More than one way

They always say that there's more than one way to skin the cat, right?  Well in my case there's more than one way to break the rules.  I'm not supposed to have my dolls at work (I used to use them as decorations), but I sneak Rita Cheryl in when I know there'll be a lot of children around.  Don't tell anyone, LOL.  Today I obtained a new way to break rules...a way that I didn't think of until I saw this on Etsy.

Some of y'all may remember that I like to wear hair bows, the bigger and goofier the better, and this one fits that criteria nicely.  It's not the biggest bow I own, but it IS one of the loudest, and look who's attached to it!

April Sunsplash, one of my favorite Lalaloopsy dolls.  I never had her in big form, and for some dumb reason it never occurred to me to get her in mini form either, even though one of my American Girls collects Lalaloopsy dolls.  Oh well, now she rides my ponytail!  April's accessories are also present...

...as is her pet.  

This bad boy will be fun to wear during high winds, by the way!  The wind catches the streamers and blows them around like mad, which I love.  Anyway, if you're nuts like me and like to wear hair bows, or if you have/know little ones who like hair bows, the shop is named AMWBowtique...or it was.  Click on the link now and you get a dead link for reasons I don't know.  And that's just within the past day or so; last Saturday the shop was alive and kicking.  But either way the shop made over-the-top hair bows in a wide array of sizes, colors, and themes, ranging from Minnie Mouse and Little Miss Sunshine to orange Fanta to Pennywise!  Before the shop disappeared from Etsy there were two other Lalaloopsy bows available, one sporting my old buddy Pix E. Flutters and the other emblazoned with Confetti Carnivale.  The bows were a little pricey, but you got what you pay for (the bows I have are made of vegan leather and are very sturdy), and the shop offered coupons as thank yous to return buyers.  I bought four bows from this shop in all, and each time I got a little clip as a freebie (one time I even got a BIG clip).  

The proprietor's decision to utilize Lalaloopsy dolls in her bows reminds me of a post Miss Emily did once.  Emily apparently wondered more than once what happens to blind bag toys when their usefulness has ended, and...well, I wondered the same thing!  The last thing the world needs is more plastic in landfills!  In Miss Emily's case, she found someone on Instagram called Mischa's Toy Jewels, whom I probably need to hit up in the future because why the heck not?  Emily's post is HERE, and Mischa's Instagram page is HERE.  Mischa was in turn inspired by a lady named Asha, whose Instagram page is HERE.  It's good to see other Etsy stores doing something similar with small toys, and I hope that maybe AMWBowtique will reappear and do more of these doll-themed bows.  Maybe some with those miniature L.O.L. Surprises, like Mischa's has done, or those little Care Bear figurines, or Shopkins?  Just a thought.  And if the store doesn't come back I've got four bows that I can enjoy.  One of 'em has the Saggy Baggy Elephant on it; anything that is Little Golden Book-themed is a win with me.

As a last little addendum, I found a box while mining for doll clothes, and the box contained several bows that I'd forgotten about.  Among them was this one, emblazoned with a headshot of Pillow Featherbed.  Several of her friends are also along. 

I had a Lalaloopsy bow all along and didn't know it!  Now that I think about it, I remember buying it, being disappointed that it wasn't huge, and casting it aside.  The size doesn't bother me now, LOL!  Granted, it doesn't have a repurposed Lalaloopsy doll on it, but it's still a perfectly fine bow.  Such happy colors are perfect for the oncoming spring.

Love and hair baubles,
RagingMoon1987

EDIT, 3/9/23:  Per Michelle Bogart's request, here are the other three bows.  The bee bow was the first one; the bee in the center is squishy. 

Here's the Saggy Baggy Elephant bow.  Being a librarian, I look forward to wearing this one.

And lastly, here's the ice cream bow.  It has streamers like the Lalaloopsy bow does, and as I predicted they're fun when the wind gets high.

That's the lot!  I'm hoping the shop will open up again, because I want an orange Fanta bow!!!

Birthday Haul 2019

Yes, I turn 32 today...or rather, I turn 32 at exactly 11:02 this evening.  Mama tells me that on the night I was born there was a full eclipse of the moon, and that I was apparently born during the time of totality.  It was also the night that the Cardinals clinched the National League title for the 1987 season; my dad was keeping tabs on the ballgame while Mama was having me, LOL.  There will be no moon for me to look at tonight as it is raining and thundering a bit, and no Cardinals baseball either since I don't have a television, but I can show off the stuff Mama got for me.  I like to top my ponytail with goofy-looking hair bows, the goofier the better, and Mama got me three from Etsy.

