Nice people, good stuff, and a crazy lady

  People can be really nice. Running into people like the crazy crabby lady I met up with last week can make you forget that. She snapped at me, "I can't take that! I don't have change!" when I tried to pay her for my $4.45 with a $20 bill. She really wouldn't give me change, even though her garage sale was open and lots of people were shopping it. I made arrangements for Ken to come pick my stuff up and pay her later in the day. I really didn't want to trust that he would do it though, since Ken has a problem with getting around to stuff, and there was something I was excited to have found for Emma in the goodies. (Forget it Emma. No spoilers. Wait until Christmas.) As I was leaving, a lady sidled up to me and said," I don't know how she can not have change. She's been running this sale for three days. She has change." I was sort of stunned. I asked a young guy sitting in a chair nearby and texting on his phone if he had change. He turned out to be the lady's son or grandson, I think. He said she would give me change and was surprised when I said she told me she didn't have any. He proceeded to tell the lady she needed to give me change. She freaked out, claiming she couldn't bring out her money until they were set up. "We are set up." he told her, and made her go inside with him to get the money, muttering about "crazy obsessive compulsive woman". I felt a bit awkward.We could hear them shouting at each other inside the house. When they came out I paid, got my stuff and left, with him muttering about having to 'put up with this crazy obsessive compulsive lady ALL day!'.
  But I lost my point. I have run into so many nice people. Maybe that's why she was such a shock to me. This past weekend I arranged another barter. Some nice people let me pick up some of their hickory nuts, and even helped me do it. I'm taking them some of my garlic. (It multiplies like rabbits in my yard.) Another nice lady gave me some tomatoes from her garden when I offered to buy some.It was a nice, friendly weekend. And I got some cool stuff. I found this:

It's Tammy"s Ideal House! And I always thought that was a huge Victorian mansion...

  It's missing all the furniture and stuff from inside, but it's still pretty neat.

And I've never seen one in person before. The lady selling it explained that she had had a lot of people ask her about it, and she'd had to "explain that Tammy was Ideal's answer to Barbie" . Poor Tammy. Nobody remembers her any more!

The back of Tammy's house.

  I also found  a couple pieces of vintage Barbie and Francie clothes,including Francie's Dreamy Duo robe,and a boat load of vintage toys and good stuff.   It seems like some weeks everybody puts out their old things.
  I also got some beautiful mint records for 20 cents each,and something I have wanted for years: a set of Friendly Village dishes, for only $30!
  We're still having yard sales because at the beginning of the summer it rained for nearly three weeks. Everybody is still trying to catch up. I need to be careful spending though, because Thursday is the big Barbie auction. That should be fun, but frustrating. I collect on a budget, so the auction often is out of my price range. Luckily I can deal with fixer upper dolls. I don't insist on mint, because I can't afford to. But I've learned to improve my finds. I've even had comments on how nice my dolls' hair is.(Are?)
  Oh, and good deeds can sometimes be rewarded. A couple of weeks ago I met Donna, whose boyfriend undercharged me. If you read this blog you remember I was driving home when I realized I needed to go back to her house to pay her another $20 and take her a cake recipe. On the way to Donna's to do that Tuesday I found this sat out by someone's driveway with a sign that said 'Free Take'.

  It's bigger than it looked from the car. I may donate it to Goodwill because it's way too big for the space I (don't) have. While we were at Donna's she was having trouble with her computer, which Ken helped her with, and she gifted Ivy with a waffle maker. See what I mean? People can be so nice.

Pies, Cakes,and Beatles,(and a nice lady named Donna.)

