More random dolls that I don't need but like

What can I say, I like doing posts like these.  They keep the blog alive and hopefully keep y'all entertained while I wait to hear from my doctor.  Nope, still haven't heard back from him.  He said he was sending my X-ray to "someone else," presumably for a second opinion, but I haven't heard anything yet.  That said, today's dolls will largely be baby dolls, and most of the images will be screenshots from YouTube because I don't own most of these.  Apologies.

BABY THIS 'N' THAT

COMPANY:  Remco
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1976, 1990

Baby This 'n' That!  Baby This 'n' That!  She does a lot of this and she does a lot of that!  I think I've told this story before, but one time while my great-grandfather was playing with one of the family babies it apparently loaded its pants, and Great-Grandpa hollered "One of y'all better get in here!  This baby's done a lot of that!"  I guess he was too good to change diapers himself.  Baby This 'n' That doesn't load her pants like some baby dolls do, though.  Rather, she holds items in her hands, items like a rattle and a toy telephone, and she moves her arms when you squeeze her goofy-looking little toes.  She also can move her mouth, which I didn't remember her doing, and I just think she's cute.  The family joke helps my opinion of her a bit too, of course.

Now here's where my head spun a little bit.  In 1990 Baby This 'n' That got a revival and an update.

I didn't know this doll existed.  I didn't know Remco was even still in business in 1990.  Awww, phooey, there's plenty that I don't know, about dolls and about a lot of other things I like.  Sweet Baby This 'n' That didn't do everything that her seventies self did, but she did brush her hair, sip on a straw, and blow kisses, so that's something.  Again, she's cute, and she appears to be...kinda obscure.  eBay has PLENTY of the older Baby This 'n' That, but the 1990 version...not so much.  Challenge accepted.

MAKE ME BETTER BABY

COMPANY:  Geoffrey, Inc.
YEAR:  1998

Make Me Better Baby was strictly a Toys R Us thing, but otherwise she was your average little sickie.  She'd cough, get red glowing cheeks, and run a fever, or she'd develop a red glowing ear and moan in pain, but either way the remedy was the same.  Cough syrup for the cough, ear drops for the ear, and she'd announce "All better!"  This doll-child appealed to me because I've always been attracted to sick dolls, and because she had short, low-maintenance hair, but I didn't like her enuff to want her or ask for her.  I was able to find a used one on eBay though, and guess what?  The white version has violet eyes!  I always like that.  Oh, and surprise, surprise, Baby Alive has/had a doll with the same name and the same gimmick.

Her cheeks even light up!  Poor love could also receive a shot, which makes me cringe because I hate the thought of babies getting stuck with sharp things.  I'm pro-vax, mind y'all, and a lot of those shots prevent very, very bad things from happening to innocent little kids, but no one in their right mind likes hurting small children...or small pets either, for that matter.  My animals always ran a fever when they got their first round of shots, but it kept my dogs from getting parvo so it was worth it.  A more recent Baby Alive with the same name trades the shot for a tissue box...or maybe those are baby wipes.  This one does load her pants, after all.

I'm willing to bet there are other Make Me Better Babies out there, but the one from Toys R Us kinda started it all.

POTTY DOTTY

COMPANY:  Playmates Toys
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1998

I hated this doll when she was in production, and I'm willing to bet other kids did too, because this pet is pretty obscure.  The picture is pretty self-explanatory; Dotty is a drink and wet doll, though she didn't actually drink because she's mechanical.  She'd react to her bottle, then she'd announce to her "mommy" that she has to go potty, and then when you put her on her little potty she...makes a sound like she's taking a leak.  But there's a catch!  If you don't get her panties off fast enuff she makes the tinkling sound anyway and then she says "Uh-oh, I'm sorry, Mommy!"  Believe me, Dotty, sciatica does a number of fun things to one's body that I wasn't originally aware of, so I understand accidents.  The human nervous system is so weird; kidney stones make one throw up, and sciatic nerve problems screw around with a lot more than just one's ability to walk.  Anyway, what really bugged me about Potty Dotty growing up were her huge, wide-set eyes.  She's just a funny-lookin' little goober...kinda like Baby Alive, now that I think of it.  She was innocent enuff, though.  Indeed, I'd rather have a doll that makes a tinkling sound than one that craps slime.

