HighFiber: Fisher Price My Friend

Showing posts with label Fisher Price My Friend. Show all posts

Monday, December 6, 2021

Unfinished Business

When I looked at my photos, which is how I usually figure out what I've done during the week, it looked as if I didn't do anything to take photos of. Then I decided to make a list of the things I did this week, and then I took a couple of appropriate photos. Here's my list:

1.) Wrote the holiday letter. (It's too long and needs editing.)

2.) Finally got around to cleaning the Fisher-Price Jenny doll with baking soda and then putting her through the laundry, followed up by a conditioning rinse for her hair. (See photo below.)

3.) I polished up Friday's story, then wrote three more, which will take us through most of December and took all the photos for the Christmas Eve story.

4.) Tidied the workroom and organized the yarn so it would all fit back in the Billy cabinets. Also consolidated the books to get rid of one box and went through most of our daughter's stuff she didn't want, to see if it would be worth donating.

5.) Supervised Rocky's coming and going, and gave him his medications and eye drops. Also too him to the doggie ophthalmologist, who was encouraged by his progress. Continue the drops and take him back in six months if he's still with us.

6.) Took Dusty to get his haircut.

7.) Two trips to the post office to mail books.

8.) Laundry (with Jenny in one load).

9.) Cooked meals, baked bread, etc..

10.) Cleaned one ~~bathroom~~ shower stall.

11.) A few rows of knitting (Jackson's sweater).

12.) Ordered a few Christmas presents.

13.) Choir practice. (We had a lot this week. It's "Lessons and Carols" for the second Sunday in Lent.)

14.) A couple of walks with the dogs.

15.) Sang all that stuff at Church.

So here's Jenny after cleaning:

Here's Jackson's sweater. Almost ready to divide for the sleeves.

This is the "after" photo for the cleaning of the workroom.

Here's a screen shot of our performance. First, our wonderful instrumentalists:

Then the choir. How did we get to be so many? (I think it has to do with our director.)

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Bright Lights sweater for Jackson.

What's on my loom: No progress.

What's on my sewing machine: Its cover. I had hoped to piece the quilt this week, but just couldn't manage it.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt, no progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Charlotte and Emil, and The Festival of Lights. Emil got to light the candles all week. He explains the origin story of Hanukkah on the first night and deals with Pippa's unintentional upstaging.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to State of Terror, a novel, by Louise Perry and Hillary Rodham Clinton on the Audible app. Fascinating so far.

What's in my wine glass: Madroña Vineyars's Lake Tahoe Zinfandel, 2016. It was a bad year for us, in some ways, but a good year for this wine.

What's my tip of the week: Unsalted butter works well to replace shortening..

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less.

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.

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Monday, September 27, 2021

Plodding Along

The projects are all coming along, although sometimes it's a struggle.

First, the whole-cloth quilt: This is the third corner, and it's almost done. The fourth corner is also almost done. There is still the last strip of cross-hatching between the third and fourth corners to do, but it's a short side. Then on to the borders.

The rugs are going much faster! For the third rug, I decided not to end each fabric selection at the edges. Instead, I'm switching fabrics wherever that strip runs out. It gives it a slightly different look, but the stripes in the warp threads still keep the plaid design.

I've been using cardboard strips between the rugs, so I'll have plenty of fringe and don't have to take out extra weft threads.

The Taina Shawlette doesn't look much different, although it has grown quite a bit.

My sheep collection got a new addition this week. this little Ram came from Mercy Corps. It was made by an artisan named Butina in Kyrgyzkstan. Monthly donors to this organization received these. He's tiny, but cute.

The St. Jude Walk/Run took place on Saturday. I'm participating virtually. I have until the end of the month to reach my goal of $500, which may turn out to have been overly ambitious. If you would like to donate, you can do so here. They sent me this nice wristband, and I have reached a level that will get me a T-shirt. St. Jude is a great organization. Patients at St. Jude never have to pay for treatment, travel, housing or food. All families have to worry about is getting their child well.

We have been using a retractible leash for Dusty. It turns out that it's a good way to keep him from jumping all over the place when he knows he's going for a walk. (He sort of gets excited.) the retractile leash's handle chased Dusty down the hall the first time, so now it's like an anchor. Once it's on, he just watches it and doesn't move. (He still trembles with excitement, however.)

While walking for St. Jude, we're also walking for Walk for a Dog, because both apps will run at the same time.

