My 4th Blogaversary and a Giveaway

  Today is the fourth anniversary of this blog.

I have been thinking about celebrating with a giveaway. I haven't yet decided what to giveaway,so if you have any ideas or suggestions of something you'd like to see given away here, (And let's not get carried away here. I'm not made of money.),maybe even a doll you've seen on the blog,leave a comment. I'll consider and announce the giveaway item in the first week of June. (I'll save you some time. Don't ask me to give away any of my childhood dolls!)

The Winner of the Blogaversary Giveaway

  As announced the other day, the winner of the Blogaversary giveaway was Miss L Spooky. I can't post her comment without posting her address, (You cannot copy and paste or delete parts of comments. I suppose that's so you can't change what people say, but in this case it's just a pain.),so I just wanted to include her comment here. (I'm having to retype it, so I hope I don't mix anything up.) She says, "Thank you, I can't wait to show my dolls the prizes! I enjoy reading about your doll collection & look forward to seeing what you find next. Congrats on your second blogaversary & thanks again for the giveaway!" Thanks for the nice comments and thanks for entering Miss L. Your prizes will be reaching you soon! I hope you enjoy them!

And The Winner Is...The Results Of The Blogaversary Givaway!

  Here we are at the end of the Blogaversary Giveaway. The deadline was midnight Eastern Standard U.S. time last night. There were five entrants, not counting the one entrant who forgot the rules about being a follower showing in my side bar and only picking one prize. (Don't worry PoetryinLeaves. Maybe next giveaway.Thanks for your interest.)  Today the qualifying entrants,

Kyraja, Natalia,Freja, Miss L Spooky, and Jawn Pickles, had their names put into a...Ok, it was a General Foods International Instant Coffee container. (Fuzz does enjoy his flavoured coffee.)

Ivy did the name drawing.

And the winner she pulled out was...

The irony here is that Ivy ALWAYS has her nails painted, and today, when she had her hand photographed for the world to see, she was between nail paints!

...one of our newest followers, Miss L Spooky! Congratulations Miss L Spooky! Her choice was the 1/6 scale trash can and desk lamp. Those will be sent out to you Spooky, as soon as you leave your mailing address in the comments. (It won't be published, so don't worry.) Thanks to everybody who entered. There might be another giveaway around Christmas time, so everybody will have another chance at winning then.

More About the Blogaversary Giveaway

  I just wanted to let everyone know that I updated the giveaway post with details that I forgot to mention the first time around. To see the original post you can go HERE. If you just want to read the additional details, here they are:
UPDATE: I forgot to mention when the giveaway ends! All the build up, trying to decide what to give away, and I was so caught up in that I forgot to say that entries will be accepted until midnight Eastern Standard (United States) time on 2 June, 2015. That's 10 days. The winner will be announced on Thursday, 4 June, since we will be away an the 3rd, celebrating Emma's birthday with her. Don't forget, to enter you have to be a follower that shows up in the side bar. Good luck everybody!
  AND ANOTHER UPDATE! It occurred to me that I also forgot to let you know how the winner would be chosen! (I blame all this distraction on the merciless headaches I've had for a week now---I think I have a bad tooth---and the fact that the one year anniversary of my Dad's death was yesterday.) All entrants names will be printed on pieces of paper and placed in a box. The winner will be drawn from the box and will be announced June 4th, as stated above. There. That should be everything now! 
  Just to remind everybody that you must be a follower that shows up in the side bar to enter, and the prizes are your choice of EITHER the wallpaper and rug in 1/12 scale,or the trash can and desk lamp in 1/6 scale, or the laundry basket, sandwiches and cookies for larger dolls around 14" to 18". One winner will be chosen, so good luck!

Blogaversary Giveaway! Something for Everyone! (In scale that is. You don't all get a prize. Sorry...)

