Doll-A-Day 20-19 #259: Another Anniversary Story and Victorian Ladies Rosaly Bride Doll

  Today is our 30th anniversary. Ken and I are in Savannah Georgia today celebrating. I'll get to the doll of the day in a moment. But first I have another story for you. In previous years I've told you about how Ken and I met and became a couple,(I don't know about that phrase. Maybe it's because I'm a smart aleck, but I always want to say,"Couple of what?"),and how I accidentally stole Kermit and Miss Piggy's wedding cake topper. This year I thought I would tell you the story of my engagement ring. Why? because I think it's a pretty neat story! That's why!

   I like old things. There aren't a lot of modern things I am going to like, compared to their vintage counterparts. So when we were looking for engagement rings, I was having a hard time finding one I liked. I really didn't like the tall prong with a stone set in it that seemed to be popular at the time. Our wedding was approaching and I still didn't have a ring. (Keep in mind that we only dated for 10 months before getting married,and we weren't engaged even that whole time, of course. So there wasn't a lot of time to get a ring between deciding to get married and actually doing so.) My sister was making lots of remarks about how Ken hadn't gotten me a ring. He felt under pressure,but he refused to have me settle for something I didn't really like. I appreciate that,since I'm going to be wearing it for the rest of my life.
  So after looking everywhere for a ring, and finding nothing I even sort of liked.we finally decided to look in a store in the little town where we both lived at the time. It had been a jewelry store and clock and watch repair in it's heyday. By the 80's it was basically a junk store. It was owned by a very old couple. He had been the watch smith,but now he was retired,and one side of the store was filled with dusty antique clocks he had never got around to fixing. The back was filled with boxes of old silverware,and postcards.  The lady proudly told us that the wall clock hanging by the door was 'the oldest clock in Marysville". The rest of the store did indeed have jewelry. Some was fairly recent. They still got new things in occasionally. But most of their things were older and out of fashion. They still had watch band displays on the counter from the 50's.
  The elderly lady who owned the store waited on us,since she was the only employee. She opened the store, I think, just to have something to do. We asked to see engagement rings, and we were shown the same old, (or should I say, new), things we'd been shown every where. It seemed another washout. Then Ken asked if she had 'anything else'. She said, "Well,I do have these." She reached in the storage area under the showcase and pulled up a little tray, with about 6 rings in it. None of them had sets in them, as they had been there, unsold, since the 1930's or 40's. And that's where I got my ring.
  

  It was perfect for me. It was old, and yet it had never belonged to anyone else. I am the first owner, so it's both old, and new (to me).

My poor cruddy ring, with all the decorative holes filled with lotion and soap. I never take it off and Ivy describes it as 'filled with crud'. I cleaned it recently!

There. I did a quick clear out. It's little better, Stuff gets stuck in all those little holes. I missed the little slot under the big hole.

It's hard to get a good picture. That brown lump in the bottom left corner is our cat Jimmy Stewart. He is glued to me all the time.

Excuse the paint on my fingers.

Ken checking out my newly wedding ringed hand,right after the ceremony. There is another,horrendous picture where my head isn't turned, and I'm ugly crying.

I have only seen one similar ring to mine, and it was on the finger of a very old lady. That was in the late 80's, around the time we got married, and I haven't seen another one since.

We did NOT smash cake in each other's faces.

   You may have seen my rings in a post here and there.  Some of you may wonder why I wear them on my pinky finger. Well, when we got married,e verything on me was a size 5: my pants, my dresses, my shoes, and my ring size. Well NOTHING is a size 5 anymore! I had to move my rings to my pinky years ago. The other thing that may raise questions, or at least make those of you who know the etiquette wonder why, is why do I wear my rings in the order that I do? I found out when we got married that the engagement ring is supposed to be worn on the outside after you're married, with the wedding ring closest to you. I wore them that way for a while. But while both rings are supposed to be size 5, the engagement ring is just a bit bigger, and was always too loose. After having it drop off a few times and always being lucky enough to find it, I decided to make sure it didn't come off anymore, before I wasn't so lucky. So I switched them and I wear my engagement ring on the inside. I lost my wedding ring a few years ago. It was missing for weeks. I knew when and how I lost it. I was weeding in the yard and tossed a handful of weeds in a pile I was making. I felt my ring shoot off when I did it. I searched everywhere,but I couldn't find it. I left that whole trash can of yard waste in the side yard for ages,until my ring turned up. I borrowed Lori's metal detector. (Or,as Fuzzy thought they were called when he was little,a 'healthy hobby'. He'd seen commercials for metal detectors where the voice over talked about how the viewer should 'get a healthy hobby'. He asked us once,"Can we get a Healthy Hobby?" We didn't know what he meant until he described the commercial. Of course,Fuzz is the same kid who asked me,"Can I play with your Kazard?" I said, "My what?" "Your Kazard." It turned out he was asking if he could play with one of my childhood dolls,'Mike Hazzard'. You know,'my Kazard'.)
  Ironically,it turned out to be Fuzz who found my ring with the Healthy Hobby. I looked to no avail. The thing thought my whole yard was made of metal. It was set to be very sensitive,and picked up every piece of aluminum backed shingle bit that had blown off our garage roof over the years. Lori reset it for me, but I had her machine for a week or two without using it. I didn't have the heart to try and fail again. This was my wedding ring. It was pretty important. Fuzz asked if I wanted him to try. I thanked him and he went out...and came back in a couple of minutes with my ring. Even without a 'Healthy Hobby',Fuzz was always our go to finder of lost things. He can find anything. He's exactly the opposite of Ivy. Ivy is the absolute LAST person you ever want to ask to find anything. I remember once Emma had sent Ivy up to her room to bring something down for her. Ivy must have been about 6,so Emma would have been about 14. I don't remember what the thing was,but Ivy came back,saying she couldn't find it. Emma tried to tell her how easy the thing was to find,but Ivy still looked confused. "It's right there on my bed Ivy!" Nothing. "It's on the bed! It's on the bed and it's the only black one! It's like trying to spot Sammy Davis Jr. in the Rat Pack!" I hope that isn't offensive to anyone. I thought it was quite a zinger to Ivy's inept finding skills.
  Some of you may remember reading about me losing my wedding ring on the airplane when we went to England a few years ago too. I was brushing off some crumbs and it flew off my finger as the plane was landing. Ken unbuckled and flew out of his seat to retrieve it before it rolled to the back of the plane.
  I've been setting the posts to go on every day. If all goes right, this will be today's doll!

She's a bride doll,obviously.
 

She was made by Ideal.

 

She's from 1983. 

She is from a series called Victorian Ladies,and her name is Rosaly, I believe.

I kept seeing dolls that look like her,only shorter,at 8 inches tall,with the same flowers and a shrunken down version of this dress. That size came up a lot more often in my searches.

This doll measures 10 inches tall.

She looks like an Effanbee doll to me.

That's today's doll,. See you again tomorrow.