Doll lists

I love to make lists.

For example, in no particular order, I’d like to make a doll

in a cage or box
wearing a paper dress
representing myself
with handmade flocking
depicting my sister’s inner child
dressed in real fur
in an active pose
with a pet
with teeth
in painted muslin
with appliqué
with wings
in a hat

I like my dolls to have

big noses
watery blue eyes
fancy shoes
lacy underpants
pale skin
odd hairstyles

And that’s the way I make my lists. My way of ordering the world into my own custom categories.

I’ll keep you posted.

Work in progress: She is in love with the moon and intends to marry him.

Creating in 2008

Okay. I spent days mulling over my goals for 2008 and distilling them down to their essence. Easy to remember and not too heavy to carry with me. These goals are simple, but for me they are BIG. They apply to my entire life.

1. Enjoy the moment(s).
2. See the positive.

See what I mean? These two goals will color the whole year for me. And you can see that they are really about being grateful for what I have and appreciating what I get. I think that will be the path to happiness for me.

I will use my blog to practice these two approaches until they become unshakable habits. Since I started my purely positive blog, I have already noticed myself digging into life and looking for that positive spark in a negative occurrence. I’m pleased with that. If you read a negative thought here in 2008, point it out to me and I’ll send you a free gift. I don’t mean the facts of my life as I choose to reveal them here—of course they might seem negative—but I am talking about my approach to those occurrences. My attitude. That’s all I can really control anyway, isn’t it?

I’m on my way over to Tami’s place at Lemon Tree Tales to sign up for her new habits contest. All you have to do is post your goals in her comments section and she’ll put you in her drawing for a box of free goodies. The deadline is midnight tonight PST.

Tami says her motto for this year is “Create in 2008.” That sounds good to me. In addition to my BIG goals, I have smaller intentions for my little misfits. I want to make a doll a month, and I want to learn something from each new project. By the end of the year I hope to have so many solid techniques at my disposal that I can render whatever idea I have in the most appropriate medium. I love learning, and I am grateful to Ayala of I Love to Paint for helping me with several new skills.

I think if three more bloggers use Tami's "Create in 2008," it will constitute a movement. How about a banner, Tami?

I’ll keep you posted.


Ellen Thierry saying goodbye to Annabella Flatts in progress.

Mrs. Blathersby's Orphanage (MRSBO)

I am one of the social workers at Mrs. Blathersby's Orphanage for the Unattractive & Mentally Unsound, a group of dollmakers who cater to the unusual. We place our strange little orphans for adoption on eBay. I am so happy to belong to this group, because my dolls are odd or a little dark, by design. My poor little misfits don't fit nicely into the groups where people make beautiful little fairies with holes in their wings and well-endowed little pin-up girls. Nothing wrong with that; I just don't do it.

January 31 will be a red-letter day for us. We have a challenge that culminates in listing our work on eBay that day. Melisa of Coppermouse Dolls wrote in her blog that every dollmaker should make at least one Raggedy Ann, and coming from the little town in central Illinois that claims Johnny Gruelle (author and illustrator of the Raggedy Ann and Andy books) as a native, I jumped on that idea. Raggedy Ann is an American phenomenon, and I'm proud to try my hand at a depiction of her. But something is not quite right here...

Mr. Pringle's Society of Feeble Prestidigitators is sponsoring a benefit for the children of the orphanage. Each prestidigitator has attempted to conjure up a doll to be sold for the greater good of life's most unfortunate creatures. But the prestidigitaors are feeble, and there is something very odd about every doll they materialize. I don't want to give away too many details, but you will have your chance to view all of the charity items and bid on them if you like, starting January 31.

I'll keep you posted.

Power shortage

I started my weekend a little early because a transformer blew on campus and our building had no power. That's not unusual—the building is old and wired in the old-fashioned way before microwaves and coffeemakers. In my work area we can't run our printer and percolator (yes, my boss has a percolator!) at the same time. A while back we had to move our microwave to the basement because it kept shutting everyone down. But it's a grand old building, and I love my office, which has a window taller than I am and a nice heavy door to shut when I need to.

They have been blasting on campus every day at 3 p.m. for weeks now. I find it amusing, and it reminds me of the little earth tremors we used to have when I lived in California as a child. You don't want to be taking a restroom break during the 3 o'clock blast—it's like using a train commode. Slosh. Splash.

So, after we wandered around wondering what to do for about an hour, watering plants, washing dishes, and talking about the last time we were without power and how long this time would last, our boss sent us home. It's funny how I used to do my job without even turning my computer on some days. Now if it isn't available I feel disoriented and usually have several flashes of "I'll look that up... oh, I can't do that right now."

Bonus hours in the weekend are a gift. Well, bonus hours any time are, well... a bonus. I didn't want to waste the gift, so I went home and spent it sanding doll limbs. I know why we use the word "spend" when we talk about time—it's like gold coins that were dropped in your lap.

My little goth raggedy for the MRSBO challenge is coming together nicely. I'll have pictures soon.

I'll keep you posted.


Edie Migraineur has headaches. She will be available on eBay in January.

Annette's Secret

My brother suggested that I ask my Australian friend Annette if water goes counterclockwise down the drain Down Under. “I just double checked and it goes down clockwise,” Annette reports. She also reports that her husband Bill has not stopped laughing since we asked. I'm sure we learned that drain thing in elementary school.

Annette told me her secret for housework: the power of ten. Just get up and pick an area and start cleaning. Ten minutes of work, and you've made progress. Repeat often.

Boredom really gets to me, but ten minutes—I can stand to do a lot of things if I think I'm only going to have to do them for ten minutes! With cleaning, the best motivator is seeing progress. I like to work flat out for my required ten minutes, then take time to sit back and admire my work.

If I spend less time keeping house, I’ll have more time to make dolls. Or I could do what I've been doing for the past year: I could just ignore the mess while I play with my little misfits.

I'll keep you posted.

Annabella Flatts, available on eBay this month.

Three Surprises

Last night .2 of an inch of gritty snow fell, and when I woke up this morning, the air was full of what looked like German glass glitter. My thermal underwear are at least a decade old, but they still do an admirable job keeping me frost-free in 17-degree weather. The dogs were not so lucky.

When I got to my office after a long holiday break, the wilted violet I rescued from the WalMart garden center in early December had finally bloomed. I have never seen this sort of flower: white at the edges, shading to pink, with a deep burgundy center. Violets remind me of my grandma, who had a way of making things simple, even growing violets, which some people find difficult. Put them in a south window and water from the bottom.

Later I found a little yellow note attached to the tree outside my office. The handwriting was tall and looked serious. It read, "I hope you find good fortune in 2008." A dollar bill was stuck to the note with a paperclip. Now I will need to find a way to pass on the prosperity. Hmmmm... I will have fun deciding how to do that.

I'll keep you posted.

Ellen Thierry, a very domestic cat, resides in Crossville, Tennessee.

A Perfect First Day

The first day of 2008 was close to perfect for me. I spent much of it in my pajamas being domestic, playing with the dogs, napping, and watching episode after episode of The Twilight Zone with a little Barrett-Jackson auto auction during commercials. Then I put on my jeans and went out to buy paperclay and wire and a hot water bottle. Now I’m drinking hot chocolate and eating a scoop of ice cream on a piece of Weight Watchers chocolate cake and thinking about my future.

I have not been thinking about resolutions, which always seem to me like punishment for past misdeeds and bad decisions. I have been imagining my life the way I want it to be and formulating ways to get there.

I'll keep you posted.

One of the strangest new year cards I've ever seen. Let's hope we all have tater money in 2008.