Doll-A-Day 2017 #354: Pig Pen

  Wow. Only 10 more days to go in this year of dolls. I'm this close to completing a whole year,with no missing days. I didn't manage that the last time I did this,but then there were alot of things that prevented it last time, including my dad passing away. But, as close as I am this year, there is something now that may prevent me from finishing...
  Have I ever mentioned that I have a back problem? Ok, that's an understatement. I have a lot of back problems. Way back in 1983 or 84 I shredded,(Complete with ripping sound.), my back, lifting something at work. I was in agony for ages,and my back has never been the same. It hurt so bad that I felt sick,and the pain was so relentless that I would go home at night and just lay in the floor and cry. There was no escape from the intense pain and it just drove me insane after a while But I never missed a day of work.That was pretty stupid actually. I would have healed a lot better and more quickly if I had rested my back. I had a worker's compensation claim going, so I could have been paid while I was off too. But that felt wrong to me. Now I think I should have taken time off.
  At the time I had a lot of tests done to see exactly what was up with my back, and found out that I never really had a whole back in the first place. Apparently I was born with only a 'rudimentary vertebrae and rudimentary joint' in the lower part of my back. So probably not a good idea to be lifting heavy stuff in the first place.
  Then I hurt my shoulder at my next job. I was a cashier in the electronics department. We were expected to stock the shelves too,and if the stuff wasn't put up off the selling floor by the end of the day, we were in trouble. I used to carry TV sets up a 16 foot ladder to stack them three TVs tall on the shelf above the actual selling floor. At 5' tall and 105 pounds,that was undoubtedly more than I should have been doing.  But I learned that if you aren't the cute flirty girls, the stockroom guys wouldn't help you do squat. My shoulder got strained or sprained or something. I had such intense pain I used to sit behind the counter when I got a chance, and shove the corner of a microwave box into my shoulder blade to relive the pain. My back occasionally went out too. I nearly passed out from the pain once when I leaned over to get something out of the showcase for someone.(The customer panicked and asked if I was ok. The manager of the store,who was standing next to me, totally ignored me.)
  So ever since then my back and shoulder go out on me occasionally. Ken still freaks out when he thinks about the time, right after we moved into our house, that my shoulder went out, and the pain was so intense I could hardly speak. With all the box shifting I've been doing lately, lifting, and being on my feet a lot,my back has been bad lately. Last night I could hardly get into bed. Our bed is a pretty tall old four poster that was old when it entered in my family when I was a kid. I have been telling Ken that when I get old I'm going to need a step stool to get in and out of bed. I really could have used it last night. When I tried to go to bed I ended up dangling with one knee up on the bed and my face in the bed, screaming every time I tried to get the other leg onto the bed. Eventually I forced myself up, but I'm sure the neighbours heard me do it! I spent most of today in bed unable to move.
  So hopefully I'll be able to get around enough to keep up with the posts throughout the end of the year.
  Today's doll is from one of my favourite Christmas shows,"A Charlie Brown Christmas".

He's Pig Pen. Luckily I had these photos of him already taken. I discovered recently that I had two of them! (That happens sometimes!) I took these of the one I sold,or I wouldn't have a doll for today.

This doll was made by PMI. They made quite a few of the characters. I'm particularly fond of Pig Pen, with his crazy plastic hair,the Linus and pumpkin patch set, and the teacher's desk included in one of the sets. It talks,with that 'whaa whaat' Charlie Brown's teacher's voice.

He's trade marked UFS: United Features Syndicate.

He's 5" tall.

You have to love all the dirt marks and his hair. I love the bit in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" where Freida complains that Pig Pen's dust is taking the curl out of her 'naturally curly hair'. Charlie Brown responds,"Don't think of it as dust. Think of it as maybe the soil of some great past civilization. Maybe the soil of ancient Babylon. It staggers the imagination. He may be carrying soil that was trod upon by Solomon, or even Nebuchadnezzar." Then Pig Pen says, "Sort of makes you want to treat me with more respect, doesn't it?"You can watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" HERE.
  Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow!

