So random, April '25

We start on April Fool's Day, with...what a surprise, a Cabbage Patch Kid.  Please ignore the mess behind him...and the poopy lighting too, for that matter.

Y'all think Nathan Hunter is just a smidge outta season in that?  Luckily for him I had something new in the mail.

Later on that evening Alexandra Claire did get something new in the mail, and she made a beeline for the grass.

The ground was still damp from the Sunday before (it was Tuesday by then), but that neither bothered nor affected Alexandra.  Later on that same evening I took this picture of Alexandra sitting pretty.

This image shows the color of the dress a little better.  It's an apple green shade.

April 2nd.  The calm after the storm.

It was still thundering a bit during the eight o'clock hour, but nothing like it had been.  Candela Laura and Rita Cheryl were both sick to death of storms and ready to hit the sack by then, and I'm not sure what Mia was thinking.  Thunder and lightning don't faze her much, though.

April 4th, we were surrounded by more tornadic thunderstorms, but the day's chosen dolls' cares were nigh next to zero.

This is another of my candids.  I'd just put Nathan Hunter in his new romper, and he flopped onto Mia like he'd known her all his life.  Mia, being a good-natured little doll, didn't mind a bit.

April 6th, the rain finally moved out and chilly temperatures moved in.  So typical of weather in the Midwest, fickle as sin.  A conversation with my mama led to this picture of Danica and Lark.

Pardon Danica's unbrushed hair and Lark's derpy eye.  Lark has developed a bit of eye derp in the time that I've owned her, and that may may land her in a pair of glasses.  Anyway, I ran into a very cute Create Your Own doll on Failbook, one with bobbed hair like Danica's.  I showed her to Mama, and of course she fell in love.  "You could get one like that with blue hair," she suggested, remembering that at one time I wanted to dye my own hair blue.  "I could," I replied, "but those CYOs are two hundred bucks, and I've got a girl with blue hair."  That, of course, is Lark.

I then noticed that the Failbook doll's owner called the bob "underrated."  In turn, I remembered that Danica has a bob, so I brushed her hair and showed her off.

Danica was once owned by a child and is thus a little rough around the edges, but she's everything I'd have chosen in a Create Your Own so I'm happy.  For the price they wanted (ninety bucks plus shipping) I was happy to overlook her shaggy hair and the ding on her nose.  Oh, and regarding the bob, I'm not the only one who likes it.  Miss Emily's CYO doll Eliza also had bobbed hair.  RED bobbed hair, just like Danica's!

While I was fussing with Lark and Danica, Candela Laura had her hands full with So Surprised Suzie. 

Having heard a loud rumble outside, Suzie was convinced that we were in for another thunderstorm.  Candela had to reassure her that it was some idiot with a noisy car, not thunder.  It took some talking, but Suzie eventually calmed down and agreed to stand still for a picture. 

She'd heard that she'd be getting a new dress next pay period, as Mama and I had both seen little outfits on Etsy that we liked.  Suzie ended up not getting a dress per se, but she did get something cute to wear.

April 8th, eclipse anniversary!  It was finally dry enuff to take my dolls outside, if only for a minute. 

Gwenda Cecile is wearing yet another gift from Mama.  I like to joke that the best Cabbie dresses come from Texarkana, because several of the outfits Mama has given me are from there.  The ladybug dress is no exception. 

That evening I also got a picture of Mia and Little Mia together. 

I said this earlier in the month but I'll say it again:  my pocketbook may be in serious trouble.  These dolls are just too cute.

April 10th.  Matthew Tommie got a new T-shirt that happens to match Justin Latowski's.

Coincidence.  I bought Justin's shirt two years ago, and Mama bought Matt's shirt last week.  I had no idea it was gonna be yellow and white, but it suits Matt just fine.

April 11th.  Caught this one as I was getting ready for work.  From left, Booful Beans, Chou Chou, and Xue.  Hedda Get Bedda, Nathan Hunter, Esmond Brant, and Cara Raelean can all be seen in the background.

