More Birthday Goodies, and Less of My Nose Stitches

  Well, I'm sure you've heard way too much about my nose for the last couple of days. Today we're going to take a step back in time to look at what I got on my second birthday treat trip to the Big City the week before last.
  We had to take a short trip on my actual birthday because we had to get back for Ivy to get to bed for school the next day. So last week we went back for me to get a chance to go to some of the places I didn't get to go to the first time. I brought home a lot of goodies, some of which we'll take a closer look at in the upcoming week. Here's most of the haul:

Left to right: Sweetie Candy Ribbon Lalaloopsy mini and Our Generation mini Kendra,Hallmark 2014 'Tailg8n' ornament,Patch's Treasure Hunt Lalaloopsy mini,Planet of the Apes Cornelius Scalers figure by Neca, Madame Alexander Travel Friends India doll, and Only Hearts Club puppy in a bed.

I instantly fell in love with Sweetie Candy Ribbon because her colouring reminded me so much of a lot of the toys from my 60's childhood.

Groovy colours, man!

Our Generation Mini Kendra. If you read my post on my first birthday shopping trip, you'll know I was considering her then. We'll go into detail in her review coming up this week.

1/6 scale accessories! I removed them from the tail gate sign, and removed the beer from the tongs. The ornament was 90% off now.

I love Patch. I'd prefer he was the one with clothes instead of a skeleton suit, but he was only $3.99 at Tuesday Morning. The Only Hearts Club pet set was originally $3.99 at Tuesday Morning, but it was 90% off.

Cornelius was clearanced at Toys R Us. He's going to end up hanging from my rear view mirror.

Looks like he's not wearing his dentures...

  It was the first time I had seen the Madam Alexander Travel Friends dolls. If I had an unlimited budget I could have bought several, but the India doll was my favourite.

Watch for her review in the coming week.

I forgot to put these in the big picture:

This mini Chinese calendar and key ring doll came from a Chinese grocery store. The doll is 5" tall. Her clothes and shoes are removeable. The calendar would be great for a 1/6 scale Chinese restaurant. Our local Chinese buffet gives out the full sized ones every year around January.

And I also got these at Dollar Tree.

 1/6 scale lamps with glow in the dark shades. I'm going to try to make them into light up lamps, not just glow in the dark. Madeline Hatter is showing size comparison.

The shades glow in the dark,and they actually glow REALLY bright straight from the store, without even being 'charged'.

In case you aren't familiar with Dollar Tree, everything there is actually a dollar, unlike a lot of stores that call themselves 'Dollar' this or that.
    We'll have an in depth look at Our Generation mini Kendra and the Madame Alexander Travel Friends doll  from India in a couple of reviews later in the coming week.

The State of My Nose

  If you read the blog the other day you'll know I was found to have a basal cell carcinoma on the side of my nose recently. Friday I went in to have a cyst removed, but suggested they deal with the cancer first. The doctor thought he might already have gotten the whole thing when he did a 'shaving'  at the beginning of the week. He said that we could leave it at that and keep an eye on it in case it came back, or, just in case, he could remove the surrounding area to make sure he had gotten all of it. I asked if there was a chance it could come back under the surface of the skin and we wouldn't see it. He said it might, so I told him to 'cut my nose off'.  I ended up with 5 stitches inside, and about 20 stitches outside, in what he referred to as a 'running baseball stitch'. (I said, "That's funny, because I was feeling like laying my head in a baseball mitt and I didn't know why.") It goes most of the length of the side of my nose. It hurt like crazy yesterday, but it's not too bad today. I still can't blow my nose though! My eye was pretty puffy this morning, but I think it has gone down a lot now.

Talk about your foul balls...

  Now that that's taken care of, I received a letter from my other doctor's office today, telling me that my routine blood tests showed an abnormal thyroid. As "Rosanne Rosannadanna" used to say, "It's always something!"
 

