Dolly Dress Discussion: the return of Chococat and the Little Twin Stars

In a continuation of the Hello Kitty-themed posts, I made good on my promise to make Ketsana and Billie Jean coordinate.  I was able to land both the Chococat top and the Little Twin Stars outfit, so here's how they'll go.  First, the Chococat top.

I could tell by the shape of this top that it was going to be a tunic, but I wasn't expecting it to be cropped in the front.  So cute, though it makes me tempted to give Ketsana a faux bellybutton ring.  As a nice little extra, the hems of this top are stitched with pale blue thread.

That helps break things up a bit.

Okay, it's obvious from this print that the character shown IS Pete the Cat Chococat.  But the pattern is different from that on the dress.  The dress has Chococat in full body, while the blouse just has his head making cute expressions.

Oh, and dig this:  the Chococat shirt is printed on the back!

I'm pleased about that, but it also ticks me some because that could've been done for the dress too.  Le sigh.  At least Ketsana and Billie Jean look cute together, right?

Look, the blue hem on the top coordinates with the blue dress!  As a last little tidbit, the insides of Chococat's ears are the same color as Ketsana's sandals.

As cute as Ketsana and Billie Jean are in their Chococat garb, I'm dying to see how they look in their Little Twin Stars getups.  Billie Jean will be getting the new stuff this time, if all goes the way I want it to.  According to their online info the Little Twin Stars celebrate a birthday on Christmas Eve, so too bad I didn't get this post up in time for that.  Anyway, I'm going to shove Ketsana back into the Little Twin Stars blouse now and see how the coordinating dress set looks on Billie Jean.

To my complete surprise, this outfit proved to be too tight on Billie Jean's curvy frame...or the skirt did.  I couldn't get her legs to move in this getup, so I had to take it off.  The pencil skirt begs for a pair of long legs anyway, so I dragged out another of my tall dolls.  Meet Gertrude, better known as Fashionista #29 "Terrific in Teal."

The top is a little boxy on her, but I don't guess that can be helped.  I absolutely do not want to jeopardize the structural integrity of that skirt by forcing it onto Billie Jean's voluptuous hips.  The top is your cute little T-shirt with nice thick pink hems and an image of the Little Twin Stars dominating the front.

This necklace was included; it's a mold I own already, but in a different color.

Here's the skirt, the item of clothing that proved to be troublesome for Billie Jean.  It suits Gertrude's longer legs better, I think.  The print is a nocturnal sky scene, with the Little Twin Stars and other cutesy little items here and there in nice pastel shades.

And dig this:  the skirt is printed on the front and the back.  Proof that the Chococat dress could have been printed on the back too...if Mattel weren't so blithering chintzy!

In the long run I'm actually glad that Gertrude had to wear that Little Twin Stars set, because it makes the final group picture look better!

If only Mattel's policy of printing things on the front only weren't alive and kicking, I'd give these little Hello Kitty outfits a 100 A+.  But that's par for the course with Mattel clothes whether they're Sanrio-licensed or not, so I guess I'll just have to live with it.  Otherwise these are great little pieces, perfect for adding something a little different to a Barbie's wardrobe.

Now, digression time...sort of.  I've spoken quite a bit with fellow blogger Presto about these Sanrio clothes, and both of us are pleased with the direction that this line of dolly duds is going (she's got her own post about some of these same outfits that I discussed, in fact).  Needless to say we've both got our ideas about characters we'd like to see immortalized on Barbie clothing; I've mentioned a fondness for Keroppi given my love for frogs, but Presto's picks trump him any day.  Her choices are Aggretsuko and Kuromi, two characters that I'd never heard of until she mentioned them.  Who are they?  Well...the relatively new creation known as Aggretsuko is a riot, and she's also a pretty far cry from sugar-and-spice Hello Kitty and her friends.  Oh sure, she's drawn the same way and all that, but don't let her adorableness fool you.  She's a red panda (I love red pandas), she hates her job, and she deals with this hatred in a very creative way.  I think Aggretsuko may be my new hero, in fact, particularly after a day spent with Coworker A, who continues to be an irascible old bitch.  Ahem...as for Kuromi, she's My Melody's rival, and in terms of appearance one could also say she's My Melody's antithesis as well.  She's a white bunny rabbit like My Melody, but her headgear is a black jester's hat with ears instead of a hood.  She has a hidden softer side, like many villains and antagonists do.  I like Presto's line of thinking, and I hope that those two will indeed become visible on Barbie's clothes.  Since Aggretsuko deals with a more grown-up concept she even might make a good theme for a collector-level Barbie.  We'll see how that goes, I suppose.