  UPDATE: I forgot to mention when the giveaway ends! All the build up, trying to decide what to give away, and I was so caught up in that I forgot to say that entries will be accepted until midnight Eastern Standard (United States) time on 2 June, 2015. That's 10 days. The winner will be announced on Thursday, 4 June, since we will be away an the 3rd, celebrating Emma's birthday with her. Don't forget, to enter you have to be a follower that shows up in the side bar. Good luck everybody!
  AND ANOTHER UPDATE! It occurred to me that I also forgot to let you know how the winner would be chosen! (I blame all this distraction on the merciless headaches I've had for a week now---I think I have a bad tooth---and the fact that the one year anniversary of my Dad's death was yesterday.) All entrants names will be printed on pieces of paper and placed in a box. The winner will be drawn from the box and will be announced June 4th, as stated above. There. That should be everything now! 
  So, here we are. It's Saturday, and that means it's the start of the Planet of the Dolls Second Blogaversary Give Away! Last year there wasn't much of a showing from you people. We only had one entry. But this year I have faith that you are ALL going to enter! I am doing the same thing I did last year: offering you your choice of prizes in three different scales. The winner will choose the prize from the scale of their choice. I figured this was the best way to go, since you readers, like me, have dolls of various scales. Winner may choose only one scale.
  So! Here are the choices for this year's prize. For 1/12, and possibly 1/6 scale, are these room decorating items. Included is this wall paper...

 

...and this rug.

You get three 12" by 10" sheets of the paper, and the rug. (And be kind about the rug: I made it.) That should be enough paper for a 1/6 scale room, should you choose to use it for that,or more than enough for a 1/12 scale dollhouse room. The design on this paper is small enough that you might even use it for a smaller scale.
  For 1/6 scale, these goodies:
  One outdoor style trash can,with opening lid and rolling wheels, and one desk lamp that really lights.

These are the actual prizes you will be sent. The trash can is a burnt orange colour, and the lamp is black.

You might have seen both of these on the blog when I came across them.

8" Tammy World and  J Doll La Marche show you the scale. The prize is one lamp and the one orange trash can in the first picture.

The arm of the lamp is really adjustable.

And Tammy and her dad Wally, a 12" Prince Charming, show you the size of the trash cans.

  For use with 14" to 18" dolls, like Hearts for Hearts, American Girl, and other larger size dolls there is this laundry basket, and, for when your doll works up an appetite doing the laundry, these two sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Samantha is just showing you the prizes. She is not included.

The sandwiches are made of felt, with painted and stitched details.

Both sandwiches have a removeable slice of cheese, slice of tomato, and piece of lettuce. And as with the rug, be nice: I made them.
  All items are brand new. I would not suggest them for children who are young enough that they still put things in their mouths.
  Now, how do you enter the contest? The contest is open to anyone, anywhere. The only stipulation is that you are a follower who shows up in the side bar. So if you're already there, great! Feel free to enter, stating your prize choice, by leaving a comment on this post. If you aren't a follower yet, or of you're following in such a way that you don't show up in the side bar,just remedy that situation and then enter and leave your prize choice in the comment section on this post.
  If we get more entrants this year, next year the prizes will be bigger. I may even do a Christmas giveaway if this one does well! Good luck everybody! Let's hope lots of you enter this time!

Happy Blogaversary to Us! And Some News About a Give Away

  Hey! Today is the second anniversary of Planet of the Dolls! I am still enjoying the blog. I wish I had more time to devote to doing some of the things I did last year, like theme weeks and the histories of particular dolls. I spent quite a bit of time doing a doll every day last year, so I know my family was glad when the year ended! I really liked doing it though, even though some times it was hard work, involving a lot of research and writing. So expect to see some of those things occasionally once our trip to England is over and things have settled down a little. At the moment we are getting ourselves ready for the trip, doing some of the things we need to do before we go, and making sure everything will be taken care of while we are gone.
   I have been pondering for a long time about doing a give away. Last year I did a give away and it received a grand total of ONE entry. I would really like to do another one, and hopefully, with readership up a lot since last year, there will be more entries. So, details about the give away will be revealed this Saturday. Make sure you come back then and don't forget to enter!

Skipper Saturday?

  It's very late, so too late to work up a Skipper Saturday post tonight. We visited with my sister all day today, which involved 2 hours driving each way. I was gone all day so I didn't have any opportunity to take any pictures, etc., but I did get some things I'll be showing you soon. Skipper Saturday will appear tomorrow, which I suppose makes it "Skipper Sunday", but hey, that's the best I can do!
  London Peony, as I said before, never assume a man has done what you asked him too. Ken suddenly mentioned the other day that he STILL hadn't mailed your prize! So I put it out for the postal person myself IMMEDIATELY. So it HAS gone out now. You'll have to tell me when you receive it, and what you think of it.

