Had A Coupon! Got More Dolls.

I am a Barbie Collector member and we get $20 coupons once a quarter.  I had to use my 2nd quarter coupon by the end of June.  I contemplated letting it expire, especially since I was a little depressed about my dolly situation.  That just didn't seem right.  So after a couple of weeks of trying to decide on something, I got a couple of things.

First up is a new Barbie Look doll.  I really liked the dress, the red hair and the real lashes.  These dolls retail for $19.95.  I got mine for $10.85.

This is the picture on BC.com.  I'm hoping I can get my doll's hair to look more like this.

I added this DreamHouse doll for her body, her outfits and the cute owl purse.  I got her for $5.43.

These Barbie Look outfits were on clearance.  I got them for $3.79 each.  

 I did not get my Barbie Style Racquelle from Barbie Collector.com.  As a matter of fact, she was gifted to me by my dear blogging friend Cindi Mortensen.  We are more than blogging friends.  She lives here in GA, and is one of the three moms to my former black puppy.  As soon as I am back on my feet, we plan to get together for a doggy day out at the park.  It will be interesting to see if the puppies remember each other.

I can't tell you how much I love this doll and her outfit.  I am tempted to leave her in her box.  For those of you who know my dolls, who would you like to see wearing this outfit?  

I got another beautiful dolly gift that brought tears to my eyes.  I will be sharing her with you just as soon as I can transport her to a good photo taking area.  She's a little on the heavy side.

The Future Bionic Woman

Some of you are probably too young to remember the shows, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman.  I used to watch these shows when I was a kid.  Simply put these people were rebuilt on the inside with robotics that made them so much stronger than they were before.

Well, yesterday was my first checkup since my leg surgery, 15 days ago.  I swear it seems like it was weeks ago.  I've been doing great since the surgery.  I even figured out how to walk up and down the stairs.  YES!  Prior to that I had been butt scooting up and down the stairs for the past two months.  At the doctor's office, I was pleasantly surprised to see they were removing the staples in my leg.  Then came about 15 X-rays.  Afterwards, the ortho surgeon showed me his handiwork, which included a metal rod, some nails and screws, and something that looked like a paperclip.  Going to the airport is going to be loads of fun.  Of course I'm under the impression that 6 weeks from now (or sooner) I will be back on my feet and better than ever.  Not so fast.   He was explaining to me that my leg has to heal completely and things have to fuse together and until that happens, I can't put any pressure on the left leg.  Of course my next question is, "how long will that take?"  I was expecting to hear 6 weeks.  I was not prepared for his answer which was, 3 months.  THREE MONTHS!  That puts us out to September.  Goodbye 2014.  He then explained that if anything breaks inside my leg before it heals, he will have to go back in.  That's all he needed to say.  I had a new attitude.  Further conversations revealed that my right arm will more than likely need the same type surgery right after the leg heals.  He would like to do it sooner, but the thought of being totally reliant on someone else for my care, is just not going to work.  I agreed to stay off the leg and treat the arm with kid gloves.

I was all prepared to come tell my blogging family that I would  be shutting down the blog until September, or for good.  I was going to figure out how to rest and relax.  Something I have never been very good at.  Well after just one night of resting and relaxing and staying off my feet, I realize that ISH is just not going to work.  I must figure out a different way.  I think I will die of boredom by the time September hits.  So I will figure out how to stay off my leg, and still do some of the things I love, and this includes working with my dolls.

I am starting to accept my new reality which may include lots of metal body parts.  It's kind of cool they can actually do that.  Just in case you are wondering..... the cancer is what eats away at the bone.  I will leave you with a little bit of good news.  My oncologist told my ortho surgeon that I have unlimited life potential.  Isn't that awesome?!  I attribute a lot of that to my awesome oncology family. I have already outlived the average life expectancy of this cancer, and they are expecting me to live a lot longer.  So what's a few rebuilt body parts as long as I am here enjoying life to the fullest.  