  I'm getting behind. I only just got around to posting about last Saturday's doll show and here it is Saturday again already. Of course,yesterday was Yard Sale Friday,so Ken and I went around until I ran us out of money.(Sorry Ken!)I did get some really cool things though, and this week was the second sale of the summer for the sale I like to call The Peanut Butter Pie Sale. It's actually a church yard and bake sale, but I go every year for the peanut butter pie! The best pie ever! My family all know that if they want a piece they have to go with me, because any pie bought by me will be consumed before I get home! (This is where Emma usually says, "How's that diet thing working for you?" It's NOT!) In spite of my not knowing they were also open Thursday, there was pie left when I went Friday. Yes! Ken went, so he even nabbed a piece for himself. I had eaten pear cake for breakfast, so I didn't eat my pie until last night
  One year the lady who makes it every year for the sale gave me the recipe. Thank you lady! I need to get around to trying it out. But here it is if anyone else wants to try. (You can call it whatever you like, but I call it Peanut Butter Pie Sale Pie.)
Slightly more than one cup of peanut butter
1/2 tsp milk
1/2 cup  powdered sugar
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 package cream cheese
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a graham cracker crust.Refrigerate.
  I believe the lady from the sale uses pre-made graham cracker crust, but freshly made is better. Just crush graham crackers, mix with sugar to taste, and enough melted margarine to make  it stick together when pressed into a pan. Let cool before pouring in filling. 


  Anyway,I got this record case for Emma, who has been after another one.

  Her records runneth over, and her cat Otto thinks they are his scratching pad if the stack is left out.Emma has quite a record collection, especially for a 22 year old. Music is her thing though. She even has a radio show called "One Mind Tracks", (as opposed to 'one track minds',because each week she plays songs that all have a theme in common. This week was songs about working or jobs, in honor of Labour Day.). So it's all research Emma. Take them off on your income tax...(Just want to mention here that the spell check told me 'runneth' wasn't a word, but totally missed that I had earlier misspelled 'after' as 'aftre'.)
  I got a bunch of interesting singles. ("Strawberry Children", by The Hobbits, anyone?)  And a Bobby Darin album for Fuzz. (But he still needs a record player...)

  But I passed up "I'll be Your Baby Tonight",by Burl Ives. Ewww! You may remember him as the sweet little Sam the snowman from Rudolph, singing about Silver and Gold and scootching his little snow butt through the snow.

 But he was also this creepy looking guy.

Burl Ives, alias Sam the Snowman.

  Oscar and Golden Globe winner, and he does actually kind of  look like Sam the snowman (or, vice versa), but he always creeped me out. Sorry Burl.
  But I digress...
  I also got this Marina Anchors Lalaloopsey, with her pet.

I don't think the life preserver
is hers, but it works.

  The mini I got a few weeks ago when I made the big modern doll score. I just forgot to put her in that picture. I have been waiting for the Lalaloopsies to hit the yard sales, and the time has come!
 But records were the finds of the day, and I didn't even make it to the sale that advertised that they had records! I got some great records at the Peanut Butter Pie Sale, but the records that top the day's buys are these.

Original releases in beautiful nearly new condition!

  One of the nicest things about a day out yard saling is sometimes you meet some nice people and have a good 'natter', as my English friend Cheryl says. (That means, 'a talk'. )I got these Beatles albums from a nice lady named Donna. They are in great condition. Donna bought them way back when they were new releases. Donna is a young 70 years old and encouraged me to 'get out and dance'.Maybe I should take Donna's advice. She looks and acts much younger than 70, and looked thin and fit in her shorts and camisole. I should look so good now! (For the record, I have never worn a camisole in my life,haven't worn shorts in 24 years, and, as I told Donna, I wouldn't dance unless I was locked alone in a room where even I couldn't see me.) I jokingly told Donna's husband Mike that THIS is what 70 year old ladies are supposed to look like!

  (I bought these from Donna too.)
  He suggested she would no way go for that! My Grama had a bun and a hairnet. THAT'S what old ladies used to look like!
  I imagine my Mom would have been a bit like Donna if she had lived. She never stopped moving. She was slim, and like Donna, ate plates piled high with food. (Well, she didn't eat the plates, but you know what I mean.)
  I also got these other goodies, and this mixer from Donna for $1!

  It's just like my Mom's, but I don't have the bowl for Mom's, and since I have been known to bend the beaters by stupidly trying to scrape the sides while mixing and getting a utensil caught in them, extra beaters are always handy to have around. Maybe Emma would like to have the mixer:"Just like Mommy's!" (Now she won't want it!)
  I also bought Donna's grandmother's hats.

