Doll Room Tour on YouTube 2016 and Doll Rooms From the Past

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've done a room tour, so I thought I'd post one on YouTube to share how my collection displays have changed. I also thought I'd post some pictures here for those of you who aren't interested in long videos. ;)

As I mention on YouTube, I'm planning on repainting my room this summer, so I'll be changing my displays and trying to downsize pretty majorly. (I think. Let's see how strong I can be in my resolve.) ;) I have some pictures I'd like to hang up, and at this point, I have almost no wall space left. Plus, after six years of collecting, I'm just flat running out of room. I want to reevaluate my collection, get rid of some of the things that aren't as special to me, and try to be a little more proactive in planning what else I purchase.

Besides feeling the need to downsize, I have several things I'm saving up for, including a possible trip to Arizona this fall to visit my best friend around my birthday. I also need to start saving for Mount Hermon next year and our church's Ladies Retreat. Oh, and I recently found out that one of my story locations in Trinidad, California is actually a rental house 200 feet away from the beach. I thought it would be super fun to save up and stay there some weekend. ;)

There are other things, like windows for our house, paying off some debts, swimming lessons for the girls, and more. And I'll admit it, I'm thinking about saving up for one of the Limited Edition Disney Store dolls that will hopefully be released for the live action version of Beauty and the Beast next year. I've never been able to afford a Disney Store LE doll yet. It would be so great if it worked out this time around. :D Of course, at this point I have no room for a LE doll...yet another reason for downsizing. ;)

If Hubby gets more hours in his new position this summer, that will help tremendously with some of these things, but I'd love to do what I can to help. I have so much. I don't really need it all.

So, here are a few pics from my room as it is currently.

My doll rooms with lights. :)

My toy and book shelves on our dresser.

Zelfs, Lalaloopsies, jewelry, and my favorite picture of me and Hubby.

Plush friends on the bed.

My Beauty and the Beast curio.

My little white shelf with extra books and my live action Cinderella collection.

My Frozen and Tangled shelves. 

This picture was taken by accident. (My phone often takes pictures without telling me.) I thought it looked kind of cool, though. My daughters and I decided it looked like a magical portal in my room. Who knew there was one there all along? ;)

So if you'd like more detail on any of these spots, feel free to stop by my YouTube channel and check out my room tour videos. You can see Part One HERE and Part Two HERE.

As I was working on these videos, I was curious about some of my previous displays, so I found some old blog posts with pictures and videos of my doll rooms/displays and how they've changed over the years. If you're interested in sharing my trip down memory lane, you can check out the following links. ;)

My Dolls (August 4th, 2010) ~ This was back at the very beginning of my doll collecting and blogging, in 2010. Here are the original girls from my 18" collection and their displays. This post also has my original "personality profiles" for each doll. ;) 

Thrift Store Find and a Rearranged Doll Room (September 23rd, 2010) ~ This was the first of many rearranging projects, about a month after the previous post. ;) It was a fun time to collect. I had almost nothing, so it was easy to find things for my dolls. Everything remotely doll-sized ended up coming home with me. ;) Thrift stores and garage sales were treasure troves and scavenger hunts in which I always found success. I can't even tell you how many things I now pass by that I would have snatched up in a second at this stage of my collecting.

My Updated Doll Rooms (September 1st, 2011) ~ The next post I found was a year later. In that amount of time, my doll accessories and collections had grown enormously. This was also my "computer desk as a doll room" stage. It was a great way to repurpose, especially since the computer desk was a free hand-me-down from a friend. Although at this time my focus was still primarily on my 18 inchers, I was starting to branch out into other doll lines. This was also when Belle's Bulletins was starting to gain momentum. 

Rearranging My Doll Rooms (January 9th, 2012) ~ This was the stage when my 18" doll rooms pretty much made up 90% of our room. ;) I had displays on both dressers and one in my newest repurposed doll room: our old entertainment center. You can't see it as much in this post, but it's more visible in the next one.

