Napoleon Dynamite, and the Good, the Bad, and the Expensive! Plus, Antique Mall Dolls!

    I'm still working on the doll show post, and the toy show goodies post. But in the meantime I have some fun things to show you from an antique mall we went to in March. March was my birthday month, so I got to choose the stuff we did on our 'Fun Day'. On one of those days we went to an antique mall. I bought a few things, but not many. But there were loads of great dolls there. It was almost as good as a doll show. I thought I'd show them to you.

 First though, I have a tale to tell. I don't know how your weekend was, but mine was both fun and crap. It started out to be fun. I was going to meet my sister in Columbus. For our birthdays Emma had given us tickets to a Q and A screening of Napoleon Dynamite, with the stars Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez there. Then I was going to go to a doll show on Saturday. The problem was, to do that, I would have to take Ken to work on Friday, and pick him up after he got off work that night. On the weekends, Ken doesn't get off until 2 or 3 AM sometimes. That would have made getting up at 7:30 or so for the doll show the next morning something less enjoyable. (Like getting up that early is enjoyable anyway.) But we got lucky. Ken was going to borrow Emma's truck to take his recycling off on Earth day anyway, so we just borrowed it a couple of days early. Problem solved! 

  But as it turned out, we needed it more than we thought...

   I go to Columbus a bit early, not having eaten. I plan to find something to eat and kill some time before meeting up with my sister. I get there, and see some garage sales. I go to a few, to kill some time, and notice signs for a big church sale Hey! That is the  huge church sale where I got a room sized Chinese carpet for $5, and those Pelham Puppets and those Mini Martians! That sale is usually great! And it's going on right now! So I plan to head there. As I wait for a red light I hear a 'pip pip pip' sound. I don't think it's me. I mean, it isn't my car. Is it? Then I  notice the car is getting hot. The needle is heading past medium. So as soon as the light changes I head for Target to get coolant or oil or something. There's a 5 minute oil change place right in front of Target, so I pull in. The guy looks under my hood and tells me that I'm out of coolant and that it has sprayed all over the inside of the hood and the engine. He recommends I go down the street to the next car place that does repair work. They may only do brakes and stuff though. He very nicely fills the coolant for me so I can get there. It's about a minute away, but I nearly overheat getting there. The guy there says they don't do radiator hoses or radiators. He thinks it might be the radiator hose, but he's not an expert. He sends me to Midas, about 5 minutes away. I have to stop a few times on the way so I can let the car cool down in between. I get to Midas. By now it's about 5 o'clock. I still haven't eaten.

  The guy at Midas looks at my car and says I need a new water pump. It will be about $970. He doesn't have one though, and anyway, they close in an hour. But he can order one and have it done the next day. Uhh.... I'm gonna have to think about that. But now I have no transportation. My sister has to come to Columbus for the show. Can she come early and pick me up at Midas? She heads my way, but she lives pretty far from Columbus. I wait on her, but Midas closes, so I have to go stand outside. I stand out there, starving, and now I have to go to the bathroom. 

 I can smell something good, similar to Chinese food. I notice there is a ramen noodle place two doors down from Midas. I walk down there, with my bad leg now hurting from standing so long. I get there, and they are now drive through only. Great. I walk back to Midas so my sister can find me. Still have to go to the bathroom. 

  It's nearly 7 when she picks me up, and the doors open at 7 for the Napoleon Dynamite. So we head for that, passing no food places. When we get there they have food, but I can't bring myself to pay $6.50 for one slice of pizza. And I no longer have to go to the bathroom. Don't get the wrong idea. The urge had just passed, that's all.

  The show was fun, even if we did have to watch the movie on screens smaller than some people's TVs, because the screen on stage had a pinata hanging in front of it. And they told some funny and interesting stories about the making of the movie.

'Napoleon' and 'Pedro' on stage.

Jon Heder circled the audience on a bicycle before going on stage.

Jon Heder, 'Napoleon', came out into the audience and took questions. At one point he was right in front of us. I took pictures, but I was sneaky about it. No flash, and I held the phone in my lap, thus the angle

The costume contest. My sister said, "I told you we should have dressed up!" Like I was going to get on stage anyway. And they made them dance! No way!

  After the show there is another problem I have been trying to solve. I have no way to get home. My sister lives over an hour from where we are now, which is over an hour from my house. And it's the other direction. She offers to take me home with her, but then how to do I get home from even farther away, when we have no car? Plus, why go even father away and have to be picked up, just for one night? Emma says she will pick me up after the show and take me home. Then it becomes she'll have AJ pick her up and I can pick her car up at her work and drive to her house, where Ken can come and get me when he gets off work. At 2 or 3 AM? It's a half hour away, and he'll be too sleepy to safely drive that. Finally it becomes my sister taking me to pick up Emma's car, which I drive to Emma's, where I sleep, and Ken will pick me up in the morning, and we'll go to deal with our car. I still haven't eaten or used the bathroom.