Birth, Death, Growth, and The Return of Skipper Saturday

  Some of you may have been confused as to the order of the last few Doll-A-Day posts. I had three ready to post when all the recent events started happening. They got posted all at once afterward, just because they were there. Then I noticed they were in the wrong order, and I attempted to correct that by putting them back in draft and reposting them. They were being stubborn and refused to go where they were supposed to. As that wasn't my biggest concern at the time, I gave up. Somehow with all that they got sort of mixed in with the other posts and some of you may be thinking, :How was she messing with those posts at a time like that?!" Well, I wasn't. It just all got mixed up with all the removing and reposting.
  I've been hemming and hawing over returning to the blog. Do I start Doll-A-Day again? Do I wait? Or do I just let that boat sail completely? Should I at least do Skipper Saturday as a regular thing? The page views are higher today, so are people looking for my Skipper posts? (Those of you who have been regular readers ought to know better than to look for the day's post early in the day!) I've been trying to be 'normal' after Dad's passing, but whenever I do 'normal' things, I feel I shouldn't be yet. When is it ok to go back to normal? I had this same problem when my mother passed away. But hers was sudden, so I hadn't had time for early grieving. I feel as if I have already been grieving for a long time, which I have because I started months ago when Dad's health started to fail. My sister is having a hard time. It only fully hit her last night. Maybe it will hit me like that out of the blue one day, but I think I will just continue in my funk for a long time. But I've been trying to ease back into doing the things I always do and carry on. So I decided to post a Skipper today.That will be a separate post, so make sure to check it out.
     Ken's nephew became the father of a baby boy recently.Yesterday I was shopping for baby clothes. I miss having little ones. Mine are so big now, and NONE of them want to have children. I kind of feel like I made having children look as if it was no fun, for them to feel that way. (Which it was. I LOVED having kids.)They assure me that's not the case. They just don't like kids and/or don't want to have to take care of any. Fuzz says it's because kids are horrible, especially babies. He said babies are hard to deal with.I tried to tell him that babies are easy. It's when they become teenagers that they become difficult! It's so much easier when they are little, and you can keep them with you, safe and happy. When they get bigger and start going out into the world, where you can't always know where they are and that they are safe, and having problems that you can't solve for them; that's when it's hard.
  Our giveaway winner, London Peony has contacted me with her address, so she will be receiving her miniature checker set very soon. Thanks for entering London.

"Crown me!" says Leptospurmum.

I'm considering doing a Christmas giveaway, but this time somebody needs to give London Peony some competition, otherwise she'll be over run with cool stuff I'm giving away. Come on people! Doesn't anybody else want to play with me?
  In other news, as they say, my pear tree is full of baby pears...

...my tomato plants are getting bigger...

...and I think that corn I planted is finally starting to come up.

Corn?

I just hope it's not too late. The mulberries, which are usually finishing up by this time, are starting to get ripe, and, as usual, my garlic is threatening to take over the yard!

The computer insists on loading this one sideways. But you get the idea...

 The garlic is only rivaled by the the wild strawberries, which, unfortunately, are inedible.

Gol durned wild strawberries have flourished, whereas my edible strawberries, that I paid money for, died out.Figures.

Oddly enough, the leeks, which NEVER get full sized anyway, are starting to seed already, as is the garlic. What?! 

My puny leeks. That pointy thing at the top will soon be a ball of tiny blooms, which will drop utterly worthless leek seeds back into the ground, where they will not grow next year.

There's a pumpkin plant, (or is it cucumbers?) growing of it's own accord amongst the Myrtle.

This is sideways too, but you would never have known if I hadn't told you.

 I still have Amaryllis' blooming, but the Rose of Sharon and the Sweet Peas are taking their time. The tiny blue flowers I used for a lot of doll photos lately are, I think, Forget-Me-Nots.(Now that I think about it, I did have a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds. I must have sprinkled them there.)

 Emma commented how fitting that is, considering they are growing at the edge of our 'pet cemetery'.
  So, lots of growing going on, but whether or not it produces anything remains to be seen. I'm famous for my black thumb,so I'm not counting on anything.
   Anyway, I have done some yard saling the last couple of days. It looks like Monster High,and Lalaloopsy dolls are beginning to hit the yard sales in a big way. I snagged 2 full size Lalaloopsies, (Ok. One of them was naked.),a mini, a plush, and several pets this weekend.

  Just to update on my recent cheese related injury: I am still limping and the toe is still swollen and still hurts, but it's almost back to it's normal colour. And you thought fats and cholesterol were the biggest dangers of cheese...
  Check out today's other post for Skipper Saturday.