behind again

Hello folks!

I am really sorry for not posting daily. My goal is to try and post an entry on here every day, but I'm not doing very well.

So, what's new in your neck of the woods?

Me? Glad you asked. Solomon is eating his Lysine treats, and so is Greta. LOL His herpes is clearing up, his eye (left one) still waters but not as much. His ears look great, the 2 scratches in front of his right ear are healing up wonderfully, praise the name of the LORD. For some reason, however, he's still afraid of when I sing. This morning I was singing along to MercyMe's "Word Of God Speak" and was singing at about a lower than normal volume. He took off like a shot and hid in the dining room. Why? I'm asking the Lord for an answer, and a solution, since the collar isn't helping with that.

Music. OK you didn't ask but I'll tell you anyway. No, my parcel from Canada did not arrive but it could be due to customs problems. I just learned that mail from coming into the US is being scrutinzed by customs....why I do not know....perhaps terrorist threats...perhaps due to activity in the MidEast....only the LORD knows. So, in my frustration, last night I ordered 3 more tracks from Sweet-Music (they're in Canada) and paid $26.50 for Priority Mail delivery. My last order, I had them ship via Air Mail which normally takes about 10 to 15 days (it's been 11 days now).

Bear in mind, Canada Post is not reliable, and I really hate ordering anything from Canada because of their lax attitude regarding delivery. I'm not blaming the Canadian sellers or companies, but I am blaming Canada Post. I've heard stories about how their staff is overworked and underpaid, and this is why the inefficient service. I heard someone tell me that some of their carriers don't feel like delivering certain things so they just throw them in a pile and get away with it. I will say this: if my Air Mail parcel is actually lost, and not just held up in Customs, it will be the third time something of mine was lost by Canada Post. I have one item I've waited on for four years. Another one has been at least one year or more. This latest order and my selection of Priority Mail delivery will help me decide if this method works better or not. If not, I will have no other choice but to order stuff to be shipped via FedEx or a method not involving the Canadian postal service and see if that works. I know to some I'm probably making a big deal out of this. Why the big deal? Because the items I ordered are out of print and hard to find. If I could find them from a US seller I'd go that route instead, but since sometimes Canadian sellers have them, I use them. The items I ordered this time via Air Mail were accompaniment tracks - "When Love Draws Near" by Michele Pillar, and "When The Time Is Right" by Ginny Owens. If these tracks don't arrive, I will have an accompaniment track made to "When Love Draws Near" by mycustomtracks. I already had a track to "When The Time Is Right" but this one just ordered is a better version. Yes, I'm that passionate and serious about my accompaniment tracks.

Good news, I got one more of the songs from my accompaniment order with mycustomtracks. Wooohoo!!! I had them recreate the accompaniment to "Still" by Watermark. They released a track in the early 2000s, but I got tired of hunting for it and decided to just have it recreated. Now I have it and it sounds great. Love this song.

Found another artist or 2 offering accompaniments also: JJ Heller, and Downhere. JJ Heller is a Christian folk artist, and since I'm not big on that genre (it's good music, just not my style) I only had 1 or 2 songs I really liked of hers. I ordered & received a track to "All I Need". I also have tracks to "Your Hands" and "What Love Really Means". I wanted to order her track to "What Love Really Means" but her had no background vocals, so that nixed that. Yes I have a track to "What Love Really Means" but it's by Daywind, the people known for adding instruments to songs. I discovered Daywind has an (IMO) annoying habit of adding a cymbal buildup to the intro of the slower songs. Whenever possible I try to edit it out via Audacity. But in the case of "What Love Really Means" it was not possible, so the annoying cymbal buildup intro stays...for now. Maybe when I have more money I will just go ahead and order "What Love Really Means" from JJ's site.

As for Downhere....they have 99 cent accompaniment tracks to their songs& also package deals. I already had a few tracks by them so instead of getting the package deal, I ordered tracks to the rest of their stuff. Like Jason Gray, the tracks from the 1st album have background vocals, but the tracks from their 2nd album do not. Why they did this I don't know, but I may be able to fix this with some remixing. ;) (heehee)

DOLL STUFF. At last I got my htf rare MW Dawn case!!! It is gorgeous. And STINKY. Whoever had this case must've smoked a few packs of cigs, cuz everything reeks of cigarettes. Upon inspection, the case needs a mirror replaced, a good wipedown, a few dryer sheets thrown in (to help absorb the cigarette smell), and I will try to wash the clothes. One of my friends online told me they saw pics of some htf MW outfits in the lot. They were right! Ohh, it's finds like this that make doll collecting so much FUN!

What's that? Pictures? You want pictures? You shall have them...as soon as I can find my camera, set up my tripod (I just got one from the dollar store), and take care of things....patience is a virtue. Take it from someone who knows. LOL