How does your (strawberry) garden grow?

I've received some nice gifts from far-off friends, and I've received some nice gifts from close-by friends.  Yesterday it was the close-by kind.  Ms. P paid the library a visit, and in her hand she had a bag...OF VINTAGE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE DOLLS!!!  She told me that her grandkids didn't really appreciate 'em, and we see where they ended up!  There's five of 'em all told, and one is a duplicate of something I've got.  That one is Orange Blossom, with Marmalade in tow

IDC, she's welcome anyway.  I happen to be very fond of Orange Blossom.  My other Orange does still have her Marmalade, by the way; he and Lime Chiffon's pet Parfait are in storage, but they're alive and well.

I was particularly pleased to see Huckleberry Pie, as he wasn't a character I paid much attention to.  He's also got his pupper, Pupcake.

Lemon Merengue is here, and that also pleases me because I love lemon anything.  Lemon is unfortunately missing her mascot, a frog named Frappe, but I can replace him if I so choose.  I love that yellow hair, such a happy, bright shade!

This one is new territory for me as I've never owned any of the smaller characters.  I had to look up this girl's name, Apricot.  She too has her pet, named Hopsalong.

Lastly, TA-DA!!!  It's Strawberry Shortcake herself!  I've got a nice-sized collection of these dolls, including knockoffs, but I didn't have Strawberry.  This one is a first-issue doll and thus wouldn't have had a pet.  Her hands are flat.

Definitely a nice haul, one that cheered me up tremendously on a cold, snowy day like yesterday.  Yep, the snow is still hanging around, thanks to the layer of sleet we got at the tail end of that storm.  It's supposed to warm up today, though.  ANYWAY, these five dolls, plus Lime Chiffon and my other Orange Blossom, plus Sorbet, Angel Cake, Tea Blossom, Li'l Gumdrop and Li'l Lollypops, and Raspberry Herbert, and I've got a nice Strawberry Shortcake collection.  Oh yes, and Pineberry.  Can't forget her!  Will that be all???  No, probably not.  The Bandai and Playmates lines included one-off characters that I like quite a bit, and I still want a Kenner Raspberry Tart.  But this is a fine haul, and I thank Ms. P once again for such a nice gift.

Hugs,

RagingMoon1987

Hands off that "Buy It Now" button!

Here we go, more crap that I need like a hole in the head.  I gotta admit that a couple'a these are VERY tempting, and if I ever have a bigger place then I'm goin' for it...but that's a big IF.  I kinda like the house I've got anyway.

HI DOTTIE

COMPANY:  Mattel 

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1971

Dottie is extremely popular on one of my favorite Failbook groups.  Dottie is another little chatterbox like several I discussed in the past, complete with a small telephone for herself and a bigger one for her owner.  Like Chatty Cathy and other talking dolls before her, Dottie didn't have a huge vocabulary, just eleven phrases.  For me the draw is her face, with those big brown eyes paired with light hair.  I've seen these dolls with blonde hair, light brown hair, and strawberry blonde hair like above, so I'm not sure what color her hair is supposed to be, but she's very cute nonetheless.  Keep in mind that my Chatty Cathy's hair used to be dark blonde, and it's turned red as time passed, so maybe the same thing happened with Dottie.  Similar things happened to Barbie's early Afro-American friends too.  It's not uncommon to find Julia or TNT Christie with deep red hair rather than black, but it's all good.  They all look fine.

LI'L SNOOKY

COMPANY:  Jolly Toys

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1960

Shudder..."Snooky" was a nickname Daddy called me when I was a child.  I never told him because I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I hated being called "Snooky."  Li'l Snooky is a cute doll though, kinda similar in a few ways to Mariannina, one of my Furga dolls.  I don't think this doll did anything aside from stand and look cute, but THAT'S ALRIGHT, THEN!!!

GUI-GUI

COMPANY:  Estrela
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1967, give or take, reproduced 2017

Gui-Gui looks a lot like Giggles, and indeed she laughs if you press her belly.  The doll in the image is a reproduction, commemorating Estrela's eightieth year of operation, but she's been around since (I presume) the late sixties.  Gui-Gui and Giggles have a few subtle differences, mainly Gui-Gui's brighter eyes and wavy hair, but for the most part they're the same doll.  Very, very cute.

