Birthday box

Quick recap of the week's events.  Hurricane Milton is offshore and has been for awhile now.  Death toll as of writing was twenty-six, and the folks that came through it say it was the worst hurricane they've ever experienced.  Hurricane Helene's death toll (230 and rising) is rivalling Hurricane Camille's (259), and eleven of the dead were from the same family.  Three houses, eleven people, one mudslide.  Again, something similar happened in Hurricane Camille; thirteen were taken from one family, and three were left.  The two storms were so similar it's a hair frightening.  Milton, on the other hand, was a full-tilt freak.  I've never heard of a hurricane forming in the Gulf of Mexico and then just plowing straight east; usually they hook north or northwest and hit Texas or Louisiana.  But then again, tornadoes are my ballywick.  I've not studied hurricanes as extensively, so Milton's equal may exist somewhere in the annals of hurricane history.  As for me, my spider bite is slowly but surely healing.  It still looks ugly, but not as ugly as it did.  I even ran into someone else who tangled with a brown recluse, one of my favorite library patrons, a fellow Whovian and cat lover.  His bite looked worse than mine, but he was putting medicine on it so it should heal eventually.

Now...Treesa told me that she knows people that were in Milton's crosshairs and were having trouble evacuating.  The videos Ryan Hall shared confirmed the gridlock, so Treesa, I hope everyone is safe.  Have you heard from them yet?

Speaking of Treesa, birthday box time!  Treesa warned me ahead of time to read her letter, so by jove I read it carefully this time!  Sometimes I don't, LOL.  These two are the stars of the show. 

The Cabbage Patch Kid is named Gillian Ida...or maybe it's with a J (Treesa isn't sure).  Her papers are long gone, as are a lot of my dolls' papers.  It's not like anyone would ever want them again, right???  LOL, Treesa said that when she chucked that paperwork she thought she'd remember her Cabbies' names forever, and I admit that I think the same now.  Then I trip and call Gillian "Gilda," LOL again.  Gillian is a Hasbro Splash 'n' Tan Kid, and Treesa admits that she never really bonded with her.  She hypothesizes that it was because Gillian was all-vinyl.

Admittedly Gillian isn't the most cuddly thing, but she makes up for it with her unpretentious little face.  I love her eyes!  

Can y'all see the stain on Gilly's nose?  Just barely.  Treesa warned me that at some point in the past Gilly had been stored next to a teddy bear clad in red velvet, and said velvet stained Gilly's vinyl in a few places.  Her right arm is the worst off, but she's nowhere near as badly stained as my Ashton-Drake dolls, Red and Delilah. 

Treesa also included a humorous anecdote about Gilly's state of dress.  Hopefully I can share this without embarrassing the snot out of her.  Splash 'n' Tan Kids wear swimsuits, some of 'em were skimpier than others...and poor ol' Gilly got saddled with the skimpiest one.  Neither Treesa nor her mother liked that, so Treesa's mama tried crocheting a one-piece swimsuit for Gilly...and it didn't go over too well.  The swimsuit was too fuzzy, too drab, and the added purple bow didn't match Gilly's hair bow.  Treesa did acknowledge her mother's effort, though!  For the oncoming cold weather Treesa dressed her up in this Just Play getup that's...maybe a bit too big, but that doesn't bug me much.  The outfit is retro just like I like, and it's my two favorite colors, green and blue.  It's even got a little purse and a fuzzy jacket.  I love this!

Here's how the outfit looks with the jacket.

This is a weird little rabbit trail, but the chenille and the color of the jacket make me think of the American Girl Minis.  Do any of y'all remember those?  They were these tiny little room sets with components that plugged into a small light box and lit up themselves.  The first rooms that I remember were the purple room and the blue room, and the blue room had a chenille coverlet for the bed that makes me think of that jacket.  They were a cute concept, but I'm told that the light boxes were notorious for developing shorts or just not working at all.  Mattel also said that production costs were pretty high, so the Minis weren't around too long.  Oh, and FYI:  if any of y'all do run across one of those mini rooms, Lottie is apparently a compatible size for them, as are small ball-jointed dolls.

Right, where was I?  Oh yes, Treesa also sent Gilly's original swimsuit and sunglasses.  Told y'all it was a skimpy little number!

Treesa also included the hair bow, but being the dodo that I am I dropped it in the floor and didn't photograph it.  The bow IS alive and well, though!  Life is better with a bow.

Gillian's friend is a doll that I have never, repeat, NEVER heard of.  Here's a good look at her; her brand name is at the bottom of the image. 