One with a Nutcracker-themed print, one with Legos, and one with a Christian theme.  The Lego and Nutcracker bows have my initials monogrammed on them.

Here's a closer look at the Nutcracker bow.  It's got Clara, the Nutcracker Prince, and the mouse king.  I really love that, because they all look like a set of Christmas ornaments that my grandmother had.  The mouse king was my favorite of the ornaments.

The Christian bow is my favorite color (green) and has a verse that should be familiar to all of God's children.

Now...the Lego bow and the items that match it require a bit of explanation.  Back in August the library ran a Lego-themed back-to-school program.  The prizes were all Lego sets, but as extra incentives these really cool Lego erasers were given out as well.  The erasers not only functioned as erasers, but they also hooked together like the real blocks do.  I was sorely tempted to keep a few for myself, but I ultimately decided to play fair and give them all away.  Anywho, during this period Mama asked me if I had any Lego-themed clothing to commemorate the event with.  My answer was "no."  Surprise!  Now I've got a ballcap for bad hair days!  See how the front matches my bow?

Mama also got me these earrings to match everything else.  To my delight they're made of real little Lego pieces!

I was a huge Lego fan when I was a little girl, and the sets we gave out to the children tempted me to start the hobby again.  I may have to wait on that though, since I don't currently have an empty room to hide those tiny pieces from my snoopy cats.

The other item that I received also requires some brief explanation.  In recent times the Little House book series has come under fire for being politically incorrect...yeah, kids' books.  Some folks want them banned.  As long as RagingMoon1987 is in charge of Malden Library there will be Little House books, but I digress.  I'd never read the books, so during September I sat down and did just that.  I read on up to Little Town on the Prairie and enjoyed every second of it (On the Banks of Plum Creek was my favorite).  Somewhere along the line I vocalized a desire to Mama to own some more pioneer-themed doll items, and as usual Mama heard loud and clear.  She got me this neat cooking set.

I apologize for that picture being so dark; all of my light bulbs are burned out and I've yet to replace them.  Anyway, these are all wood painted up to look like cast iron, except for the tripod and the fire pit.  The big cooking pot, the spoon, the frying pan, and the spider are all high-quality wood, the fire pit feels like resin (I'll thus have to be careful with it), and the tripod, unsurprisingly, is metal.  If any of y'all are historians, chefs, or Addy fans, then y'all will probably know what a spider is.  For those of y'all who don't know, a spider is a frying pan with legs (sort of like a wok), and Caroline Ingalls did indeed have one.  See the legs?

I think Caroline's spider was mentioned in the very first book, Little House in the Big Woods.  I'll have to look again to be sure, but I know she had one and put it to good use.  EDIT, 1/10/2020:  I was told in the comments that Caroline used the spider in Little House on the Prairie, and upon re-reading the book I found that to be true.  In Chapter 3 Laura wrote:

"Then Pa raked more coals over the fire, while Ma sliced fat salt pork.  She fried the slices in the iron spider.  The spider had short legs to stand on in the coals, and that was why it was called a spider.  If it had had no legs, it would have been called only a frying pan."

The same chapter notes that the large cooking pot was called a bake-oven, and this was used to bake johnny cakes.  Johnny cakes could also be cooked in a spider (they were sometimes called "spider cornbread" because of this), but Caroline used the bake-oven instead.  Caroline also utilized a coffee pot, which unfortunately was not a part of this set.  And that was a simple but tasty supper on the open prairie!  End edit.

Regarding the spider, Addy Walker also had one available in doll size at one time, and it was real cast iron.  Apparently one could actually cook in it.  Thus how I knew what a spider was when my fourth grade teacher read one of the Little House books to us!

As a last little tidbit, I had a devil of a time setting up the tripod until I found that the fire pit has three holes to accommodate the tripod's legs.

I'll soon be digging out my historical American Girls to help with Z Yang's review, and when I do I'll set Kirsten up with this cook stuff and show y'all how she looks.  Kirsten predates Laura Ingalls Wilder's era by a good twenty years...but we can all pretend we don't know that!

Mama says that she's got a couple more things coming for me, which makes me feel guilty since all I got her was a pair of much-needed shoes.  When whatever-it-is comes I'll show y'all that too.  In the meantime I'm going to shove some Cheetos in my mouth and listen to the glorious rain, which may be the best present of all...except for that danged thunder!  Now it's getting loud!

God bless y'all,
RagingMoon1987