Sashimi Restaurant Video

Well, I've finished another video.  I may not be getting any new stories done, but I imagine my YouTubers are stunned to see so many new videos.  This video takes place at Sashimi's, the new Japanese restaurant in town.

Same Bullshit, Different Year (Photostory)

It's been awhile since we've seen Lisa and Charles together.  Well, I now know why.  Apparently, they are having serious marital issues.  Lisa has been trying to keep it hush, hush, hoping they would work it all out before their friends found out.  But it's only gotten worse.  Lisa recently asked Charles to pack a bag and leave the house.  Lisa felt this was best.  It was too stressful having him in the house and she could tell all the tension was affecting the kids. 

So what did Cassanova Charles do?  Old habits die hard, and Charles can't seem to stay away from the ladies.  If you recall, he was a big time player for a large part of their relationship, before they were married.  He didn't really settle down until after the children came along.  I guess he's gotten restless again.  He was staying out later than usual and lying about his whereabouts.  Lisa, being hip to his game and getting very suspicious, started looking for the tell tall signs that he was straying.  Didn't take her long to find evidence to support her fears.

Here they are leaving church.  This is one activity they still do as a family.  You know what they say, "The family that prays together, stays together"?  

It's going to take a lot of praying and possibly some therapy, to get Lisa back.....AGAIN.

Charles drops Lisa and the kids back at her place.  He hints around to maybe them having dinner together.  Lisa shoots him down.  She would rather hang out with one of her girlfriends.  She calls Leslie and they decide to take the kids to McD's.  

Lisa gets herself and the kids out of their Sunday clothes, rests for about an hour, then heads out to meet Leslie.  She arrives first and settles into one of the back booths..

Not too much longer and Leslie saunters in with Ciana and Joseph.  She spots Lisa sitting in the back.

"You okay?  Looks like you've been crying".  Leslie inquires before taking a seat across from Lisa.  

"I've had better days, and I just need to vent!"  Lisa can feel the anger towards Charles welling up, and now she's questioning whether meeting at a McDonald's with the kids, was the best decision.  She really didn't have plans to discuss her problems, but the minute she opens her mouth, she knows there's no turning back now.                                                                    

Leslie is confused.  Did she miss the memo that Lisa was having problems?  "Take a deep breath.  Let me go get all the kids something to eat, to keep them entertained, then we'll talk.  Are you going to be okay for a few minutes?"  Lisa nods while wiping her eyes with a nearby napkin.

Leslie returns pretty quickly with food for everyone.  Lisa has calmed down a bit.  "So now tell me what has you so upset?"  Lisa takes a deep breath, exhales a couple of times, then very slowly starts talking about the nightmare she's been living the last three months.  Leslie sits there the whole time with her mouth open.  She's never personally dealt with a cheating husband, but she's heard her fair share of stories.  She's never sure really what to say.  "Why didn't you tell us?  You shouldn't have to go through this alone.  Do you know what you're going to do?"  All of a sudden Leslie has a million questions.  Are you going to legally separate?  Is divorce likely?  Are you guys going to counseling?  And the list goes on and on.  By the end of the conversation Lisa's head is spinning and she remembers why she had kept all this to herself.  She wasn't ready to answer the hard questions.  It was so much easier to stay in pretend mode, and pretend that none of this craziness had ever happened.  Before they leave the restaurant, Lisa asks that Leslie not share any of this with the other girls.  She needs a little more time to figure out what she's going to do.

P.S.  All of these are recycled pictures.

Quick Update

Hello guys!  I haven't posted in a little while and that's because I've been in the hospital since Friday.  I'm happy to report I am doing much better now.  A CT scan picked up a fracture in my left leg, so instead of starting radiation like I had planned, I had to have emergency surgery on my left leg.  They had to insert a metal rod to fix the fracture and give the leg more stability.  There is a good chance I am leaving today to go home.  If not today, definitely tomorrow.  I will be back to blog posting dolly stuff in the next couple of days.

Miss you guys!