She is a Blooming Doll.

Treesa named her Violet, and I'll keep that.  Violet and her blooming buddies are cloth hand puppets that morph into flowerpots...or they're flowerpots that morph into dolls, one or the other.  This is what Violet looks like when she's folded up.

Indeed, Violet is an African violet...or a flower that looks like one.  Treesa named her well.

Here's a closer look at Violet's face.  Her eyes are pink, her hair is blue, and her lips and freckles are...green.  I have exactly one other doll with green lips, one of my O.M.G. dolls, Sways.

Well, Violet DOES have a flower growing out of her head!  I figure her blood and her skin pigment have plenty of chlorophyll.  It surprises me though that I'm a fan of the Ghost Of the Doll website, but I've never seen Blooming Dolls.  Their entry is here;  the dolls apparently came in two different sizes and could have either plastic or painted eyes.  The characters had no individual names.  Apparently these were extremely poor sellers, so much so that their holding company (CapToys) darn near folded.  Treesa apparently loved hers though, enuff so that she and Violet did some brief ventriloquist work.  Treesa admitted to me that her skills as a ventriloquist weren't great (nor are mine), but it sounds like she and Violet had a lot of fun anyway.  They did a piece from The Sound of Music.  Based on that anecdote I'll take good care of Violet.  She'll make a fine companion for Talia and Zlata...and Gilly.  Gilly and Violet will always be friends, Gilly swears.

Of course no box of Treesa's is complete without at least one Build-a-Bear item.  First, the stuffed animals.

From left, a polar bear in knockoff pajamas that fit him perfectly, Read Bear, who was available in McDonald's Happy Meals, and a pink sloth in a blue skirt.  Pink Sloth will need to be stuffed, but luckily that's easy.  My closest Build-a-Bear store is eighty miles away, but commercial stuffing will work too.  There's also a lace-edged tank top, which Flaxie and Summer Daisy will have to bicker over...if I ever find Flaxie.

This thing...It's a scrunchie, I know that much, but I don't know who it's for.  It's SO SOFT, though!

Might make a nice headband for Kiara or...maaaaaybe Geneva?  Geneva's head is pretty big.  Kiara could wear this easy-peasy, though.  I need to get Kiara in her winter clothes, by the way; she's still wearing her crayon dress, and that's more late summer/back-to-school than mid-fall.

Next...these very pretty crocheted booties.  I don't know yet who's gonna get those, but SOMEONE will.

These other shoes are for my mini Furskin, Hattie.  Remember how she only had one shoe?  Treesa sent some replacements which are greatly appreciated.

I don't dare unwrap these, because they're doll eyes and I have no good place to put them, but those may come in handy very soon.  From what I can tell they come in a number of nice colors.

Treesa says that this jacket was in a thrift store lot.  It'll fit American Girls, and since Doremi loves pink she'll probably be the one who gets it.  Again, it's wonderfully soft.

Blythe sewing patterns!  I knew about these ahead of time and was excited for them to arrive.  I've GOT to get my sewing machine fired up and try some of these!

This last young lady would've made nice fodder for my mishmash box.  She has an adorable face, but I don't know who she is.

She's not this dour in real life, I promise!  Little dolls with Mona Lisa smiles can be tricky to photograph.  She's about the same size as some of the blind-box ball-jointed dolls I've got, and she's got joints like the old Kelly dolls.  She's sweet.

As usual, Treesa, I appreciate the box, and I appreciate the stories behind Gilly and Violet as well.  That makes them feel all the more special.  I own plenty of nice dolls, plenty of them secondhand, but I don't know the stories behind them.  I don't know why Danica, a customized Create Your Own American Girl, ended up on eBay.  I don't know why where she came from or what her old name used to be.  Same is true with Salome, my golden-haired golden-eyed My Twinn, and her red-haired friend Angela.  So I appreciate it big time, Treesa.  Thanks!

Cheers, 

RagingMoon1987 

The big three-seven

Yep, it's that day again!  Since it's a Sunday Mama and I are gonna chillax and lay low.  Uncle Man-Child wanted to go out to eat, but the last time we did that it was a hundred-mile round trip of nothing but him chatter-chatter-chattering.  I'm not in the mood for that, and neither Mama nor I were in the mood to go out, so we opted to...well, NOT go out!  It's a good thing we didn't too, because I woke up in a significant amount of pain and am having a hard time moving.  So we stayed home and ate pizza and exchanged the few gifts we have.  My present to Mama isn't here yet, but I know she'll like it.  It's a wooden cutting board, and it's got a pattern burned onto it using a very dangerous technique. 