BIZZIE LIZZIE

COMPANY:  Ideal

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1971

According to Miss Deb, Bizzie Lizzie was Ideal's attempt to make housework fun for little girls.  And to tell y'all the truth, learning to do that stuff WAS fun for me; it was something that I could do "all by myself" to lighten the load for Mama.  She could do the laundry, I could run the vacuum cleaner.  She could wash the dishes, and I could iron my school clothes.  It was light work; Mama and Daddy weren't slave drivers.  Lizzie ran on batteries and could vacuum, iron, dust, or run her push sweeper, the kind that's like a vacuum but doesn't need electricity.  I love push sweepers!  Miss Deb says that the black version above is a rare entity, and indeed I didn't see any when I jumped on eBay to look for this doll.

BABY OH NO

COMPANY:  Hasbro 

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1989-1991

This doll reminds me of some of the Magic Nursery dolls that were available around the same time, and of some of the Cabbage Patch Kids, AND of the Rugrats Ice Cream Face dolls that were available during the late nineties.  All had the same gimmick:  doll "eats" a nummy, gommy treat, doll gets a dirty face, doll cleans up.  Shampoo, rinse, repeat.  I've seen a few eBay listings call this doll "rare," and...<pauses to look>...quite a few entries under the "Hasbro Baby Oh No" query were actually Baby Uh-Oh, equally cute but not the same doll.  So I'd say this doll is semi-rare, and as such she might pop into the blog at a later date.  I like anything that's kinda a challenge.

LI'L POLLY PUFF

COMPANY:  Remco

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:

Oh, Remco!  I like Remco dolls.  I saw this one in Doll Reader years ago.  In that particular article Polly was as sixties as a doll could get, staging sit-ins and peaceful protests while lounging on her inflatable couch.  Yep, Polly Puff herself was your typical small rag doll with a vinyl head and vinyl hands, but she came with a "house" that could be draped over a card table, and her furniture was inflatable.  She also had a younger sister that the Doll Reader author pet-named "Starshine."  Being a hippie at heart myself, I loved that name.  While this doll is strictly a toy, I love her play value!  Little kids could use that card table house and inflatable furniture for a number of imaginary games, not just "House."  I used to like "Cops and Robbers," and I might've pretended that Polly's house was my hideaway...and that Polly was the mastermind!

PASSPORT FRIENDS

COMPANY:  Funrise

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2005

Saw these on Reddit!  They reminded me a little of Wee 3 Friends, so here they are.  Indeed, Veni Vidi Dolli implies that Passport Friends were a knockoff of 4Ever Best Friends, so there you have it.  These dolls travelled the world, and if the commercial offers any clues they're probably obsessed with fashion as well.  The dolls themselves are named after the city for which they are bound, which for a doll like Paris or Sydney isn't so bad.  Rome and Manhattan, not so much; I've never met of a little kid with either of those names.  I presume that the Asian character's name is Beijing since that's where she's headed, and that's also...well, Google calls it a "non-traditional" name choice, so that doll's name doesn't really work either.  Manhattan is a brown-eyed blonde though, so I'll give her that.  In general these dolls don't look that bad, and names can always be changed.  I like the little animal stampers too!  Looks like Sydney has a koala...sigh, I love koala bears, but I kinda wish wombats would pop up more in Australia-themed doll lines.  Wombats are epic.  But so are koalas, so I'll shut up!

McDONALDLAND BIRTHDAY GIRL

COMPANY:  Hasbro
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1999

I saw this pet on Failbook and got some serious flashbacks.  I only remember this hazily, but I remember when McDonald's did birthdays like this.  My family isn't a party bunch so I never had a McDonald's celebration (didn't really want one either), but I remember my friends talking about how much fun they had, and of course, the cake.  No birthday is complete without a cake.  Indeed, this little doll's cake was pretty special.  It unlocked with a key and apparently played some type of music, and there was something hidden inside as well.  The milkshake would also change "flavors" when one pressed the straw, so this doll had some fun items.  Oh, and the doll herself has a cute little face.  And is that Birdie I see on that shake cup?  Ronald McDonald and Grimace still pop into advertisements from time to time, but Birdie...Birdie was kinda an early nineties thing, if my memory serves me right.  This commercial was my favorite, because pigs, that's why.  Anyway, this doll is yet another simple, interesting concept, one that ignites the nostalgia in my nineties inner child.

