My little firecrackers

I kid y'all not, I can't say enuff good about vickiveesdollclothes.  When I want something cute for So Surprised Suzie, a lot of times Vicki's the one who's got it.  Case in point.

It's another little bell bottom set like the one Suzie wore during most of the spring, but instead of a headband it's got a cute hat.

Hats were kinda a thing in the nineties, when Suzie was also a thing, so this works.

But Suzie isn't my only little firecracker this year.  Hey, when do I ever have only one to show???  Here's Kyle and Jettivee in their outfits from AdollableByRita on Etsy.

Mama supplied these, of course.  She loves dressing my dolls as much as I do.  Believe y'all me, it's greatly appreciated. 

And of course, there's Terri Lee, mumpy and grumpy as always. 

There was a thunderstorm moving in when I took that picture (last week), so that may have concerned Terri Lee some.  She's not a big fan of thunderstorms, but luckily for her the storm fizzled out before it got here.

It's hot today, but the humidity isn't as high as it was last week.  No storms in the forecast as far as I know, either.  Not today, anyway. 

I plan on doing as little as possible today.  I'm not even gonna bother with fireworks, though I'd like to.  I'll explain why in a future post.

Happy Independence Day,

RagingMoon1987

Clothes from Pegsdollclothesshop

As the weather warms I've treated some of my dolls to some new spring/summer clothes, as I often do during this time of year.  No biggie, except that this particular Etsy shop is undergoing an unusual dilemma.  Pegsdollclothesshop is run by a lady named Peggy Peterson, and a few weeks ago Mama got an email from Miss Peggy warning that she'd been diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer.  Since then Mama and I learned that the cancer has not spread, but Miss Peggy has something rare called...jelly belly, which I've never heard of, that she'll need surgery for.  Makes me think of those gummy tummy penguins that the Candy Blog wasn't enamored with, but I digress.  Peggy stated in her email that the doll clothes kept her busy, so...I've been trying to keep her busy, and to hell with money.  I've got...<pauses to count>...I've got six little outfits so far, four for the girls and two for Kyle.  Since I've been puttering about with Danica a lot here lately, she goes first.  

Y'all may or may not see something poking up underneath Danica's blouse; that would be the tubing from her diabetes pump.  Miss Emily reviewed the diabetes kit on her blog several years back, so if you want a detailed look at that set, you know where to go.  Anyway, the blouse is a sleeveless square-necked smock blouse, rendered in shades of purple.  The pattern on the blouse is floral and makes me think of the Lilly Pulitzer dresses that several of my girls wear in summertime.  It isn't this blue-tinged IRL; I took this picture indoors and the others outside on a sunshiny day.

The waist of the blouse is ringed with my favorite trim, ric-rac.  It appears to be tie-dyed as well.

The pants legs are trimmed with more ric-rac and bands of the floral blouse fabric.  The rest of the capris are made of this glorious royal purple quilt fabric.  It's a lovely shade.

If I had any critiques I'd say that Danica's blouse is a little tight.  The Velcro fastens, but I had to tug a bit to get it shut.  A slimmer doll like Kristiana could probably wear this without the necessary tugging, but Danica looks fine.  She can also sit down; while her blouse is a bit tight her capris are not.

Different day, different weather, different doll.  Marina's getup is made from the same pattern of capri pants and a smocked blouse, but in green.

Marina has green highlights in her hair, so why not toss her in green clothes?  While the purple set is floral, the green set has a nice pattern that looks like...kinda like God's eyes. 

The green set is trimmed with ric-rac like the purple set is, but this ric-rac is silver and sparkly.

The capris are made of a different material than the blouse (and all of Danica's getup, for that matter).  It feels a little like burlap but isn't as rough, and it looks like gauze but isn't as lightweight.  The legs are trimmed with more ric-rac.

The same fabric makes up the straps of the blouse, providing a nice visual tie-in.

Marina's blouse fits her like a glove, but her pants legs are a little tight where the ric-rac is.  I had to tug a little harder to get them past her calves, but it can be done.  Like Danica, Marina sits like a charm in her capris, though I didn't think to photograph that.  As I noted back during Halloween, Marina is a new doll and thus tightly strung.  It can be a struggle for both her and Danica to sit, thus why I make note of how well they can move in their new capris.  Birthday girl Luciana is also still fairly new, though she's loosened up a bit in the time that I've owned her.  However, sitting should be a breeze for her since her new outfit doesn't incorporate pants.  She prefers skirts and dresses during warm weather, and she loves studying space, so I bought her a constellation dress.

This new dress drew a better reaction from my mother than Luciana's LAST dress did, LOL.  After I put this on her, I see that it's not just a constellation dress, but a Zodiac dress!  Here's my sign, right up front.

