Happy New Year! and What I Got For Christmas

   Happy New Year! I hope everybody had a good holiday season. We did pretty well, except for a flare up of anxiety by one of us on Christmas. It was unexpected, and upset the day and everyone at the time, but it all turned out ok in the end. 

  Unfortunately I did not get a new computer for Christmas. Ken said he couldn't find a good enough deal on one that had everything I wanted in a computer. I was originally panning to bring Doll-A-Day back in 2021, but without my own computer for most of the year, I wasn't able to prepare listings ahead, as I wanted to, and I won't be able to work on posts everyday, like I would need to. So I am considering  a doll post or two a week. We'll see what happens. I have a birthday coming up in March. Maybe Ken will be able to find a deal by then!

  Today I thought I'd show you the doll related gifts I got for Christmas. Here they are.

The Incredibles doll is from my sister, who spent Christmas day with us all at Emma's. I'll talk more about this doll soon.

The BTS dolls are from Ken. I found them at Five Below shortly before Christmas. I know  they had them a while back, but I missed them then. I'm not a fan of BTS, but I like the dolls. They are articulated, but the suits don't allow them as much freedom of movement as they could. 

The red haired Fashionista, the Bullwinkle, (or, as Ivy used to call him when she was little, 'Boywrinkle'.) Pop vinyl, and the World's Smallest Elf on the Shelf are from Emma. 

The World's Smallest Tinkertoys are from Ken.

I wanted the World's Smallest Elf on the Shelf last year, but by the time I found out about him, he was sold out everywhere.

He's jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. 

The World's Smallest Tinker Toys and the Mini Brands are from Ken. (I spotted the Mini Brands on a couple of empty boxes at the Target checkouts and wondered aloud what was going to happen to the examples stuck on the front of the boxes.

 Would they be thrown out with the boxes, or would the boxes get refilled? Ken checked it out...)

  There wasn't much Christmas stuff left by Monday, when I went out to try to find marked down Christmas cards for next year. I guess I should have gone out the day after Christmas. I did find these at the front racks at Target, clearanced for 90 cents.

They're about 10 inches tall, maybe 12. They also had some white ones that had snow printed around the edges of the 'glass'. (It's plastic really.) I thought they were pretty, and I liked the snowy look. I was imagining beautiful Christmas pictures with these windows in the front of the World family's new house, (which I hope to build some day.) That is, I liked it until I saw that the 'snow' was made up of giant snowflakes. If they were in scale they would be about half the size of your head in real life.  So I switched the white ones for these unpainted ones. I will paint them if I use them on a house, but no giant snowflakes.

  On a sad note, Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island", passed away yesterday at the age of 82. She died from complications from Covid-19. Dawn was a Miss Nevada before landing the role of Mary Ann. She was one of only two cast members living. That leaves only Tina Louise, who played Ginger. 

  I will see you in the new year. Have a great evening!

The Winner of the Doll Book is...

   This should have been easy.  As usual, here were few entries to a competition I've had. In this case, there were the fewest yet: only two.  The problem is, was Korglady entering? It only just occurred to me today that she might have been. The rules said that to enter, you had to name your favourite Doll Book of the Month Club entry. Did she mean The Doll People was her favourite Doll Book of the Month? She said she'd read them, so maybe she has them, so would she even want another copy?  I took it as an entry, and along with Dorothy's obvious entry, it was written on a small piece of paper and drawn 'at random', (As random as it can be when there are only two.), by Fuzzy. The winner was Korglady. If Korgady will respond, and tell me if she actually intended to enter, that would be great. If she didn't, Dorothy, you win. I might point out that both of these people have won prizes before, because they actually bother to enter. Do I just give away stuff no one wants, or what? 

   In any case, merry Christmas everybody! And happy holidays!

The Doll Book of the Month Club: The Doll People Series. Plus, A Giveaway!

