Christmas at the Gein's

I have revolting leper hands. And, apparently, chip crumbs in my keyboard.

So here's what happened with Project Dummy 2: Electric Boogaloo. I was feeling better by late yesterday, so got Dan to duct tape me. That mess gets HOT, and it's not easy to cut off your bod. We taped up the side seam, started on the foam filling. Got the thing half full ('Hello, Clarice...'), ran out of foam. Had to hang it up to start drying during the walmart run. Now, we're talking about a life sized, very endowed, headless, limbless model of a lady with dowel rods stuck through the legs like a pig on a spit, hanging upside down from the ceiling. Outside. My neighbors have Christmas trees and pretty lights, and I've got... a torso. Oh, dear.

So we got more foam, finished the filling. Here's where the problem came in: the second batch of foam was the 'Large Gap Filler' (stop snickering!). Apparently it expands to about 4 times its original size, and in an enclosed container the heat from gas expansion as it dries warms duct tape up enough to pop seams. I was traumatized by how much Girl the first dummy was, but lemme tell ya, this new one is not a lady you wanna piss off. She is one solid broad. Mae Westian. Anyway, I was trying to trim the loaf-of-bread extrusions that were exploding from the leg holes (I said stop snickering!), and went in there barehanded with a cheap steak knife after ruining my plastic gloves. Holy Lord Jesus, I have never made a worse mess in my life. You know the worst sunburn you ever had? The one where your skin went nuclear and then peeled in cornflakey wads for a month? That's my hands. And my nails... it's like bionic bread dough. I'm not gonna list everything I've tried to clean it off, but it's not working.

Oh, and btw, you do NOT want to blink out a contact while this is happening. It's also Not a Good Idea to somehow get the stuff on your butt. Or to try to smoke, Dr. Strangelove style, with all your fingers glued together. And no, there's no video. (It'd be highly NSFW given the number of hysterical cussing fits involved).

The cable guy comes back today, so I'm'a have to sacrifice a shirt to cover her up while he's here- the damn thing looks really porny standing in my living room, (hey, sailor!) and some of those Brighthouse guys are weird. I figure if I make things to fit her, they'll be loose enough I can take in the seams as needed to fit my actual figure. So that's sort of a plus, except maybe for the 70's bikini I've been working on. Her booty resembles the stuff rap videos are made of, and mine... doesn't. *sigh* C'est la vie... or something like that.

Oh, yeah:

(Actually, it's tomorrow. Yay, me, anyway.)

Oh, dear.

Just watched "Little Miss Sunshine"- yeah, I know, I'm like three years behind on that- and it was aight. Steve Carell was really good, and I was so relieved it didn't get overly twee, or self-conscious trying to show outsider types (yeah, Napoleon Dynamite, I'm lookin' at you). Not good enough to buy, but not bad.

Anyway, it's a slow day. I'm a bit tranked, so that adds to the draggy feeling. The doc and I have talked about the idea that 100 percent better isn't a quick process, that sometimes 50 or 80 percent can be enough "better" to get by. I just want the energy to put up Xmas lights and wrap presents, maybe stay at work a whole 8 hour day. When's 80 percent gonna hit?

(Later)
Gonna have to call a mulligan on the dressmaking dummy. One problem with being, er... A Whole Lotta Girl is that it's really tough to get the bits and pieces stuffed without structural collapse issues. Cloth squooshes, wet tissue paper won't stay put, and tinfoil... well, if you've seen the nutjobs' hats, you can imagine. Kinda Gaultier. I'm thinking 3 layers of duct tape filled with Great Stuff foam for the next go round.

Hello, Clarice...

If my shrink weren't married, I'd propose to him. Just kidding, but I really do feel a little better about things now. We're doubling the dose on the generic to see if that will equal the brand's effect, and he kicked me samples of Obscenely Expensive Drug A to get me through until the generic upgrade kicks in. Maybe now I can have a nonMorrissey birthday. Yay!

Side note: If you happen to sew, and happen to think making your own dressmakers' dummy is a good idea, you're right- but be prepared. Seeing your own torso modelled in true-to-life size and proportion is... off putting. And stuffing the thing feels extreeeeeeemely Buffalo Bill-ish. I kept thinking, "He's making himself a girl suit out of real girls" the whole time. Yeesh.

Good times, bad times

Another awake-before-the-sun day. Good news: that request to split my workday 4 + 4 finally got approved for the next month, 'til our shifts change. Yay! With 4 hours between to take a nap, I can finally start getting more than 20 hours a week done again. Getting caught up on bills before Christmas would = a happy Jenny.

