A Few Updates and Upcoming Posts

Hey everyone! Hope your week is going well. :) I thought I should take a moment and talk about what the next month or so will look like on this blog.

Since I officially have someone interested in my books now, it's vital that I use as much of this last month and a half before school gets out to wrap up, refine, and rework my first book. As you can probably imagine, creating and editing a book is much easier when the girls are not home and I'm free from distractions. Even if that wasn't the case, I don't want to neglect my family while shooting for the chance to become a published author. It's going to take me a while to find that balance of carving out time for myself while still meeting my family's needs. Which is why I'm not exactly looking forward to summer just yet. ;)

Today I got 2,200 something words typed on my book and made great progress on my map. (Yes, my dear Kickstarter backers, I haven't forgotten you, and your maps are coming...I promise!) :} It was a great reminder of what I can accomplish when I sit down and discipline myself. Many writers I know would give anything to have the amount of free time I have.

So, because these next couple of months are crucial for my book writing time, things will be a bit slower here on Never Grow Up. My goal is to put up one "real" post (i.e. a post other than my "Hey, there's a sale on such-and-such's website!" posts) per week. There may be weeks where even that is a challenge, and I'll have to compromise with a quick "Hi, I'm still alive" post. ;) Please be patient with me. I don't want to waste this incredible opportunity.

I have a slew of draft posts I still have to sift through. I've waited so long on some of them that it seems rather pointless to publish them. Some of you might still find them interesting, though, even if it's not a doll or toy that's currently hot on the market. Maybe every once in a while I'll post the topics of three draft posts at a time and have you guys vote on which one you'd be most interested in. Would any of you enjoy that?

This week's post is in progress. I took a ton of pics for it tonight. Need a hint to tide you over? It's a Zelf-themed post. ;)

Next week's post will be a fun review (and giveaway!) of some adorable 18" doll clothes that were sent to me for review.

And for those of you who have been wondering, Tess and Maggie's last post is officially in the works, too. I'm a little frustrated with myself. I knew that continuing Jane Austen and Unicorns was getting to be too much, so I purposely planned on ending it last year before I started getting too far behind.

Ahem. Yeah, that was a brilliant plan. :}

Anyway, keep an eye out for Tess and Maggie's last post sometime this week. I'll miss "helping" them with their blog, but it's definitely for the best.

I guess that's about all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. I hope to get caught up on blog comments tonight, and I'd love to tackle some blog emails this week too. Aaarrghh!! I'm so behind!

Talk to all of you again soon. :)

P.S. Random fun thing for the day. Emily at The Toy Box Philosopher blog did a really fun review today similar to my Strawberry Shortcake Through the Years post. She focused on Blueberry Muffin. I LOVED the fact that she included an actual blueberry muffin in the review. You can see her post HERE. Be sure to stop by her blog and check it out. :)

A Howdy from Beast'sbelle

Hey guys!  Wow, this day did not turn out quite the way I had planned, but I got a lot done.   Dishes, laundry, devotions, exercise, and coloring and a movie with the girls...all in one day!  Plus, my house is even clean.  Am I Superwoman, or what? ;)

Hubby is out of town training for work this week.  He's finally moving up to a part-time driving position at UPS (hooray!!), so he's taking a class from now through Thursday.  We're still not sure how many hours he'll have or how we're going to make ends meet, but it's encouraging that things are progressing. :)  I'll keep you guys posted on that front.