Here's Luciana's sign; she shares a sign with Harry Truman, and with one of my great-grandmothers.  Don't mess with the bull, young man.  You'll get the horns.

Alright, Moon Girl, quit gawking at the various constellations and talk about the dress itself.  The dress is pretty simple, and it kinda has a silhouette like the dresses that Samantha and Rebecca would wear.  Drop-waisted, with a short skirt.

The dropped waist has this loopy white trim that feels smooth and soft to the touch.  This is a snagging hazard if treated rough.

That's about all there is to say about Luciana, so on to the one and only Rita Cheryl.  Rita Cheryl isn't big on dresses, but she loves purple so getting her in this dress was a cinch.

The cut of this dress is more like that of your traditional AG generidress.  The waist is trimmed with...guess what?  Gold ric-rac!

The neckline is a square neckline.  I don't have too many doll dresses like that.

I love the gold accents in this dress!  I'll have to get some gold shoes to match.

As for Kyle, he had two outfits to choose from, so he picked a Mickey Mouse-themed outfit.

The front of Kyle's shirt closes with Velcro, but it also has buttons that add a nice finish.

The shorts are...well, red shorts.  These are a nice length, and they're loose enuff that Kyle can sit.

Here's a closeup of the print.  It makes me giggle because I can hear Mickey enthusiastically whooping "Oh boy!"  I love Mickey Mouse!

I kinda wish Kyle's shorts had white buttons like Mickey's do, but then I can always add that myself.

Overall I can't complain about these outfits.  True, they're simple little getups that are a smidge tight in places, but I love the colors and I love the themes of the Mickey set and the constellation dress.  Overall these outfits are an easy way to flesh out a dolly wardrobe, and they go for...well, I think keeping Miss Peggy occupied during a cancer battle is a good cause. 

Now, Luciana is off to celebrate her birthday.  No stargazing will be done as more rain is in the forecast, but she did receive a box of her favorite cookies from Rita Cheryl and Courtney and Z.  I figure they'll eat those and binge-watch some TV.

Love, 

RagingMoon1987 

AG Spotlight: Kyle MacDonald

So far I'm the only boy.

FULL NAME:  Kyle Andrew MacDonald

WHERE I GOT MY NAME:  I came with the name "Kyle," and the Moon Girl threw in a middle and last name.

CUSTOMIZED FROM:  An unknown Just Like You girl.  Somewhere along the line I got a new wig and a pair of Pleasant Company Samantha eyes.  Better than Bette Davis eyes, I guess.

HOMETOWN:  Inverness, Mississippi

HEAD MOLD:  Classic

HAIR COLOR:  Light blonde

EYE COLOR:  Dark brown (I'm the third brown-eyed blonde that y'all have met, LOL)

FAVORITE COLOR:  Red, yellow, and green

THINGS I LIKE:  Playing basketball, tractors (especially John Deere tractors), climbing trees, being a country boy, playing make-believe, scavenger hunts, tornado history (my hometown took it on the chin once, just like Silver Bird's and Denise's did), the sciences (particularly earth science and medicine), dogs, comic books (The Amazing Spider-Man is my favorite), MARCH MADNESS!!!

THINGS I DISLIKES:  Cities, getting caught crying (hey, I'm human...well, humanish, sometimes I needs to cry too, but do I hate it it when someone catches me), people who don't have imaginations, unfairness and injustice, feeling useless

HIS CHOICE OF MUSIC:  John Mellencamp, preferably the songs "Paper in Fire" and "Small Town."

PETS:  Meatloaf, a bulldog, and Dixie, a young St. Bernard.

BEST FRIEND:  Julie and Kailey.  They're both brown-eyed blondes, and Julie loves basketball, just like I do.  It was my idea to start up the Dumb Blonde Society, so I'm pretty close to all my fellow blondes.  Kirsten is also kinda special since she'll sometimes cook something special just for me.  I like talking politics with Felicity too, and I like talking tornado history with Silver Bird.  

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  Mainly Luciana.  I like talking the sciences with her, but she's WAY too serious at times.  Lindsey and Molly talk too much, but I like them better since they like to play outside.

HOW I CAME HERE:  Moon Girl's mama got me for her!  She got another boy doll too around the same time, a brown-eyed brunette pirate named Lucas, but poor Lucas never arrived and thus I'm the only boy.

ABOUT ME:  I love country life.  Inverness, where I once came from, is a small town, and so is my current home, Malden.  If you've lived in a small town all your life you don't know anything else, and I figure that city slickers probably feel the same way, but the closest I want to be to a city is Cape Girardeau.  You learn to entertain yourself when you grow up in the sticks.  You gawk at freight trains, you count airplanes, you turn over rocks and look at the insects underneath, you hunt toads, and if you have more than two people you play whiffle ball or Hide and Seek...unless it's raining, like it's done a lot this week.  Just as well, since July was unbearably hot.  I'm used to heat and humidity, but not inside, for crying out loud!  So the rain has been greatly appreciated and enjoyed, though the Moon Girl tells me the cotton farmers probably aren't loving it.  As an aside, Moon Girl's porch is perfect for basketball, funky blue light and all!  Too bad Julie and I don't have a hoop...or a ball.