Hayden and Jenna's New Room (April 21st, 2012) ~ Wow, I didn't realize I'd had the rooms my dad made for this long. Four years? Time definitely flies by. This was the first of the three doll rooms my dad made for me. This original one sat on top of the previously mentioned entertainment center until the other rooms were built later that year. I remember how excited I was to have my first "official" doll room. :)

Just in Case You Thought I Was Being Lazy... (July 17th, 2012) ~ This was one of my typical apologetic posts, explaining why you guys hadn't heard from me in so long. ;) The reason? What else? Rearranging! (Among other things.) ;) Even though things were pretty cluttered at this point, it was one of my favorite periods of collecting. I loved all of my BFC Ink dolls in their fancy dresses, my doll rooms, and everything. I'd forgotten all about my Pleasant Company Samantha I had for a while. I think she was one of the dolls I ended up selling. Shortly after this post, I got really overwhelmed by the amount of big dolls I had and sold several of them. You can also see by the inelegant plastic drawer unit full of stuff that my tiny toy collections were growing as well. 

In this post, you also get a bonus look at my daughters' playroom. :)

My New Doll Rooms, Post #1! (September 1st, 2012) ~ This was the first in a series of posts I did right after my dad finished my other two doll rooms. I'm only going to link to this first one, because each of the posts in the series have links leading to the next. I had so much fun filling these new doll rooms. It was great to look back and see how I originally had them arranged. ;) This also was one of the most in-depth looks at my doll displays and accessories. I took pictures of almost every inch of space. ;)

The End of the School Year and a Special Tour (May 24th, 2013) ~ This was the only post with pictures of my room I could find for this stage of collecting, and it also includes a tour of my whole house. (Yet another fun batch of memories. Our house has changed a lot, too!) This was the "white shelves covering the windows but allowing me to have lots more stuff" stage. ;) While it was nice having so much display space, I eventually got tired of not being able to see my window, and I was constantly worried about sunlight damage to the toys and books on those shelves. My room also started to feel very closed and cave-like during this stage, since there were shelves everywhere and almost no wall space at all. 

New Doll Room Vids Up on YouTube (April 30th, 2014) ~ This short little post has no pictures, but has links to YouTube videos of my room during 2014. There weren't too many changes overall, aside from a few more white shelves added and more stuff collected. ;) You can see how my interests grew and changed to include even more doll and toy lines.

New Room Tour Video Up and Your Questions Needed (January 28th, 2015) ~ And here is an example of my collecting at its craziest. My philosophy at this stage was "if you have it, display it." I felt it was silly to have things stored away and never enjoy them. While I still hold to this point of view overall, I found that having this much stuff out on display just got too overwhelming, which is why I recently went through things and decided to store some of it. I still only store what I can fit in my room, and I try to rotate things occasionally. As crazy as this stage was, though, it was also a LOT of fun to see all of the bright colors and cheerful faces every time I entered my room. 

Thankfully, I have a very patient husband who is not creeped out by dolls. ;)

***

There are probably other posts with pictures that I missed, but this gives you a basic rundown of the changes through the past six years. Hope you enjoyed the memories as much as I did. ;)

How have your collections changed through the years? Do you ever look back and regret a doll or toy you no longer have? What direction do you see your collecting going in the future?

Toy Finds Video Up on YouTube, Plus Other Fun Finds

Hey everyone! Today I found a few fun things at Walmart before I headed in to the gym, so I did a short little video on my YouTube channel. Reviews will follow shortly here on the blog. :) In the meantime, here's a little preview. ;)

Sigh. I really need to remember to take pictures to use as thumbnails for these videos. There were NO flattering choices this time around. ;)

While I was at Walmart, I took a few pictures of some of the other fun things waiting in the toy aisles. ;)

As most of you know, I'm not a fan of the Mattel versions of the Disney dolls, but I still thought this set was cute. I'd be tempted to get it for my Disney Store Kristoff and Anna. ;)

Do any of you remember the cute little Berenguer baby dolls that were around stores in the early 2000s? Well, they're back at Walmart for $4.97 each.

They're right around five inches tall. I took a picture with my hand so you could see the scale. The detail on these little jointed all-vinyl dolls is really nice, especially for something so inexpensive. I'm holding out for the "sucky lip" doll. I saw it at Walmart earlier and didn't pick it up, but will snag it if I see it again.

The Lalaloopsy Newborns were there with their new color schemes. Here's Snoozy and Chilly...

...Berry Sweet and Shy...

...and Cheery and Silly. :) They're all the exact same molds as the first line, but each one has different colors.

And hooray for Series 4 Lalaloopsy Tinies! :D This is the package I ended up taking home with me. :)

Here were the other two nine packs that were there.

And here's where I found my Rosabella Beauty. This is the first time I've seen her AND Darling Charming in stores.