As you can imagine, getting Hubby packed up and holding down the fort this week has kept me on my toes.  I'm slowly working on answering comments and catching up on email responses.  Please be patient with me!  I apologize once again to anyone who has emailed me in the past several months...I got super behind and am still struggling to get a response off to everyone. :{

In other news, I was unable to do a "real" blog post today because Maggie spent most of the day on the computer, getting her long overdue blog post up.  Since I was keeping her on task most of the day, my creative energy is pretty much spent, so I'll have a review up for you later this week.  You can go read Maggie's post HERE to tide you over if you like. ;)

Finally, I'm super excited because this coming Friday will mark my FOUR YEAR BLOGOVERSARY for Never Grow Up!  Wow!  I can't believe it's already been four years!  I have a little giveaway planned, so stay tuned. :)

I guess that's about all for now.  My eyes are crossing and I'm paying too much attention to "The King and I" on Spotify instead of typing, so I think it's time to head to bed...without Hubby.  Maybe I'll sleep with the light on. ;)

I'll leave you with this amazing video my brother brought to my attention.  This is a project animated and headed up by Glen Keane, one of my all-time favorite Disney animators, called "Duet".  You can see it HERE.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. :)

You can also see the behind the scenes video on Duet HERE.

Talk to you guys again soon!

New Post on Tess and Maggie's Blog

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to let you know that Tess and Maggie finally have a new post up on their blog, which includes a detailed look at their newly arranged doll rooms. :)  You can read it HERE.

Enjoy! :)

Will Be Gone for a Bit...

Hey guys!  Just wanted to let you know that things might be a bit quiet over here for the next week.  I'm heading to my aunt's for the week to celebrate Christmas with my family. :)  I'm bringing dolls with me, so I'm sure there will be a few pics to share with you after Christmas. ;)

To tide you over, you can check out the new post at Tess and Maggie's blog HERE.  Belle also FINALLY finished her answer posts on her blog.  You can see Part 2 HERE and Part 3 HERE.  Enjoy!

And now, I've got to get going!!  It's almost time for our church Christmas program, and I'm Mary. :)  Pray for me, if you think of it.  I still have a lingering cough and I'm pretty stuffed up, but I have a solo and some dialog.  I want the Lord to be glorified in spite of my sniffles. ;)

Talk to all of you sometime next week.  I hope you have a wonderful, Merry Christmas!! :D

New Posts on My Other Blogs and a Few More Updates

Hey everyone!  I'm home sick from church today with an annoying cold. :}  I realized this morning that I'd told you I would link here when there were new posts up on Jane Austen and Unicorns and on Belle's Bulletins, and I never did.

Tess and Maggie just posted about their Ladies Retreat trip yesterday.  You can read all about it HERE.

Belle has two new posts up.  The first is HERE and the second is HERE.  If you've been following her attempts to work up the courage to sing to her husband over the past year or so, you'll definitely want to read both. :)

This month I'm hoping to do some re-evaluation of my blogging: what works and what doesn't, the best schedule for all three blogs, and that sort of thing.  I also hope to get caught up on my email responses.  I'm dreadfully sorry to all of you who have emailed me in the past couple of months.  Aside from the few emails I happened to read at the right time when I could sit and respond to them right away, I've been horrible at getting back to people.  Please be patient with me...I'll try to get back to everyone as soon as possible.

I've also decided to cancel my Twitter account, which will happen later today.  When I added Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest at the beginning of this year, it was kind of on a trial basis.  I've found that I'm getting a bit overwhelmed with everything I'm trying to do.  I love Pinterest, so that's staying. ;)  Facebook works much better for me than Twitter at this point, and I don't feel that I have the proper time to invest to make my Twitter account really useful, so out it goes.  I do apologize to my 12 followers there.

You'll probably notice a definite focus this month.  I have a lot of Lalaloopsy and My Little Pony posts that have been accumulating, so I've officially decided that October will be the "Lala-Pony-Palooza" month. ;)  I'll have other posts too, but I'd really like to try to get these posts out.  I had originally thought about doing a week of Lala posts and a week of Pony posts, but to be honest, posting every day is just a bit too much for me right now. :}  So stay tuned for more news on that.