SHOP 'N' BOP BABY

COMPANY:  Playmates Toys
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1998

Now I know why this doll's commercial was always shown immediately after Potty Dotty's!  Both Playmates dolls, both a little strange.  Shop 'n' Bop's gimmick was admittedly stranger than Potty Dotty's was, but then again I loved shopping carts when I was little.  I loved riding in them, I loved riding under them (that was possible at one of the grocery stores in Malden), and I loved helping push them "like a big girl."  I was never allowed to ride on the front of the cart, like Shop 'n' Bop did here.

Mama and Daddy thought it wasn't safe to hang onto the front, and indeed some of the stores had signs up warning parents not to let their kids ride the carts like that.  Some little brats did it anyway, and I saw at least one kid get injured that way.  I don't think Shop 'n' Bop sold well either, by the way, as pickin's on eBay are pretty slim.

BOUNCY BABY

COMPANY:  MGA Entertainment
Year of production:  1996-1997

MGA Entertainment's first doll is a far cry from the dolls that followed her!  Indeed, when someone brings up MGA in conversation the first dolls I think of are usually Bratz, L.O.L. Surprises, or Rainbow High.  I thought Bouncy Baby was cute, but like other dolls I've seen she was more of a toy than collector fodder, so I never got nor really wanted this one.  Bouncy's gimmick is another simple one:  squeeze one wrist and she'll sing one song, squeeze her other wrist and she'll sing another, press her tummy and she giggles.  Despite what the commercial suggests, one apparently does not have to bounce this doll to get her to sing.  She has a soft body with simple clothes and hair that's easy to take care of, and those look like rainbow highlights in that lousy screenshot, but they're actually streamers on her hair bow.  I love that.  Everything's better with a hair bow.

In 1998 Bouncy Baby spawned a spinoff, one that was around until 2000 or so.  She was Bathtime Bouncy Baby.

This version of Bouncy Baby could be played with in the tub or in the pool, though I don't think getting her fully submerged was a smart idea.  According to an archived Reddit post this doll was capable of singing and vocalizing at the tiniest little movement, and taking out the batteries did no good.  My sister thus would've HATED this doll!  Still would, probably!  Anyway, I didn't find this doll's commercial anywhere near as catchy, but I liked her a lot better than the original Bouncy Baby because of her brightly colored swimsuit.  I also got to hold a friend's Bathtime Bouncy Baby, and her vinyl felt nice.  I liked this doll quite a bit.

BABY GO BOOM

COMPANY:  GC Toys
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2001

Oh, I remember this one!  She did and said a number of things that I did and said when I was small, and thus I thought she was really cute.  Baby Go Boom did pratfalls, kicked her legs, and talked and giggled.  She also reacted when you tickled her, which I think is cute despite the fact that I loathe being tickled myself.  I think it's interesting, by the way, that when you're an adult and you do a pratfall it can do some serious damage; indeed, that's part of the reason why my sciatica is so bad.  But when you're a little kid you're lighter and have a diaper covering your tushie, and falling down isn't as big a deal.  Indeed, Baby Go Boom makes a big joke of falling down and going "boom," rather than crying about falling like some children do.  So this doll is a cute doll, but...well, she's mechanical.  Y'all know I've got an aversion to mechanical dolls, even though I seem to have plenty of 'em, LOL.