New Video - Angelica's Day

I just uploaded a new video of Angelica's day.  This video is a little different than the others.  I've added a few special effects.  I hope they don't slow down the video transmission.  If you find it really slow, let me know.

Catching up with Danielle

Below is a current story with recycled pictures.  The pictures don't quite fit the words, but I always enjoy stories better when there are pictures.  I wanted to continue with the stories and this was the best way since I can't take pictures right now.  This story will give you an idea of where we are going with future stories.

It's 6am, Friday morning.  Danielle and Rod are still sleeping.  Throughout the night they've shifted positions and Rod is currently spooning Danielle.  They don't care what position they end up in, as long as they are touching throughout the night.  They are so lucky.  Almost two years into the marriage and they are just as happy as before.  Don't get me wrong.  They still have their challenges, and yes Melanie is still a thorn in their relationship.  But all in all, they are doing well.

Danielle stirs before the alarm sounds.  This is pretty typical.  She hates the blaring sound of the alarm, so she has trained herself to wake up on her own terms.  She looks at the clock. Ten more minutes until the alarm goes off.  She looks over at her handsome husband.  She wants to give him a good morning kiss, but she knows that will probably lead down a road she'd rather not travel, this morning.  Morning activity makes her want to sleep in, so she reserves that for the weekend.  She has a lot to do today and no time to waste.

She slides out of bed, grabs her notebook, peeks in on the boys, and heads to the kitchen to make some tea.  She's recently been contemplating starting a new program in Morristown, called, Prevention is Key.  You know Danielle.  She's not happy unless she is doing something beneficial for the community.  With all the recent talk about health care, and the rise of diseases like cancer and heart disease, she wants to do her part to keep her friends healthy.

With a fresh cup of brewed tea, Danielle plops down in a seat at the table and begins to brainstorm in her notebook.

"Good morning, love.  What are you doing?"  Thirty minutes have passed and Rod has entered the kitchen.  He makes a beeline to Danielle and plants a soft kiss on her lips. "What are you working on?"  Rod asks as he peers across the table.  "Here, take a look.  Do you want some coffee?"  Danielle slides her notebook in Rod's direction and he takes a seat at the table.  "Sure."  Rod responds as he looks over Danielle's list.  "What exactly am  I looking at?"  

Danielle brings Rod's coffee to the table, and gives him a little more detail about her plan for the community.  "Now all I have to do is call some of my girls and ask them to help me." "What?  You aren't going to try to do it all yourself this time?"  Danielle shoots Rod a dirty look.  She doesn't appreciate his sarcasm.  Over the past two years, Danielle's tendency to take on too many projects touched a nerve with her new husband.  He has already dealt with one marriage that featured an absentee wife.  He was not looking forward to having another one.  Old habits die hard, and it was tough for Danielle to balance her new life with her old one. She has been doing a much better job lately.

"Relax honey.  I was just kidding.  Do you want me to get the boys, or fix breakfast?"  Rod knows that look and he tries to recover quickly.  "I'll go get the boys.  I'll leave breakfast up to you."  Danielle starts to leave the kitchen. 

 "Oh no you don't.  I can't have you walking out of here with a frown."  Rod states as he grabs Danielle by the hand and pulls her in for a hug.  Danielle smiles and allows her husband to draw her in for a kiss.  It's hard for her to stay mad at him.  She heads upstairs to get the boys ready for school and daycare.

"Mommy,  I need some socks."  "I know Julian.  I'm looking for some right now.  I swear I have to buy new socks every week.  I don't know how we keep losing them."  Danielle shuffles through the drawers.  No luck finding socks, so she gets Jacob dressed.  She's hoping the socks are in the dryer downstairs.

Finally everyone is fed and properly dressed.  Danielle scoots out the door with Jacob and Julian in tow.  She's anxious to get to work.  She'll call a couple of the girls at lunchtime to enlist their help on her new project.  

Real Life Drama (Not a photostory)

Today I am substituting a real life story in the place of one of my photostories.  I wish I had pictures to show, but I forgot to take them along the way.