 They are beautiful and almost like new. Donna said this one...

 ...looks like the ones Miss Kitty wore on Gunsmoke.

  Mike wondered if she meant Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies.                                                    
        

                                     
   I also got this girl, which is one of  Donna's childhood dolls.

  The lady paying up as I got there bought a boatload of vintage toys and dolls. Pooh! Always a minute too  late.
  Anyway, we paid for our goodies, but as we were driving away down the road  it occurred to me that Mike had only charged us $20 for both albums, instead of $20 each. I hadn't gotten Donna's phone number to give her the cake recipe we had been talking about either. (My pear tree actually had pears this year! It's been a while since it grew enough to do anything with. I used to can them, make pear cake, pear pancakes, and pear syrup, plus we ate a lot of fresh pears.The last few years I have been lucky to get 6 a year. So this year I got to make pear cake again.) We turned around and went back to make sure Mike had charged us correctly. Sure enough we owed them another $20. While we were there we started talking about the cake recipe again and Donna gave me a tasting tour of their apple trees. I tasted them all. (The apples, not the trees.) The best were these little yellow ones from a tree Donna planted herself 45 years ago.

  She gave me a bag full so now I have to make pie or something. Ivy likes to bake, so maybe if I peel them she'll bake something. One year Ivy entered an apple cake in the baking contest at the local Apple Festival and she won. It was the very recipe that I'm giving to Donna, which I bake pear cake from. It's actually an an apple cake recipe, but I have been making it with pears for a zillion years because we have a pear tree, not an apple tree.  In case anybody is interested, here it is.
Shenandoah Apple Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour 8" round pan or loaf pan
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped apples (or pears),peeled
3 large eggs(see below for variation)
1 cup oil (see below)
2 cups sugar (see below)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional. I never use them, but black walnuts would probably be very good with this.)
For topping:3 tsp white sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon.
Combine oil and sugar. Add eggs, beating well after each addition.
In separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Add vanilla to egg mixture. Add dry ingredients, apples, and nuts if using them.
Pour into pan and sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for approximately 1 hour or until top is browned and knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Variations:  I always add an extra egg, and an extra slosh of oil. That makes it extra rich and extra moist. I also use 2 cups of packed dark brown sugar instead of white.

  After Donna's we scraped together enough money to share a giant chocolate malted, which are really good from the ice cream place in the little town down the road from Donna's. Then we were broke, so we had to go home!
  I had a very nice day. Ken went with me, which he doesn't do very often. We got some neat stuff. And we made some new friends and had a good time.Plus, that peanut butter pie. Ken's is still in the fridge...

Camping,Shopping, and how to wash a doll...

  Well, we had our mini vacation recently, which is all we had time for this summer. It was a few days camping. With Emma moved out and Fuzz officially an 'adult' now, (And THAT'S a matter of opinion really...), Ivy was the only one camping with us. (Apparently 'adults' can say, "I'm not going.") She still wants to hang out with us, but she'll be 14 soon, so I'm sure those days are numbered.
  It was Ken's ideal camping experience. In other words, we got the van hooked up to the electricity and turned on the air conditioning, (Ken,suffers from a bad case of "I'm English and it's too hot over here."), gathered wood and started a fire, and he cooked, and cooked, and cooked. (As with everything else in Ken's life, camping is all about the food.) The rest of the time we played games and watched a DVD on the lap top. Yep, Ken's a real out door type.

 

  Everybody was roughing it in the great outdoors. (That's our van in the front.) When I passed the camper behind us they were watching cartoons on a big screen tv.We used our air conditioner, microwave, and refrigerator.But uh...my bed was uncomfortable...

  Our camping neighbor was enjoying the hammock...

