Finally, Savannah!

   Okay. I know I still need to show you the stuff I got at the toy show, And the stuff I got at the doll show. But of course my computer has died again. My cursor stuck, and in the end all I could do was turn the computer off and try to restart it. Then it wouldn't come back on. That was at least a week ago, and I still can't get it back on. I need to leave it for about a week and then try. That seems to work. But I am impatient. So, no computer, plus I have been selling things, so there has been rooting round in boxes and tubs. I have also done some leaf raking, with some help from Fuzz. The leaf sucker truck came by today, so it's a good thing I had almost all my leaves down by the curb. My other big project has been trying to take advantage of the last warm days of the year, (It's been in the 70's the last few days!), to work on my windows. I have scraped off old paint, popped out old dry putty, reputtied and repainted. I've done both of the leaded glass windows in the living room, our big triple window in the dining room, (which I shouldn't have had to do because I just did it  couple of years ago, but there you are.), and one basement window. Fuzzy and Ken helped a bit. I've been having trouble with my hip, and pretty much the whole leg on my left side. I think I must have another pinched nerve. It doesn't seem to be the sciatica though, because this pain is down the outside of my hip and leg. My knee has been bad too. I have been limping around for weeks. Standing on the ladder aggravates the stiffness and pain, and I am a lot more paranoid about going up on high ladders than I used to be. (I used to climb the 16 foot ladder at work, carrying huge TVs, and lift them over my head to stack them 3 TVs high on the upper 'flex' above the shelves. There's no way I'd do that these days, even if I still could!) So Ken and Fuzz finished the scraping and painting of the very tops of the windows for me, and Ken caulked them. I still have one more basement window and the front porch window sill to do. If I had cooperating weather I would do the basement windows on the other side of the house. As for the upper windows, they desperately need redone, but there's no way I'm getting up there. I don't feel it's safe for Fuzz or Ken either. I'm considering just doing the bottom half of the window in Emma's old room from inside the house, if the weather holds out. The other thing I've been using days on is 'Fun Day'. Since our anniversary in September, Ken and I have been using at least one of his days off every week to go have a 'Fun Day'. Ken loves to travel, and he didn't get to go anywhere this year. I went all the way to Georgia, but Ken has been stuck here. So we just drive off, in a different direction each time, and stop somewhere pretty and have a car picnic, or get some take out or ice cream. We have eaten a few places that have an outdoor patio too. We started out enjoying the beautiful Fall colours in September. It really has been gorgeous in Ohio. 

A lot of the leaves are still hanging in there,(or rather, out there.) This was a few weeks ago.

One night we were leaving a state park after dark, after our car picnic, and we saw a fox, two female deer, and two stags. Another day we saw two buffaloes hanging out in a field with some cows. (They are not native to Ohio, so that was something special.) We have gone to some places on purpose, but some places we just ended up. 

Like Roscoe Village, where Ken hung out with a fake cow. We got there just as everything was closing up, but we did buy some cheese, for our next Fun Day car picnic, at this store.

  I also wanted to share this picture with you. It's a sign at a storage place. They change their sign every now and then. They haven't had this one up for a while. I've been wanting to catch it the next time they used it.

                                              Storage: Because your doll collection creeps people out.  

Now for my real reason for this post. Some of you may have seen recently that Emily from The Toybox Philosopher had popped up again. She was just letting everyone know that she was selling almost all her dolls in preparation for a move. I contacted Emily to ask about a few of my favourites of the dolls she had reviewed over the years. Some were already gone, but I was lucky enough to become the owner of three of the dolls I asked about. (Sort of...) Today we're going to see one of them. It's Savannah from Maru and Friends.

 I didn't want to do any sort of big post on her, because Emily has already done a very thorough review with lots of lovely pictures. I did want to have the chance to do some photos myself though, and show her to you all.

Unfortunately,the first time I tried to photograph her it was getting a bit dark by the time we stopped for our car picnic,  But we did see that fox and those deer on our way out!

    I believe Emily's review of this doll , six years ago, was my first introduction to the Maru and Friends line. It was definitely the first time I had seen Savannah, who is still my favourite. 

I loved this doll, whom Emily had photographed in a special hand knit sweater and matching hat that she ordered from Maru and Friends when she ordered the doll. Today, when I think of Savannah, I always picture her in that sweater. Lucky me, because Emily included the sweater with Savannah!   

  The sweater set actually came from Maru and Friends, but was made by NovoDesign. The sweaters were available in six colours/styles, and were hand knitted of baby mohair, by women in South Africa, as part of a 'special job creation program'. You can see the whole line of sweaters and matching hats,  (No longer available, from what I understand.), HERE. 

     She has one of those adorable Dianna Effner faces.

  Dianna Effner sculpted all the Maru and Friends dolls but one. I wonder who will sculpt the new dolls.

  And of course, she's a redhead. We have to stick together!

   As you can  see from the first two pictures, Savannah also brought her original outfit with her. The current version of Savannah has the same beige shirt and shorts with gingham accents and matching hat, beige knee socks with pink pom pom tassels,and brown boots. My Savannah is missing the tassels from her socks because Emily removed them because they clashed with the sweater. 

She borrowed Maru's skirt for the photos in the sweater.

She did send them though, in Savannah's purse.

   Speaking of that purse, what the current Savannah doesn't come with any more, is her brown faux leather purse. (I keep thinking it's a canteen, because it looks like one, and her original outfit looks like  an explorer outfit.)

 

 I'm so happy to finally own a Savannah. She's been on my list for several years now. 

Emily made her so affordable, and was so nice. I also love that I own the first Savannah I ever saw, the one that made me fall in love with the doll. Thanks Emily!