As of right now it doesn't look like I'm going to be continuing my schooling this fall. I have LASIK surgery scheduled for the second of August and I don't know how long the recovery will be. The clinic sent me an information packet yesterday, and I'm afraid. I wasn't afraid until I read the disclaimers and the side effects, but now I'm very nervous about it. Anyway, the recovery may be lengthy so I will probably be staying close to home this fall. Add to that the fact that I don't have an apartment or a set of wheels yet, and all that equals up to a firm anchor in Malden for the next couple of months. While I'm here I plan on getting my affairs in order, getting my bags packed and my things organized, and making some plans.
One of the things that I do want to do is decide which dolls I want to take with me. The dorm rooms at SEMO were horrendously drab, and I ended up taking some of my girls to liven the place up. This time around will be no exception, but I can't take ALL of them with me. Who stays home? Who goes with me? Who can I live without? Who am I so protective of that I won't even photograph? Who can be easily replaced in the event of a theft? Who has a place to stand in my room? Who doesn't? LOL, that's a lot of "who-this" and "who-that!" Cue the guitars, LOL. But that was what I had to ask myself. Eventually I got it whittled down to thirteen names. Thirteen out of the three-hundred-some-odd dolls in my group.
My Scene Nolee and Svetlana (Barbie dolls)
Back in the days when I hadn't worked out all the bugs with my watermark. LOL
Perhaps a third of my doll collection consists of Barbie dolls, but these are the only two My Scene dolls I've ever owned. They didn't appeal to me when they were in stores; I bought Nolee at Dollar General shortly after they were discontinued because I fell in love with her black hair. Svetlana was a secondhand find; I found her at one of the antique marts that I frequent. Back then that particular store carried modern dolls for reasons I'll never know. But anyway, I bought Svetlana, combed her hair, and redressed her. The two of them joined me at SEMO and served as conversation pieces.
Cinderella (Heritage Signature Collection)
This porcelain doll channels more of a Rapunzel vibe than a Cinderella vibe, but she has glass slippers so that leaves little doubt about her identity. Cinderella was a Christmas present from my grandmother one year, and since I had no place to put her at home she joined Nolee, Svetlana, and me at Cape Girardeau. She was the biggest doll I had there, and I always liked to pretend that she was supervising the activities of her smaller dolly friends. Yes, I still like to pretend! The year that I had her, I had plenty of reasons to want to daydream. But let's not revisit that little nightmare.
Melody and Miss September (Barbie dolls)
Melody (left) is a redressed
My Melody Barbie, and Miss September is a redressed
Miss Sapphire Birthstone Beauties Barbie. Both of these were gifts from a friend, and both have the Steffie face that I'm so fond of. They suffer from a problem similar to Cinderella's: my room is too crowded for them! They have no place to stand, so they lie on top of another doll's box. This is no way to treat dolls, especially dolls that were gifts, so they will probably come with me.
Alice in Wonderland (Madame Alexander)
This Madame Alexander #1551 Alice was a very recent gift from my mother, so perfect that she even has her hangtag on her wrist. She resides in the box that Melody and Miss September lie on top of. I consider her too pretty to hide away in a box, so she will be coming with me as well.
Lucy Ricardo (Mattel)
You may remember Lucy from
this blog entry. She is one of five dolls that I had up on a very high shelf in the front room. I don't know how, but one of my cats got up on that shelf and knocked all the dolls over. No serious damage was done, which I consider lucky since Lucy has small parts that are easily lost (the bottle, the spoon, and her shoes). Now Lucy and her shelfmates have to sit in a curio cabinet. This would be fine, except that the shelves are not tall enough for the dolls to stand up straight. That won't do.
Katniss Everdeen (Mattel)
Katniss is
another doll that I have reviewed, and was another of the dolls up on the shelf. She has three arrows that could have been lost had she been knocked to the floor.
Life in the Dreamhouse Midge (Midge doll)
Midge is the third victimized shelf doll. I have very recently reviewed her. Her poseability and all-around cuteness make her a must-have.
Miranda and Mary (Barbie dolls)
Miranda (left) is a
Pioneer Shopkeeper Barbie, and Mary is a
Barbie had a Little Lamb. They also were shelf dolls, and Miranda got the worst of it. She did get knocked off the shelf, and one of her shoes got lost. I have the other shoe tucked away in my pocket, but I'm still looking for the mate. I'm not going to cry too loudly if I don't find the shoe (a lot of pioneers went barefoot anyway) but it's the principle of the thing! I've had Miranda ever since I was eleven, and she was the first really special doll I'd received so I kept her nice. She was perfect, nothing missing...and now those shoes are gone. I was ready to strangle the cat, I was so ticked. Mary's lamb also got knocked off, and I consider myself lucky that one of the dogs didn't find it and chew on it.
Heather (Seymour Mann)
She's just a tad creepy...and difficult to photograph.
Heather is a large porcelain ballerina made by the Seymour Mann company (one of my favorite companies). She is one of the items I got during my most recent antique mall hop; we originally went in the hopes that I could walk off my kidney stone, and my mother insisted on spoiling me a little while we were there. I ended up coming away with four dolls, and Heather is one of them. She, like Cinderella and most of the other dolls on this list, has no place to stand and look pretty, so she'll end up coming with me as well. I do need to get her a proper doll stand, and then she's good to go.
Sophie (Midge doll)
Sophie is my booty call. Whenever I need a doll to photograph or model a new outfit, I get her out. Sophie is very special to me because she has red hair and a Steffie face, and she was one of the first Steffie-faced dolls I bought. I've also done some cosmetic work on her and photographed her in some unorthodox places. Based on that history her presence in my apartment is not really an option. She HAS to come.
That brings the count to thirteen dolls. Two porcelain, one vinyl, and ten Barbie dolls. Diverse enough to be interesting, small enough to be controllable. Of course, I can't guarantee that I won't gather some more newcomers while I'm at Mountain Home; I did that when I was away at SEMO and I probably will again. When I do, you can guarantee a new review. Until then, cheers!
Yours Truly,
RagingMoon1987
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