  To be fair, we also took a walk on the song bird trail and traipsed  around in the woods looking for firewood. We also took a ride and went to a cheese shop, Grampa's Cheese Barn, (Which did NOT have Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, but DID have cheddar.) where we tasted sample cheeses until our eyes fell out. We even bought some. (Listening to Ivy trying to get the name of her favourite, 'Cayanne Pepper cheese', right was pretty entertaining too. I just wish I had written down all the different incorrect names she used.)
  I stopped at a yard sale on the way to the Cheese Barn, but the doll-est thing they had was one of those wooden Polish dolls, and Ken insisted that the one we have, (Which his mother rooted with his own childhood hair when the original fell out.) is plenty.
   We went to a couple of stores too.Ivy got a new pillow...

  Sunday was the last day of Ivy's summer vacation, so I went out before she got up and got the last of the missing school supplies. (I swear that list gets longer and more ridiculous every year. Why does it matter if the painter's tape they asked for is BLUE?! When I could have gotten other colours for at least a dollar cheaper!) Since Goodwill is next to Big Lots where I was looking for her preferred socks and baby wipes for school I ducked in quickly to give the toy aisle the once over. I got a bag of dolls for $3 which contained these lovely ladies, and the chair for $2.

I have several Moxie Girlz with feet now, so I guess I should start weeding out all the ones without.

   This corn husk doll had followed me from a recent yard sale where I had considered her, but decided the corn husk doll population around here was getting out of hand and passed on her. Since she bothered to follow me all the way to Goodwill (and before she did it again and it got spooky) I decided to buy her.

  It was back to school Monday.Poor Ivy has a very long day this year. She is only in middle school but is taking high school French AT the high school. That means she has to get up extra early and be at the high school at their starting time for her French class, and then be bused over to her school for her regular school day.She gets high school credit for it,which will leave her room on her high school schedule for college credit classes. This has replaced graduating early, which is what they did when I was in school if you got all your high school  credits done early. Still, she came home pooped on Tuesday. May have to rethink that bedtime.
  Yesterday was second hand doll washing day.

Dogs, and Babies, and Bears,oh my....

    Some will stay and some will go, but they will all be squeaky clean!
   All of these were yard sale finds this summer except for the Asian Bitty Baby,which came from a small Flea Market, and the 'grunt face baby' (an old phrase of my neice's.), which came from the 'Auction of the Century'.(I'm hoping it was anyway. I couldn't take another one like it. We spent a monstrous amount,and took home so many dolls I could hardly fit them in the van, even living up to my self proclaimed title "The Master Spacemaker". I was literally dreaming about sorting Italian dolls after a a while. Luckily we made our money back and I got to keep loads of dolls I had been wanting for ages, as well as some I never knew I wanted before I saw them. I donated loads too, but I'm still trying to get rid of the rest!)
  All the Bitty's are Pleasant Company, and the Asian baby is an Our New Baby.Two of them came in tagged diapers.

 These guys are going to go. Eventually I might have a 'Dolls for sale' page for you to click on, but for now they will probably just end up on Ebay at some point.

Rub-a Dub-Dub...

   I know it says American Girls and Bitty Baby's are surface washable only, but don't you believe it! If I'm keeping  a doll I'm only going to display in the case, or that I intend to sell  more as a collectable for adults, I don't wash it unless it's a hopeless case otherwise, as it can ruin the doll (and the value). But if I'm selling a doll that is most likely to be bought for children to play with, I like to wash it. I know I would wash it if it were for MY children, so I like the buyer to know that it's sanitary for their kids to play with. Let's face it, kids put things in their mouths. They handle things, and then put their hands in their mouths. There's no way around it. Germs are going to end up in their mouths. Kids take dolls into their beds. It's just a good idea for second hand dolls and toys to be cleaned. I'm more comfortable selling them that way, and I think people are more comfortable buying them that way. These guys were washed in hot water, scrubbed and/or soaked where necessary, (I use a baby toothbrush and extra soap if there is soiling,and sometimes baking soda for vinyl dirt or marks and stain remover on the cloth body.),  thoroughly rinsed, run  through the drain and spin cycle in the washing machine, and put out in the hot sun to dry.

Look Ma, no hands...

