What I did on my summer vacation.

I'm a little teapot, short and....HEY! Charlie! Don't rub your eyes! Stop it! 

Ack, I forgot. Old habit. 

You still try to adjust your glasses that you don't wear anymore, too. That's kind of funny, though, so I don't tell you. 

Let me see if you hurt your eye. 

Too close, Martie! 

Well, how am I supposed to help you after these cataract surgeries if you won't let me see? And it's time for your eye drops, so do that now, please.

You're very helpful, Martie, thank you.

Hey, about that eyeball surgery--did it hurt? Were you scared? Did they use big knives? What about that suction thing, did it suck up your whole eye? Was it bloody?

Oh, good grief, Maudlynne! No, I've told you several times, it didn't really hurt, I was only scared before the first one but the anesthetist was very good, they used teeeeeeny little instruments, the suction thing wouldn't hold a single hair on your head, and there was barely any blood at all.

Hrmph! That's no fun! Next time, tell it better! With lots of BLOOD!

Uh, no. But I think I should tell the readers what we're talking about!

I had cataract surgery on both eyes, the right on July 1 and the left on July 22, and I can't believe how much brighter and clearer the world is now. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go for regular eye exams, because I don't want any of you to lose your sight!

Here's some information about cataracts and cataract surgery:

Cataract facts from the National Institute of Health.

Cataract surgery procedure by WebMD.

Cataract surgery video on YouTube.  If you're squeamish, do NOT watch this! I watched a few videos of surgeries before I had my first one done, which helped me a lot by showing me what was going to happen. Most people, however, really won't enjoy this video at all. It's here if you need, it, though, or, if you're like Maudlynne and just like looking at gross stuff.

Welcome back, cowgirl!

Lookit who we found while we were cleaning: our dear friend Jessie!

Martie was very glad to see her and got right to work helping her freshen up.

We found a Christmas-in-August outfit for her, and gave her a fluffy ponytail for summer fun.

There's no knowing what kind of trouble these two will get into together.

OMG I CanNOT Believe.....

.....that it's been 2 and a half months since I posted here. It's been a rather tumultuous summer so far, and I just could not keep up with my dolly world, I'm sorry to say. However, things are settling down, and so WE'RE BACK, BABEH! And does Martie ever have dish on me:

Keeping her quiet may involve new clothes and some shoes. And much chocolate.

My Little Bossypants.

Why are you looking at me and Larry the VooDude? Get back to work on those graduation applications!

My daughter Alexandra made Larry, and makes lots of other neat VooDude felt things, too! Trust me, you're going to want them--you NEEEEEED them. Her Etsy shop is at  VooDudeXing, and there will be neat items to buy there later today!

Hi, guys! What's new with you all?

We're still here, everyone! Charlie's been preoccupied with work (graduation certification is a real pain), and writing some stories that I'm not allowed to read. Drop us a comment and tell us what you'd like to see Martie do (be nice!) in the next week or so, and we'll get as many pictures as we can!

This is where my job lives.

My office is slowly taking shape, and here's a few pics:

Fiona is less than impressed.

Back to work!

Flora has a treat!

Flora has a gummi bear! Look, it's so big next to her!

Flora, honey, it's candy, not a toy. You eat it. Oh, no, don't cry! Of course you can keep it. What was I thinking? 

Seriously, don't argue with a faery. Just. Don't.

SPRING FEVER!

Martie and the very first dandelion we saw this spring:

Then we saw the lovely flowering trees, and stopped for a few pics. I hope the flowers survived the storm we had last night--high winds, driving rain, and hail. We'll check on them after work.

Just another day at the office.

In which we are bored while waiting for the printer to decide to actually spew forth the necessary print. It's not really a slow printer, but the 2-sided stuff takes a little longer.

Fee is out of focus--she must have moved.

Martie has found the hat she wants:

Also, I made Martie's dress, one of my favorites. 

Fine, if you're going to get all distracted with "Sherlock"....

....then I'm going to blog about your blogging about me blogging about you. 

Ahhh, my darling Martie. I'd be lost without my blogger.

Beautiful teeny things.

Just a quick update from my (truly dreadful) phonecam, as I finally managed to get Flora into some clothes:

Isn't that little dress the sweetest? Flora's also got her own baby doll now and a little "trunk" with her important treasures. The dress is from The Bead Loom Gallery on Etsy. 

