Finding Time for Your Dolls

We all have busy moments in our lives, it sucks more that we can't spend time for our dolls. Though we must finish our missions we wish to fulfill, we also wish at the same time to spend with them.. but balancing time can be so difficult.

..Suckish enough, you can actually forget about your doll at times.. I think I was looking at more items to buy for Haruka, then the week after that.. school work got in the way. Then I totally forgot about what I was actually going to get for Christmas. THANKFULLY, I don't lose my memory that easily..

 

What a great topic! I work full time too, and when I get home I want to spend time with my dolls and chating with on line friends, but it seems that there are never enough hours in the day! Sometimes I almost feel deprived or cheated by time. Most weekday evenings I can allocate one to two hours of free time. Often I want to use that time sewing for my dolls, but when I am exhausted, creativity wanes and I start making mistakes. It seems I'm at my best early in the day. I do have a spouse and a pet child as all of our kiddos are grown and married. We have grandchildren too. It's really hard when you work to balance it all out between family, committments and play time. The posts I'm reading here are really enlightening and I appreciate them all! Thanks for letting me share!
Jan

 

I can totally relate! I try to play for a few minutes before bed or to work with one of my resin buddies perched on my desk when I work at home, but it is hard to find time. Strangely, I find that just glancing at them on my way through the room or re-posing one is relaxing and gives me a tiny moment of fun in my workaday world. I can't have a large, noticeable doll in my office (I'm a department chair at a university), but I have been known to have an Elfdoll flower fairy or Nobility Scon on my desk. A little whimsy helps so much with stress and keeping things in perspective.

 

i don't have a full time job but i do have school and it is a pain (im home schooled) my days can get so nuts that i will be in school from 6:30 a.m. till 9:00p.m. and for example last week and this week i did not get weekends lol. I find time for my dolls by each night at least reposing them and combing out their hair (still no bjd 225/520 and collecting her thing each day XD so until she comes my two jukucoture girls get my love)

 

Spending time with my doll will be challenging, especial when I go back to college. But I am going to schedule a hour of me time each day that I can do what every I want, including playing with my BJD. Other than that. I'll probably take her with me when I pull an all nighter in one of the always open building on my campus. ^_^

 

You are home school..That's really awesome, I was home school up until high school. How long are you going to be home schooled for?

*sorry for going off topic*

 

I feel a little guilty that I haven't spent much time with Danior. He's been spending a lot of time in his box. He's always in there because I don't want him to get dusty/be exposed to sunlight and he only wears his white boxers when he's in his box so taking him out = putting his clothes + socks + shoes on (sometimes I don't bother with the socks and shoes xD). I'm too tired when I get back from work and when I do have some free time it's usually during the day but then sun = a big no no. LOL. Mostly, I just take him out at night and plop him somewhere where I can see him while I'm checking my mails, browsing through the forum etc. ^^ When I get hold of a proper camera, I'll definitely be spending more time with my dolls.

 

I don't work outside my home any more, but I still seem to have trouble making time for dolls. My housework has strangely expanded since I am at home all day and family members have become more demanding because they think I have nothing to do with my time. Weird.

 

It can be really hard, especially this last semester was hard on me. And I had a new girl arrive during then! This past semester I was a full time student (18 credit hours, because I'm stupid) worked (12 hours a week) and was the stage manager for our past show (I'm a theatre major, so we really have no time to ourselves) and as the Stage manager I had to be at rehearsals from 6:30 until 11:00 or later in the night.

So I had classes from 9:00am until 3:30pm
Then worked (varried on the days, but it was ussually 4 days a week, 3 hours each)
Rehearsals from 6:30pm until 11:00pm or so

And somewhere in there I had to find time to practice piano each day (at least 30 minutes a day)

Eating? No I didn't get to do that. I had breakfast before class then sometimes got to have dinner before rehearsals, but not always.

But I mean, if I didn't have time to eat... then I guess my dolls will understand... I hope.