  I stopped at Taco Bell and finally ate. For the record, I used the bathroom when I got to Emma's. But couldn't go. Ken picked me up in the morning. Before going to get the car and have AAA tow it to our town, where Ken had found he can get it repaired for half the price of Midas' cost, I stop at the local record store to nab the Record Store Day Kate Bush release, because, hey, priorities! I got the last one. And find out that nephew Chris managed to get me one in England. I had asked him to try because it supposedly wasn't going to be released here. At the last minute they added about 8000 releases worldwide. Great, because I got one, and bad, because now I have two, and the value is sunk because there are so many. So I can't even unload the English one for what it cost, plus I have to have it shipped over, which will cost a fortune. Crap. Speaking of, Ken and I had to wait literal hours for the AAA truck to arrive. AND NOW I have to go to the bathroom! I refuse to go in Midas and use their bathroom, because we didn't spend any money there, and because their bathroom is right next to the service desk, where they do their paperwork and take care of customers. I anticipate wanting some privacy for this. To make a long story short, yes, I did make it home without incident. In fact, by the time we got home, I almost didn't feel the need to go, again.

  But the car is fixed and, for the moment at least, all is well. And I had been thinking that I missed the doll show. I didn't though! It's this weekend! (Thanks for the heads up Barb!)

  So here's the fun stuff from the antique mall. 

  This is an old Shirley Temple doll, but I think she's wearing the dress from the 1995 Danbury Mint Shirley Temple Dress Up doll though, with an old pin.

    This Raggedy Andy is wearing an unusual shade of light blue. Usually he sticks to Navy blue.

I need that little rubber Ann to match my Superflex Andy! But for some reason she is always really expensive. (For what she is, anyway.)

The doll in orange is great. She's all cloth with a pressed cloth face.

 The case was full of great dolls.

  I like the skier.

  My favourites in this area of the shelf is the dollhouse girl with the striped apron, and the dog.

  These little travel dolls had some beautiful colours. They remind me of the doll got at a doll show recently. 

  This little girl isn't strictly a doll. More of a figure really. but I like her.

  Look at this one's teeth.

Her tag says she's an all bisque Kestner doll.

A big bisque baby and a pressed cloth face travel doll.

A cute little compo girl and a mask faced bunny.

A cute girl with posture problems.

A cloth Mary Poppins amongst the animals.

I'm not sure if this guy is sneaky, or just watching trouble and staying out of it.

A couple of Patsy types and an Effanbee Girl Scout. That lady in red must lift weights.
 

  Speaking of Girl Scouts, has anybody noticed how small the boxes of Girl Scout cookies are this year? Talk about shrinkflation! They are tiny! And $6.50 a box!

  Not a doll, but this ceramic girl reminded me of Alice. And you know I love me some Alice in Wonderland.

 

  Also not a doll, but these very old children's books were very cute.

I love this kind of artwork.

  An all monkey band. 

 

 That lady looks a bit disgruntled to be sharing her case with a couple of hobos. (I suppose they're Emmet Kelly.)

  This doll had a metal head, cloth body, and porcelain arms and legs. What a combo.

  This doll has a beautiful outfit.

Cheerful Tearful in her box.

  Next to Cheerful was this little family.

 

  Okay. Also not a doll, but how cute is this kid?

I love the cow with people feet, and a back full of...elves?

   This Dawn friend Daphne was pretty, but very overpriced, even for an NRFB doll.

  A beautiful red haired Dodi doll by Ideal. (You can see my Dodi's HERE.)

  

  There were some beautiful Pelham Puppets.

(You can see the Pelham Puppets I got at that church sale HERE.)

  This poor naked babe.

  This girl was quite tall, and due to the shelves around her, I couldn't back up enough to get all of her in with the lens I have.

  I gave a little squeal when I saw this guy. I have his twin sister! I've had her since I was a little kid. She's wearing a pink dress. They're made of soft hollow plastic.

  These two were cute.

  I have a thing for travel dolls. This lady was strange and also appealing. She's from Yugoslavia. 

  This baby has penetrating eyes!

  I liked this lady, but then, she does have glasses, and I love that. That lace is gorgeous tiny delicate  stuff.

  This little kid is fun. She comes in a musical pram.

  Surprisingly, she can be taken out of it.

She doesn't have any legs though. She's just a bunting.

  Here's another travel doll, in a different style.

  This mechanical dog with his tongue hanging out was cute.