Got any plans for the new year?  Any resolutions?  I don't!  LOL, I could do to resolve to lose some weight, but that'll be tricky since our New Year celebration could very well consist of us glutting on homemade chocolate chip cookies while chatting it up with First and Second Uncle.  IF the weather holds, that is.  If it snows First Uncle probably won't bother to come down...and snow is predicted for this Friday.  I hate winter.

Hugs, kisses, and cookies,
RagingMoon1987

Dolly Dress Discussion: Chococat makes an appearance

Yeah, I know I've been hitting the Sanrio clothes hard lately, but what's a girl to do when a large toy company starts making adorable clothes that her dolls can wear???  Recently I griped about seeing Chococat on these Hello Kitty-themed boxes, but not seeing him on ANY of the clothes.  I should've kept my lip zipped and been patient, because fellow bloggers reported seeing a dress printed with the formerly elusive black cat, and indeed Malden's Wal-Mart has it now.  Of course I grabbed one, and after some experimentation with fitting I determined the curvy Billie Jean to be the best fit.

I tried this dress on an original-bodied doll but it just didn't look right.  There are some outfits that just DON'T look right on those original bodies nowadays, and the Chococat dress is one of them...for me, anyway.  Maybe one of y'all prefers dresses to be a bit baggy.

The dress itself is nothing super-duper special; it's a simple little sheath dress that came with a black cat ear headband (an accessory that's made several appearances in the past) and a hot pink vinyl tote bag with Chococat on it.  The dress itself a nice shade of blue with images of Chococat printed in places.  Unfortunately Miss Spotty Jane's warnings about the backs of these clothes proved to be founded, at least for this dress.  The cute Chococat print is only visible on the front of the bodice and the bottom ruffle, leaving the back...PLAIN!!!

Why, Mattel???  WHY must y'all do that???  You're already paying to use licensed Sanrio characters on doll clothes, so why not go all out?  Oh well, at least it's a dress with Chococat on it.  I'm glad of that, because it seemed like a waste to put him on the packages but not on any of the clothes.  I also find Chococat particularly adorable, as he reminds me of two of my mother's rambunctious cats (both solid black), and also of Pete the Cat, one of my favorite child's book characters.  Yes, I'm thirty and I love Pete the Cat, particularly the story about the bad banana.  Anywho, Barb the Evil Genius says there's also a top running around with him on there, so I'll be grabbing that too.  

Finally, since I owe Ketsana a favor from last time, I let her join in on this shoot.

Talk about a Mutt and Jeff pair!  I think Ketsana will likely get the Chococat blouse if I can find it, so that these two can coordinate.  Either that or I'll get Billie Jean the new Twin Stars outfit and coordinate these two that way.  Awww, who am I kidding, I'll end up doing both because I'm a glutton for doll clothes.  

I also saw a few of the boxed separates while I was out yesterday, including a stunning metallic purple skirt.  Purple makes me think of my sister, who is fond of the color, so that skirt will likely find its way onto one of my dolls as well.

Speaking of Sister, Sister and Brother-in-Law have to leave today, so we opened Christmas gifts last night.  My stuff was nothing super-exciting, but it was all nice new stuff that I desperately needed so I'm happy.  I'm particularly happy with the rather large assortment of bath towels that Sister gave me, as before last night I had exactly ONE towel!  I also got some super-cute shoes and a nice set of mittens and a comfy-looking sweater and...okay, I lied.  My stuff is exciting in its own way...but not as exciting as the repairs Brother-in-Law did to my plumbing!  Anywho, Brother-in-Law is happy with the new drone that I got him, and Sister and Mama like their presents so I'm calling this Christmas a success.  I'm only sorry that Sister and Brother-in-Law have to leave today; three days doesn't seem like enough time, particularly when we hadn't seen them since...Mother's Day, was it?  It was before we had to put Grandma in the hospital, I know that much.  Oh well, I'm just pleased that I got to see them at all; they brought their cat Louise with them and it was a very enjoyable visit.  Now I've got to pray that they'll make it to Marble Hill (and then Lexington) safely, as that road to Marble Hill is HORRID!!!

