Parcel open, and hey, we got a deck!

To start off: I have a parcel available on Bluebonnet! It’s a small parcel, 2944sqm and 673 prims, and is a corner lot. It is NOT pre-decorated, you get to do all of that. 🙂 We’re a fairly quiet, family friendly sim. If you’re interested, send me an IM in world, or if you have me on plurk, you can private plurk me there and I’ll give more details!

So I’ve been wanting to do something with our backyard. We have the little garden that I have the gnomes and fairies in, but I really wanted a pool and a deck thing. But good grief. Some people in SL are charging ridiculous amounts for a pool area! You’d think we were buying a real pool! Sorry, but $2500L for a big prim with a water prim in it is not happening.

When The Arcade started, Abby really wanted the pool from The Loft. It’s a simple thing, just an above ground round pool. When she got it, she gave it to me. It’s sat out in our backyard for a few days and I kept thinking that I wanted to use it, but I didn’t want to just stick it in the yard. I looked at tons of pictures and searched all over and then suddenly tonight I got inspiration after looking at the hot tub set Trompe Loeil has out at FaMESHed.

So I built with regular ol’ prims and I textured with some old wood floor textures and I yelled when SL would undo my work and I’d do it again and I laughed as my girls almost drowned themselves twice in the ocean and I set out items from different sets and then it was done. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty much just what I wanted.

To celebrate our new deck, we had dinner outside. Birdy got grounded for saying dinner is a once a month event, and Abby got grounded for reasons, and Aldwyn got grounded not liking pickles, but it was a pretty good time to just hang out together as a family and talk about our day. And they all get grounded pretty much daily, so I’m starting to think they’re not taking me seriously.

After our little ones headed off to bed, Aldwyn and I decided to break in the new hot tub and hang out for a while longer.

I definitely see us enjoying our new deck this summer! I have to do a little landscaping and decorating around it still, but I’m pretty darn pleased with myself.

A railing would be good…

We’re busy at work in the backyard tonight so we can finally get things done and ready for a housewarming party. 🙂

Oh… Well, the building of a patio really IS more of a man’s job.

Since the husband has been busy recently, and I didn’t have anything else to really decorate, I finally got off my butt and went to get my stamp rally cards stamped so I could pick up my prizes. Omg, how cute is that dollhouse from Mocha???

The cool part about it is that it comes with all the furniture and I really like some of the pieces so if/when I get bored with what we have in our house now, I can switch out pieces now and then. Too too cute! I really did feel like a little doll running around in there. I love dolls and dollhouses, but they do always tend to remind me of the book “The Dollhouse Murders” that I read when I was younger. Did you all read that? Flippin’ creepy for a kids book, but man, did I love that book. That and “Wait Till Helen Comes.” Eeee! I’m creeping myself out now.

But I think my favorite prize is the Chemical Light AO. I have been running around with the AO on holding the light stick, but I love to just dance with it too.

Pretty!

Oh. I think Al needs some help…

Someone’s junk is someone else’s history.

Earlier today on Plurk, Daniel Voyager showed us this notecard from YadNi Monde of YadNi’s Junkyard fame.

I remember heading to YadNi’s back in the day. YadNi’s, Sarah Nerd’s, The Free Dove…they were heaven to a newbie. But YadNi’s was the first, and when you go, you can even check things out by date, starting from when the Junkyard began in April 2004.

Six years later, we face YadNi’s closing down. And I know what a lot of people are saying. “So? There are better freebies. That stuff is old. There is free stuff everywhere from big designers.”

The thing is? These items are our history. In some ways, it’s like a museum of old SL artifacts. Yes, our legacy might be old rave sticks and system shoes, but if we don’t have somewhere to look at the old items, how will we be able to see how far we’ve come? There’s a reason that museums in the physical world are fun to go to – you get to see life before air conditioning and internet. At YadNi’s, there are even big maps of SL on the walls, dating back to 2002!

I grabbed some items from the April 2004 shelves. I couldn’t help it! You all know what a prefab addict I am and there was a box of free houses. The funny thing is that some of them were “kits.” You couldn’t just get a house, you had to build it yourself. I attempted the September 2003 House In A Box, Log Cabin edition.

Now here’s something that a lot of people don’t know these days: Back a long time ago, before 2006, SL residents had to pay to rez prims. And not only did they have to pay to rez them, they had to pay to keep them out. Can you even imagine?? So on my notecard for the Log Cabin, it said:

“This is a fairly large house, and it will cost you a pretty penny to build. Depending on some customization choices, the actual building can cost as much as L$3000, and your maintenance taxes will be considerable.”

Wow. There really IS no such thing as a free lunch, huh?

Luckily, I’m living in 2010 where I can rez prims for free. [Um, relatively free.] So I pulled out the box and looked at the picture.

Well, that seems simple enough.

The folder contained several pieces for the house, and some extra textures for customizing. I was instructed to rez the base out first, and then lock it down so I wouldn’t accidentally move it. Heck, I wish I’d remembered those instructions before taking the bedroom off of my house the other day and landing in the grass.