Not So Good News

  I went to the doctor recently to see about having a cyst removed from the top of my head. While I was there I also had the doctor look at a small bump that appeared on the side of my nose a while back. A simple act like scratching my face caused it to bleed, and that's not normal, so I was concerned. He shaved it off and sent it for a biopsy. Turns out I was right to be worried. The doctor's office called today to say that the bump turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma. In other words, it was cancerous. The good news is, basal cell carcinomas 'almost never spread to other parts of the body and become life threatening'. I have an appointment tomorrow to have the original head lump removed, and an appointment for April 8th to have the basal cell thingy removed. I'm going to ask if they can switch the dates though, so I can get rid of this thing and feel safer, and know I'm ok. Also, they already cut a chunk out of the side of my nose, so it only makes sense to do it now before this heals, so it will only be one healing and scar less. They said both would take about a half an hour, so it's not like they need more time than they already had set aside for me.
  Basal cell carcinoma is caused by sun exposure. Since the kids aren't little anymore I don't have to spend time outside with them as they play. (These days we can't even get Ivy to leave the house!) I really only go out in the sun to hang laundry, yard sale on summer weekends, and go to the flea market with Lori 3 or 4 times a year. I don't normally get sunburned, and have had few sun burns in my life. I am fair skinned, being a red head, but I've never had a problem with burning. In fact, I tan if I'm not careful. I'm going to have to make sure I start wearing sunscreen all the time and start wearing my hat on a more regular basis. (I did start wearing one to hang laundry, but I have been bad about doing it all the time.)
  I should be ok. I may have a big scar on my face, but with this face that isn't much of a loss anyway!
 

Quick Review of Disney Store Animator's Collection Frozen Kristoff Toddler Doll

  Wow! Now that's a title and a half!
  I have birthday dolls to review, but while I'm working on that, here's a review that I've had in draft for a while. I finished it off today.
  I love the Disney Store's Animator's Collection dolls. (Recently you may have seen my thrift store Merida rescue. ) I bought myself this Frozen Kristoff doll a while back and I finally deboxed him a few weeks ago.

He comes with a little soft Sven doll.

Kristoff is such a cute little guy, and I may be wrong, but I think he's the only boy in the Animator's Collection line. Anybody?

The Disney Store logo in the top left hand corner of his box front. No cheap knock off here.

The back of his box.

Cute  Kristoff sketches decorate the box.

 The box was sealed with the usual tape circles on all three open sides of the lid.

The inner tray part slid out...

...and Kristoff was held in by the usual conglomerate of twist ties and tape.

After they were removed Kristoff was free from the tray, if not the giant plastic shell on the back of his head.

He was also left trailing two twist tie 'spurs' from the back of his boots.

The plastic shell was attached to his head with a thick plastic band, which left some scuff marks on his molded and painted hair.

It's hard to see here. Most of the scuffy looking marks are in fact highlight painting. It doesn't look like scuffs from other angles.The missing paint from the band is near his part, just about halfway back from his bangs.

Sven has a thick clear band that holds him to Kristoff's wrist. I nearly tore the back of the little stuffed Sven trying to get him off. It's a tight fit and kids are likely to rip him without help taking him off.

And then he was still held on by a plastic tie.

Free from all constraints at last! Isn't he cute? His hair looks very metallic.

He has detailed little feet.

His outfit velcros in the back. The top is all one piece. The pants have an elastic waist, and the boots have a split up the back to make them easy to remove and put on. 

His gloves slip on, and tie. The string is sewn to the gloves so it can't get lost. I've heard these gloves are REALLY hard to get on and off, so even though eventually I would like to redress him as an everyday little boy, for right now he's not taking off his gloves!
  He has tons of freckles, but they're not over done, and his cheeks are blushy.

His head tilts to his left way better than it tilts to his right.

He can look down fairly well.

But not up very far.

Even his ears are blushy.Plus they have freckles on them.

Our snow was gone until yesterday, when we had a sudden snowstorm. I think we got at least a couple of inches. Today it's warmish and the snow is melting fast. When I did Kristoff's photo shoot a few weeks ago,there was still plenty of snow. He decided to go outside, while there was still snow to enjoy. His eyes look almost like inset eyes here, but they are painted. They have a great glaze on them that makes them super shiny.

He got a little snowy while he was out there. He only has regular articulation: neck, shoulders, and hips. I'd love to have seen him with more articulation.

Rooted hair would be amazingly cute too.

Under his clothes he has a cute little pot belly, and blue painted underwear.

He's a little taller than the Frozen girls.

He's a nice, sturdy doll. His clothes are fairly movie accurate, but simple and easy to take on and off. (Except, supposedly, those gloves!) These animator's dolls have so much personality. They are usually around $25, but occasionally go on sale. I'm not sure the Frozen ones go on sale when all the others do though. When I was in our 'local' Disney Store last time all the others were on sale, but none of the Frozen dolls. That's probably because of their popularity right now. They might eventually go on sale with the others. I just hope they keep Kristoff in the line. But, I realize boy dolls aren't as popular, so I hope they don't discontinue him too soon. He's the only boy in the line, and boy dolls are so few any way. He has so much play potential. If he were redressed he wouldn't even have to be Kristoff. He makes a great every day little boy too.
  He's a bit big, so I almost didn't get him. I'm glad to have him though.He was too cute to pass up!