KINDER GARDEN BABIES

COMPANY:  Up Up and Away, Marvel Entertainment, Toy Biz, Playmates Toys
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1997-2005

I really loved these!  Kinder Garden Babies were small baby dolls that resided in fabric flowers, and the flowers in turn converted into carriers for the doll.  They were scented like the flower that they replicated, and oh my, were there a LOT of flowers!  The two pictured above are a blueberry and a raspberry, but because they're from the Playmates era I don't know if they had names or not.  Up Up and Away's blueberry doll was named Briget, and Toy Biz named their blueberry Brenda, so the names varied anyway.  Perri Pussywillow, from Toy Biz, and Betsy Beehive, from Up Up and Away are my two favorites.  Perri is both a wildflower and a cat, and she shares a name with a Little Golden Book that I once loved.  Betsy is...well, bee-themed!  I love bees.

There was also a spinoff of the regular Kinder Garden Babies called Water Lilies, and like Bathtime Bouncy Baby they could be put in the water.  Their hovel converted into a shower, and I have a hazy recollection of the hovels floating as well, but I may be mistaken there.  When I was a child I liked these the best since I loved to play in the water.  These seem to be a bit more obscure than the regular Kinder Garden Babies, but I liked 'em enuff to ask for one.  Alas, there were none to be found in podunk Malden or anywhere close, so I never got one.  These also remind me a little of the Shining Stars, which I discussed in the past; both are small baby dolls, both have cute carriers that appealed to my fantasy-flavored imagination, and I need both of 'em like I need a hole in my head.

BABY AH-CHOO

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2007-2009

This one's cute, and like Make Me Better Baby she's a doll that I actually would've played with as a kid (I loved to doctor and baby my stuffed animals).  Baby Ah-Choo's gimmick is self-explanatory:  she's got a cold and her owner has to get her through it.  Squeeze her tummy and the poor love sneezes, coughs, asks for help blowing her nose, and reacts to her thermometer and her medicine spoon.  She also asks to be held and occasionally will sigh "make it go away."  Poor dolly, I think we all know what that's like.  Indeed, I remember being sick during my sophomore year of college.  I had a simple cold like Baby Ah-Choo does, but my throat tickled so bad that I couldn't stop coughing, and in the middle of the night I wailed "MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!"  Of course the tickle DIDN'T stop no matter what I did, and I scared the bejesus out of my roommate when I yelled, LOL.  That was the night I mixed sleeping pills with cough syrup, so desperate was I to MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOP, and y'all can probably predict how that went.  Arguably the dumbest thing I ever did.  Anyway, during that same illness I also desperately wanted to be held, even though I was a full twenty-two years old!  So I can relate with this doll.  As an aside, Baby Ah-Choo is kinda different from the sickies I grew up with, in that she came in Caucasian, Latina, and Afro-American variations.  By 2009 this was commonplace.  

Since I'm here on the subject of sick dolls, Li'l Sniffles is also worthy of mention.  She's a little older than Baby Ah-Choo is; I remember her from my high school days, but though I've searched her commercial is not on YouTube.  Li'l Sniffles does many of the same things that Baby Ah-Choo does, but she also sings when she feels well, and her manners are a tad better than Baby Ah-Choo's are.  When she asks for her soup or her meds she says "please," and after she's received what she's asked for she says "Thanks, Mommy."  I don't know how popular either doll was, but I was able to find both of them on eBay for reasonable prices.  With Lulu Achoo, Hedda Get Bedda, and Bless You Baby Tender Love hanging around, I doubt I need more sick dolls.

PRINTEMPS

COMPANY:  Sekiguchi
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1970s

I found this image on Pinterest, so if this is your doll, please let me know and I'll either credit you or take the picture down, your choice.  I offer my compliments to your collection; I can't tell if those are Smart Dolls or Dollfie Dreams in the background, but this is a beautiful trio.  Printemps actually did go on my wish list...for about five minutes!  At minute six I saw their prices on eBay and that was the end of it.  $375 for one of these???  Forget it!  If I'm gonna cough up multiple Benjamins for a doll I want it to be a Smart Doll or a super-nice Simon and Halbig.  Printemps is an interesting little creature, though.  She's got the aesthetic common to both dolls of the seventies and to Japanese dolls of any decade, complete with huge, hypnotic eyes.  The eyes have a catch:  they initially look dark, but they glow bright blue when the light hits them just right.  I love the creepy factor!  I also love their otherwise mild faces.