I am also determined to update the "Meet My Dolls" and "Meet My Friends" pages on this blog and the other two.  I've decided that I'm going to move the page with my dolls' personality profiles to "Jane Austen and Unicorns", as that is the character blog (don't tell Maggie I'm talking like this...she'll get all huffy about the fact that I'm talking like I write their blog). ;)  On the "My Dolls" page here on NGU, I'll just have pictures and information about where I got them.  The "Meet My Friends" page on Belle's Bulletins REALLY needs to be updated, as many of you have mentioned, so that's another goal for this month. As you can imagine, these projects will take some time, but I hope by the end of the month to have everything all finished. :)

As (I think) you already know, Belle's Bulletins will also draw to a close this month (although the last few posts may stretch into the beginning of November).  It's been a wonderful journey with Belle and her friends, but she and I are ready to move on. :}  Be sure to stay tuned over there so you don't miss any of the last posts!

One last thing.  I realize that I'm constantly stating what I'm "going to do" on this blog and not necessarily following through with it.  (Nothing is more embarrassing to me than reading back through past posts and finding all the things I said I was "going to do" and realizing that I never did them.) :}  So basically, take this post as "Beast'sbelle's Goals" for the month of October, not necessarily "things Beast'sbelle shall accomplish for sure". ;}

I guess that's about it for now.  Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone! :)

New Posts from My Vinyl Friends ;)

Okay, my plan to get my posting done yesterday didn't go so well, but there is good news for those of you who follow my dolls' blogs.  Belle, Hayden, Tess, and Maggie all posted on their blogs, so you have lots of new reading material while you wait for my newest post. ;)  No wonder I couldn't get anything done...I couldn't tear them away from the computer. ;)

Here are the links:

Family Portraits by Belle (Belle's Bulletins)

Literary Ladies Society March Meeting by Hayden (Jane Austen and Unicorns)

The Missing Piece by Tess (Jane Austen and Unicorns)

A New Room by Maggie (Jane Austen and Unicorns)

Enjoy! :)  And may I just say a quick thank you for 220 followers and over 389,000 pageviews?  I'm so blessed to have such great readers.  You make my day. :)

Be back soon! :)

Post Coming Soon!

Hey guys!  Sorry I haven't gotten my full trip post up yet.  I hope to have it up within the next day or so.

In the meantime, Emma got her posts up on Tess and Maggie's blog, so you can read those to tide you over until I get my act together. ;)  You can read the first of her posts HERE.  Enjoy!

Also, Elliebob, thanks for the tag.  I'm not sure when I'll get to it, but I'll see what I can do. ;)

Talk to all of you soon! :)

Vacation Pics!! :)

Hey, everyone!  Thanks for your patience in waiting for this post.  Yesterday I was pretty wiped out from the trip.  Plus, I had an appointment scheduled for my middle daughter.  And once I got back from that, somehow in the middle of working on my posts, I managed to zoom out 67%, so everything on Blogger was super tiny.  Being the non-tech-savvy person that I am, I could NOT figure out how to fix it until Hubby got home late.  So instead of blogging, I watched a movie, fixed dinner, put kids to bed, and slept. :}

Anyway, now that you've read through a pretty much pointless paragraph, on to the real post! :)

We had an absolutely wonderful vacation.  Hubby was able to get all 6 days off, which is a huge luxury for him.  It was wonderful to be all together for the whole time. :)  

As usual, my mom, dad, and aunt came too.  My brother, his wife, their little daughter, and my brother's wife's cousin (got that?) were able to come on Saturday and Sunday.  We all stayed with our dear friends who live over there.

Here are Rachel, Charlie, Robby, and Belle (along with Charlie's Buzz Lightyear action figure), all ready to go! :) (By the way, if you'd like to see Rachel and Charlie's take on the trip, you can read about it on Tess and Maggie's blog HERE.  For Belle's perspective, check out her post on Belle's Bulletins HERE.)

