That Ever Present Wish List

    Let's start with the obvious: It's been HOT lately!. Ken and I have been surviving in our house without air conditioning, but we have had to retreat to my sister's house a couple of times to cool off.

Tammy World came along for the ride, and because she gets hot too. She posed with my sister's rock collection, and a very colourful plant I've forgotten the name of.

 It's nice to get out of the heat, and it's nice to hang out with my sister, but it's an hour and a half drive each way, and by the time we spend any amount of time there, we have to drive back in the dark. The time before last we came close to hitting several animals, including a group of three deer, a mother racoon and her two babies, two more deer, and two more large lumps that I think were large raccoons. I hate driving at night these days. I'm tense the whole 90 minutes of the way home.

  I've been working on this post for ages. I don't get on my computer much any more because to charge mine we have to unplug Ken's. Then his dies, and he has nothing to do. My computer doesn't stay charged very long any more, so I can't get much done on a charge. We have minimal electric outlets we can use because of our wiring, so we're limited on outlets. We are a bit paranoid about another fire, so we don't want to leave anything charging in a room we aren't in either. Anyway, I'm sorry I don't post much any more, and sorry some of the posts have been a bit boring.

  As for Ken, he is doing well. He has been taken off medication after medication, and his recent blood work came back with great numbers. He has been released from occupational therapy, (but told to keep up his exercises and work on his muscles.), and will start physical therapy again in November. (Thanks to Medicaid  refusing to pay for more therapy right  now.) He passed his stroke-aversary July 14th. We forgot all about it until I happened to think of it much later.  

  I have taken loads of pictures of dolls I wanted to talk about with you, but I have never gotten around to posting them. I will try to do some of that soon. I'm still scooping up free toys via the Mini Brands displays, or at least I was. Yesterday, for the first time, I was told I couldn't have an empty box from our local Walmart. At least before that happened I managed to FINALLY snag the Lord of the Rings one, Two different Harry Potter boxes, and two different My Mini Baby ones. Walmart, it's not like I like you anyway. You're not doing yourself any favours. If it wasn't for the fact that I like your wet wipes, and you are the store most often selling yellow corn, I wouldn't even darken your door.    

  Reader Treesa sent me some wonderful Christmas gifts that I have yet to show you. I'll get to that when I have more time, but in the meantime, she asked me recently if I had any grail dolls left that were unattainable, for whatever reason. Well, of course I do. Those things are never ending, especially those expensive ones that are never going to be accessible.  So I thought it might make for an interesting post, to see what dolls I have wanted for ages, but will probably never get. 

  I have gotten pretty much all the dolls I wanted as a child, but never got as a child. Those include That Kid, which you're probably sick of hearing me talk about...

This particular boy was ruined in the water damage from the fire. He was amazingly quickly, (and cheaply!) replaced!

If not, I have several posts on That Kid. You can access them in the side bar, under That Kid.

...Mrs. Beasley.

Poor perfect Beasley, with glasses, got smoked in the fire  I have yet to get around to cleaning her.

The same goes for The Bease. I have a few posts on her, but the LONG one about her history is my most viewed post ever, and continues to get record views every day. You can check out the Mrs. Beasley posts by clicking that name in the side bar.

  My dream Beasley, which I got at a yard sale got all smoked up in the fire. I haven't tried to wash her yet. If I had had her at Emma's, with access to a washing machine I could trust, (as opposed to one at the laundry mat.), I would probably have given her a wash. She is sitting upstairs, all sooty. I will probably try to clean her up this summer and see how she does. I have a back up Beasley that was supposed to get sold, and she even has her glasses, so I might end up keeping her. Dream Beasley's glasses were on the vanity in my bedroom during the fire, and they melted a bit. They're still glasses, but they are a bit misshapen, and might not stay, (or even fit), on her head any more. I would never get rid of her though. I run into her original owner every now and then, and I can still tell her that her girl has a good home with me. Not so good that she didn't get smoked like a piece of meat, but still...

  I also got multiple versions of the Drowsy I always wanted, including the original kitty cat PJ version I didn't even know existed when I was a kid.

  You can see those by clicking Drowsy in the sidebar.

  I would still like some other dolls that use the Drowsy head sculpt, like  Baby Charlotte, and maybe Teachy Keen.

The red head in the nightgown, top left corner, is Baby Charlotte. Teachy Keen is the girl in the pink coat.

  I also had a desire for a talking Baby Beans. 

  I think the reason I never got one as a kid was that I was a little too old for a baby doll. I still wanted one though. I had a really nice Talking Baby Beans as an adult. That was years ago. But she still talked and was super clean and perfect, and she got sold. Now I have a not so clean one that doesn't talk. She'll have to do.