I've been kinda bummed about finishing the Lovett outfit (end-of-project blues?), so am trying to choose the next big Thing To Make. I've got a pattern for a sorta retro, June-Cleaver-at-a-cocktail-party dress that I'm thinking of trying. It's fairly complicated, but it would be super cute if it comes out well. Might even do for the Xmas party at work. Just need to pick a color! **

** (7 PM update) Word is they've canceled the work Xmas party ('cause of the damn economy), so I guess the June Cleaver dress would be semi-pointless. Poo. Back to the drawing board.

'Scuse me while I whip this out

Just got into politics with me ma. Damn it, I hate talking about "issues"! She's pretty conservative, I'm pretty liberal, and it's just so much better not to go there and make everybody uncomfortable. I feel really guilty, which is stupid cuz I think what I think. I tend to have trouble openly disagreeing with people, no matter how peaceable the conversation is. Today has been a very bad side effect day, which doesn't help. Good things, too, though: I had a fantastic dinner last night- Dan made bacon-wrapped shrimp and nice little steaks- and I've got just a little more work on the Lovett skirt and I'll be all done- yay, surf 'n'turf and halloween costumes!

Poop.

Grrrr. I haven't made the progress I expected today on Mrs. Lovett. Ran into some last minute architectural issues- not hard to resolve, just time consuming- and then couldn't finish the fine work I thought I would cause my hands have been shaking like crazy. I can concentrate on the stitching or on making my hands still, but not both. Frustrating. My dose goes up again tomorrow. I'm following the drug company's suggested schedule, just added a couple of half-steps in between recommended steps up cause I'm nervous about The Rash That Kills. So far, so good- no rashes. I just hate the growing-a-third-eye factor. As long as it's not another nearsighted one....

D'you know what I'd like to do, Mr. Todd?

The Mrs. Lovett costume is finally almost done. YAY!! Between tonight and tomorrow, it should be good to go. Did a test run with the makeup a few days ago, and... well, I'll post pics when it's done, you'll see. It's not terrible.



I'm trying a new perfume sample today- this scent's insanely frickin' expensive, but really beautiful. "Untitled" by Strange Invisible Perfumes (it was originally called "Lady Day," but apparently Miss Billie's estate disapproved). It smells of gardenias and, faintly, oranges, and it's very subtle- not one where you sniff the bottle and get prowlygrowly- it creeps up on you, you start thinking, "wow, God, what is that? Oh, it's me!" Very nice one. Too expensive to buy a bottle, so I'm glad not to love it too much, but... really a nice scent.

I smell funny!

I just finished starting colortesting and dyeing my skirt fabric for Halloween. It's a three step process- I've done the first part, so my house now reeks of stewed tea and various Rit dyes, the bathroom is swathed in enough Glad bags for a body disposal, and my fingernails look like a zombie movie, but I can't clean up 'til the fabric is dry enough to take off the shower rod. And I hafta do this twice more, once with a stamp and once with sponge-and-fingerpainting. It's really fun stuff, especially since it's the first time I've wanted to do anything Lovett-oriented in two weeks, even with all the materials at hand and loads of work left to finish.

I love the Klonopin, the effects are amazing, but I'm praying so hard that this bloodwork will find a concrete reason I've had to deal with these periodic difficulties for so many years. Bonking into a car windshield and coming from a weird clan (sorry, Mommy, a one-really-weird-and-one-semi-weird-sided clan?) shouldn't be enough to produce... this. Hm. Then again, maybe it should. I don't want to do the shrink thing, I don't want to be on permadrugs, I just want to be normal. Not super-happy-chipper, just... not crazy. I'd like to keep Not Getting Fired for at least a little longer- even with better car insurance, the Tardis isn't free!

Did you come in for a pie, sir?

Groggy. Just napped out HARD for a bit after working on the Mrs Lovett outfit for a solid eight hours. I don't usually brag on myself, especially before a project is finished, but... it's looking awfully good. Just really labor-intensive to get as close a copy as possible.

As for everything else this week, what to say? Well, if you have to ask....

Keep on rowing away on a distant sea...

So I did something I don't do about a week ago. I refused to acknowledge an apology. I'm sorry, but it was crappy- a buddy called it "doin' the Jesse Jackson,"- you know, when a politico apologizes "if I offended anyone" instead of admitting what they did. I feel rude, but I just couldn't deal with replying. I wouldn't know where to begin. Fudge it.

Freaky happenins with my beloved tardis tonight- stopped at the gas station after work, and it wouldn't crank back up for 15 minutes. Battery-opped stuff was comin' on fine, no scary alternator clickies, it just... didn't go. Gonna drive it around for a while this weekend in case the 1.5 mile run to work is too little for the batt to properly recharge, and of course I've got the Roadside boys on speed dial.

On a happier note, it's rolling up on Halloween again! Sure, we're 2 months out, but that's only for you lazy peeps don't sew yer own costumes. I'm gonna be Mrs Lovett- I know, lotsa emu's will probly do it, too, but I've got OCD-level attention to detail and a good figure for corsets in my favor.