Wait a minute...Silver Bird and Rita Cheryl both have balls for their respective sports, so how come we don't???

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  Well why didn't you two say you wanted one???  I'm not a mind reader!

Oh yeah...well now you know, so...can we please have a basketball???

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  Y'all have been good kids lately, so I'll see what I can find.  I've been wanting Julie's basketball uni for awhile anyway.

YES!!!  Julie's a pretty mean player, so I'm excited to see how I do against her this winter.  Since we don't have the proper equipment neither of us can really practice.  But the Moon Girl has been very good to us, so I know she'll make good on her promise.  We can always jerry-rig a hoop, but without the ball we're kinda outta luck.

And believe it or not, that's pretty much me in a nutshell.  Basketball is my favorite thing, though I do also love to climb trees.  I don't collect anything like some of the girls do...not yet, anyway.  But I do like Marvel Comics...and DC, I'm not picky.  I prefer Marvel, though, particularly Spider-Man.  He can climb far better than I ever could, and he helps people instead of fooling around, like I like to do.  The Moon Girl says I'll find my own way to help my friends, and I hope she's right.  Julie says that I always cheer her up when she's down, and I'm glad of that.  I'm glad I've got a friend like Julie.

The Moon Girl's mama says we look enough alike that we could be brother and sister.  Sometimes I pretend that we are!  For the record, I also enjoy Kailey's presence in my life, but she says it's too hard for her to move right now.  I understand what that's like; at my old home I had to have my strings tightened.  I promised her that when her strings are tightened we'll play more together.  And for that matter, Julie could probably do with a tightening, as she kept falling over during the pictures.  Oh well, she stays positive, and that's the most important thing.

Yours truly,
Kyle Andrew MacDonald

Happy Independence Day, every day!

"Sriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit...POP!"  I never have understood the allure of bottle rockets.  This Independence Day looks to be a little more festive than the last, since fewer heads are exploding over the coronavirus crap.  For my family the holiday hasn't been the same since Daddy died, but we manage.  It does mean a day off from work if the holiday falls on any day but Sunday, but today just happens to be Sunday.  So what did I decide to do?  Putter around with my dolls, of course!  Zoe, Camille, and Kyle all got their red, white, and blue on for the occasion.  

I would've liked to have taken them outside, but the weather has been extremely contrary lately.  Hence my trio is inside, perched on a shoebox instead.  I'm not really certain what else to say, except that all three of the outfits (and Zoe's shoes) were gifts, and as usual I have my mother to thank for them.  She likes to joke "If I can't have grandchildren, I'll have grand-dolls!"  I need to think of something to do for her in return.

That's all for today.  I'm gonna pull the covers over my head and debate whether or not to go see fireworks tonight.  I like fireworks...but I also like my bed!

Happy Fourth,
RagingMoon1987

Kyle, an American Boy

Since I last posted Dunklin County hit a grim milestone, as eighteen people have coronavirus and two have died.  No one that I know has gotten sick or died and I'm thankful for that, but everyone in Malden is taking steps to ensure that it stays that way.  Governor Parson says that May 3rd should be the last day of this "stay at home" order, but I don't see how we can possibly make that.  May 3rd...a rather memorable day if you're a tornado buff.  I've never seen a town as snake-bit as Moore, Oklahoma is, especially in the span between 1999 and 2013.  Anyway, back to this coronavirus business, I think May 3rd is too soon, but of course I have no say over the matter, and the Governor, being a politician, can change his mind at any time given new numbers on cases.  As for me, I'm staying home as much as possible (to the delight of my pets), sanitizing the books at the library, and washing my hands A LOT.  I miss my patrons terribly, but that can't be helped.  No one was planning on this infernal virus throwing a monkey wrench into the machinery. 

Now that I've addressed that lovely little topic, today's doll and post both have a convoluted backstory, one that was influenced by this coronavirus mess.  At the beginning of the year (back when things were still normal) my mother surprised me with two custom-made American Girl dolls that have been made into boys...but only one of them made it to Malden.  I had a post partially readied to introduce Kyle (a brown-eyed blonde) and Lucas (a brown-eyed brunette), but then Lucas got caught up in the limbo that is California's coronavirus-addled postal service and never made it here.  During this time I revised his and Kyle's shared post multiple times, hit "publish" at least once without adding any pictures, and then I became impatient and scrapped the post altogether because Lucas didn't come.  I wanted Kyle and Lucas to share a post, darn it!!!  I don't know if Lucas will ever make it here now, which is a bit of a shame since he was dressed up so cute (he was a pirate).  The lady who sold him to us gave Mama a full refund and offered another doll, an offer that we may take her up on in the future.  But either way, Lucas didn't make it.  Kyle did make it though, and I'm pleased to present him now.  Y'all got a glimpse of him in this post, but here's a better look at him.  Picture quality might be a bit crummy, as I was having a lot of trouble with my phone again.