Chou Chou and Xue were NOT havin' it that morning, but then Chou Chou's never havin' it.  She tolerates Booful though, since being mean to Booful is like being mean to a puppy.  Chou Chou is a Monst doll, by the way, and Xue is an Amooooore Doll.  Yep, Amooooore, five o's.  Both Chou and Xue will be getting reviews sometime in the summer.

April 13th.  Random head shot of Hugo Jack. 

I'd asked my friends on Failbook:  if their bald Cabbies had hair, what color would it be?  I've always envisioned Hugo as a brunette, and strangely enuff several of my friends said the same.  I think my buddy from Newfoundland and Labrador said her baldie would have red hair.

April 14th.  Another one of those "I threw them together and this is how it came out" pictures. 

Idalia Gale and Beryl June got a bit too rambunctious for Suzie that evening!  They were excited because they'd heard another popcorn girl was joining the Cabbage Patch.

April 17th.  Beryl June met the subjects of a future blog post.

Those are Little Cousins, and I'd never heard of them until a week ago.  They'll be getting a review, but I don't know when.

April 19th.  Storms were once again in the forecast, though the weather in the Bootheel was calm (Texas and Oklahoma were another story).  I got another candid of So Surprised Suzie. 

Suzie likes baby dolls that are smaller than her, and Sasha Baby is precisely that. 

April 20th.  Gary Collier got something bright and new to wear. 

Y'all wouldn't know he was my OlympiKid, would y'all!  A change of clothes really makes a difference. 

April 21st.  Sasha Baby and Nancy cuddle. 

Both dolls are European, and they look cute together as well.  Some of my dolls are a little freaked out by Nancy's makeup, but Sasha Baby doesn't give a flying burrito.

April 22nd.  A warm, clear day, drastically different from the beginning of the month.

Rebecca Madeleine models the dress that I got in the haul a few days before.  It looks cute on her, but I can't wait to see how it looks on my friend's doll.  Orange always looks good on dolls of color, which my friend's doll is.  This is another dress from Texarkana, by the way.

April 24th.  Two of my foreign babies get to know each other. 

The Cabbie is none other than Candela Laura, and she's got Sasha Baby on her lap.  These two were at the center of a goofy question that I asked myself and a couple'a friends, one that will be revealed on the blog in a few days.

April 27th.  Random shot of Silver Bird, and Mini Maryellen photobombing. 

Silver Bird had just received a new outfit, as had Gabby (barely visible to Silver Bird's left).  I had lost the ability to walk unassisted by this point, and thus both Gabby and Silver Bird were parked next to me on the couch.

That's all I've got for y'all this month.  Mobility issues bite.

Love,
RagingMoon1987

Sweet relief

First things first:  I wanna thank all of y'all who left comments about the mail situation.  I understand now that it's hairy every damn where and my area isn't the only area having trouble.  This information did nothing to solve the problem, of course, but hearing from y'all was tremendously encouraging and I thank you.  In the end I griped for nothing, as out of nowhere my new doll's tracking number started updating again, and she arrived yesterday.  Meet Angela Grace Fitzpatrick.

Shoot a monkey, it's been a long couple'a weeks.  If I were Angela I'd be passed out asleep.  Anyway, Angela has a face that I didn't already have in my collection (Madison) and more importantly, a hair color that I didn't have.  Justin, Rosemary, and Salome are blonde, Rael is a brunette, Xenia's hair is full-tilt black, and Angela's hair is unquestionably red.

When Miss Emily designed her own My Twinn she had to specifically ask for bright red hair, and when she was running the My Twinn Project Shop I think she ran into...maybe two dolls that had this lovely shade.  So red-haired Twinns aren't the most common things out there, and that was the primary reason why I wanted Angela.  Oh yeah, she's also got freckles, though in this picture they're impossible to see.  I love freckled dolls.

She's just a sweet doll all around.  As far as I know, though, she is NOT a Denver-era doll.  Her body tag says "2003," which I think is from what Logan's Ladies calls the "China era."  Logan's Ladies goes on to note that China-era dolls can be eschewed by My Twinn fans because their vinyl parts are smaller than those of the Denver dolls.  That can make customization jobs a pain in the posterior.  I make note of this because Angela's right eye has an alarming pinkish tinge to it.