 Tips: don't machine wash the dolls! A cycle through the washing machine will scuff the paint and possibly ding the vinyl. (Yes, past experiences...). Use the spin cycle to remove the excess water. Be careful your spin cycle doesn't use the agitator! (Some of them are 'rinse and spin' and they agitate on the rinse cycle.) When spinning, place the dolls carefully around the agitator FACING INWARDS. This will insure that the dolls faces aren't dinged against the wash tub in spinning. When in real doubt also put them in a pillow case(individually) to prevent scuffing. Tie a knot in it.When drying remember to turn the dolls occasionally. Dolls like Bitty Baby and American Girl, and others with cloth bodies and vinyl limbs hold water in their limbs. You can think they are dry, and then when you pick them up water runs out of the limbs, re-wetting them.

Three on a teeter. After hanging upside down all afternoon, these guys sit up to drain the other way for a while. Middle Baby developed an embarrassing wet spot when turned upright, which is hidden by the head of the Baby in front.

  I condition the hair on dolls that actually have hair. (nothing personal Bittys.) I have heard you're supposed to use fabric softener on doll hair, but I don't even use it on my laundry. (It's not really neccesary. And it's just more chemical junk in our water. Besides, I hate scents.) I use cheap conditioner, like White Rain or Suave. If the hair is really dry I sometimes resort to my own dry hair conditioner,(which I have to use now that I'm old!),Fructis. I've had pretty good luck with it. I've managed to rescue some American Girls, and even those vintage Skipper dolls with the dry frizzy bangs that are so balled up they look like they've been cut. (You have to HEAVILY condition those, leave them to soak in it, and comb them out with the conditioner still in the hair, and then rinse. I have often used a pin to pick out the mattedness in really bad Skipper bangs. It's almost the only thing that works. When they are really badly matted you can't really comb them until you have picked the matting out first.The brunette Sample Skipper in the Deluxe Reading Dream Kitchen post is one example. Her bangs weren't absolutely terrible, but they well were on their way there.)  
  Well, until next time, when ever that may be.    

Fantastic finds of the week!

  What was that I said a few posts back about not being able to top the Larry the Lion find the rest of the summer? Well, this may not top Larry, since he was a life long yearning, but it's pretty good!Get comfortable. This may take a while!
  I went yard saling Friday and found some nice dolls.

  I'd been wanting a Flynn from "Tangled". I don't like this Rapunzel as much as the other two I have, but I didn't want to break up a couple! Two more Moxie Girls, and they both have feet!I have also wanted the new Stacie and Skipper, but I didn't want to pay store prices. These two have all their original clothes too, which was great.And yes, that's a like new Twilight Jacob in his original stuff. He'll either help pay for the stuff I'm keeping, or he'll don a shirt and be somebody else.A My Scene guy, fully clothed and with shoes!The guys from Mulan and Pocahantas:you never come across them. And two Monster High girls in their original stuff too. If anybody knows who the short doll in the blue and white dress is, let me know. She's marked 2001 Mattel.

These came from three different places in groups of 10,2, and 5.I think my total was $17.00, but I got some other stuff in with them. I also got these cute girls for a dollar a piece. They need some rehabilitation, but I couldn't resist rescuing them.Their bodies are oil cloth, I think.

 I think they look like the old actress Nanette Fabray.




 

  On Saturday I was heading to a big 'community sale' at a housing development just outside of town. On the way I stopped at some sales that were being held on the grounds of the high school and found this.