As always, the trip over was full of beautiful scenery.  I couldn't help taking a few pics as we went. :)

The day of our arrival we spent getting unpacked and settled in at our friends' house.  We didn't go anywhere else until the next morning.  Our destination was one of my very favorite beaches:  Moonstone Beach.  It's surrounded by lovely rocks and greenery, and also is a great beach for the kiddos because it's so long and flat. :)

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Beautiful Moonstone

This tree and shrub-covered rock is absolutely humongous!  My dad actually climbed it this year...and paid for it the next day.  His legs were really sore! :}  I can't really talk, though, because as they say...like father, like daughter.  But more on that later. ;)

As you can see, the dolls had a great time, too. ;)  I brought Rachel, Charlie and Rontu, and Mom brought her Jess doll.  Some of you may remember that Rachel and Jess were our Craigslist finds from Eureka last year, so we thought it would be fun to let them go back to their home town  for a week. ;)

And here's a Doll Blooper! ;)  Charlie was being very stubborn and kept falling down right as I would take the picture! :}  At one point, Charlie fell backwards and Jess fell forwards at the same time! :(  Ah, the trials of a doll photographer! ;) 

Belle and Robby seem to be enjoying their honeymoon. ;)

The day was so lovely that I literally could not stop taking pictures of my surroundings.  Moonstone Beach always inspires me.  Thank you Lord, for giving us such a beautiful world to enjoy! :)

Sunday morning we ended up staying home, because my little niece kept most of us up all night (she was NOT in the mood to sleep, thank you very much!).  In the afternoon, though, we ventured into Downtown Eureka to get coffee (well, most of us...I still can't stand the stuff!) and do some shopping.  I didn't get any pics because it was raining pretty hard and I was tired and wanted to just live that day instead of documenting it.  :}

When we got back to the house, our hostess set up this elegant tea party for my three daughters.  As you can imagine, they were all thrilled and enjoyed "acting like princesses".  My youngest reminded everyone of proper etiquette as she ate. ;)

On Monday, we did some running around.  We went to what is now one of my new favorite spots in Eureka:  "The Toy Box" toy store in Henderson Center.  It was a huge toy store with high quality toys, but it also had some nice, small, inexpensive things for the girls to choose for souvenirs. :)

Charlie and Rachel enjoyed themselves there, too.  They especially liked the Calico Critters.  I think they were hoping for a Calico Critter family to take home, but I was trying to be good this trip, so I opted for some smaller goodies for them. ;)

We also visited some thrift stores and found a few goodies.  I'm hoping to get pics of all of my souvenirs today or tomorrow so that I can share them with you. :)

One of the things we found during our Downtown Eureka shopping trip was Addy's Cookbook. :)  My oldest daughter saw this recipe for fried apples and decided she really wanted to try it.  Mrs. S (the lady of the house and our gracious hostess) was really sweet and helped Oldest Gal prepare fried apple dessert for everyone there.  They were really good, and Oldest Gal was beaming with pride. :)

On Tuesday, our last full day there, we drove over to Trinidad to make our traditional stop at "Windan Sea", a very cute little shell shop we've been going to since I was a girl.  But first we stopped at Murphy's, the market across the street, to eat some lunch and use the bathroom. :) 

Here are the dolls posing on the front steps.  Normally I take a picture of the whole store, but there was a ton of construction going on, so it wasn't nearly as pretty as it usually is. :}

Another of our Tuesday stops was the Samoa Dunes.  I got some great shots of the bay as we went. :)

Samoa Dunes is another great kid-friendly beach.  (It's doll-friendly, too, as you can see from the pic above.) ;)  Hubby and several of the others fishes on the shoreline (you can see Hubby in the background of this pic...see the little guy in the waves?  That's him!), while my daughters played in the sand and ran in the waves.  Meanwhile, I got some great doll photos. :)

The waves were breathtaking!

