July 05 – July 11 (2021) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Roxy seems to really love her new Christoween bandana!

Several years ago I remember hearing the music of Sophie Ellis-Bextor in a record store (remember those?!) I was immediately hooked and bought her latest album. “Catch You” came up on my iPod the other night and it sounded just as amazing as the first time I heard it!

Monday the 5th – CLEAN DOG AND GRILL DOGS! – Roxy had a mobile grooming appointment at 2, but I got a call early in the morning from the company telling me that their groomer was sick. (Too much 4th of July partying maybe?) But they were going to try to accommodate me later in the afternoon. Michelle dropped by quickly to pick up some un-hemmed Christoween bandanas that she was going to work on overnight on her sewing machine. I got my mail at my mailbox, and then stopped over to my seamstress Shelley’s house to pick up a load of Christoween stuff that she had been working on. I came home and made some hot dogs on the grill. My traditional 4th of July hot dogs were just one day late, but seeing as how it was technically the Monday holiday commemoration of the Independence Day holiday, it still counted. Roxy’s groomer came by later in the evening and cleaned her up very nicely. He even gave Spook a mani/pedi while he was here. I spent the evening putting ‘hang tags’ on the Christoween merchandise I picked up from Shelley earlier in the afternoon. Since I don’t have one of those little retail gizmos that attach the tag to the product with a nylon joiner, I have to hand-stitch them with monofilament. It’s a mind-numbing, tedious pain in the neck, but necessary. I needed to change the format on the plush figures I had made, so I sat down at the computer and started redesigning them. I’d go to CVS the next day and have them printed on glossy photo paper. My Chaney Room was becoming inundated with Christoween merchandise, so I took everything upstairs to the Puppet Room and took over the closet there. I made it my official Christoween merch closet. It will be the staging area for when I open up the on-line catalog in mid-July and start mailing out merchandise. Later I sat down and typed out Wally’s Week, and scanned checks for a bank deposit.

Tuesday the 6th – DAY OF ACCOMPLISHMENT! – After strapping on my walking shoes, I headed over to a place called Kit Kraft to see if they had the right size of wiggle eyes I needed for my Cookie Monster replica I’m working on. No dice, unfortunately. I walked over to the bank to make a deposit, and then I walked over to CVS to get the new ‘hang tags’ printed for the Christoween plush figures. They were having trouble with their photo paper, so I went next door to Panera to have a quick bite while they worked everything out. When I came back to the store they had everything printed and ready to go! I walked home, fed the pets, and then drove to my mailbox to get some packages. I gassed up my Mustang (EEK!) and headed back home. I felt like I had accomplished a lot today! I put some ‘hang tags’ on the Christoween sticker sets, but I’m going to need more plastic sheets to put them in, and more hang tags. Then I made a rookie error that frustrated the heck out of me. I have two different types of plush figures to sell – one is made out of 100% organic cotton sateen, and the other is made from polyester satin. The ‘hang tags’ are marked as such. But I was so elated that the attachment process was going along smoothly, I forgot to pay attention to which type was getting which tag. Sure enough, when all 18 plush figures were finished I realized my mistake! Luckily, only 8 of them had the wrong tags on them. So I clipped off the monofilament, and re-stitched them with the correct tags. (Sigh)

Wednesday the 7th – CHRISTOWEEN CATALOG! – My webmaster Scott Sebring popped over in the afternoon, as did my girlfriend Michelle and we all went to Lancers for lunch. We met up with my friends Edi and Elliot Lurie and had a wonderful time. Then, after a quick stop at Hobby Lobby and Foam Mart, I returned to my house to start work on the on-line Christoween catalog. We spent all day working and I think the catalog is going to be amazing! Later that night I did some additional photography that was needed for the catalog’s graphics. I recorded my nightly auditions and hit the hay.