   I'm way late with this month's Doll Book of the Month Club entry. I'm still coughing, headachy, tiring and running out of breath easily. I don't even have my Christmas tree up yet! As the saying goes though, better late than never. This month's book is actually a series of books, The Doll People series, by Ann M. Martin, (Author of the Babysitter's Club books.), and Laura Godwin, and illustrated by Brian Selznick. (You may remember Brian Selznick as the author and illustrator of  "The Invention of Hugo Cabret", the basis for the movie "Hugo".) There are five books in the series, four chapter books, and one younger children's book. Ivy and I read most of them when she was small. She outgrew them, and I read the 4th one without her, because I loved the books and wanted to know what happened to the characters. 

  The first book in the series is The Doll People. 

  We meet the two doll families we know throughout the books. The first family we meet is the Dolls. They are a family of antique dollhouse dolls, over a hundred years old. They, and their house, have been passed down through the same family for generations. They currently belong to Kate Palmer, but used to belong to Grama Katherine, who lives with the Palmers.  At one point Grama Katherine admits to a curious Kate, that she also thought the dolls might actually be alive when she was a child. Kate's sister, Nora likes to come in and play what she calls 'rancher family' with The Dolls and her own farm animal toys. 'Rancher Family is pretty rough, (One session ends in a talcum powder snow storm that covers everything.), and the Dolls hate it. But, of course, they can't do anything about it: They're dolls. If they are caught moving or talking in front of humans they go into what's called 'Doll State': 24 hours of being unable to move or talk. (The dolls take an oath when they are made, to never give away the lives of dolls to humans.)  Worse yet is  'Permanent Doll State', which happens when a doll does something especially bad to give away the secret lives of dolls. Once a doll goes into 'Permanent Doll State, they will never be alive again. From then on, they are only a regular doll. 

  The main character is Annabelle, perpetually eight years old, with green hair because of a past owner's artistic efforts. Her best friend arrives in Nora's new Fun Craft dollhouse. She's a very modern, plastic doll named Tiffany. The Funcrafts are the other family of dolls the books follow. Tiffany, being a modern girl, and made of worry free, unbreakable plastic, is maybe even more adventurous than Annabel. (Or at least more reckless.)

  Annabelle lives with her parents, her brother, her baby sister, (who was sent by mistake all those years ago, and came from a different set of much larger dolls.), their nanny, and Uncle Doll. Uncle Doll's wife, Auntie Sarah, has been missing for the last forty five years. When Annabelle finds Auntie Sarah's diary, she uncovers some clues, and is determined to find Auntie Sarah. Fortunately, the house the Palmers live in has also been passed down in the family for years, so Auntie Sarah might still be on the premises. 

  Annabelle and Tiffany risks cat attacks, breakage, (Well, Annabelle, at least, is made of porcelain.), and Doll State to find Auntie Sarah. Do they find her? How would her reappearance be explained? Where has she been all those years? 

  The second book, "The Meanest Doll in the World", finds Annabelle and Tiffany eager to see what school is like. 

They hide in Kate's back pack and travel to school. When it's time to return home, the dolls climb into the wrong back pack by accident, and end up at another house, where they meet several other dolls, including Mean Mimi. Mimi follows Annabelle and Tiffany back home, where she threatens everyone's lives by being seen moving. 

  In the third book, "The Runaway Dolls", a package from one hundred years ago is discovered behind a piece of furniture in an old shop. 

It shows up at the Palmers house, but it's addressed to the inhabitants of one hundred years ago, and the Palmers have gone on vacation. Annabelle, ever curious, investigates. She hears a tiny voice coming from inside the package. Is it her long lost baby sister? (Remember, the wrong baby sister was sent with the rest of the family, leaving them with a giant baby that barely fits on her parents' laps. But they love her anyway.) Annabelle can't resist letting her sister out of the package, (What if it gets returned because it's addressed to someone else?!), even though her parents don't believe that's who she is. Since her parents won't accept the new daughter, Annabelle decides the only thing to do is run away. This seems out of character for Annabelle, who usually has more sense than that. Even Annabelle doubts her decision pretty quickly.