Since Angela is a China-era doll an eye swap may not be the easiest thing...but then again, her arms don't look any smaller than Rosemary's (left) or Justin's (right)...wait, maybe it does.  But in this case Justin's right there with Angela.  Rosemary looks like she may be thicker in the arms than both of them.

Pink eyes or no, I can't tell y'all what a relief it was to wake up yesterday and see that her tracking location read "CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO" after a solid week of radio silence.  Now to change that outfit...I have a copy of it already and I'm not a big fan of sweatsuits anyway.  I did have a new dress waiting...but Rosemary's wearing it now.

Blick, that new wig looks horrible!  I had no choice but to go back to the one that's too small.

If I find the perfect double-braided wig this one will go back into its box for a doll with a smaller head.  Anyway, I was talking about that dress, but...there's not much to say about it.  It's a linen shirtdress with subtle colors that would look nice for just about any occasion.  Miss Emily says that it's a harder-to-find My Twinn outfit, and indeed I've only seen two available for sale:  hers, worn by a doll she named "Safiya," and mine.  Maybe I need to look harder, LOL.

So that brings the total Twinn count at Uncle Man-Child's to three:  Rosemary, Angela, and Justin.  Like me, Rosemary is smitten with Angela's flaming hair.  Angela just wants to hit the sack, and to Justin's chagrin she chose his shoulder to lean on.

Notice that Angela's shoes are on the wrong feet...and that Justin's shoes aren't in yet.  Same ol' song and dance, the tracking number has stopped updating.  Patience is a virtue, I s'pose. 

By the way, I should probably mention that our plans for a house swap have changed.  If all goes the way we want it to, Uncle Man-Child will be taking Rent House (my childhood home), while Mama and I will be moving to his Grandma's house.  Grandma's house has three big bedrooms and tons of space, so I won't have to cull out as much of my stuff as I'd planned.  That said, I do plan on doing a mass offload of porcelain dolls.  Y'know, those that I bought on impulse and/or weren't gifts.  I may have enuff room for a Giggles doll now...but I'm not gonna push it.  I still have cats, after all, and one more doll is one more thing for my snoopy crew to break.

Victory, 

RagingMoon1987 

Time to gripe: just venting about our mail service

I wanna ask y'all, has your mail service been ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC lately???  This mainly applies to my American readers, but non-Yanks are free to answer too.  Admittedly most of the things I've ordered have either arrived on time or haven't had enuff time to arrive, but I've got two parcels that haven't updated in quite some time.  The first item is (spoiler alert) another My Twinn.  Her tracking number says she was supposed to be here on Monday, and it's Wednesday now and she's still not here.  Indeed, her tracking number insinuates that she hasn't even made it to St. Louis.

Even more alarming is a set of dollhouse items that I bought clean back in March.  Those were scheduled to arrive April 11th at the latest and did make it to St. Louis, but on the fifteenth the tracking number read "arriving late."  It hasn't updated since.  And what day is it today, kids???  The twenty-fourth!

To add to that, I've spoken to one of my friends, who is a mail carrier.  She told me that our local P.O. has had a helluva time keeping new workers on.  K told me that the new hires would come in, work for maybe a week or two, and then either quit or just not show up.  So the P.O. here has been both slow as molasses and understaffed.  The man who delivers Uncle Man-Child's mail sometimes doesn't show up until after dark, which is saying quite a bit since the days are getting longer.  I don't fault the poor carriers for this, of course.  One can't control what lazy new hires do or don't do.  And who knows?  Maybe the boss is an a-hole.  I doubt that's the issue (we'd have heard, LOL), but you never know.

So here I sit, waiting for my poor dolly and for my dollhouse trinkets, and wondering if the issues at Malden's P.O. are more widespread.  If places like Hazlewood (usually my mail's last stop before it reaches Malden) are having the same problems then I'll understand a little bit more.  Yeah, it doesn't make the waiting any less annoying, but I'd understand at least.  BUT...what if that's NOT the issue and the people between here and there are just idiots?

