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Saturday, June 20, 2015

Jaelin's Journalings - Updates and furniture!

Hey Hey Hey!!  We have a new blog design!  Linnea sat down with me, Dahlia, Momma, and Iris, and we all found a background and color scheme we all liked!  Dahlia got to contribute with the "Firefly" header (she loooooves the show... so do we, though not like she does) and her butterflies, Linnea got her ocean colors, and I got my steampunk stopwatch.  All in all, I like it.  (I'd have made the background look like a dark steampunk night, but as everyone pointed out, we don't want it to look like a creepy blog).

Another new girl (Momma assures us it's the last one for a while... she says TechGuy hasn't had time to put up another shelf for us, and we're out of room) arrived Tuesday night.  After conferring with her for two days, (the shortest it's ever taken any of us, other than Dahlia), she introduced herself.

Everyone, meet Delia June.



Delia June (she tells me that she is fine being called just Delia, but it reminds me of TechGuy's mom, who has 2 first names as well) has agreed to do an interview with me at some point, and has the sweetest accent.  I think it's from one of the Carolinas.

Alanna got to go out to the barn today with Momma, where the workshop is.  Momma says I need a chair and loveseat if I am to do interviews, and I can hardly disagree with that.

I'm going to hand the laptop over to Alanna now, so that she can tell you all about her afternoon.

Hey guys, it's Alanna.  I had the neatest bonding experience today with Momma.  She hung out with us all this morning after getting back from the local Autism movie day, where she says they watched "Home".  I wish I'd been allowed to go, it wasn't Marvel, but a lot of us love Big Bang Theory, and the guy who plays Sheldon Cooper was the voice of the Alien "O".  I think if I'd have gone though, the kids may have thought I was 'just' a doll (since no one would understand the fact that, while vinyl, we're as alive as you, so long as we receive interaction from Momma regularly).  

Anyways... so, she was looking at her laptop for a while, and the next thing we all know, she took it outside with her, all excited.  A bit later, Momma came back in, asking if anyone was willing to go out to the workshop with her. I had on lounge clothes, so I asked her to help me throw on the jean vest I wanted to wear, and out we went.  I haven't gotten to go anywhere with Momma by myself yet, so this sounded like a good time.  She took me out, let me goof off with her laptop, and explained that she wanted to build a set of livingroom furniture for us to use.  She needed someone to help her with the measurements, and to keep an eye on both her and the laptop, since it was her first time using any of TechGuy's power tools.  She used a table saw after we drafted a pattern (this was something I'd never expected to see).  I see Tony Stark make these awesome inventions, but never the blueprints behind them.  I pretended it was Tony's workshop, and that J.A.R.V.I.S. was there with us, telling us what to do. Actually, it was her boyfriend, but it was amusing to pretend.  




Momma was nervous, since the table saw has one of those huge blades, but she did great.  Then, she got to use the bandsaw, which I think it's become her favorite.  It's got a tiny blade, and when I looked it up, it's used to do 'scrollwork', like what you see on nice wood furniture, the kind with the fancy edges.  I can't wait to work on the furniture with her again, I'm hoping to get to sand or something other than supervise, but apparently vinyl and power sanders don't mix, so we'll see if she lets me sand anything by hand.  We decided to make fancy arm rests for the chair and loveseat, but for now, all we were able to do today was cut out most of the framework.  We've got some work ahead of us, but it's going to be great.  TechGuy says we need a lathe if we want to do the spindly looking decorative poles for beds, and I think Momma may have found her niche, if she keeps doing it.  It didn't look too hard, once she understood all the numbers and how the tools were used.

Oops, long post, here Jaelin, all yours again.  Thanks for letting me blog!

Thanks Alanna.  I'm excited to get furniture like some of the talk show hosts, it feels like I'm going to be a real reporter one day!

I was going to interview Savannah and Dahlia, but we decided to wait until we had a real place to do it.  Also, TechGuy is going to get out his photography stuff for Momma to use (he bought it to photograph his trains... they both really love to photograph their favorite things), so we should have some pretty cool lights and stuff like that to work with.

Type at you later,

 - Jaelin, signing out now!

Monday, June 15, 2015

What is Steampunk...

(Momma's stepdaugther's 12th birthday party was Saturday, and she let me write this up Friday night... so sorry, it's a few days late posting.  She was gonna post it that night... but then she fell asleep after editing it... and forgot to hit the publish button.  Yeah...)  