  The dolls, (Tiffany came with Annabelle and her sister Tilly.), are joined this time by their brothers. The dolls have many adventures, but I won't spoil the ending. I liked this book just slightly less than the first two. Not that it wasn't good, but the books seemed to be falling into the old sequel trap of not being as good as the original.

  The last full length book, (So far.), is "The Doll People Set Sail". 

I have to say that this story of the Dolls and the Funcrafts getting accidentally donated to charity,(Shades of Toy Story 3!), and shipped to England, is my least favourite of the series. It isn't bad. It's just the weakest of the four full length books. They also lost their long time illustrator with this one, which sees Brett Helquist taking over the duties. 

His illustrations aren't bad, but lack the magic of Selznick's.

  I haven't even seen the short book, "The Doll People's Christmas" in a store, so I can't tell you much about it.

                                               I can tell you I hate the way Tiffany and Annabelle look on the cover.

 The illustrations are by Brett Helquist and are in colour this time. There are 48 pages. Annabel is looking forward to showing Tiffany a traditional Christmas when Kate and Nora decide to use the dolls in a nativity scene DOWNSTAIRS. Will they get back to the dollhouse in time for Christmas?  Can  they get past Captain, the cat? What about the broken Christmas star on the dollhouse tree?

  The reading level for the first four books is listed in one place as 7-10, and in another as 8-12. I think even younger kids could enjoy having the books read to them. Warning though: Mimi is pretty frightening!

  And now for that giveaway! I'm sorry it will only be open to residents of the continental United States, but no fear. In the new year there will be a contest open to everybody. As for this competition, a hardcover, (first edition I think!), copy of  "The Meanest Doll in the World" will go to a winning reader. Comment with your favourite Doll Book of the Month Club post of the year to enter. A winner will be pulled from a 'hat' on December 24th, so get your entries in. I apologize the book won't arrive in time for Christmas, but the original plan was, of course, to have posed this on December first, and give the readers two weeks to enter. Things don't always go as planned.

  As this is the last Doll Book of the Month Club entry for the year, I wanted to remind everyone of a doll book I posted about several years ago. It's one of my favourites from my childhood. You can read about "Merry, Rose, and Christmas Tree June" HERE.

  I'll see you again soon!

Where Have I Been?!

   I have been offline, for the most part. My computer seems to be permanently dead this time. And we all got sick around here. Ken got it first, which makes sense, since he goes out to work, and we don't. He got sick, then Ivy and I got sick. Ivy got better almost immediately. Then Ken slowly got better. I am still lingering in sickness though. I tire easily, feel just lousy a lot, and still have a cough. Otherwise most of whatever this is, has gone. I said it was very like what I had in the Spring of 2019,only I had it much worse that time. Is this Covid-19? I don't think so. Tests cost $150, which wasn't available, so that didn't happen. Things like that are so important. Those tests should be provided free to everybody...but that's just my opinion!

  I know I missed the end of the month and the Playset of the Month again. I didn't even know what day of the month it was at that point. I'm still dragging, but I have managed to get my Christmas cards finished! The Doll Book of the Month Club entry will appear in a few days. Maybe I can get my act together and get a playset post ready for the end of the month/year.

Another Free Doll Up For Grabs! And Another Virtual Doll Show

   I have another 'free but for the shipping' doll if someone wants her. She's been featured on the blog, and she's been on the sales page for a while. She was made by Eegee, and as far as I can tell, she's wearing her original dress and shoes.

Recently I came across her and somehow she has gotten her arm hole broken. She's old plastic, and somehow the plastic has shattered around one arm. Her arm went back on, and it's staying, helped by her dress. She could be repaired, but I'm not going to do it. There is a page that shows how to repair plastic dolls HERE. If anybody wants to take her on, she's free other than shipping costs.

  I put a few more dolls on the sales page too, so you might want to have a look and see if any of your favourite dolls from the blog have ended up there.

  Other than the sales page, if you're missing shopping for dolls, there's  the Holiday 2020 Showcase Event, a virtual Doll Show of sorts, being held November 27th through the 30th. You can find out the details HERE.