Robby and Belle sharing a quiet moment on the beach. ;)

More pretty waves! :)

All too soon, it was Wednesday morning, and time for us to go.  It's always sad to go, but we know we'll be back again next year, Lord willing! :)

Before heading for home, we made our traditional stop at the carousel my daughters love to ride.  It was fun but freezing cold!!  My toes were nearly numb by the time we were done. :}

And here are a few parting shots I got of the Trinity River as we headed home (we had to stop to rearrange pillows in the backseat for 3 tired, crabby girls, so it was a great chance to snap a few photos!):

Just one more thing before I go.  One of the other things I hoped to accomplish on this trip was to get some photos for my books I'm working on.  Parts of them are set in the Trinidad/Eureka area, so I wanted to get some photos to inspire me and help me visualize what I was describing.  So here are a few sneak peaks...I can't reveal their significance just yet, so I'll leave you to your own imagination! :)

Oh, and remember that comment I made about "like father, like daughter"?  Well, to get this shot I had to do a lot of downward climbing over fallen logs, moss, and ferns.  I haven't been that great at exercising recently...and let's just say that I had the same sore, rubbery leg problem as my dad the day after I took these photos. ;)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! :)  It will take me a while to get the house back in order after our trip, but by next week I hope to have some more posts for you. :)

Back From Vacation But All Tuckered Out! ;)

Hi guys!  Just wanted to let you know that my family and I got home safely from our vacation.  We had a great time over there like we always do. :)

I have lots of pics to upload, as do Charlie, Rachel, Belle and Robby, but we're all too tired to do much tonight.  Stay tuned for posts about our trip coming later this week! :D

And just to whet your appetite and keep you interested:

Talk to all of you again soon...after I get some zzzs! ;)

Updates! :)

Hey everyone!  Sorry it's been a while since I've posted.  Like I warned you, things have gotten crazy and have prevented me from posting as often as I'd like to. 

My clavicle and shoulder area are feeling a lot better this week, so that's an answer to prayer.  I just need to be a little more careful about how I do things for a while. :}

I'm hoping to get a few posts for each of the blogs done sometime tomorrow or the next day, so you can check back for that.  In the meantime, you can head over to Tess and Maggie's blog to see Maggie's Thanksgiving post.  :)

I'm so anxious to get my doll rooms all set up for Christmas!  We got our tree up but as a result ended up doing a lot of rearranging.  My house is a complete disaster area...except for the kitchen, which I cleaned today. :)  When I'm feeling stressed, I go stand in my kitchen and pretend that the rest of my house looks as nice as it does. ;)  As you can imagine, I'm trying to get a bit more of my house taken care of before diving into my doll rooms.

I've also been doing some eBay and Craigslist listings.  I wasn't planning on selling anything in the month of December (I must be crazy!!), but my mom and I had a few things come our way that we thought would sell well this time of year.  If any of you are interested, you can check out my eBay auctions HERE. 

So, all that to say...hang in there!  You'll be hearing from me again soon. :)  For now, I'm off to get the kids in bed, pay bills, work on Christmas cards, clean my house...yeah.  It's gonna be a long week. :}

Maggie' Memos: Commandeering Mama's 200th Post!! >:}

Welcome to the 200th post of Never Grow Up.  For those of you who don't know me, I'm Maggie...you know...Mama's doll that she talks about ALL the time since I'm her favorite doll in creation?  At least, that's the way it SHOULD be.  No doubt it's "Emma this" and "Tess that" and "the other day Charlie..." 

 I'm telling you, I don't get nearly the amount of credit I deserve!  If you have no clue who I am, I've included the pic above for reference.  