How about you, Rosemary?  What say you about this mess?

Rosemary is more focused on the fleabane growing in Uncle Man-Child's yard  (she and I both love fleabane).  I'm the one that wants a new wig for her.  Her current wig looks cute, but the cap is too small and it won't stay on.  The new wig is coming from St. Peters, which is a St. Louis suburb...so God only knows when or if it'll get here.  We'll see.

Hugs,
RagingMoon1987

Two blue-eyed blondes

I've been futzing around with my My Twinns lately since they're all gonna need some work done before I get ready to move them.  During one futzing session I noticed that my boy Twinn has something in common with one of my other favorite dolls, Real Baby. 

Both Justin and Geneva are blue-eyed blondes!  This makes me giggle because I sometimes get tired of that combo.  I don't HATE it, mind y'all.  It's just that when I was little ALL the Barbies and almost ALL the baby dolls I had were blonde and blue-eyed.  Thus when I had a doll with dark hair or no hair or particularly red hair I was pretty pleased.  Justin and Geneva help break up the monotony a bit, though.  Geneva's eyes are darker than usual...

...and Justin's eyes are lighter. 

I keep thinking that Justin's left eye is wonky, but I'm wondering now if that eyelash is just set too low?  I need to reglue Rael's lashes AGAIN, so I may try that with Justin too to see if it'll help him focus.

I should probably note that at one time I was blonde and blue-eyed myself, LOL.  I was born with dark hair, said hair lightened up for a spell, and by the time I hit second grade it was dark again.  My eyes have been blue from the get-go.  They're not as dark as Geneva's nor as light as Justin's, and they didn't change color like my mother's eyes did.  Mama was born with blue eyes, and they didn't turn brown until she was about a year and a half old!  Humans are so weird!

Speaking of My Twinn, keep an eye out for a new girl.  I said no more big dolls, but this one's hair was just too beautiful to pass up.  She'll make her debut soon.

Love, 

RagingMoon1987 

Random blather about My Twinn

Since Monday is my day off I passed some time fooling around with my larger My Twinns.  I kept thinking back to...February, was it, when I bought Rosemary?  No, it was late January, when I was convalescing from whatever illness it was that kept me home for a week.  Anyway, on a whim one morning I took this picture of Rosemary and my other then-new Twinn, Justin.  

Rosemary and my other two girls (Rael and Salome) are quite fair, and Justin is significantly...more orange than the girls.  See?

Yay, I fixed Rael's eyelash!  Anyway, I spoke to some friends on Failbook and the consensus is that Justin is an Outstanding Orange Blossom.  I don't know what the consensus among collectors is about Outstanding Orange Blossom dolls, but I quite like Justin's unusual complexion.  In real life he's got a lovely peachy glow, like he's spent some time outside. 

Speaking of outside, Salome has been enjoying the fresh air.  The weather here has been summery, then rainy, then springlike, then the cycle starts again.  I could handle a summer like this, LOL.  Anyway, Salome has a new dress and some new shoes.

Salome is my resident tomboy and prefers her overalls over dresses, and she's not usually fond of pink either.  But when I told her the shoes were a gift she happily slipped them on.

Oh yes, the shoes.  Barb the Evil Genius sent these to me after finding them at a doll show.

Pink kitten-heel sandals!  LOL, kitten-heels with a kitten dress?  How fitting!  I had a pair of shoes like this at one time time, only they were blue.  The heels are clear, making me wonder if these lit up at one point.

Barb didn't know this beforehand, but for me May got off to a terrible start.  Mama had...had something wrong with her stomach and spent two separate nights in the emergency room.  The second night was really bad; a woman in the back of the building started screaming like a banshee.  Turns out the poor thing was a mental patient having a bad night.  As scary as it was for Mama and me I can only imagine what it was like for the nurses...or the patient herself.  Anywho, Mama recovered and is fine now, but the month started bad.  Receiving these shoes in the mail was a tremendous pick-me-up, and I owe a debt of gratitude to Barb for that.  Thanks, Barb!