Thursday the 8th – PUPPETS, PATY’S ‘N’ PREP! – Michelle and I headed over to Paty’s to get some lunch, and then we went over to Alex in Wonderland to pick up some of the puppet work she had done for me. She showed me the progress on dying the Cookie Monster fur, and she showed me the new pink nose she made for my Mahna Mahna Muppet replica. It was gorgeous! Then she gave me the head for my 10% Rowlf Muppet replica that she had covered. I took it with me so I could attach the face fur to the area around the mouth, and pin out the areas on the top of his hair where he needs his longer fur. Soon I’ll take it back to her, she’ll cut out a “cowl” and ears for his head, and then once it’s approved, attach it to the puppet head. Then she’ll transplant the new 10% smaller head onto the original Rowlf that I made back in 2018. Then I’ll attach the nose and eyes permanently and have my pal Sergio Lopez trim up his ears. It should look amazing! We got back to Planet Wallywood and fed the pets, and then we took off for Staples to pick up some more supplies for the Christoween merch. I went to CVS to get a few more ‘hang tags’ printed, and then we walked over to the grocery store to get some supplies. I don’t know if it was the weather, or what, but I was feeling very at peace and almost ‘high.’ It felt like I was walking through the store on marshmallow shoes! I was very serene. I guess I was elated that I had been blessed with so many good days in a row, and had gotten a lot accomplished. I was also very happy at the prospect that things are returning to the normalcy we once knew. I got back home and did my auditions, packaged up some more Christoween stickers, and put everything in the Christoween merch closet! Everything is prepared! I did some last-minute prep for an early session I had scheduled for Friday morning.

Friday the 9th – WONDERFUL WEEK! – First thing in the morning I prepped my home studio for a session to record two radio spots. I signed on to the interface so the remote studio could record me and the director could direct me. The session was literally only a 15 minute session! I had done a fair amount of prep to help expedite this, but the director pretty much got what he wanted in the first few reads I gave him. Fantastic! Then the maids arrived to clean up Planet Wallywood. After they left I did some work around the house and let the weather cool down a bit. When it had fallen back to a pleasant walking temp, I put on my walking shoes and strolled over to Michael’s crafts to pick up a few items. I walked back home and then hopped in the Mustang and drove to Jersey Mike’s to get a sandwich to go. I ate half of it, and since I had gotten up so early in the day, I figured I was allowed a quick nap on The Most Comfortable Couch in the Universe. I got up later to work on 10% Rowlf and Cookie Monster. I’m having a difficult time finding the perfect globe eyes to use on Cookie, so I need to do more shopping around. Later I watched another “Mod Squad” episode and ate the rest of my Jersey Mike’s sandwich.

Saturday the 10th – STREET GANG! – Since I had been up so late working on stuff I slept most of the day away. Early in the evening my friends Scott and Vickie Sebring came over to go to dinner with my pals Officer Mark and James. We all went to Lancers for a delicious dinner, and before we ate we all stopped over at Hobby Lobby to do some quick shopping. I found some plastic Christmas ornaments that may work for Cookie Monster’s eyes, but they seem awfully thin. I think my best bet is to have my effects guy Jim Ojala make a cast of a cue ball and make some eyeballs out of rigid plastic. But we’ll see how my tests come out. After dinner we all went to Planet Wallywood to watch the terrific documentary about “Sesame Street” called “Street Gang.” It was fabulous! Later I started doing some pinning on my 10% Rowlf to find the center line. That way I could start measuring out where the nose and eye holes should go. I also sanded one of the plastic Christmas ornaments to see how it took to primer and paint. Later I made my Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched another episode of “The Saint” on DVD.

Sunday the 11th – BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD! – Once again I pulled another all-nighter and didn’t get to bed officially until around noon. Later I was going to grab dinner with my pal Sara, but she called me last minute and said a stray cat had wandered back to her house and she was going to capture it and take it to a cat rehab place. The cat was in poor health and need some urgent care! So I drove to Carl’s Jr. and got some food to go and came home to do some more work on my Cookie Monster eyes. But the plastic on these ornaments is so thin they cracked very easily. Oh well, back to the drawing board. I guess my best bet is to have Jim Ojala make a mold like he did for my Rowlf nose, and make them out of very sturdy plastic. I also found out that the Cookie Monster support plate for his eyes (which is hidden under his top layer of fur) wasn’t going to work either. I had gotten something called Bass Wood at Michaels and tried that. But it too turned out to be too flimsy. I’ll consult with Jim on other options when I see him. I did my auditions and worked on stuff through the rest of the night.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK