Alyrenee's Copious Spare Time

Yeah, so it has been a while.  Honestly 2023 was a weird one.  I had a lot going on with the job and the life.  I ended up getting a new professor job at UW-Madison and moved to Wisconsin in August.  I also bought a house!  So about 4 months were spent packing and unpacking and the rest was spent stressing out, painting rooms, about making so many changes.   I purged a few dolls in the process.  Though I am also currently MISSING two pricey Hot Toys action figures (The first Avengers Hawkeye and the Infinity War Captain America).  I keep hoping that I just shoved them in a weird place in the attic or basement or something (Its a big old four square style house in a super cute Wisconsin small town...very Barbie Millicent Rogers hometown origin story house).  In a true mark of obsessive collector insanity, I went ahead and re-bought Captain America via eBay.  I found the exact same figure for about $150 LESS than what I paid for him ...

Just a heads up, the new covid relief bill has a change to the tax code that will impact ANYONE using online selling and transaction platforms like eBay, paypal, etsy, etc...  It used to be that over 200 sales or $20,000 in transactions that would trigger a 1099-K (unless you lived in Mass. or Vermont and the threshold was $600).  Now in 2022...it will be $600!   So you should start planning to save some money back to pay income tax on NOW or you will get a very unhappy surprise.  As a freelance theatre designer, I have been getting 1099-Misc forms for years whenever I make more than $600 on a gig.  This is not new for me. But many people on etsy, ebay, and other gig workers (i.e. casual Uber eats delivery), etc have been able to operate under the radar because of the higher thresholds and were able to get away with not claiming that income on their yearly taxes. This will impact people who treated any etsy or ebay business as a hobby. This pretty much eliminate...

 Oh, 2020.  Bye girl.  So when thinking of my goals for 2021, I am taking my cue from Tiny Habits.  Little changes can add up. I have already seen how doing a bullet journal can really de-clutter my brain.  That move has truly been a game-changer in terms of productivity. Some of my goals are bigger though, so we will see how it all works. I am no longer calling these resolutions. Instead, I think of them as intentions.  I intend to do these things.  If I don't, I have not BROKEN anything and can pick back up where I left off.   2021 Intentions: #1 Grace.  Be kind to myself. Shush the inner mean girl. #2 A minimum of twenty minutes of movement a day.  I have managed to keep this up since Labor day with only two exceptions: Election day when I worked 18 hours and did a ton of legwork...i think that earns a pass and two weeks ago when I sprained my ankle and needed to rest it for a day.  Twenty minutes of movement can be as simpl...

I am looking at my cabinet...what has come and gone over this year? Well, I recently re-did the layout of the two Ikea detolfs that I have. I am most definitely running out of room and sweating the impending Jem-a-lanche. I moved my custom Blythe to my office...also Katy Keene and the East 59th Squad to my office collection to make some more room for Jem. I picked up the Divine Intervention Victoire head this year for a good price.  I love a good hair streak and I had a matching East 59th body so it was a win win. Other than that, no new East 59th gals for me this year.  As for Jem, I brought the Flipside Up-n-Rockin Jem and box to my office to display but added the Jerrica to the cabinet at home. I did not keep any of the dolls from the Perfect Match set...just the fashions and the sweet stand. I have the misfits two doll set on pre-order.  I entered the lottery for Aja and Shana. Pizazz may or may not stay when she gets here.   The Industry shelf is getting su...

So for the purposes of this 2019 dolly year in the review, I'm not counting the countless plastic broads on pre-order still (the three Retrofuture ladies, Colette, Mdm. Eden, and Ocean Drive Agnes).  At this point I can't even remember why I ordered that Agnes and might try to pass her on....le sigh. I am also opening this up to dolls from year's past that are recent acquisitions to my collection. So, without further ado, here are my personal favs that I added to my doll collection in 2019 (in no particular order). #1 Awakening Annik The wait was long for this doll but I think she is really cool.  I got lucky and mine had good hair. #2 Heads Up Poppy Parker Yellow! Super cute. The style lab this year was pretty stellar. I just broke down and sold the copper redhead.  She was cute but I try to keep the Poppy squad to a minimum lest they rise up and take over the world. #3 Groovy Poppy in Beauty Blossoms: I love the color of her pigtail...