Toy Show Tales and What I Got at the Toy Show: A 'Haul' Indeed!

   Well the weather certainly has changed around here! Gone are the warm days in the 70's, replaced by days in the 30's or 40's, rain, and LOADS of wind! It was so windy the other morning that I swear I felt the house move! It's definitely the time to stay inside with my electric throw and a mug of Horlicks, (since I'm not allowed to drink hot chocolate any more!). Luckily I photographed my toy show haul the other day so I can sit here under my electric throw and show it to you.

  Some doll collectors see no reason to go to a toy show. Toy shows are usually full of, well, toys. There aren't usually many dolls at toy shows, you think. That's true to an extent, but I have found that toy shows, while they may not have a lot of dolls, are good places to get dolls at great prices. If you find dolls at a toy show, chances are they are there because the dealer, who is way more familiar with toys than dolls, got them in a lot with some toys. The dealer doesn't know anything about dolls, doesn't care to, and just wants to be rid of them as quickly as possible. They don't want to be stuck carrying dolls back and forth to toy shows where they are going to be hard, or even impossible, to sell. This can be good for the doll buyer, because the dealer is going to be willing to take as little as possible for the dolls, and is ready to haggle because they have no interest in having the dolls hanging around. 

  One  of the best deals I ever got as a dealer, back when we were doing doll and toy shows, was this one: We were doing a miniature and train show, a strange combination to begin with. One side of the place was ladies from the local miniature society, exhibiting their miniature displays, and selling some dollhouse things. The other side was guys selling toys and train stuff. Now, there is some overlap between miniatures and trains. Train people often do wonderful layouts with tiny people, trees, buildings,etc. There's some great detail to these set ups. I love looking at them. (To see the grandest glorified train lay out on Earth, at least that I know of, take a trip to Roadside America in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania. It's a whole giant room full of a miniature town and countryside. It's closed right now due to the pandemic, but when you can, consider a trip there. We've been there twice, and we all really loved it.) We were the only people there selling dolls. So, one guy, who usually dealt in G.I. Joe, offered us some stuff he had been forced to take when he went to someone's house to buy a bunch of Joe stuff. It was all or nothing, so he had also had to take a shoebox of Barbie stuff he didn't want. He wasn't happy about it because he knew nothing about the stuff, and didn't think he'd ever sell it because all he did were toy shows. So did we want to buy it? He passed me a shoe box. When I took the lid off it was like I had opened a treasure chest.

  Inside the box was the most beautiful bubble cut Barbie I have ever seen. She was an ash blonde, with smoky eye shadow. There was also a red haired Midge with a perfect flip hairdo. And the clothes! There was Solo in the Spotlight, Nighty Negligee',Black Magic, Suburban Shopper, a blue slip, Enchanted Evening,Satin and Rose, and I don't know what else. All the outfits were completely mint and complete, except for one pom pommed mule. Midge's wrist tag was even in the box! It looked like the kid had played with the stuff minimally after opening it on Christmas, and when things were cleared up at the end of the day, all of it was gathered into the shoe box, and had never been touched again. That lost shoe probably got thrown away with some wrapping paper. You know how Christmas is. Oddly enough, I don't think Barbie's bathing suit was in there. Maybe she was a Dressed Box doll. 

  I had to talk Ken into buying the stuff! Granted we didn't know much about how to value vintage Barbie stuff. I still don't trust myself to price vintage Barbie stuff as much as I'd like. There is so much depending on condition, and I'm never sure how to rate things. How much wear takes off how much value? But I assured Ken we could make some money on the stuff, and he'd be crazy not to buy it. In the end we paid the guy $70 and a Zap action figure from American Gladiator. (Hey, he wanted it.) I kept the Enchanted Evening and the Satin and Rose. Turns out I still have the Nighty Negligee too, although I didn't originally keep it on purpose. I sold the Midge in the Suburban Shopper, and the Bubble Cut I sold to Mikelman.