As for me, my gifts consist of some wearables, plus one doll.

How the sam-hill Mama knew I'd like this one, I don't know.  I've been vocal about my fondness for Asian Cabbage Patch Kids, but I never told Mama that I had my eye on this specific outfit.  This doll is a Jakks Pacific Kid, and she's a "Preppy Girl."

I knew that this line had a lot of cute ones, but my favorites have always been Preppy Girl and Skater Boy.

Regarding my doll, her name is Margot Madeline, and she also just had a birthday.  Please ignore the fact that I put the birth certificate in the envelope the wrong way. 

Included with Margot is this little card, stating her favorite things.  It surprised me that she likes to paint, seeing she's not Artsy Girl.  She also apparently likes playing sports and scary stories, which I can dig.

Now here's Margot Madeline out of her box and looking VERY pleased about it.  She still smells faintly of baby powder.

Look at that smug little face!  She reminds me of Coleco #15, who also has a huge smile.

I love Jakks Pacific and Play Along Kids!  All Cabbies have their merits, but dolls from these two eras have the best faces.

And as far as I know, that will be my birthday for now.  Nice and quiet without a lot of hullabaloo.  I'm thankful that I have a roof over my head and clothes on my back, particularly when so many to the east don't have those.  Helene's death toll keeps rising, and there's ANOTHER storm in the Gulf of Mexico, predicted to track right over Florida!  Y'all down there, I'd be getting outta dodge if I were y'all!  Be safe!

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

Under the cabbage leaf: lovely to see you

Dark cloud of fear is blowing away
Now that you're here, you're going to stay
'Cause it's lovely to see you again, my friend
Walk along with me to the next bend
--The Moody Blues, "Lovely to See You"

When all else fails, quote the Magnificent Moodies!  I have to admit though, that if I genuinely love someone I want 'em with me PAST the next bend, not just to it.  But then again, one can't be with someone a hundred percent of the time.  Even Mama and Daddy were apart sometimes, although their hearts remained connected, of course.  And sometimes one can only live one bend at a time, so there's that.  ANYWAY, the exodus from my current house has been slow but steady.  While I was shoveling out one bedroom I unearthed these five, better known among my Patch as "the Lost Five."  It truly was lovely to see them, all in one piece and free of pox despite spending three summers without AC.

From left, Stella Rae, Valencia Rose, Poppy Elizabeth, Andrea Doria, and Taniyah Yasmin.  It's been WAY too long since these girls were in the blog, and also too long since they were hauled out of storage.  Andrea Doria remembers when she was my only Cabbie, and she was shocked to see how much the Patch has grown.

Andrea Doria is an in-joke between Tam and me.  Perhaps it's bad taste to name a doll after a shipwreck, but the SS Andrea Doria has familial significance.  My dad was fascinated by shipwrecks and was a history buff, and he credited both of these hobbies with the sinking of the Andrea Doria.  In 1956 he was four, and it was early in the morning where we were, but Grandma roused Daddy anyway with the words "Get up, son.  There's history happenin'."  There on live TV was the Doria, heeling over and slowly sinking.  Daddy was glued to the TV, and from then on he was obsessed with both history and shipwrecks.  And that is a too-long story about why I'd name a doll after a shipwreck.  Andrea herself is kinda special, as she was the first Cabbie I obtained as an adult collector, and my first Cornsilk Kid, AND my first and only Growin' Hair Kid.  She was just as surprised as I was to learn that dolls with fiber hair are STILL called Cornsilk Kids.  Kory Aryan and Julie Emmalee are only two of my Cornies.

Back in the dinosaur days when Andrea, Val, and Poppy were my only Cabbies, I said that all the Cabbies I'd known had "bricks" inside their chests.  BUT...butbutbut, I'd only known four of 'em at the time I'd written that!  Andrea Doria and my childhood doll Honoria had "bricks," but the more Cabbies I met the more I realized that "bricks" are NOT a feature of all Cabbies!  Shelley Fred doesn't have a "brick."  Nor do Idalia Gale or Candela Laura, or Kory Aryan, or ANY of my other Cabbies!  The only way I can explain it is that Andrea Doria and Honoria were both Growin' Hair Kids.  I mean, they're both nice and soft (or were, in Honoria's case), but if I hug Andrea tight I can feel that mechanism inside her.  Oh, Andrea is special in another way, as she's one of only two Cabbies I own that doesn't have blue, green, or brown eyes.  Andrea has violet eyes, and Owen Presley's eyes are hazel.