One thing that kept me busy early in the week was the remake of the cover for the new book. I had to pay for a month of InDesign, which I only used for a few hours. It isn't very easy to use, but it's what I have to do. However, I managed to get it finished. Here's the front. I think it will be better with the darker green background and a photo with more going on.

Here's the back. Since I had to redo the front, I decided to change the group photo on the back to include Pippa, and then I had to change the text to go with the photo. All that's missing is the bar code, which I'll add when I'm sure we're ready to print copies. I'm waiting for my proof copy now.

I also ran our daughter's Fisher Price My Friend Becky doll through the laundry (in a lingerie bag) and then treated her hair with conditioner. The hair was very matted, and she was fairly dirty, but this is definitely an improvement.

One more to go!

For some cuteness, Rocky....

...and Dusty....

We got the news on Wednesday that we will qualify for a Pfizer booster shot. We just need to figure out who can give it to us.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Taina Shawlette.

What's on my loom: Still the trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Its cover.

What's in my hoop: Still the whole cloth quilt.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Questions about petrified wood bring the Kidz outdoors to look at and discuss tree rings in Petrified, this week's story in #TheDollsStorybook.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app. Just starting Wildwood, by Ellis Carson, which is the book behind LAIKA's next film.

What's in my wine glass: Domaine Bisconte 2018. Lovely.

What's my tip of the week: Cheerios make great dog treats. I learned this when I was active in Therapy Animals of Utah. If you need to give your dog a lot of treats, very tiny ones work great.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from booksellers worldwide. If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment, and that's 50% of the price when you buy there. Other bookseller take a much bigger cut. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

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Monday, September 13, 2021

Fixing Mistakes

First an update on the Taina Shawlette:

You may remember this from last week:

I got that far, then turned the page and discovered that I had misunderstood the directions. Then I went and looked at some of the photos of other people's versions of this project and realized what I had done wrong, so I frogged 84 rows. I'm not back to the row number I was on when I found my mistake, but now I understand the instructions. (As I always say, I'm getting to have that fun all over again!)

The second trailer rug is more than halfway done. I put cardboard strips between the two rugs, so with some luck, the borders won't draw in so much. I really need to get a temple.

Bye-bye's eyes arrived, and I sewed them in place. He tells me the world looks very different from 1975, when he lost his eyes. He's a Steiff bear, and these eyes are very close to what he had when he was new.

I cleaned another one of the Fisher Price My Friend dolls. This is Mikey. He was the cleanest of the four dolls, so he was easy to clean up. I used baking soda on a damp washcloth rubbed on his vinyl. Then he went into a lingerie bag and ran through the washer with a load of clothes.

Two more to go!

The proof copy of Emil came. After seeing it printed, I'm thinking of changing the cover. It looks a little plain, when compared with Mariah. I think it's because there's nothing in the background of the photo.

I'm thinking of using this photo of Emil.

I was also disappointed in some of the photos on the inside pages, which came out darker than I expected. I don't know if this is something they can fix when they print the copies or if I need to increase the exposure on the original photos. The printed photo on the left is the same as the photo on my laptop screen, to the right.

I also discovered that I had accidentally used the wrong font type and size on the credits at the beginning of the book, and one of my chapter titles was a bigger size than I had used elsewhere, including the first book. It will be a lot of work to fix it, but I know I will be happier. I'm really glad I got the proof copy.

Our air quality has been very bad because of the forest fires in our state, but it rained late in the week and Saturday our AQI began to fall.

We were able to go for a walk on Saturday, our first walk in 10 days!

We started out with Rocky in the stroller, but he clearly wanted to get out, and he ended up walking more than half of the way. He has been getting around much better, and he has been off the pain and anti-inflammatory medications for nearly two weeks.

I'm not letting him go out at night without a flashlight and a leash (and someone at the end of the leash), so maybe he won't get injured again.

We finally got a set of matching kitchen chairs. We had two chairs at the table, and they didn't match. These chairs actually fold up, but we think they look nice enough for regular kitchen chairs. Now we won't have to "borrow" chairs from the dining room so more than two can sit in the kitchen.

The choir has been meeting for practice, socially distanced, masked and all vaccinated. Yesterday we sang in person. It's a lot more fun than recording an individual video for someone to put together.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Taina Shawlette.

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Mending.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A little more progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app.

What's in my wine glass: Red Diamond Mysterious, 2016, from Washington State. Another wine with a black label with red trim that I love.