MAKE ME UP DARLINGS

COMPANY:  Hasbro
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1989-1990

This entry is a little ill-timed, as I recently brought Cookin' Cathy home, and she's popped into the blog a couple'a times already.

Make Me Up Darlings are a last-minute addition to this post (I wanted an even ten), but they're still pretty interesting, and I didn't discuss them in depth the last two times Cathy popped into the blog, so yeah.  These small dolls were scented, and they also had faces that would change with warm or cold water, like so.  Even their eye color could change, though I can't yet test this with Cathy.  Hot water issues, y'know.  The Make Me Up Darlings also came with outfits and accessories that fit their theme.  Mary Mermaid, seen above, came with a tailfin that would allow her to do the Ariel thing without giving up her voice.  Cookin' Cathy's wardrobe change is less drastic; she's got an overskirt that doubles as an apron, plus an oven mitt.

According to Ghost of the Doll there were two waves with six dolls each, and three playsets with one doll and extra accessories, but the gimmick remained the same.  The dolls could be dressed as animals, as fantasy beings, or as everyday occupations; my favorite of them all is Chessie Cheerleader, because she shares a name with one of my cats, AND with my favorite railroad mascot, after whom my cat is named.  I like Annie Artist too, with her bright outfit and hot pink hair.  The dolls are a little cartoonish, but then a lot of dolls are.  They'd fit right in with my Strawberry Shortcake/Cherry Merry Muffin bunch.

As usual, dear readers, your input is welcomed.

Love,
RagingMoon1987

Throwback Thursday review: Geoffrey, Inc. Laura Ashley

This will be the last AG knockoff that I do for awhile, I promise!  I know eighteen-inch dolls aren't everyone's thing.  Like Sasha, the name "Laura Ashley" is the name of this doll line as a whole, though unlike Sasha there are no dolls in this line actually named Laura Ashley.  Laura Ashley is the name of a group that sells clothes and home furnishings, while the dolls were Toys 'R' Us exclusives, thus...well, I don't understand the connection!!!  But anyway, these Laura Ashley dolls bore a strong resemblance to Geoffrey's Girls on the Go line (not to be confused with the line Madge is from), and they have cute faces, so y'all know where I'm going with this.  I've got a Laura Ashley doll for today, but as I said above her name is NOT Laura Ashley.  All of the Laura Ashley dolls did have a first and a middle name, with this one being Katherine Alyse (I threw in a last name, as I often do, but that was my doing and not Geoffery's).

Like Shifra, this one needs a change of clothes.  Border collies for the win!

I apologize for the state of my grandmother's carpet; that particular area gets a lot of foot traffic and has been pounded flat over the years, but it's the best place in her house for doll photography.  According to Just Magic (yep, them again!), there were two brunette dolls in this line:  brown-eyed Rebecca Louise and blue-eyed Katherine Alyse.  So when my doll turned up with GREEN eyes I was initially thrown for a loop.

Little Raven Creations notes that Katherine Alyse actually has green eyes rather than blue, and they provide clear pictures so I know they've got it right.  Little Raven Creations also mentions a fifth character, a dark-skinned pet named Alana Michelle.  I love how these girls all have first and middle names, but the name "Katherine" is a little problematic for me since I have a couple of dolls named "Katherine" or some variant thereof.  But it's a nice name and a family name, so I'll stick with it.  Despite having the company name "Geoffrey, Inc." attached, Katherine is apparently a Lotus doll like Shifra (I didn't learn this until I just about had this post complete).  As a result Katherine has a build similar to that of an American Girl doll (my usual girl is shown), but a little on the slimmer side (like Madge and Shifra).  Notice that Rita Cheryl also appears a little taller than Katherine, though that may be because of her thick-soled shoes.