That will just about do it for now!  Unless I can find a red-haired Twinn I won't be discussing them again for awhile. 

Stay sober,

RagingMoon1987 

Rosemary has a broken neck!

Rosemary Green,
and Lavender Blue,
Thyme and sweet marjoram,
Hyssop and rue.
--"Rosemary Green and Lavender Blue," English rhyme

Maybe that's where everybody got the idea that lavender is blue rather than...well, lavender!  Don't worry, I'm not going to rip Miss Emily off completely and start flipping My Twinns, but this little poppet needed someone to love her.  So in the heat of the moment I bought her.

It was the heat of the moment, tellin' me what my heart meant!  Or more like the heat of my fever, since I bought Rosemary while I was sick.  Anyway, Rosemary Caitlin Green dates from 1999 and came in a full outfit, including shoes.  That's more than Justin and Salome came with; I thought Justin's shoes would never friggin' come, and Salome still doesn't have any.  Anyway, Rosemary's outfit is a nice outfit, with kind of a mori girl vibe to it.  Granted, the shoes are peeling a bit as shoes like this will inevitably do, but I can make that look less unsightly with a little fabric paint.  

For that matter Rosemary's clothes all can do with a good washing, easy if one has a dab of Dawn and a large pickle jar, but her main problem is this.

As I bluntly stated in the title, Rosemary's neck is broken, but thanks to Miss Emily's awesome My Twinn blog I know how to mend this.  Some glue (will tacky glue work?) and a new cable tie, and she'll be good to go.  Now I just need to get the cable ties; I've never worked with those before, but how hard could it be? 

The rest of Rosemary's armature is in one piece as far as I can tell.  She holds all the poses she should, and probably some that she shouldn't.  She squeaks a little, more than Justin and Rael do, but far less than Salome.

Rosemary brings another new face to my collection, one that I like quite a bit.

As with the Ariel head there are two variants to this head, one called "Rosemary" and one called "Caitlin."  "Caitlin" has bigger, slightly crazed eyes, and both have the sedate, relaxed, Mona Lisa-esque smile.  After some discussion with friends on Failbook, I learned that some folks don't believe the "Caitlin" variant even exists, or if she does the difference is pretty subtle.  So I just used my own judgement and have labelled this head a "Rosemary" head.  Since I don't have a doll named Rosemary yet, the name stuck.

Aside from her broken neck and a loose wig Rosemary is in pretty good shape.  She's blonde and blue-eyed like Justin is, but her wig is original and needs...oh, maybe it needs a little TLC.

It's kinda dry like Salome's is, and it has heavy bangs up front that can be a blessing or a curse for these dolls, but I like this wig enuff to keep it around.  Rosemary's eyes are a darker shade of blue than Justin's are, but I wouldn't quite call them violet.

Hmmm...then again, maybe I would.  They have that purple cast that Miss Emily doesn't like and I do like, and because Rosemary is a Rosemary head her eyes are a tiny bit wonky.  Her eyelashes are all the way attached, which is more than I can say for Rael.

LOL, I'd better trot out the tacky glue!  I'll be needing it for Rosemary's wig anyway.

As I was readying myself for work this morning I caught Rosemary and Justin..."cuddling," LOL.

Don't get me wrong, the relationship between these two is strictly platonic (Justin has his eye on one of my American Girls), but they make for a cute pair.  But...notice how...well, how ORANGE Justin is compared to Rosemary, and to Rael and Salome too, for that matter.  Justin is from an era where dolls sometimes came in this unusual orangish tone, referred to as Outstanding Orange Blossom.  LOL, I may have to ask the folks on Failbook if Justin is one of them.  He dates from the correct year, 2002, when skin tones varied quite a bit for some reason or another.  I don't know how popular the Outstanding Orange Blossom tone is among collectors, but I rather like it.  With the right wig and eye combo it can look quite nice.

So my little My Twinn crew has expanded to five (four big ones and Xenia), though I haven't yet given up the search for a nice Denika.  I just need to be patient, I guess...and patience is NOT one of my virtues!  

Love,
RagingMoon1987