I thought I'd do a quick post on Steampunk, and why I love it.  The description I found on one of Steampunk Addie's recent post explains a LOT better than I can.

"Steampunk is an inspired movement of creativity and imagination that combines science fiction, history and art. It includes literature, artwork, music, film, design, and for some, a lifestyle.

Artisans reimagine modern technologies as elaborate works of art, fashion, and mechanics, most often with the backdrop of the Victorian era. However, in the spirit of fantasy and time-travel there is artistic freedom to create Medieval, Wild West, Industrial/Modern or an alternative world which is known as the Steampunk genre.

The "Steam" in Steampunk was inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of steam-powered machines, dirigibles, brass diving bells and analog computers. The "punk" in "Steampunk" typifies going against convention through creativity and making a declaration of one's individuality through style, gadgets and attitude.

It is the story and thus the characters that drive the artwork of Steampunk. Alter egos are created in costumes complete with top hats, waist coats, corsets and bustles with accompanying gear. Steampunk projects aspire to make something elegant out of random "bits and bobs": creating brass goggles, wings made with pulleys, steam-powered gadgets, clockwork pendants or a ray gun dangling at the hip."

So... to me, that includes my favorite movies.  Clearly, League is a lot more Steampunk than my favorite version of Sherlock, but they both have the elements I love.  (I just found out that Dahlia's older sister, Savannah, who came to live with us about 2 weeks ago, likes some of the steampunk element too!  She says it's the complete opposite of the background she and Dahlia came from.  She has also agreed to be my first background interview, and since she said yes, I knew Dahlia would too.)

What genres do you love? I know that one of the girls is an 80s fan (blech!), one loves the 1920s flappers, another loves medieval, and yet another likes 1950s. Everyone loves something different.  I'm hoping to find that more of the girls love my Steampunk... or to convert them (I know the girl who "isn't" Josefina has expressed interest...").  Come to the darkside, we have tea and cookies...

Type at you later!
- Jaelin, signing out now

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Jaelin's Journalings - new girls, vacation announcement...

Hi guys! It's Wednesday, and I'm updating my (our) blog!

I got to meet the new girls, but, like always, when they come to live with us, they don't like to tell us their names until they get to know us.  That's okay, it makes me feel more like an investigative reporter.

Momma had a suggestion, that I at least will most likely be taking to heart.  She said we all should sit down and write out our backstories for you guys.  You know, like what our lives were like before we came to live here.  Each of us tell you a bit about ourselves, what we like to do and collect, what we dream about.  She said maybe we'd get some online penpals that way, because you guys might have some stuff in common with us.

So, I'm not sure if I will be interviewing people, or if those of us who aren't writers will just tell their stories to Momma to write down.

I finally got to know the girl in last week's photo!  Her name is Kendalyn, and she is so nice!  She's 15, she loves hanging out with Vivienne and Linnea (they have sooo many cousins... I wouldn't be shocked if I were a distant cousin somehow!), and she and I have been doing some exploring around the woods.  She has promised me an interview sometime soon.  Kendalyn (Apparently, where she's from, she's also known as Kenna, though she introduces herself by her full name) is pretty sure she has some Scottish in her background.  But I'll leave that for our interview.

Momma and TechGuy are going to the Outer Banks for their 4 year anniversary... we're all wondering who's going to get to go with them.  My bet is on one of the new girls (as now, including the one whose adoption fees were paid today, we are up to 5 new girls), as Dahlia and I got to go last time.  I'm figuring her older sister (again with the waiting for names!) and probably either my new sister, or the one who reminds me of Marie Grace who was retired a bit ago.  She has assured me, as have any of the others who resemble historical dolls, that she only looks like MG.  (Molly and Kaya are the only two real historicals... and they tend to keep to themselves, as Molly is quite old, being Momma's first doll back in 1994, and Kaya was her dream doll as a kid.)  I'm guessing our newest girl coming in will be the other to join them, as I know she was long awaited for.   I'll be happy with a souvenir or some awesome pictures.  Perhaps something steampunk?  Unlikely, though, as I don't see a beachtown having a lot of that around.

What is Steampunk, you ask? Only the best genre EVER!  (Momma has to go to bed now, and says that I'm probably going to "be long-winded", so I have to wait to explain what that is to you tomorrow.  In the meantime... if you look up Steampunk Addie, that might tide you over until then.  I'm going to borrow the current post she has up to explain what Steampunk is, so you can skip it next time if you already read it.)

Type at you later!

- Jaelin, signing out now