Remember I said the pain in my leg was getting worse?  Monday I called my doctor and reported I had swelling in my leg and foot.  She asked me to come in on Tuesday so they could rule out blood clots.  Tuesday morning, I woke up about 4am and tried to make sure I could get out the house, and head to the doctor by 10am.  I popped pain pills every couple of hours to ensure I could walk.  By 9am it was clear the pain was still too great.  I canceled my appointment and told the doctor I would try again in a couple of days, thinking that a couple days of rest would help.

Later that day, I was worried.  What if it was blood clots?  Blood clots ain't nothing to play with.  So I decided I would get up Wednesday morning, and go to the emergency room.  Wednesday morning, I got dressed and called for an ambulance.  Pretty soon there were four firemen and two paramedics in my bedroom.  DANG! Are all firemen good-looking?  They were oh so fine.  I was in excruciating pain, but I was still enjoying the eye candy.  They were trying to get me into a rolling chair, I was in so much pain, it was taking a little while.  I turned to one of the 6' 3" fireman and asked, "Shouldn't you be throwing me over your shoulder and taking me out of here?"  He laughed and said he could do that, but it would be very painful.  I finally got into the chair.  They strapped me in and said, "whatever you do, don't reach out."  Didn't make sense to me.  Why would I reach out?  Well after they rolled me down the first stair, I screamed out in pain......and reached my arms out to grab the wall.  Oh is that what he meant.  LOL!  The fireman in front of me, who was lifting the chair from the front, was soooo cute!  He wasn't quite Shemar Moore cute, but he was close.  I was super happy that I had gotten dolled up for the trip.  We finally made it down the outside set of stairs with more screaming from me.  Now I had to get from the chair to the stretcher.  More screaming.  Finally we made it to the back of the ambulance and we were on our way.

Shemar Moore

Has anyone ever ridden in the back of an ambulance?  That was my first time.  What a bumpy ride!  I almost fell off the stretcher a few times.  We weren't even going fast.  We arrived to the hospital and had to wait 10 mins for a room.  It was interesting to see the interaction between the paramedics and the ER staff.  All I could think about was the old tv show called Emergency.

You know that little trick they do to get the person into the bed...sliding the sheet from the stretcher to the bed.... it was quite painful and there was more screaming from me.  Once I got into bed, a 31 yr old, blonde, and yes, handsome male nurse entered to take all my information.  His name was Brian.  I swear he could have been a Ken doll.  One that I would have been proud to add to my collection.  He was funny, and he had a great bedside manner.  Next in was the doctor.  Let's just say I was less than impressed.  He came in with an attitude like, I'm not sure why you are here, and I'm not sure what I can do for you.  He barely touched my leg and said, "I'm 90% sure you do not have blood clots.  So what would you like for us to do for you."  I explained that my oncologist wanted to have an ultrasound done to make sure I didn't have a blood clot.  "Okay, I can order an ultrasound and call your doctor afterwards."  Then he left.  My mom and I watched tv for over an hour before the ultrasound lady showed up.  She came in, and proceeded to dig the ultrasound probe into the leg with the excruciating pain.  I was very close to slapping her as I was wincing in pain.  Instead, I threw her hand and the probe, away from my leg and explained that she was not going to do that because of my pain.  She said, "oh they didn't give you something for the pain?"  Noooo.  So she went to get the doctor.  He came in, again with attitude, all but questioning if the pain was as great as I was saying.  I must have given him a crazy look because he said, I'll just order a pain shot.  Within three minutes of getting the shot, my pain was under control.  Why he didn't give me something for the pain earlier is beyond me.  Did he really think I would arrive in an ambulance if I wasn't in pain.  

Fifteen minutes after the ultrasound, the doctor came in the room, very apologetically.  Turns out I do have blood clots.  So much for his 90% sure that I didn't.  He even went so far as to say, he would have missed that one for sure.  So thank goodness, my oncologist had requested the ultrasound.  Apparently, this ER doctor wouldn't have gone that route.  He was a different doctor after that.  