The toy aisles have been pretty sparse in our town recently, so it was a nice surprise to see all of these goodies today. :)

I'll be back soon with the Lalaloopsy Tinies and Rosabella reviews, so stay tuned! :)

Five Amazing Years and a Special Giveaway

Five years ago today, I sat down and started a simple little post on blogger.com. I never dreamed that this seemingly insignificant choice would lead to an amazing online adventure.

It's hard to believe that Never Grow Up has been going for that long. I've seen many blogs come and go over the years. Even in my readership, I've seen a huge turnover. And I totally get it. Keeping something going for this long is a big commitment.

But even thought it can be overwhelming at times, I love this little corner of the internet I've claimed as my own. I've met some incredible people from all over the world, learned about dolls and toys, added extensively to my collections (sorry, Hubby!), improved in my photography and reviewing skills, and have become much more self sufficient on the computer than I ever thought I would be. ;)

Blogoversaries are always a fun time to look back over some of the milestones from over the years. So let's check them out! :)

In five years, I have:

-Accumulated 451 followers (Incredible! I still remember when my main goal was to hit 100.) :)

-Published 934 posts

-Hit 1,662,319 pageviews

-Hit 296 likes on my Facebook page

-Gathered 1,197 Pinterest followers

-Hit 185 YouTube subscriptions

-Reviewed several new toys offered to me for free review, including Zelfs and a Maru and Friends doll :D

The thing is, none of these amazing milestones would have been possible without all of you, my readers. I've never forgotten that, and I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. (I know it's a cliche, but it does a good job of expressing how I feel.) ;) Thanks for sticking with me all of this time. Thank you for your lovely comments and your emails (I do read them even when I'm horrible at responding to them). :} Thank you for following, "liking", reading, and everything else. I wouldn't be where I am today without all of you. :)

                                          **************************************

I thought it would also be fun to share my "bucket list" for this blog. I've already hit a lot of my previous dreams and goals for Never Grow Up, but it's always good to have a few dreams in your pocket, right? ;) Here are a few that would be incredible for the future:

-Just for fun, hitting 500 followers ;)

-Reviewing a Makie

-Reviewing a Limited Edition Disney Store Doll (Maybe I'll be able to afford one by the time they bring out all of the special Beauty and the Beast dolls in 2017, around the time of the live action movie.) ;)

-Attending a D23 Convention and sharing about it on the blog. :)

-Getting some sort of official partnership/sponsorship...I think. It would be nice to receive free items to keep down the expenses of new dolls and toys. However, independently blogging gives me a freedom to share my honest opinions without worrying about what my sponsoring company would think. I guess I'll think about this one some more. ;) (And really, it's a pretty unrealistic dream at this point anyway.)

-Taking my girls to Disneyland and blogging about it. This isn't exactly blogging related, but it is a family goal within the next few years. I haven't been since I was pregnant with Oldest Gal (it would be really nice to go again and NOT be pregnant). ;) The girls have never gone. And of course, I'd take lots of pics to share with all of you. ;)

-Attending the New York Toy Fair and sharing about it on the blog. :D This is my ultimate bucket list item. I don't know if it will ever happen. New York is very far away, and even though I get free admission to the Toy Fair as a blogger, I do NOT get free airfare, hotel and food. ;) Someday, though, it would be awesome to get to go. :)

I don't know if any of these things will ever happen, but that's okay. This blog has already taken me so much farther than I ever thought it would. Even if nothing else happens, I'm so thankful for all I've experienced already. :)

                                                ********************************

I wanted to think of a fun way to thank you guys for the adventure we've shared together. So, in honor of my blogoversary, I'm doing a special giveaway. I've chosen five items that are the typical types of items I review here on the blog. All five will be given away together as one giveaway prize for one of my readers. :D Here's what the giveaway includes:

(Sorry, everyone. Tess is not part of the giveaway. She just thought I might need someone to help display the giveaway items.) ;)

Here are the items individually:

1. A new Fashion Spree Shopkins pack. This is the "Best Dressed" collection. Shopkins are some of our favorites, so of course they had to be a part of the giveaway. ;) (My favorite one in this set is the cute little camera.)

The back of the package. You'll want to save this since it's the only place that has their names! ;) 

2. Candy-Lou the Candy Zelf from Season 5. I'm sure none of you are surprised that a Zelf made it to this giveaway. ;) The Zelfs were the very first toy line offered to me for free review by a company (without my asking first), so they hold a special place in my heart. Plus, they're super adorable. ;) Candy-Lou is one of the brand new Zelfs that has just been released.