Hair first, as always.  Katherine is a brunette, with maybe the slightest hint of some red?  It doesn't show here, but in other pictures there's another color in there besides brown.  Little Raven calls it auburn.

Unfortunately, even without me monkeying with her hair there's this to be seen.

The rooting was a disappointment but not a surprise, as Little Raven noted that hair thickness could vary widely in this doll line.  Some dolls have thick tresses and some do not, and this phenomenon wasn't specific to characters.  I just happened to get a Katherine Alyse with thin hair. 

Most of this hair is worn loose, except for the very top part (Little Raven recommends that this be left intact).  That part is gathered together in a wrapped ponytail that is still smooth after twenty-some-odd years.

Like Madge and Shifra, Katherine's hair needed a little maintenance after her trip from Selden, New York, and her hair was...between Madge and Shifra in terms of difficulty.  It was much easier to tame than Madge's, but nowhere near as easy as Shifra's.  That said, Katherine's hair is low-maintenance despite its length.  I'm constantly having to brush Shifra's hair to keep it from tangling again, and Madge's hair is just plain hopeless, but Katherine's hair just needs a quick comb and she's ready for her closeup.

Now let's get face to face.  Like my Dream Doll Designer Rebecca, Katherine has a slightly snarky expression, but unlike Rebecca all Laura Ashley dolls look a little like this.  It's the angled eyebrows, mostly, and the bangs that cover parts of the eyebrows.

Ah, green eyes.  I have a thing for eyes in general, but green and gray eyes are my favorites on dolls.  They seem to turn up less often than the various shades of brown and blue.  These irises are a little hazy though, making me wonder if they won't one day change color. 

As I noted in Shifra's review, Katherine's eyes sleep like a lot of doll eyes do.  Note that she has painted eyelashes as well as rooted ones.

The lower part of Katherine's face is a bit more made-up than I'm used to.  

She blushed cheeks, pink lips, and more than the two teeth sported by Chatty Cathy, Shifra, and the American Girls, plus some lips that are a very pretty shape.  With the way the mouth is painted Katherine can look like she's trying to talk...or she can look like she's drunk.

Hmmm, I thought Madge was good at looking drunk, but Katherine may have her beat!  What say y'all?

In addition to looking drunk Katherine and her Laura Ashley friends can at times look too made up for a little girl, kinda like Grace Thomas does.  Keep in mind that Grace only wears lip gloss, not honest-to-God lipstick.  To top it all off Katherine can be very photogenic, but she can have her difficult moments too.  Y'all saw how she looked above, and last Friday night she really had her hands full!

In this case Katherine had been given the unenviable task of keeping Little Honeymoon still.  Little Honeymoon is almost flat, as we'll see in the weeks to come, but that doesn't stop her from being active!  Anyway, like Shifra Katherine has a face that's no gray area, though it's a bit more conventional than Shifra's is.  It's very nicely painted and the vinyl tone is pretty, but the paint is a little heavy, particularly on the lips.  But that's largely my own gripe; I kinda have a hangup about young girls tinting their lips.  You've got all of adulthood to do that, kiddies!

I'm gonna start the body discussion with a rabbit trail, but I guarantee y'all there's a point to it.  Like Madge and unlike Shifra, Katherine came in part of her original outfit, consisting of a purple plaid dress.  She apparently once had white tights, black shoes, and a hat, or somesuch like that.  I was able to replace the tights and shoes with stuff from Etsy, and even though I like it when my dolls wear hats Katherine looks okay without one.  The Etsy tights did leave some bruise-like stains on Katherine's legs, but that's my fault because I should've washed them.