Well hello there...I am indeed still alive.  It's been awhile.  The spring semester was brutal and my have I been distracted...but onto dolls.  In what has felt like the longest of waits, we finally got a glimpse of the first two W Club exclusive dolls: Midnight Decadence Poppy and Ocean Drive Agnes. It's Poppy's 10th anniversary and I assume this is the first in what will be a blunderbuss doll situation...a poppy avalanche. Just get the t-shirt cannon and load em up with Poppies...and try not to lose an eye. So it is with this idea of the coming Poppy storm that leads me to approach any and all offerings with skepticism. I must be choosey or risk drowning in the pouty lipped teen queen. Midnight Decadence, while very pretty, is totally not my thing.  I am not a gown person and can occasionally be swayed to like a good cocktail dress.  This one comes close. I like that it is convertible and, without the train, it looks just like my 1989 Homecoming dre...

Okay 2019. I see you. I get it. I need to make some changes. STOP JUDGING ME 2019. Fine... But before I start...I have legit grown-up Job goals but I am not going to bore you with my smarty-pants professor nonsense. No one wants to read about my lofty goal of having a paper published in a national design journal or getting a gig in a LORT theatre...so just assume I have deep thoughts too and it is not all about unicorn farts and dolls. Here is my noble list of Resolutions... Bullet Journaling. I have been using planners for the last two years. While I enjoyed them...I had to keep two separate planners to fit all the crap I wanted to write down and was forever losing where I wrote things down. So I am trying the bullet journal thing. So far so good. And no...I will not be posting gorgeous layouts of hand drawn unicorns and pressed flowers. I spend a great deal of time making and drawing beautiful things...so in my downtime, I just want a good old-fashioned list. I might get...

Designer David Buttry revives classic sculpts and a return to the funky retro mixing style we loved about the Dynamite Girls (R.I.P.) with this small Industry collection. My thoughts below in BLUE. Item # 88010 Legacy Janay® Doll THE INDUSTRY ™: The Lovesick Collection Approx. Ship Date: November Suggested Retail: $130.00 US Available Via Dealers Edition Size: 725 Head Sculpt: Janay 2.5 Body Type: THE INDUSTRY™ Foot Sculpt: High-heeled Skin Tone: FR Black Hair Color: Raven Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-applied Quickswitch: No The Story: A true classic, the doll that started it all for Integrity Toys makes a marked return as part of THE INDUSTRY™! Ready to take on a new role as a famed R&B singer/songwriter, Janay is the ultimate artist! Beautiful, fun and smart to boot, with her friends Alysa and Jade she forms “The IT Girls”, a sensational all-girl group about to make a smash debut on the music scene worldwide! Can their friend Bellamy and his sister Rufus Blue...

Oh dear. This is going to be an expensive year. I'm definitely wanting Training Armor Diana. She looks stunning...and I think the face paint on this one is even better than the first version. I will likely get the blue dress too. I think I am going to skip the black coat and just make my own. It looks great, but feels too short for me. It looks like it comes to the ground in the film stills....and $50 feels like a lot for something that I know that I could make. Hmmm. T18DCDD01 Wonder Woman-Training Armor - $210.00 Sheltered from the reality of the real world, the Amazonian Princess Diana prepares for her unknown destiny.  Featuring a beautifully accurate portrait sculpt of Gal Gadot with hand painted details, this ¼ scale figure on the new 16" RTB 101 hard plastic/vinyl body, is heavily articulated and outfitted in an exacting replica of the Themyscira training armor as worn in the Wonder Woman movie.  The removable molded armor is movie accurate and hand paint...