Kyle MacDonald, as I noted above, is a custom job, one that my mother bought for me on a whim.  "I thought your group of dolls needed a boy," she said.  Kyle hails from Oh Deer Custom Dolls, and according to his listing he is a Just Like You doll of some stripe with the classic mold, a new wig, and a pair of Pleasant Company Samantha eyes.

Yep, those are definitely Samantha eyes!  Under normal circumstances only Samantha and Ivy have eyes like this.

Kyle's outfit appears to have come from Butterfly Kisses To You, as it matches one sold by that shop.  Kyle will be shedding this shortly, given the warming weather; it was COLD when he arrived, but it's slowly starting to warm up.  Seriously...almost May already???  As slow as this year has gone it feels like it still should be the end of March.  Anyway, it's a good thing Etsy has lots of cute stuff for boy dolls; American Girl has been picking up the slack a little, but Etsy is still the best place to go for clothes for boy dolls.  Actually, it's the best place to go for girl clothes too, LOL.  Kyle is an extremely nice product, by the way.  His seller (her handle name is Kirsten) gives her dolls a full overhaul before customizing them, and this includes string-tightening and vinyl-washing.  Kyle is thus both very clean and very tight in the joints.  I love that.

So for now Kyle is the only boy, though he enjoys life with the Peanut Gallery thoroughly.  He likes to play basketball with Julie and play make-believe with Camille, and he LOVES to play one of my favorite games, hide-and-seek.  Like a great many of my dolls, he's also fond of climbing trees, his favorite one being this moth-eaten maple tree on the dividing line between my mom's yard and mine.

See the knothole???  Perfect for pirate treasure, Kyle says.

I have to agree, LOL!  Maybe if Lucas ever arrives he can hide his treasure here.  If not, Kyle can since he's already stated that he wants to be a pirate for Halloween himself.  I thought he'd make a good Draco Malfoy, but his mind's made up.

I hope y'all like my little feller as much as I do!  He certainly was a nice surprise, for which I'm grateful to both Mama and Miss Kirsten who made him who he is.  I thank you both kindly for my fabulous boy doll!

Stay safe and stay well,
RagingMoon1987

Brief, random musings about Our Generation dolls

First and foremost, shoutout to Heather at PennilessCaucasianRubbish American Doll Adventures.  Your new Our Generation dolls are truly beautiful.  Miss Heather's post inspired me to do my own, because I am just now noticing something about them.  It has been...oh, I'll guesstimate four years since I set foot in a Target, so I haven't seen how the Our Generation dolls have been evolving.  I knew that they'd released a few new head molds over the years (like this one, pretty May Lee), but I had no idea they looked so sweet now!  First take a look at Heather's dolls, seen HERE, and then look at my Sadie, who is about seven years of age now.

Seven years is a long time, and Sadie is a far cry from her modern counterparts!  It never occurred to me to ask Heather if her dolls have eyeshine like Sadie does, by the way; Sadie always has, though part of that is due to the fact that I don't have the most optimal photography equipment.  Heather's new Aubree doll appears to have higher-quality eyes though, so I doubt that she has the eyeshine that Sadie does.

No hate meant towards Sadie, of course!  Mama and I think it's ironic that she was my cheapest doll, and yet her vinyl coloring is the prettiest.  See how pink she is compared to Kyle and Silver Bird?

Not a fair comparison, I don't guess, since Silver Bird has probably faded a lot since she was made in 1995.  But then again Kyle is newer, and he looks a little washed out compared to Sadie too.  Either way I've always thought it was interesting that a twenty-five-or-so-dollar doll has prettier coloring than the brand-name dolls that cost over a hundred bucks.

I'll also say that I like the evolution of Our Generation dolls WAY better than I like the evolution of Glitter Girls.  When Miss Emily reviewed her Glitter Girls they had proportionate eyes and sedate little smiles.  Now their eyes are these big, goofy orbs and I don't like them anywhere near as much as I did.  But I've also seen other folks say that they like the newer Glitter Girls better.  To each their own, I s'pose; we all have our different tastes.

I can't think of a dumb April Fools Day prank to spring on y'all, so I'm just going to give everyone a civil adieu.  Keep your eyes open for a review tomorrow; I was able to get my phone to cooperate long enough to get it done.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987