I’m addicted :)

Linnet’s new stuff!

I bought Linnet some new stuff – before we went on the trip – and they
came this week! She's wearing a new outfit (a black two piece top &
black capri), bracelet/arm band, necklace & eyes.

I
know, I know – you guys are thinking this is the 3rd pair of eyes I've
gotten her and they look the same! Well, basically they are. They're
almost the same color blue as the one here – the only difference is
that these are smaller (14mm instead of 16mm) so you see more of the
whites of her eyes.

Some other stuff I bought her was a pair of
boots that don't fit (so I'm reselling them), a pair of socks, a black
belt & a pair of sunglasses. The bummer thing about the sunglasses
is that both lenses have popped out and I've lost one. I didn't look
really hard for it, but I will tonight, then I'll glue them back in.
When they were fixed – they looked great!

I'm waiting on one
more batch of stuff which includes a new wig (curly & white), a
pair of pale lavender eyes, string hooks (used when restringing dolls)
& a headcap which will protect her face when I'm traveling with her.

I'd
really like to dive into trying to make some miniature furniture for
her or something. For one thing, she needs someplace to sit! I'm not
very good at miniaturizing stuff, I need to take some measurements I
think…

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A dab of this – a dash of that.

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

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Linnet’s new look!

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!

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SHE’S ARRIVED!!!

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?!

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Vote Now!

Okay, everyone is going to hate me Wren is obviously the chosen winner. However! The more and more I looked at the names and looked at my doll I've decided to go against the winner and choose…

*drum roll*
*drum roll*
*drum roll*
*drum roll*
*drum roll*
*drum roll*
*drum roll*
*drum roll*
*drum roll*

Linnet

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Okay, maybe I’ll reconsider UPS

My doll is here, I just have to pick her up from the post office at lunch today! Actually she was here yesterday – and that amazes me.

When I got the email saying she was shipped, the customizer didn't include a time frame. So, I went onto the USPS site and I walked through one of their little forms to find out how long it would take (and cost) to ship her to me. They said that priority mail, fully insured, delivery in two days would cost 2/3 of what I spent on UPS. Its made me reconsider if I want to send my girl up to this woman who is making a custom outfit for me. She's said that it would fit better if she had the doll to fit it to – but that it wasn't required. I'd like this outfit (multiple pieces, and expensive – though worth the work) to fit the best so I'm wondering now.

Anyhow, I'm excited to get her as she's been gone for a little over a month.

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She’s all done!

The customizer has finished with Byeol and she's speeding her way back to me! Here are some pictures that she sent me (warning: doll nudity). I'll be excited to get her back, with her head permanently attached I think then I'll be able to name her as when I say "Byeol" out loud it sounds like… Bile, except a little funny because I do pronounce the 'O'.

Body Blushing

Mani/Pedi

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Hrm, I think I’m putting too much thought into this…

I don't know if I've mentioned this – but I want to bring Byeol with me to Scotland. I've even begun to commission someone to make an outfit for her to wear while she's there! I've been debating about this for awhile because while I really want to take her and photograph her – I'm also wondering A) Will I even have time or the want to be seen internationally photographing an atomically correct doll? and B) Traveling with her is proving to be worrisome. I didn't think much of it until I realized that she's not exactly "small" and she was expensive. I've decided I definitely don't want to check her so I'd have to carry her on. I'm okay with that – as long as I can still take on everything I'd previously decided to carry on (not really sure what all that is yet). I've checked and our airline allows one carry on per person – but I can take a purse as well so I think I'll be just fine.

My next task was finding a bag to carry her in. I wanted something that was going to protect her for harm and also from theft so I didn't want anything to bright and catching of the eye. After looking around at the doll sites I realize I wouldn't be able to take her standing up – because my carry on is restricted to 45cm by 56cm by 25cm and the bags for SD sized dolls are on an average 70cm long. So I found a bag that I think would work really well and it was great as a purse too because it had some pockets, handles & shoulder straps and it was made of a very durable fabric. The price, $61, is a lot – I'll be the first to admit. But what made the bag unattainable to me was the shipping costs: $48. I could practically buy a second bag for that cost!

I haven't lost all hope though. Looking over the bag, sure it was ready for my uses right out of the box (so to speak), however I could reproduce that usefulness in a much less expensive bag very easily. I think that with some velcro straps, buckles & reinforcement to a regular large bag – I'll be saving a lot of money.

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Well, I’ve dug my hole – now I have to stay in it.

I posted earlier about the customizer working on my doll and her delays – and my response. Well I got her response today and it wasn't that great. She seemed angry and now I'm regretting having said anything. I feel that I should have said something because I don't think I was in the wrong, but I know now that it did no good to let her know how I was feeling and now I'm worried she'll do a half-ass job on my doll in retaliation for my honestly with her.

Her response, in a nutshell was: I shouldn't have sent her UPS because UPS didn't leave her a note saying they'd tried to deliver her a package – so it's my fault. She said that her commission thread indicated that the two weeks started from when she had the doll in hand – so technically I had nothing to be disappointed about. She also said that my packaging was rubbish and I should thank my lucky stars the doll arrived in one piece and that she was going to have to send her in something else because she wouldn't want me to blame her for the doll arriving back to me damaged – on account of my shotty package choice.

This upsets me for 3 reasons: 1) I understand her thinking it's stupid for UPS not leaving a note – hell I think thats stupid. But why, oh why, would UPS not leaving a note mean a damn when I notified her when the doll was going to be delivered and I gave her the tracking information? I knew when the doll was delivered – as the person being paid for the job you'd thinks she'd be aware of when the doll was delivered. 2) Her thread neglected to indicate that it was at her discretion as to when she wanted to take responsibility and get the doll in hand. I mean seriously. The doll was delivered on a Tuesday and she didn't bother to get it in hand until the following Monday – and only after I asked about it. 3) I wouldn't blame her for the doll being damaged in packaging – I would blame UPS/USPS – and be glad that I insured her for the full cost. Apparently though, me being honest in the transaction has led her to believe I'm a bitcher and a blamer.

Perhaps I am.

Anyhow, I told her thanks for the packaging tips, thanks for sending her in something else (I also told her to let me know the cost of the new packaging, as I insist on paying for it), and that we've apparently misunderstood each other on the topic of time frame. Hopefully she takes what I'm willing to offer and does the job she's supposed to do – the job she's getting paid for.

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In the end.

In the end, this is how I responded.

I have to be honest when I say I'm a bit disappointed with the time frame. I felt I provided you with all of the necessary shipping information so that you'd be aware of when she'd be delivered, I even chose UPS over USPS so that the tracking would be reliable and up to date. If I'd known that you needed me to inform you of her delivery, believe me I would have been more than happy to do so as I was keeping a close eye on her progress.

I know that you indicated that your workload is heavy, I just hope that your obligation to me will not be delayed any further, as I feel I've been as informative and as helpful of a customer in this transaction as I could have been. Hope to hear from you soon!

I hope that it wasn't too harsh, but at the same time I felt all of that needed to be said. Lets just hope she doesn't do a bad job on my girl – though I think that would be very tacky

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