Katherine's stock dress also stained her.  See the rings around her arms?  They're faint, but they're there.

Both Denise and Silver Bird have had to deal with staining in the past, and I've learned that with time the stains just...fade, just like bruises.  You'd never be able to tell now that Silver Bird arrived stained all over.  Her arms are covered here, but her legs are not and it's easy to see that she's free of stains.

Another two of my dolls arrived stained after spending ten-plus years in their boxes.  The cuffs of Lola's jacket caused her stains (left), while Madge's cousin Penny (right) has some stains from her dark blazer.  

Hopefully Katherine's stains will fade like Denise's and Silver Bird's did, but if not I can always try Stain Devils or peroxide in the sun.  But before I do clothes I want to skim this body.  Since Katherine is a Lotus doll I'm predicting that she'll have a body similar to Shifra's, and indeed she does.  A little weebly, but not terribly so.

Unfortunately that means that Katherine has no sideways play in her shoulders and hips.  She's restricted to straight up and straight down in the arm department...

...and front-to-back splits in the leg department.  She also sits very well (better than Madge), but not gracefully.  

Her head turns smoothly.

I forgot to make note of this in their reviews, but both Madge and Shifra use cable ties to keep their heads on.  Katherine does too.

Rita Cheryl has the old-style cotton cords.  I tied hers in a bow so they wouldn't look weird under her blouse.

I do have a few American Girls who don't have the neck strings, but being older and thus able to take off a doll's head with no ill effects, I prefer the strings.  Still, it's good to know that I could get into Katherine's body if I needed to.  I don't know if I could perform an effective body swap between Katherine and an American Girl, though.  Katherine's vinyl is very fair, so obviously a medium-toned American Girl like Rita Cheryl would be a terrible match.  Currently River Song and Arista are my two fairest-toned dolls, and as you can see, neither of them match Katherine's vinyl.  To my considerable surprise, Katherine is a little darker.

Why is this all important, you ask?  Well, it's not really.  I'm just exploring options in case I want Katherine to be a bit more limber.  Arista would NOT be a good candidate for body swapping in that case, as her limbs also only swivel.  But she's paler than Katherine, so no problem!

Moving on, since Katherine is a Lotus doll her hands are a similar shape to River Song's and Rita Cheryl's, but a bit smaller.

Her feet are similar in size but quite different in shape.

Here it's possible to see that Katherine's feet are narrower than Rita Cheryl's, but her calves are thicker.  I wasn't expecting that. 

Here's what the sole of Katherine's foot looks like.  Like Shifra, she's got some details in there.  As I said last week, American Girls have completely flat feet.  Yee-ouchie!

Par for the course, I've stored Katherine's stock dress and forgotten exactly where, so that won't be getting a review.  But I do have some other things that merit a looksie.  This hippie-flavored getup was piecemealed together from Etsy stuff.  The blouse came from TreasuredDollsUSA (a shop that I love), the jeans are from Bellaboo's (I love that shop too), and the shoes came from 

I'm glad that I shoved this on Katherine, because now I can tell y'all how it fits.  The shirt has no opening in the back and subsequently has to go over a doll's head, but it stretches a little so I got it on with no fuss.  The jeans are tight all over, possibly due to Katherine's thicker legs, and possibly because these would be better for My Life As dolls.  I dunno which.  Once in place the jeans look adorable, though they slide off Katherine's butt a lot.  As for the shoes, I was afraid that they'd easily fall off Katherine's smaller feet, but they actually fit her nicely.  I did have to go looking for a shoe at one point, but I think that may have been my own doing.  So Etsy's American Girl clothes are pretty safe for the Laura Ashley crowd, providing one keeps an eye out for tight pieces.  That's true for ALL dolls this size.

Just for the heckuvit, here's what Katherine looks like in a cheerleading outfit.  Mama got this for me.