 

I'm a teacher, which is basically a 24 hour/7 day a week job if you consider the amount of work, preperation and follow up that follows us home at the end of each day... I try to give my boys time on the weekends...but even the weekends are catch-up time with exam papers that need my attention in addition to being on a martial arts national team...I end up only being able to give them full attention during school holidays... which makes me feel horrible and not pay attention to them for long streches of time, but I do what I can for now until I can figure out a balance between the three! :S

 

I'm a full-time student with a work load that usually keeps me in the college labs until 8:00 at night... And on top of that I frequently take on free-lance jobs that I do in the evenings.
I think the point, more or less, is that *everyone* leads busy lives. I suppose it really depends on what you think "spending time" with your resin folks really entails. For me, merely looking at them, smiling as I adjust the angle of their heads and fuss with the draping of one of their coats as they sit on their shelf makes me happy. They're not 'living', like my cat, so it's not technically possible to actually neglect them that way... I appreciate the beauty that they bring simply by existing in my room, and that's enough for me most of the time. Sometimes I'll take one and sit it by my computer while I work in the wee hours. Silent, undemanding companionship is one of my favorite things about BJDs, actually... Call me weird.
... Photoshoots, on the other hand, are far and few occurrences for me. They take a lot of time to set up and actually do. Which is why I don't tend to do a lot of them.
-V

 

I'm lucky I guess because I work in this hobby/ with the shop, but I really don't have alot of time to play with my doll...I bring her to the shop with me and she sits about while I help customers, pack orders, answer email.

I sometimes work as much as anywhere from 8-14 hours in the shop, it varies day to day. On weekends and part of my spare time in the evening is answering email, monitoring the website and ebay store, and of course doing bookwork, paying bills, and the ho-hum stuff of the house, such as laundry, cooking meals, etc. On the day Ir eceived my doll I had to change clothes and go back out again. There just isn't enough hours in the day to do the things I would like to....so I prioritize especially if I want to take photos or do a diorama scene....

an example is we were snowed in this past saturday- not getting to the shop because of the hazardarous conditions, I sewed a gown for her, which I knew I wouldn't have that much time again for awhile.

 

Most of my time is divided up between work (full time), taking care of the house/chores, and my other hobbies. If I want to spend time with my dolls I have to plan it in advance. I'll say to myself "OK, Saturday's going to be a beautiful day! I'm taking X and Y to the park for some pictures."

I don't feel bad for the dolls. They obviously don't care. But I do feel frustrated that I don't have enough time. I like them and want to play with them. It just doesn't always happen.

 

I can only find a little bit of time at the weekends and in the school holidays I have. School and schoolwork, dancing, hanging out with friends, volunteer work and dozens of over things seem to take up all my time. I'm going to have to drop a few hobbies when I get a job. o.o (Not BJDs though.)

 

I work PM shift (3-11 PM) between 5-6 days a week with very irregular days off. So when I'm done with work I try to catch up on the computer and on the actual days off I have to struggle to do things with my dolls and my local groups. All I really do as of late is change the clothes around and rearrange where they sit and tiny things like that. There's not as much playing as there used to be. Heck the last time I remember going out for a photo shoot and do a lot of pictures was back in September early October. Sometimes I feel bad about not doing the projects I keep saying I'll do for them, but such is life.

 

I leave my dolls in my room, I sleep with a few propped up on pillows lol. Mostly I just look at them these days. Dress em up. On days off I might find time to take a few photos. I don't mind that, though. I find myself thinking about them less (not much less OTL), and inturn stressing about them less ^^

 

Hahaha, another uni student here, only I'm on residence this year. School work easily takes a good 3/4 of my time, and I'm certainly not a recluse so socializing takes the other 1/4. I won't bring Judas with me, for several reasons. In the summer I work mon-fri and including transit times it's about 7am till 8:30 pm before I even get to sit down at home and eat. =u= I wake up at like 6:30 am for that. At that point I'm exhausted and just collapse or relax with a little tv before doing so. 8V Weekends are reserved for appointments or errand runs. I love Judas to bits, and I do feel a little guilty not spending as much time with him as a lot of other owners do with their dolls :< It's a hell of a lot easier for the "under 17" age group to find time for their dolls, I think. :'D I miss those days haha.

I guess I just find chunks of free time in my schedule and try to avoid booking them with anything else.

But, I know I'm not at the point in my life where I can spare tons of time for him, :\. Maybe when I'm a retired doctor instead harhar 8Y

 

*sigh* If I had a good answer to this question, there wouldn't be six months between photostories.


Actually... now that I think more on this I wonder if that's partly why I always have them all OUT and clustered around me. At least I can LOOK at them if I'm too tired to do anything else.

 

I'm 16.
I don't have a job.
I'm homeschooled.
And the few friends that I have are off to collage.

So, over all I have hours on my hands to give Xavier attention. When I'm not giving him attention I am mostly drawing, playing video games, or trying to work on school work. So, yeah. I have way to much time on my hands.
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I don't really have a lot of time for my dolls.....a lot of things that I would like to do with my dolls, but I can't....but I need to work, otherwise I can't even afford them in the first place.........