      Over the years I have gotten several dolls on my list that I thought I would never get, dolls like Betsy McCall. I now have multiple Betsys, in varying sizes. You can click on Betsy McCall in the side bar to see them.



I got this one at a doll show 

This girl was cheap at a doll show because she had dirt on her nose that the dealer thought was a nose nick!

This girl was cheap at a doll show for two reasons: The dealer knew nothing about dolls, and I had to fix her eye.

  Another was the Maru and Friends Savannah. She was more than I generally spend on a doll, and I thought I'd never get one. You can see Savannah's post HERE.

   Then I bought a big one and a little one from Emily at The Toybox Philosopher. And you can see little Savannah's post HERE.

 I wanted a Zwergnase doll, but they are so expensive. But Emily also gave me a really good price on one of those, so I ended up with one of those too. 

You can see her post HERE.

  I wanted an Agnes Dreary, and I did manage to get one for only $50 when they were clearanced on the Tonner website years ago.

You can see Agnes' post HERE.

  I love Dianna Effner dolls, and wanted a :Little Darling. Well that was never going to happen, until amazing reader Dorothy SENT ME ONE!

You can see her post HERE.

  I still can't believe she was so generous and thoughtful. Thanks again Dorothy!

I always wanted a Garden Patience, with her red hair and pretty dress, but I have given up and settled for the naked, dark haired Prom Patience I got cheap on Ebay years back. She's rooted, not wigged, so I can't make her into a red head, but the wigs are expensive anyway.

  Now for the dolls I didn't get. Of the dolls I wanted, but never have gotten that are not quite as expensive, there is the Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse Midge that I never got.

  She was the first Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse Midge, I think. She went up quite a bit after her original release, but she seems to have dropped in price lately.

  Of the dolls I still want, but will almost certainly never get, I still yearn for the Mezco Dr. Zaius Planet of the Apes doll.

  (I'm sure there are people who will insist that this is an action figure, not a doll, but let's be honest:  we all know they're the same thing.) He was affordable, (barely), and then his price rose on the secondary market. It looks like he's occasionally more affordable now, but he's still out of my price range these days.

  I still want a red haired Brikette by Vogue, but I'd even settle for a Jinx, by Kaysam or Jolly Toys,  which looks almost exactly like Brikette.

This is a beautiful Brikette I saw at a doll show.

  I still want that red haired Klumpe girl with glasses, and a suitcase. I can't find a stock photo of her, so you'll have to use your imagination...and your Google search. The closest thing I can show you is my red haired Roldan gardener girl, which is neither Klumpe, nor holding a suitcase. But Roldan's are kind of like Klumpes, so...

My Roldan gardener girl, the closest I'll get to the Klumpe suitcase girl.

   Something I always wanted came out when I was 13. Maybe I didn't get him because I thought I was too old for such toys. I don't remember. I did go through that stage, believe it or not. I still want one though. His name is Hugo, Man of a Thousand Faces.

He was made by Kenner. He's a puppet that came with loads of disguise pieces, like scars and wigs and false chins and noses. He even had sunglasses and an eye patch. If you've ever seen the pre-Playhouse 'Pee Wee Herman Show' HBO special, you'll have seen Hugo. He's so expensive these days, that unless I run across one in a thrift store or yard sale, neither of which I frequent very often these days, I'll probably never get one.

  I also still want the Mattel Squishies  witch I saw when I was nine years old. I saw her one time in a J.C. Penney while shopping with my mom, and I still want her. 

  You can see my post on her HERE.

  But the newer dolls that I want that I will undoubtedly NEVER get include Tonner's Wilde Imagination Hamish doll...

He has become REALLY expensive.

...and Sad Sally. I most want the red haired one, but I can't find a stock photo of the red haired Sad Sally dolls. I think there were two, the very first one, and a later one called Sad Little Witch. They both had crazy bushes of red hair. If you aren't familiar with Tonner/Wilde Imagination's Sad Sally line, I can direct you to my post on Sally's friend Bashful Burt.

  Keeping to the red haired dolls, there's also Helen Kish's Creamsicle Lark or Lark of the High Seas...

Lark of the High Seas.

Creamsicle Lark.

...and then there's Kish's Raggedy Riley. 

  These are all from years ago now. Of newer dolls, I wanted a red haired Ruby Red Fashion Friends doll. I have a Siblie,but I wanted the full size version. They do a lot of special edition dolls, and there was one I really loved, but I was willing to settle for Rock Star Stella, even though I don't care for her clothes.

  I'm sure I've forgotten something that I really want, but this has been hanging around in draft form long enough.  So, here it is. At least you know I'm still alive. Also, I do show up in the comments on other people's blogs sometimes. I will try and not leave it so long between posts in the future. See you soon...I hope.