Katherine is a Buckeye girl, and my lovely mama has an Ohio State uniform on the way, but for now Katherine is content to be a Tiger.  LSU is a family favorite school for various reasons, so it makes sense.  This getup fits Katherine like it was made for her, so I won't complain any.  She also looks amazing in purple, LOL.  Duh, she CAME wearing purple!

I'll end this post with Katherine as she looked in the beginning.  I think I said above that this is a My Life As outfit.

Once upon a time these outfits didn't fit American Girls or similarly sized dolls, but now for the most part they do.  The jeans fit particularly well.  They LOOK tight, but Katherine can sit in them with no problems.  The My Life As Shoes that I bought did not fit around her thick ankles, so beware of shoes that don't fit.

That settles it!

BAD
*Hair is a mixed bag on these dolls.  My Katherine's hair looks good, but the roots aren't great and the fibers feel a little stiff.
*Like Shifra, this face is a little characterized.  I like it and Mama likes it, but some collectors might not.
*Posing isn't great.  Three dolls in three weeks, and none of them have socket joints.
*I had a hard time finding shoes for Katherine.  Etsy shoes work, but the ones at Wal-Mart were too small.
*I'm not sure I trust those eyes!  They look like the type that could shift color as time passes.
*Stains...fairly easily.  Beware of dark clothes on these dolls, and wash any dark Etsy items before use.

GOOD
*I don't trust the eyes, but I do love the color!  Green eyes are always awesome!
*Well-painted, with an expressive face.
*Her hair is a lovely color, and I love the stock style.  As long as I don't monkey with it much it should be okay.
*Can share clothes with...just about all of my eighteen-inch dolls, except for the all-vinyl ones.  Just be wary of tight pants.
*Y'all will have to take my word for it that her stock dress is nice.  It stained her a little, but it's well-made.

Well!  Three weeks, three American Girl alternatives.  I think that of the three of them Katherine is probably the best, unless Shifra's character face won you over.  Shifra also has the best hair, though none of these dolls have AG-caliber hair.  Overall I'm pretty pleased with Lotus's forays into the eighteen-inch world, and I'd recommend both Madge and Shifra as friends for that special American Girl.  Just watch out for staining, and treat all hair with a gentle hand.  And be wary of doll shoes; the shoes I got for Katherine were too small, and the ones Shifra has are too big, so be very careful about picking that special pair of shoes.

Now, a not-so-brief postscript.  Not too long ago Barb the Evil Genius asked me how my other eighteen-inch dolls are taking the newcomers.  The answer is...they're not paying too much attention.  Doremi is mad that she can't push them around, Luciana has had her head too far up her telescope to say much, and Rita Cheryl has had her head in the clouds as well.  Funny, Rita Cheryl has never been much of a dreamer, but here lately she has done it a lot.  Maybe the heat got to her.  But that's okay, because Madge, Shifra, and Katherine became fast friends in their own right.  They all arrived with in a week of each other and thus forged a strong bond...kinda like Arista and River Song did, and Gabby and Danica too for that matter.  In this trio I see Katherine as the gregarious chatterbox, Madge as the practical, level-headed one, and Shifra as the quiet, innocent type.  Since Shifra is a little younger, but Madge and Katherine do everything they can to protect her.  Katherine has also grown thick with Zoe and Justine-Marie, both of whom like to play dress-up, and Shifra has grown close to Denise and Lindsey, with whom she worships.  Madge relates more to the baby dolls and the fourteen-inch battalion.  

Take that back, Rita Cheryl seems to like Katherine quite a bit.  She says that Katherine's gift of gab reminds her a bit of Luciana.  Here's what the two friends did after I wrapped up photography. 

It's been a long, hot week, and it's not over yet.  Weekend daytime temperatures will be dipping into the eighties, so Mama and I may get to go home in a few days, but until then I've been staying under a functioning A/C.  And don't worry about my pets; they...act like they like it, the crazy things!

Cheers and teddy bear hugs, 
RagingMoon1987