types. I officially HATE liquid sculpy - it LOOKS good, (well, ok at any rate) but it feels like a really cheap rubber gag gift.... blech

I like what embossing powder does, I'm gonna have to get me a selection! *grin*

Today I play with cellophane... wish me luck?

*grin* - This sort of thing is what always happens when I try to sew in people size.....



I managed it finally though!



Today Grant's dad is coming over for a barbeque for his birthday - he'll be back Wednesday with Steve and HIS family for a barbeque on the 4th... it's gonna be a busy week?

My dear and darling brother managed to find "professional" fireworks somewhere or other - we're talking 5" mortars here.... as far as I can tell I don't think KS HAS any firework regulations? LOLOL - Grant's building (no, REALLY) a cement bunker to fire the suckers from....

Should be fun? (well, mebbe not fun, but at the very least it should be really pretty? *grin*)

It's been a tad long since I've posted huh? - think it's time for an update? *grin*

In the doll world...

Having a HORRIBLE time with Sabriel - with every single possible element of her outfit making me re-do the sucker 2 or 3 times, giving up in disgust at LEAST 4 times now.... I was given a truly cool break?




THIS doll...... commissioned by Mercedes Lackey (heh name dropping!) is going to be the grand prize in THIS contest:
http://www.secretworldchronicles.com

Around March I started a doll group.... - a 'how to' doll group to be precise - no e-bay announcements, no prima-donna's.. just people who play or want to learn how - s'here if you want:


We're playing with the idea of a "group doll" - everybody decides what they want to learn - we incorporate it into something resembling a coherent design and I/we make tutorials on each and every step....... it's actually a lot of fun? *grin*

s'1st group doll:

tutorials on the group for *everything!* - repaint, inlay, patterns, you name it! LOL

In the real world.....
We're working on the house - tore the porch down, rebuilt the deck and now we're working on getting the outside of this sucker ready to paint! (lots of work - LOTS and lots of work)

I'm sorta-kinda working on dolls (I hate the heat) and Lily's working on her tan? *grin*

How cool is that?

Annnnnnnnnd - in other news....

This is my puppy, his name is Wish, we got him AS a puppy for Lily's 7th birthday (it seems like yesterday, but it's been 6 years now - EEEEEP!)



He's a GOOD puppy - he doesn't chew on things he shouldn't, he doesn't beg, he doesn't steal food off the counter, he obeys us as well as can be expected....(I just never have been able to be as 'martinet' about it as a really REALLY trained dog requires) he's not the sharpest crayon in the box, but we love him anyway.

This morning though...... **sigh** We saw a new dog across the street today, and Wish, being all brave and bold since there's a nice fence around the yard - ran after him "woof woof woof" - so far so good, but the NEXT thing we saw/heard was "THUD" - my dear and darling not so terribly bright puppy ran SMACK into a tree. Took almost 1/2 a second for him to start barking and chasing the dog again too.... - evil EVIL us, it took us a good 10 minutes to quit laughing.... woof woof woof THUD woof woof! LOLOL - we DID ask him to try not to do that again, merely because it was embarrassing.... *giggle*

Lessee..... Lily's doing super well in school, her science teacher is still on the extremely unimpressive side, but hey, she's making straight 'a's so far, which is always what I want to hear, and she's being good about double-checking what her science teacher says with us, which is nice. She IS showing signs of becoming a 'true' teenager though.... **sigh** wait, you were JUST four!, REALLY you were! - Where DID I put my time machine?

Oh yeah - I finally got Bryce, a software program with which to design 3-D backgrounds... I still can't make a decent 'real' background, but I'm having fun with abstracts? LOL



Heh - forgot one. I have NEVER heard of this happening, purty please speak up if I'm wrong....

This afternoon Fed Ex pulled up in front of the house. I was a little confused because I wasn't expecting anything, but it sometimes happens, so I went out to get my package/letter. Uh uh - they wanted DIRECTIONS!!!! "Can you tell me where to find......." Took me more than a couple to figure out what the poor thing wanted! LOL - I'd have been just as clueless as they were, but we had a hispanic family move in 'next door' (does a football field away count as 'next door'?) and as far as I know they're they only people of spanish decent within a 50 mile radius (sad, very very very sad, and quite rediculous). - So when the poor Fed Ex guy finally asked for them by name it was a cakewalk. (lucky for him too, I know the guy who lives behind them and kitty corner to me is Phil, that's IT for names...)

If my father-in-law weren't the worlds worst gossip I wouldn't even have known about my neighbors.... I don't get out much? - well, I DO make it a point to go outside several times a day, but I only manage the porch. HOWever........ since my FIL DOES come over regularly, and since that seems to be his main topic of conversation, I know things about the people in this (very) small town that I really NEVER wanted to know, (if they're true, **sigh**) and I can't even recognize them by face (car/truck, usually truck, yes, face? no) - See, when my FIL comes over he sits on the porch and with every car/truck, usually truck that drives by he gives us a FULL back-story on whoever's driving.... do I want to know this stuff? nooooooooo - do I believe this stuff? noooooooooo - do I approve of people telling me this stuff about others I've never met? nooooooo - ahhh well, what's to do, he spends HOURS at the VFW, and that's what they do, is drink, and talk about people that aren't there.... - which is why I make it a point not to remember their names.

HEH

To end on a better note....
Hubby made a bridge for our drainage ditch, so now Lily can get to the bus without having to worry about whether or not it's rained recently.... *grin* - and here she is waiting for the bus..... (should have SEEN me sneaking out the backdoor and tip-toeing around the house to get this one! LOL)

Today was the last day of school for the munchkin - and therefore 'awards' day.

From her school approximately 15 kids were invited to test for the Duke University Talent Identification Program

OF those 15, not only was Lily the only one to test high enough to qualify for Grand Recognition (ie. one of the best from 14 states) - but.... she was the only one to test high enough to qualify for State recognition as well!

Proud, PROUD mama! *grin*

I feel bad too though - I mean really - my poor kid - *literally* twice as smart as the next brightest kid in school.... no wonder she's bored to death in class, and has a hard time being interested in talking to the other kids..

Ah well - in just a couple days (once we're moved, and everything's hooked up and and ya know, all THAT chaos) I'm gonna get her on-line and see if I can't find at LEAST a message board where she can be among/around her true peers? - eeeep!

Points for recognizing the quote...... *grin*

Better, if not great, pictures of the munchkin... yes, I left the second one alone, it's really too blurry to 'fix' her eyes.... and sometimes it fits her perfectly! *grin*
( pics & stuff )

Much too fast.... NO no no - I am *so* not ready for my little girl to grow up!



Her 'spring' concert (choir) is this evening - she looked TRULY lovely and very elegant - I'll try to get some better pics when she comes home - but oh my.

Grant can't take pictures either.... LOL hair down to her butt, styled to fall in front, what does hubby do? have it behind her.. **sigh** - stand her FACING the sun, always great for a smile, not to mention the wind blowing the wrong way for her hairstyle.... - men='helpless' or possibly 'clueless'

s'bout time to teach her to apply make-up too (I did hers tonight) - I don't care if she ever wears it (I'd prefer that she didn't, even I don't anymore) as long as she knows HOW, so that if she ever decides to, she has the choice, and the knowledge to draw from.

Another good thing about the move and a 3-acre lawn.. I can dress her up in flowing lace and take pictures of her in the wildflowers! - AHhahahahah (I've said since she was a baby that she's my very own dress-up doll.... *grin* - she's gonna HATE me!)

Well, back to waiting for the blondes to come home..... I believe I'll pack the closet.