BEBE GLOTON

COMPANY:  Berjuan
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2009

This doll may make some of y'all raise your eyebrows, scratch your heads, or both.  Indeed, she freaked me out a smidge the first time I heard of her, and she aroused a fair amount of controversy.  Bebe Gloton (Baby Glutton in Spanish) is...well, she's a breastfeeding doll.  The doll is accompanied by a vest that the child wears to simulate nursing sites, and when Bebe "latches" onto one she'll make sucking sounds.  Now the first time I saw this I freaked out and called it "WAAAAY too inappropriate for little girls."  My mom bottle-fed us, see, and so did everyone else that I knew, at least in public.  Indeed, I was...I think I was thirty-two before I saw someone breastfeed her child in public.  Right in the library, no less!  Yes, even at thirty-two I was ignorant enuff to think that breastfeeding was some sort of in-your-face thing, and so when I saw this young mother doing it to her baby so discreetly I was very surprised.  In fact, I'd leaned in to say hello to the baby (she was a pretty little baby) and didn't immediately realize that I was dangerously close to touching the mom's breast (I was caressing the baby's cheek).  The mother was thankfully a very nice lady and politely schooled me on how to get the job done.  But yeah, I was that ignorant at thirty-two.  So my opinions on Bebe Gloton have changed over the years; I see her now as both a cute, interesting little doll and a learning tool, one that could prevent other little girls from being ignorant about breastfeeding as long as I was.  Oh yeah, you can also burp the baby.  I loved watching Mama burp my sister when she was little, LOL.  Ooo, ooo, and I even found evidence that boy Bebe Gloton dolls existed!  Y'all know how I like boy baby dolls.

Bebe Gloton is a fairly recent doll compared to some of the other entries on today's list, but I'm unsure if she is still in production.  The links I found gave me a 404 error message, so I guess Bebe must not be in Berjuan's lineup anymore.  She CAN be found on eBay occasionally, but only for sky-high prices.  The Moon will have to get VERY lucky to add this one to her collection.

NENUCO WON'T EAT

COMPANY:  The one and only Famosa
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2014

Nenuco Won't Eat was also controversial, but for reasons that I found more idiotic than Bebe Gloton.  Nenuco is your classic feeding time baby doll, but in this case the child turns her head AWAY from her feeding spoon.  With some persistence the doll can be fed, but it takes some work.  Now if you've ever cared for a baby or a small child then you know there are times when they won't want to eat.  Nenuco represents that, but a lot of mamas freaked out anyway, saying that Nenuco "promotes unhealthy eating habits" that can ultimately lead to anorexia.  One source says that the message is subliminal...just like the messages that Led Zeppelin's music DOESN'T have.  I thought the controversy was absolute malarkey, and that Nenuco was...well, I thought she was just a stubborn baby, like my sister and I were!  Nenuco won awards at the London Toy Fair that year, so obviously others felt the same way I did.  I personally am more disturbed by Nenuco Sore Throat because she is accompanied by what looks like an incentive spirometer.  And that's just a personal hangup on my part, as I don't like it when very small children are sick or injured.  It's a fact of life, just like goofy eating habits are.

Have any of y'all seen/heard of/owned any of these?  Discuss. 

Happy Groundhog Day,
RagingMoon1987

Under the cabbage leaf: snow rose

I don't know how our mail folks managed to deliver our stuff, but I got a bootle of mail today.  The temperature is up to 28 Fahrenheit, which is a heatwave compared to the weekend, and things are melting her and there, but most of Stevenson Street is still covered.  No one on the block can get out of their driveway.  There's not a lot of stuff, but it's slick. 