  A Lenci boy! I love felt/pressed cloth faced dolls. He has a great personality.

  There were two more in another case.

  Great colours in their clothes! Their faces were a bit faded though.

  Not a doll either. But, have you seen "Monty Python's Meaning of Life"? It's Mr. Creosote, post 'wafer thin after dinner chocolate'.

  This doll is a Moondreamers doll. If I ever come across them again, I have a bunch of this stuff to do a post on.

  This pretty doll is Cissy, by Madame Alexander.

  This little lady is at her loom, weaving a rug. 

  More 'not dolls'. They are kind of log legged, but cute.

  This batch of Beatles dolls are by Hamilton. You might have seen a couple of mine HERE. There were also a bunch of records and tour programs, both Beatles and solo Beatles. Somebody must have sold a collection. I hope they didn't die.

They aren't bad likenesses. It's too bad they are just sightly smaller than 1/6 scale.

  These ladies are dancers from Bali or Thailand, from the looks of them. Anybody know for sure? Helga?

  A baby and a pose doll.

  This set of carolers with lenticular eyes are just the sort of weird thing I always liked. 

The Native American doll in the back is called a Skoocum. You can see a Skoocum I have, and read about Skoocums HERE.

  These guys are also right up my alley. I think they are supposed to be Christmas elves.

  AND this guy! He's an elderly Christmas elf.. I wish he hadn't been so expensive. I've never seen one like him.

  This jumping Jack toy  is sort of a doll. I think she's made by Irmi, who made those cute wooden nursery lamps way back when.

  I want the monkey!

  What do you call these dolls?

  A cute bride doll. 

  This bride looks a little young, doesn't she?

  Gotta love this plate, which is, dare I say it, also not a doll.

 

  I think that doll in the back is trying to get the other one to do something that is surely going to get her in trouble.

  I really love this 1/6 scale loom! I want! Very expensive though.

  A 1970's Ideal Shirley Temple with some much older friends.

It's hard to see in my bad photo, but the large doll middle right is a Nora Wellings velvet doll.

  Check out these antique baby carriages.

   A big boy, and another Skoocum.

  This girl is sweet. I don't know where she's from.

  I would say these girls are old, but their clothes are definitely new.

I like the girl at the bottom with the big yellow bow.

  I would have bought this girl, if she had been in my price range.

This high chair is the same brand as my doll high chair from when I was a kid.

A googly eyed pin cushion.

  This guy was pretty big. Isn't he cool? He has a mask.

  I liked this lady. She was pretty, with a very colourful outfit.

  I almost bought these two. They were being sold as a pair. She reminds me of some ladies I have. They're some of my favourites. They're Hungarian Matyo dolls. I don't have a guy, but this guy comes with a lady, and I already have two, so I couldn't justify buying them. I was being good.

  This lady was next to them. She's very similar, but much larger. They're about 8 inches tall, whereas she's about 16 inches.

Lots of colourful trim and embroidery.

  These dolls looked very old and handmade. I like how the old lady in the middle seems to be the mother in law.

I see her as the lady's mom, and she lives with them.

  This guys tag says he's a Santa. He looks more like The Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz to me.

Sorry these can't be seen very well.

  Okay! Not a doll, but I LOVE this!

 Ag! I forget which Barbie this is! Isn't she great though?

  This was really clever Somebody made a room box out of an old radio. I think it would have been even better if they had made a scene from the same era as the radio. 

  These are some really nice antique dolls. I like the one in pink. The other girl has some really long arms!

  These two look like old movie stars.

  I don't know why this one was so expensive. She was nice, but a bit dirty. 

  Look at this sweet bear lady. She's looking for somebody.

And this bear was so cute! It was March, but he was still waiting for his Valentine. Maybe she was looking for him!

If I could have bought a bear it would have been this one. He's tiny. His tag says he's from the 1930's,and $68!

  I did actually buy some things. I bought these Lotte Sievers Hahn dolls.  They are so new looking, I'm sure they are more recent ones than the very old ones I have. (You might have seen them HERE, HERE, HERE. They're taller too. Oddly enough, when I got him home I found he is the same doll as the one I just bought at the doll show last month! The only difference is this guy has his hat.

  I bought this lady head for my sister for her birthday. She as one that looks like it's made by the same company. They are now on shelves on either side of her TV.

Check out the shell lady and the watermelon cat.

  I also got a couple of tiny thread dolls. They are just like the ones I showed you HERE, but they actually have faces.

  I got something else that should interest you, which is going to be sold to, hopefully, pay for the stuff I'm keeping. It was in such great condition, and so cheap, that I couldn't pass it up, even though I don't want it for myself. I'll show you that soon.