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987

New Barbie threads

Well, so much for me not posting anything else this week!  This post will be largely devoid of pictures, but I will be including a link to the post.  Miss Spotty Jane has started seeing boxed Hello Kitty outfits near where she lives...and they are so cute!!!  She has the Chococat dress that Barb the Evil Genius and I discussed in the comments on this post, plus an outfit devoted to My Melody and another with the Twin Stars.  Jane bought the Twin Stars set and reported that Mattel is continuing the tradition of printing things only on the front when they can get away with it.  Le sigh...I would've hoped that since these outfits are Sanrio-licensed they'd get treated a bit better, but apparently they're not.

In addition to the Hello Kitty items there were some...well, some NON-Hello Kitty items.  Jane wasn't impressed by these, but I saw those images and got the galloping greedy gimmies.  They're not universally pink for one thing, and for another thing there's a lot of them.  The selection is beginning to remind me of Fashion Avenue, whom I've spoken of fondly in the past.  Anyway, one of the outfits came with a saxophone...a SAXOPHONE!!!  When's the last time any of y'all saw Barbie playing an awesome instrument like a sax?  A well-played saxophone is a work of art, as Gerry Rafferty's backup band will prove...and a poorly-played sax makes me want to put my head through a window (Bruce Springsteen, I'm looking at your backup there).  LOL, anyway, one of the outfits comes with a saxophone and I'm pleased about that.  There's another that looks like it's been tie-dyed, and one with a gorgeous rainbow skirt, and still another that has a blue top and orange...shorts?  Capris?  Can't tell, but it's a cute outfit.  Ken also got some nice new things that I like, particularly the one with the red plaid shirt.  That one reminds me of First Uncle, who used to wear a lot of plaid.  Yes, Springtime looks to be quite promising for my girls, and the few boys that I have.

Jane's post on the new dolly duds can be found HERE, and if you fancy giving the rest of her blog a look it can be found HERE.  And to keep this post from being completely boring, here's Ketsana in my Twin Stars blouse, the one that I thought would look good with jeans.

Ketsana (Fashionistas #45 "Boho Fringe") is one of those dolls that looks good in everything anyway.  I have a few dolls that are lucky like that.  Anyway, Ketsana is one of those deluxe Fashionistas that came with three outfits, and one of those outfits happened to be a pink top with bell bottoms so it worked out pretty well.  I would add her to my group pic of kawaii dolls, but that was hard enough to set up with four dolls!  I'll make it up to Ketsana somehow.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987

On the new Hello Kitty Barbie

No Throwback Thursday this week, y'all.  My sister and brother-in-law are in from Lexington, Kentucky and they won't be here but a few days so I want to make the most of our visit.  However, I do have some downtime right now and fancied a post.  I just saw the new Hello Kitty Barbie, and she is so adorable!

This shouldn't surprise me since there's been a sudden stream of Sanrio-themed doll clothes available, but...well, it did surprise me.  It certainly is a pleasant surprise though, given my fondness for Hello Kitty.  The new Barbie is a departure from the past Mattel-Sanrio collaborations; the dolls in 2007 and 2008 utilized the Steffie sculpt (my all-time favorite head), but the 2017 doll has the Lagerfeld sculpt instead, a sculpt that I don't think I own yet.  This particular doll looks enough like the 2008 doll that they could be siblings, so using a different head was probably a wise idea in the long run.

Hello Kitty Barbie is already available for pre-order (for a hundred friggin' bucks) on the Barbie collector's website, and if y'all can possibly believe it someone has already left this poor doll a bad review!  Someone actually had the gall to moan about the lack of originality and start pining for a revamp of the My Scene dolls instead.  <insert eyeroll>  There's always going to be at least one squeaky shopping cart in the bunch.  I liked the My Scene dolls while they lasted, but I view them as rivals for the Bratz more than collector's items, and since the Bratz are once again discontinued I see no reason for a My Scene revamp.

Given my track record with collector-end dolls, I probably won't be able to get this one, but I can still admire her from afar!

Joy to the world,

RagingMoon1987

One of my Barbie dolls gets kawaii...sort of

Talolili is more of the kawaii expert than I am, but I know enough to piece together an outfit that would fit the label.  For the uninitiated, kawaii is...well, it's actually a culture in Japan that has made its way to the west.  It celebrates all that is cutesy and childlike, stuff like Hello Kitty and various types of anime.  Pastels make a lot of appearances, as do personified inanimate objects like candies, rainbows, clouds, stars, and hearts.  Usually when Americans like myself dabble in kawaii it's in wearables or home decor; I personally like adding kawaii touches to my daily wear with earrings and the like, for example (these cotton candy earrings on Etsy are to die for).  But if you're a dolly lover (and if you're reading this, you probably are) it's also possible to have one or two or a whole slew of dolls that wear kawaii fashion or are a little kawaii themselves.  My little Pepper Parson is a good example, as she's cute and wears clothes that fit the aesthetic.  The clothes shown are the Kuu Kuu Harajuku clothes, which I reviewed here and here; that line is very, VERY kawaii!