And yet my mail is here!  Two things I bought for myself and two things that Mama got for me.  If I'd been thinking ahead I could've named this new doll "Snow Rose" or "Crystal Gale," seeing as both Malden, Missouri and Bangor, Pennsylvania (the new girl's origins) got hit by snow and ice.  Indeed, there was a Garbage Pail Kid named Crystal Gale, itself a spoof of country artist Crystal Gayle (LOL).  I ordered this doll on the eve of the big winter storm (January 21st, to be exact), and she's only now getting here.  After some discussion Mama and I chose the name "Rosanna Claire" for this pet.

All I wanna do in the middle of the evening is hold you tight, Rosanna, Rosanna!  LOL, I guess eBay figured out that I like redheads, since this doll popped up as a suggested purchase when I bought Rubia Emilia.  Rosanna is a Hasbro Kid with...guess which head???  Looks like Hasbro's version of the #4 head, particularly since it can take a binky.  If I'm right then that makes my sixth #4 head.  

But I don't see dimples.  #4 heads have two dimples.

Dang, I wish Rosanna had brown eyes!  I only have one Cabbie in the Patch with that combo, pretty Cleopatra Chantale.  No, my mistake, Gillian Ida and Tammi Jane have that combo too!  But the rest of my redheads have either blue or green eyes, including green-eyed Rosanna Claire.  Apparently Coleco didn't do a lot of brown-eyed redheads; Diana's Matrix only lists a few red-haired double popcorns that had brown eyes, so apparently it wasn't a favorite Coleco combo.  Babyland General doesn't have any Kids with that combo either at the moment.  Jesmar DID make brown-eyed redheads, but I digress.  Rosanna has pretty eyes anyway, plus a bumper crop of freckles.

As far as I can remember my only other freckled Kids are Candela Laura and Gary Collier.  Coleco initially didn't freckle a lot of their Kids either, just head #2 in 1983 and head #1 in 1985.

Now back to that head.  As I fumbled around with Rosanna Claire I noticed that she has some kind of bellow in her body, kinda like the one that Baby Needs-a-Name has.  I squeezed Rosanna's bellow and air came out of her mouth, making me wonder if she isn't a Birthday Kid.  If that's the case then mayyyybe that binky shouldn't be jammed in her mouth.  I mean, it fits fine, but...but nothing.  It fits fine.

In addition to Rosanna Claire I got four little outfits.  This first one here is meant for Rubia Emilia, but it's almost as skimpy as Rubia's onesie so I'll set it back for spring.

The other three came from Mama.  I told her that my other Claire, TRU Kid Alexandra Claire, didn't have much to wear, so she came through with these.  I already know that Alexandra looks amazing in green, so this St. Patrick's Day getup will see her through the bulk of March.

These other getups will do nicely for either spring or summer.  The blue one has tiny Little Bo Peep motifs on it.

That should keep me entertained until I can get to work again!  If our driveway is thawed out then that may be as soon as tomorrow.  The rest of y'all stay warm!  This cold is nowhere near over!

Love and marshmallows, 

RagingMoon1987 

I spoke too soon!

Remember how the other day I said I felt better after a long period of feeling not so great?  Well!  Guess who caught a stupid cold???  Yep, Mama and I both did.  Thank God my boss called off work due to the snow.  Thank God for Sunny D, flannel pajamas, and a warm house.  Oh, and Rubia Emilia.  She's keeping me company as I ride this out.

Candela Laura may have been unseated as my favorite Cabbage Patch Kid.  We'll have to see who's cuter with their pacifier in place.

Y'all stay safe, stay warm, and stay well out there!  It's not gonna get above freezing for at least a week!

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

Under the cabbage leaf: a tale of two Jesmars

Ring around the sun or moon, rain or snow a'fallin' soon!  I haven't been outside so I don't know if there was a ring around the sun today, and the moon is barely past new so I can't look at that either.  But regardless, the Bootheel and a large part of the country is looking down the barrels of a significant winter storm this weekend.  "Fern" is the name that the Weather Channel has given this storm, and every type of winter precip conceivable is in the cards.  The ice band is well to the south of the Bootheel, but we might get half a foot of snow out of this, plus some sleet.  Right now we're under a watch, nothing more, but I figure that'll change.  I'm praying that we don't get any freezing rain!