  I REALLY wanted one of these, but they are so expensive.The guy selling it cut it down from $15 to $10 for me,so I let myself have it! It's 1/6 scale.(And cast iron and weighs a ton!) It's missing one lid, but it has the coal shovel,and the thing to lift the lids with, as well as a skillet, a pan,and the coal scuttle.
  From there I went on to the community sales.I got some doll stuff, a CD, and some other things. I was there for two or three hours and decided to head for home. But the real find of the weekend still awaited me.I went home by a route I don't normally take. I don't know why. I was on the far end of the street I actually live on when I passed a yard sale with what I though were Miss Revlon feet sticking up out of a box. I whipped into a parking space and went to check it out. When I walked up to the sale I forgot all about Miss Revlon. There spread out before me were four old doll cases, filled with clothes and dolls. One of the first things I spotted was a pink skinned Ricky doll. I wanted a pink skinned Ricky and Ken (My husband Ken, not the doll.)bought me one online a few years ago. He was affordable because he has a barely noticeable nose nip. This guy was nice,and no nose nip. The guy running the sale said he would take "$100 for all the doll stuff." I neither had $100, nor wanted to pay that much. The dolls were mildewy and dirty and might not clean up very well. There was a nasty faced Midge wearing the Floating Gardens dress though, and the cape was in one of the cases. I thought if I could get the stuff for a reasonable price I could sell the Floating Gardens so I could afford to keep what I wanted. After some haggling I got some of the stuff for $40 and went home. After fortifying myself with a soy 'chicken' sandwich and rounding up the troops, we went out for ice cream. The guy still had his sale on so I stopped back and offered him "the grand total of everything I have left in my purse", which was $16. He insisted he had to have at least $25, so I said ok and left. Before I could get back to my van he called me back and relented. So here is what I got for my $56.Those of you who are offended by non-anatomically correct naked plastic, beware...

A Barbie only body, Skipper and a spare body,the Miss Barbie swing canopy,clothes,and Allan, in desperate need of medical attention for those arms. At least they were both there!

Ricky, TNT Barbie (wearing the Suzy Goose rug as a dress,Midge in Floating Gardens, Senior Prom,Trailblazers,Pak clothing,Francie's Fresh as a Daisy,FQ wig, and more!

Some paper dolls, including Scooter and...Jane? How did she get in there? (I wanted one though, and she even has her shoes.)

Some of the same, plus Francie,her Concert in the Park dress and hat and It's a Date dress,a bubble cut, Fashion Queen head and a wig, and the unfortunate legless girl. Unlike Allan's arms, her legs were nowhere to be found.

                                                         

A suspicious looking Allan (Maybe she ripped his arms off...)with the girl who started it all. She turned out to be a nobody.

Tiny Thumbelina (with knob--and she works!), her original dress,slip,and one bootie, her pink corduroy outfit with hat,Chatty Cathy's flannel PJ's and blue dress with over blouse and crinoline, plus more clothes and a couple of Pee Wees.If anybody can identify any of the other clothes, I'd love to hear from you.

More Barbie clothes, a Tressy dress, the Suzy Goose vanity, and a very nasty Tammy doll in Barbie's Pak playsuit. (And yes, I had a Tammy as a kid. For some reason my mom threw her away when I was very small. I still have her gym suit and shoes though.)

Poor Tammy.

   Luckily, they cleaned up pretty well. Here they are after their initial trip to the Tam Spa.

  Turns out Tammy has lovely strawberry blonde hair and a high colour face. Midge and Francie will need eyebrows, but I can do that. Francie's had a haircut, but it kind of looks like an American Girl Barbie cut. Twist and Turn looks pretty good. Allan's arms went back on (and in the case of the one, out) easily after putting him in very hot water. They aren't even swingy.

Beautiful Ricky!

And Midge looks pretty good in Senior Prom.Actually, I'm going to put it on a red haired Midge,but shh. Don't tell her...

Here's what she looked like before. She looks like she's been in a fight.(Maybe that's what happened to Allan's arms...)

   The cases were a couple of generic cases,a common blue Skipper case, and the Barbie case with Sophisticated Lady on the lid.
 So the moral of the story is,don't overlook mangy looking dolls. Sometimes they can clean up to be beautiful. I'm pretty tickled with these guys. My family is unimpressed,especially Ken, who can't get over that I spent $56.
  Oh, I forgot.On Friday I got this girl. She doesn't have any markings.Does anybody know who she is?

  She needs her arms restrung, but she has teeth!Aww!

  Ok, that's it. I've done my happy rant. Thanks for listening.