My Birthday Wish List

   My birthday is coming up this week. It's my big 60th! In honour of that, I'm posting this birthday doll wish list, and it really is a 'wish' list, because this is my fantasy list of dolls I will never get because they are crazy expensive.

  There are some of the same old dolls that have been on this list for years. But fortunately, some of the dolls I wanted have been obtained! For example, Maru and Friends Savannah is no longer on this list, thanks to Emily from The Toybox Philosopher. 

I also have a Tonner Patience doll now, even if she isn't the Garden Patience I wanted most.

  There are some new dolls on this list too. The first three dolls are some I love, but will never get. The first one is Perihelia.

She's a Ruby Red Fashion Friends doll, sculpted by Dianna Effner, (as all their dolls have been.) She was a limited edition and is sold out. So she's super expensive on the secondary market. She was the perfect Fashion Friends doll for me, because she has red hair, and is dressed for winter with a cozy coat.

  Another Ruby Red Fashion Friend I let get away is Alice.

She was a limited edition too, and she recently sold out. You know I love Alice stuff, and collect Alice dolls, so I was considering pretty hard on this one. In the end I thought, 'I can't spend that much money on a doll.'

  With those two gone, I am back to the doll that drew me to Ruby Red Fashion Friends in the first place, Rock Star Stella. 

  She was sold out for a while, but she's back. She has red hair too, and even has brown eyes, but I don't like her clothes very much. In any case, she's still too expensive. But then, that's why this is only a 'wish' list, and not a realistic want list.

  And I still want a Kish Raggedy Riley.

And I would LOVE to have a Kish Lark doll. My first choice would be Creamsicle Lark...

... or Lark of the High Seas.

She was a 2008 convention doll, so she's really out of reach.

  I also still long for a Hamish, friend of Amelia Thimble.

Out of all the Hamish dolls, (and there weren't very many), I think this one is my favourite. He's just plain Hamish. But I also really like Playtime Hamish...

My Christmas List

  If you've been reading the blog you'll know I am locked in a never ending, but once a year, battle with the leaf sucker truck. This year, as usual, I raked all my leaves, (and the leaves of the entire neighborhood, which blow into the hedges at the side of my house), the miles and miles down the street to the tree line in front of my house, where I then wait for the leaf sucker truck to never come...so my leaves can then kill all the grass in my tree line and make the ground far too lumpy to mow without getting a hernia...which is then punctured by ramming the mower into my stomach when it suddenly gets stuck on lumps of uneven ground...which is caused by the piles of never picked up leaves.(Shew!)And you'll know that we had unexpected and unseasonal snow and below freezing temperatures this past week. That stole my last hope of the leaf sucker truck coming. But lo and behold, on Friday I heard a loud obnoxious noise which went on so long I realized it was not some big overgrown vehicle waiting at the traffic light that is almost in front of my house, but was, indeed, THE LEAF SUCKER TRUCK! They actually came, and sucked up all our snow covered leaves out of the tree line! Amazing! We were left with a bare green tree line amongst the snow covered ground. Then yesterday the weather warmed up and it rained, so all the other snow was gone too.But the amazing thing is, they actually came and took our leaves. That almost never happens. Either the world is about to end, or my life is going to change into some sort of fairy tale.Anyway...
  The holidays are fast approaching. That means it's time to look at my Christmas list again! Amazingly, before I finished this list I actually managed to get one of the dolls on it! I'll tell you which one at the end.
  This year's list is mostly just a fantasy list. These are dolls I would love to have, but due to their prices, I will almost certainly never get. It's nice to dream though. (Who am I kidding?! It's so much better to actually get the stuff than it is to dream about it!)
  Top of the list is definitely this guy, Hamish by Wilde Imagination.


  This is Hamish as Peter Pan,a limited edition of 250.

  As far as I know there have only been four Hamish dolls sold: Peter is one.
Also this Hamish, which was a limited edition of 300...

He has teeth! Aww!!(All the Hamish's do, but I'm just pointing it out.)

 Little Gardener Hamish, a limited edition of 125...

and Trick or Treat Hamish, a limited edition of 75.

  For a change my tastes don't run to the absolute most expensive of the lot! I don't even like the most rare one, Trick or Treat Hamish. (Dead Hamish: That's just creepy.)Unfortunately, my most favourite is not the most available either. I think my very favourite is Peter Pan, since he has brown eyes and dark brown hair. In a pinch I would settle for any of the regular three though! (Just not Trick or Treat.)
   My next doll should probably be referred to as a 'figure', because he's a guy thing. It's the 12" Micheal Caine as Alfred from Batman, by Hot Toys.

How amazing is this thing?! This is a doll!

Micheal Caine is one of my favourite actors, and this doll is an incredible likeness.

Want!!