The back of Candy-Lou's package.

3. Mini Lalaloopsy Whirly Stretchy Locks. While I haven't reviewed these recently, the mini Lalaloopsies are another of our favorites here at the Never Grow Up house. We hope you enjoy this one. She's kind of in keeping with the candy theme, too. ;) (This prize was supplied by my mom, who has been a huge supporter, fellow doll hunter, and financial provider for my blog since day one. Thanks, Mom! You're the best.) :)

The back of her package.

4. Our Generation "A Day Fur You" 18 inch doll accessory pack. This blog started out primarily as a place that reviewed 18 inch play dolls, so I wanted to pay homage to that. Sadly, shipping an 18 inch doll worldwide was a bit beyond my budget. ;) So instead, here's a fun little pack for your 18 inch dolls with everything they need for a day at the zoo. It includes a pair of sunglasses, a camera, a package of peanuts, a map of the zoo, a little baggie, and a zoo pamphlet. (This prize was also supplied by my mom.) :)

The back of the package.

5. A Funko Mystery Mini Joy in Bing Bong's wagon (a Hot Topic exclusive). I had to get something Disney in here too, of course. ;) Joy is super cute and looks great on display. Her head turns, too. :)

Joy from the back.

I apologize that Joy is opened, but I wanted to make sure it was the figure I wanted for the giveaway. ;) She will come with her original box...

...which shows concept art of all of the available figures from Hot Topic.

Giveaway Rules:

1. This giveaway is WORLDWIDE and open to ANY of my readers. :) One winner will be drawn at random and will receive all five items.

2. If you are under 18 years of age, please get a parent or guardian's permission to enter. I'll need to get your mailing address, and I want to make sure that's okay with them. :)

3. To enter, please leave a comment below with your name or username AND your email address. (Please don't forget your email address. It makes it so much harder for me to let you know you've won if I can't contact you.) Comments containing email addresses will NOT be published.

4. For an extra entry, you can share this giveaway on any form of social media (your blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.). Please come back and leave another comment, telling me where you shared and leaving a link. Otherwise, I won't know to give you your extra entry.

5. The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, August 4th. On Wednesday, August 5th, I will select the winner and contact them via email. The winner will have ONE WEEK to get back to me with their mailing address. If I haven't heard from them by Wednesday, August 12th, a new winner will be chosen.

Just a side note here. I love publishing your personal comments, but I can't do so if they're in the same comment as your email address. If you would enjoy having your comments published, be sure to leave them separately from your entry comment. If it's not a big deal to you, then you can go ahead and keep your comments all together. ;)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thank you again for five wonderful years, my friends. Here's to the next five! :D

My Week in Retrospect :)

It's been quite an eventful week in my end of the world.  I thought I'd share a few of the things I've been doing with all of you. :)

 Kickstarter:

   First off, you might have noticed that I didn't do any Kickstarter Shout-Outs last Friday.  That's because I've already met my goal and didn't get any new backers last week (which is totally fine). ;)  As of now, I have 50 hours before my Kickstarter fundraiser ends.  And thanks to all of you who backed me, at that time I'll be able to collect my funds and pay the rest of my Mount Hermon entrance fee in full! :D

While I didn't have any new backers last week, I was very excited to receive my last shipment of artwork postcards last Friday! :D  I spent the evening signing and dating them and then letting them dry.  I can't wait to send these off to my backers! :D  (I also printed a few extra copies to take with me to the conference, just in case.)

Fun Finds:

   I also found some great new things around town this past week, some that came home with me, and some that didn't. ;)  

Target

At Target, I found the new Crazy Hair Lalaloopsy Girls (this one is Scoops Waffle Cone).  While I'm not really a fan of this particular line from Lalaloopsy, I know some of you are.  I do love that they included Cinderslippers in this line, too.  If only they'd re-release her as a mini!  My Prince Handsome is lonely. ;)

   I do wonder how you get the hair clean once you've applied glitter to it.  You're supposed to be able to style and restyle this hair over and over again.  I'm just not sure how all that stuff would come out between styles. :}

 Goodwill

I found a few little goodies at Goodwill.  First was this Lalaloopsy Littles outfit, still sealed in the package, for 99 cents.  It was just perfect for Middle Gal's Squirt Little Top, a thrift store rescue with no clothes. ;)

The back of the package.

I also found a vintage Friend Bear, from the Care Bears line, in the 49 cent table.  Friend Bear will look great on display with Funshine Bear and Birthday Bear, my other two Care Bears thrift store rescues. :)

Friend Bear from the back.