Doll-A-Day 2017 #225: Quik Bunny,Tutter,Melody,Alice,Lucy,Linus, and Yard Sale Goodies

  First of all, please pardon the crappiness of my back steps,where I took these pictures before taking my haul inside! Yesterday I showed you some dolls I got this weekend. Here's the whole story.
  This weekend I went out with my list of yard sales,which included one that claimed to have 'some Barbie items'. As I kept trying to work my way toward the road that sale was on,(And we weren't perfectly clear which road that was, since it was one of those roads with two names, it's official numbered route name, and the name it is also known by, based on the two towns it runs between. It's not on the map under both names, so we had to kind of guess.), I kept getting sidetracked by other sales. Ken kept reminding me of what I might be missing. I assured him it was most probably nothing, but I'd get there. Then I recounted the time I had a sale on my list that claimed to have Barbies, and I almost didn't worry about going. I kept thinking, "Oh, it's probably just naked modern Barbies again." I started to go from one sale to a church sale, and then realized I was close to the 'Barbie sale' and went there since I was already almost there. When I got there the lady had a table full of vintage Barbie and friends dolls, some in their original boxes, and some Barbie and Francie clothes. (You can read the whole story HERE.)
  So I wasn't too worried about getting there quickly when I was doing pretty well at the other sales. I bought some good stuff. Like this:

10 cents a pair. I was spotted there by one of Ivy's best friends. It was her grama's house. I didn't spot her though.

At another sale I got this vintage Quik Bunny doll.

He's actually the third size I have the Quik Bunny in now. He's the medium sized one.
Unsentimental Niece had a Quik Bunny when she was a kid, and I always coveted it.

 At another sale I got this Tutter, from Bear in the Big Blue House.

Gotta love Muppets of any kind. When Emma was little we were on vacation and stopped at a place where she saw a Beanie sized Tutter. She didn't buy it because she couldn't stand to spend the money, and then cried for ages. I think we turned back!
I got another old children's book at one sale.

I love the illustrations in these old books.

At one sale I got these miniature Hallmark ornaments. They'll be great for 1/6 scale scenes, or even 1/12 scale. The little loops for the hooks screw out by the way, so they look more realistic.

To show you how tiny they are, that's me holding the yellow one with finger and thumb.

I went to a sale run by the family of Ivy's Kindergarten best friend. Ivy collects vintage sheet music from movies she likes, singers she likes, and songs she likes. I bought her a stack there. It contained one that might interest my readers. It's this one.

What came first, the song or the doll? The sheet music is dated 1919.

I got this game there too. I figured I could get Ivy to play it, since she will probably win. (She moved on to "Cheers" after I got her hooked on "Frasier".)

And I bought these HO scale people

Some of them are super tiny.

How tiny? That's a regular sized marble there amongst them.

And I got these peanuts character friction cars.

Made by Aviva.

 I thought it was weird that Lucy was driving her psychiatrist booth until I realized that that thing Linus is driving is probably his blanket.
 

I bought this set of Barbie furniture for $1 from the lady who owned it as a child in the 80's.

It's made by Multi-Toys and dated 1985.

I got something else from her we'll see for the next Shrunken Saturday.
  Did I ever make it to that sale that claimed it had 'Barbie items'? Well, yes, but not until nearly the end of the day. And did they really have any Barbie items? Yes they did. And some other good stuff too. Ken got some advertising signs and some cameras for his collection. I got the original Melody Kelly friend, and a spare Alice with a broken neck. I might use her Alice dress and customize somebody into an Alice. Besides, the shoes on my Alice are split.

I also got these little dishes, a pitcher, a vase, some animals. and some figures made in occupied Japan.

Oh,and a wooden churn.

But were there any vintage Barbie items? No vintage dolls, unfortunately. Maybe if I had gotten there earlier in the day! I did buy two small bags of doll clothes and a small bag of doll accessories for $2 a bag. They were mostly modern items, but between them all I found these goodies.

This bunch of various sized doll clothes.Most of them are homemade, but well done.

The pink dress is not homemade. Anybody recognize it?

It's bigger than Barbie size.

 I got these nice homemade knitted clothes.

But were there any Barbie things?!Hmmm....Ok! Yes! Out of all the bags I ended up with these few items.

Julia's skirt from Leather Weather and her Brr Fur coat, some Barbie clothes, Ken's beach jacket, the hat from Tutti's Puddle Jumpers, Newborn Thumbelina's shirt, Rock Flowers doll Lilac's dress on the right, an 80's Barbie dress on the left, and that brown leatherette vest and skirt, top, middle.

They're Maddie Mod's skirt and vest. Now that I look it up I see that I got the yellow boots too.

There was also one vintage 'Barbie' scroll hanger and a bunch of unnamed ones, a bunch of vintage Barbie and Ken shoes, mostly singles, a mod era X stand, Calamity Jiddle Kiddle's jacket, the purse to Julia's Leather Weather. a couple of purses that may or may not be vintage, a big mitt that's silver on one side(?),a pair of red vintage doll shoes, and a little checked purple jacket.

Anybody know who it goes to?

So did I learn my lesson? Will I go to sales listing "Barbie items' first next time? Probably not!
See you tomorrow for another doll.