A room of one's own.

Flora came with me this morning to "help," which to her meant re-organizing the paper clips so that they weren't all higgledy-piggledy in my desk drawer. Put them down, sweetlet, and show us your new travel case. 

Isn't it nice? It's vintage, still needs a bit of cleaning, but she likes it very much and is proud to show you her very own tiny house.

Of course, it isn't furnished yet, as we only just got it from eBay, but it's still a good play space. She's gone back to her very important clipping work, and bids you all a lovely evening.

Robert Tonner is trying to give me a heart attack.

I mean, I mean....well, LOOK at her!!! You can pre-order this stunning doll at Tonner online.

AIR GUITAR!!

Robin's rockin' in the free world!

SPRING BREAK!

It's Spring Break here at Pitt, and Martie's wearing her....wait a minute..."Study Zone" shirt? Hunh?

Maudlynne: Martie, your shirt's on backwards.

Martie: What? No, it isn't. Oh, darn it! You're right. Hang on.

Much better! Party on, y'all!

The very short, incredibly true story of the lost faery in the Mountain of Chaos.

Way back in October 2011, I posted about a tiny 7 cm glow-in-the-dark fairy I got, from Donny Harijanto of Dream High Studio, all the way from Indonesia: a microfae named Flora.

Isn't she gorgeous? Here's how teensy she really is, against my hand, which is average size:

The photo is terrible, but you get the idea. YEEEPS! I was so worried that I'd lose her, she's so very, very small! 

And of course, that was promptly what I did, for a year and four months! I lost her!! AIEEEE!!

See, her lovely box is also small, and in the utter clutter that is my house, she just......disappeared. I tore the place up (well, more than it already was) looking for her. After a few weeks of looking and hoping, I kinda gave up, and figured that as long as she was somewhere in the house, she'd turn up. Then I just tried to keep an eye out, with occasional bouts of mini-recon searching.

A couple of weeks ago, my loverly husband, who was trying to straighten up the place (ultimately futile, but we can't surrender to the chaos! That way lies "Hoarders!"), brought to me a pretty little pink box (that he hadn't looked into) and said "Do you need this, or should I throw it out?"

IT WAS FLORA! 

There she was, all safe and snuggly in her sturdy little box, looking up at me with an expression that said "What? I wasn't lost, I knew exactly where I was. Hrmph!"

Faeries are such capricious, secretive little beings. 

This is mine, and this is mine.

Maudlynne decided that her space in my office was going to be on this shelf over my computer, from which point she can see everything that's going on, and also who's at my door, so she can warn me. I told her I don't need a warning, as everyone up here is very nice, and the students are actually welcome. She seems unconvinced of that last.

She has also gone through my stuff, and taken my itty-bitty Lalaloopsy and a pen, neither of which she's planning to give back. I suppose I could give her some paper, too, before she snitches the good letterhead to draw and write on.

It's MINE now. No backsies.

What's up there?

So I'm at my desk, working away, and I look over at the girls and see this:

There is nothing in the corner where they're looking, except wall and ceiling intersections. NOTHING. I think they're trying to fake me out. Or spook me. @_@

That's Martie, of course, and our little girl in green is my Ruby Red Strawberina, with the baby from the Mardi Gras cake (back in February). I think they got tired of sorting the pile of papers I put them to work on. I don't blame them. If it was interesting, I'd have done it myself.

My new office assistant.

Taken by my lame, grainy phone camera. She's a Kim Lasher Fiona, for whom I waited a little over a full year after I'd ordered her and put her on layaway--and I have to admit that that annoyed me so much (and I was so broke!) that I had decided to sell her. Everyone else had the same wait and the same idea, though, so there was a little glut on the market, she didn't sell for a month on Bay, and meanwhile, I got a job, and kind of attached to her. It wasn't her fault she took a year to arrive, the poor thing. She reminds me of Grumpy Cat, whom I adore.

Her name is still Fiona, because it suits her, and I call her Fee. She's very serious about doing her job, it seems. I may set her to work drawing some pics for my bare office walls.

Say hello to the nice peoples, Fee!

Over 50,000 views!

Wow, y'all, DBB has gone over 50,000 total views! THANK YOU to all who come by to look at my beautiful dolls and their adventures. Martie is thrilled!

Flowers for all our lovely readers!