Every so often I run into a doll that just screams "kawaii," but isn't dressed the part.  Such is the case with one of my Fashionistas, Suika.

Suika is Fashionistas #60 "Patchwork Denim," with a new head, an original body, and melon-colored hair.  Indeed, the name "Suika" is actually the Japanese word for "watermelon."  This doll's pink hair and soft makeup just begged for some cute little kawaii-style outfit, and while her dress itself does not fall into the style it can be gussied up with some accessories.  Suika's belt and bracelet, seen below, help spice up this outfit a bit, and the butterfly on the belt adds a touch of kawaii.  As a bonus, these accessories match Suika's hair almost perfectly.

I wasn't fully satisfied with that getup, so today when I went out (had to fetch cat food) I picked up a few more Hello Kitty separates, consisting of two tops and a skirt.  One top is a pink spaghetti-strap crop top with clothing items, milk jugs, and Hello Kitty (of course) printed on it, and the other is a less-fitted periwinkle blouse with the Little Twin Stars seated atop a rainbow.  

Both shirts coordinate with the pink skirt, but I don't like the way the periwinkle shirt fits Suika's body.  I think it may look better on a curvy or a tall doll, but of course I neglected to photograph that!  Dumb of me too, because I have two curvy dolls and three tall ones within arm's reach.

With Suika sufficiently kawaii-ized, I let her join Deb, Ami, and Melody for a group photo.

Not bad at all!  I can't tell y'all how tickled I am that Mattel started making these Hello Kitty clothes, and I hope that more will be made.  So far the only characters featured on these outfits have been Hello Kitty, My Melody, and the Little Twin Stars, and no sign of Chococat despite him being on the packaging.  But seeing the Little Twin Stars on one of these tops makes me hopeful that other characters will start making appearances.  I'm still hoping for Keroppi, since I love frogs and the color green, and Badtz Maru and Chococat would make superb Ken clothes, but only time will tell what crops up.

Much Love, 

RagingMoon1987

Dolly Dress Discussion: Hello Kitty Barbie clothes

Follow-up post to the one that I shared about Christmas crap, since it IS Black Friday.  Hopefully y'all are either going to work or staying home and eating leftovers instead of trying to kill each other over a sale on something that'll go on sale after Christmas anyway.  Anywho, if y'all hearken back to last post you'll see that I shelled out some money for Barbie-sized Hello Kitty clothes.  If anyone does decide to try shopping today and you're in the mood for some new Barbie threads, these might be for you.

Okay, just the tops are marked "Hello Kitty," but what good are tops without goofy-looking bottoms?  Anyway, I have my models picked and they'll be showing off what these pieces are like, but first...well, since it IS a Dolly Dress Discussion I'll have to review these first.  I am facing a slight problem since I have two bottoms but three tops, but I'll work that out somehow.  I do have one slight reservation about these pieces, by the way.  Sanrio has a whole host of characters, but these boxes only show three:  Hello Kitty, My Melody, and Chococat.  First of all, I've never heard of Chococat, and indeed he's a new character (dating from 1996) compared to Hello Kitty (1974) and My Melody (1975).  I can live with that since I think Chococat is adorable.  But where are some of the OTHER characters, some of the more obscure ones like Keroppi (whom I love) and Badtz-Maru (whom I also love because he reminds me of Oscar the Grouch and Tardar Sauce)?  Badtz-Maru might be good for some Ken clothes, since he's got an attitude and he's marketed towards both males and females?  Who knows, maybe Mattel and Sanrio DO have something like that in the wings.  If so I'll be greatly pleased, and if not...well, I'll see it as an unfortunate missed opportunity and enjoy what I've got instead. The Hello Kitty pieces consist of these three tops.

Going from left to right, the My Melody top is done in a shade of baby pink floral jersey knit, with a single sleeve.

The pink fabric is printed with...wait for it...POLKA DOTS!!!  I love polka dots!  Or did y'all know that already?

On the front is a printed image of the one and only My Melody, in a pink hood instead of a red one.  She is surrounded by a ring of multicolored flowers.