  I also made a good buy from somebody who was walking around a toy show, trying to sell a Barbie and Stacy doll case full of goodies. I was shopping, not selling at that show. When the guy kept getting turned down by dealers,  I asked to see what he had. In the case was a talking P.J. with detached legs, (Why are those Mod Era talking Barbies always with their legs off? Did the talking mechanism not leave enough room to attach the legs properly?), but with her original dress and bloomers and her sunglasses still attached to her head. You can see her on my post HERE. There was also a Marlo flip Barbie, and a bunch of Mod Era clothes. I hate to haggle. It makes me nervous. Whenever Ken is with me I, make him do it. So he did, and we walked away with all the stuff for $35. Yay Ken.

  Back to today's story. I hadn't been to a toy show in ages. Nobody wants to go any more now that the kids are grown. My sister would never have offered to go to a toy show before, and it was her idea! Considering those things I wondered if I should miss the chance to have a toy show partner. I thought about Covid, but I figured that since the show was being held at a fairground, it would be either outside, or in one of those big fairground buildings. As it turned out, it was in two big fairground buildings, with the doors open on both ends, one way aisles, and everybody following the mask rule. So I felt better about it.

  Now, I had just bought three dolls from The Toy Box Philosopher's Emily. (That's a lie. She gave me one for free.) I needed to earn back money, not spend any. But, as the saying goes, sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

  Before we had made out way around very far, we came across a table where I spotted a Skipper case laying behind the guy running the table. He didn't even have it out with his sell stuff. As I asked to see it, I noticed there was also another Skipper case, and a big Barbie and Midge case. I asked to see them, and looked over what was inside. The Skipper case I saw first was one I had never come across in person. 

I couldn't remember if it was rare though. It contained a Penny Brite and a couple of pieces of homemade clothing. 

The last thing I needed was another Penny Brite. As you may have seen, I have quite a few.  In spite of that I was compelled to rescue another Penny later, 'as long as she's no more than $1'. She wasn't. She'll need some clean up.

  There was even a Skipper box, complete with booklet and stand.

  The other Skipper case had a Skipper body with a nice Midge head on it...

...and some Skipper and Barbie clothes. 

The yellow and brown plastic thing is the sleeping bag to Barbie's Country Camper.

The Barbie/Midge case had a Malibu Barbie...

Wearing a vintage Barbie fashion called Sorority Meeting.

... a red haired Living Barbie...

... Bubble Cut Barbie...

 I think she might be a White Ginger. 

There were Barbie clothes. Some were vintage Mattel, like the Sorority Meeting, the Nighty Negligee robe, and the coat and hat to It's Cold Outside.

The yellow set is Barbie's PJs, the black and white dress and hat are her After Five fashion, and the pink dress on the right is Barbie's Plantation Belle. 

The red dress bottom left is a Tressy dress.

   I had to do my own haggling. When I'm trying to figure out what to offer for a lot of things, if I think I'm going to resell even some of it, I find a low base amount I think I can positively get for most of the items. In this case I was thinking $10. I had to see how many things I thought I could get at least $10 for, (Hoping I could actually get more, so I could make a profit. Am I making myself clear?), and then multiply. I was thinking I could definitely get at least $10 for at least 7 things in the lot. When I say 'at least 10' I mean, that's the base amount to give me room to make a profit. So, the guy asked $80, and I offered $70, and he agreed.

  If that is a White Ginger Bubble Cut I'm already in profit. The Skipper and Skooter case turned out to be a rare one, although it's not in perfect condition. I'd like to keep it for my Skipper collection, but we'll see. I have most of the Skipper and Barbie clothes that are worth something already, so they can go.

  I made one other purchase for resale. I got this bend leg Skipper for a good price.

She cleaned up very nicely.

  I saw a lot of things I could have bought for myself, but I was thinking about paying for my Emily dolls, so I bought very little for myself. I caved and bought a Neca Planet of the Apes gorilla because he was awesome.

  That's it for the toy show. Next time, my Doll Show purchases, of which there are few.

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!