In other news, Coworker A is in the hospital and will be for some time.  Monday night she was in excruciating pain and had a high blood pressure, so her family dragged her to the hospital and the hospital found a lot of fluid around her right lung.  There are some other lovely little details that have me ticked off major league, but they'll keep for now.  So between the weather and my friend's illness I've felt pretty jangled lately.

Great time to talk about dolly mail!  I've taken a break from Cabbage Patch Kids recently, but this little charmer won me over with her red hair and her Jesmar self in Jesmar clothes.  This is Rubia Emilia, from Oklahoma City.

Gotta get out of Tornado Alley while you can, chica!  Not that the Bootheel is any safer these days, LOL.  Indeed, the meteorological scuttlebutt is that Tornado Alley is shifting eastward, though Oklahoma still gets plenty of tornadoes!  ANYWAY, Rubia has a lot in common with my other Jesmar, Candela Laura, but she has some obvious differences too.

Ponytail hair, #4 head, Rubia and Candela have that much in common.  They're also both bigger than the average Coleco Kid, though that's kinda hard to show at the moment.  However, the difference in hair color is obvious (blonde vs. red), and when I get in close, note that Rubia is missing something that most Jesmars have:  freckles.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a given that a Jesmar will have freckles, but most of 'em do have 'em, and Jesmar Cabbies that DON'T have 'em are the exception rather than the norm.  They're still great though, spots or not.  Rubia is blue-eyed (Candela Laura has green eyes), and...I'm not absolutely certain, but Rubia may have lighter hair than your average Coleco.  As I've stated in the past the foreign companies experimented with Cabbie hair colors, and one of the colors Jesmar used was a lighter orange.  I wasn't able to compare Candela Laura to a Coleco gold (the gold shades also vary), but I do have a Coleco redhead that I can compare Rubia to.

Valencia Rose is dusty and old, but her hair is still bright, and Rubia Emilia's hair is the same shade as hers so this isn't a new hair color for my collection.  That said, Coleco didn't make redheads with the ponytail hairstyle.  I think I discussed this when Candela Laura joined my Patch, but Coleco ponytails were strictly brunette or auburn.  Candela Laura and Rubia Emilia are obviously NOT brunette or auburn-haired; indeed, their hair colors inspired their names.

Rubia will need a pacifier at some point, as all good #4 and #6 heads do, but that can wait for now.  By the way, I think that makes Rubia my fifth?  No...<pauses to count>...yes, she's my fifth Cabbie with the #4 head (Valencia Rose, Shelley Fred, Candela Laura, and Ernest John are my others).  #4 is my favorite of the early heads, but I didn't mean to have that many!  LOL, whatevs, when it's a Jesmar you take what you can get.

But we're not done yet!  Y'all know how sometimes eBay and Etsy sellers pack little extras in with your purchase?  Well I'd hardly call this a "little" extra!  Rubia Emilia has a little travel companion!

The Baby Name Genie dubbed this doll "Essence Paris."  I think the name stinks, but...well, Mama likes it, LOL.  She likes it better than "Rubia Emilia," which I picked, LOL again.  Names aside, Essence Paris is one of those dolls intended for babies, as her clothes are sewn on and she's ridiculously soft.  She's a little doll, close in size to Cuties (like Sammy Sloth and Shelly Mermaid are).  I don't know what line Essence hails from, but she's welcome now.  As I've said in the past, sometimes I desperately need something soft to hug.  I also appreciate that she's got some hair, but not enuff to tangle.

In addition to that, the seller packed four, count 'em, FOUR little outfits.  Or three and a half, since there's one stray pair of shorts.

I love that little knit set!  It's soft like the ones that Esmond Brant and Matthew Tommie wore when they were new-to-me.  Indeed, I think it may very well be for bean-butts.  I'll try that on Esmond Brant and get back to y'all.  The green getup is for preemies and will look very nice on Malinda Irisa, my green-eyed neon Preemie.  The others are (I think) for full-sized Kids.

So that's my dolly haul, and my weather predicament for the foreseeable future.  It looks to be a very interesting weekend, but as long as the power holds up I'm good.  I may put Rubia Emilia in something warm too, as her bare legs look COLD!!!

Warm wishes,
RagingMoon1987