This doll is over $200 though. BUT, there is a possibility here. You can buy JUST THE HEAD! Then I could put the head on a cheaper body...maybe. Hey, I'm willing to try it.
Next on my list is an absolutely unattainable 'want'. I love the Little Darlings dolls by Dianna Effner.

She's beautiful.
I spotted this guy online.I think he's a Boneka doll.

Not only does he have that cute face sculpt, he's a little boy, and a red head too!But why is he wearing shoes from the disco era?

He's an Effner sculpt, but is he a Little Darling? I'm confused about the whole Little Darlings/Boneka thing.
Since a basic, nude doll is somewhere around $300 to $400 I know I'm never going to get one.I would settle for the vinyl, ball jointed  Ashton Drake Mary Mary Quite Contrary, my first choice, or Little Red Riding Hood.

This is Red. Mary has the same head sculpt, but she's a red head.

Marry Mary Quite Contrary, why are you so expensive?

 Ashton Drake also previously did porcelain dolls of the same characters, but with different Dianne Effner head sculpts and completely different costumes.They are all cute, but I prefer the warm look and smooth feel of vinyl.
The Ashton Drake Alice is also on my list.She's Effner too,and from the same series as Little Red and Mary Contrary, but the sculpt is different.

She's Alice and a Dianna Effner sculpt, two things I love.
If those are all too hard to get,(Which they are.), I would settle for a Maru and Friends Savannah doll.

They're actually too expensive for me too.

She's an Effner sculpt too,and closely resembles the Little Darlings faces. She looks a bit older. Maybe she's an older sister.She's actually about 21" tall.I prefer the smaller size of the Little Darlings, or the ball jointed posability of the fairy tale characters,but beggars can't be choosers, as they say. In fact, I'm not so choosey that I wouldn't take a Maru and friends Jamie if Savannah was unavailable...

They have the same head sculpt, and I actually prefer Jamie's hazel eyes, even though I prefer Savannah's hair.

Another 'too expensive' doll on the list is Raggedy Riley by Helen Kish.

She's from 2006, so she's not too readily available...or affordable.

I love her hair.She's not as posable as a Contempo Riley, but she doesn't have scary pale eyes like some Rileys do, and she has that hair. Maybe someday I can find a cheapo Contempo, (Yeah right.), and change the hair.
Finally we come to the last 'too expensive' doll on the list. (I'm totally ignoring any R. John Wright or Maggie Iacono dolls, because they are so far out of range I can't even see them.)

Oh yeah. There they are. R. John Wright's Mad Hatter and Alice...

...and R. John Wright's Sugar Christmas Mouse.Stop the cuteness! $570! There. Cuteness at least contained.

Maggie Iacono's Alice with the card guys was around $1600! Never mind.

Anyway, the doll that is actually on my list is Patience by the Tonner company.

This is my favourite,Garden Patience,but, again, beggars can't be choosers. I would take...

...Glinda Patience...

...Through the Woods Patience...

...Perfect Patience...

...Tokyo Patience...

...Dorothy Patience...

...Ahoy Patience...

...Prom Patience...

...And of course there's an Alice Patience too!

 I'm not picky really!Any Patience will do.As I said though, my preference would be Garden Patience, with her red hair in bangs, and pink lips. Plus I think Patience looks better with blue eyes. My other choices would lean to Glinda, Ahoy, or Alice.
I got to see Patience in person at the doll show recently, and she's much smaller than I imagined her. She has googly eyes that roll back and forth when she's moved. She's also very poseable.

Now if we're talking about dolls that are actually even close to affordable, there's Journey Girls Kelsey.

I prefer this one, with the sweater.but since she's not in the stores anymore and a second hand one costs about as much or more than a new one, I'll take whatever I can get. I am kicking myself because I actually left behind a Journey Girls Dana at Salvation Army recently. I thought she was over priced at $6.99, since I thought she had had a haircut. Nooo. Dana's hair just looks like that.
  I also would like to have the first Ever After High Madeline Hatter.

I collect Alice dolls, and this would fit in that line. I really want this particular one though,with these shoes and the polka dot tights, but since she's from the first wave of Ever After high dolls she's going to be harder to find. (Tip to Ken: they have two of them at Rural King...)
  I would love to have one of the small Mooshka dolls.

 And there was a really cool articulated red haired doll in the Pirate Fairy Tinkerbell line. I only saw her once, so I can't be sure, but I think it was the Rosetta one I loved.
  Of course, there are other things on my list: The ever popular black socks, a new night gown, a programme from the recent Kate Bush concerts,etc. But you don't want to hear about that stuff.
  And which doll did I manage to get before the list was finished? It was Patience! I was able to get a 'cheap', naked Patience online.(Being as it's Patience, she was still not that cheap.) She is the Patience that would definitely have been my last choice as she came. But, what have I been saying?And anyway,I've warmed to her a lot. We'll see which Patience I got tomorrow.