Adorning the left bottom hem is this faux knot, done to look like the tail of a crop top.

The cuff of the single sleeve is turned back and sewn into place.  This looks cute, but it proved to be problematic as we'll soon see.

The collar and the hem of the dress are both honest-to-God hemmed rather than serged, but the ends were cut close.  This also turned out to be problematic, but the hems are holding together.

The back is held closed with that staple of Barbie clothes, Velcro.

The kiddie book that I had showed My Melody with a red hood (as do some other pictures), but most of the images I've been able to find show her wearing a pink hood so this shirt is accurate. That did make finding a bottom to match a bit of a tricky task, but I'll discuss that when I come to it.

The next piece is a t-shirt, of which there are not enough in the Barbie world.  I'm always happy to get a simple t-shirt, and this one's a cute one.  It's your basic crew-neck, short-sleeved t-shirt with a cute print.

Such a bright, happy shade of red!  I already know who I want to wear this, but first things first.  Of the three shirts this one is the busiest, with images of Hello Kitty printed all over.  Most of the images are simply outlines done in black, with some of the outlines having more detail, but a few are colored in fully.

This top is the only piece that is printed all over, and to my delight the back is printed just like the front.  The back also closes with Velcro.

The edges of this top are hemmed, but again the edges are cut a little too close.

That takes care of the second top, so now it's time for the third.  I'm not sure yet if this is a top or a dress, and I won't know until I try it on someone.

As I said in the last post, this particular top looks eerily like Sailor Moon's magical girl uniform.  They're not exactly the same, but the color scheme is there.  Since Sailor Moon and Hello Kitty are both Japanese creations a little overlap here and there would make sense, but I digress.  Like the other two tops, this one is made of stretchy knitted fabric and is of a Hello Kitty theme, but that's where the similarities end.  The sleeves are mere tank top straps, rendering this top more revealing than the other two.  Also, instead of a whole character being printed on this top, only Hello Kitty's face is printed on, with her eyes, nose, and whiskers being present.

The left shoulder is also embellished with a sparkly red bow, done to simulate Hello Kitty's hair ribbon.

The bottom of the top is either a skirt or a peplum, and it's made of royal blue fabric.

To my complete surprise, this skirt is not hemmed like the other pieces are.  Notice that the raw edges are hanging loose.  This was done intentionally and it looks cute, but it still surprised me.

Adding to the confusion are the hems on the neck and armholes.  They ARE hemmed, in a becoming dark blue thread that ties the whole getup together.

Once more, these hems are cut a little short.  The back closes with Velcro like the rest of the tops do.

The two skirts that I grabbed were not marked Hello Kitty on the packaging, but they were on the same shelf so I grabbed them.  The polka-dot skirt is a jersey pencil skirt, while the leopard print skirt is made of a smoother fabric and has a little more poof.  Both of them have elastic waists.

Very simple, yet very cute.  Now to my models.  As I learned during Tressy's review, the color red looks very nice on my Zig and Zag Fashionista, so Deb gets the red top.  I paired the polka dot skirt with this just for the heck of it.

Best picture I've ever gotten of Deb; she can be hard to photograph.  Anyway, clothes that fit all four Barbie body types are usually marked as such, but these Hello Kitty threads are an exception.  They are not marked for any particular size, but this particular pairing fits Deb's curves with minimal fuss. I do have to work with the top a little to get creases smoothed out, but the Velcro closed with no problems whatsoever.

The skirt is elastic and made of stretchy knit fabric that slides over Deb's hard plastic legs.  This would've been a nightmare if I'd tried it with Ami, who has vinyl legs, but Deb has plastic legs so no problem!

Finding a model for the pink top proved easy as well.  I have a My Melody Barbie who came without her original outfit, so it makes sense that she'd get the top with My Melody on it.  Here's where I had to improvise with bottoms.

I have a couple pairs of Barbie Basics jeans that are not being worn, and since Basics and Melody share a Model Muse body I was hoping to find one of those pairs of jeans.  Obviously I did not find the jeans, because Melody is wearing a red skirt instead.  The skirt is yet another of those separates that I'm so fond of, and at first glance it does not appear to match the top.  As I noted above, the dominant color of this shirt is pink, right down to My Melody's hood, but notice that the ring of flowers also has a few bunches of cherries thrown in.

This combo is really pushing the mix-and-match theme, but I guess it works well enough.  Key words:  I guess.  I'm not really satisfied with the this combo, and I'm not happy with the next pairing either.  But first things first.  Remember those hems that I talked about earlier?  They're cut so short that they like to turn inside out.