Anyway, you're probably wondering why Mama (or Beast'sbelle, as most of you know her) isn't writing this post.  Well, she kept complaining about what a long week she'd had, and when she made the discovery that this was her 200th post, she got all stressed because she didn't have anything special planned.  So, being the kind, thoughtful soul that I am, I decided to take over for her so she wouldn't have to think of something unique.  Besides, it's a free plug for our BLOG.  (Hint: click the link to travel to the most awesome blog known to mankind!  Hmm, maybe that should be "dollkind".)  And it's gonna be a long time before we hit 200 posts over there.  What can I say?  I'm a bit impatient. :}

[I have to insert something here before my best friend has a conniption.  Tess wanted me to be sure to let people know that Mama is pronounced "Muh-mah", or however you say it in those countless, boring Jane Austen movie adaptations she keeps trying to force on me.  Why this is relevant or in any way significant is beyond me, but I'm tired of being poked every five seconds and being told "Don't forget to tell them..."  Yeah, Tess acts all sweet and shy, but she can be really persistent when she has her mind set on something!  Okay, moving on to the ACTUAL post.]

By the way, did you like my title?  I just love the word "commandeering"...it makes me think of Captain Jack Sparrow. :)

So, let's see, perhaps you'd like to know a little bit more about me?  I mean, who wouldn't? :)  I love excitement and adventure.  Superheroes and pirates are amazing, and someday I'd really like to find Narnia or Middle Earth.  If I could meet any fictional character, it would be a hard choice between Aslan, Aragorn, and Iron Man. :)  I detest any story that consists of people sitting around and talking about balls and gossip and Mr. Darcy.  And if one more person (or doll) tries to convince me that vampires and werewolves are romantic heroes, I'm gonna have to hit them over the head to see if I can bring them back to rational thinking. 

Also, when it comes to movie adaptations of classic stories, may I just say that you should always READ THE BOOK FIRST!!!  Movie adaptations are so lame compared to the original books they came from.  They always get something wrong in Hollywood.  I mean, don't even get me STARTED on Faramir and Treebeard or my complete annoyance with what they did to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

Besides movies and books, I love climbing trees, exploring the outdoors, and blogging.  My two closest friends are my best bud Tess and Rachel, the newest member of our doll family.  My dream is to be a journalist someday.  That's enough about me, though.

Our blog, Jane Austen and Unicorns (hint: that was another link, just in case you missed the first one!), just celebrated its one year Blogoversary.  (I know Mama's did recently too.)  Tess and I have really enjoyed blogging together.  So far, we're up to 49 followers.  Our longtime goal was 50 followers, so we're really excited to be that close.  I know 49 isn't as impressive as Mama's 91 followers.  (She said she was up to 92, but as you can see, she's at 91 now.  She says she lost a follower.  Hmph.  Likely story.)

Anyway, we'd love to get to 50 followers, so if any of you want to see what REALLY happens at Mama's house, you can follow OUR BLOG. (A third link, just in case...you know.  You might have missed the first two or something.) ;)

I know Mama is working on some really fun posts, so be sure to stop by again in the next week or so.  She's got some great things planned.  I also happen to know that we have some great things lined up at Jane Austen and Unicorns , too (sorry, I just couldn't resist!). :}  You'll get updates on all that's been happening around here. 

Oh, I think I hear Mama coming!  Um, bye everyone!  Happy 200th post, Never Grow Up!

Oh, man, she saw me at the computer!  I've gotta finish this up quick!  This is Maggie Wilson, signing off. :)

    

Tess and Maggie's Giveaways!

I just drew the name of the winner this morning for the poster of Charlie. :)  For the rest of this week, the giveaway prizes will be wallet-sized fashion doll posters featuring characters from my Belle's Bulletins series.  So if you enjoy Belle's Bulletins, this is the week you don't want to miss! :)  Today's giveaway is for fans of Robby!

Tomorrow (Tuesday), I'll be giving away a poster of Ben and Belle, so if you think they make a better pair, you can enter this giveaway. ;)

  Wednesday there will be a poster of Belle with both Robby and Ben (for those of you who can't make up your minds)...

...and Thursday's giveaway will be for a poster of Belle and Rapunzel (for those of you who don't care about Robby and Ben at all!). ;)

 A winner will be chosen every day, so be sure to check back each day and enter! :)  HERE  is the link to Tess and Maggie's current giveaway. :)