Life Goes On

It has been two weeks since my last regular blog post. Here's a summary of my activities:

We came across this audiobook while getting things ready for our garage sale. I think it says it all!

On Saturday, we held our first garage/moving sale in preparation for our move.

For once, the weather was our friend (in spite of the threats by the weatherman to the contrary). We had a lovely day to haul a bunch of stuff out of our dining room, sit with it for four hours and then haul most of it into the garage. We did sell a few items, so it was worthwhile, and several people who had asked us to save big pieces based on photos came to pick up their items. And now the stuff is in the garage.

The Hoosier Cabinet went to the lady who sits in front of us at the opera. (She's a fiber person, and we always have something to chat about during intermissions.) I had showed her some of the photos we posted on Facebook, and she asked me to send her the one of the Hoosier along with the dimensions. After measuring where she wanted to put it, she said she would take it. She and her husband came to pick it up during our garage sale.

The roll-top desk went to a fly fisherman, also on the basis of the photo. After he said he would take it, he added, "I'm so excited!" We had the following exchange on Facebook Messenger. I thought you would get a kick out of it.

He turned out to be just as funny in person.

The coffee table, rolling butcher block, gas grill, some antique books and other antiques have all moved on to new lives with other families or vendors. Still a few items to sell or dispose of, and we'll be ready to move. I figured out that when we sell something we actually get paid twice. Not only do we have money we didn't have before, but we're saving money by not having to move the stuff.

Then our daughter and our younger daughter-in-law each saw something she wanted in the photos, so my old autoharp is going to Wisconsin for a new life in music, and DH's clock is going to be a DIL/FIL joint project in Oregon after we get moved.

Rocky, on the right, who is 13 1/2, had his annual checkup on Wednesday. Everything was good, except his blood pressure was a little up still (like his aging human parents), so he has had blood-pressure medication added to take with his thyroid pill.

He's in excellent health, otherwise. He had his first EKG, and it was outstanding. His thyroid was perfect on the current dose of medication. His teeth are beautiful. He's getting a little hard of hearing, but otherwise in good shape. So Rocky, DH and I have the medications and hearing issues of old age, but 2-year-old Dusty is the one turning grey.

There have been changes to the family, though. I had planned to buy a new doll after we got moved: Götz Lena in Aspen, who looks like my older niece when she was a child. (I have two nieces, and Mandy looks like the younger one when she was little.) I worried that this doll would be gone by the time we moved, as she is a limited edition. Maxine at My Doll Best Friend promised to hold her for me until I was ready, but DH said, why wait? Who knows when we will have a mailing address again, and what's one little doll to add to the stuff we have to move or take with us? So I ordered her on Friday, May 18th. (If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I have been holding the line on new purchases before our move, so this was a major transgression.)

Lena was due to arrive on May 23, my late MIL's birthday and coincidentally, also the birthday of my older DIL, the one who is a quilter.

The girls always arrive on their birthdays (funny how that happens), so it would be nice to have one with a birthday I can remember without looking it up.

My sewing machine is on its way to Bend, so I had them tuck in a cute little white blouse. She would need shoes (you can't wear ski boots in the house), so I also ordered some sandals and some slip-on canvas shoes. Those items and her ski equipment (skis, poles, helmet and goggles) were all she brought with her.

The girls always get excited about a new arrival. They tried to pass the time by trying on some of my clothes, like this pair of socks.

Lotte checked out the bookcase to see if there might be any books there she was strong enough to open and read. It was a lot of exercise for her.

While thinking about names for Lena, I lost my dear friend Joanie (see last week's blog post), so I decided to name the new doll after her by putting "Jo" in front of her name, so she is Jolena. Joanie would have thought it was a hoot to have my new doll named after her. She enjoyed knitting animals, but she got a real kick out of my girls when first Mandy and then Vroni joined me for visits to her. Vroni sat on the coffee table, staring adoringly at Joanie during the visit where she accompanied me.

According to tracking, Jolena landed in Cincinnati, then flew to Miami on May 22nd. I thought that was strange, but she was still due to arrive May 23 by the end of the day. Maybe she talked them into letting her spend her day of waiting at the beach, but she hardly was dressed for it. That night, she stopped in Nashville on her way back to Cincinnati. Quite a side trip! However, when I got up on the 23rd, she had arrived in Salt Lake City and was purported to be "with courier." She showed up just as I was getting ready to leave to take Rocky for his checkup, so I brought the box in and left it unopened until I got back. (Insert dirty looks from the other three girls.)

It's easy to open the box (or, as the girls say, their coffin), but the real challenge is releasing them from the restraints. We had to get a group photo before Lena took off her ski clothes. It's nice she came with a long-sleeved T-shirt and tights under her ski outfit.

Because she didn't have much else to wear (the aforementioned white blouse and a pink short-sleeved T-shirt from another vendor, which I had reserved for her, was all she had to change into), the other girls loaned her some things. I gave her two braids in front, like the girls who participate in alpine events competitively. She tells me she is an aerialist, but she wants to take up ski jumping and slopestyle, too. (I may have trouble getting her skis away from her. My plan was to send them to Daphne.)

Lena says cooking is her superpower. She helped me make banana waffles in the morning. I made her tie her hair back, so she wouldn't get it in the food. (Don't worry; her shoes haven't touched the floor yet.)

While we were cooking, I learned a lot about Lena. She let me know wanted her middle name to be Marie, so she is Jolena Marie. This is because there is a doll where she came from who looks just like her but doesn't ski, and her name is Marie. Jolena wanted to add Marie's name to hers, so she would always have something to remember her friend. I found Marie on the website of the online store Lena came from, so she could see her friend.

I related this little story on the Facebook group "Gotz Dolls Fanclub," and someone told me she had Marie and had set it up so they could "talk" on Facebook.

Poor Lena has been somewhat neglected during her first few days with us, because I've been busy packing, cleaning, working the garage sale and dealing with the pups, who are much more demanding than dolls. (Our next house has a dog door, or we don't buy it!) I hope to make her a new version of the Russian Dress.* It will be fun to see Lena in a dress.

In the meantime, Saturday night supper was reheated leftovers, so I didn't have to cook. I told the girls, "The first one who blinks does the dishes." This is what I got:

(If you don't think this is funny, you should know that they need sleep masks to sleep; their eyes don't close when they lie down...like mine sometimes.)

*I have had to rewrite part of the pattern, because I learned that the designer had given the rights to the pattern to someone else. The balanced skirt was already mine, but the lace bodice was copied, so the new one will have my skirt and a different lace bodice. 

What's on my needles: Still the Coastal Skies, on hold while I work on the Cabbagetown Jacket for Matti. On the first sleeve, so I will be done soon and can make arrangements to hand him over for the silent auction.

What's on my Featherweight: On its way to Bend.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress this week.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is still in hibernation, but I plan to set her up downstairs in the former loom area, so it looks cozy. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz. I haven’t had much time to listen this week, but Koontz is one of my favorite authors.

What's in my wine glass: Amberhill Special Blend, 2010. One I discovered on a trip to Colorado. Very nice.

What's my tip of the week: If you have a recipe that calls for thickening with cornstarch or flour, you can use psyllium instead. It works just as well, is a healthier alternative and adds soluble fiber, which is good for the digestion and for your heart. I have heard that you can use chia seeds, too, but I haven't tried that yet.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.