The sleeve also does this.  Not a huge deal, but it annoys me some since I'm OCD about how my dolls look.

Now to the promised next pairing.  The quasi-Sailor Moon outfit is indeed a top and requires a skirt or pants of some sort.  I think it goes without saying that I gave this one to my Sailor Mercury doll, Ami.

Thank goodness Ami's boots and choker match the blue peplum, because the choker doesn't come off and the boots are all Ami has to wear on her feet at the moment.  Her feet are too bizarrely shaped to go shoeless, and while I do have shoes that she can wear, they're all occupied at the moment.  Anywho, I think this top is a little too revealing for Ami, but it fits her well.  Ami's body is thicker than Melody's (though not as thick as Deb's) so I had my doubts.  As it turned out, I had to pull a little to get the Velcro closed, but not a lot.  See how it joins together perfectly?

Despite these hems being cut shorter than those of the pink top, they do not turn inside out as badly as the pink top's hems do.  Maybe it's because Ami's top fits closer than Melody's does?

I'm just not feeling that yellow skirt with this top, though!  Nor do I like the way the skirt looks on Ami's muscular frame.  Maybe if Ami and Melody switch skirts it'll go better.

Yeah, I think I like that better.  The wider red skirt flatters Ami's hips more, and the sparkly red material matches Hello Kitty's bow.   Similarly, the yellow and black skirt brings out the yellow flowers on Melody's top and it doesn't play up her skinny build like that full red skirt did.  So I had to play with these pieces a bit to find the perfect (or near-perfect) combinations, but finally finding the right ones made it worth it.  Plus, I finally found the perfect top for that cute red skirt!  That particular skirt is yet another individually packaged separate like the other two skirts are.  It has always been one of my favorite pieces, but I couldn't find the perfect top to go with it.  This black-and-white striped top works pretty well...

...but it also reminds me a bit too much of the stock outfit that Ruby Red Floral wears.  See?

Not a bad combination, but still I don't want Ami and Junko to be too matchy-matchy, even if they ARE a cute pair.  Different shoes are a must for Ami if I ever want her in that outfit again, by the way.  Good thing Monster High shoes fit!

One of the pitfalls I listed about these little separates is the cost.  Each piece is about two-thirty American, and they're packaged in cardboard boxes that undoubtedly drive production costs up.  However, Barb the Evil Genius wisely noted that Sanrio is likely getting a cut of that money (hence the upped price), and the pieces are more well-made than some of the Mattel outfits I've got in the past.  Barb also has noticed (as have I) that the baggies Mattel has been using are easy for some thieving varmint to bust into, so perhaps the boxes are a smidge more theft-proof?  Then again, if someone is heck-bent on being a tool, they'll find some way to accomplish the task no matter what the boxes are made out of.  Based on the factors of quality and overall cuteness, I think these would be nice little stocking stuffers for fans of Barbie and Hello Kitty.  If any of y'all are planning on doing Black Friday suicide attempts shopping then these might be something to add to the list.  EDIT:  it just so happens that the separates packaged in little baggies are actually more expensive than these Hello Kitty duds.  So I need to shut face about prices.  LOL, thank you Emily N for pointing that out.

Not that I recommend going out on Black Friday at all, that is.  If y'all don't have to, stay home, warm up some leftovers, and enjoy any family that might still be in for the holiday.  And for God's sake, be careful on those roads if you DO have to travel!  There was an awful accident up in Madison County, Illinois on Tuesday, and three beautiful young women got killed.  Two sisters were in one car, and the third girl was coming home from a school trip to Chicago, one that she and her classmates worked hard to raise money for.  Twelve others got injured, including two that are still very sick.  I didn't know anyone in that accident personally, but it hit me hard because it was so close to Thanksgiving (the third fatality actually died ON Thanksgiving, in fact), and because the three fatalities were all so young!  So if y'all have to be out on the road this weekend, be smart.  Don't engage in road rage or drive over the speed limit (like Second Uncle did when we went out to eat yesterday), wear your seat belt (even though that didn't help the two sisters), and keep an eye out for drivers who aren't as careful.  As for me...well, I'm not sure what I'll do.  I got the day off today and I need to work on next week's Throwback Thursday post, but other than that I have absolutely ZERO plans.  Certainly I have none that involve travel or shopping!  LOL

Happy (crappy?) Black Friday,
RagingMoon1987