What's my tip of the week: Mask wearing fog up your glasses? A tiny drop of baby shampoo on the inside of the lenses, rubbed around and then wiped off, will help you see clearly.

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Monday, September 6, 2021

Back to Normal?

We couldn't walk on Monday because of the air quality, but we had a pleasant last day with our daughter before she left to go home on Tuesday. While she and her younger brother were here, we had them go through some boxes of their stuff. One item that came out of a box was this Steiff bear from circa 1975 belonging to our daughter.

His name is Bye-bye, and new, he was like this one, only a couple of inches larger. He "growls" when you tip him, but the growl is very short now. Unfortunately, Bye-bye has been blind for many years. Our older son decided to remove the eyes when Bye-bye was young. I've ordered these new eyes, and I hope they will work. I hope to have them installed in time for next week's blog post.

Also in the boxes were her Madame Alexander "Pumpkin," a life-size doll that was as big as she was when she received it, and her Fisher Price "My Friend" dolls. They are all dirty and need restoration. I'm giving it a try. I started with Mandy. I put her in a lingerie bag and added her to a load of laundry, cold water, and set on "delicate," not that she's really delicate. When she came out, I worked some conditioner into her hair. While that sat in her hair for a while, I gave her a nice rubdown with a damp washcloth dipped in baking soda. I think she's good enough, although I might try to get her body suit a bit cleaner.

She is looking forward to playing with the grands when they come for Christmas. (Fingers crossed!)

I've made progress on the trailer rugs. The first one is almost finished.

I've also made some progress on the Taina Shawl. The "Sea Slug Pink" is growing on me.

I put in some time working on the whole cloth quilt and hope to get more done this week.

Rocky spent his birthday on Tuesday with a walk, some special treats and a new toy. We were not able to get him groomed in time for his birthday, because we postponed his grooming appointment so we could divide it up into two sessions. Thursday was the first "half," the shampoo and brushing out. He seemed tired when we picked him up, but not so exhausted as he was after his last grooming, which was all done one one day, along with Dusty's, which meant he had to spend the entire afternoon there. Dusty had his grooming appointment at the originally scheduled time on August 20th, while Rocky grew an extra serving of shagginess. Here's what he looked like when we brought him home on Thursday.

Friday, he went back for the clip. He seems happy to be rid of all the extra hair, and he seems to be able to see better. I think we probably need to trim the hair from his eyes when it starts to get long again. He isn't totally blind, but the extra hair in his eyes must have hampered him enough that he was bumping into things. He seems to know where he's going now. He's off the pain and anti-inflammatory medications entirely now and doing well for a 17-year-old dog. We treasure every day we have with him. This is his birthday photo, three days late.

I ordered two of this peg rack and put them up on the wall in the fiber studio, end-to-end. This will keep the big Kidz out of the way, when I need the space. The pegs are just under 3" apart, and there are seven pegs on each of the racks. Where the racks come together in the center, the last peg of one and the first peg of the second one are just under 4" apart (so Jolena, in the middle, is a bit lower on the rack. I put them up high, so there should be minimal dust. The racks are white.

I bought a third rack to go in our hall for the children's jackets, although we're already using it now. Buying three racks enabled me to have free shipping, so the third one was almost free. We picked out the wood, rather than the white, for the hallway. While the kids were here, we had Johan (the shortest grandchild) show us how high he could reach to put his coat away. This should help minimize the clutter in the entryway when everyone is here for Christmas.

The proof copy of Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is on its way to me. That means that in a short time, the second book in the series will be available from booksellers.

I'm hoping it won't need any further work, but the proof copy will let us know.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Taina by Eevi Kesäkuu.

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: Winter clothes repair.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A little more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Working Without Pay. The Kidz discuss why dolls and dogs are not slaves, even though they don't get paid for what they do and can be bought and sold.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished to His Lordship's Pleasure by Marion Chesney on the Chirp app. Just started The Deserter by Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille on the Audible app.

What's in my wine glass: Red Blend Portugal by Casa Santos Lima. One of our favorites, and with a pretty label.

What's my tip of the week: Marks can be removed from vinyl doll skin using 10% benzoyl peroxide (acne cream). You can smear it on where "permanent" marker has been used, cover with plastic wrap and leave overnight, all week or for a month, if needed. It can be reapplied until you're satisfied with the doll's skin. It's good to test on a small area (like the bottom of a foot) to be sure you like the effect. Find out more here or here.

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