Kmart

While at Kmart, I was excited by this Rainbow Rocks "Rockin' Hairstyle" Equestria Girls Fluttershy doll. (Wow, that title's quite a mouthful!)  While I didn't mind the first Equestria Girls movie, I wasn't as much of a fan of the second movie, especially because I don't enjoy rock music.  That being said, I think this is the first Equestria Girls Fluttershy doll I've seen that completely captures Fluttershy's sweet nature.

The face paint has a softer, sweeter look to it than the previous dolls.  I'm also thrilled that the new EG dolls have actual feet instead of the footless stumps the original EG dolls have.  I'm not a fan of peace signs, so I'd probably remove her necklace and earrings, but nonetheless, this doll might eventually become a part of my collection. :)

Fluttershy didn't come home with me that day, but a package of the new Lalaloopsy Tinies with hair DID. ;)  The girls and I split them between us.  A review will be up soon! :D

Toys R Us 

I haven't been to a Toys R Us for a couple of months, but my mom stopped by the closest store a while back.  While there, she found another item I've been wanting to see in person:  My Little Pony Squishy Pops.  These little blind bag-type toys are in little surprise balls.  They retail for just under two dollars.  She brought two of them home.

When you open them, they have a surprise wrapped in plastic.

Unfortunately, sometimes all you get are two plastic beads.  Phooey. :(

But you can also end up with a super cute pony! :D

I took some clearer pictures when I got home.  I'm not impressed with the beads AT ALL, but Rarity was darling!

Even though she's super tiny (right around an inch tall, give or take a bit), she's very detailed and painted well.

The black plastic under her feet in the previous photos is there to help her stand, and I believe also helps her connect to the bracelets and jewelry made as part of the line.

She also has a tiny suction cup to help her stick to flat surfaces.  

Here she is next to my blind bag Rarity for comparison.

   Overall, I think these MLP Squishy Pops are adorable.  I'd really like a Fluttershy for my Fluttershy shelf.  However, I think I'll buy one of the bigger sets that comes with a bracelet, where the pony is visible in the packaging.  That way I don't end up wasting money trying to find Fluttershy and ending up with beads instead. :{

99 Cents Only Store

When I was in the 99 Cents Only Store, I found this cute little Olaf figure.  They also had Anna and Kristoff figures, but they were very poorly painted.  Olaf was a bit bigger, so his paint wasn't all that bad.

In fact, he's rather adorable, especially for just 99 cents! ;)

He seems quite happy on my Frozen shelf with my other little Olafs. :)

Doll Surgery: 

   

   My doll club had a very successful doll restringing and evaluation booth set up at the mall during a local antique show a couple of weekends ago (I was even mentioned by name in my local paper!). :D  However, a few of the "patients" brought to us had cases too complex for immediate restringing.  So this past Saturday, my doll-stringing mentor and I worked on them at her house.  Here are two of the dolls that I restrung:

Poor baby!

I'm especially thrilled with how this doll turned out.  His (or her?) arms were strung similarly to an American Girl doll.  It took me FOREVER to work around the little plastic cups inside his arms, but I finally got him all fixed up and back to normal. :D

This poor dear was my first fifteen-piece body.  It was a lot of work, and I made a few mistakes along the way...

...but I was thrilled to finally get her all back together. :)

Fan Mail: 

   I was excited to receive some Fan Mail this week from All About Boog, a fellow blogger and the winner of the My Little Pony Express Giveaway I held on the blog two months ago.  It was very fun opening the early Valentine's Day Goodies she sent for me and my daughters to enjoy together. :D

Here are the goodies she sent:

It was so fun opening everything, like a little package of unexpected happiness. :) 

I think my favorite item was this vintage Strawberry Shortcake book, which All About Boog found at a thrift store.  She's another thrifter, just like me! ;)

    Thank you so much, All About Boog.  It made my day to know someone was thinking about me. :)  My girls and I are enjoying all of the fun things you sent us. :) 

   This brings me to a question for all of you.  I've now had several people interested in sending me things, and I'm hesitant to keep giving out my home address.  I've been considering the idea of getting a P.O. Box for fan mail.  If I did so and started receiving fan mail, I'm afraid I couldn't answer you guys personally (I'm already overwhelmed enough with email), but I would definitely do blog shout-outs whenever fan mail arrived.  What do you guys think?  Those of you who have P.O. Boxes, have you been pleased with them?  I've never had one before, so this is new territory for me.  I just think it would be nice to have the option, like I said, so I wouldn't have to give out my home address if my readers wanted to send me something.