Ok, the base is down. Do you see the big red thing on the side? That’s the positioning pin, which is very important. You have to line up the other pieces with their positioning prims to get it just right. In many ways, this is GREAT for newbies because it helps teach building and camming, including the ctrl-alt-left button hold to scroll around the screen. I always just see people do alt-click to zoom. The other one is so much easier to use. Oh, I’m getting off topic.

A few moves and pieces down, and boom! I had a free “vintage” house that would have cost me at least $3000L back in 2003. Geez. I wouldn’t even pay that much for a house now!

And sure, I’m not going to use it. But the fact is, I got it for free and without YadNi’s, I might not have ever found it. It’s history. From the notecard to the build, it’s history.

You know what else is hanging out at YadNi’s that probably some designers would rather forget? Clothes.

Do you know who made those jeans? Nephilaine Protagonist of PixelDolls. And that top? Why, none other than Launa Fauna of L.Fauna/Chai. So many names in these boxes. And you can see their potential.

It’s usually only in places like YadNi’s Junkyard that we can find the old items. We can look at them, laugh, and say, “Wow, what an amazing trip it has been so far! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!”

Beachy!

So remember my plans for a “fiesta” type area? Well, I did what I used to do when building – I just started throwing prims around. I didn’t REALLY know what I wanted, so I just started looking up pictures of Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Puerto Vallarta to see if I could get an idea of what their bars/clubs looked like. The base ended up looking like this.

I started wondering if I was just building too BIG. I mean, I looked so tiny on top of the prims. But then I realized if we have a party on there, it had to be big enough for people to dance, so I stopped worrying too much about it.

Then things just started coming together. I found a cute full perm little tiki bar for free on XStreet, and it was PERFECT. It had a plain little bucket prim that gives drinks, but I pulled things out of that and made a rotating prim with a bar back texture on it to give drinks instead. Then I found free torches and this papasan chair that Quaintly had given me some time ago fit on one of the stages. Then I got some towels for laying out and I had a cooler that gives food and drinks that looked great by the towels. In the end, it came out looking like this.

I’m so pleased with it!! And check it out, but the entire area – towels, papasan chair and all – is only 93 prims. How much do I rock out at low prim? I had given myself a 100 prim budget JUST on the bar/stages area. This means I get to decorate even more!! I’m totally happy.

I kind of forgot how fun it is to build when no one’s expecting anything out of you. 🙂

Fiesta time?

We’re tropical again on the island.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what should be put down on the island. On the whole, I’m happy with it. I’d like to develop the more “forest” part that we have up on the mountain more. I also want a grotto, like the Playboy grotto in a way. 🙂 But now I’m thinking I also want a Latin inspired area. Salsa dances, bright colors, a very party feel. Think margaritas and mambo dancing. I’m trying to think of the best way to do it. Do you guys have suggestions for places with Latin inspired prefabs and furniture? Or a good place to buy a grotto that isn’t going to take up half a month’s tier? LOL I’ve been trying to build one, but every time I get an idea, it ends up not working out very well once I get to building. I never was very good at building big stuff, all my building “talent” lied in accessories.

It’s cold, wet, and utterly dreary here in my RL today and I have an annoying cough. Maybe I’ll go soak up the SL sunshine and work on the island.

Well, it ain’t Habitat for Humanity.

Wow. Plurk drama like a bad mama jama tonight, y’all. lmao If you’re not on Plurk yet…I don’t know how to even explain it. LOL

ANYWAY…In the middle of all the drama kinging & queening over there, I’ve been attempting to build a house.

Yeah, it’s all wood, shut up. LOL I built a little cabin once for the forest Levi and I had over the pit, but that was basically just a box. Check it out, I even put a WALL in there. Barnesworth Anubis, look out! LMFAO

But then I realized, “Hey, I have NO IDEA if this is even the size I want for the part of the island I want to put it!” So I linked it up and took it home and then threw it back down.

Um…it’s a bit bigger than I wanted, but I think the size is still good for a rental home, which is what I hope it becomes. Then I started playing and I put a little deck type thingy on it.

That’s my project for tonight…trying to finish it. Or at least put a roof on the sucker. I want double doors for it and maybe a railing. I have like, infinity textures right now, so I guess it’s just trying to see what goes and what doesn’t.

Oh, and I actually went and bought something today that WASN’T on sale! :-O LOL I’ve been pretty bad lately about buying clothes. As in, I haven’t been. I bought a few things at the Frangipani sale but most of my spending there was on hair. I just haven’t been in the mood to look pretty, I guess. But I saw someone else wearing this sweater and I simply ADORE fall and winter clothes, so I had to have it.

The Rainy Days sweater by Celestial Studios.

It comes with some little hand prims too, but they take my rings off, and I take my rings off for no sweater. I think it looks fine without them. 🙂 And yes, I did try to reattach them but with as low as they fall on the hands, they move weird with my body. I may have to go back and pick up the wine colored one. I just LOVE Celestial Studios!!