Usually when Cabbies have blue eyes they're sapphire-colored, like Idalia Gale's, Hugo Jack's, and Lucey Dena's.  I've only seen a few that had darker blue eyes like Andrea does.

By the way, I didn't learn until just here recently that the #9 head is called the "monkey" face, because the eyes are so close together and the ears stick out.  It's hard to see Andrea's ears, but her eyes are definitely close together.

Could be worse, I guess.  #14 is called the "potato" face.  I love potatoes, but I wouldn't want to be compared to one!  By the way, when I find Cabbies running around without papers I assign them birthdays as well as names.  Andrea Doria's assigned birthday is July 26th.  The anniversary of her namesake's sinking.

Here's Valencia Rose, delighted to meet two other dolls with the #4 head.  

Truth be told, I didn't want these many Cabbies with the same head, but when one sees a Jesmar for fifty bucks one doesn't quibble about head molds.  Besides, it's not like they're all that alike.  Two Colecos, one Jesmar.  Two girls, one boy.  Three hair colors, two eye colors, three hairstyles, one with freckles, and all three of 'em have different complexions.  LOL, point made.  Since Candela and Val do have green eyes, I want to compare the shades.  The paint jobs are different, that's for certain; Val has more black in her eyes than Candela does.

Shape varies more than shade, LOL.  Oddly, even though I love red hair, Val is still my only redheaded Cabbie...sort of.  Auburn is a shade of red, isn't it?  Shelley's locks are auburn, and Kory Aryan's hair is...well, kinda ginger-brown.  There's definitely some red in it, though it doesn't show up in photographs.

My mistake, the BACK of Kory's hair has a lot of red in it, and it does show up some in photographs.

On the other hand, Titania Rosalind's hair is truly, most sincerely red.

I really like these "Playmates," as Coleco called them.  They're dolls for dolls, and I've always loved that. Courtney Moore needs one; an eighties doll simply can't be without a Cabbage Patch Kid.  Valencia Rose's birthday is also the anniversary of her namesake ship's sinking, January 22nd.  I wanted Titania's birthday to be April 15th, but Val insisted that her doll share a birthday with her.  I didn't argue.

Then there's Stella Rae, who is in a sense the same doll as Cara Raelean.  I've been saying that ever since I adopted Cara, but now I can honestly-to-God show y'all.  Stella Rae is on the left.  She picked August 5th for her birthday, for reasons I don't know.

Stella encountered some minor mishap somewhere, either at the factory or with someone ham-handed, so she's got a faded right eyebrow and a barely visible smudge of blue paint over her right eye.  Her vinyl is also opaque and slightly yellow, versus Cara's slightly paler complexion.  So even though these two are the same they're easy to tell apart.

Fun fact:  Twin Preemies made it to the prototype stage, but were never sold as such.  The full-sized Kids WERE twinkies from time to time.  But I can still pretend that Cara and Stella are twins.  In other news, I learned this past weekend that #1 is called the "shy" face.  Stella and Cara don't look too shy to me!

Taniyah Yasmin is here, of course.  I still need to find her accessories, but she's happy.  Jakks Pacific Cabbies almost always are.  Taniyah is the first Cabbie I bought with her papers, so I know her real birthday:  October 22nd.

Taniyah was initially the smallest of my Cabbies, so she's pleased as punch to have Owen Presley and Sammy Sloth to hang out with.

As for Poppy Elizabeth...well, she's Poppy Elizabeth, soft and squishy as ever.  The Joplin tornado was still fresh in every Missourian's mind when I bought her, so May 22nd is her birthday.

Poppy's favorite thing to do is lounge, like a cat.  Maybe she needs a cat to be her pet.  Lucey Dena and Lesley Emily have pets, after all.

As for growing my Patch...well, it grew by four this past month.  There's Alexandra Claire, another joyous Play Along Kid.  Mama helped me name this one.  Her assigned birthday will be the day that I bought her, May 14th.

I finally got my sunshine-haired Kid!  She's not QUITE like a gaudy yellow, but she's good enuff for me.  She's also got another feature that I didn't yet own:  gray eyes.  Coleco Kids had gray eyes once in a blue moon, but I've never seen one.

Then there's Allie Kathleen, a 25th Anniversary Kid.  Mama bought her for me AND helped me name her, LOL.  I don't know why Mama took such a liking to Allie, but she did.

Allie was listed on Etsy without any clothes, and Mama says she felt sorry for her.  Indeed, Allie's seen some hard playtime; her face is scuffed and her left elbow has come unsewn, but I can fix that.  Her birthday will also coincide with her ordering date, May 11th.