Spirit Week:

   Part of this week's craziness involved Spirit Week (celebrating school spirit and culminating with Homecoming at the end of the week) at the girls' school.  There are four dress-up days, each with a different theme.  This means that I've had to come up with twelve different costumes for the week!  It's been a little crazy, but fun, too. :)  The dress-up days this year are Neon Day, Disney Day (hooray!), Under the Sea Day, and Red, White and Blue Day (our school colors).  I didn't think to get a blog-safe picture for Neon Day yesterday, but when Oldest Gal held up her mirror to her face for one of the pictures today, it gave me an idea.  I mean, I had to share the Disney Day pictures with you guys, right? ;)  

So here are Oldest Gal, Middle Gal, and Little Gal, aka Belle, Anna, and Alice.  Aren't they just adorable? :D

Here's a look at the backs of their costumes.  Oldest Gal's Belle dress was a modified old formal of mine.  Middle Gal's outfit was one she came up with herself.  I provided the black tank top and pink pillowcase cape (both Goodwill finds).  Little Gal's dress was an Alice costume we had packed away from earlier years. :)

   The girls had a great time, and it was super fun making this a special day for them.  However...

Doll Club:

   ...it was just slightly hectic since in December I'd already committed to hosting the doll club at my house today! :}  If I had realized it was the same week as Spirit Week, I probably would have rescheduled.  God is good, though.  I got everything done just in time.  Well, sort of.  The girls were ten minutes late to school. ;)

   Some of you have asked me in the past about my doll club and what we do.  We meet once a month in a different home, and each meeting has a different doll topic.  (My topic this month was Strawberry Shortcake dolls.)  We also usually have a business meeting in which we discuss club finances, vote on things we need to decide or change, and go over minutes from the previous meeting.  It sounds pretty official, but it's more of a laid-back official club. ;)

   The greatest thing about the club is that we each share our knowledge of dolls in different areas, and we all come away from the meetings having learned something new. :)

   Since I was speaking on Strawberry Shortcake and it was February, I decided to go with red, pink, and Strawberry themed decorations.

The table had a pink tablecloth and lots of little goodies on the top.

 

We had Valentine's Day M&Ms...

...peanuts, goody boxes for each guest...

...and strawberry candies. ;)  You'll also notice I found adorable Strawberry Shortcake confetti for the table (thank you, Party City!). :)

I hung some of my Strawberry Shortcake pictures and a mirror on the walls:

I also swapped out the Big Hero 6 calendar that normally hangs in our dining room for Oldest Gal's SSC one, and each of the girls colored a SSC picture for the bulletin board.

Just under the TV, I arranged a display of all of my Strawberry Shortcake dolls and collectibles.  When it came time to share about the history of SSC dolls, I stood beside the display and held each doll as I talked about it.  I also passed the dolls around so everyone could see them up close.

   I had a lot of fun sharing about a line of dolls that are so near and dear to my heart, and the gals in the club seemed to enjoy hearing about them.  After we'd finished the main topic, my mom, who very graciously served as the caterer, fed the ladies her homemade tacos and dessert.  We had a wonderful time visiting and eating together.  My mom is the best.  I couldn't have done it without her today. :)

   So, I think that brings you all up to speed.  Tomorrow, I'll head to the library for more writing time, and then to the dentist's (oh joy), as long as Little Gal stops coughing and actually falls asleep. ;)  Friday, I'll go into the school to help the elementary students with an art project (illustrating their own books).  Saturday, we have a playdate scheduled with friends.  Sunday, I'll sing in a trio in church.  Then the madness begins again next week! :}

   I wanted to let all of you know that beginning next week, I will be really focusing on getting my writing for the conference done.  My goal is to have some blog posts scheduled for you, as well as my vlog for YouTube. (You guys can still leave me and my daughters questions for the rest of this week!  There aren't too many questions so far, so we'd love to get some more.  Details HERE.)  Aside from that, though, I will be taking a bit of a blogging hiatus.  I will not be actively blogging or responding to comments for at least two weeks.  I really need to get my book done so I can make the most of the opportunity I have to go to the writers conference.  I'll have more details on the official plan later, but I just wanted to let all of you know what's on the horizon. :)

   I hope all of you are doing well.  Has your week been as full as mine?