Ok…I need a shower [I went for a jog earlier] and then I’m heading in world to work on my house some more.

More shopping & decorating. :)

The weekend has officially come to an end tonight. It was a long weekend for a lot of people, so a long one for me by default. LOL It was an interesting one, that’s for sure. So many changes, moves, etc. But it was a wonderful one for me. I’m going to bed tonight feeling completely loved, and so happy. But I also go to bed with some worry. If you don’t read Cen’s blog or plurk, you are out of the loop. But I’m thinking of her and her dad right now, and they’ll definitely be in my prayers before I go to sleep.

So Levi and I had some time together tonight, but not as much as we’ve had all weekend. And as much time as we’ve spent together since he got back from his trip last week, when he logged out, I was kind of sad. Oh you know…you get used to things quickly when they’re good things. lol It’s just been that the past few days, we’re up talking and exploring and doing things all night until the early morning. I knew we would have to say goodnight early tonight, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. LOL

We’ve been working on our new land, and he built us a really lovely deck and pier. I’m going to set up my fishing on the pier and we have some chairs and pillows on the deck. It was really funny because he was building and I was making a table and we were both really quiet for a long time. Then he said “I can’t believe you’re just sitting there quietly.” LOL But I really was! I caught this picture while he was building. It makes me laugh because it looks like he’s touching my head. And yes, I am in the cushion. It’s not a 2 seater. :-p

We decided to put a kind of beach/mountain house out. I LOVE this house, and it was so fun going shopping with Levi. I will admit to being highly picky, but as I’m finding out, he and I really do have similar tastes in decorating. After we bought it, and some furniture, we ran back home and he set it all up.

It still needs some more decorations inside, and I want to retexture the green of the couches, but all in all I’m extremely happy with it. 🙂

After playing a few games by myself, and looking at one more furniture store, I think I’m ready for bed. 🙂

I have no brain to hand ability!

I’ve mentioned before, most of my builds are happy accidents. I don’t draw out my designs or figure out measurements. I don’t sit there and use math. I grab a prim and I just…build. And usually I’m pretty happy with the result.

But the problem with this is that sometimes the picture I have in my head of what I want comes out completely different when I get going. Take this for example.

When we moved from Orcas, we were gifted with the awesome tub that had been in our skybox. And I wanted to make a gazebo so we’d have this really cool hot tub thing going. But what I built is nothing like I had in my head. LOL So that’s me, sitting in my hard hat and toolbelt, pouting because I have no one to blame for what I made.

And ok, it’s not a BAD build. I have edited it since the picture and started to texture it, which of course helps immensely. [Seriously. Think of the most awesome accessory you have – necklace, belt, whatever. Then think of it in plywood. Not so awesome anymore, huh?] But the fact remains that my skill level at building the bigger stuff kinda sucks. LOL

Today I’m going to run around furniture shopping. Most of the girls in the Ch’Know group have raved about certain furniture designers, and I’m eager to go check out the stores. I’ve never had a reason to before because our skybox was furnished. Actually, what we have now is too, but we’re allowed to change things and there’s a whole open area for me to set up. 🙂

Maybe a shower first. Then shopping!

Belt, Revamped

I think I finished up the pancakes belt tonight, but I’m still iffy on the textures. Probably just being overly picky. I redid the spatula and I’m tons happier with it now than I was before. I sent it out to the group tonight for final testing [they are my guinea pigs most of the time] but no one has said yay or nay to it going for sale, so I’m wondering if they got the notice at all with all the SL issues tonight. I need to also finish texturing a couple of things at my store so I can take down the construction barricades. lol

I’m kind of down tonight [probably that ‘day after christmas’ syndrome] so I’ll leave you all with an old song, but one that’s been in my head the past few days. I’m off to bed now.

Mmmm pancakes!

I’m blessed to be friends with some amazingly talented people in SL. Designers, builders, sculptors, pose makers. They are much more talented than I am at so many things. 🙂 So it’s really awesome for me to go in to a store and see someone wearing one of their designs. I TPed in to a store this morning and a woman was wearing one of Sai’s skully mini skirts. I wanted to tell her “Hey! I know who made your skirt!” But I figured she wouldn’t care. And then I wanted to tell her “Hey! Your butt is sticking WAY out of that skirt!” LOL

So I woke up this morning prepared to finish my belt…which I did, but I am still kind of unhappy with the spatula.

It probably just needs a better texture. That’s all that really turns a prim into something marvelous anyway. A good texture.

Speaking of textures, I still need to texture my store so I can take down the “Under Construction” barricades. LOL I just hate doing it so much! I’m never satisfied with what I put up. Maybe I’ll go actually BUY the textures I want. I love Lauren Fox’s texture store, but I never buy anything. I have about a billion free textures, including some wonderful ones I found for free at SecondWave Apparel, but I’m not sure they’re quite what I want. Of course, if I knew what I wanted… LOL

LOL, oops. I started this post way early in the morning, but I got distracted with YouTube, looking at myself, and Chinese food.