THEN there's Cleopatra Chantale, a Growing Hair Kid with lovely red locks and another head that I didn't own.  What a beautiful complexion she has!

The #22 Cabbie head is a favorite of mine for an unfortunate but humorous reason.  I was browsing Diana's Patch, getting to know the various heads, and I just happened to be looking at #22 when Mama looked over my shoulder.  "EWWWW!!!  Some of 'em really ARE uglier than others!" she exclaimed.  I'd TOLD her not all of 'em were the same, but I don't think she believed me, LOL.  Of course I thought this was a riot, and when I saw this #22 with red hair in a yellow dress I was sold.  This child's name genuinely is Cleopatra Chantale, by the way...and her birthday is October 1st, just like Hugo Jack's and Shelley Fred's.  Her papers didn't make it into her box, but the seller says he'll be sending them soon.  So we'll see!

Nathan Hunter is a Coleco-era Preemie and has his papers.  His birthday is October 1st and he dreams of being a sportswriter.

Four of 'em.  I've got FOUR Cabbies with this birthday!  My birthday is in October so I'm biased towards October birthdays, but in a patch of twenty-seven having four dolls with the same birthday is a hair nuts.  

Lastly, there's Nate's little brother, a bean-butt baby named Esmond Brant.  He also has papers; his birthday is November 1st.  For another dose of birthday madness, Esmond's birthday is the same as Cara Raelean's.

See how clean and nice his little head is?  I was very choosy about picking a bean-butt in good condition, and I'll do everything I can to keep Esmond as such.

For awhile Nathan was lashed to his original box (pardon the flash).

But as I've said before, what's the point of a doll if you're not gonna love on it?  I did photograph the box since I'd never received a Coleco Kid in situ, but Nathan is free now.  He looks super-cute with the other Preemies.

He also looks adorable with little bro Esmond.

Esmond, being a bean-butt, is the smallest of my Coleco Kids, and I was half-expecting him to be Taniyah Yasmin's size.  Here's what I get for thinking.

LOL, Taniyah is smaller even than a bean-butt!  Cabbie sizes never fail to surprise me.  Esmond is wonderfully soft, by the way.  He's got the stuffed stockinette body and the beanbag tushie, but he's also swathed from head to toe in knitwear.  Most of the bean-butts I've seen wear knitted clothes like this, in soft colors like pink and mint green.  Esmond wears blue.  See the cables on his chest?  I love cable knit stuff.

Regarding other factors, Esmond has a #1 head, meaning that he shares a head with Stella Rae and Cara Raelean.

In a similar manner, Alexandra Claire shares a head mold with Julie Emmalee...sort of.  The numbers on their necks are different, but their expressions are very similar.

Finally, Allie Kathleen shares a head mold with Hugo Jack.  They're both #5...and yet look how different they are!  Play Along and Jakks Pacific Kids have such pretty complexions.

#5 is growing on me.  I didn't like this head when I first saw it in Doll Reader, but it's growing on me.  For the record, #30 will always be my favorite Cabbie head, and Play Along's PA-23 has also become a favorite.  Dolls with variants of that head look like they're up to some sort of mischief.

Since I like discussing where my various dolls came from, here's where all four of the newbies originally lived.
*Alexandra Claire hails from Riverview, Michigan
*Allie Kathleen comes from beautiful Alpine, Utah (I freaking love the Wasatch Mountains)
*Esmond Brant is the only foreigner, coming from Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario
*Nathan Hunter is from Port Clinton, Ohio

In other news my relatively good luck with names continues.  Cleopatra Chantale is unusual, and she doesn't really look like a "Cleopatra," but so far, the only really stinky combo I've gotten has been Shelley Fred, and I can live with "Shelley" due to its literary roots.  Owen Presley remains my favorite of the dolls with official names; that one's gonna be a tough one to top.  As for the ones I had to name, it's kinda hard to go wrong when your mother is helping you pick.  And since I made such a big to-do about birthdays, I wonder if I'll ever find one that shares my birthday?  I know I can always assign someone a birthday like Valencia Rose did with Titania Rosalind, but...well, I like the thrill of the chase.  My birthday is October 6th, so if any of y'all see a doll with that birthday let me know.  Also, please let me know if you've ever seen a Cabbie that shares YOUR birthday!  As a last little tidbit, I got a surprise box in the mail, so keep your eyes peeled for a post about that.

Cuddles,
RagingMoon1987