TO BE CONTINUED..... 

The Bike That Started It

Yesterday, I posted some of the Gloria playsets I purchased.  I had considered purchasing the Gloria bike. Why?  Because of the cute baby seat on the back.  But they wanted $14.99 for the bike and $10 for shipping.  Oh heck no!  That baby seat isn't that cute.  So I searched for other bikes that could be used in it's place.

Here is the Gloria bike set.  The one I didn't buy.

I found this one and figured I could remove the picnic basket and stick a baby seat on the back.

I found this one, too, and figured we would have two moms biking together.

Then I saw this one.  LOL!  So I figured I would do a family biking story.  

Remember this bike?  I bought it over a year ago at one of the doll shows.  I still haven't figured out which couple would be cute riding this.  I have about four more bikes that may be part of the story as well.  I then remembered Marta,  telling me about a little doll named Evi who had a little bike.  I looked her up in Amazon and found what I was looking for.

And here she is!  This doll and bike was a little over $8 with free shipping.  Unfortunately, you don't get to pick the one you want.  It is randomly selected for you.  The one I received is very similar to the one shown in the box.  CAUTION:  That cute little water bottle does not come with the set anymore.  It's still worth the $8, because the bike is well made, and it comes with the cutest little training wheels.  Another good thing is the doll has articulated legs.  So she would be a great body donor.  Sorry for over using the word, 'cute', but what else can I say about this set.

So now I am ready to do a couple bike stories.  Sometimes I feel I go a little overboard once I get an idea in my head.  Did I really need more bikes?  Do you have any suggestions for who you would like to see in my bike stories?

My Latest Gloria Purchases

The question I get asked the most is, "Where do you get all of that stuff?"  I am still having trouble getting around to do doll stories, but I have had no problem shopping on-line this past month.  I finally broke down and bought 10 of the Gloria sets.  They arrived weeks ago, and they are still sitting unopened in the box they were shipped in.  I thought I would share pictures of a few of them.  They will all be painted before I use them.

The good thing about this dining set is all the dishes, cutlery, and drinking glasses it comes with.

This is what the infamous Gloria bar looks like prior to painting.   This bar (without the glass holder) can be used for check in counters at hotels, daycares, airports, etc.

This is my first time buying this little kitchen.  It's the perfect size for a studio or loft apartment.

This dining set is fairly new to the line.  I think the style of the set, especially the chairs, would make a perfect patio set.  I can just imagine it at a beach house.  That green color would compliment the water. 

You can never have too many bedroom sets with all the houses I have.

I bought this set to use in some of my Barbie houses.  The smaller size I think works well in the undersized houses.  It's also a great set for some of the older residents in town.  I can also see this set in the lobby of an older hotel chain, like Days Inn.  Oooh, it would also work in a nice cabin.  Those lamps and tables will work in more modern settings, too.  

This is the fast food restaurant set.  On the left, behind the table, is the cutest little trash can with a swinging door.  This would work well in a school cafeteria.

The Tea for Two set is small, but has many uses.  I wanted this cute tea cart.  It will be nice for hotel room service.  I didn't notice how nice that table will be for a living room.  I also never noticed that little plant until now.

I  love how different this bathroom is.  This will be nice in a hotel setting, too.  That's the most likely place you will see a flat screen in the bathroom.

I bought all of these sets from FortuneToys on ebay.  There are others that sell Gloria playsets.  Most of them will have shipping specials when you buy a certain number of sets.  Hope you enjoyed seeing my sets, and hearing some of my ideas.

Leg Update:  I'm a little irritated with my leg.  It was getting better and I was moving around a lot more with the crutches.  Now it seems like the leg is getting worse and there are days now when I can't move it at all.  That's why I haven't been able to do a story in a little while.  I've decided to get radiation, which should put me back on my feet, and off the crutches.  Next Monday I go for consultation, and I will opt to have them start as soon as possible.  Oddly enough, my arm is now functioning at 90%.  Yippee!  I can't wait to get back to my dolls and doing stories.